The Government of Barbados and the people of Barbados should be commended on the manner in which the honorable Fruendel Stuart has been sworn into the office of prime minister (PM) without any difficulties following the death of the late David Thompson earlier this morning.
Mr. Stuart's appointment must be in keeping with the Barbados Constitution so as to prevent any future hiccups.
Performance of Prime Minister's functions in certain events
67. 1. Whenever the Prime Minister is unable, by reason of his illness or absence from Barbados, to perform the functions of his office, the Governor General may, by instrument under the Public Seal, authorize any other Minister who is a member of the House of Assembly to perform the functions conferred on the Prime Minister by this Constitution (other than the functions conferred by subsection (3)).
2. The Governor General may, by instrument under the Public Seal, revoke any authority given under this section.
3. The powers conferred on the Governor General by this section shall be exercised by him acting in his discretion if in his opinion it is impracticable to obtain the advice of the Prime Minister owing to the Prime Minister's illness or absence, and in any other case shall be exercised by the Governor General in accordance with the advice of the Prime Minister.
What one may interpret here from the excerpt is that in the PM's absence, he may nominate a Member of Parliament to hold the office of acting Prime Minister while he/she is away from the office.
On his return, the Acting Prime Minister would be resolved of his duties, and one would suspect that the correspondence between the PM and the Governor General would become null and void.
If this were the case, then the passing of the Prime Minister would mean that the Governor General would then have to be called upon to nominate the a new PM, unless the PM before his death had asked the Governor General to allow another MP to operate in the office of Prime Minister because he the PM, was unable to do so.
In the case of Mr. Freundel Stuart, the parliamentary group met and elected him as leader and via a signed letter, according to Mr. Denis Kellman, Mr. Stuart was elected as the Prime Minister so as to be accepted by the Governor General.
The Governor General acting on section 65.1 of the Constitution would have appointed who carried the most support. Since this is totally at the discretion of the GG, it seems he could have elected any Member of Parliament without the consent of the ruling party.
Section 65.1 - Whenever the Governor General has occasion to appoint a Prime Minister he shall, acting in his discretion, appoint the member of the House of Assembly who, in his judgment, is best able to command the confidence of a majority of the members of that House.
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Dear Pimeminster stuart, I am shocked and very disappointed to read this story and would hope that this problem will be taken care of, in the right and correct manner, as we love Barbados but would think twice if this situation was to go on, please feel free to contact me to explain how you are going to deal with this urgent problem..... A.J.Rothschild................
More than four months after Jamai-can Shanique Myrie was finger- *edited out* d, verbally abused, locked up and kicked out of Barbados, the Barbadian Government is yet to respond to correspondence from her lawyers.
Shanique Myrie
Attorneys Anthony Hylton and Michelle Brown, who represent Myrie, say they have made repeated attempts to get the government of that eastern Caribbean island to address the issue but to date no positive response has been forthcoming.
Myrie, who was detained at the Grantley Adams International Airport in March, claimed that she was subjected to two demeaning cavity searches, locked in a cold, filthy room and kicked out of the country the following day, despite not being found with any contraband or in contravention of that country’s laws.
She also said she was verbally abused by a female customs officer who allegedly told her that ‘All you (expletive) Jamaicans come here to do is either steal people’s man or bring drugs here’.
“…The Barbadian Govern-ment has not been responsive,” said Hylton. He said former Attorney General and Justice Minister Dorothy Lightbourne as well as Foreign Affairs minister Ken Baugh and permanent secretary in that ministry, Ambassador Evadne Coy, had written to the Barbadian Government seeking redress for Myrie but their efforts have also been spurned.
The high-handed attitude of the Barbadian Government has been confirmed by an official from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade.
“There has been no concrete or diplomatic response from the Barbadian Govern-ment on the Shanique Myrie issue,” the ministry official said.
However, Hylton said any attempt by Barbados to ignore the issue, with the hope that it will die a natural death, would be a wrong move. “We feel that more than enough time has expired between the attempt by the Government to engage the Barbadian Government plus our own intervention and we are now at the stage where we are getting ready to take this to another level,” Hylton said.
In the aftermath of the incident, Barbadian Prime Minister Freundel Stuart said he was inviting Myrie to return to Barbados and point out her abusers, but according to Hylton, although Stuart made the statements during an interview with the Caribbean Media Corporation, they were just empty words.
Action must be taken now.................