The Barbados Labour Party is proposing a radical new method for selecting both the Prime Minister of Barbados and the Speaker of the House of Assembly.
The proposal has been laid out by Minister of People Empowerment and Elder Affairs, Kirk Humphrey, speaking as First Vice-Chair of the BLP.
He was addressing members of the Parliamentary Reform Commission at a public session held at the BLP headquarters at Roebuck Street a day after a similar session held at the Democratic Labour Party headquarters.
Mr. Humphrey believes that the person chosen as Prime Minister needs to have a broad national profile and appeal and therefore the county as whole should have a hand in that selection.
But he also points out that Prime Ministerial duties detract from the time a person can dedicate to a particular constituency.
Therefore the Prime Minister should be selected from among what would be a group of not constituency but national MPs.
He explains how that national MP system would work.
Mr. Humphrey also believes the speaker should be a person known for integrity and have a national reputation for leadership and fairness in either private or public life or a non-governmental organization and that person must also be above the political fray and concerned with defending the public interest.
