EDITORIAL - Now we are fifty…

When I was one, I had just begun.

When I was two, I was nearly new.

When I was three, I was hardly me.

When I was four, I was not much more.

When I was five, I was just alive.

But now I am six, I’m as clever as clever.

So I think I’ll be six now and forever

– “Now we are Six” –A.A Milne

 

In his first letter to the Corinthians, Paul avers that when he was a child, he spoke as a child, he understood as a child, he thought as a child: but when he became a man, he put away childish things. Barbados has only recently celebrated its fiftieth year of sovereign nationhood, not fiftieth year of existence as those who insisted that it was our 50th birthday would seemingly have had it.

 

Thus, while it is not possible for us to remain fifty now and forever as Christopher Robin childishly anticipates in the lines above and thus to postpone our maturity; rather it behoves us, as Paul enjoins, to put away childish things and not to repeat the indiscretions of our relative youth as a independent nation.

 

The Honourable Prime Minister might have had the Pauline exhortation in mind when he wisely urged Barbadians throughout the year of celebration to reflect critically on those things that we wish to retain, discard adopt, or to continue doing as a nation.  

One way in which we may manifest the required maturity is by “patriation” of the headship of state. For while the emblem of the broken trident on our national flag suggests that we have indeed broken away from Britannia, in constitutional denial almost we 

nevertheless choose to maintain its monarch as holding the highest office in the land, while a native son or daughter may be that monarch’s representative only. 

 

Yet, we suppose, most of our citizens would abhor any suggestion of the other state powers being headed by a foreign national. Indeed, a mere few years ago, we chose, without any partisan political commotion, to place the apex of our judicial power in the regional body, the Caribbean Court of Justice, in preference to the Judicial Committee of Her Majesty’s Privy Council.

 

And while perhaps there may be a few who would countenance placing our legislative membership at the disposal of citizens other than Barbadians, we are certain that none would concede to any such individual the constitutional headship of the Government.

 

Nonetheless, in a seeming denial of this innate urge to entrust the constitutional authority of our state powers in the hands of nationals, we are prepared to place ultimate formal constitutional authority in the hands of a foreign monarch; an anomalous circumstance that transforms us into a substantive republic headed by a foreign monarch.

 

Apart from the catharsis that the “patriation” of the headship of state might engender, we might also consider some national ideals for the next fifty years. A renewed sense of nationalism that subordinates the instinctual thinking based on political party affiliation and prides itself on ascertaining that which is in the national good would do wonders for our development as a mature democracy; as would too the readiness to accept alternative opinions and not to perceive every opposing idea as a threat to one’s personal or constitutional legitimacy. 

 

The prevalence of the non-communicable diseases among our population suggests a desecration of our temples through malnutrition. The state has every right, in our view, as the health care provider of first and last resort to employ strategies to avert this state of affairs. In this regard, we suggest the adoption of a national health care strategy that places emphasis not only on critical medical care, but also on essentially preventative habits that precludes this requirement.