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Owen Arthur Mia Mottley Conflict Continues…

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Leader of the Opposition Mia Mottley (l) Owen Arthur MP (r)
Leader of the Opposition Mia Mottley (l) Owen Arthur MP (r)

Not so long ago Barbados and the world witnessed a political wrestling match between Clyde Mascoll and the late Prime Minister David Thompson. History has recorded that Thompson was able to command majority support of the Democratic Labour Party (DLP) parliamentary group. It proved too bitter a political pill for Mascoll to swallow and he retreated to the Barbados Labour Party (BLP) which was led by his mentor former Prime Minister Owen Arthur.

The conflict which is currently raging between Owen Arthur and leader of the opposition Mia Mottley has captivated the country as political matters always do. It is evident that Arthur as accepted the role to be a thorn in the side of Mottley. The long and short of it is that Mottley will have to demonstrate  political craft to wrestle control of the party.

Listen to Owen Arthur’s interview presenting his side of the imbroglio.

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93 responses to “Owen Arthur Mia Mottley Conflict Continues…”

  1. Mark Fenty Avatar
    Mark Fenty

    David, I have some serious Concerns regarding the hate machine you calls BU. You claimed to be a blog that adheres to a strict impartiality in the distribution of the unarmed truth. Or at least you’re egotistical enough in you failing desire to expect others to believe your preposterous designed. But you’re not fooling those of us who possess a prerequisite amount of common sense and value judgment David. Now, David, we’re aquitely aware of the animosity you have had for DLP and its supporters, as a direct result of your psychologically damaging defeat.

    Why don’t to come clean and stop hiding behind you computer monitor where you from time to time interject you little vemon of hate as soon as there is an co-conspirator the suits your fancy.

  2. JUST ASKING Avatar
    JUST ASKING

    Owen is a good man; The present Prime Minister is a good man. We have good men in Barbados. Here are two men that are Prime Ministers of Barbados. Many of us have not been in the shoes of these two great Barbadians. Lets love our country and move forward.
    Owen is doing a good job and the present Prime Minister is doing a good job. Its all good ; its a dynamic situation. Lets enjoy it for what it is and lets rally behind Barbados the place we live and love and want to see do well in any sphere of activity. The Government is doing the best that it can under the circumstances. The Central Bank through its Governor has said that we have nothing to fear especially with respect to devaluation. He is the man with the information, not me and if he says so , I have no reason to doubt him. The Prime Minister is the man charged with running the affairs of this country and he has assured us that everything is good although challenging. The layoffs are necessary, they say.

    Those who have a job have to adopt somebody and help them through this period.

  3. islandgal246 Avatar
    islandgal246

    “David, I have some serious Concerns regarding the hate machine you calls BU.”

    Mark is someone begging you to stay?

  4. The Spelling Police Avatar
    The Spelling Police

    @ Mark Fenty
    “Concerns” – capital letters should be used for proper names etc., not just randomly because you want to stress the importance of a word.
    “You calls” – that should be “call”.
    “unarmed truth” – what is that? Why is it different from ordinary truth?
    “to believe your preposterous designed” – please explain what this phrase means.
    “aquitely aware” – that should be spelt “adequately” although the word is superfluous.
    “Why don’t to come clean” – that should be “you” not “to”.
    “you computer monitor” – that should be “your”.
    “interject you little vemon of hate” – for a start, that should be “your” and “venom” but even with those corrections, the phrase is clumsy. Perhaps “poisonous comments” would be better.
    This is contributed in order to help a fellow poster with self-improvement.

  5. Bush Tea Avatar
    Bush Tea

    @ Spelling police
    Bushie hope you got riot gear…cause mark the Lepricon will light into your donkey real rough just now….. 🙂

  6. The Spelling Police Avatar
    The Spelling Police

    @ Bush Tea
    I have an appointment at the port tomorrow to get my container of riot gear and tear gas through customs. Apparently, it’s the second one through recently.

