I feel sorry for Owen Arthur! The lashes he received from influential elements in the Barbados Labour Party, over his public criticism of Mia Mottley, have served to literally and figuratively knock the wind from his political sails.
The true Owen Arthur, and certainly the Owen Arthur of up to three months ago, could and would never have supported that il-advised boycott of Parliament by the Leader of the Opposition. Were this a year ago, he would have called a separate press conference to disassociate himself from the folly of opposition parliamentarians withdrawing from parliament at so crucial a period in our social and economic journey.
One only need to check the records of Parliament and see how Owen Arthur felt and truly feels about Opposition Parliamentarians absenting themselves from the Chamber. Remember the David Thompson led boycott in the closing stages of the last Parliament? Check and discover what Arthur said back then. However, these days are funny political nights and Arthur dare not go against the leadership of the party at this crucial juncture.
As I wrote a few weeks back, Arthur was about to be ostracized and exorcised by several leading and influential members of the party for his public characterization of Mottley as not being perfectly suited for the position of Prime Minister. It is not that anything he said was without merit or foundation, but, in politics some truths ought never to be spoken. BLP leaders and financiers did not like the public “dressing down” of Mottley and they threatened to pull the plug on Arthur and his bid to wrestle the leadership of the party from the member for St. Michael North East.
To therefore re-ingratiate himself to those who can make or break him politically, Arthur has been forced in recent weeks to swallow his pride, discard his fundamental beliefs and permit himself to be seen as towing the line and being a team player. He knows he will get the last laugh in a matter of months. Mottley, on the other hand, would be politically naïve and downright stupid if she were ever to turn her back or take her eyes off him.
Nevertheless, Arthur was party to this most recent foul up by the Leader of the Opposition. She set the scene and stage to engage the Speaker of the House and other Parliamentarians on the issue of the management of fire arms in Parliament, and then absented herself from the sitting. She caused the process of investigating an alleged incident to be started and then chose not to attend to put her case to the chamber. In other words, that boycott was unwarranted.
Keen students of politics would know that that boycott had more to do with the reluctance of having a face-off with Hamilton Lashley, than it did with the so-called Estwick/Marshall affair. Why Hamilton Lashley? The BLP would no doubt have been aware of the multitude of persons that descended on Parkinson School last Sunday for the Constituency Conference of the Independent Member. They would have deduced from all that was said and done that Hamilton Lashley, the Member of Parliament for St. Michael South East, was likely to take his rightful place on the side of the Democratic Labour Party at last Tuesday’s sitting of the Lower House.
The actual crossing of the floor, in itself, would not have been humiliating for the BLP, but the personal explanation that was likely to follow is what this writer firmly believes Mia Mottley and the BLP Parliamentarians were afraid of and ran from.
The reality is that Hamilton Lashley was elected to Parliament at the beginning of this current Parliamentary term on the ticket of the Barbados Labour Party. He would therefore have been duty bound to explain to the chamber how it is that he would have found himself seated on the side of the government. This is dirty linen that Mia Mottley could not stomach being washed in her presence. Thus the strategy was hatched to boycott the sitting of Parliament.
Check the facts! The first mention of a possible boycott of parliament came hours after it was made public that the top brass of the DLP would have been sharing a platform with Hamilton Lashley at Parkinson School. So the issue of the need for a gun policy to be put in place before last Tuesday’s sitting was merely a red herring. To strengthen that point, consider that there is still no gun policy in place and the Opposition will nevertheless be attending the next sitting of parliament. The question is, in the absence of a gun policy, what danger existed last Tuesday that will not exist next time Parliament meets?
Now on this issue of guns, I am sure it would be surprising to Joe the Plumber to discover that even though there are 20 members on the government side in Parliament and nine on the Opposition side, that there are more gun carrying members on the opposition benches than they are among the 20 DLP representatives. Furthermore, the boys from gaza and the gully would tell you that there are ordinary guns and there are mean, deadly machines also known as guns. The Glock, for example, is a mean, high powered machine. Guess on which side of the Chamber the three Glocks licensed to Parliamentarians are all located? Guess which female Member of Parliament owns and moves with a Glock?
These are issues that have to be factored into this farcical and artificial stand-off, because it explains the hypocrisy of some politicians. From time in memorial, parliamentarians on both sides of the House have, as is mandated by law, carried their firearms with them at all times, even in parliament. If one is saying the time is right to relieve them of this obligation while in the precincts of Parliament, then we can and should say so in a calm and less acrimonious manner. But it is hypocritical and downright misleading to give the impression that a single member is guilty of such. Furthermore, to create a song and dance over a minor skirmish among parliamentarians is to practice the type of politics that most Barbadians would frown upon.
I take no comfort in the commonly held view that last Tuesday’s sitting of Parliament was among the most productive in the last two and a half years. I believe that the place for parliamentarians when parliament is in session is inside the chamber. That is why I appeal to Mia Mottley and her colleagues to cease the child-like stunts and get on with the job of helping to make and shape laws, for the betterment of this, our island home.
Hartley Henry is a Regional Political Strategist. He can be reached at hartleyhenry@gmail.com
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