I’m Highly Curious

  

 

 

I am highly curious

Of the PM’s moves,

How this snap election thing

Is become her groove.

 

What, pray tell,

Is her reason for such?

I really wish she would come out

And tell us as much.

 

Be transparent Mam,

As you did promise,

Why are these snap elections

So high on your list?

 

Is five years too much

To handle at a time

Or is getting a fresh mandate

Niggling at your mind?

 

 

 

Atherley then Ralphie,

Forming an Opposition

And putting a blot on the outcome

Of the elections.

 

 

 

Are rumblings within

Your well-oiled machine?

Are senior members of the party

Causing you to scream?

 

Tell us Madam PM

What is upsetting you

And causing you to end the term

Before you are through.

 

Constitution incomplete

Promised in twenty-two,

But a general election imminent

Announced by you.

 

A snap general election

A year before it is due,

I tell you Madam PM, I am curious

And others are too.

 

If you do this again

Fifteen years would be eleven:

Three and a half twice plus four

Creates a problem.

 

Three terms of eleven years

Rather than fifteen,

I would feel rather short-changed

If you see what I mean.

 

So, Madam PM

What is this all about?

Are you just calling snap elections

Because you have the clout?

 

Or was it, I ask you,

To assuredly settle a score

By removing a thorn in your flesh

That makes you sore?

 

Did you run out steam

And preferred a fresh start

Or did you want to show the wannabees

They are not smart?

 

 

 

Would you be disposed

To do like the USA

And have a fixed date for elections

And proceed in this way?

 

Highly curious

Madam Prime Minister,

Please answer me truthfully

And do not defer.

 

Stewart Russell © January 24, 2026

 

Whither the Constitution?

 

 

Where the Constitution gone

That was promised in 2022?

I recall it was before the General Election

And almost four years due.

 

From a colony to a Nation,

From a Nation to a Republic

But regarding the Republic Constitution,

We have let that slip.

 

“The cart before the horse”

Is what we said back then

But little attention was paid to this

And hence, this problem.

 

All and sundry had agreed

A Constitution was necessary:

The Democratic Labour Party, the PM

And the governing BLP.

 

But it would wait until after

The election that was to come

When Barbados would become a Republic

Aka the BLP kingdom.

 

For what else would it be

Having won all thirty seats?

This, for the second time in succession;

Wasn’t that neat?

 

An election promise:

The PM had given her word

And all like now after almost four years

It is still deferred.

 

Hence, the question I ask,

Where the Constitution gone?

Is there really a need for a new Constitution

Or can we keep the old one?

 

Regarding the General Elections

There was extraordinary haste,

It appeared that the manifesto promises

Were all executed with pace.

 

Was only three and a half years

And another election was called

With just a couple weeks for canvassing

And that was all.

 

Was one and a half years

Not enough time, I ask,

To commence working on the Constitution

And complete the task?

 

Apparently not, it seems,

Given the time they have been at it

So much so, while talking to myself,

I wonder if they quit.

 

For weeks on end

One hears absolutely nothing

And then suddenly out of the clear blue

A bell would ring.

 

Another deadline given,

Another deadline would pass

And yet again, the anticipated Constitution

Would be stuck fast.

 

Reminds me of documents

Stuck in somebody’s desk

And then finally ending up in file 13;

Oh, what a mess!

 

But such would never happen

To the Republic Constitution

Given the calibre of individuals sitting

On this Commission.

 

In the light of all this,

Where the Constitution gone?

Will we wait till after General Elections

To shelve the old one.

 

Is the task too difficult

For these persons of renown?

Do they think we should continue to operate

Under the Crown...

 

Thinking an old Constitution

Is better than no Constitution

Bearing in mind there are still remnants

Of the English Constitution?

 

Is integrity legislation

Included in the new Constitution

And could this be one of the obstacles

To finding a solution?

 

What an uproar, I hear!

What kind of fool would I be

To even imagine such silly tomfoolery

Re the ruling party?

 

So, where the Constitution gone?

It’s been a long time coming,

It is almost like having a fretless guitar

And vigorously strumming.

 

 

 

A new mandate, I heard,

Was why Election 2022 was called

But after the Republic pomp and pageantry

The Constitution is stalled.

 

One individual even stated

Barbados has no Constitution

And that they did not have to pay attention

To any legal adjudication.

 

So, you see why I must ask

Where the Constitution gone

And make a desperate call to the PM

To quickly enact a new one?

 

Enact the new Constitution

Before the Republic gets old

For as far as I and many are perceiving,

The Republic brand is cold.