  7. Bush Tea Avatar
    Bush Tea

    LOL Ha Ha
    You safe then skippa….

  8. ac Avatar
    ac

    @ PrODIGAL

    what good is my remembrance of what happen to the DLP party fights good in any way going to help the BLP restore law and order in Their HOUSE,,,,, as far as pointing me the way,,YOU prodigal should be pointing as well as showing OSA the way,,,,,,since you and other BLP yarfowls had placed OSA on a pedestal longer than JACOBS ladder so far off the ground that he believes he has an eternal right to be there,,,

  9. The Spelling Police Avatar
    The Spelling Police

    @ ac
    Where to start with your comment? It is quite difficult to understand what you mean, so instead of trying to correct the spelling and grammar, I have translated it into Albanian, in which it makes more sense:
    “çfarë e mirë është kujtesa ime e asaj që ndodhë me partia DLP lufton mirë në çdo mënyrë do të ndihmojë BLP rivendosjen e ligjit dhe rendit në shtëpinë e tyre,,,,, aq sa të më treguar rrugën,, JU teproni duhet të jetë duhet të vënë si dhe duke treguar OSA rrugën,,,,,, pasi ti dhe yarfowls tjera BLP kishte vendosur OSA në një piedestal më të gjatë se JACOBS shkallë deri më tani jashtë terren që ai beson se ai ka një të përjetshme e drejta për të qenë atje.”

  10. JUST ASKING Avatar
    JUST ASKING

    I GLAD THE SPELLING POLICE GOT MARK FENTY

    LOCK UP MARK FENTY
    ‘LOCK E UP’

  11. Prodigal Son Avatar
    Prodigal Son

    Ha, ha, Spelling Police.

    Even you, a newcomer to BU cannot understand ac’s rantings.

    ac, I am just pointing out your hypocrisy. You are gloating over the BLP’s woes while forgetting that the Dems got on far worse during the events leading up to the downfall of Sandi and all the years of political warfare during the dead king’s reign of which your so called PM of integrity was a major player….writing a 19 point indictment of DT.

  12. ac Avatar
    ac

    prodigal my question to u is what if any good does it help any thing from the DLP past fights in resolving the BLP problems.. again take your criticism and point them towards the person namely OSA who is on a self destructive course with destiny taking all standing in his way namely MIA and the BLP sinking ship along with him…anything that u want for me to remember is not going to help or restore order in the BLP house,,

  13. Not amusing Avatar
    Not amusing

    it was certainly not amusing to hear Arthur referring to Mottley in the unflattering manner..”A HORROR MOVIE IN SLOW MOTION” . It was too serious to even raise a chuckle. Good lord Arthur !!!

  14. David Avatar
    David

    @Not Amusing

    The language used by the Prime Minister directef at MAM was undignified as well. However we have come to accept that politics is a blood sport.

  15. Not amusing Avatar
    Not amusing

    @ David
    What a load of rubbish ! To speak of somebody’s STUPIDITY is undignified? That word woud not even be unparliamentary . It was certainly HARSH but not UNDIGNIFIED . It is really amusing hearing this coming from you when you allow the most disrespectful comments to be posted on this blog in reference to the same Prime Minister . You certainly blow hot and cold !!

  16. David Avatar
    David

    @Not Amazing

    And thses are the subtlties which you politicos do not appreciate. This is a time when the language of our leader must take on a concilitary tone. The country is already torn apart with the political division which characterizing all national conversations. Now is a time for leaders and leadership to shine, follow the Governor of the Central Bank’s lead by introducing a tone to foster confidence. It must come from Stuart given our cultural leaning and expectations as a people. But BU will NEVER expect our politicians to appreciate the moment.

