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Democracy in Crisis! – Wiretapping in this new Republic

Submitted by John Doe

We are aware of the many deficiencies of our fragile Barbadian democracy. No one disputes issues such like a non-functioning Public Accounts Committee, an oppressed media, undue political interference in the civil service, police service and judiciary are detrimental to a well-functioning democracy, however the latest salvo from the regime is the most fatal. 

While we know of past incidents of wiretapping, this regime now wants to legitimize this exercise with laws that grossly reach into the private spaces of every citizen in this country. Furthermore, the control of this exercise by political agents within the police service and judiciary does not bode well for our rights and freedoms. First it was the cyber crime bill, then it was the forced removal of tint, now it is wiretapping. Aren’t you tired?

Is this who we are?

Speak up in your group chats, social groups, work groups and at work. Everyone – including BLP supporters – is scared. There are more of us than them. This issue is not a political issue, it is the test of our very rights and freedoms. Speak up and encourage the ousting of this regime at the next election. Do not allow a bully to divide and rule. Do not allow the lack of 100% agreement by opposition forces to secure the bully a third term of decay. Everything else that we can argue about can come after their removal. 

Priority #1 – Ousting the BLP regime
Priority #2 – Forming a government for the people
Priority #3 – Rebuilding Barbados

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29 responses to “Wiretapping in this new Republic”

  1. David Avatar
    David

    Too much stress is being created in an already stressful environment for citizens. What happens when too much stress is applied to anything?

  2. Elvis Avatar
    Elvis

    When you allow an autocratic government to exist, it leads to one thing! “Dictatorship”
    How long are you going to stay hoodwinked and blind to the signs!! Wake up!!!!!

  3. 555dubstreet Avatar
    555dubstreet

    Seems like the Bu are setting up their stall to overthrow present Government
    But, buyer beware, the DLP opposition party are a worse option, they’re not ready
    However, I concur with the premise of not spying on citizens like terrorists,
    and the next thread about political noise just being smelly wet farts that is followed through with shit in the pants, in general

    Spying Glass

  4. Bush Tea Avatar
    Bush Tea

    Our Government has been spying on citizens since the days of Tom.

    It went on steroids with the first Cricket World Cup, under the excuse of ‘national security’ – with Israeli guidance, …and has now morphed into the MAIN instrument of POLITICAL State Control.
    Ministers and other high officials now HAVE to tow the line – since those with any balls AND WITH ANY CLOSET SECRETS find their cojones in a vice-grip that can be tightened on demand.
    Those with No lotta dirt to be found, and who ‘got talk’, are put out of the way, the party, parliament, even the country – by various nefarious means – INCLUDING promotions.

    Those WITHOUT balls are mostly just fat, clueless, ‘blonde-types’ who can be coerced into ANY shiite anyhow… and typically seek to just mimic the Empress…

    Government is simply now seeking to MAKE IT “LEGAL” to go after those citizens who have been DISRUPTIVE to the Mafia organization, but who they now cannot touch BECAUSE THEIR SOURCES ARE CURRENTLY ILLEGAL AND SECRETIVE.

    BU will probably be high on their agenda – not directly, but via assaults on those contributors who, unlike Kiki, are NOT on their payroll.

    If this operation is as above board as Dottin is saying, why the need to retain a long retired head who, like Edgar Hoover, knows all the dark secrets and can be expected to manipulate even the President?
    Why not a bright, young, scholarly officer who is known for ETHICAL characteristics?Why not a broad based OVERSIGHT Ethics Board?

    Steupssss!
    EVERYTHING about Barbados is indicative of a MAFIA outfit.
    If it walks like a mafia
    it it talks like the mafia
    if it feels like the mafia
    …only a Brass Bowl would suspect that we are dealing with a ‘democracy’.

    What a place….!!
    Only Trump’s USA is in our class….

  5. Hants Avatar
    Hants

    In Canada.

    “This warrant is typically a wiretap authorization, and it requires the police to demonstrate reasonable grounds that an offense has been committed or will be committed, and that the interception will produce evidence. ”

    “Canadian law generally requires police to obtain a warrant, such as a wiretap authorization, before they can legally intercept private communications, including those on cell phones”

  6. David Avatar
    David

    @Hants

    Isn’t an authorization from from the BPS to our chief justice or his delegate required as well under the controversial law?

