Prime Minister Mia Mottley shows off a Kensington Oval ready for T20 World Cup
Submitted by Yardbroom

 

Photo Credit – Nation Newspaper

We often fail to see what is written large before our eyes; as we focus on what we want to hear and allow Party affiliation to cloud our judgement and perceptive powers.  Some months ago it was clear to me that Owen Arthur had given a clear signal he would be back; it was true that his language was coded but I felt so sure of my ground that I wrote a submission on “The Master Tactician”. . . he was waiting for the opportune time.

It is true he would not have known of the eventual change in circumstances in the DLP camp; but a properly prepared plan takes account of most eventualities. It serves no purpose to dwell on the past, it is the future which should concentrate minds.

Ms Mottley if she so chooses, can be back as a formidable and sterling fighter but she must have a plan; take a fresh guard and work towards a single objective.  It is, and should not be a question of losing face… there is no greater honour than to lead ones country.  Some advise her to go for the “female vote” a flawed policy, it will not work.
All major female political leaders have been able to get loyalty from both male and female supporters.. . in the trench warfare of politics the males have been their most loyal allies….this is not the time for emotionalism.

Owen Arthur is almost there, but not quite, there is still the battle with the DLP.  If the DLP hold their nerve and do not become divided they will be unstoppable at the next election, but they can defeat themselves.

Now to David Thompson, some years ago before the last general election I predicted he would become Prime Minister of Barbados and be one of our greatest sons.  If the proposed Integrity Legislation goes before Parliament and is passed and is properly administered by those with integrity, it will change the Barbados political scene, thus addressing major problems we have, that will be part his legacy.  Also important was his Cabinet reshuffle of the 30th September 2010, although forced upon him by circumstances; he was able to set out a clear vision for the future of Barbados.

No one is perfect mistakes have been made but in assessing a situation, you must look at the “body” of work done, as opposed to small, some would say insignificant examples.

A new name for CJ ( Chief Justice) has been mentioned, the proposed Integrity Legislation is on its way, a Cabinet reshuffle has set fair for a new dawn.  “There is nothing to fear but fear itself” most of it self-induced.

Look to the future, even now we as Barbadians can weather this storm, for a wonderful future still beckons.

76 responses to “Politics, People, Power And The Plight Of The Unwary: Ambush At Roebuck Street”


  1. @ David
    Despite what Harold Hoyte says, politics is not fair “NEVER” has been.
    The present leader of the opposition and his supporters have painted themselves into a corner. Their only “acceptable” outcome is an overwhelming victory to govern. Before that the constituencies’ concerns have to be addressed, there might be a residual element of BLP support for Mia Mottley there, that has to be overcome.

    Also enough non-partisan supporters to make a difference, might vote against them at a general election for revenge.

    It is also possible that the BLP could be in Government by a narrow margin but a sizeable few of them could be out of Parliament. Regardless of if it is true or not, there are many who will say Ms Mottley would have done better. As the cards are being played, I have the feeling we have not heard the last of Ms Mottley, she might yet be a senior player in Barbados politics.


  2. @ Terence
    I am sure that you know about being ‘to big to fail’…

    Have you ever considered ‘to bad to fix…?’ or ‘ to late to change…’

    We need external assistance (Alcoholics Anonymous)


  3. @Yardbroom

    Suppose the next hurdle for the BLP will be what happens at the upcoming annual conference. Will Mottley run to Chair the party? Why should she? Why do the leaders of the parties take control of the Chair of the party going into an election? What is the advantage? If she wrestles the post from Payne what is the fallout/advantage for the party?


  4. J
    you have your views and I have mine
    trying to call me names or comment the way you have is a reflection on YOU
    Tax-paying Gays ?
    so no comment on Gays
    That is why the world is the way it is with comments like yours. Because somebody pays taxes absolve them from criticism especially when society needs to have a say in how society is administered. Gays ? –

    Accepting Homosexuality is supposed to be an enlighthened move and to do otherwise is to be backward and ignorant. Well you have chosen —you paragon of great intelligence you ! I bow to you –you are one of the most intelligent human beings on earth. How about some original ideas ?
    How about some solutions Ms. Highly Intelligent–More intelligent than most


  5. Dear KISSMYA:

    You very vex ‘casue I add a couple o ss’s on your handle.


