Opposition Leader Bishop Joseph Atherley is concerned that Barbados continues to be run by prime ministerial edict and that it will remain until the end of September.
Yesterday during a special sitting of the House of Assembly, he said while the Emergency Powers Act from years past put power under public health emergencies in the Cabinet, that power was now in the hands of the Prime Minister with the Emergency Management Act.
The House sat yesterday in order to extend the state of emergency for a third time in response to curtailing the COVID-19 pandemic. However, Atherley remained uncomfortable with the power shift from Cabinet to Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley. He explained that Cabinet, through legislation passed in the House, introduced an amendment that allowed it to give the power for making decisions related to directives and issuing of orders to the Prime Minister.
“When we extend this state of things as we are doing by dint of this resolution – if passed – we are extending then the circumstances under which the country is governed or managed by prime ministerial edict.” (AC)
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