  7. Hants Avatar
    Hants

    @ David,

    Listening to VOB Brasstacks. Wiretapping is the topic right now.

  8. Bajan Yankee Avatar
    Bajan Yankee

    information leaked from Edward Snowden says the NSA used a legal wiretap to jumpstart a wiretapping effort in the Bahamas. A DEA tap was surreptitiously tapped by the NSA, which could record “over 100 million call events per day”, and store them up to one month.

    The project, dubbed SOMALGET, was apparently an effort by the NSA to provide info to other federal departments. An internal NSA memo says their International Crime & Narcotics division used the info to hunt down “special interest drug smugglers”. The document also said SOMALGET had been deployed in the Bahamas and one other country, but The Intercept isn’t saying which country that is, noting they were holding back “in response to specific, credible concerns that doing so could lead to increased violence.”

    Given the right circumstances, the NSA says they could store 5 billion SOMALGET intercepted call instances for a month. The project, a subset of the NSA’s MYSTIC tapping service, which was implemented with the help of telecom companies and other governments. MYSTIC also collects metadata, contrasting the specified data collected with SOMALGET. The MYSTIC program is still active in Mexico, Kenya, and the Philippines.

    In response to the report, the NSA said “the implication that NSA’s foreign intelligence collection is arbitrary and unconstrained is false”. They did not specifically acknowledge or address any specific program, though.

    Read More: https://www.slashgear.com/new-nsa-leak-shows-massive-phone-tapping-efforts-overseas-19329646/

  9. 555dubstreet Avatar
    555dubstreet

    Some people are slow on the uptake

    Nowadays “they” can track and ping your location using your mobile dog and bone / tracking device and run it through their AI software and drone you under terror law even if you are not a terrorist rapist

    Matrix Dub

  10. Hants Avatar
    Hants

    2007

  11. Cuhdear Bajan Avatar
    Cuhdear Bajan

    Priority #1 – Ousting the BLP regime
    How? when? where? by whom? why?
    Priority #2 – Forming a government for the people
    How? when? where? by whom? why?
    Priority #3 – Rebuilding Barbados
    How? when? where? by whom? why?

  12. Cuhdear Bajan Avatar
    Cuhdear Bajan

    @David August 12, 2025 at 1:59 am “What happens when too much stress is applied to anything?”

    What happens to a dream deferred?

    Does it dry up
    like a raisin in the sun?
    Or fester like a sore—
    And then run?
    Does it stink like rotten meat?
    Or crust and sugar over—
    like a syrupy sweet?

    Maybe it just sags
    like a heavy load.

    Or does it explode?

    Not me, but American poet Langston Hughes. Written in 1951

  13. Cuhdear Bajan Avatar
    Cuhdear Bajan

    Year ago, sometime before 2004 I was wiretapped by someone I thought of as a friend. It put my elementary aged child in danger. At the time I was very distressed and knew that it was immoral, but did not understand that it was also illegal. Almost certainly this law will be misused, perhaps not by officialdom, but certainly by malicious insecure people.

  14. Horsemeat Avatar
    Horsemeat

    Instead of wiretapping, what needs to be done is the microchipping of all citizens.

    By having a central citizen command, controlling the microchip data and tied to the crime database with live feed, EVERY crime can be immediately addressed. From burglary, to murder.

    Live feedback of location would tie to locations of incidents and therefore make it impossible for citizens to commit a crime without being caught, virtually immediately.

    In addition, citizens who breach civil order will be immediately located via the chip and the police could detain them with little extra work.

    In this day of technology, it goes beyond archaic phone tapping and actually makes use of live feeds and wireless connections.

    The chips could also include ID numbers, used to verify citizenship etc.

    This would open the door to a crime free utopia.

    Obviously data would only be available for disclosure for such incidents or for generic ID disclosure.

    Yes, some would claim that it would include privacy data, and when say, two people meet in private such information could be compromising.

    But would you prefer to continue to live with runaway crime, or in a crime free utopia, with some risk of exposure of private matters?

  15. Bush Tea Avatar
    Bush Tea

    @ Horsemeat
    So you thought that the Covid Plandemic was a coincidence…?

