作者： admin

As firearm-related violence continues to climb across Barbados, independent legislator and real estate executive Andrew Mallalieu is amplifying public calls for sweeping criminal justice reform centered on harsher penalties for gun-involved offenses. Mallalieu has thrown his support behind the Supreme Court of Judicature (Amendment) Bill, a piece of legislation that would establish dedicated firearms courts to streamline the processing of gun-related cases. But in a stark acknowledgment of the current public safety climate, he says even this structural reform is incomplete without a core policy shift: mandatory minimum prison sentences for anyone convicted of committing a crime with a firearm.

In remarks delivered on the floor, Mallalieu reaffirmed his long-held stance that the island’s current sentencing framework fails to match the scale of public anxiety around rising gun crime. “If you asked Barbadians today, the vast majority would tell you that the sentences for crimes committed with firearms need to be much harsher than they are,” he argued. While Mallalieu acknowledged that existing rulings from the Caribbean Court of Justice and other judicial frameworks may present procedural hurdles to implementing mandatory minimum sentences, he said the overwhelming will of the public justifies moving the proposal forward. He added that he personally regrets the need for such harsh penalties under normal circumstances, but the current public safety crisis leaves no other viable option.

Mallalieu also outlined two additional critical requirements to make the new judicial framework outlined in the amendment bill functional. The legislation includes a provision to expand the High Court by up to 15 new judge positions, but the independent senator emphasized that this change will only deliver practical improvements to court efficiency if the government actually follows through on appointing those new judges. Beyond judicial appointments, he noted, the reform will require a robust, transparent case routing system to direct firearms cases to the new dedicated courts without delays. Most importantly, Mallalieu stressed that passing the legislation itself will not improve public safety. “Passing this bill will do nothing if we don’t put the resources behind it to do it,” he said, warning that adequate funding and infrastructure support are non-negotiable for the reform to succeed.

In a surprising addition to his remarks, Mallalieu also opened a new national debate on gun control by asking whether Barbados should hold a public referendum on a near-total national ban on civilian firearms. Under the proposal he floated, only three groups would be exempt from the ban: active police officers, members of the national army, and firearms stored legally at regulated gun-sporting facilities. The question has opened a new front in the ongoing national conversation about how to curb rising gun violence across the island.

A top opposition leader in Barbados has launched a sweeping condemnation of the Mia Mottley-led administration, accusing it of deliberately concealing critical public financial information and fostering a culture of institutional secrecy that erodes democratic accountability. Ryan Walters, opposition Democratic Labour Party (DLP) Senate leader and shadow finance minister, argues that the growing volume of unanswered questions surrounding major public spending and infrastructure projects can no longer be brushed aside as isolated oversights.

The most recent flashpoint in this ongoing dispute centers on the BiMPay instant payment platform, where Central Bank Governor Dr. Kevin Greenidge has declined to release the project’s total development and implementation cost. Walters emphasizes that this controversy is not an isolated incident, but rather the clearest latest example of a years-long pattern of behavior among ruling party officials. He argues that senior government figures consistently dismiss legitimate scrutiny from journalists and opposition politicians as unnecessary annoyance, rather than a core requirement of democratic governance.

“What we are seeing right now with BiMPay is not just a single disagreement over one piece of information, one reporter’s question or one public official’s decision,” Walters told the Senate. “It is a symptom of a culture that has become deeply embedded within this administration. A culture where legitimate questions are brushed off as irritants, independent scrutiny is labeled political opposition, and full transparency is increasingly treated as an optional extra, not a legal and ethical obligation.”

Walters outlined a multi-year trend of the administration deflecting, delaying, ignoring, or directly attacking anyone who questions how public funds are managed. He reminded the chamber that public officials are only temporary stewards of the national treasury, not private owners of state assets. “The government does not own the public purse. Cabinet ministers are not custodians of private wealth. Every dollar that passes through the hands of government departments, statutory corporations, state-owned enterprises and public agencies ultimately belongs to the people of Barbados,” he said. “As the ultimate owners of these resources, citizens hold an unquestionable right to know how their money is spent, whether they are getting value for every dollar, and whether proper safeguards are in place to protect public funds from waste or misuse.”

