Prime Minister Thompson made an observation last Sunday evening that set me thinking. He said, in effect, that Opposition Leader Mia Mottley had become the face and voice of negativity and bad news in Barbados. I had never actually verbalized it in that manner, but as I think about it, he is correct!
Whenever I see comments attributed to Ms. Mottley or hear her voice on radio or television, I immediately brace myself for something non-uplifting. I conducted a straw poll among some acquaintances and, ‘surprise, surprise’, they saw it the same way.
In Mass Communication classes we were taught about “uppers” and “downers”. The tutor would say ‘you have essentially to choose the type of persons with whom you associate. Their comments and interventions will either lift you up or put you down. After a while you tend to know where they are likely to come from, even before they speak’. That is very true in the case of Ms. Mottley, ever since she assumed the role of Leader of the Opposition.
You do not have to be listening to the news, you only need to see the image of Ms. Mottley and you know that what is being said will not make you happier about yourself, your community, your government or your country. Indeed, it will have the opposite effect. It will make you depressed, fearful, scared or even put you in panic mode. The focus is essentially always about how terrible things are or will become. It will also be about how great the situation would have been had there been no change of government on January 15, 2008.
I know and understand the role and scope of an Opposition Leader. Each of my clients today was an Opposition Leader at some point. Indeed, I have expended more time and effort working for Opposition parties and opposition parliamentarians than I have for incumbent governments and leaders. So I understand the nuances of opposition politics. But, in more than 20 years of practice, I have never encountered so negative a political personality as that which the Leader of the Opposition in Barbados has become.
I said become, because I knew Ms. Mottley long before she entered politics. We had some vibrant debates and discussions in our teen years. I knew her also as an opposition parliamentarian, then as a government parliamentarian and minister of government and ultimately as Deputy Prime Minister of Barbados. In all this, there was focus, charisma and positivity. There was a sense of give and take across the political divide. The country, I believe, was the better for it.
But, in steps January 16th 2008, Ms. Mottley is appointed Leader of the Opposition and all of a sudden the color grey has been removed from her view and vocabulary. Everything that happens in Barbados is either white or black and there is never a varying of shades.
So free bus fares for school children is wrong. Summer camps for young people are wrong. Constituency Councils to empower ordinary Barbadians are wrong. Expansion of the scope of the Tourism Fund to include businesses other than hotels is wrong. Deferment of National Insurance payments for companies hard hit by the economic downturn is wrong. Pegging the retail price of fuel to the price paid for the commodity is wrong. Reforming the UDC and RDC so poor people can benefit more, is wrong. Completing the upgrade of the ABC Highway without expending hundreds of millions of dollars on needless flyovers is wrong.
Encouraging ministers to get out of their offices and move around Barbados and familiarize themselves with the real, every day experience of ordinary Barbadians is wrong. Giving Barbadians a glimpse of the 1966 night time raising of the Barbados flag is wrong. Inviting and facilitating the arrival in Barbados of West Jet and Jet Blue to take up the slack created by other failed airlines is wrong. Tackling unchecked and unregulated migration is wrong. Standing solidly behind Clico, which employs hundreds of Barbadians, is wrong. Introducing and amending laws week after week to enhance the governance of our state, is wrong. Any action not conceived or propelled by Ms. Mottley is wrong and not in the best interest of Barbados.
That most certainly cannot be the correct attitude for taking us forward as a nation. This concept of an individual or single entity having a monopoly on wisdom, knowledge or ideas must stop. We need the Team Barbados approach to carry us forward.
If there was doubt as to where Ms. Mottley’s focus is, one need only reflect on the just concluded annual conference of the Barbados Labour Party. Here was a major political party meeting at a time when the country, the region and the world are in the throes of the worse economic decline in 80 years.
One would have thought that emanating from that conference would have been a clear set of imaginative ideas and approaches, or at least constructive observations on what’s happening and where action is required.
But, the Leader of the Opposition used that forum to throw down the leadership gauntlet to her colleagues; the clear message being, ‘we are not in office, so to hell with the country. Let’s consolidate our political standing’.
This attitude and approach is most unbecoming of a Leader of the Opposition in Barbados in 2009. This writer will not comment, at this time, on the observations of the former leader of the Barbados Labour Party in respect of her leadership, but it would be insightful for Barbadians to reflect upon exactly what they are being served from this constitutionally required office.
There is too much negativity. The country’s cup is invariably always half empty. If anyone is in doubt about this, I invite them to view her next television appearance, listen to the next radio clip or follow coverage of her every sneeze in the other newspaper. Go ahead. View them all and Judge for yourself!
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