The dust is starting to settle 10 days after a fiercely contested general election. The new Prime Minister David Thompson has named his Kellmanless cabinet, and the country now awaits the performance of the newly sworn-in government over the next 100 days. Although we agree with new Leader of the Opposition Mia Mottley when she says that the government needs some time to settle, by the same token, we feel that before they start to get comfortable in their Italian tailored suits, we are obligated to lobby some of our early concerns.

Leading up to and during the general election recently concluded, the issuance of a cheque for $75,000 which was payable to the former Prime Minister Owen Arthur and donated by Caribbean Commercial Bank was made a ‘bombshell’ issue by the Democratic Labour Party (DLP). Barbadians were told, and the markings on the paid cheque confirms, that the cheque was deposited to Owen Arthur’s personal account at First Caribbean International Bank in Speightown. The DLP alleges that there is something sinister about the transaction. In response, Arthur explained that he used the funds to support some of his party colleagues who needed financial assistance in their political campaigns. According to Thompson there was no declaration of the donation by Arthur in the 2003 General Election which is required under the Laws of Barbados.

We had hoped that our Media Houses who have been touted by many as being full of journalistic standards, and have now found a voice in the post-Arthur era, would have been asking some tough questions on this issue. Are we going to let this matter die and continue on a course called, business as usual?

On 29 November 2007, Peter Hain, MP informed the Electoral Commission that he had not fully reported to the Commission donations he had received for his Labour Party deputy leadership campaign. Mr Hain has since met with the Commission and provided additional information about donations he received. The Electoral Commission has undertaken a thorough review of this information. Following discussions with the Metropolitan Police Service and the Crown Prosecution Service, the Electoral Commission has now referred matters to the Metropolitan Police for them to consider whether an investigation should commence – we wish to thank a BU family member for drawing this article to our attention

Source: BBC News

People who have been following the matter quoted above should be able to draw some similarities to the issue of the $75,000.00 cheque donation which was negotiated by Arthur on his personal account. If we accept that the monies were not declared as election campaign financing in 2003, is this not a clear breech of the Laws of Barbados? If we proceed on this basis then it begs the role of the Electoral Commission in Barbados. We have heard David Thompson speaking to investigations soon to be started into the ABC Highway and other projects contracted by the previous government. Despite our best effort, we cannot find any record where Prime Minister Thompson is speaking to the issue of what the new government plans to do about Arthur’s non-declaration of the donation.

They are some who doubt our integrity and believe that we are driven by party loyalties. We will not waste our time by responding to those critics. We will simply let our articles do the talking. We will feature this issue until we hear some plausible explanation from the relevant government agency as to why this matter should not be handed to the Director of Public Prosecutors.