Further changes to the Senate of Barbados are expected in the coming months, Prime Minister Mia Mottley said on Tuesday as Khaleel Kothdiwala was sworn in as its youngest member at age 23.
Mottley said Barbados must prepare its young people to lead the country, stressing the importance of experience and mentorship to ensure a smooth transition when they are called upon to serve.
Damien Griffith was previously the youngest senator, appointed in February 2008 at age 24.
Speaking at State House, Mottley said young people must understand what was required of them, not only in government but in every sphere of activity, so they could step into leadership roles when necessary.
She said: “We have to at this age also ensure that there is continuity in Barbados and that we are exposing our young people.
“That is the lesson that we want to share with the country,” Mottley said. “That duty really comes first.”
The Prime Minister said she had ensured that three young people under 35 sat on the government benches in the Upper Chamber. She acknowledged that the President had also chosen young people for the Senate.
“Our young people must be exposed, must be given the opportunity to shape the world which they are going into, but more importantly, we must understand the basics and essentials of what good governance looks like,” she said.
She warned this was especially important at a time when autocracies and autocratic governments outnumbered democracies worldwide.
Mottley, who entered the Senate at 25, reflected on her three years as one of two opposition senators, saying the experience helped her develop a broader understanding of policy.
“So whether it was finance or health or environment or sports or security or family or whatever, you had to prepare yourself,” she said.
She urged Senator Kothdiwala to take advantage of the opportunity to learn in the Senate and develop his policy knowledge.
“This is now where you get to learn, and this is now where you get to become policy-friendly,” she said.
Mottley said she had wanted Senator Kothdiwala’s voice to be heard in the Senate earlier, arguing that young people old enough to vote should also be able to represent others.
“I felt then, as I still feel now, that if you are old enough to vote at 18, you should be old enough to represent people at 18, and I hope that when the new Constitution is passed that that will be enshrined there.”
Senator Kothdiwala was first nominated for a seat in the unelected body in 2022 at age 18, but the proposed constitutional amendments intended to facilitate his appointment did not secure the necessary support. Mottley said the government had accepted the Senate’s decision rather than trying to work around it.
“The Senate spoke loudly when they rejected what the government wanted; the government could have tried to manoeuvre, get around it, and do all of those things,” she said. “We accepted the judgment of the Senate.”
She said the passage of time and Kothdiwala’s overseas studies had brought him to this point, with the opportunity arising as Senator Roshanna Trim prepares to represent Barbados in the United Kingdom through diaspora engagement.
Mottley also indicated that there would be further changes to the Senate in the coming months, but said she would share details at the appropriate time.
Turning to wider national and global challenges, she identified three existential crises: threats to the sovereignty of small nations, climate change, and artificial intelligence, which she said could threaten humanity if left unregulated.
She also called for greater productivity, improvements in public service and action to address chronic non-communicable diseases, conflict and safety.
The Prime Minister said she was confident that young people entering public life would bring different perspectives and urged the country to build a Barbados that met the needs of future generations.
“If we’re not building a Barbados for our young people, then who is going to be there to sustain that?”
Mottley advised Senator Kothdiwala not to become discouraged when things did not happen as quickly as he hoped.
“Things do not always come in the way and in the time that you would like, but do not sulk,” she said. “It didn’t stop you from maturing and becoming responsible.”
Mottley herself was among Barbados’s youngest senators, entering the chamber at 25 in 1991 as one of two minority members until 1994, with responsibility for culture and community development in the opposition’s shadow cabinet.
David Commissiong became Barbados’s youngest senator in history when he was appointed by the then prime minister, Errol Barrow, in May 1986, aged 26.
The Senate, composed of 21 appointed members who serve a five-year term, was created in 1964, replacing the powerful Legislative Council, which was then dominated by the white planter-merchant class and presided over by the colonial governor.
The new body lost significant unilateral powers, including the ability to veto legislation and control the public purse, and became subordinate to the Cabinet in the exercise of executive power.
(LG)
