#BTColumn – Unconstitutional lockdown Article by February 19, 2021 Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed by this author are their own and do not represent the official position of the Barbados Today. by Caswell Franklyn For months, I have contemplated but resisted writing about the rule of law, or lack thereof, in Barbados under two consecutive states of emergency. All that changed after I read a WhatsApp message sent to me from an unknown person. I simply said: “If you allow the government to break the law in an emergency, they will create emergencies to break the law. In order to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic, the Government of Barbados decided that it would institute a state of emergency. Rather than use the existing provisions, Government sidestepped the Constitution and the 1939 Emergency Powers Act and amended the Emergency Management Act to provide for a public health emergency. They claimed that the existing Laws of Barbados did not provide for such. Notwithstanding Government’s claim, I contend that there are ample laws to institute any such emergency.