Several members and supporters of the ruling Democratic Labour Party will meet at the St. Thomas Parish Church tomorrow, Friday, to say farewell to Geoffrey Morris. The name, I know, will not ring a bell or mean a lot to some readers in Barbados and the Diaspora but Geoffrey Morris was the embodiment of selfless service and commitment to an organization.
While candidates are immortalized as having won or lost in election races, foot soldiers like Geoffrey Morris are the true architects. The unsound heroes! They are the ones who influence policy in the Democratic Labour Party. Unlike the other place, where big business rules and determines who is assisted and who is overlooked, the DLP is fortified and navigated by those whose names you hardly hear or whose faces are never in print.
Prime Minister David Thompson forged ahead with enlightened social policies, such as free bus rides for school children, constituency councils, Housing Every Last Person, a streamlined UDC and RDC, an improved QEH, an emerging National Youth Policy and holiday camps, to mention but a few, because of intelligence received from members such as Geoffrey Morris. They are the ones who walk the streets, who attend the funerals and who stop by the village shops to gauge public opinion. They then feed information gleaned into the councils of the party; whether it is at the constituency, General Council or annual conference level, and such information is acted upon.
It is important for members of the public to understand and appreciate how the DLP functions, because it is through such that one can appreciate fundamental differences between the two major parties.
I read, for example, where Owen Arthur lambasted the Democratic Labour Party recently, for what he deemed to be its tardiness in passing supporters like Mohammad Nassar “some work”. He lamented the fact that after two years, Nasssar was still out in the cold and had not been “taken care of”. I too was outraged to learn of this, because a hard worker like Nassar should not be struggling, especially when his party is in power. I firmly believe this! David Thompson believes this as well.
The BLP has made “mock sport” of Thompson’s “fatted calf speech” over the years, but I genuinely believe that anyone who served the party faithfully during 14 years of opposition neglect, victimization and omission should be assisted in any way possible when his or her party is elected.
Arthur highlighted Nassar’s plight and I am sure, as a result, that case and other similar scenarios will be zeroed in on and acted upon. Indeed, as a member of the party, I was embarrassed that it took the former leader of the opposing party to point out to us that we were tardy in taking care of our own.
But at the same time, I chuckled to myself, because sometimes I wonder whether persons like Owen Arthur think before they speak. It occurred to me, after reading the piece from Arthur, that Mohammad Nassar had less than a decade before, been an active member and indeed a candidate of the Barbados Labour Party under the leadership of none other than Owen Arthur. I recalled Nassar doing the same hard work back then. But somehow, it was not of interest to Arthur.
As Prime Minister and Minister of Finance and also as Leader of the BLP, Arthur did not see persons such as Nassar as deserving of any attention, far less assistance. I don’t wish to say Nassar was not the right colour, because that would be racist, but what I would say is that being a small, black businessman did not work in his favor.
This single, black man that Arthur singled out a few weeks ago, was among dozens of small, black businessmen who lost almost everything under the reign of Owen Arthur. The case that is being made out for Nassar in 2010, in the middle of the worst economic recession in living memory, was not even factored into the equation 12 years ago, when money was plentiful and excesses were in abundance. Indeed, as you look around Barbados there is a virtual graveyard of black business enterprises that suffocated because no leader of the day saw it necessary to reach out and lend a helping hand.
Arthur knows today that Nassar is poor, black and deserving of help, but 12 years ago, when the Nassars of Barbados could and should have been helped, given the robust nature of the economy, they were thrown to the wolves. That is perhaps how some of them found themselves in the arms of the Democratic Labour party.
Foot soldiers like the late Geoffrey Morris, David Morris from St. Michael North, “Chicken” the taxi driver from Christ Church and Sis Mapp from St. George South are the ones who, upon reading Arthur’s comments in relation to Nassar, would descend upon George Street like a ton of bricks and give the leadership of the day a piece of their minds. That is how we do it in the Democratic Labour Party. When the leadership slip up or mess up, they are brought to heel by the rank and file. That is why we are under constant pressure to deliver, because the base of the party has a voice and wields immense influence. The few dozen disciples, who now follow Arthur around every Sunday evening, could not get close enough to touch the hem of his garments up to three years ago. But, today, devoid of prime ministerial garb, he is a political “nobody”, so once again he has time for “everybody”.
The leadership of the DLP is in touch and in tune with the needs and concerns of the base of the party and the wider society. The intelligence is coming in. The foot soldiers are talking. The leadership is listening. What has to be done will be done. For the ordinary man and woman has a say and is in control when the DLP is in office.
Geoffrey Morris was one of those pockets of influence. When he spoke the party listened. His voice has been silenced. His eyes are now closed. But his philosophy and his wisdom are what shall continue to inspire and influence the policies and actions of his party.
Sleep well, my friend.
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