No one seems willing to talk about it, so at the risk of having my email re-hacked and further untruths concocted, I shall today comment on a few recent slip ups in judgment by the leader of the opposition Barbados Labour Party, Mia Mottley.
Under normal circumstances, and using my preferred Bajan vernacular, I would say to Ms Mottley that her political ‘slip is showing’. But that somehow does not ring well with this particular politician, so I would merely wish to point out that on current course, she is on the wrong track; moving the Barbados Labour Party in the wrong direction.
Firstly, Mottley was wrong for not chastising Trevor Prescod, there and then, over his very uncharitable comments in relation to a former leader of this country. Even the other newspaper found it necessary to rap her on the knuckles for this letdown. As leader, she must not fail to rein in her charges, even if it means not being always in their good books.
Secondly, the media has made light work of the failed attempt by Ms Mottley and the Barbados Labour Party to launch their 2013 general elections campaign. Mottley announced at that same St Michael East meeting that she would be leading her party onto the battle field last Wednesday evening and would in effect be launching her party’s re-election campaign.
True to form, she persisted with this il-advised and ill-conceived strategy and attracted a whopping five score and 16 persons to the grand stepping out meeting in Waterhall Land. The fact that by the time Mottley herself rose to speak the “crowd” had dwindled to 86, speaks volumes about the appeal, resonance and impact of previous speakers Prescod, Liz Thompson, Arthur Holder and Ian Gooding-Edghill.
Someone should whisper in Mottley’s ear that the role of Opposition Leader and opposition party is a serious one and you cannot simply abrogate such responsibilities merely on the altar of political expedience. General elections are due in Barbados in the year 2013 and when that time comes or draws nigh, partisan political lines will be drawn and the battle shall begin. Until then, political operatives in Barbados have a people to mould and a country to build. We must not lose focus of our purpose for being in politics and public life. It ought and must be about service to the people. Now is the time for leaders of Barbados to focus on Project Barbados!
Mia Mottley needs to earn her keep and pay her dues as Leader of the Opposition in this country. If she does not wish to be an Opposition Leader, and an effective one at this critical juncture in our history, then she should step aside and permit someone else to perform that function. There is nothing wrong with her as party leader, focusing exclusively on overhauling and readying her party’s election machinery, but uninspired and uninspiring leadership in the role of Leader of the Opposition is definitely not on.
Her first two years at the helm of the parliamentary team of the BLP has been characterized by mediocrity and a series of blunders. She has been far too negative and pessimistic. She has failed to raise her discussion above and beyond that of narrow partisan sniping. Her economic forecasts have been extreme and her advice in most instances illogical and targeted at benefitting only a select few.
It must be borne in mind that having received as much as ten seats and voices in the Parliament of Barbados after the last general elections, Mottley’s realistic strength has now whittled to seven on any normal day, with one member having exited the party, another effectively exiting the country and a third making clear, his discomfort with and lack of confidence in her leadership. If ever a Leader of the Opposition needed to stop and regroup, it is Mia Amor Mottley. Her good friends should tell her she is not cutting it!
Added to these ‘at home’ embarrassments is her failed and continuously failing attempt to position and reposition the Barbados Labour Party in regional political circles. Say what you will about Owen Arthur, he was for the most part ‘friends of all and satellites of none’ in the politics of the English speaking Caribbean. I knew over the past 15 years, where Owen Arthur and his key fundraisers stood in relation to every general elections campaign contested in this region.
Arthur would have his sidekick, who plays a mean game of dominoes, make the odd call here and there to solicit a little financial and other support for a comrade party leader, but never would he, Arthur, get actively involved in the politics of a sister nation, especially at election time. Indeed, I cannot recall Arthur ever even addressing a party political conference in the period leading up to or during an election. That principled position earned him much respect across the Caribbean, to the extent that even in the event of the party not of his preference winning, relations with Barbados were never in jeopardy.
What many Barbadians do not know of late, is the continuous black eye being suffered and experienced by the Barbados Labour Party under the leadership of Mia Mottley through her failings to ‘land a winner’ in the Caribbean.
Mottley has aligned the BLP to a set of nuisance parties around the region. Just this week, the People’s Action Movement, whose leader was a Guest Speaker at Mottley’s candidate nomination meeting in St. Philip North, suffered a fourth consecutive, humiliating defeat, with Lindsay Grant himself failing for the third time to win a seat in the parliament of St. Kitts and Nevis.
Operatives of the Barbados Labour Party were highly visible in that campaign and businessmen in Barbados can attest to the personal calls that were made by leading officials in the Barbados Labour Party soliciting financial support for the People’s Action Movement. Interestingly, Owen Arthur as Prime Minister and leader of the Barbados Labour Party public associated with and supported the victorious Denzil Douglas led St. Kitts and Nevis Labour Party.
Mottley’s thrashing last Monday in St. Kitts came on the heels of another humiliating defeat in Dominica six weeks ago, when again the party she addressed a few months earlier and for which financial support was solicited from the Barbados business community failed, not only to win a seat but to regain a single deposit among its 11 candidates, including Political Leader Judith Pestaina. Once again, Owen Arthur as Prime Minister and Leader of the Barbados Labour Party publicly associated with and endorsed the leadership of the victorious Roosevelt Skerrit-led Dominica Labour Party.
All this points to a series of strategic blunders by Mottley that I predict will cost her dearly in the long run. I am not a supporter of the BLP, but I am a student of politics and it is really irritating to see such fundamental errors being made by a person who hails from what is touted as good political blood stock.
With her every blunder, I fear Mia Mottley is proving Owen Arthur correct in his publicly stated apprehension about her suitability to lead the party at this time.
The question therefore is how long will it take others in the party to realize that Arthur is right, in respect of Mottley, and, more importantly, what will they do about it?
The blogmaster invites you to join the discussion.