There is the popular cliché – you should never let a good crisis go to waste. When leader of the Opposition Mia Mottley was forced to withdraw from running for the Chairmanship of the Barbados Labour Party (BLP) in 2011,
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she was bold to say then that her political party needed to democratize the process of selecting delegates – see Mia Mottley Accuses The Barbados Labour Party Of Reducing The Rights Of Women And Young People And Announces Her Withdrawal From the Race To Contest Chairmanship. Mia Mottley was again installed as the leader of the Opposition in 2013, and presumably control of the BLP, yet Barbadians have seen no inclination by her that she intends to usher in reform by amending the BLP constitution to reflect her views during the pre 2011 period.
Barbadians understand that in the current landscape a strong BLP, therefore a strong Opposition, is important to championing the cause of democracy under our system of government. We suffered through the Thompson/Mascoll conflict and appreciate how political party conflict has the potential to unsettled the country. Unlike many BU is not caught up (to use Bishop Wilfred’s words) in BLP or DLP rhetoric. BU subscribes to the view that in the same way the best performing organizations map strategy and execute to maintain competitiveness in response to the environment in which it operates, so too a country has to constantly modify how it wants to be governed given the changing landscape. We currently rely on a political system that is responsible for foisting candidates on the people for selection. There is enough evidence to show that it is a system easy to manipulate by those with agendas which often run counter to those of the PEOPLE. We need to make it better.
The unfolding conflict in the Christ Church West constituency which sees elected candidate Dr. Maria Agard pitted against her Executive and Party is interesting. It is obvious Agard is not highly regarded by Mottley and there is an orchestrated effort to deselect Agard from running in the next general election. It is obvious to BU she has not performed any worse than other candidates on the BLP side.
Why does Mottley want to jettison Agard? Why is Dr. Agard not being defended by others in the party? Are they waiting for the right moment to give Mottley the boot, again?
Several BU sources have confirmed at a recently held BLP Executive meeting Dr. Agard was given instructions to avoid issuing statements to the media. We will have to wait to see if she complies with the gag order. What is evident if we listen to pollster Peter Wickham and others who have unrestricted access to the media space, there is an orchestrated attempt to trivialize Agard’s concerns. How the hell does Wickham know Jerome Walcott’s political future unless he has intimate knowledge? His agenda was exposed by Bishop Wilfred Wood who took him to task on talk radio this week. Another source advised BU that Nation newspaper political columnist and Sunday Sun Editor Albert Brandford and Carol Martindale will publish a feature in tomorrow’s Sunday Sun to show Walcott is the preferred candidate for the Christ Church West (we wait to read tomorrow’s issue to confirm). We hope we are wrong because if true it will confirm what we already know.
One of the distinguishing features of a leader of men and women is the ability to get them to share in your vision. If differences exist an effective leader will find a practical way to resolve in the best interest of the whole. Ever since Mia Mottley assumed the leadership of the BLP it has become a fractious affair. Barbadians deserve to know what Mottley has against Agard in much the same way we deserve to know what Arthur has against Mia. The feeble mutterings by her acolytes that Agard has not performed as member of Christ Church West is bullshit.
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