The unfortunate comment uttered by William Duguid MP has rightfully upset right thinking Barbadians. We are upset because his comment is reflective of a free fall in values and morals afflicting our society. Yes it was an aside (although not whispered) in parliament but the public heard so deal with it. It is ironic that Duguid’s tagline sposted on his website is Do Good and good shall attend you…
Days after the incident Duguid apologized. BU joined many Barbadians to applaud him for taking responsibility for his action. In his apology he revealed that he was taunted in a crass way by Minister Donville Inniss, if the grapevine is accurate, it has caused many to sympathize with Duguid while not condoning his behaviour. Minister Inniss will get a chance very soon to test if his political stock has been negatively affected by the episode which occurred last week.
The old people favour a saying that behind every dark cloud is a silver lining. Here was an opportunity for the government and opposition to expose the silver lining. If after this incident members of parliament from both sides of the House had joined hands – figuratively or literally – and condemned the behaviour with the assurance that better would be done. Imagine the potential for positive outcomes if such a scenario had played out on the population of Barbados. Talk about turning a negative into a positive!
Instead the opportunity has been lost because ugly partisan politics reared its head, again. This is what is missing from Barbados at this time, LEADERSHIP. Imagine on Tuesday or Wednesday night ALL the MPs standing in parliament yard, TOGETHER, to renounce the poorakey behaviour and pledging for it never to recur.
Clearly opposition leader Owen Arthur has opted to distance himself from the behaviour of Duguid. We are not surprised because the Duguid incident has served to reinforce Arthur’s declared position that the current parliament is of a poorakey calibre. However as leader of the opposition Arthur cannot avoid responsibility for the standard of behaviour exhibited on his side of the House, so too Prime Minister Fruendel Stuart. Where there is a vacuum of leadership confusion is bound to flourish.
Today’s comment by Louis Farrakhan that we need to lead and provide opportunities for our youth or not they have the potential to go rogue and disrupt Caribbean societies should be a warning. Our members of parliament missed the boat last week and their behaviour is another crop of seed sowed predicted to yield a rotten harvest in years to come.
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