A short three years ago in 2018 then Prime Minister Freundel Stuart remained in office for 90 days beyond the five year anniversary of the first sitting of parliament permitted under the Barbados Constitution. Three years later incumbent Prime Minister Mia Mottley has called a snap general election eighteen months before it is constitutionally due. 

The early ring of the bell has caused tongues to wag with rumours and rumours of rumours rolling off the social media conveyor belt. The blogmaster reconciled a long time ago that political parties are in business to win general elections and this is the single consideration to reflect on when evaluating and commenting on political issues.

Every election cycle we hear talk about the need for the enactment of fixed term, campaign financing legislation etc. When the winner is announced on the night of the 19th January there will be further calls campaign financing laws and amendment to the electoral laws etc. To be expected, nothing will be done to address the issues raised by the politicians who raised them.

This week there were howls of protests from members of the public when it was discovered the voters list was posted online with personal information. The majority of Barbadians were oblivious to the fact the Representation of the People Act was amended in 2020 to make legal what occurred. What it has exposed is the lack of interest the majority of Barbadians have in what is debated in parliament. It should make the debate promised about the Barbados Constitution very interesting.

The blogmaster will resist the usual political punditry at predicting who will win which ‘seat’ on the 19th. Given the current hopeless economic state of affairs in the country, it seems a pointless exercise to expect B or D will make a difference. Both political parties have to bear responsibility for where we are today. Do not expect manna to fall after nearly fifteen years of famine.

The blogmaster and others have blogged many times on governance issues, however, BU dashboard shows these blogs record lower hits than the others. What does it say about our ‘intelligence’ as a people? 

The government you elect is the government you deserve.

Thomas Jefferson

Will average Barbadians be encouraged to seriously debate the merits of imposing fixed term laws to eliminate the opportunity for a prime minister to attempt to manipulate the result of an election? The blogmaster is not optimistic. Stuart tried in 2018 and supporters of the Democratic Labour Party defended the decision. Mottley three years into a five year term has done similarly and Barbados Labour Party are stridently defending the decision. Around and around we go, when it will stop nobody knows.

What will be the issues this time around?

Same old, same old – NTSH