    Do you think that the Demons of this world FAILED to note such an opportunity?
    …You think that 5G is here for our comfort and convenience?

    Do you REALLY think that ‘privacy’ is still a reality in 2025…?

    Obviously there needs to be proper PR cover stories, and the occasional false flag operation to facilitate execution…

    But Gates has been preaching your ‘gospel’ now for decades.

  16. Terence Blackett Avatar
    Terence Blackett

    THE TRUTH IS IN SUCH SHORT SUPPLY – YOU ARE BLESSED WHEN YOU TRULY FIND IT OR IT FINDS YOU

    #MostCannotHandleTheTruth even if it walked up to them & slapped them around the head!!!

    #WhatAWorld

  17. Enuff Avatar
    Enuff

    Bushtea
    You just like to hear yourself nuh. Tell the blog of those countries, including right here in the Caribbean, where intercept communications law long exists. Since the first 30-0 Bim was suppose to be an autocracy, dictator-led etc, yet the likes of Madwoman Weekes can march regularly and talk shite online untouched. BU still publishing the inflammatory. Like who really believe wunna? Stuupse.

  18. Bush Tea Avatar
    Bush Tea

    Enuff…
    Tek it easy Bozie…
    Don’t get so hot and sweaty over Ms Weekes …or stinking Bushie…
    We ONLY exercising we DEMOCRATIC rights to call it as we see it…
    Don’t YOU support that ‘RIGHT’ – like you did when wunna marched in white…?

    So are you saying that in YOUR opinion such dissent should NOT now be tolerated…?
    …That Weekes should be ‘touched’ …?
    …That BU should be CONTROLLED…?
    …That stinking Bushie should stop outing Kiki..?

    BTW –
    Bushie said nothing about any ‘autocracy’. The bushman referenced a “MAFIA outfit”.

    Our FEAR is that wunna NOW looking to enact LEGISLATION to empower wunna to ‘touch’ Ms Weekes, ‘CENSOR’ Mr David, and cuss stinking Bushie stink stink!!… (cause woe unto any BB who even THINKS to touch ‘the adopted son’)

    As to WHO believes us … yuh betta put your ears to the ground boss…
    Do you recall what happened when the little child ‘hollow out ‘ ….

    “WAIT!! wuh the Emperor ain’t wearing one shiite – he naked as he born…”

    All the previously ‘blind’ BBs saw the nakedness….
    ..and great was that nakedness.

    What a place!!

  19. Horsemeat Avatar
    Horsemeat

    Bushie and Enuff,

    The great USA is now a dictatorship, will not see another free and fair election for a while.

    We warned about it, even when learned men such as Dr.GP praised Trump.

    So things can easily change.

    A fascist state sprung up before our eyes.

    Always need to be vigilant.

  20. David Avatar
    David

    @Enuff

    There is a general discomfort with with the way things are going in Barbados. The challenge is that the pickings are slip. Our government it must be said is a reflection of who we are as a country.

  21. Bush Tea Avatar
    Bush Tea

    Back in the days when common sense was in vogue – and when PRIMARY SCHOOL graduates stood out like BEACONS in our society, it would have been OBVIOUS that what is going on in our society has to be orchestrated by SINISTER external forces who care NOTHING about our well-being.

    Barbados has been set up as a PILOT PROJECT in data-driven mass control by dark, albino-centric forces… The new ‘Instant money’ gambit is a key aspect of the project.

    Our political and other ‘leaders’ are clearly nothing more than POPPETS, whose strings are being manipulated by these sinister forces – thanks to their GREED, blindness and albino-centric dispositions.

    Imagine we have a serious and GROWING problem with crime
    – a problem that we ALL KNOW derives from ASININE new laws related to marijuana possession and usage – which CREATES a lucrative market for an illegal substance.
    This is no better way to create a CRIMINAL empire…

    Having CREATED such a crisis, our government now ARBITRARILY designates ‘vehicle tint’ as public enemy numero uno, and sets about CREATING YET ANOTHER crisis for citizens, now requiring police to go around peeping into vehicles and measuring opacity.

    What the Brass …!!!

    Shiite!
    Even Simple Simon must see that this is shiite… and CANNOT POSSIBLY have come from the brains of graduates of Queens College and HC.
    OBVIOUSLY some DEMONS have a gun, … or a loan., … or some VERY damaging information to the heads of our ‘leaders’…. OR… substantial pieces of silver are at stake….