  6. The BLP needs no advice from ac
    The BLP RAN THIS COUNTRY WELL
    BRINGING BARBADOS FROM THE DEPTHS OF DESPAIR IN 1994.

    JOBS NO1 WAS JOBS
    and unemployment was brought down to 6 % BY THE BLP even with imported labour.

    IS BARBADOS BETTER OFF NOW THAN PRE 2008 ?

    HAS THE COST OF LIVING GONE UP OR DOWN.

    HAVE THE FOREIGN RESERVES GONE UP OR DOWN ?
    None of wunna DLP sympathisers /Owen Bashers cannot be comfortable answering these questions so go ahead and attack me -the person me
    KISSMYA’I LOVE OWEN SEYMOUR ARTHUR’ MCCLEAN


  7. add the S S
    AND READ IT TO YOURSELF
    J
    thats the idea


  8. David wrote ” Machiavelian politics practiced at its best?”

    There is nothing good, better, or best about Machiavelian politics.

    Dear David: To be Machiavelian means to live COMPLETELY outside the world of morality (except when the cancer killing ya and then ya got ya family running ’bout begging people to pray fa ya.)

    You see now why these fellows (BOTH PARTIES) find it so easy to steal the taxpayers money.

    There is no right or wrong in Machiavelian politics.

    There is only [ir]rational self-interest.

    Except when the cancer killing ya.

    Or you cause the conception of a child in your old age and the damned BLIGHTED BLATOCYST DIES.


  9. @J

    We always get back to the issue of whether there is morality in politics. If politics is about life then you should have your answer?


  10. @ David
    If Ms Mottley becomes Chair of the Party that will be a victory of sorts, only that it will discomfort George Payne, but why should she, as the constitution is – as I understand it – MP’s select the leader, that has been done.

    It serves no purpose to be constantly embroiled in fighting; there is a time to sharpen your sword and a time to sheathe it.

    She should stand back from the melee, do not obstruct – always be seen as a loyal BLP member – and recharge her batteries. They wanted the prize, they have got it now perform.

    Ms Mottley has to have a plan and part of that should be to get the public on her side and keep them there, she should not engage in little pointless skirmishes.

    This is not over by a long way. . . the first two balls that beat the bat outside off stump, does not mean a maiden over will be bowled.


  11. Owen Arthur….
    “Once we have gone through this process, there has to be a process of healing. There is no Owen Arthur Labor Party, no George Payne Labor Party, no Dale Marshall Labor Party, or Mia Mottley Labor Party. There is a Labor Party.

    Mia has once again repeated her Monday October 18th statement “Only time and God will determine her future”

    Owen Arthur and the Arthur Bees, wants a “one blp” a united blp, but can there be any healing from what has been casted as wrong, unprincipled, unfair, and scorched earth action, on his part by Mia and the Mia Bees? Are Barbadians in favor of the Arthur Bees approach? Mia always said that she thinks Barbadians are by and large a fair minded people. Is she right?

    Owen does not want to deal with any dissention in the ranks, and had attempted to focus on the economy rather than party, but with a general conference around the corner, and continued vociferous opposition to his return, he has been force to deal with it. He cannot be a happy man.

    If public sentiment in the aftermath of the Thompson/Mascoll leadership struggle is any gauge for continued public sentiment on this current Arthur/Mia fight then it will take a coming out and explaining it great detail, all the concerns and reasons that led to the decision to remove Mia. It was only after Chris Sincler detailed for Barbados the actions of Mascoll during his DLP sojourn that people moved away from viewing his removal as unfair.


  12. @J. You bad, but I like it!


  13. @ YARDBROOM

    Do I infer from your dictionarial interpretation that neither of the 2 words cited bears no “RELEVANCE” or “SIGNIFICANCE”to the tribal politics in my country?

