The government of Barbados has announced its intention to remove Queen Elizabeth as its head of state and become a republic.
Disclosing the development, the Caribbean island’s government said “the time has come to fully leave our colonial past behind”.
The Nigerian Canadian Newspaper gathered that the nation aims to complete the process in time for the 55th anniversary of independence from Britain, in November 2021.
A speech written by the nation’s Prime Minister, Mia Mottley stated that Barbadians wanted a Barbadian head of state.
In part, the speech reads “This is the ultimate statement of confidence in who we are and what we are capable of achieving, Barbados will take the next logical step toward full sovereignty and become a Republic by the time we celebrate our 55th Anniversary of Independence.”
Reports quoted Buckingham Palace to have said that it was a matter for the government and people of Barbados. A source at Buckingham Palace said that the idea “was not out of the blue” and “has been mooted and publicly talked about many times,” report says.
Official reports have it that while the speech was read out by the governor-general, it was written by the country’s prime minister.
The speech which was read by the governor-general, quoted a warning from Errol Barrow, Barbados’s first prime minister after it gained independence, to have said the country should not “loiter on colonial premises”.
Local reports have it that there have been multiple voices in Barbados clamoring for a move away from the monarchy. A constitutional review commission recommended republican status for Barbados in 1998.
It would be recalled that Ms Mottley’s predecessor in officer, Freundel Stuart also argued for a “move from a monarchical system to a republican form of government in the very near future”.
Meanwhile, if the feat is achieved, Barbados would not be the first former British colony in the Caribbean to become a republic. Guyana took that step in 1970, less than four years after gaining independence from Britain. Trinidad and Tobago followed suit in 1976 and Dominica in 1978.
The Caribbean nation is,
however, expected to remain a member of the Commonwealth of Nations, the
54-nation club of mostly former British colonies which is led by the queen, and
includes India.
Barbados gained its independence from Britain in 1966 and it is one of the most populous and prosperous Caribbean islands.
