Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley and Leader of the Opposition Ralph Thorne united today as a joint sitting of Parliament officially elected The Most Honourable Jeffrey Bostic as the new president.
Members of the Senate joined Members of the House of Assembly in the session that lasted about an hour, in which both sides agreed it was a time to set aside partisan politics in the name of patriotism.
By 11:15 a.m. the process was over following much table thumping as Bostic’s qualifications and character traits were praised resulting in no objection to his being appointed the second president of Barbados when the question was put to the members by Speaker of the House Arthur Holder.
“It has been a momentous occasion that will shape the character and direction of our young republic. The office of president demands not only constitutional propriety, but moral authority. This requires social service and an unwavering commitment to our nation and its people, and as you heard, to display a non-partisan approach in all things,” Mottley noted.
“In Lieutenant Colonel Bostic, we have found all of these qualities in abundance. For more than four decades, Jeffrey Bostic has exemplified what it means to serve his country, Barbados, with distinction, with dignity, and with selfless dedication.”
Thorne said there should be no political bitterness in the process, which was respected by the Democratic Labour Party.
“There’s no rancour, there’s no bitterness, there’s no war,” he said during his time on the floor.
“We come in that spirit because we recognise that this is the highest political office in this country and that the office must not be reduced to political rancour, political bitterness. This is the highest political office in this country. We are talking about the head of state,” he said.
Bostic, who served in the Barbados Defence Force from 1980 to 2006 and is proficient in Spanish, holds a bachelor of arts with honours in Caribbean and Latin American studies from the University of the West Indies Cave Hill Campus. He later earned a postgraduate diploma in advanced and continued continental defence studies from the prestigious Inter-American Defence College. He also studied at the National War College in the United States.
He served as Minister of Health and Wellness from 2018 through 2022 including during the COVID-19 pandemic period and was a consultant for civil military coordination with the Pan American Health Organisation.
Bostic will succeed incumbent The Most Honourable Dame Sandra Mason, whose term in office ends on November 29. (AC)
