DECLARING THAT he is fed up with swearing allegiance to the Queen, a former Cabinet minister said yesterday that the time had long come for independent Barbados to stop paying homage to the British monarchy and move to republican status.
Hamilton Lashley, a Member of Parliament for 17 years with four successive election triumphs, has joined former Attorney General Sir Frederick Smith in declaring that Barbados should have its own head of state.
Lashley, the MP for St Michael South East since 1994, also called for the renaming of President Kennedy Drive, Princess Margaret School and Her Majesty’s Prison Dodds.He told the DAILY?NATION that the state-owned Caribbbean Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) TV gave high priority and live coverage to the Royal Wedding between Prince William and Kate Middleton, but restricted its coverage of the Cricket World Cup to only matches involving the West Indies at the preliminary stage.
“It’s a national disgrace that cricket is our national sport and we could see only one quarterfinal match in the World Cup, yet we could see a Royal Wedding of two people who most likely will never do anything for the people of this country,” he complained.
“I cannot believe that in the year 2011 that we would still have vestiges and institutions and we have not thrown off the cloak and yolk of colonialism. We still refer to the Queen in an independent Barbados in extremely glowing terms and we pay exceptional tribute to the Queen and her offspring and when I win a seat I have to go to Government House and pay homage in my oath to her and her heirs.”
Lashley added: “Why, as an independent nation, do we have to solemnly declare allegiance to the Queen? Why not to the President of Barbados and God? Why do we still have the Royal Barbados Police Force and Her Majesty’s Prison? Why can’t we name the prison after an outstanding Barbadian who contributed to the penal reform system?
“I am fighting this nonsense that is still on the legal books that you are in prison at Her Majesty’s pleasure. It is an insult to the intelligence of the legal luminaries that the region has not fully accepted the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) and we are still inclined to go with decisions from the appeals court in London,” Lashley charged.
Lashley, who turned 60 yesterday, said it was “disappointing” that in Barbados there were streets named after Queen Victoria, the Prince of Wales, King Edward, Queen Mary and a former president of the United States.
“We should be looking at a whole system of renationalism that some of these roads that carry foreign names should be named after our very own who have contributed in a very tangible way,” he said.
“In my constituency, there is a Princess Royal Avenue and that is shocking. In Barbados, there is a Buckingham Road and all kinds of royal names of people who have never made the slightest contribution to this country.
“I would prefer those communities to be named after those who have made stellar contributions to them.”
Lashley said he was worried that there were still too many Barbadians who worship their colonial masters, “who feel we should still be singing God Save The Queen”.
“We still have a serious inferiority complex in Barbados,” he said.