    Moreover, are you suggesting that we are unable to gage from the “CALL-IN-PROGRAMS”* discussions on BU & elsewhere, that the polarization caused by the political classes in this great country is not culpable if NOT* in whole (in part) to the current climate which exist (even if the full apparent realization) has NOT* hit the streets of Barbados in the forms of civil unrest and disobedience?

    As to “firing a RUM*” on the question posed – (with all due respect) can I have an orange juice please (if you don’t mind) – I have decided not to put ‘ole wine in a new wineskin…

    On a serious note Yardie, however you choose to spin this thing – some real pain coming Bro….

    When folks feeling pain – 2 things happen:

    “EITHER THEY START BALLING”

    or – “THEY GET ANGRY WITH DESPERATION LOOKING FOR ANY KIND OF HELP”…

    If you believe that the current political climate in BIM* as (DAVID) cited does not forebode of Machiavellian politics – well, time will tell…

    @ BUSHMAN*

    You sound like you thrown up your hands in exasperation!!!

    Listen my dear BRUV*, “TOO BIG TO FAIL is an oxymoron…

    Had there been the will on the part of OBAMA* to break up the banks in 2007/8 – that concept would have died a sudden DEATH*… The same applies to the EURO-division of capitalist finance – but our leaders did not have any BALLS* – actually what we saw were a bunch of “PUSSIES” (excuse my French) with no testicular magnitude to do the thing that was NOT* only an inconvenient NEED* but a necessary reality…

    So today, we have THIS* entrenched mindset pervasive across the world… a form of dystopia benighted with a form of resignation to our pathetic sense of unchangeable FATE*…

    We propped up the BANKING* institution after the fall of LEHMAN BROS and we allowed the greatest SCAM* (ie. CON-JOB) in human history where $$$ was successfully moved at the touch of a button from MAIN STREET to WALL STREET under the guise of TARP*, (quantitative easing) – call it what you like!!! In Barbados, (SILVER SANDS ET AL (them and God knows who else) GET THEIR OWN BAILOUT $$$) while you lot* sit around whining about the damnable state of politicians and the so-called “BODY POLITIQUE”…

    And so today, the poor, the “supposed” Middle-Class* is meant to bear the brunt of AUSTERITY MEASURES* while the rich continue to live in virtual luxury while their wealth is sheltered in TAX-HAVENS* like Barbados (where not a DIME* in taxation on those billions is seen by the poor resident in this great country)…

    We can argue all we want about not having the political will to do this or to do that – at the end of the day, EXCUSES, EXCUSES!!!

    What is the sense of having a system where as the electorate we cannot influence the process (POST-ELECTIONEERING) and our ELECTED* representatives ( “gods” UNTO THEMSELVES) remain in a hermetically sealed BUBBLE* of corruption, infighting and back-stabbing…

    But what the hell do I know – I don’t live in Barbados, right?


  14. @Adrian Hinds
    What did Chris Sinckler detailed about Mr Mascoll sojourn I seemed to have missed it?
    Please recap for me .


  15. @ Terence M Blackett
    Quote: “@ Yardbroom
    Do I infer from your dictionarial interpretation that neither of the 2 words cited bears no “RELEVANCE” or “SIGNIFICANCE” to the tribal politics in my country?”

    They might or might not bear relevance to “OUR” country, but they do not reflect a fair representation of what I wrote.

    Words should convey the thinking of the author, and should be used in a way to add force or clarity to that thinking, for effective communication to take place.

    You placed an interpretation that was not evident from the words I wrote. I will pull stumps on this one.
    My” joke” about firing a rum, was just that, I rarely touch alcohol, not because of any religious position I hasten to add, I just don’t.


  16. @ Georgie Porgie

    I hope you are well, perhaps a little busy? be of good cheer; lonely are the “brave” for they often walk alone.

