HAS "THE REPUBLIC" become a BLP (Barbados Labour Party) joke? The People's Empowerment Party (PEP) is charging the Barbados Labour Party Government with making "mock sport" at the notion of Barbados becoming a republic. The PEP is appalled that the Deputy Prime Minister can give the Barbadian people a solemn assurance that a "referendum" on Barbados becoming a republic would be held at the time of the next general election, and then withdraw that undertaking within the space of one week! Seriousness lacking Indeed, there has never been any seriousness in the approach of the BLP Government to this issue of Barbados becoming a republic! The Barbadian people should recall that the BLP gave an undertaking to transform Barbados into a republic as long ago as the 1999 general election. Some eight years have now elapsed, and it is yet to take a single serious step to make this promise a reality. In fact, virtually everything that the BLP Government has done opposes republican principles and indicates it is wedded to a monarchical form of Government. How, for example, can the BLP Government be in favour of Barbados becoming a republic and still continue to dish out "titles of nobility" in the form of knighthoods to Barbadian citizens? A republic is a nation state in which supreme power and authority is derived from and vested in the people or their elected representatives. One of the fundamental features of a republic is that vestiges of "aristocratic power" based on family or racial background are eradicated. How can the BLP Government be serious about Barbados becoming a republic when it has just terminated the control of the elected representatives of the people over a power as significant as the power to set interest rates in Barbados? How can it be serious about republicanism when it sees nothing wrong with entering Barbados into binding international agreements such as the economic partnership agreement (EPA) without consulting the people and securing their consent? Head of state Becoming a republic is not simply about the head of state of Barbados becoming a Barbadian! There are consequences and implications that go way beyond that relatively trivial and straightforward issue. In light of the national confusion that currently surrounds the issue of republicanism, the PEP hereby gives a public undertaking to the Barbadian people that our party will undertake a national public educational programme to properly ventilate and discuss this issue with the Barbadian people. - DAVID A. COMISSIONG
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