AYANA GIBBS, a first form student of Harrison College, has been greatly impressed by late Prime Minister Errol Walton Barrow.
Last year she had the rare opportunity to interview the Prime Minister at his Bay Street office as part of a class project dealing with the Independence of the island.
Through his personal aide, Leroy McClean, the interview was arranged. “It was not difficult at all. He did not rush me and that made me feel very much at home. He looked very much like a father figure in his suspenders,” she said.
Following is the full text of the November 11, 1986, interview with Barrow, on the country’s 20th anniversary of Independence.
GIBBS: Good morning, Honourable Prime Minister, I am very grateful that you have kindly consented to let me speak with you about the independence of our nation, not only because you are now Prime Minister but also because you were the major figure in the achievement of our independence.
Mr. Prime Minister, how do you feel when you are referred to as the ‘Father of Independence’?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, it makes me feel as if I’m some kind of patriarch with a long beard.
When we achieved Independence I was 46 years old and I suppose a person of that age is old enough to be the father, if not the grandfather of anything, to produce something.
But it is just one of these journalistic expressions, which I suppose in a way it is a compliment because George Washington, who was the first President of the United States of America is referred to as the ‘Father of the Nation’ because he was largely instrumental in winning the War of Independence against Britain.
We didn’t have to fight a war it is true, but we did have to do a lot of talking and arguing because a lot of people were unsure of themselves and were not sort of positive that they were able to run their own affairs.
GIBBS: Mr. Prime Minister, what influenced you to seek independence for Barbados at the time you did?
PRIME MINISTER: You may ask what would influence anyone to be independent at any time. We think that independence is a natural state of affairs and people should not be ruled over by other people. So it isn’t something that you would think of doing at a particular time, it is something which all human beings in any society should strive towards from the time they are born.
The people who rule over us usually tend to try to make us feel that we cannot run our own affairs, and that is all independence means – that you wish to run your own affairs without having to wait for other people to tell you what to do.
GIBBS: Mr. Prime Minister, what do you consider to be the main difficulties you encountered in leading our nation to independence?
PRIME MINISTER: The main difficulty I think that my colleagues and I encountered was the lack of self-assurance of the people in Barbados and the people who had political axes to grind, which is the result of a long period of colonial domination, and I think that other societies have suffered from this self-doubt; and whereas the Americans, let us revert to them again, had to fight the British to get independence, we had to fight our own people to persuade them that it was time that we looked after our own affairs.
GIBBS: Mr. Prime Minister, what, in your opinion are the main achievements of Barbados since independence?
PRIME MINISTER: It is difficult for me to pinpoint anyone particular matter. I’ll tell you why.
When my political party took over the Government in 1961 we had a programme and that programme did not hinge upon our attaining independence although independence was part of our programme.
In other words, being a self-governing country in 1961 and even before that, we did not depend on anyone for any money to carry out any of the programmes that we wished to carry out in this country; the people of Barbados paid their own way.
So when we drew up a programme in 1961 for the improvement of the country, like free secondary education and a National Insurance Scheme and matters of that kind, although some of them came after independence, they did not come as a result of independence.
It is only a question of timing that we were able to get through some of the matters on our agenda before independence and others came in shortly after independence.
After independence, of course, the only difference was that we were responsible in the international community for running our own foreign affairs as well. So that was about the only thing that Barbados accomplished by independence along with the expense of running these foreign legations and so on that we did not do before independence.
GIBBS: Mr. Prime Minister, we will shortly be celebrating our 20th year of Independence. Is there a special message on independence which you would like to give to children of my age?
PRIME MINISTER: Yes, I should like the children of your age and all the children in Barbados to realise that when you reach the age of 18 you have the right to vote and when you reach the age of 21 you have achieved full maturity.
A lot of children today, nearly all the children today, were not even born when we achieved independence but the future of this country is in the hands of those children who were not born when we achieved independence.
Next year we are going to be 21 and therefore the future is going to be firmly in your hands and you should make the most of your educational opportunities and all the other facilities which you have available for self-development in order to carry this country upward and onward.
GIBBS: Mr. Prime Minister, I would like to thank you again for making this interview possible and I wish you success as you continue the leadership of our nation. Thank you.
PRIME MINISTER: Thank you.
This article was published June 2, 1987.