    Can ANYONE picture how someone of the ilk of Wynter Algenon Crawford would have addressed such a matter…?

    But then again, HE spoke FOR the people….
    or as they say, he served ROME, …and NOT Caesar.

    What a world….

  22. Cuhdear Bajan Avatar
    Cuhdear Bajan

    @Horsemeat August 14, 2025 at 12:51 am “The great USA is now a dictatorship, will not see another free and fair election for a while. We warned about it, even when learned men such as Dr.GP praised Trump.”

    It is possible that Dr. GP is/was learned about medicine, but a complete idiot about politics.

  23. Cuhdear Bajan Avatar
    Cuhdear Bajan

    @Horsemeat August 13, 2025 at 9:25 am “Instead of wiretapping, what needs to be done is the microchipping of all citizens. By having a central citizen command, controlling the microchip data and tied to the crime database with live feed, EVERY crime can be immediately addressed. From burglary, to murder. This would open the door to a crime free utopia.”

    This will be managed by the archangel Gabriel?

  24. Cuhdear Bajan Avatar
    Cuhdear Bajan

    @Bush Tea August 14, 2025 at 8:35 am “Even Simple Simon must see that this is shiite,”

    Don’t have a vehicle, not even a bicycle. Just me 2 feet.
    Haven’t had a vehicle for more than 25 years.
    Don’t intend to ever buy a vehicle.
    So you know I don’t give one shite ’bout tint or no tint

    If you ask me, but nobody ever asks me, because I Simple, if you ask me people should spend the tint money installing insect screens on the doors and windows of their homes in order to reduce the chance of mosquitoes transmitting chickungunya, dengue, zika etc. to them; and to stop the flies from buzzing ’round their food when they eating.

    But nabody int ask me nuthin’ and I int got nuthin to say.

  25. Bush Tea Avatar
    Bush Tea

    “But nabody int ask me nuthin’ and I int got nuthin to say.”
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    Well HUSH UP den nuh!!!

    LOL..
    Ok perhaps Bushie was a bit too liberal is presuming that SS would see de shiite…
    A person without a chariot may not appreciate the difference that tint makes on a sunny day…

    As ALWAYS, this is a problem of LAPSE, piss poor, GOVERNANCE.

    This tint issue has been around for EONS… we even have a shiite law that is supposed to regulate it…
    Can you believe our mock lawyers passed a USELESS law that failed to set OBJECTIVE standards – actually talking shiite about the ‘ability to see….’
    They then sat back and let THOUSANDS of BBs set their OWN tint standards for YEARS… until the Empress raised the issue when pressed to address raising murder rates.
    Tint was fingered – for lack of raising the REAL ‘CRIME issue’ of DRUGS – which they unleashed via their ill-conceived ganja legislation.

    Now that everyone is accustomed to doing as they like with tint, they suddenly found meters to measure opacity…. and standards to apply AFTER the fact.
    Who checks the meters for accuracy?
    When different readings are obtained from different meters – which will be used?

    If police don’t even have the time to investigate traffic accidents… where will they get the time to peep into car windows and measure light?

    How many LAW-ABIDING citizens will now become law-breakers as a result of this incompetence of leadership…?

    If this was a movie, Bushie would have turned off the damn TV long ago – and dismissed the plot as unbelievable jobby – scripted by jackasses…
    But alas, it is life in Brassbados of 2025.

    What a place!!

  26. David Avatar
    David

    Government to amend wiretap bill; PM to address nation Sunday night

    written by Barbados Today 16/08/2025 2 min read   

    https://barbadostoday.bb/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/PM-MOTTLEY.png

    Prime Minister Mia Mottley.

    The Mia Mottley administration has announced planned changes to the Interception of Communications Bill, following protests and widespread criticism.

    It was announced Saturday night that necessary amendments will be made to the exception clause in the bill, which was passed in the House of Assembly last week.

    Prime Minister Mia Mottley will deliver a national address on Sunday night in which she is expected to outline the factors that led to the decision to amend the clause, as well as how the adjustment will be executed to ensure “interceptions only by a judge’s warrant”.

