Leader of Opposition Business in the Senate, Senator Caswell Franklyn, as he arrived at Parliament yesterday for the Senate sitting.
Leader of Opposition Business in the Senate, Senator Caswell Franklyn, has vehemently opposed the Constitution (Amendment) Bill, contending that it was unconscionable and a recipe for disaster.
Franklyn, currently the lone Opposition voice in the Upper House, spoke out against the amendment yesterday morning when the Senate meeting started, even before the Bill was put up for debate. Then, as he offered the Opposition’s reply once the debate began, Senator Franklyn, a well-known trade unionist and credit unionist, maintained that the Bill should not have seen the light of day. He made the point while lamenting that the haste with which the Government sought to put the Bill on the Order Paper to have it debated, prevented it being published in the Official Gazette. As a result, he said it was not widely circulated prior to Tuesday’s sitting of the Lower House, which would have allowed Barbadians the ability to examine the proposal, so as to understand it and comment on it if they so chose.
“You are treating the people with disrespect, with contempt… That type of attitude gets you one term,” he warned.
The Opposition Senator also condemned the Barbados Labour Party (BLP) Government for trying to amend the Constitution to suit its needs, contending that it was no different to the act by the former Democratic Labour Party Government, when it took steps to amend the Supreme Court of Judicature Act to facilitate the appointment of a Chief Justice, who was not at the time qualified in accordance with the Act. Franklyn said it was hard to believe that the BLP, which “cried foul” at that time, would now want to amend the Constitution for similar purposes. His comments came as he noted that he too spoke out against that amendment, and so in order to stay true to himself and his beliefs, it is only right that he speak out against the amendment currently in question as well.
“The last administration amended the Supreme Court of Judicature Act and the Barbados Labour Party thought that was the worst thing that could happen, now you are amending the Constitution and haven’t given the people as much notice as they had given; they gave a lot more notice,” he said.
Describing the amendment as fatally flawed in several respects, Senator Franklyn went further and maintained that the new Government, with its 29 to 1 majority must be careful not to abuse the power it now has.
“You don’t pass laws for your friends; that is what we are attempting to do, we want to pass laws for our friends. You trying to tell me that out of 275 000 people in Barbados, the majority of whom are BLP supporters as we’ve seen, you don’t think that you could find two other people that qualify to sit in this Senate who meet the requirements of the Constitution? I could have found some for you,” he insisted.
He also raised concern about a person who has dual citizenship being allowed to serve in the Senate, contending that it puts that person in a precarious situation, as it makes it right for a person to serve two masters. Quoting Matthew 6:24 in the Bible, which says no one can serve two masters, he contended at that level of the Senate, anyone who is a Senator should have total loyalty only to Barbados, and should not be compromised by any other country for which they hold citizenship. (JRT)
