OK by Lashley, Atherley

Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley’s plan to introduce anti-defection legislation has been given conditional approval by at least two former parliamentarians who crossed the floor.

Minutes after being sworn in on Thursday as Prime Minister for a third consecutive term, following her Barbados Labour Party’s (BLP) third 30-0 sweep in Wednesday’s General Election, Mottley revealed that her parliamentary party had agreed to introduce anti-defection legislation which would require Members of Parliament who leave the party on whose ticket they were elected to seek a fresh mandate from constituents.

Understood

The announcement was made against the background of former BLP Christ Church South representative Ralph Thorne’s defection to the Democratic Labour Party (DLP) and becoming Opposition Leader in 2024, two years after his election on a BLP ticket. Thorne suffered a crushing defeat in Wednesday’s poll when he contested the St John seat for the first time.

Yesterday, former MP Hamilton Lashley, who represented the constituency of St Michael South East for the BLP, DLP and also sat in the House of Assembly as an Independent, and Bishop Joseph Atherley, who defected from the BLP while representing St Michael West to become Opposition Leader in 2018, said they understood the Prime Minister’s motivation for considering such legislation at this time. However, both offered suggestions on how they believed the legislation should be approached.

About his initial switch from the DLP to the BLP, Lashley told the Saturday Sun: “I was voted in under the Democratic Labour Party banner and I sat in Opposition for about three and a half years before an offer was made to me to come over to the BLP.

‘About the people’

“I was representing four of the biggest housing areas in Barbados, people from the lower socio-economic bracket of Barbados. Here it is, I am representing this demographic, when the opportunity was given to me to come over to the BLP and I was offered a ministry. It was not about me, it was about the people,” he explained.

He maintained that the people one represented must be the main focus, and that was the reason why he consulted with his constituents and got their approval for his move.

“I believe that any politician who wants to make decisions like crossing the floor, their first order of business would be to consult their people first . . . . I do not have a problem with Government trying to legislate crossing the floor, but there must first be approval from the people.

“Right now, if the Prime Minister of Barbados sees it as a necessity to legislate, let that be it, but I would suggest that you have a discussion with the people first. Perhaps consultation should also include the people, perhaps a national referendum. Get a mandate from the people,” Lashley insisted.

Atherley said he could understand the Prime Minister’s position.

“It is true that though the parliamentary laws of Barbados do not recognise the political party as an entity in the operations of Parliament, it is true that a lot of people do vote for you on the basis of the party with which you are associated, or the policies of that party as are enunciated prior to elections.

“So I understand the view that if a person is going to cross the floor, it might be good if they have to go to the electorate . . . . So I understand where the Prime Minister is coming from with respect to the proposed legislation,” he said.

However, he suggested that when the legislation is brought to Parliament and a vote is to be taken, “that vote should be derived from secret ballot and not open ballot”.

He explained: “There may be one or two people faced with a situation within a party who might not want to say ‘nay’ when in fact their heart tells them ‘nay’, but they don’t want to say ‘nay’ because they feel that they may in some way be discriminated against or be penalised, or they may themselves feel intimidated.”

The former Opposition Leader pointed out that he did not cross the floor because of disaffection with the BLP, but because he felt the need to have some sort of Opposition voice in Parliament.

Meanwhile, political scientist Dr George Belle reasoned that the Prime Minister might be responding with legislation to put a stop to the relatively recent development in Barbados’ political culture where someone is likely to use “a political base that perhaps in many cases they could not develop on their own, and is using it to challenge the people that helped them to get into Parliament”.

Body found

A decomposed body was found at Selman Road, Fisherpond, St Joseph, around 8 a.m. on Wednesday.

According to police, an employee at a plantation was conducting work when the discovery was made in a bushy area. Officers at District “D” Police Station are continuing investigations,.

Anyone who may have any information and can assist is asked to contact the Crime Stoppers hotline at 1-800-8477, police emergency 211 or District “D” Police Station at 419-1726. ( PR/SAT)

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