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Posted to Facebook by June Naime Yesterday at 10:15pm.
Independence, 1966
Independence, 1966

Going Republic might sound good in principle but when you change the legal entity to another legal entity every Treaty every Agreement even down to the letterhead has to change including all international Airline Routes, every Double Taxation Treaty will need to be changed and amended.

Do you think that Barbados in the Re-Negotiation is going to get the upper or lower hand…it certainly will not be the same. The only people that stand to benefit are Lawyers and Those Seeking Power Over The People.

Under the Commonwealth there may be an influence for us to stay Democratic where under a Republic nobody has our back and as a small Nation this is crucial. Too much power is already concentrated in the hands of the Prime Minister and it will be more so with no accountability. By becoming a Republic we will be on a fast road like Venezuela our neighbours. Although these are the effects of Socialism, this will definitely put more power into the hands of fewer people.

This is the worst possible time where Barbados is at its weakest financially and in the International Arena, we will be putting ourselves to Re- Negotiate everything. When they want to take peoples minds off of these trouble times in Barbados that Politicians who make promises and cannot fix, the strategy of the Left is Misdirection, Magicians use SLIGHT OF HAND all the time, it is their favourite tool. The Dems are using this ploy to hype more votes for re-election and also by linking this Republic Ploy, to the 50th Anniversary of Independence. We are constantly bombarded on the airwaves daily with countdown to this Celebratory time.

So far from helping Barbados we are hearing about projects that cost Billions including Waterworks 1 billion… We will only reap higher water rates, all we will see is a new building and none of that money used to get more water for Bajans, they are acting like they can cause it to rain! Is God telling us something by the Drought? Are we are heading in the wrong direction? What about The Airport Project 1½ Billion and Cahill 700 Million? I suppose that Bajans jumped the gun with the Cahill project when it is already a done deal with land selling in St.Thomas for a few cents per Acre and the finders fee of 200 million said to be divided between 5 persons! Who is going to repay this debt and who is benefits, certainly not We The People, our Grand Children and their Children for Generations to come will be made to pay.

By moving in the Direction of a Republic will put us in More Debt, More taxes, more Serfdom and the only way for the people of Barbados to STOP & CHANGE THE DIRECTION IS TO SAY ENOUGH IS ENOUGH.

LET YOUR VOICES BE HEARD LOUD AND CLEAR, Civil Servants work for the people not the other way around. The power is in Our Hands; we can prevent them from becoming the Civil Master!

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157 responses to “Becoming a Republic”

  1. Shirf Avatar
    Shirf

    Stupse who need a republic; When we travel to Canada and some other places a visa will be needed. will the taxes be less. Queens SIRs will be out and a Bajan SIR will be it. Which idiot will be the President. WHAT IS IN IT FOR THE LOCALS……. bare stress

  2. onlooker Avatar
    onlooker

    His Excel.The Rt. Hon Errol W. Barrow took this country into Independence in 1966, The Hon. F Stuart wants to be celebrated as the P.M who 50 years later took us into Republic. Maybe he wants to upstage Mr Barrow, maybe he wants to be a National Hero too and a special Bank Holiday. Think of it, do you like sweet and sour pork? Then let us take the BEST and WORSE P.M this country has ever had to take us through these special landmarks. With the money that will be spent on the Independence 50th celebrations, why should we be spending a similar amount or more right now to change to being a Republic? Isn’t our BNB bank already a Republic Bank, even though it’s no longer ours?

  3. FearPlay Avatar
    FearPlay

    Talking about Bajan “Sirs”, with all the “Feel good” emotions generated by this 50th Anniversary carnival, what better time to reward some goodly DLP foot solders than by “nighting” Sir Leroy of CLICO fame and Sir DeLisle of Central Bank fame. The black slave masters know that they can do anything they wish and the docile slaves will grumble a little and continue merrily on our way.

  4. Jeff Cumberbatch Avatar
    Jeff Cumberbatch

    The opening paragraph of this spiel is abject and maudlin fallacy. The rest is not much else, but I suppose that its sentiment is the populist flavour of the moment.

