At the beginning of the year BU warned Opposition Leader Mia Mottley that there is a centipede in her bed. Today the centipede ran across the bed and is yet to be found. Today the centipede had this to say about Mottley:
They want to like her, they want to respect her, she has to use power skilfully.
Despite the protestations of former Prime Minister Owen Arthur that he has no interest in the leadership of the Barbados Labour Party, political pundits know better. Based on the between the lines meanings by Arthur in his press conference today, it appears he has some issues with Mottley which he felt motivated in a special way to counter publicly. Barbadians have accepted that the BLP has historically not vented their problems in public, Arthur today broke the longstanding tradition.
One point we agree with Arthur is why would Mottley force this matter to a vote by the parliamentary group? The 6-2 result in her favour means nothing when viewed against the CADRES poll which placed Arthur several points ahead in the national leadership perception. BU remembers well Mascoll was in a similar position where he had the parliamentary support but Thompson was preferred by the people. When Thompson challenged for the leadership the support shifted from Mascoll to Thompson. The 6-2 vote means nothing, it was a nuisance vote and now threatens to divide the BLP.
Arthur’s move today appears to be well calculated and has nothing to do with airing dirty linen in public. He obviously intends to ride the popularity he still enjoys with Barbadians and see where it leads. Mottley still growing in the leadership role has blinked first in the standoff with Arthur, he has wasted no time in responding with the ruthlessness of a seasoned veteran.
The following was submitted by BU family member Adrian Hinds as a comment earlier today. We found it very interesting:
The BLP will have to look hard at it’s current process for electing the Political Leaders. The DLP did away with that approach. The DLP did away with the approach that saw the parliamentary group dictating to the entire political party membership on who should be the Leader. This is far from over.
I think Arthur should wait until after the General election of 2013 to advocate for a change in the Laws of the Party. It has never been right for the too few to determine hook line and sinker, who will lead this country.
December 2007:
Listen to Mottley telling us the path that she would use to become the Leader of the BLP and hopefully the prime minister. She doesn’t need the general party membership nor the vast majority of Barbados electors to achieve her goal, and this is what is glaringly wrong with our system.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tgvPoQC1Mp4
If as Mia Mottley correctly states, that the parliamentary team of the ruling political party chooses the Prime Minister and Leader of the country, and that a single constituency must validate this choice by first nominating this person to be their representative to parliament, why are we being encouraged to view this election and to make a choice of whom to give our vote too on the opinion of who is best suited to lead the country? WE THE PEOPLE HAVE NO SAY IN THIS BY WAY OF OUR VOTE. WE CAN ONLY VOTE FOR A REPRESENTATIVE NOT A LEADER.
Do I understand Bajan politics or what? Core to all issue in both parties is Leadership. Who and how it is decided. Parliamentarians alone should not choose the Leader of the country. The largest number of persons should get to do so in a real democracy. Next step is to get both parties to the point of allowing the general Assemblies to pick the political leader, with the parliamentary group ratifying that choice to satisfy the constitutional requirement of awarding the PM-ship to the parliamentarian who commands the most loyalty amongst his fellow members. Right now, the two processes are not coalescing as Mia said back in 2007 that they should. What we have is a process of the few dictating to the majority. The final stop however is to have a popularly elected Leader of the Country.
As it stands now with Owen and as it was with Thompson the majority membership of the political parties cannot get their wish because of a process and few individuals. Ultimately the Barbadian electors will have to suffer the burden of someone they absolutely do not want as their leader as the only alternative. This is not democracy
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