Lawmakers remove awards barrier for protective services

Members of the protective services who received awards for their work during the COVID-19 pandemic would no longer be barred from receiving Diamond Jubilee honours under an amendment passed on Tuesday by the House of Assembly.

Lawmakers passed the Barbados Diamond Anniversary Honour Act to ensure that members of the protective services who received previous pandemic-related awards are not disqualified from receiving national recognition.

Attorney General Wilfred Abrahams, who brought the amendment before the House, explained that the original legislation was designed to celebrate the nation’s diamond Independence anniversary across the public and private sectors, while explicitly excluding people who were already members of the Order of Barbados. However, this rule inadvertently penalised numerous frontline workers.