Senators on Friday evening pushed through a controversial constitutional amendment to prevent MPs from switching sides in Parliament without facing a by-election, in a vote that exposed sharp divisions over political freedom and accountability – but only gained three dissenting voices in the Upper Chamber.
Four of the seven independent lawmakers sided with the government in passing the Constitution (Amendment) Bill — which is aimed at preventing elected Members of Parliament from “crossing the floor” of the House to join the opposition without triggering a by-election. But of the remaining three, only one voted against the measure.
Three dissenting votes came from the two opposition senators Ryan Walters and Karina Goodridge, joined by independent Senator Reverend Canon Dr John Rogers, signalling concern over the potential implications for parliamentary freedom and the rights of elected representatives.
Two independents, Dr Kenneth Connell and Ryan Forde, abstained, neither formally backing nor rejecting the amendment.
The final tally in the Senate showed strong support for the amendment – 15 to three.
The amendment effectively entrenches political parties in the post-Independence Constitution of Barbados for the first time.
Although two independent blue-ribbon panels chosen by Prime Minister Mia Mottley, the Constitutional Review Commission and the Parliamentary Reform Commission, decisively reaffirmed the right of a parliamentarian to cross the floor of the House of Assembly – under the Constitution’s original notion that electors choose representatives rather than parties – Mottley made the amendment a singular priority of the government after winning re-election for a third term on February 11, again sweeping up all the seats in the 30-member lower chamber.
Unlike the two previous single-party parliaments, when the absence of an opposition led to backbenchers Bishop Joseph Atherley and Ralph Thorne crossing the floor to become the Leader of the Opposition in 2018 and 2024 respectively, the passage of the amendment ends the possibility of any opposition voice in the House of Assembly unless returned in a by-election following a dissident MP’s resignation or expulsion from the majority party.
Wrapping up the debate, Senator Lisa Cummins, the Leader of Government Business, addressed one of the concerns raised, declaring that the legislation did not infringe on anyone’s right to dissent or prevent them from expressing their own opinions.
She said: “There is nothing in this legislation that prevents persons from having freedom of association. There’s nothing in this legislation that prevents a person from dissenting, and I believe we’ve heard even in the Barbados Labour Party — the government that presented this proposal — that we have members who dissent all the time in the other place [the House of Assembly].”
Earlier, in outlining her support for the bill, Deputy Speaker Senator Elizabeth Thompson suggested that the people representing a political party are elected by constituents based on its manifesto, policy position, platform and leader, and that any decision to cross the floor should result in having to return to the electorate.
She said: “If you decide that you no longer want to vote or be part of that political structure, then by all means let your seat be vacated. When the seat is vacated, a by-election has to be called.
You can run as an independent, you can run as a member of any political party in Barbados, you can run as a member of the opposition for the very people you were opposing during the election, you can run again, and if the people who elected you want you there, they are at liberty to re-elect you…. There is nothing wrong with that.
“There are parents who say to children, ‘Listen boy, once you live in my house you have to live by my rules, and people in here don’t smoke weed. If you want to do that, go outside.’ It is a similar sort of thing. The Barbados Labour Party is saying we are starting this term by making it clear that if you want to exist outside of our political structure, ‘No problem, go ahead and do so — run for whomever you wish, whenever you wish, however you wish, and let the public endorse you again as their parliamentary representative’.”
Though he would later abstain from the vote, Senator Forde argued that any MP switching parties should be required to face the electorate again, stating that a “simple crossover to a new party”, regardless of motivation, is a “total level of disrespect to supporters and makes a mockery of our voting system and commitment”.
Acknowledging the need to build a strong and re-energised nation, he said the bill amendment was not perfectly conceived. “The intention of this bill amendment is not 100 per cent wrong nor is it 100 per cent right. We may never get 100 per cent at all, but we can definitely make improvements that protect us all,” he said.
“In my opinion, we as a people spend way too much time arguing or promoting the idea that individuals who step forward for civic duty are doing such for personal gain and for power. That’s no way for us to love Barbados and move Barbados forward, hence why we sometimes run ourselves in circles and progress is sometimes delayed at snail pace…. I want to see progress in my lifetime. We must remember that we are the Republic of Barbados, a strong and proud nation, and we must rebuild and re-energise it together.”
jeniquebelgrave@barbadostoday.bb
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