Anyone entering Barbados, thinking they are doing so as part of the CARICOM Full Free Movement initiative, may unwittingly be doing so under false pretences, says Opposition Leader Ralph Thorne.
During a media conference yesterday in the office of the Opposition Leader on the second floor of the Thomas Daniel Building, Hincks Street, The City, Thorne said there was no legislation supporting the initiative, adding Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley had overstepped her authority and put the cart before the horse.
“We want to, at this stage, as a Democratic Labour Party (DLP), say that we support the freedom of movement of labour across the Caribbean. And we are firm on that. But in all of these enterprises, the law must still stand for something. And Ms Mottley’s initiative [last] week does not have legal condemnation,” he said.
Thorne explained the Prime Minister did not have the power to unilaterally declare such a thing as full free movement without first having the requisite legislation pass through Parliament for debate. He said those pieces of legislation, the Immigration Bill and the Citizenship Bill, were still to be discussed.
Power
“A Prime Minister cannot exercise unlimited power. What the Prime Minister did earlier this week exceeds her legal powers. This initiative is tainted by illegality, and I think the Government itself recognises that because the very law that is intended to be passed, that is the Citizenship Bill and the Immigration Bill, has been laid in Parliament and referred to a Joint Select Committee.
“What that means is that in a matter of days or weeks, that Joint Select Committee of Parliament will invite the public to make submissions, to give their opinions as to the law that is intended to govern this initiative,” he said.
As such, Thorne said it was the contention of the DLP there could not have been any official launch of full free movement from October 1, and anyone seeking to capitalise on it was being deceived.
Maxine McClean, a former Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, outlined the party’s position further.
“By her actions in advance of the passing of the legislation, is the Prime Minister, in effect, disadvantaging citizens of Belize, Dominica and St Vincent and the Grenadines? Because if somebody comes into Barbados today, or from the first, and the legislation has not been passed, they effectively cannot pursue their interests and therefore are being disadvantaged. And I think that’s a practical example which is absolutely critical.
Processes
“. . . And this was the question that we have been posing from the beginning – what are the processes involved? The first step [should be] to establish the legislative framework,” she said.
Thorne said the initiative was an “arbitrary exercise in power” which could not be legally binding until validated by Parliament and, as such, urged entities such as the Barbados Revenue Authority, the Immigration Department and the Electoral and Boundaries Commission, to take guard.
“They have no legal basis on which to function, because the Prime Minister had no legal basis on which to function. In other words, the system is not properly in place. A system can only properly be put into place under public law when the law has been passed by Parliament. The law has not been passed by Parliament, so nothing is in place. These people who are coming are casual visitors and they cannot be registered under a system which needs to be legislated,” he said.
Thorne said they were cautioning the Chief Immigration Officer not to join Mottley and function in excess of, or in breach of, the law.
“If the Prime Minister is in breach of the law, please allow the Prime Minister to be alone in [that]. We are asking the Government departments not to contribute to the breach of the law that is in place,” he said.
(CA)
