Submission 103

Sent: Tuesday, April 18, 2023
To: ConstitutionalReform
Subject: Suggested Changes Regarding the Reform of the Constitution of Barbados

Dear Sir,

Please see the attached correspondence re: the above captioned project.

Yours sincerely

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SUGGESTION REGARDING THE REFORM OF THE CONSTITUTION OF BARBADOS

Recall of an elected member of the House of Assembly

I am uncertain as to whether the recall of a member of the House of Assembly ought to be included in the Constitution or should there be an act of Parliament setting out conditions/circumstances under which a Member of Parliament ought to be recalled.

There must be a vehicle under which a member of the House of Assembly may be recalled and a by-election called by the President. The by-election ought to be preceded by a petition from the majority of the constituents who elected the Member of Parliament.

Where there is no Constituency, as in the situation of a Member of Parliament who becomes a member as a result of obtaining a proportional representative seat, the Members of Parliament would vote by simple majority on a petition from the voting population at large, that threshold ought to be 10,000 signatures.

Opposition Members of Parliament

There must always be at least four opposition Members of Parliament.

The arrangement ought to be as follows:

Assuming there are 30 Constituencies, then the political party with the next highest percentage of votes to the winning party will be allowed to take four seats bringing the compliment of the House of Assembly to 34.

Similarly, if the winning party wins 29 Constituencies, then the political party with the next highest percentage of the votes will be allowed additional seats to bring the full compliment of the House to 33 seats.

Similarly, if the winning party wins 28 seats, then the full compliment of the house will be 32 seats.

If the winning party wins 26 seats, then the full compliment of the house will be 30 seats.

Speaker of the House of Assembly

The position of Speaker of the House of Assembly the Speaker ought to be chosen from the successful members in the proceeding election.

Provisions ought to be made for the election of the Speaker by secret ballot if there is more than one member nominated to stand.

In the event that one member is nominated and there are no objections, then that member should be made Speaker by acclamation.

The Senate

The Senate ought to be reformed, however, the composition ought to be based on the portion of votes attained at the proceeding general election and direct appointment by the President.

The number of Senators will remain at 21 and the Chairman shall be appointed by the President, in addition, the President shall also appoint an additional six members with skill/experience in the disciplines of Agriculture, Tourism. Commerce, Labour, Education and Health.

The remainder of the Senators shall be selected by the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition in the same proportion of the total number of votes cast for the elected Government and the opposition, for example, where the elected Government wins 60% of the total votes cast, then the Prime Minister would appoint 9 Senators and the Leader of the Opposition 5 Senators.