  5. David Avatar
    David

    A maudlin fallacy Jeff?

  6. Jeff Cumberbatch Avatar
    Jeff Cumberbatch

    Precisely, David. We are already a fully competent sovereign nation, Republicanism will not change that. Mawkish, even.

  7. David Avatar
    David

    Ok Jeff, nothing ambiguous about your view of going Republic.

  8. are-we-there-yet Avatar
    are-we-there-yet

    I see this post has been damned with the faint criticism of being flavoured with maudlin, mawkish, populist and fallacious sentimentality, nothing more.

    Nice!

  9. ac Avatar
    ac

    Stupsee the same poison arrows that were headed in EWB direction when he spoke of a new vision for barbados by way of Independence have been sharpened and shining brighter than ever heading towards FJS as he speaks of another chartered and visionary patch for Barbados namely that of becoming a Republic Fortunately for EWB and for FJS history will have the last word while the voices of the naysayers recedes into oblivion

  10. are-we-there-yet Avatar
    are-we-there-yet

    A quote from June Naime above.

    “The only people that stand to benefit are Lawyers and Those Seeking Power Over The People”.

    Discuss, from the standpoint that the quotation above, despite trending to maudlin and salacious overstatement, has some intrinsic demonstrable merit.

  11. Hants Avatar
    Hants

    @ Jeff Cumberbatch,

    I remember a politician who said something like this, ” de people don’t understand what a Federation is. Dey only know when somebody say “dey is a federation of blows sharing by de stan pipe.”

    This was when they were discussing the “West Indies Federation” in the 50s.

    Maybe de people doan onstan wha a Republic is.

  12. Well Well & Consequences2 Avatar
    Well Well & Consequences2

    Why is Adriel ‘nitwit’ Brathwaite trying to divert funds from social services to fight “Terrorism”, the only terrorism and terrorists on the island are coming from those who has had the supreme court and the office of the DPP under seige for decades and they have been enabled and allowed to by the same DBLP politicians, those are the local terrorists he should be fighting against and getting rid of for their destructive ways and compromising of the court system..

    Brathwaite knows who has been bringing the guns into the island for decades, why is he not stopping them instead of trying to distract the population with his nitwit nonsense. The social services are already unable to cope because of lack of funds. Why is he focing on international terroism and leaving the local, daily terrorism of the local people alone….nitwit.

    “We are exposed!
    Brathwaite warns that national interests must supercede religious interests

    Added by Emmanuel Joseph on January 5, 2016.
    Saved under Loal News

    Attorney General Adriel Brathwaite yesterday warned that Barbados was exposed now more than ever to threats of international terrorism, while stating that Government was prepared to meet local Muslims and Rastafarians halfway on the controversial requirement that female members remove their headdress when taking official photographs.

    The matter was recently brought to the fore by one Muslim woman who threatened to take Government to court after she was ordered to remove her hijab to take photographs for a national identification card, passport and driver’s licence.

    However, Brathwaite told Barbados TODAY yesterday afternoon that a proposed amendment to the law, which would allow both Muslim and Rastafarian women to keep on their headdress, while ensuring their faces are shown, had been before the Electoral Office for some time.

    “They [Electoral Office] are proposing an amendment to the regulations that would enable people to maintain their headdress while enabling us to be able to satisfy ourselves that the person sitting in front of us, and the persons whose photograph we are taking, and the person, when you present the photograph, is the same individual. So that’s being addressed, in other words,” Brathwaite revealed.

    However, he insisted that the move by Government was not due to any threatened lawsuit.

    “It is being addressed because they have looked at best practices across the world and want to ensure that we can accommodate people’s religious beliefs, while satisfying our own national security requirements,” he said, adding that there was a broader issue of national security.

    In this regard, he made reference to a recent incident involving seven Bangladeshis who had spent time in Trinidad and were later reportedly invited here by a section of the local Muslim community.

    While Brathwaite declined to go into details on the matter, Barbados TODAY has been reliably informed that the matter involving the Bangladeshis ended up before the law courts after Immigration authorities refused to extend their stay here.