  17. Observing Avatar
    Observing

    On the topic of division and mixed messages…..

    http://www.nationnews.com/articles/view/nothing-joint/

  18. ac Avatar
    ac

    oh … you so funny…it as if u stood up all night thinking of what should be said to offend the DEMS on the MIA saga……however PM Stuart should have retreated far away from this issue and not help to carry OSA bucket of sh..t

  19. Not amusing Avatar
    Not amusing

    @ David
    So conciliatory tones should only come from thePrime Minister ? A few short hours before the leader of the opposition Miss Mottley was urging Barbadians that nothing would happen until the very Prime Minister and the Minister of finance were got rid of . Now they may only be got rid of through an election ; the next election is FOUR YEARS away ; how then may the be got rid of except by some uprising ? You talk about conciliatort tones ! You are so onesided !

  20. Fed up Avatar
    Fed up

    @ Not amusing, David
    Osa did not refer to MAM when he said “……a horror movie in slow motion”. He referred to the SITUATION created by MAM insisting on naming him, Osa, to participate in some “eminent persons” group although he explicitly told her he had no desire to do. According to Osa , he was now placed in a position where he is seen as being unpatriotic.

  21. millertheanunnaki Avatar
    millertheanunnaki

    @ Fed up | January 16, 2014 at 8:11 AM |

    You should be able to spot by now where the apologist “not amusing’ is coming from.
    One wonders if he would object to the same man he is so ardently defending is deemed to be a liar and a person who purposely fails to live up to his promises. This would not be nothing else but the Truth backed by evidence unless he, “not amusing” would want to see the Truth as undignified.

    Any man that has the guts of ignorance to blame a computer for a collective decision of the country’s top managers can only be seen in an undignified and supremely stupid manner.

  22. Bush Tea Avatar
    Bush Tea

    Steupsss
    Bunch of shiite…..perfectly suited for brass bowls.

    The facts are that the quality of persons in parliament (and indeed leading public life) is so poor that they are INCAPABLE of operating in the environment of 2014 where openness, transparency and real-time interactions are unavoidable.

    These jokers could only survive back when they had days to reflect on what to say; to consult with others before responding; and to control what went out to the public.

    Arthur has always been mediocre at best….. But a one-eyed man is king in blind-man land. Remember he became PM because he was unable to make a decent living otherwise…..
    Wuh shiite…if you can’t operate your own little life, what exactly is it that qualifies you as a big- up national Guru?
    …..except of course that the others around you are even more hopeless brass bowls than you are….

    ….and ANY Prime minister (or indeed anyone in a leadership position) that would use the kind of language – in public – as Freundel used when he referred to Mia – needs to do NOTHING ELSE to demonstrate his unsuitability for such a position…..

    Cuh shiite man!
    As leader of the COUNTRY one’s personal opinion should NEVER be allowed to in such an interview….

    Any half asses leader would have said something like …
    ” well you know ….as leader of the opposition you should expect Ms Mottley to call for me to step down. It does appear that even after a year now she still has not come to respect the decision of the people of Barbados last February.
    For my part I can only ask her to understand her role at this challenging time to be one of working with government in the interest of restoring stability to our country.
    Meanwhile, I also urge her to speedily resolve the major issues that appear to have arisen within her party so that that party can focus on working in the interest of the country.”
    End of statement!

  23. ac Avatar
    ac

    Hey DEMS wait a minute don..t get caught up by having to be like the BEES in a continuing saga of defending ….Let the Bees carry their own shit and drown in their own SUPIDTY…now BU David has decided that our PM is culpable by his words in the same as OSA …oranges and apples syndrome… DEMS stay away from this subliminal manufactured controversy. by BU David..which is meant to be a sorry attack on PM Stuart integrity…steupse!

  24. Bush Tea Avatar
    Bush Tea

    @ ac
    You does wuk?
    …or you retired like Pieceuhderock and Bush…..?

