Barbados makes new push to leave colonial past behind

Barbados should grow a republic and omit its colonial past behind, a senior official said on Wednesday, following the Caribbean island nation said it aspires to withdraw Britain’s Queen Elizabeth as its head of state.

A former British colony that achieved freedom in 1966, the country of just below 300,000 has managed a formal connection with the British monarchy as have some other nations that were once a section of the British empire.

“The moment has come to leave our colonial past behind entirely,” said Barbados Governor General Sandra Mason, giving a speech on behalf of the country’s PM Mia Mottley.

Mottley won a landslide winning in 2018 general elections.

“Barbadians desire a Barbadian head of state. This is the final statement of confidence in who we are and what we are competent of accomplishing,” Mason said.

“Hereafter, Barbados will take the following logical step approaching full sovereignty and grace a republic by the time we dedicate our 55th anniversary of freedom.”

That ceremony will come in November 2021.

But on the Caribbean island nation, the idea has been engaged with scepticism.

Different governments have put forward the idea of becoming a republic over the past decades. More lately, there has been disappointment with the government’s procrastination in eliminating colonial ea statues.

The bronze statue of Admiral Lord Nelson, built in 1813, still holds on Broad Street in the capital city of Bridgetown. It was listed for dismissal last month when various nations throughout the world began lifting similar statues from public places as protests facing racism arose.

Roy R. Morris, press secretary to the prime minister of Barbados, said in response to inquiries that there was no appropriate trigger for the timing of a reinvigorated push to shift a republic other than meeting a longstanding commitment by the island’s legislators.