B’dos still a democracy

The People’s Party for Democracy and Development (PdP) is telling Government that it cannot use the Emergency Management COVID-19 Order, as a way to circumvent democracy in this country.

Attorney-at-law, Maria Phillips, the PdP’s spokesperson on law and governance, made the comments during a press conference yesterday via Zoom, as she raised concern about the “persistent use of Parliament to enact legislation without the discourse, consultation and civic engagement” expected in a democracy. She said that this is a worrying trend, contending that while the Government had unprecedented majority rule, they cannot do as they like and make unilateral decisions.

“This has been demonstrated time and time again and with the recent reading of the Criminal Justice (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill, a piece of legislation that would impact directly on the right to trial by jury... The rationale for this rule is that it contemplates the depth of deliberation necessary for a just determination of guilt or innocence of the accused. Hence the involvement of the relevant considerations and engagement of Barbados Association and other civil society groups in the discourse was necessary,” she contended.

She added, “...What we are witnessing is the incremental eradication of processes that are integral to the very survival of our democratic state. Processes that would include the active participation of appropriate agencies as it relates to the protection of human rights of all Barbados citizens and those resident in Barbados”.

Phillips stopped short of saying that the amendment to the Criminal Justice (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act would have a negative impact on the course of justice, but noted that will affect the rights of the accused. Again she said there was the need to consult the stakeholders such as the Barbados Bar Association (BAR), and such can be done even now. She made the point while indicating that the BAR would have been able to give the necessary academic and practical considerations to Government before the legislation was brought before Parliament.

“The whole purpose of a trial by jury is that... you want to ensure that the jury itself is unanimous in the verdict that is brought for the accused. So are you saying now that you are moving from having all the jurors saying yes guilty or not guilty to nine persons? What impact is that? The pros and the cons coming in place for a serious offence would have to be aired and deliberated.”

“There are several options across different countries. They have looked to remove the unanimity rule; other countries are still using it, but my thing really is do we have the evidence, is there evidence that suggests that this is no longer effective? Can we sit down and say that this is in any way causing greater delays or whatever the case maybe within the jury system? All of these questions that I am asking you, these are questions that need to be aired between the various organisations, so that solutions can be found, as opposed to just shifting, changing things like that and having people in an uproar,” she stated.

She made the point while also questioning why the amendment was being pursued at this time when the country is shutdown on account of COVID-19. The spokesperson on law and governance maintained that even though Barbados is in a state of emergency, it remains a democracy and as such, she said that representation of the people and transparency is still possible and remains paramount.

“We have to be the watchdogs for democracy in this country. We have to ensure that civic Barbados understands that they have a role to play while this Government has a majority role in Parliament. We have to realise that the media has a role to play while this Government has a majority,” she maintained.