    The action by the Muslim host was viewed as inimical to the country’s best interest, and though the case did not succeed in the law courts, authorities were concerned that attempts were being made to put the religious group’s interests ahead of the national interest.

    The Bangladeshi incident apart, Brathwaite believes Barbadians in general need to be wary of the threat posed by terrorism, in an era in which the international group ISIS has been going after countries deemed to sympathetic to the United States, Britain and other perceived enemies of the Islamic organization.

    Based on the island’s small size, the Attorney General further warned that it would be difficult for it to recover from the devastation of a bomb attack, which he said would not only adversely impact citizens, but could setback the vital tourism and international business sectors.

    So seriously is he taking the threat of terrorism, that Brathwaite has also suggested that Barbados may very well have to divert some of its funding for social services, such as health and education, to national security.

    “We now face the challenge of the need to spend more of our resources on security issues . . . [and] to bring onboard more Customs officers, more police, more immigration.

    “We will have to spend more money and get more people onboard. It concerns me immensely,” Brathwaite emphasized. “What happens in the rest of the world will happen in the region, will happen in Barbados,” he warned.

    “It is something we need to keep our eyes on. And as part of the national security apparatus, I certainly will be keeping my eyes on it more and more, because Barbados should come first . . . not religion, not whatever conviction,” he told Barbados TODAY.

    “The national security considerations of this country should come first. We are too small to withstand any kind of threat or violence we have seen in other parts of the world,” he stressed, while asking aloud: Who would have thought 20 years ago, the country would be experiencing the level of gunplay that now exists?”

  13. Well Well & Consequences2 Avatar
    Well Well & Consequences2

    There needs to be a forum of the people for the people discussing what the process of becoming a Republic entails for the benefit of those who don’t understand. It should not take more than a week to explain and should not drag into the next decade. They need to know the upside and downside. There are islands in the Caribbean already republic for years and they did not sink into a pit of confusion and indecision to achieve that status, most people are not aware that Dominica has been a republic for some time.

    As long as DBLP leaders don’t equate becoming a republic as a free-for-all for themselves and their esteemed friends to commit all manner of crimes on the island and against the people, the transition and future implementation should be a breeze.

    Yes, am sure the lawyers, with no scruples and who are so inclined, will be lining up to burden the taxpayers with million dollar fees for legal interpretation of every new constitutional law, the greed and fix will be in, that’s a given. They will not see it as preforming a public service for a new Republic……their own Republic. I bet their calculators are already out and powered up….disgusting.

  14. Jeff Cumberbatch Avatar
    Jeff Cumberbatch

    @Hants, what is most amusing is that we are already a republic in constitutional substance, just one that has chosen to adopt a foreign monarch as our head of state. I have already identified this topic as my next column. Perhaps I was a trifle OTT in my characterisation of the first paragraph, but it is merely another spurious objection to removing the anomaly of swearing allegiance to the Queen of the United Kingdom. Renegotiate treaties what?

  15. David Avatar
    David

    @Jeff

    We have to assume you place no credence in the use of symbols to mold impressionable minds? What is responsible for flaming patriotism for example?

  16. Jeff Cumberbatch Avatar
    Jeff Cumberbatch

    @AWTY, Perhaps I am dense, but maybe it can be explained slowly to me how lawyers will benefit from Barbados becoming a republic…and while you are at it, how will this change naturally increase the power of a governing administration.

  17. Jeff Cumberbatch Avatar
    Jeff Cumberbatch

    @David, individual patriotism here seems to vary with one’s allegiance to the party in power. I am not sure which symbols play a part.

  18. David Avatar
    David

    It should not matter ones political allegiance B or D, the idea of nurturing patriotic feelings should overlap.

  19. balance Avatar
    balance

    Jeff, am I to understand then that it really makes no difference to the development of us as a people whether we obtain Republican status or not.

  20. Jeff Cumberbatch Avatar
    Jeff Cumberbatch

    @ balance, I would not be so dogmatic. Condtitutionally, we would have a local head of state. Psychologically, we would have finally cut the apron strings of our former partial sovereign power. Financially, no immediate benefit. “Development” has more facets than one.