    Ahead of that address, the Prime Minister said, “This government has the humility to listen and always the courage to correct. I promised you that on May 27, 2018, and we will hold fast to that.”

    Advertisement

    In the media statement issued Saturday, it was stated that the Prime Minister will speak candidly with Barbadians about a number of other pieces of legislation that were recently debated and ratified in the House of Assembly.

    These include the Criminal Proceedings (Witness Anonymity) Bill to offer greater protection to witnesses in criminal proceedings, the Police (Amendment) Bill that facilitates the upgrading of special constables fully into the ranks of The Barbados Police Service, the Juries Bill that will significantly enlarge the pool of citizens from which jurors can be selected and the Firearms (Amendment) Act.

    You Might Be Interested In

    According to the statement, “The Prime Minister is also expected to offer greater insight on the new Immigration Bill and Citizenship Bill, both of which received their ‘second reading’ in the House last Friday, and to speak to how it will benefit the country as well as the offspring of Barbadians.”

    Other matters to be addressed include the recent industrial action by Sanitation Service Authority workers and last week’s ministerial statement delivered by Minister of Educational Transformation, Chad Blackman.

    She will also speak to what has been described as “the preposterous, utterly and completely false and reckless statement by a political aspirant claiming that anyone without the new Trident ID card will be denied the right to vote, access to health care and pensions, and a driver’s licence and that their children will not be allowed to register for school”.

    In her national address, Prime Minister Mottley will reflect on the value to Barbados of hosting CARIFESTA XV, which begins later this week. It marks the third time the island will host the regional cultural festival in more than 50 years. She is expected to encourage Barbadians to extend the best of Bajan hospitality to visiting delegates and performers.

    The prime minister’s address will be broadcast on CBC Television and across social media platforms. (PR/BT)

  27. David Avatar
    David

    Wiretapping bill to be revised

    GOVERNMENT WILL MOVE swiftly to amend the recently passed wiretapping legislation, removing an exception clause that would have allowed communications interception without judicial approval.

    Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley made the announcement during a televised address to the nation last night, saying the decision was taken after a weekend of consultations with the Attorney General, law enforcement and other stakeholders.

    Exception clause

    “The bill which was passed in the House of Assembly [on August 8] carried an exception clause, a route by which an interception could be treated as lawful without a judge’s warrant in specified circumstances,” she said.

    “But after a thorough weekend review, and after advice from the Attorney General, with input from the relevant authorities and stakeholders, and being mindful of public concern, we are satisfied that this exception ought not be proclaimed, and in fact should be repealed.

    “We will therefore act accordingly by removing this clause in the Senate, and sending the same back to the House of Assembly for concurrence. My friends, this Government has the humility to listen, and always the courage to correct. I promised you that on May 27, 2018, and we will hold fast to that.”

    Mottley made it clear that the core principle of the law would remain unchanged – that only the judiciary can authorise interceptions.

    “Our rule is simple and straightforward. No judge’s warrant, no interception. This is not a free-forall and this is not a minister’s toy. No politician can grant a warrant. Only the Chief Justice or a judge specifically assigned by him can authorise an interception.”

    The Prime Minister explained that the law included strict safeguards: warrants will be time-bound; irrelevant material must be destroyed, and oversight will be provided by an independent monitoring mechanism appointed by the President. Evidence gathered, she added, would still be tested in open court and subject to defence challenges.

    Mottley placed the wiretapping law within a wider framework of crimefighting measures recently introduced in Parliament. She highlighted five bills, all designed to strengthen the justice system while safeguarding rights.

    One of them, the Criminal Proceedings (Witness Anonymity) Bill, is designed to protect witnesses too afraid to testify.

    ‘People afraid’

    “Too many cases regrettably collapse because good people are afraid and with reason, believe you me,” she said.

    “This law gives the court, not the Government, the tools to protect identity when it is necessary and only if it remains fair to the accused. That means judges can order screens, voice modulation, reduction of identifying details and indeed special directions to juries to guard against any prejudice.”

    She also pointed to the Police (Amendment) Bill, which will regularise special constables as police officers, giving them pensions, training and clear career paths.

    “You cannot build a first-class justice system on second-class arrangements for the people who stand between citizens and crime. This is about their capacity so that when you call, someone will answer, and when they answer they’re empowered and professional to treat your matters,” she told the nation.

