BRIDGETOWN, Barbados (CMC):
Governor-General Dame Sandra Mason has been nominated to be the first president as Barbados moves to become a republic by November 30.
In addition, Barbadians have been given the assurance that there will be no change to the country’s name, flag, pledge, or the name of Independence Day.
This was outlined by Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley during an address to the nation on Saturday.
“There is no change to the flag. There is no change to the name of Independence Day; there is no change to the name of Barbados. Barbados is Barbados. We’re not the Commonwealth of Barbados; we’re not the Republic of Barbados; Barbados is Barbados. We are also not changing our pledge.”
Mottley explained that between now and November, it was the government’s intention to put a Bajan as the country’s head of state, and Dame Sandra was the person nominated and has consented to the nomination.
She said Dame Sandra’s nomination would now be subject to the vote of members of parliament in the House of Assembly and the Senate.
Mottley further outlined that the government was also seeking to determine, through a charter, what were the promises and pledges that would be made to each other.
“We feel that if we are going to have a new constitution, eventually, that is going to reflect who we are in the third decade of the 21st century, rather than who we are in the middle of the 20th century, that that should be first and foremost guided by the kind of person that we want to be and the kind of people. Not legal language; not justiciable language, but a charter, a set of pledges and promises as Bajans to each other, no more than two or three pages ..