One week in politics is certainly a long time and it can bring about a number of casualties whilst, at the same time, that timeline may elevate the statuses of others. Last week’s bye-election in Barbados has come and gone. At this time, it appears that the main losers and winners were the two candidates and parties. However, if we care to dig deeper, there are several losers and winners that much attention appears not to have passed their ways. In this short article, I consider a few factors that cause me to explore in a reflective manner the political course that is being charted in Barbados.

From the onset, I wish to congratulate Mara Thompson and the Democratic Labour Party (DLP) for their successes despite that they both resonated failures in certain aspects. While Miss Thompson brought a caring yet sedate spirit in order to win overwhelmingly from the beleaguered Barbados Labour Party’s (BLP) candidate Hudson Griffith, I do not believe that her placing herself as a victim of ‘Arthuritis’ will have any prolonged potency to help her dodge the figurative bullets that are inherent to Westminster-styled politics as practised in Barbados. Indeed, the Leader of the Opposition in his heyday is known to have crafted a style of his own that does not soften to the tunes of gender, colour, race, creed, or even social status. In that vein, and after his welcoming speech, Mr. Arthur is unlikely to continue with niceties if such ‘soft politics’ will not render him electoral satisfaction or attract his familiar smirk of victory.

Similarly, the DLP adeptly avoided the real issues confronting Barbados (i.e. the state of Barbados’ economy given limited growth outlooks and challenges for hauling in the deficit; and the social cancer that is seeping in with rising unemployment and escalating violent crimes being repeatedly reported in the news). Of course, there are many other issues requiring urgent attention especially regarding the tourism and investment sectors. On the relatively few occasions that the economy and the social ineptitudes confronting the island gained the ascendancy, the DLP spoke in generalisations; excused themselves from governing responsibilities based on the current recession; and at times, the platform speakers denigrated from what ought to have been opportunities for expressing a national vision, to the vapid characterisations and innuendoes that are so familiar to gutter-bound politics.

On the other side of the political fence is the unimaginative way in which the BLP campaign regressed rather than progress. If there was ever a time to show Barbadians that the BLP is serious about rescuing the people of Barbados, it was during this bye-election despite the likely result held an austere sense of inevitability. The Owen Arthur led political party, with the campaign led by his deputy in Dale Marshall, and under the chairmanship of George Payne, missed a big chance for re-directing Barbadians to view those things that the BLP has on offer in order to take the country on a growth path.

Since the end of the first quarter of 2008, Barbados has not experienced the comforts of upward trends in economic growth, nor has the country enjoyed sanctity in the social indicators that point to a good quality of life and reasonably good standards of life for all of its citizens in terms of measuring real development. The course of economic governance practiced under the BLP now appears underused, ambushed, and overgrown with administrative paralysis due to a lack of initiative on the part of the current administration.

In the St. John bye-election, the BLP lost focus by staring at incidentals which were more constrained to the politics of St. John than had national impact. Unfortunately, the deficient strategising by the BLP threw away the gem of a chance to reinvigorate the internal dispensations of the party; by doing so, the BLP campaigners failed to alleviate many of the bandied fears about leadership conflicts within the party and among its non-member supporters. The losers in this scenario are Owen Arthur; Dale Marshall; George Payne; Hudson Griffith; the BLP; BLP supporters; and all of those potential voters who remain convinced that fortunes of the DLP based upon recent histories do not congeal or are not concomitant with the fortunes of a majority of the Barbadian populace.

Put differently, the BLP under a ‘fight for bare life’ under the leadership trio of Arthur, Marshall, and Payne sent the wrong messages to the populace of Barbados at the wrong time and hence, they were more on scrutiny than the adventures of Hudson Griffith. While I do accept the mammoth task that the BLP had to overcome in St. John, I believe the camp was pitched at the wrong level (i.e. Mara the candidate) and on the wrong gradient (i.e. parochial rather than national) if the BLP was to make any kind of impact that would serve its interests whenever the general elections are called.

I admire the courage of Hudson Griffith and his tenacity to fight to the end. On that score he is a winner. However, it is essential that Mr. Griffith realises that in politics the first thing you do is your homework (e.g. knowing your people and resources; having a definitive strategy that is backed with a contingency plan; and to seek help wherein it becomes necessary. I, by chance, was the campaign manager for a candidate in that particular constituency of St. John as recent as 2003. While he did not come close to winning, nor was he faced with the exact challenges assumed by Mr. Griffith, he managed to secure over 21 % of the vote in that general election. This statistic remains the best by a BLP candidate outside of Pat Thorington’s 1999 riding when she etched her way up to over 33 % of the vote when there was a sufficiently significant swing towards the BLP in which the party decimated the DLP nationally.

Adding insult to injury, is the fact that I continue to work closely with the BLP, I am from St. John (i.e. with a large majority of family and friends still residing there), and I am a detailed student of politics. It is popularly perceived that Mr. Tyrone Power did not connect or endear himself to the people of St. John (despite his work with the RDC) in any substantial way that would merit the constant repetition of Mr. Griffith’s association with him. Moreover, it was foolhardy to use the types of language occasioned by Mr. Griffith in getting points across regarding representation/non-representation. The faux pas is manifest more so because the candidate failed to recognise that St. John people were still grieving. Regardless of what one may say about the former representatives, St. John constituents take immense pride in what they have accomplished alongside their parliamentary representatives over the years. It may be true that St. John has had to put up with forms of neglect from both political parties from time to time, but they cannot be called ‘hypocrites’ or be referred to as being ‘backward’ – those labels are offensive to the ordinary masses.

Finally, at least for the time being, there are winners and losers that are seated nationally and regionally. On the home front, because issues of citizenship, nationality, and even elitism crept into the political discourses, meant that Barbadians may likely come to terms that the world and the region is changing and transnational elements in respect of our laws and practices have to be amended to become compatible with today’s realities. The discussions on the matter relating to Mara’s national origins (St. Lucia) signals the requisite for addressing issues on CARICOM nationals. Furthermore, the pending appointment of a Chief Justice in Barbados who does not quite square with the criteria for selection due to his work performances beyond the Commonwealth is not so far removed from this crucible of cross-national engagements that holds onto traditions at the expense of expediency.

In this regard, Barbados and CARICOM are winners albeit that again Mr. Arthur may have the burden of carrying self-inflicted wounds into another general election. The biggest lesson has to be for the BLP to take a closer look at itself; there is something reprehensible when, rather than protecting the legacy of Arthur or raising tributes to his outstanding record, factions within the party would prefer to stretch the sensibilities of a public that has become more discerning, more critical, and simultaneously more unforgiving. By dint of her representation, positive approach to politics, dignity in defeat, organising skills at party and national levels, and the expressions of intellectual capacity, it is definitely not too late to revisit Mia Amor Mottley as the BLP’s next political leader. Two enthralling episodes on the campaign trail in St. John suggest that Mottley’s leadership potential should not be wasted, but harnessed into a sublime force that will help the BLP to rescue Barbados from the ineptitude of the DLP whenever the next elections are called.