    The Juries Bill, meanwhile, will remove outdated barriers based on property and income, making jury pools more representative of the wider community. It also allows for joint indictments, reducing the need for multiple trials.

    “When juries are representative, verdicts carry the weight and legitimacy that justice demands,” she said.

    On firearms, Mottley announced a refinement to the recently passed Firearms (Amendment) Bill. She said the word “major” will be inserted before “components” to avoid catching people unfairly in the law.

    “This is about closing loopholes, supporting enforcement and making sure that those who take people’s lives face the full force of the law.”

    Answering critics

    Responding to critics who complain about crime but object to enforcement measures, the Prime Minister referenced Government’s move to tighten vehicle tinting laws at the request of the police.

    “Do something about the daylight robberies, they say. We change the tint rules as requested by the police of this country, who continue to be fearful for their lives when approaching cars, not knowing what lies behind a very dark, tinted, or titanium window. But they say, not that.”

    She argued that leadership required balance.

    “Then they tell you, do something about criminals getting away with murder. And we make the move to make wireless interception admissible as evidence, so real criminals will stopslipping through. Then you hear, no, not that either. At some point, leadership must mean this: we will listen, we will consult, we will refine, but we will not be paralysed by the impossible task of policing everyone.”

    In a significant gesture, Mottley extended an invitation to the Opposition Democratic Labour Party to work with Government on crime-fighting strategies. She said she had read the Opposition’s Commission On Crime report and found merit in several of its recommendations, including the idea of a unifying family court.

    “I have always said that good ideas must contend and on citizen security we are not partisan. That is exactly why I want not only to invite the Leader of the Opposition, but to also invite the chair of the Democratic Labour Party Commission On Crime, Ms Verla De Peiza, to meet with the Advisory Council on Citizen Security, and to see what other aspects of it we can come to a unified position on. It matters not to me what route we get there, only that we have a unified country fighting the awful, awful spectacle of crime.”

    The Prime Minister congratulated the commission’s members for their work, noting: “My hope is that the Opposition Leader will see the sincerity in the request and recognise that this Government will not treat this space as a space for petty partisanship, but a place for all hands and all good ideas to contend.”

    The Prime Minister insisted that safety and rights must be advanced together.

    “Rights are not to be a casualty of safety, and safety cannot be a casualty of inaction. The rights of the many to live safe, decent lives cannot be held hostage by the few who would prey upon them.”

    Framing the legislative package as part of a broader philosophy of governance, she told the nation: “This is what it means to govern in the public interest, and this, my friends, is taking the country in the right direction.” (CLM)

    Source: Nation

  28. David Avatar
    David

    Thorne calls for withdrawal of wiretapping Bill

    by COLVILLE MOUNSEY colvillemounsey@nationnews.com

    OPPOSITION LEADER RALPH THORNE is urging the Mia Amor Mottley administration to abandon the controversial Interception of Communications Bill, arguing that the measure to facilitate wiretapping represents a grave failure of governance.

    He has also dismissed what he said were the Government’s repeated calls for dialogue with his party on crime.

    “The Democratic Labour Party (DLP) calls on the Government to immediately withdraw the Interception of Communications Bill,” Thorne told the DAILY NATION yesterday as he critiqued how the legislation was conceived, debated and amended.

    He said the matter had left Barbadians unsettled, questioning not only the Government’s legislative competence but also its sincerity in addressing crime.

    On Sunday night during her televised address to the nation, Prime Minister Mottley said Government had agreed to remove a controversial exception clause to the bill – which was passed by the House of Assembly on August 8 – that would have allowed wiretapping without judicial approval.

    She said the decision was made after a weekend of consultations with the Attorney General, law enforcement and other stakeholders, as well as “public concern”.

    Embarrassment

    Thorne submitted that by the principle of regularity, the public was entitled to believe that the Cabinet of Barbados had formally approved the bill before it was introduced to the House of Assembly by the Attorney General. Yet, he noted, it quickly became apparent that not all Government members were familiar with what had been approved.

    “It became a matter of severe embarrassment that, during the debate, some members of the parliamentary Government were unaware that the bill permitted phone-tapping without the court’s intervention. This matter was highlighted by Mr Corey Greenidge of the DLP,” he said.

