Submission 29

Sent: June 22, 2022
To: ConstitutionalReform
Subject: Barbados Republic

You have indeed sinned mightily and so you are burdened with my musings. I did the below last August and have modified it slightly. We can never again have what is in effect an elected dictatorship where there is no opposition - so here is my solution. The Senate gets elected on a proportional basis and this gives small parties a chance to a voice.

On the social front, when you leave Barbados, you realise how race dominates everything there. Even in Parliament, I listened to Minister a few months ago talk about black people and “other looking people” and that it was OK to discriminate against OLPs in favour of black people. He would be hounded out of office anywhere else for comments like that. I have read comments about whether or not Kothdiwala is biased to his Indian heritage or his African one, whether he sees himself as black or brown. He is Barbadian full stop. That is all that should matter. Somehow your new Constitution needs to move the needle on this as well as other equality issues, gender, sexual orientation, less abled, etc. Religion I think is already covered but I think we need further disestablishment which is now possible because the head of state is no longer Defender of the Faith ( The Queen). One religion predominates.

Barbados - a parliamentary republic.

My bias is towards a parliamentary republic along the lines of the Westminster model. In Barbados that has been prejudiced by the small number of representatives and the highly structured two party system - two parties that really only offer versions of the same vision.

Given the above a non-executive President is my preference. Someone above party. But I would give the president some special powers. I will come back to this.

Elections and the Assembly

We have 30 constituencies and I think each constituency should elect members on the first past the post basis as now for the lower house. The upper house would have 26 members and of these 25 would be appointed by their parties on a proportional basis according to the national vote. 4% of the national vote gets you a seat. This is to give smaller parties a chance so that alternative voices can be heard, which now is not the case, and to ensure a viable opposition. The appointment of senators would be over. If you don’t like the monarchical system then why would you continue with a system that mimicks the House of Lords.

The 26th seat is reserved for the President who could cast a tie breaking vote if required.

I would have both houses meet as a unicameral chamber of 55 seats plus the Senate President who is automatically the Speaker. Lets face it, Senate debate is pretty dull and often nonsensical. Right now it is difficult to have a minister in the Senate but a unicameral arrangement would make that possible and provide a larger gene pool to staff ministries and committees. But I would have certain rules in place such as:

• Money bills from the annual budget to supplementaries require 33 votes to pass (60% of the Chamber).

• A vote of no confidence to cause an election would require 33 votes to succeed.

• Otherwise the life of a government is five years.

• The President will call upon the leader with most support in the combined chamber to form a government.

That leader will be the Prime Minister who will appoint a cabinet of not more than 14 Ministers in total (15 including the PM) from amongst the 55 members. The remaining two are the Speaker / Chamber President, tie breaking vote only.

Also from amongst the 55 regular voting members the President will appoint a Leader of the Opposition.

The chamber will conduct business not less than two times a week as follows:

• 1 sitting for business which will begin at noon with one hour for questions of the PM and Ministers

• 1 sitting for committees both standing and ad hoc.

The assembly year will be 40 weeks.

The year will commence with the delivery by the President of the government’s agenda for the year no later than the end of January of each year or if there has been an election, then no later than 2 weeks after that.

Within not more than 6 weeks of the President’s Speech the government will have brought a budget to be voted on. The Budget will reveal the government’s overall financial plan for the country including tax measures to be implemented, how revenues will be spent and a minimum three year forecast of revenues and expenditures. The Estimates (currently debated ad nauseum and into futility) will be relegated as an information appendix to support the budgetary plan.

The budget will have three chances at passing the chamber with 33 votes and if on the third attempt it does not pass then the President will dissolve the Parliament and call an election to be held within 4 weeks.

The Prime Minister will be obliged to advise the President in confidence of government and national affairs no less than every 14 days.

Committees

committees will be made up of 12 members one of whom will be the chair and will be selected amongst members in a way that reflects the make up of the Chamber

Standing and Ad Hoc Committees will be mandatory to explore avenues such as:

Finance Committee to monitor adherence to the budgetary plan and monitor government procurement processes.

Statutory Corporation Committee which will examine the operation of SOCs and receive their financial reports, on time.

Justice Committee to examine the operation of the Courts and police services.

Legislative Committee to examine proposed bills before they are presented for voting.

The election of and the Role of the President.

The Chamber of 55 members will elect a person to the office of President by a plurality of 33 votes. All 55 (ex Speaker) will vote but in the instance of a tie the Speaker will have the deciding vote.

The President will be Head of State but will not be a member of the executive government.

The President will appoint the PM and Leader of the Opposition.

He/ she may dissolve Parliament if the the government is unable to pass a budget. He may first call on another leader to try or failing that cause elections to happen.

He will read the President’s Speech each year in the Chamber to outline the government’s intentions. He will have the right to be consulted on all national matter at least every 14 days.

He will perform all the normal diplomatic functions.

He will chair the Office of Integrity in Government (OIG) along with two judicial members, and will have the right to recall any member in breach of the Integrity in Public Life Legislation. Think of this as a special court for Parliament.