    Yardbroom


  17. V. S. Naipaul (Trinidadian born Nobel Laureate) reminds us of pernicious nature of Caribbean politics and how it is often played out MIMIC MEN*, a great novel portrays just that sentiment…

    In Stephen Hopkins 1776 parody on the Constitutionalists (Ben Franklin et al) script adaptation which succinctly explain the laughable state of affairs we face –

    HOPKINS: Dear Sir, You are without any doubt a rogue, a rascal, a villain, a thief, a scoundrel and a mean, dirty, stinking, sniveling, sneaking, pimping, pocket-picking, thrice double damn no good son of a bitch.

    HOPKINS: Ah, Ben! I want you to see some cards I’d gone and had printed up. Oughta’ save everybody here a lot of time and effort, considering the epidemic of bad disposition that’s been going on around here lately….

    “Dear Sir, you are without any doubt, a rogue, a rascal, a villain, a thief, a scoundrel, and a mean, dirty, stinking, sniveling, sneaking, pimping, pocket-picking, thrice double-damned no-good son of a bitch.” and you sign your name – what do you think?

    DR. BENJAMIN FRANKLIN: I’ll take a dozen, right now.


  18. Dear David:

    J has been around the block more than a few times. J understands politics AND J understands life.

    A wise woman told me, family first, friends second, others afterwards.

    Another wise woman told me once never to expect anyone (except maybe your parents when you are very, very young) to place your interest before their own.

    Same wise woman told me that parents should love their children, but that the only way to true hapiness in NOT to expect your children to love you in return (if only Donville understood this he would spend much less time agonizing about “abandoned” elders, and more time planning what to do with them or otherwise we may come to embrace the thoughts of the Australian born, Oxford trained “ethicist” Peter Singer who is controversial for certain remarkable views that he holds, that infanticide and euthanasia and abortion are not only permissible in certain circumstances, they are sometimes also morally obligatory.

    Read the article here: http://www.peterberkowitz.com/otherpeoplesmothers.htm

    O Brave New World.


  19. Yardbroom | October 20, 2010 at 8:20 AM |
    @ David
    If Ms Mottley becomes Chair of the Party that will be a victory of sorts, only that it will discomfort George Payne, but why should she, as the constitution is – as I understand it – MP’s select the leader, that has been done.

    It serves no purpose to be constantly embroiled in fighting; there is a time to sharpen your sword and a time to sheathe it.

    She should stand back from the melee, do not obstruct – always be seen as a loyal BLP member – and recharge her batteries. They wanted the prize, they have got it now perform.

    Ms Mottley has to have a plan and part of that should be to get the public on her side and keep them there, she should not engage in little pointless skirmishes.

    This is not over by a long way. . . the first two balls that beat the bat outside off stump, does not mean a maiden over will be bowled.
    ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

    Wise words, but one addendum.

    Her sword should have been sharpened ever since …. in times of peace ….. when she should have been preparing for war.

    Si vis pacem, para bellum

    If you wish for peace prepare for war.

    Owen Arthur committed an unprovoked act of war.

    Mia or whoever rises to challenge him has to realise wars are about battles and you can’t shirk from a fight.

    Some you will win and some you will lose.

    By all means choose the terrain to your advantage, but fight.

    Continue to sharpen that sword, but do not sheathe it.

    I watched Owen on the CBC clip arrive at Parliament early and wait for other BLP members to arrive so he could “lead” them into parliament and create a Kodak moment for himself.

    The politics of perception.

    That is not the act of a man who is confident in his new position.

    He can be taken.

    Just needs somebody bold enough to go toe to toe, in chosen battles.

    If no one in the BLP does so, and that includes Mia, forget public support.

    War needs to be perceived to have been declared by the public even if for a time it is phoney.

    Of course, Mia and the rest of the BLP may think he is just the man for the job and support him or may feel now is not the time to seek responsibility, that they will wait till things get a little better!!

    Bad mistake.

    If they want public support, earn it …. sacrifice, fight, go out on a limb.

    If you feel what happened is wrong get off your behind and say so.

    The public will assume silence denotes consent.

    The opportunity exists now for the member of the BLP who is bold enough to take it … and it doesn’t have to be a member with a seat …. just courage.


  20. Hi John
    You wrote: . . ” Mia or whoever rises to challenge him has to realise wars are about battles and you can’t shirk from a fight”…..

    How right you are.