  21. balance Avatar
    balance

    Points taken but they are some like me who do not think a head of state local or foreign is necessary anyway and the cutting of strings from our former to use your choice of word ‘partial’ partner is merely symbolic. Yes, I agree that development has many ‘facets’ but in our scheme of things I can only see it from my myopic blinkers which is the progress Barbados has made infra-structurally and socially over the years in terms of the expansion and provision of such services as education, housing, health. True over the years values have suffered but generally speaking the transformation of Barbados from a sleepy village to a much admired small country with little resources.

  22. are-we-there-yet Avatar
    are-we-there-yet

    Jeff Cumberbatch;

    You asked above;
    “@AWTY, Perhaps I am dense, but maybe it can be explained slowly to me how lawyers will benefit from Barbados becoming a republic.”

    No continuing benefit, I think, but read the last paragraph of WW&C post @ 4.51 am above for a succint position that identifies constitutional lawyers as the possible immediate direct beneficiaries of the implementation of a change to republicanism here that is likely to be common. Whether it is true or not could be explained in your next post. Please educate us and give some indicative figures if you can.

    You also asked
    “…and while you are at it, how will this change naturally increase the power of a governing administration?”

    I really don’t know, but I have an intuitive feeling that somehow safeguards might be less under the new system if it is fashioned by politicians of the ilk that would have allowed the Cahill matter to fester if we are to believe some of the BU disclosures. But, I am willing to be educated on that and other aspects of a home grown republicanism and the standards that will be enshrined in improving the aspects of governance in that utopian state.

  23. Bush Tea Avatar
    Bush Tea

    Even if it makes sense changing to a Republic, how the donkey can it make sense to do it in the middle of the worst economic performance in our history; at a time when we have been selling out house and home in order to buy food to eat; when our leaders have been caught with their hands in CLICO, CAHILL and other cookie jars; …and when we are being governed by the biggest set of jackasses ever to have been assembled in one place….?

    Bushie worries that the whole objective of Froon and company is to create a situation where he and his band of CLICO/CAHILL thieves will be immune from prosecution after this Republic shiite is put together…. to live happily ever afterwards on their pensions and finder’s fees….

    Creating a Republic at this time is like a fellow rushing to get married after forty nine years of living in a common law union …. when he realise that he getting horned….

  24. Caribbean Trade Law Avatar
    Caribbean Trade Law

    Just as a matter of legal clarification, please note that becoming a Republic will not invalid or in any way affect any treaties the state of Barbados has entered into under international law.

  25. are-we-there-yet Avatar
    are-we-there-yet

    Jeff Cumberbatch;

    Please also carefully note the sentiments expressed in Bush Tea’s post @ 8:28 am.

    In his inimitable style BT has captured the essence of what I have been laboriously trying to say above. Hope you would address those concerns in your coming explanatory article on the need for, ramifications, benefits and demerits of a republic status for Barbados.

  26. balance Avatar
    balance

    “at a time when we have been selling out house and home in order to buy food to eat”

    Bushie perhaps I am naïve, stupid or too blind to see but I am just not seeing at this time anything of the sort to justify such a comment. Yes, the poor would always be with us but people are feting like crazy and spending perhaps on wants and not needs.

  27. are-we-there-yet Avatar
    are-we-there-yet

    …… also, Why is it so important that we will now have a local head of state if other attributes of the system remain essentially the same?

    Will the local head of state have any greater executive powers than our current Governor General now has that would allow him/her to intervene in any matter that he/she thinks will seriously affect, or has seriously affected the governance of the country?

    Or would his/her powers be ceremonial only?

    If the powers are essentially the same in the new dispensation would the change be merely a mawkish one that results in only maudlin insubstantial benefits to the people?

    If, OTOH, the new President will have increased powers might there not be some potential dangers there? …. and how would the people and the Government be able to keep the President in check if circumstances require it?

    Perhaps Bushtea could translate the above for me.

