Two years adrift from 2013 the political temperature has risen to almost melting point. The sudden and grave illness of Prime Minister David Thompson has exposed a leadership issue in the Democratic Labour Party (DLP) in the event he decides to remove himself from the equation. The recent CADRES poll has thrown out Christopher Sinckler as the people’s choice. Unfortunately for the DLP, a party which has recently emerged from the political wilderness of 14 years, it does not* have the political capital to become embroiled in a leadership squabble.
On the other side of the divide the Barbados Labour Party (BLP) in the aftermath of an election defeat saw Mia Mottley being elevated to leader of the party. As far as the public was* concerned former Prime Minister Owen Arthur resigned to make room for the young energetic Mottley to takeover. To the surprise of many, soon after stepping down Arthur held a press conference at the UWI during which he expressed some concerns about Mottley being leader of the party. It therefore has come as no surprise to BU and political pundits in Barbados to hear of rumblings in the BLP regarding whether Arthur or Mottley should lead the party.
The BLP leadership issue has been given wings in recent days by BLP Chairman George Payne, he indicated that he was unaware of Mottley’s interest in taking over the chairmanship of the BLP. On BU in recent days we got the conflicting position from BLP surrogates that Mottley has indicated interest in taking over the chairmanship of the BLP. It is convention that when the leader of the party expresses such an interest the incumbent steps aside. The taking over the Chair by the leader of the party is usually done as the party gears-up for a general election. In the case of the BLP it could be argued it is more a power play from Mottley.
Added to Mottley’s worries is the revelation that some skulduggery appears to have occurred in the St. James/St. Lucy ridings in recent days to create delegates to favour incumbent George Payne at the upcoming BLP convention. Word making the rounds on BU suggests a recent polling places Mottley on shaky ground – to be confirmed at a secret* meeting tomorrow.
The public has been looking on with interest the Owen Arthur/George Walton alliance which has emerged. These are two men who would have been at loggerheads during Arthur’s period as Prime Minister of Barbados. Payne was fired by Arthur and the relationship went down hill to the point where Payne said nothing in the Lower House for many years sitting on the backbench of Parliament. To say that politics makes strange bedfellows would be an understatement.
In the case of the two parties the leadership issue is unsettled. A DLP with Thompson absent will struggle. Although Sinckler has been anointed by Thompson if we are to judge from the recent reshuffle, the fact that he is a popular choice among Barbadians informed by the CADRES poll means nothing. Utterances from key DLP party members suggest Sinckler’s ascendency to lead the party maybe strewn with obstacles. If Mottley is able to assert herself as the undisputed leader of the BLP in the coming days; she is currently fighting for all she is worth then the matter will become a dead issue for the BLP. If she loses it would open the proverbial political Pandora’s box. Would she resign, cross the floor, start her own party or meekly step in line?
In the meantime the country continues to drift along in the prevailing economic storm while the political ‘ham bone’ is being fought for. Once a politician always a politician!
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