    In my thinking Mia has played it “about right” so far, post de-selection. I would have attended the last meeting in Roebuck Street. Not to make a case, because the decision had already been made. I would have looked them in the eye, without a word being said so that they would know, I am making a mental note; to be seard in my memory and theirs, and then read my statement to the public.

    If she did not know it before – and should have – there is a duplicitous component to political infighting.

    David of BU
    Wrote yesterday: “Many political commentators like Harold Hoyte have opined that Mottley was unfaired by her colleagues”.
    I was rather surprised by this statement, because I recall just before the last General Election, a report alleged Harold Hoyte said “you do not need integrity to be Prime Minister of Barbados” or words to that effect. I was astonished and said so at the time, because if you have no integrity how can foreign Governments, Civil Servants, and the general public believe anything you say.

    Now the same person is alleged to be asking for a display of “fairnes” in the selection of leader of the opposition(BLP), ….at least be consistent in your views. Read “integrity” to mean adherence to moral principles; honesty.

    Properly handled and directed Mia can be back, all is not lost; but she must “always” be seen to be backing the Party BLP, and not for selfish reasons. There is a ground swell of opinion for her now, she still has an ace to play….the present situation might not play out as the BLP members of parliament think it will.


  21. Were constituency branches aware that their members were going to change the leader of the Party in Parliament or was this a plot hatched far away from the glare of transparency?

    It doesn’t have to be Mia or a sitting member of the BLP who stands up and asks a question …….. any Branch member can go through the rules of their Party and summon a Branch meeting for the purpose of asking their representative to report on exactly what their position was in orchestrating the coup and how they reached it if it was done without the authority of the Branch.

    Pease invite the press, particularly the Bajan Reporter!!

    As a member of the public I would like to know what the position of each of the sitting members was and how they reached that position.

    I guess I could join the BLP and do what I am proposing ………………………………………………… nope, not an option ……………….. but in any case my Parliamentary Representative is a D.

    I would have to move parishes.

    Perhaps they are 100% right and Mia needed to be changed, but I doubt it as there have been no winds of change blowing. This seems to have beena bolt from the blue.

    To all intents and purposes she was doing an acceptable job as far as the Party was concerned.

    True the sitting members determine who is their leader in Parliament, but the Branch determines who the Party representative is for that Branch and certainly that representative is accountable to the men and women who put presented them to the public, …. me and you.

    The public wants to know what went on from each one of them.

    So, to the BLP Branch members of St. Peter, St. Joseph etc. etc. I address three questions.

    Did you know your Branch Representative was looking to oust Mia Mottley as leader of the opposition?

    Did you approve the move which determines the face of your Party?

    What was the new plan, philosophy, idea that persuaded you to change your allegiance?

    There is always the possibility of a Branch passing a motion that …”This Branch of the Barbados Labour Party has no confidence in …!!!

    Just like a Parliamentary motion of no confidence.

    It won’t move the sitting member from Parliament , but it might make him or her think and it will do a world of good for the others who one day might make it to Parliament as a representative of a particular Branch of the BLP.

    …. and that is transparency and that is good for Barbados.


  22. Hi John
    Your idea would make a lot of people very uncomfortable indeed, perhaps two people would be best, strategically seated – apart – so that as soon as the first person puts the motion and then sits, the second stands and seconds it, before the Chair has an opportunity to intervene.

    Accountability & transparency.


  23. If I was a rich man, I would be willing to bet that everyone was not as unexpected as some on this blog would have us believe.

    Remember last year around this same time, there was much thunder, and all naysayers were promised lighting and brimstone.

    If I am following correctly, this was not Round 1, but Round 4.
    Scorecard thus far: MM=2, OA=2.


  24. Has there been widespread public outrage in any constituency other than St. Michael NE.
    And if there is, what will constituents do?
    Reject the incumbents and vote DLP next time?

    Most Bajans have lost interest in this already.


  25. Mia will get the last laugh when that pint size midget Owen Arthur is once again rejected by the barbadian public! Vote DLP!


  26. ac

    go and find something to do NUH !

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