  25. Well Well Avatar
    Well Well

    Bush Tea…..how you expect to hear all of that from Stuart regarding Mia when there is so much intertwining and interlocking corruption involved with members of both parliamentary divide, looks like you want all the secrets to start spilling simultaneously……….of course none of us will mind.it will be comedy central in high definition warp speed.lol

  26. Reality Avatar
    Reality

    De spellin Police, you would rather spend hours correcting people on dey spelling rather than do something wurthwhile for de country. No priorities whatsoever. i would bet you bout a hundred years old and will never change. Very sad.

  27. David Avatar
    David

    @not amusing

    A leader leads, the others follow. By your comment the PM is following MAM et al.

    On 16 January 2014 16:31, Barbados Underground

  28. Bajanfuhlife Avatar
    Bajanfuhlife

    Mia Mottley is about political theatrics to create an impression and not about putting forward credible alternatives.

    Apart from Peter Wickham, who are her paid political advisers?

  29. ac Avatar
    ac

    Hush David time to reel in …We DEMS not biting UH bait……

  30. David Avatar
    David

    @Fortunately your vote does not count.

    On 16 January 2014 18:05, Barbados Underground

  31. Fractured BLP Avatar
    Fractured BLP

    Thank you GREAT Owen Seymour Arthur for reminding Barbadians once again that MAM ‘wiretapping’ Mottley is not fit to be PM of our beloved country.

  32. Not amusing Avatar
    Not amusing

    @David
    Something is drastically wrong with your comprehension if you can interpret what I wrote to suggest that it says the Prime Minister is “following MAM and others”. The PM has done nothing more than assess the Mottley actions of late which so many persons agree have been lacking in judgment as “stupidity” a perfectly good English word which aptly describes the said actions. Please show a little more objectivity .

  33. David Avatar
    David

    @Not Amusing

    BU is very objective, we try to be. We call it as we see it. In these times it calls for a new kind of politics and rhetoric from our LEADER Prime Minister Stuart and not Sam old same old.

  34. Not amusing Avatar
    Not amusing

    @David
    What then do you say of the leader of the opposition’s call for the “REMOVAL” of the prime minister and the minister of finance when election is four years away?

  35. Bajanfuhlife Avatar
    Bajanfuhlife

    Mottley is trying to use her “Assemblies” as a rationale for getting people in Barbados to march and assist her naked, self serving grab for political power.That is what that is really about. You think Mottley gives a damn about campaign finance reform or a bloated, inefficient public service?
    A woman who flooded every department with unskilled members of her constituency when she was a minister?

    The people who financed the BLP 2013 campaign Sir Allan Fields, Sir Fred, Tony Hoyos and Co. and the other elites are really Owen’s boys. That is the political back drop against which this is all playing out. They want a return on their investment as their horse lost the race.

    The story is being presented by Mottley supporters like Peter Wickham as Arthur undermining Mottley.
    The story that the main stream media does not carry is how Mottley undermined Arthur over the last 8 years.

  36. Not amusing Avatar
    Not amusing

    @ David
    Here is one other glaring example of Mia Mottley’s poor judgment. She has brought Persaud into her parliamentary sessions to the obvious disapproval of her colleagues . In the present political climate Persaud cannot be a name Barbadians want to hear give his total messup at Four Seasons . Talk about poor judgment !!!!

  37. David Avatar
    David

    @Bajanfuhlife

    Agree with your last comment to the extent Arthur should put up or shut up. After all it is the constitution of the institution that made him which has tossed up MAM. Perhaps his disruption of the present arrangement is for others or one other to emerge.

    @Observing

    We are on the same page. The events playing out on both sides show how irrelevant our governance system has become. We have a PM who must squeeze almost all his MPs into a Cabinet to ensure he maintains his parties relevance to government. MAM made a comment which many should reflect on, 75,000 Barbadians voted for the BLP last election. Ponder on these things.

  38. Bajanfuhlife Avatar
    Bajanfuhlife

    @David – If 75 000 people voted for the BLP ,what the self serving Ms. Mottley should remember is that 75 000 voted for a BLP with Owen Arthur as party leader , not her .

