Even with the deletion of a contentious section of the Interception of Communication Bill, Opposition Leader Ralph Thorne wants the entire legislation scrapped and redone because it still contains avenues to spy on citizens’ communications without a warrant approved by a judge.
This was the contention of the Christ Church South MP and leader of the Democratic Labour Party (DLP) as the House of Assembly met on Friday on a Resolution to Concur Amendment to the Interception of Communication Bill 2025, the Criminal Proceedings (Witness Anonymity) Bill 2025, and the Firearms (Amendment) Bill 2025.
In a blistering presentation that saw him clash on several occasions with Speaker Arthur Holder, who sought to restrain Thorne to only those amendments to the legislation that were sent back from the Senate, the MP made it clear he did “not concur” with the amendments.
While supporting police intercepting communications in the fight against crime, he insisted the current legislation needs to be rewritten.
“This legislation trespasses on good constitutional law. It is wrong. They must remove it!
“And that’s why we’ve repeated the call for the scrapping of this legislation, the withdrawal of this legislation. It is in a state of confusion. They keep amending it here. And they’ve amended it in the Senate.
“They come back here, and it still is deficient. And that is what the public needs to understand. . . . I’m sorry for being angry. But I’m not alone in my anger. The public is angry about this,” said the opposition leader.
He insisted that citizens were also not happy with the tint legislation and the aborted Cybercrime Bill.
Thorne told the Lower House: “This government continues to trample on the rights of the people in this country under the guise of legislation. And this is one such piece of legislation that tramples on the rights of people. It is unconstitutional. Section 13 of Section 2 is unconstitutional, and it must be removed – not the mere removal of words. Section 13-2 must be removed in its entirety.
“And this legislation must find its ultimate destination. If not back in the office of the chief parliamentary counsel, at some parliamentary subcommittee, which will talk to some sense and tell them that it is wrong and that it is unconstitutional.”
Describing the situation as a “woeful state of confusion”, the opposition leader insisted that Barbadians had good reason to be upset with the administration.
“You think people feel comfortable in this country that every time they pick up their phone and the precious medium of WhatsApp, somebody is listening to them, claiming that it is to suppress crime when we in this country know it is political.”
He added: “I want the public to know that . . . the deletion of 5-2-B . . . from this legislation still does not solve the problem, that under this Act as amended, there’s still a bypass of the courts.”
Moreover, Thorne asserted the public still believes that the right to privacy and the right to conduct private telephone calls represented a “sacred right”.
He also chided Attorney General Dale Marshall and Minister of Home Affairs Wilfred Abrahams for telling Barbadians during the August 8 debate that wiretapping could only occur with a warrant from the High Court, when this was not the case. (IMC)
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