Lawmakers remove awards barrier for protective services

Members of the protective services who received awards for their work during the COVID-19 pandemic would no longer be barred from receiving Diamond Jubilee honours under an amendment passed on Tuesday by the House of Assembly.

Lawmakers passed the Barbados Diamond Anniversary Honour Act to ensure that members of the protective services who received previous pandemic-related awards are not disqualified from receiving national recognition.

Attorney General Wilfred Abrahams, who brought the amendment before the House, explained that the original legislation was designed to celebrate the nation’s diamond Independence anniversary across the public and private sectors, while explicitly excluding people who were already members of the Order of Barbados. However, this rule inadvertently penalised numerous frontline workers.

Attorney General Wilfred Abrahams (File photo)

“Because of necessity, they had to step up to manage the response in ways that other people didn’t,” Abrahams said, highlighting the sacrifices made during the pandemic.

“It then led us to be in a situation where persons in the protective services who are genuinely worthy of getting this particular honour, in view of their contribution to Barbados… would be exempt because they got an award coming out of the COVID response.”

The proposed amendment creates a specific subsection ensuring that the general exclusion rule does not apply to members of the protective services, such as police, prison and immigration and customs officers.

Abrahams said: “This is a simple, simple amendment to correct an anomaly created by the COVID response, sir, and the awards given out during that time and to allow us to honour the deserving members of the protective services, in the way that they should be honoured based on their service and their contribution to Barbados.”

The bill now goes to the Senate for final passage.

(RR)