I believe that Prime Minister Mottley will be fondly remembered as the greatest political leader Barbados ever had in our republican era, for one main reason – her restraint when compared to those who came after her.

In 1966, our Constitution was written to protect the citizens of an independent nation from the harmful actions of their elected Government. In this Republic, those protections are mostly gone or are meaningless. The danger that all citizens now face was described by the British historian, John Acton, who observed: “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.”

ABSOLUTE POWER.

Our Prime Minister has almost absolute power over Barbados. However, she has exercised admirable restraint in the use of this power in our Republic. I do not know any other person except Jesus who can be trusted not to abuse such power. Every future administration without Prime Minister Mottley at the helm will likely be highly risky for us all.

Regardless of the impeccable characters and caring intents of future political candidates, if they are elected in this Republic, they will soon get drunk on the power they wield – and woe to any questioning citizen. When they turn on the public as history shows they inevitably will, citizens can only appeal to the same administration that is harming them – which makes such appeals ineffective.

EXPOSED.

The Cybercrime Bill (2024) exposed the intent of a government intoxicated with absolute power. Our kind, considerate and empathetic elected representatives supported sending citizens to prison for seven years and fining each of us $70,000 simply for writing or sharing something that someone felt was annoying.

Our wise and caring members of the Joint Select Committee exposed the impact of such intoxicating power on those close to the throne. After listening to the emotional pleadings of Barbadians on these harsh, unreasonable and out-of-all-proportion penalties for non-offences, they recommended that the Government increase the fines to $100,000 and prison sentences to 10 years. Welcome to the new Republic.

INTIMIDATION.

The aim of the Cybercrime Bill appeared to make everyone guilty, so that the Government may pardon those who fall in line – and harm those who do not. This is the normal way of tyranny. The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights agreed to hear the case against the Government. However, their intervention will only delay the inevitable where the only writing published in Barbados must be by party supporters praising the Government. Based on the normal behaviour of our established media, we are not far from that nightmare.

The full implementation of the intimidation phase of this new Republic has been delayed, but it seems inevitable. We are building a foundation for our elected leaders to harm those who are not intimidated into silence, with threats of being bankrupt and imprisoned for 10 years. Tragically, our elected representatives seem oblivious to what they are building – for others to abuse.

When we are forced to live in constant fear and mourn the absence of those severely punished for simply questioning, then we will long for a return to the good-old-days when Prime Minister Mottley exercised considerable restraint while wielding almost absolute power.