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By Anesta Henry
A general election called a year and a half before it was constitutionally due, the Government announcing and then backtracking on a decision to change the name of Independence Day, and the Deputy Speaker of the House of Assembly being charged with rape were among the political highlights of 2022.
Just days before the start of 2022 – on
Former Opposition Leader Bishop Joseph Atherley has urged the Government to seek foreign help to deal with the current spate of crime.“I wish to urge consideration by the authorities of inviting a team of specialist investigators into Barbados to help us get to the bottom of the dangerous criminal activity of gun importation, gun trade and use in Barbados,” he said in an interview with Barbados TODAY.The leader of the Alliance Party for Progress (APP) stressed that his suggestion was not an indictment on the investigative capacity of the local police authority and service.Instead, he said, it was “an acknowledgement of a multifaceted context in which such violent crime is taking place in Barbados”.“This includes the high incidence of violent attacks and death, absence of arrests and prosecutions related to gun importation and trafficking, [and] obviously divided opinion among authorities and experts in the field of police operations and investigations,” Bishop Atherley asse
Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Angela Taylor says the Electoral and Boundaries Commission (EBC) will be embarking on a review of this country’s voters’ list. The result will determine if a constituency revision is required.She said on Monday that the EBC will be conducting the exercise to validate the addresses of residents living in the various constituencies.“Once that is completed, it will determine if we need to review the constituency boundaries. That project, which is a sub-project of the new National ID Card project, will take between three to four months. As you know, an address can be separated by a road,” Taylor told Barbados TODAY.“The population of St Michael is dwindling while the population of St Philip is increasing because people are moving out of St Michael into St Philip,” the Chief Electoral Officer explained as an example of the population shift.
The Democratic Labour Party (DLP) is calling on the Barbados Labour Party (BLP) administration to account for the annual $150 000 subvention that is not being paid to any opposition party since there is no opposition in the House of Assembly.Member of the party’s General Council, Irene Sandiford-Garner on Wednesday said the Government should inform Barbadians what is being done with the money since the DLP was whitewashed in the May 2018 and January 2022 general elections.During a press conference at the party’s headquarters, she said there were serious consequences to the withdrawal of the subvention from the 67-year-old political party in a small country like Barbados.“It has implications because it prevents any opposition from functioning, and when you look at the vote tally, the party with the second highest number of votes should receive something to keep working because then you have no democracy.