The shadow finance minister highlighted a long list of unresolved transparency failures across nearly every sector of government, stretching back to the administration’s 2018 election. Beyond the undisclosed cost of BiMPay, he raised questions about hidden fees for external consultants hired since 2018, undisclosed ministerial travel expenditures, limited public data linking fuel import costs to retail pump prices, and the complete absence of published cost-benefit analysis for the government’s high-profile We Gathering 2025 development initiative.

Walters also pointed to the ongoing disposal process for the Holetown Civic Centre, noting that the project is moving forward without ever disclosing full cost details to Barbadian taxpayers. In the health and infrastructure sector, he called out the unexplained repurposing of a major pandemic-era health facility built in the northern parish of St. Lucy. The facility, constructed at a reported public cost of more than $125 million during the COVID-19 public health emergency, no longer provides healthcare services and has reportedly been converted to housing for migrant labor. “Barbadians deserve a full explanation of what happened to this massive public investment, which was originally meant to expand healthcare access for citizens in the north of the island,” Walters said.

Additional concerns were raised about spending oversight at state-run entities and cultural initiatives, specifically naming the state development organization HOPE Inc. and the regional cultural festival CARIFESTA. Despite hundreds of thousands of public dollars flowing through HOPE Inc., and multiple red flags raised by the Auditor General in past reports, Walters said a newly appointed cabinet minister recently confirmed the organization continues to spend public funds without having released a single public annual financial report for independent scrutiny. For CARIFESTA, he called for a full independent audit after reported expenditures ballooned from an original projection of $8 million to more than $34 million. He added that hundreds of millions of dollars allocated to related infrastructure projects for the festival remain incomplete, with repeated shifted deadlines and steady cost increases that have never been justified to the public.

“The public is entitled to concrete facts, not just vague assurances and generic political talking points,” Walters said, noting that the administration has consistently failed to produce comprehensive post-project evaluations that would allow independent assessment of public spending value.

Turning to Barbados’ core social safety net, Walters focused his criticism on the National Insurance and Social Security Service (NISSS). While reaffirming the DLP’s longstanding support for progressive social protection programs, including the ruling administration’s Solidarity Allowance and Cost of Living Cash Credit initiatives, he stressed that a commitment to compassion cannot justify a lack of compliance with transparency rules. He questioned whether public funds transferred from NISSS to finance these temporary emergency programs have been fully repaid to the social security scheme.

“NIS funds belong to the working people of Barbados who have contributed to the scheme over decades, and they must be protected accordingly,” Walters said. “This is about safeguarding workers’ contributions, guaranteeing pensioners’ future benefits, and protecting the long-term financial sustainability of the country’s most critical social protection institution. To date, the government has not provided clear answers to these questions.”

He also raised alarm over the repeated delay of the mandatory independent actuarial review of NISSS, an assessment designed to identify early financial risks to the social security system. Taken as a whole, Walters argued that these overlapping transparency failures add up to a deeply troubling pattern that cannot be dismissed.

“Viewed one by one, the government may try to explain away each of these concerns as a simple mistake or a minor delay,” he said. “But when you look at all of them together, they reveal a deeply disturbing pattern. Questions get asked, and most are ignored. Answers are promised, time passes, and reports never materialize. Audits get delayed, costs go up, deadlines get shifted, and accountability disappears. This pattern is now too consistent to be written off as a coincidence.”

Walters clarified that the DLP does not oppose government spending on public projects and social programs, but objects to the complete lack of independent oversight and public reporting for that spending. He called on the Mottley administration to immediately publish all outstanding audits, project reports, full expenditure breakdowns, and the delayed NISSS actuarial review.

“Accountability is not a favor that the government grants to citizens. Accountability is the basic price of holding public office in a democracy,” he said. “Transparency is not achieved through PR stunts, speeches, press conferences or empty political rhetoric. Transparency is only achieved through full disclosure. Until the required information is made available to the Barbadian public, legitimate questions will keep being asked, and the Democratic Labour Party will keep demanding answers on behalf of all the people of this country.”