Good morning, Mr Chairman, Officers of the National Council, Members of Parliament, specially invited guests and comrades, It gives me great pleasure to address the 72nd Conference of this great party.
I address you with a heavy heart amidst our internal turmoil. I am fortified in our past successes and so we will overcome this. “We have had crises in the past and we will rise above this” A party founded on the principle of providing a Better Life for our People must not be put out to pasture by a few who don’t understand the basic principles of democracy. Our founding father, Sir Grantley Adams, fought to ensure the principles of democracy were paramount in the ideals upon which we were to evolve as a nation. We have a proud history, let us not consume it in this quagmire of darkness.
I know most of you here today must be wondering what type of speech I would deliver as your reappointed political leader. It has only been a couple weeks since my return to this lofty office. I must repeat at this junction, however:
“I am here to build and I look forward to that opportunity. This is a very difficult time for the country. It is a very difficult time for the party. It is a very difficult time for me.” I came to office as the son of a shopkeeper and led this great party for 14 years through the rough and tumble. I have said that persons on the other side treated politics like a blood sport and I would not want our party to go down that road. I swallowed my pride and acceded to a response from my parliamentary colleagues and decided to accept the post of Opposition Leader.
I want to make it abundantly clear that this journey to replace Miss Mottley as Opposition Leader had its genesis in last year’s conference when: “Miss Mottley placed her leadership before her colleagues for review. Since then there have been a series of actions that put Mottley’s colleagues in a position where they believed somebody else should lead the party.” I am not here of my own volition. My parliamentary colleagues and I are not involved in any opportunistic blood sport activity. I discharge my duties as a politician with the knowledge that I am not acting selfishly. I have a vision and road map that will see this party heading back into the reins of Government. Today, I am calling for healing in the BLP and please, be reminded it is me who recommended Mottley to the BLP parliamentary group to be Leader of the Opposition in 2008. I don’t think that through all of this I was credited with such action.
It was I who made her Deputy Prime Minister. I provided her with as wide a scope as possible. I exposed her to the Ministry of Economic Affairs, Education, Culture, office of Attorney General. I facilitated her every move in Government. I am here because I was asked to do a job. I will not be distracted by the frivolity of a few who don’t understand that when people don’t want you, they don’t want you. Let democracy reign in the BLP.
I was most taken aback by the public circus that put the party’s internal machinations on display. I never agreed with it and still don’t with what evolved around the change of leadership. I believe I was put on trial by a few who allowed their partisanship support for a friend to stand in the way of the bigger picture. How dare I be accused of being an opportunist? If any of the comments hurt it was that accusation.
Today, I want to publicly condemn that type of public posture. We in this party are not known for that type of response to internal crises. I am still shell-shocked as I reflect upon the attempt to suppress democracy in this great party. As I said earlier, I answered a call, I had no voice in my head saying “Owen, come back”. I had no burning flame within my gut to return. After all, I just turned 61, but I am here to serve my people.
As political leader, I want to see a new Barbados Labour Party removed from the vagaries of the past that placed it in Opposition. I am therefore starting with myself. In moving forward I will ensure that nobody from the other side would be able to wave a cheque on the floor of Parliament again.
In the past I have been accused of calling people at wee hours of the morning and being abusive to them. That too will stop, as I now have a little daughter to look after.
I also want to pledge never to use the floor of Parliament as a weapon to insult and be disparaging to ordinary Barbadians. From this day forth words like negrocrat will be forever removed from my political lexicon.
Comrades, I am also asking for forgiveness for the public utterance about Mia Mottley. What I did was reprehensible. I never meant any harm but was merely acting out my feelings of alienation and discard. I lashed out in a manner that I should not have and I am sorry. I am and will not be any part of any conspiracy.
It is no state secret that for George Payne I was public enemy No 1. But we have both shelved our differences in the interest of the party and I too hope that Miss Mottley can do the same towards me. I am ready to accept her now as I did in the past. To her supporters who feel aggrieved, I am sorry. I wish for Rommel Marshall to withdraw his threat to run in St Joseph against Dale Marshall as an Independent. This threat is causing disharmony. I have been met on the street by people who say to me that this is what you are walking around saying. Please stop it and let’s talk. This is not what I want us to come to. I don’t want a BLP defined by Mia Bs and Owen Bs. We are bigger than that. At the end of the day all of us here would be guilty of sins of omission if we were not honest about the former Opposition Leader’s performance. That is why I was asked back and reluctantly accepted. I felt, just as Mia did, that they met a week before and signed that letter to take to the Governor General. It was in poor taste but don’t blame me, it was not done at my house. I was only a guest.
In turn, if I lose the next election, as your leader, I am committed never to contest the role of leader whether or not a call is made. This will be my last attempt at becoming Prime Minister for the second time. I am NOT doing this to etch my name in the political Hall of Fame. I am here because I believe I have the answers to the problems that confront our country, region and the world. I am promising upon my return to office that I will immediately set about implementing solutions to mitigate against the global financial crisis. I have the solutions to the unemployment in our country and the people will benefit as soon as I am returned to office. I will not accept that the global crisis is the root of the country’s problems. We need to get up and work. Let’s build another prison in the North and do a re-designed flyover that will aid in alleviating the traffic build-up. We can and will get it done.
I will also personally write to Obama and tell him what he needs to do win back the majority control of the House and reduce his unemployment too. You see, these folks don’t have what I have as a former Prime Minister. I have earned a worldwide reputation for my track record in creating an economy without a society. Don’t forget, I discovered poverty in St Michael North West. I was able to create a class of working poor. When no one else wanted to do it I woke up Barbadians to the fact that land must reach its highest economic value. That is why I don’t support the idea of lots for $5 per sq ft. I firmly believe that will cheapen our product and I intend to reverse such a decision if ever re-elected. I will rescind that foolish decision by Minister Lashley.
Comrades I have much more to say, but there is little time
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