  28. FearPlay Avatar
    FearPlay

    Should you not be in agreement with a one year carnival celebrating 50 years of independence(?), my suggestion is to boycott every single event that has been so transparently designed as part of a reelection campaign funded by the heavily burdened taxpayers of this country.

  29. are-we-there-yet Avatar
    are-we-there-yet

    Balance;

    We perhaps need a survey to underpin your and BT’s understandings of the effects of the current situation on the various sectors of the public by age, job, educational status, support for one political party or the other, etc.

    In my own view there is a lot of suffering out there resulting from the spinoff effects of the austerity measures and lack of growth of the economy over the last several years. But there are also a lot of people who are living extravagantly because they can afford to, or still have jobs, are somewhat hedonistic or perhaps know no better.

    There are at least 2 Barbadoses. One is being slowly affected by our economic and moral situation and the other is being massively impacted. Ignoring the one while highlighting the woes of the other and the possible chaotic effects that they could each have on the other, will stand no one in good stead.

  30. Jeff Cumberbatch Avatar
    Jeff Cumberbatch

    Why is it so important that we have a local head of state? Why is it so important to have local judges, prime ministers, leaders of the opposition, parliamentarians, newspapers….?

  31. Gabriel Avatar
    Gabriel

    I am yet to be convinced of the benefit(s?)of republican status for Barbados and the adjacent islands of the Caribbean.These islands are void of natural resources except for what they have become famous; buccaneers,pirates ,sun,sea and for the most part a cosmopolitan fun loving people who think fetes,music festivals and carnivals are what life is about.The fact that we(all the islands bar none)are not all subject to one form of democratic governance is a source of regret and should only be laid at the feet of greedy,visionless, Europeans and an ignorant,myopic planter class whose modus operandi was(is?)plunder,pillage,rape,kill and live high off the hog,there being no tomorrow and no system of governance willing to speak or represent the will of the masses of aboriginals,blacks and browns.

  32. are-we-there-yet Avatar
    are-we-there-yet

    Jeff Cumberbatch;

    Yuh din’ ansuh de question!

    But let me ask another one.

    Does the importance of the head of state being a local person primarily reside in the population having a feel good, mawkish, warm feeling that we are really and truly independent, despite all the evidence that BT assembled that we, objectively, are not?

    Will it bring any tangible new benefits for any important aspect of life in Barbados?

  33. David Avatar
    David

    @Jeff

    Can you define what the Bajan identify? What are the inputs that help to define who we are as a people country.

  34. Weston Avatar
    Weston

    I think there are two key questions in this:

    Do the people want it? Other Commonwealth countries in recent years, eg Australia, have given the decision to the people through a referendum. Wouldn’t that be the fairest approach here as well?
    Can we afford it? What will it cost to change all those government documents, uniforms and building names when “HM” no longer applies?

  35. David Avatar
    David

    Why is a referendum required? It was known that both political parties favoured a Republican system before the last general election.

  36. Weston Avatar
    Weston

    I understand that both parties favoured a referendum. It was not an issue that was debated during the campaign however and the fact that they both support a republic means that those people who prefer the status quo have no way of having any influence on such a significant constitutional change. That wouldn’t matter if they were a small minority, but are they?

  37. David Avatar
    David

    @Weston

    In a democracy if as an intelligent people we were engaged then those against a Republican system would have given vent to their feelings. This is where the real change must come.

  38. Jeff Cumberbatch Avatar
    Jeff Cumberbatch

    @ David, I am not so sure that I can accurately define the Barbadian identity. We are certainly a very proud people, kind, with a predilection for the external to the detriment of the local, love to boast of our national educaional achievements but are not especially partial to alternative opinion, unreceptive to change, cannot deal with uncertainty…shall I go on? Far too politically polarized for our own good…

  39. Jeff Cumberbatch Avatar
    Jeff Cumberbatch

    @AWTY, I am not certain which question I did not answer. As to the new one, I have already indicated that the significance of a local head of state is principally psychological. If you had the choice of a head of state among the British Monarch, a local and Obama, whom would you choose? And why?

  40. David Avatar
    David

    @Jeff

    Yours maybe a jaundice view. What is clear is that we struggle to define a Bajan identity, this is revealing!

