Less than one year after the last general election and the sense in the BU household is that the country continues to be gripped in election mode. This is despite the Democratic Labour Party (DLP) having won the general election albeit by a narrow margin of two seats. The inability of the Stuart led government to bring Barbadians together and get on with improving the lot of the country has been a bane to many. To some the narrow result confirmed the disgust which the electorate has with the two main political parties.
Here is the flipside. BU is not convinced by the alternative proposals which were championed by the Barbados Labour Party (BLP) during the last general election campaign. There was the privatization argument which backfired, however, the thrust of the BLP’s offering is centred on maintaining a service economy read tourism and international business. Not to forget the promise of a more aggressive offshore oil exploration program. The BLP faithful appear not to accept that the world has changed post-2008. Barbados ‘leveraged’ a global economic boom where there was easy money to be borrowed from capital markets. A significant percentage of the billions left in foreign reserves by the BLP represented borrowings which will have to be repaid. The adage that one has to earn your way in the world means that a borrowing strategy was not sustainable.
The BU gang has been harping for years that the Barbados downward spiral can be tracked to a lack of leadership. In case the BLP hacks have forgotten, the economic indicators started to flag during Owen Arthur’s third term. There is evidence that Arthur and the BLP struggled with the economic conditions which had become harsher.
We have been observing Mia Mottley very closely after she regained the leadership of the BLP in January. Immediately on her taking over we heard about a newbie member of parliament Edmund Hinkson clashing with veteran George Payne. This matter as ridiculous as it is made it all the way to the Barbados Courts. A routine expectation of any leader is that he or she must be able to keep charges in line. Although the traditional press reported recently that Hinkson has made overtures to Payne, up to the time of writing this blog the matter of Payne vs Hinkson remains unresolved.
Another issue which many have forgotten goes back to when Mottley was rejected by her parliamentary colleagues in 2010, the so-called gang of 5 affair. Although the motion was defeated BU recalls Mottley accused her party of not allowing all members to vote at the BLP Annual Conference and she eventually gave way to George Payne who continued uncontested as Chairman.
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The question therefore is: does Mottley intend to revisit this matter now that she is Opposition Leader? If she does not should the public regard her 2010 contribution as a rant? Or is she afraid of what some still regard as her tenuous position as Opposition Leader.
The final issue we have concerns about centres around that famous press conference when Tyrone Barker suggested the Arthur faction was dissatisfied about how BLP party money was managed during Mottley’s tenure as Opposition Leader her first time around. As far as BU is aware Mottley has not responded to the veiled accusation of malfeasance.
In our view Mottley as Opposition Leader has not demonstrated strong leadership to close the issues mentioned and several others which we have not. BU has been focused on the DLP and government because this is where the buck stops. The BLP needs to step up. Why are Barbadians happy with Opposition parties winning governments by default?
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