And Shyne isn't the only Barrow who has an issue with this bill. His father and former Prime Minister, Dean Barrow, made a rare call into Wave Radio's Fus Ting Da Mawning to express his disbelief that the government would ever consider such a bill. Like his son, he played the Philip Goldson card, and added that this could lead to eventually forcing Shyne out of his Mesopotamia seat.
Voice of: Rt. Hon. Dean Barrow, Former Prime Minister
"One of the basis on which you can be laid to vacate your seat is if while you are there, something arises which if you had not been a member would have disqualified you from membership. They can well argue, once the bill is passed that what has arisen is this new law that says once you have serves a sentence of imprisonment for more than a year you can't run and so that is something now that disqualifies you from running if you were not a member. Since you are a member and the section talks about anything happening that would have disqualified you if you are not a member being able to use to tell you vacate your seat now. It may well come with that. The argument will be that - anything that arises, one would have to argue well this is not just now arising, this already happened in the past, but I am saying that it is ambiguous enough, it is open-ended enough that don't put anything past the government. What about the young men and young women who they say are marginalized come from dirt poor conditions steal and commit other offenses almost out of necessity. Somebody like that goes to jail for more than a year - comes out, turns around his or her life, goes to school, goes to university, gets a PHD, such a person can't run under the law? It is absolutely outrageous. It is an act of war against marginalized people."
Barrow also noted Evan X Hyde - who once also faced a charge and was later acquitted - went on to be a senator and also once ran for the seat in Collet.
