Anytime I hear a person is arrested, my first question is ‘what’s the crime?’ You just don’t apprehend persons, humiliate them and sentence them without making allegations or setting forth the charges. I recall in the last general elections, where the Democratic Labour Party cleverly and successfully brought a series of charges against then Prime Minister Owen Arthur. In all his ranting and raving on the public platform, he never once addressed or answered the questions. The verdict of January 15th, 2008 suggested that he was tried and found wanting by the electorate and was sentenced. That, to my mind, is natural justice.
This past week we heard of the political arrest and soon to be sentencing of Mia Mottley, but to this day we are yet to be told of the specific charges that are being brought against the Leader of the Opposition.
I am no fan of Mia Mottley. Indeed, this column has been in the forefront of highlighting her shortcomings as a leader. But, from when do I have a say or influence in the running of the Barbados Labour Party? Peter Wickham’s recent poll also highlighted the relatively poor rating of Mottley in the eyes of the general public. But, from when does the leadership of the Barbados Labour Party factor in the views of the public in its decision making?
As flattering as it might be, I do not believe that either my writings or the Cadres poll played any significant role in the coup that has taken place against Mia Mottley. There is nothing that has been said about Mia Mottley in the last two and a half years that was not known to the Parliamentary Group of the Barbados Labour Party at the time of her appointment. There is nothing that has been said or written about her since the last attempted palace coup that was not known to the Parliamentary Group of the Barbados Labour Party when it reaffirmed its support for and confidence in Ms. Mottley a few months ago. So why the broadside on her at this point?
The politically naïve would suggest it has to do with the illness of Prime Minister David Thompson. They would say that the party fancies its chances of winning the next election in the event of Thompson not leading the Democratic Labour Party into the next election. There might be theoretical logic and merit in that submission, but I frankly do not believe it was the primary motivation. If, as the recent poll suggested, the country is minded to go for vibrant, youthful leadership at this point, then Mottley would easily be the better option for the BLP. Her reaffirmation as leader less than one year ago, suggest that her colleagues had no fundamental difficulty with her politics and style of leadership. Therefore, the question remains, why the onslaught on her at this particular time? Why does she have to move to accommodate the return of Owen Arthur? How is it that in this particular undertaking, Arthur has the support of George Payne, Dale Marshall, Gline Clarke and Ronald Toppin? What do they all have in common? What common interest and desire do they share?
These are the questions that thinking Barbadians need to ask and answer as they analyze this week’s political upheavals in the Barbados Labour Party. Lionel Craig said it in one word, and others have taken and are taking longer to articulate the simple truth. It all has to do with greed!
I wrote some years ago that the Barbados Labour Party, under the leadership of Owen Arthur, had become an election fighting machine; that it was no longer a political party functioning on the principles and philosophies of its founding fathers, but existed almost exclusively to fight elections and serve the causes of its sponsors. I said then that the party had been hijacked by a band of modern day bandits, who jumped at the whims of their economic masters. That was the motivation for the actions of the former Barbados Labour Party government in relation to scandalous scenarios such as the $750 million prison, the $400 million expansion of the ABC Highway, the $600 million Gems fiasco, the 300 per cent mark ups on vehicles and equipment brought in for and on behalf of the government, the $550 million Greenland headache, and the list goes on. The same considerations that led to those blotches on the public administrative record of Barbados during the 14 year rule of the BLP are the same factors that are at play in the inevitable removal of Mia Mottley from the leadership of the party at this time.
Students of politics must understand that Mottley represents old Labour. The faction of the party that is seeking to do away with her at this time, represents new labour. New Labour is a stooge of certain sections of big business in Barbados. The coup that we are witnessing at this time is therefore the handiwork of certain economic interests who are not getting their way with the current Democratic Labour Party government and who are not confident that Mia Mottley, were she to succeed in becoming Prime Minister of Barbados, would do things any different.
This is a set of business moguls who would wish to corrupt and subvert certain administrative processes. They want a Prime Minister who they can call up, invite around by the house for a brown paper bag of eddoes, and have Zone One land changed to Zone Two in the twinkling of an eye. They want a Prime Minister who would call up the Chief Town Planner and demand that he approve developments that are not in the aesthetic or ecological interest of Barbados. They want a Prime Minister who would look the other way when they affix 300 per cent mark ups on vehicles and equipment procured for various agencies of government. They want a Prime Minister who would waive import duties for his friends, give Knighthoods to his economic masters and who would see nothing wrong with small companies going under while big ones flourish. That is the type of leadership that a selfish, greedy one per cent of the population is seeking to inflict upon an innocent and unsuspecting 99 per cent.
These businessmen do not see David Thompson, Freundel Stuart, Chris Sinckler or Mia Mottley as likely to play ball, so they are not keen on any of them. They want a leader whom they can rely upon to do their bidding. Therefore, topping it all, when it comes to amassing profits, they will marshal forces and inflict whatever pain is necessary, to see more after.
Mia Mottley is being moved out of the way because some people in Barbados perceive that there is a government on the market and that Barbados is for sale. The response of John Public to this cold hearted, cold blooded, mad grab for profits, using those they would entrust with power, constitutes a dark blotch on the political landscape of Barbados. Tuesday was indeed a sad day for Barbados.
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