Leader of the Opposition Ralph Thorne on Monday warned that Barbados could become a gateway for CARICOM passport buyers, urging urgent scrutiny of the Free Movement of Nationals Bill and related citizenship laws.
As the opposition stepped up its criticism of the government’s signal regional integration policy, the enabling of free movement with St Vincent and the Grenadines, Dominica and Belize, Thorne raised the possibility that the legislation could permit people from outside the region to enter and remain in Barbados indefinitely once they have acquired citizenship from another CARICOM member state.
Both St Vincent and the Grenadines and Dominica participate in Citizenship by Investment (CBI) programmes.
He said: “If passports and citizenship have been sold to easterners and persons not so far east In other CARICOM countries, some of which may be part of this agreement, which this government hopes to make legislation, will they be numbered among those CARICOM nationals who will come to Barbados and who must be given entry and indefinite stay, with the Immigration Department having lost its discretion to exclude them?”
Thorne warned that the arrangement could potentially open “a back door” into Barbados for individuals with no cultural or historical ties to the region.
“This arrangement may be about opening doors,” he said. “The other country opened the front door — is this legislation the opening of a back door in this country by persons who are only recently described as CARICOM nationals?”
Thorne also cautioned that such a scheme could undermine the value and integrity of Barbadian citizenship.
“In short, how expensive is this scheme?” he asked. “Is the scheme, while opening front doors in other countries, intended to open a large back door in this country, thereby devaluing the citizenship that existed in Barbados from 1966 to present?”
He continued: “There’s a possibility that a noble scheme can be corrupted by transactional arrangements done not for love of country, not for love of region, but for the facilitation of something called money — the movement of money. That is called sale of a country. That is called sale of pride. That is called sale of love of country.”
Thorne further questioned why the Free Movement Bill was being treated separately from two other related pieces of legislation — one dealing with citizenship and the other with immigration — that had been sent to a Joint Select Committee for public consultation.
“Why is today’s legislation being separated from those two?” he asked. “What is so different? What is so special about this legislation that it is being rushed to this Parliament today and backdated to October 1? What is so important? What is so hasty about this one?”
(LG)
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