EDITORIAL: A diplomatic convention

Conventions, it would appear, are all the rage in local public political discourse these days. When it is not the forces opposed to the current governing administration seeking to pray in aid a convention that would require a Prime Minister to set a date for elections as soon as Parliament comes to an end by whatever means, we had a senior Cabinet Minister last week publicly censuring the Canadian ambassador for infringing the accepted diplomatic convention of not meddling in the internal affairs of the host jurisdiction.

Intriguingly, the entire debate should not even have started, but this is the so-called “silly season” and partisan hackles are understandably raised for events that would ordinarily have met previously with little or no response from anyone. Sometime ago, a political analyst raised the question as to whether Barbados is ready for a female Prime Minister.

At any other time in our recent history, this query would have been testily suppressed by the ordinary listener with a “Yes, of course we are”, but in the contemporary context, with the main Opposition party being led by a female, the question takes on added implications and may justifiably be perceived as a leading question that suggests its own answer, depending on the responder’s political colours.

We have already concluded in our comment on the matter that the question is tendentious, and one that is likely to be answered definitively quite soon, depending on the outcome of the imminent general election.

It might have been the case that the Canadian Ambassador, Her Excellency Ms Marie Legault, was unaware of the unstated context of the question, but simply chose to respond in keeping with the Diplomatic Code that mandates a commitment to the fundamental human rights, the dignity and worth of the human person and the equal rights of men and women. She replied therefore with appropriate generality, “I think every country is ready for a male or female prime minister. Gender does not have an impact”, while citing local and regional instances of female leadership.

However, to borrow an expression from the regional spoken word artist, Paul Keens Douglas, “who tell she say dat”? These are not ordinary times when strict logic prevails in public discourse and the senior Cabinet Minister, construing this as offering express support to the Leader of the Opposition or, less likely, the female leader of the United Peoples’ Party, delivered himself of the view that “the Canadian diplomat and others should refrain from getting involved in the country’s domestic affairs”. In his opinion, [she] should be asked to leave or your government should tell you to come home because “you have interfered in the domestic political affairs of Barbados”.

“You should be asked to leave or your government should tell you to come home because ‘you have There is no gainsaying the argument that her statement might be so construed though this perception would also have to treat the original question as equally pointed towards a specific individual or individuals.

After all, if the suggestion had been made in last year’s Presidential election that the US was ready for a female President, this would have reasonably been construed as a clear endorsement of the candidacy of Mrs. Hilary Clinton.

As it is, however, the local Foreign Affairs Ministry does not seem to wish to pursue the matter any further nor, unsurprisingly, the Canadian government whose Minister has expressed the view that Ms Legault was “in no way endorsing any candidate in their upcoming election… On the contrary, she was (speaking) to Canada’s well-established feminist foreign policy…Canada is proud to support the greater participation of women in all spheres, including politics and government, around the world.”

The matter seems closed.

Barbados Advocate

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