Barbados risks entrenching a “constitutional vacuum” by pressing ahead with parliamentary reforms before overhauling its outdated constitution, Opposition Leader Ralph Thorne warned on Tuesday, calling for the government to halt the process and prioritise long-promised constitutional change.
Thorne has dismissed the 2024 Parliamentary Reform Commission’s report as a pointless exercise in the absence of comprehensive constitutional reform, charging that Barbados continues to operate in a “constitutional vacuum” despite claiming republican status.
Speaking in Parliament on Tuesday during debate on the resolution to take note of the report, Thorne warned that any reform of Parliament must take place only within the framework of a new Republican Constitution.
He urged the government to halt the current process and instead table the long-awaited constitutional reform report, which remains unpublished.
“Parliamentary reform is only properly dealt with within the context of larger constitutional reform,” Thorne said.
“This country needs constitutional substance, not cosmetic changes that leave power untouched.”
He accused the government of clinging to Westminster-style governance while proclaiming republican ideals, and said that real power continues to rest with the prime minister rather than with the people.
Thorne further singled out one of the commission’s key recommendations, the introduction of “national MPs” alongside constituency representatives, as an example of what he called a troubling shift towards parliamentary elitism.
“Are we reversing into the backward depths of Westminster?” he asked, warning that such a hierarchy risks creating a two-tiered Parliament reminiscent of Britain’s House of Commons and House of Lords.
He said the proposal stood in direct contradiction to the principles of equal and unbiased representation that should define a republican system, and criticised the head of state for not rejecting it outright.
Thorne also questioned why the prime minister brought the report to Parliament if she disagreed with elements of it, calling her stance “politically unseemly”.
The 2024 Parliamentary Reform Commission report includes a range of recommendations, including structural changes to Parliament, limits on ministerial appointments, and calls for greater inclusivity.
But Thorne argued that without a binding constitutional framework to anchor such changes, the effort amounts to little more than a talking point.
“This government must not be allowed to hide behind prime ministerial power while putting off the people’s business of constitutional reform,” he said.
The Republican Constitution, he added, should include fixed election dates, stronger protections for public institutions, and an independent Speaker of the House.
Until then, he said, the country remains stuck in limbo—republican in name but Westminster in practice. (SM)
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