    He described this as evidence of a lack of seriousness in managing such a sensitive issue.

    “This entire episode now stands as a serious maladministration in our public affairs. This bill is now destined for the Senate in different form and substance than what was presented in the House of Assembly. It must now also be different from what the Cabinet first approved.”

    The Opposition Leader pointed to Mottley’s concessions during debate as another sign of disarray. He said she had agreed to his recommendation that the power to appoint the commission overseeing interceptions should rest not with a minister but with the President of Barbados.

    “It may have been a further embarrassment to the Government when the Prime Minister said in her speech during the debate that she would accede to my recommendation that a minister should not be empowered to appoint a commission that monitors and supervises phone-tapping and that this power should vest only in the President.”

    He said such an about-turn confirmed that the bill was poorly structured and ill-considered.

    Mask the flaws

    “The Government has presided over egregious legislative maladministration,” he said, stressing that amendments offered after the fact could not mask the flaws that lay at the heart of the law.

    During her address, Mottley invited the DLP to work with Government on crime-fighting strategies, adding she had read the party’s Commission On Crime report and found merit in several of its recommendations.

    “I have always said that good ideas must contend and on citizen security we are not partisan. That is exactly why I want not only to invite the Leader of the Opposition, but to also invite the chair of the Democratic Labour Party Commission On Crime, Ms Verla De Peiza, to meet with the Advisory Council on Citizen Security, and to see what other aspects of it we can come to a unified position on,” she said.

    However, Thorne rejected this, deeming it a mere distraction.

    “The Prime Minister seeks to distract the public’s attention by repeating some offer to the Opposition to sit with the Government on matters of crime,” he said.

    “In weighing the Government’s lack of serious commitment to its duty to legislatively confront the issue of violent crime, we ask the public not to be distracted by these invitations.”

    The DLP political leader made it clear that the Opposition would not be drawn into what he described as political theatre. Instead, he said his party remained focused on ensuring that Parliament delivers meaningful legislation that addresses the country’s escalating violence.

    “Instead of passing legislation to seriously confront the scourge of violent crime, the Government has penalised the majority of honest and innocent Barbadians with legislation on matters of cybercrime, vehicle tint and now phonetapping. Meanwhile, the passage of a weak Bail Act has failed to curb rising violent crime.”

    The Christ Church South Member of Parliament stressed that the DLP will continue to advocate for laws which deal directly with the drivers of violent crime, while resisting measures that infringe on the rights of ordinary citizens.

    “We will continue to ask Barbadians not to be distracted from these serious mandates by the gamesmanship of these repeated invitations,” he said.

    “By Government’s many legislative failures and the collapse of its council on crime, the DLP is not satisfied that the Government is seriously committed to the necessary fight against violent crime.”

    Thorne urged Barbadians to support the Barbados Police Service in its difficult work while also exercising vigilance in their daily lives.

    Source: Nation

  29. Bush Tea Avatar
    Bush Tea

    Withdraw it for WHAT?
    The FACT is that this is now STANDARD practice – and it will become EVEN MORE invasive.
    Wunna think that the Central Bank’s Quick Payment scheme is here to facilitate better business for ordinary Bajans….?
    LOL
    ha ha ha

    If so, this would be a FIRST time that such a priority arose in that tower…. where their main focus has ALWAYS been on facilitating foreign (especially white) investors and a few local blacks who had clear political ties with the PIP.

    This payment plan is the FINAL peg in the mass surveillance plot, enabling AI to learn of the spending details of all citizens who participate.
    Shiite – they will know us better than we know ourselves…
    This is just the REALITY of the future.

    The solution however – is to ensure that monitoring process applies FROM THE VERY TOP DOWN…
    Every single public officer should be REQUIRED to submit to random surveillance, and the results monitored by an INDEPENDENT panel appointed by the Senate (with each member of that panel requiring at least 67% vote of the full senate, and being appointed for ten years).
    Every single public officer should ALSO be REQUIRED to utilize the new quick pay system for transactions, with severe penalties for avoiding that route.

    Any bets as to how QUICKLY the whole thing would quietly go away – should such changes be proposed?
    LOL
    Even faster than the Integrity legislation…

    What a place!!

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