Submitted by Yardbroom
The opposition party should naturally take a principled position on some issues, when they are part of their core beliefs or what makes them the Party they are. Consideration should also be given to tactics, pragmatism, strategy and most importantly what is in the country’s best interest…in the short and long term. In recent months have the aforementioned positions been adopted by The Barbados Labour Party? I am not sure they have. This submission is not a “critique” it is a personal observation and I am sure others will have a different perception of events. However, since I have raised the subject, the onus is on me to justify my position.
The DLP Government introduced free travel for school children. In the present economic climate it is difficult to see how such a policy could be disadvantageous to those for whom it was intended. A spin off from this initiative was the “perceived” influence travelling on ZR’s was having on young minds and the behaviour that ensued. There are those who will argue this supposed ZR culture is part of today’s society and school children not travelling on ZR’s will have no or a negligible impact on their behaviour…I will not contest that view now.
The opposition’s position…as I understood it was that the money could be better spent in other areas, and was a waste of the Government’s resources. Money can always be otherwise disposed of, you have to identify a specific area and then balance the benefits from that disposal against the free travel for school children, to make a reasonable case to the electorate. If you fail to do that or cannot because of the evident benefits of the initiative…it is best not to oppose.
Now I come to the most contentious policy of all, which can have long term ramifications for The Barbados Labour Party: illegal immigration. That a country should seek to document and account for all citizens within its borders is not only common sense, it is a necessity, a failure to do so would be a dereliction of duty. How can forward planning be properly conducted? That a previous administration failed to do so is no reason for the present one to do the same.
The Barbados Labour Party made a number of cardinal blunders on this issue. In the first instance they gave the impression there was no problem, but there obviously was and it was forced into the nation’s consciousness by the people. Who in some instances had been denied an outlet in certain major media outlets…to be frank they were being thwarted.
There have been only a few instances where a blog – Barbados Underground – has been able to force such an issue into the body politic of a nation…it was the people against the odds and a Government that was listening.
The Government in a stroke of genius and common sense took the bold decision to set up a committee – some thought David Thompson was prevaricating – whose proposals now to be implemented wrong footed the opposition.
The Barbados Labour Party was left in a solitary position of castigating its electorate, or appeared to be and seeking support from the utterances of Barat Jagdeo of Guyana, a Prime Minister whose competence is still open to question by most Barbadians. Some commentators on BU who have identified themselves as BLP supporters, and to be fair I have no knowledge if they are officials of the Party or delegated to represent it. However, they constantly make the point that Professor x or Professor y has said this or that, so we should follow.
We always respect scholarship and education in Barbados, more so from eminent scholars in various fields of endeavour, but if “education” is to mean anything we should be able to analyse and think for ourselves and to know “why” we have arrived at a decision after studying “all” the evidence available. That is what real education is about, to constantly harp on about certain Professors in an effort to stifle debate or undermine free thinking people, shows a lack of human understanding and how to positively interact with others.
I believe The Barbados Labour Party has chosen to oppose when it was not necessary to do so, thus giving the impression “erroneously” that Barbadians have a second place in their thoughts.
A balanced position would have been: we understand what the Government is doing and why they are doing it, we do not object in principle but there are certain issues relating to the overall policy we would have handled differently. It is quite obvious some will say if they do not believe the above, why should they say it?
I say time will be the final “arbiter” in this issue and I contend it is not wise for the opposition Party to “always” oppose.
The blogmaster invites you to join the discussion.