Caribbean News
Professionals from 12 Caribbean Countries Learn About the Bermuda’s Clean Energy Progress
April 11, 2023 – Recently (30 March), Acting Premier and Minister of Home Affairs, the Hon Walter Roban, gave closing remarks highlighting Bermuda’s clean energy progress and learnings to energy professionals from 12 Caribbean Island nations, including Turks and Caicos, Saint Lucia, Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname, and three selected participants from BELCO.
The Minister’s involvement was a part of the closing session for the week-long Caribbean Energy Transition Academy Fellowship Summit. The Summit included site visits to Bermuda’s solar and electric transportation projects, regional networking, and other immersive learning opportunities to advance regional clean energy initiatives.
Minister Roban explained, “I am grateful for our partnership with RMI and believe in the fellowship programme. As such, I am proud Bermuda is hosting this year’s fellowship Summit as it exemplifies our commitment to collaborating and supporting the Region in building the skills necessary to meet its collective resilience and climate goals which are vital to us all.”
Acting Minister of Transport Vance Campbell (the substantive Minister of Tourism) addressed the cohort at
the summit kickoff and, following the event’s conclusion, said, “We are proud of the work that has commenced in Bermuda. We trust our efforts will encourage all Caribbean countries to accelerate policies and initiatives and commit to making this Region the leader in clean, renewable energy. We are grateful to RMI for the research and resources they have contributed to the Government of Bermuda.”
Aran McKittrick, Energy Transition Academy Fellow and Research and Development Officer at the Department of Energy, shared his experience at the Summit, “RMI’s Global Fellowship Program (Energy Transition Academy) has provided an excellent opportunity for me to learn and share experiences with my colleagues in the Caribbean as to how we can best accelerate energy transition projects in the region, such as Bermuda’s own Airport Solar and the EV Bus projects.”
Amid increasingly severe, climate-induced hurricanes and volatile global oil and gas prices, energy resilience is a top priority in the Caribbean. The clean energy workforce gap impedes energy transition at the required rate and scale. Governments and utilities throughout the Region recognize the need for concerted, regionally focused clean energy training and capacity development to create a resilient, energy-independent future.
The Caribbean Energy Transition Academy Summit is a key portion of RMI’s Global Fellowship Program, which aims to fast-track the development of utility-driven renewable energy projects through applied learning and experience exchange. In particular, the in-person Summit provides knowledge exchange and know-how for developing and implementing utility-scale solar-plus-battery storage and microgrids. RMI, the independent, global nonprofit organization that created the Fellowship Program, selected Bermuda for this year’s Summit due to the nation’s exceptional progress in clean transportation and power, as showcased through the electric public buses project, the airport solar array, the utilities’ battery energy storage system and commitment to procuring solar on over 30 government buildings.
Charlin Bodley, Manager, Energy Transition Academy of RMI, said, “The hosting of the Energy Transition Academy Fellowship Summit showcases the nation’s commitment to collaborating and supporting the Region in building the skills to meet its collective energy resilience and climate goals”.
Hon. Minister Roban closed his remarks by thanking RMI for over five years of deep partnership and collaboration, supporting Bermuda in being one of the pioneers for clean energy in the Region.
By Deandrea Hamilton | Magnetic Media
October 14, 2025 – It’s being called political theatre — but for citizens, constitutional watchdogs, and democracy advocates across the Caribbean, it feels far more serious. Within a single week, two national parliaments — in Trinidad and Tobago and St. Kitts and Nevis — descended into turmoil as opposition members stormed out in protest, accusing their Speakers of bias, overreach, and abuse of parliamentary procedure.
For observers, the walkouts signal a deeper problem: erosion of trust in the very institutions meant to safeguard democracy. When Speakers are viewed as political enforcers instead of neutral referees, parliaments stop functioning as chambers of debate and start performing as stages for power and spectacle — with citizens left wondering who, if anyone, is still accountable.
October 6: St. Kitts Parliament Erupts
The first walkout erupted in Basseterre on October 6, 2025, when Dr. Timothy Harris, former Prime Minister and now Opposition Leader,
led his team out of the St. Kitts and Nevis National Assembly in a protest that stunned the chamber.
The flashpoint came as the Speaker moved to approve more than three years’ worth of unratified parliamentary minutes in one sitting — covering 27 meetings and three national budgets — without individual review or debate.
Dr. Harris called the move “a flagrant breach of the Constitution and parliamentary tradition,” warning that the practice undermines transparency and accountability. “No serious parliament can go years without approving a single set of minutes,” he said after exiting the chamber.
The Speaker defended the decision as administrative housekeeping, but critics were unconvinced, branding the move a “world record disgrace.” The opposition’s walkout triggered renewed calls for the Speaker’s resignation and sparked a wider public discussion about record-keeping, accountability, and respect for parliamentary norms in St. Kitts and Nevis.
October 10: Trinidad Opposition Follows Suit
Four days later, on October 10, 2025, the Opposition United National Congress (UNC) in Trinidad and Tobago staged its own walkout from the House of Representatives in Port of Spain.
The UNC accused the Speaker of partisan bias, claiming she had repeatedly blocked urgent questions, ignored points of order, and allowed government members to breach standing orders without consequence.
“The Speaker has failed in her duty to act impartially,” the Opposition declared in a statement. “Parliament is not the property of any political party or Presiding Officer.”
The dramatic exit was seen as a culmination of months of rising tension and frustration, with opposition MPs arguing that parliamentary rules were being selectively applied to silence dissenting voices.
Political analyst Dr. Marcia Ferdinand described the twin walkouts as “a warning sign that parliamentary democracy in the Caribbean is teetering on the edge of performative politics.”
“When chairs become political shields rather than constitutional referees,” she said, “democracy becomes theatre, not governance.”
A Pattern Emerging
While St. Kitts and Trinidad are very different political environments, both incidents point to the same regional fault line: the perception that Speakers — the guardians of parliamentary order — are no longer impartial.
In Westminster-style systems like those across the Caribbean, the Speaker’s authority depends not on power but on public confidence in fairness. Once that credibility erodes, parliamentary control collapses into confrontation.
Governance experts say the implications are serious: eroded trust between government and opposition, declining public confidence in state institutions, and growing voter cynicism that “rules” are flexible tools of political advantage.
Why It Matters
Parliamentary walkouts are not new in the Caribbean, but what makes these recent events different is their frequency and intensity — and
the regional echo they’ve created. Social media has amplified images of lawmakers storming out, with citizens from Barbados to Belize questioning whether the same erosion of decorum could be happening in their own legislatures.
Analysts warn that if this perception takes hold, it risks diminishing the moral authority of parliamentary democracy itself.
“Once opposition MPs believe the rules are rigged, and once citizens believe Parliament is just performance,” said one Caribbean governance researcher, “you’ve lost the most valuable currency in democracy — trust.”
Restoring Balance
Political reformers across the region are calling for tighter Standing Order enforcement, independent parliamentary service commissions, and training to strengthen Speaker neutrality. Civil society leaders say the public must also play its part by demanding transparency and refusing to normalize partisan manipulation of parliamentary procedure.
Whether these twin walkouts become catalysts for reform — or simply another episode of Caribbean political theatre — will depend on what happens next inside those chambers.
For now, democracy watchers agree on one thing: when opposition leaders feel the only way to be heard is to walk out, the entire democratic house — not just its Speaker — is in danger of collapse.
Angle by Deandrea Hamilton. Built with ChatGPT (AI). Magnetic Media — CAPTURING LIFE.
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