  41. Hants Avatar
    Hants

    not crossing wunna but is Donville Inniss “positioning” to be the next Prime Minister of Barbados.

  42. Colonel Buggy Avatar
    Colonel Buggy

    Weston January 5, 2016 at 2:22 PM #
    I think there are two key questions in this:

    Can we afford it? What will it cost to change all those government documents, uniforms and building names when “HM” no longer applies?
    …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
    Most likely you will find that right now there is a shortage of Government Stationery. Many uniforms of government employees, including the police, looks the worst for wear, and the names of building and institutions in Barbados will remain unchanged, as you will never see the British names of Combermere , Codrington, or Harrison change to local names. And what are local names, such as Brathwaite, Cumberbatch and Lord (e). Yes we all have English,Welsh and Scottish names are we going to change them too.

  43. Colonel Buggy Avatar
    Colonel Buggy

    Hants January 5, 2016 at 3:40 PM #
    I do not know about PM, but right now he is the MP ( MOUTH PIECE) of the Government, and a big one too.

  44. Bush Tea Avatar
    Bush Tea

    Donville is well qualified to be the mouthpiece of the Government.

    He has the ability to spew out an endless litany of cliches – (mostly irrelevant or meaningless when reviewed); to talk total shiite with a straight face (except for the funny crossed eyes); and he actually seem to believe that he sounds sensible….

    Ever since his announcement of a new hospital at Wotton, Bushie dismissed him as a direct descendent of Balaam’s chat-mate….. he should stick with his forte on the internet…

    However, given that the various alternatives are even less palatable, he seem to be the de-fault mouthpiece of the DLP….

    Wait…. anybody heard Irene SG talking at her recent Christmas party in St Andrew…?
    Shiite….. 🙂
    If she ain’t AC… um is she sister….
    ha ha ha LOL
    Muh belly!!!

  45. Vincent Haynes Avatar
    Vincent Haynes

    Jeff

    I am kindly asking you in your coming column to give us the pros and cons of becoming a Republic.Is it documented anywhere the type of Republic we will become?

  46. Gabriel Avatar
    Gabriel

    Bush Tea
    I did see she pun tv and I did feel so shame to hear the load a crap dat uman did talking I switch to MSNBC.
    Now to mek matters worse the DLP mek a big cock up wid the closing of schools for some fete they call the 50th anniversary.All de parents up in arms.Some planning!!

  47. Jeff Cumberbatch Avatar
    Jeff Cumberbatch

    I will, Vincent. Note that for me, however, the cons are not very persuasive. I will attempt to show why.

  48. Vincent Haynes Avatar
    Vincent Haynes

    @Jeff Cumberbatch January 5, 2016 at 6:16 PM #

    Thanks……not a prob with your take on the cons,just that both sides need airing.

  49. Vincent Haynes Avatar
    Vincent Haynes

    https://barbadosdepartmentofarchives.wordpress.com/2016/01/01/barbados-heritage-celebrating-50-years-of-independence/

  50. Frustrated Businessman Avatar
    Frustrated Businessman

    Before becoming the worst prime minister in the history of this country, Fumble’s life-ambition was to become a High Court judge. The man does not see himself as one of us, he perceives his purpose in life as sitting in judgement of us.

    Engaging normal Bajans in discussion or, God forbid, negotiation, is below FooFoo. While his cabinet pulls this country asunder by perusing their singular and mostly corrupt personal goals, Fumble dreams of sitting on some presidential throne above, and untouched by, the chaos. The man couldn’t manage a piss-up in a brewery but maybe that’s what he perceives as a president’s job?

    As I’ve said before, if we are to elect a president it should be to replace cabinet, not the queen. If we are to be a republic let us follow the correct, workable model. We can’t find five, far less fifteen capable ministers in this country, we might be able to find one great one through a couple rounds of elections.

    In the meanwhile, the last thing our delicate international image needs right now is another step towards being a banana republic. The corruption is already well-known among international businessmen, we don’t need another name in the coffin.

    The opposition’s position on this matter should be one of REFERENDUM!

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