  39. Bajanfuhlife Avatar
    Bajanfuhlife

    Hartley Henry – it is being suggested that you are a paid adviser to Mia Mottley. Please answer these rumours my friend. Confirm or Deny.
    Anyway, we all know that this would not be the first collaboration between you and Ms. Mottley as you both worked to defeat Mascoll in 2008 even as Arthur was trying to save his backside.
    Those were the good days Hartley when Mottley was helping sink Arthur’s ship.

  40. limitone Avatar
    limitone

    Owen Arthur is known to say “sorry” because he believes it is a cool thing to do. He often says, “blame me” but that too is sarcasm.

    He has already made it clear that Clyde Mascoll is his “quo leader.”

    Mia thought they were in love… while Owen was getting ready to give her a shove!

    Mia thought they were in love… while Owen was getting ready to give her a shove!

    The one thing you can say with certainty about Owen Arthur, is that he never reverses himself on anything. Owen Arthur is driven by a type of obsessive hatred for Mia Mottley. Even if it means sacrificing himself, that is fine with Arthur as long as it destroys Mia Mottley in the process.

    Owen Arthur has one unfulfilled obsession and that is to make sure that Mottley never leads Barbados and that Mascoll (his quo-leader) emerges to become the leader of the BLP and the next Prime Minister of this country.

    Arthur’s interest is not served by being on an “Eminent Person’s Committee.” That would allow the Government to put Barbados on a stable economic path and spoil his plans.

    Any economist of note who Mia consults will also immediately become an offense to Arthur because it means competition for Mascoll. In order for Arthur’s plan to work, he needs the crisis in the economy to continue, since it will also serve as the distraction he needs to execute his plot.

    For the ‘Old Fox’, the plot is simple!

    Arthur will continue to pick at Mia Mottley in the hope that she becomes distracted and responds. A brawl that pulls in bees from both camps and creates a spectacle and confusion would be good for Arthur. Once Mia falls for the trap, “check mate” and game over for her.

    Arthur is an old fox and he knows that Barbados is a nine-day-wonder. People will talk and then the country will quickly move on to the next hot issue. By now the country should be able to read Arthur like an old newspaper. Like most aggressors, he will always pretend to be the victim. His lead-in is to always allege that he has been disrespected by somebody. Without pausing for breath or thought, George Griffith will come with the usual lie that somebody trying to force-out Arthur. Predictable!

    Fruendel Stuart has said that you do not waste time criticising a fellow like Arthur, you explain him. Arthur has a history of using Mia Mottley when it is in his interest to do so and seeking to destroy her when it looks like she and the BLP have victory in sight.

    I do not think Arthur is planning to challenge Mia Mottley for leadership again because he knows he will lose and would come across as being pathetic and power-hungry. After all, he led the BLP to defeat in the 2008 General election, then to a humiliating defeat in the St. John by election in 2011 and then to yet another defeat in February last year, which is a record of losses that is only surpassed by David Thompson’s failures.

    Arthur’s political guerrilla warfare

    He does not have the energy or stamina for the long distance neither is he able to entertain a short sprint. Arthur will therefore engage in a type of political guerrilla-type warfare and is already using his trademark sympathy card or an allegation of being disrespected. He did that exact thing in October 2010.

    On that occasion he called a media conference at the UWI to say that Barbadians will not find Mia Mottley “acceptable” even though a Wickham poll around that time suggested different and that Arthur was way off the mark. Not ‘acceptable,’ but it was the same Mia Mottley who rescued the BLP’s platform in the 2013 elections.

    On this occasion Arthur says he has lost confidence in the same Mia Mottley, who up to February when he wanted to win, he was using to respond to the Estimates and the Budgets. The country is now expected to become distracted and to lose focus just to listen to a tired disgruntled old man (who just led a party to a third consecutive humiliating defeat) allege that he lost confidence in Mia Mottley. But Arthur seems too senile to realise that his letter is being published the very day that the same newspaper and social media were reporting that close to a thousand people turned-up at a People’s Forum to hear Mottley speak.