 

So far, it is purely cosmetic:

Rebranding with just a name

And it is full time we move the State’s Ship

Into the republic’s lane.

 

If only we could reverse

We’d put the Constitution first

For right now Barbados is an orchestra

Playing unrehearsed.

 

Wither the Constitution?

Not a man would answer me,

Maybe I am thinking of the Attorney General

Instead of PM Mia Mottley.

 

Stewart Russell © November 11, 2025

 

Independence/Republic

 

 

Independence or Republic:

Which of these are we?

Constitution notwithstanding,

Can we say we are free?

 

Does it really matter

Wrangling over such?

To you and me in all seriousness,

Does it mean so much?

 

What do captions, pray tell,

If our lifestyles don’t comply?

Can it be culturally Barbadian

If captions tell a lie?

 

Independence or Republic

What do we celebrate

In this festive month of November

On its special date?

 

How do we differentiate

And is there a need

Since both events fall on 30^th November;

Tell me, what do you feel?

 

 

The folk songs are traditional

So too, the events and folklore,

How do we reflect the Republic

Unless we add some more?

 

Independence in 1966

A Republic in 2022

But in reality, nothing has changed,

What differently can we do?

 

It would have been better

It they were done together

But 56 years apart, I am sure you agree,

Doesn’t resolve this matter.

 

Cultural practices build up

Over many a year

And Barbados, as a young Republic,

Is still in first gear.

 

A caption is all there is

With nothing more to support

And not even a Republic Constitution

Informing our Law Court.

 

Independence still reigns

With its songs and folklore

And culturally, nothing has changed,

It’s just like before.

 

God bless Bim

On Independence Day”;

Republic would sound rather strange

If it were sung that way.

 

The Barbados Coat of Arms

And the National Flag:

Tell me what would we do with these?

And there’s more in the bag.

 

The National Pledge

And the National Anthem:

You’d have to throw out these too,

I reckon.

 

Oh, How I still wish

They had happened together:

Our Independence and Republic

Wouldn’t be a bother!

 

The Republic of Barbados

Oh, what a name!

But without a Republic Constitution,

Can we make that claim?

 

It may be a caption for now

Or just a mere title,

But procuring the new Constitution

Is extremely vital.

 

Other than the cosmetics

Regarding the name changing,

We can expect no more significance

Than deckchairs rearranging.

 

 

We’re better than the Titanic

In that we are still afloat,

However, let’s be exceedingly careful;

It’s no time to gloat.

 

Stewart Russell © November 18, 2024

 

Lost Strayed or Stolen

 

 

Lost, strayed or stolen!

De Republic Constitution,

Who is to answer, I have to ask,

For this confusion?

 

Promised for a while

Back in twenty twenty-two

But I cannot find it anywhere,

Tell me, Can you?

 

We are now a Republic

But nothing has changed,

Except for changing some titles

Only deckchairs rearranged.

 

The prison and the police

Just to mention two

But the out of place Constitution

Is still in view.

 

We are still clinging on

To Mother’s apron strings

And marching to another’s bell

Every time it rings.

 

As a Republic country

Shouldn’t we have had our own

When we brought a certain Prince

Away from his mother’s throne?

 

The cart before the horse

Afterwards trying to turn around

But thus far, we are forced to admit,

We are looking like a clown.

 

Still looking around

To find our own Constitution

And from where I sit, I deem it,

Lost, strayed or stolen!

 

 

I have repeatedly asked,

The reason for that frenzied haste

When we celebrated our new Republic

Without its Constitution in place?

 

 

Adding a National Hero

And giving honour to the Prince

But can’t find the new Constitution

Promised ever since.

 

Lost, strayed or stolen!

Both the proverbial horse and cart

And all we have had bar promises,

Are regular fits and starts.

 

Our PM is the greatest

Or by now she ought to be,

For none has been as politically astute

As she.

 

Not Errol and not Tom,

Neither Arthur nor St. John,

Not Sir Lloyd or Freundel Stuart,

Not a single one.

 

None has achieved

Quite as much as she

With two thirty-nil Election wins

And a third one very likely.

 

Add two bye-elections

With landslide victories both

And tell me which of the others

Could make such a boast?

 

But where is the Constitution

That she has promised us?

Lost, strayed or stolen I maintain

Or under political dust.

 

 

Lost, strayed or stolen!

De Republic Constitution,

The buck must stop at the PM

For this confusion?

 

Stewart Russell © June 12, 2025