Submission 2
Sent: Saturday, November 26, 2022
To: ConstitutionalReform
Subject: Submission on the To-be Uograded Barbados Constitution
Hello Panel,
I wish to salute you for the yeoman work you are doing towards the better interest of our nation Barbados. As recommended by the panel, please see attached a copy of a submission at the Townhall meeting at Deighton Griffith School.
A Call for the New Constitution of Barbados to Reflect the Godly Nation that Barbados Is
November 6th 2022
Good afternoon important persons before me. I stand here as a citizen of Barbados, born and breed in the amazing parish of St Philip. My father was a sanitation inspector and my mother an ardent house-wife. I say ardent because while she never left the home to go to work, she never stopped working. From chickens, pigs and sheep to sweet potatoes, yams, bonavice, corn, passion fruit and even a patch of sugar cane, she grew. My father was a lay-worker in the Christian Mission Church, going around preaching across this sugar-cane island, while my mother was part of the Sister’s Band.
What has this to do with this complex and heavily legalistic Constitution? Is it this - in order to eat a whole elephant, you take one bite at a time. That is, the complex begins with and contains the simple. My appeal this evening is to ask that you goodly folk, in framing the content, the principles and standards of the new constitution, NOT to diminish or discredit the effectiveness of “godliness” in the ruling of a nation.
We all know that unlike Jamaica with its bauxite, gypsum, tourism and vibrant sports & culture, or Trinidad with its petroleum, natural gas and asphalt (and love for party), unlike Guyana with its gold, bauxite and diamonds, not to mention Africa with its vast, vast wealth of natural resources, Barbados has very little or none of the above.
I recently received a Whatsapp message which said that when God created the fish, He turned to the sea, when He created plant-life, He turned to the dirt, but when he created man-kind, He turned to Himself and said let “US” create man in OUR OWN image. This is Barbados’ most prolific resource, the God-kind...our people...our only and most precious resource. Whether we like it or not, Barbados is streamlined towards God. We are His dependents.
I was equally amazed when reading Numbers 35 this morning, that God told Moses to create 6 cities of refuge for persons who committed murder, that they may not be themselves murdered before having a chance to stand for judgement. It pointed out that the Priest played a pivotal role in this judicial system. Why do I mention this detail in this context? It is because I am here to point out that nothing that we need for life on this rock has been left out by the creator. There is much, must more evidence that God is integrally woven into the fabric of over very existence that I could mention, but this is not the forum for such, neither is there enough time.
The bigger point I am making is that we as a Bajan people, because of the lack of fall-back natural resources, need the most powerful resource ever...God. To seek to succinctly erase Him from the pages of our constitution, first via the Charter and then more explicitly in our practise, via the botched attempt at introducing components of Comprehensive Sexuality Education, is a blatant mistake which will spell the doom of our nation, who have been know over the years to “punch above our weight”. Do we think we acquired that reputation by chance or that any of the money-hungry, godless nations who we are seeking to follow to get their money, gave it to us? No...it was the said same God who inspired, the amazing leaders and people who pushed this 66-square mile dot of an island to the top (none of whom were perfect – mind you). If we think for one moment that we can maintain that status (of punching above our weight) while pushing the sovereign creator out, we’re making a sad mistake.
Many are of the belief, that in these tough, near impossible economic times, we need more than “God” to get us out. I don’t fault them because the church has not taught otherwise. In fact, the church has proven to be a bitter disappointment to many of us. It has decayed to the point of almost becoming irrelevant to the nation, with many preaching a prosperity gospel, living large while their congregation suffers and some leading immoral lives. I too have experienced this 1st hand. I of all people know the atrocities of the church. The church has evicted many and forced them to seek solace elsewhere. The Bible say “Righteousness Exalts a Nation, but Sin is a Reproach or and embarrassment to any nation (Proverbs 14:34). The church has been part of the “embarrassment” and we too must repent.
I however implore you not to throw out the baby with the bathwater. Rather, I challenge you to pause and look more carefully at what God has to offer in the context of the technological times in which we live. It was His technology that built the great Pyramids of Egypt, the rock temple at Lalibela in Ethiopia. It is believed that many Greek Philosophers learned their craft in Alexandria Egypt and many went there to study philosophy, medicine, mathematics, geometry etc. We know the 1st Coptic Church in Alexandria was founded by the Apostle Mark when the disciples of Christ we scattered. In more modern times, we have seen countless black inventors...people just like us. Today we have the black woman, Dr Green who has developed a cure for cancer using laser activated nanoparticles, the African American architects and developers poised to win the contract to build the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere in New York City etc, etc, etc. These are people like us, inspired by Him to create. God is not obtuse to technology and technological advancements, for it is He who gives the power to get wealth...it is excluding Him from the picture that is the problem. Other nations may not have the “godly” background of Barbados and hence we cannot look to them for such guidance. We need economic solutions, we need men and women with innovative ideas to create wealth and rebuild our ecomony; we need fresh thinking entrepreneurs, we need access to new markets, such as those on the African continent. Do we think it is by chance or a mistake that Barbados is the closest Caribbean country to the African continent (a mere 5hr direct flight)? Don’t be fooled, God has economic answers for this tiny nation and it may very well lie within proximity and the similarities (even in shape) of our island to the mother country. When the disciples needed money to pay their taxes, Jesus pointed them to a nearby fish in whose mouth was “money”...enough to pay their taxes. To us, this makes no sense, but we know His ways are not our ways and His ways higher than ours. I am hereby proposing that rather than pandering towards being satellites of others, we rather seek to intensify the standards and principles which innately has caused us to punch above our weight. Dependence on a higher power has not failed us in the past, but what has, is men and women, including the church who have been selfish, seeking to line their pockets and forgetting to care for the community - which has nurtured and given us the strength to punch hard, despite our punny looking weight. As they say, don’t judge de book by de cover...check what is inside...it may jump you. Barbados can jump the world again ...I appeal to you...give God another term.
