Okay! I asked for it! I deserve all the calls I have been getting asking me to reflect in my writings the fact that “there is more to life in Barbados than politics and economics”.

I have endeavoured to so do! I have written here, and in the other place, on almost every subject imaginable, but the truth is, it is hard to ignore some of what passes for informed and enlightened comment in Barbados today.

I grew up in an era of political leaders who fired shots across the bow, but who were nonetheless always interested in and focused on the welfare and wellbeing of the populace. My pen was the conduit for ferrying verbal assaults, backward and forward, between Errol Barrow and Tom Adams, Bernard St. John and Branford Taitt, Louis Tull and Richie Haynes. Those were recent giants of public political discourse, not to mention great orators and researchers such as Henry Forde, Donald Blackman, Ramases Caddle, Billie Miller and Richard Cheltenham.

I saw the aforementioned political personalities in government as well as in opposition and the truth is their “game” never changed or faltered. They were as constructive in government as they were in opposition. Their focus was constant and consistent. It was about what could be done to better the lot of the people.

Now today in Barbados, there has emerged a new breed and brand of political leadership that arrogantly reflects a disposition that if they cannot be in government then they cannot be constructive and they cannot play by the rules. The country is not worth saving if they are not the ones asked to save it!

Today in Barbados, there is this pre-occupation with class and cast. They genuinely believe that it takes a particular pedigree or social history to administer the affairs of state in this country. Most if not all of them “came from no where”, as we would say in St. George, yet, after one or two terms in office they are the grand nieces and nephews of Queen Elizabeth and Albert Einstein combined.

All of a sudden individually and collectively they are the only persons ‘on God’s green earth’, who can run tourism, who know what is required at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, who know how to manage education reform, who can position this economy in safe harbour and so on. Yet, when they had the opportunity, they ‘screwed everything up’.

Here it is that some finally found their voices after 13 months of comatose and all they could engage in is a carnival of gossiping. Who has done what and with whom; who ugly; who pretty; who got class; who can’t dress and so forth.

Sorry, but I will not be giving up my Sunday evenings for that! I am a student of politics and formerly I was as at home at a DLP meeting as I was at a BLP meeting. Hearing Richie Haynes, Errol Barrow, Branford Taitt and Dr. Erskine Simmons was to a large extent as edifying and enlightening as hearing Tom Adams, Bernard St. John, Henry Forde, David Simmons and Vic Johnson. I came away from both events “filled and fortified”. I certainly learnt something from them all. But I shall not subject myself nor shall I asked anyone to sit or stand through three hours of what I am told was pure “torture” last Sunday night. No wonder, I suspect, that journalists covering the event found nothing materially strong to report.

If after 13 months of losing office they cannot regroup and refocus, that is a matter for them, but my time shall not be wasted in that manner. Instead, this week I shall touch on some of the issues I sense Barbadians would like to hear their leaders talking about.

Prime Minister Thompson started the ball rolling recently, when he spoke of the abuse of cell phones and the possibility of children being forced into some unrighteous acts to support the habit. He spoke also of banning smoke in public places and the fact that civil society should take this issue under its wings and seek consensus.

These are issues that society needs to discuss. I was following the news on Monday also and heard of the resounding victory of President Chavez in Venezuela on the issue of term limits. We in Barbados came face to face not so long ago with the harsh and harmful effects of permitting a person to stay at the helm for too long. Compassion and sensitivity were replaced with arrogance and contempt for the voices and views of others. Should we pursue a regime of term limits in Barbados? Is two terms enough for any leader?

What also of the suggestion by the Pennsylvania Governor on Tuesday that he would be willing to put gambling machines in every bar and rum shop across the state, so as to raise funds for education? He believes that more poor children could and would access tertiary level education if the disposable incomes of individuals were channelled in the right direction.

The Governor sees nothing wrong with young children benefiting from the proceeds of gambling. What do we in Barbados have to say about this? Should we bow to growing pressure to go the route of casinos? Should we nationalize some of the arcade operations and raise direct funds for health, education or social welfare?

And what about care of the elderly? Should we take care of abandoned senior citizens and then leverage the cost against their estates? Should be track down their families and publicly humiliate them? Should we build a few more geriatric hospitals around the country?

These are issues that we should be talking about. These are issues that a focused Opposition could be pressuring a government into putting on the national agenda. These are the kinds of issues that the facility of Private Member Business in Parliament was created to exploit. But, unfortunately, being in Opposition in Barbados today means denigrating the characters of others. It means taking an alternative view to that taken by the government of the day. It means focusing on what cannot be done rather than what ought to be done. It means jostling for leadership rather than humbling oneself and reconnecting with ordinary citizens.

I agree! Barbadians need to be talking about issues other than politics and economics. But, if that is all those charged with leading public debate can focus on, then citizens may have to commence and sustain the discussions on their own. Therefore, let the discussions begin.

Hartley Henry is a Regional Political Strategist. He can be reached at hartleyhenry@gmail.com