By Fernella Wedderburn and Emmanuel Joseph
A High Court judge has struck down a regulation that prohibited all public servants from actively participating in politics, ruling it unconstitutional.
Justice Westmin James said on Tuesday that General Order 3.18.1 is also “inconsistent” with the rights to freedom of expression and association which are enshrined in the Constitution of Barbados.
“The regulation is overly broad,
Two prominent political scientists have taken different positions on the Government’s decision to establish a commission to review the structure and function of Parliament.While the current Head of the Department of Government, Sociology, Social Work and Psychology at the Cave Hill Campus of the University of the West Indies (UWI) Dr Kristina Hinds has suggested the timing is not right, Dr George Belle, who previously served in that position at the university, said the commission was necessary.Attorney General Dale Marshall announced at a post-Cabinet media conference last Friday that an eight-member Parliamentary Reform Commission (PRC) will provide recommendations on how the legislature could be transformed to better suit the country’s needs. He stressed that the body, headed by former President of the Senate Dr Richard Cheltenham, KC, would not replace the Constitution Reform Commission (CRC).Dr Hinds questioned the timing of the creation of the new commission, saying that it sh
Two prominent political scientists have taken different positions on the Government’s decision to establish a commission to review the structure and function of Parliament.While the current Head of the Department of Government, Sociology, Social Work and Psychology at the Cave Hill Campus of the University of the West Indies (UWI) Dr Kristina Hinds has suggested the timing is not right, Dr George Belle, who previously served in that position at the university, said the commission was necessary.Attorney General Dale Marshall announced at a post-Cabinet media conference last Friday that an eight-member Parliamentary Reform Commission (PRC) will provide recommendations on how the legislature could be transformed to better suit the country’s needs. He stressed that the body, headed by former President of the Senate Dr Richard Cheltenham, KC, would not replace the Constitution Reform Commission (CRC).Dr Hinds questioned the timing of the creation of the new commission, saying that it sh
A new commission has been created to review the current structure and function of Parliament, with a mandate to provide recommendations on how the governing body could be transformed to better suit the country’s needs.This announcement was made by Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs Dale Marshall during a post-Cabinet press briefing on Friday at Ilaro Court.Marshall told media personnel that the new Parliamentary Reform Commission (PRC) has the singular focus of examining Parliament as it presently stands, and determining what changes could be implemented to make it better.“This Parliamentary Reform Commission is not being established for the purpose of looking into terms and conditions of parliamentarians, that is not what it is about. It may consider those issues but this is to review what Parliament is, how it functions, whether or not it can be better made up, whether or not we should have an Upper House or a Lower House, whether or not we should have parliamentarian
Barbados’ new Constitution could be ready by September.Chairman of the Constitution Reform Commission, retired Justice Christopher Blackman believes the 10-member body should be able to complete the mammoth task of crafting the island’s revised Constitution within the 15-month timeline given by Government.In an interview with Barbados TODAY, Justice Blackman said they had been given 15 months and he saw no reason for it not to be completed by then.“I think so. I don’t see any real reason why it shouldn’t happen,” Justice Blackman responded when asked if he was optimistic the Constitution would be finished by the deadline.