    Throughout his 14 years, it is clear that Arthur used Mia’s popularity to make himself relevant and to prolong his political career – even when it was clear the he did not have the energy but wanted to project the party as being united.

    By now, the country should be able to see a pattern of behavour to Arthur. He runs away when defeated and re-emerges when it appears that victory is in sight.

    Remember the 1990′s?

    In the 1990′s it was Owen $ Arthur who blackmailed Henry Forde and David Simmons to give him the leadership. Who would ever forget Arthur saying that as much as he would like to continue, politics for him is a painful exercise and too much of a burden to carry? Once Henry Forde stepped aside, Arthur immediately found new energy.

    After the 2008 defeat, he ran away and left the leadership to Mia mottley who had to build back the party and hold it together. Arthur only attended Parliament to ensure that his seat would not be declared vacant. He literally ran from Thompson but once he realised that Thompson was dying, he wrestled the leadership from Mia Mottley and behaved as thought the people had forgotten that he was drawing a monthly salary for about two years even though he did not attending regular sittings of Parliament.

    Same thing again recently – he lost in February and ran away. Now that a BLP victory is in sight, Owen Arthur again moves for public attention and tries to pick a nuisance fight with Mia Mottley who is busy engaging the DLP, busy listening to the concerns of Barbadians through her, “Rubbing Shoulders” initiative, or busy attending to the people’s business through the recently launched, ‘People’s Forum.’

    The major headache for Arthur is that he has already announced that he is retiring at the end of this Parliamentary term. Arthur would is aware the DLP would hardly last a full five years, so he has to move now if he wants to land Mascoll.

    A last desperate game of chess for Owen $ Arthur

    Out of shear frustration, Arthur has already accused St. Thomas MP Cynthia Forde of squatting on prime real estate – but only because that’s where he wanted to run his quo-leader, Mascoll. Time is running out for Arthur! He cannot resign the St. Peter seat because he would not be able to manipulate things from the outside! How does he get Mascoll elected to the Lower House?

    The only way is to get the party so annoyed with both he an Mia Mottley that the members expel them both. That would then allow Mascoll to ease into the Leadership with Kerrie Symmonds as the Deputy, Dale Marshall as Attorney General, and Mia finding herself out in the cold. Owen Arthur would have won his last desperate game of chess.

    But even here, it is clear that arthur’s time has passed but he does not know it. He is playing a game with pawns, while his opponent literally has knights, rooks and bishops! This may very well be one occasion where the queen is no longer willing to commit political suicide and sacrifice herself for a tired old king, who is unaware that the game is long over. When last I checked, the Queen was still the most dynamic piece in the game!

  41. JUST ASKING Avatar
    JUST ASKING

    A load of HOGWASH from limitone
    You people dont know what is going on
    You could not read the plays if they were as big as a bed sheet in front of you so quit the crap because you know not of what you speak (speculate)

  42. PLANTATION DEEDS FROM 1926 TO 2014 , MASSIVE FRAUD ,LAND TAX BILLS AND NO DEEDS OF BARBADOS, BLPand DLP=Massive Fruad Avatar
    PLANTATION DEEDS FROM 1926 TO 2014 , MASSIVE FRAUD ,LAND TAX BILLS AND NO DEEDS OF BARBADOS, BLPand DLP=Massive Fruad

    http://www.nationnews.com/articles/view/marching-may-be-only-way/

    TOMORROW AT 4:00 PM. OLDBURY WOODS, ST. PHILIP. Any and every Bajan can have a say about the state and affairs of this country. Gabby and many other top Barbados’ personalities will be speaking. Let your voice be heard!@
    Is this true?

  43. vyacheslav2ofvo Avatar
    vyacheslav2ofvo

    It was specially registered to participate in discussion.

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