The Democratic Labour Party (DLP) Is about to awake from a period of political stupor since it was shellacked at the May 24th general election. For the sake of a practicing democracy many Barbadians wish the party success electing new officers.
Unfortunately we have not witnessed any of the third parties fight for the space left vacant by the DLP. We will have to wait to see if a reincarnated DLP does enough to recapture its position of one half of the duopoly.
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For DLP; A long wait! Mia = 10 yrs, then Rawdon Adams, another 10. And then the Goddard’s vault ( yacht – active for many years). DLP is looking at maybe 30 years with some being accommodated at Dodds. Looks like a long slumber from where I stand.Haynes Darlington.
Lol..gotta see this. .Enuff drama coming up.
Even the ad, the layout, the manner of marketing etc. speaks to an organisation that has fallen very far from grace and is clearly struggling in every aspect imaginable.
Unless radical, drastic and swift measures are taken in August it will be some time yet before we hear a valid opposition voice in Parliament.
Just observing
If bajans have any pride they would boycott this meeting. Send a clear message to the former treasury worms that no going until previous smelly rats are gone.
Lorenzo and Enuff. Will be back shortly to engage you too BLP lap dogs.
@Observing
With the decapitatizing that occurred on the 24 May 2018 there is a reasonable expectation that the upcoming AGM would have been hyped with a more compelling inspiring message. We need strong read coherent dissenting positions. What we have in this space is incoherent and fragmented noises. The third parties are still trying – not hard enough- to evolve to become relevant.
apart from this last iteration of the DLP being voted out and deservedly so, i cant understand why some bajans are relishing in their defeat and hoping that the party never rises again.
that is quite disappointing from bajans who largely benefitted from the policies of the DLP
@ David
You keep saying the third parties are not doing enough. Yet, I am reading about meetings with the UPP and Opposition Leader, Joseph Atherley. Additionally, Solutions Barbados, is keeping its flame alive. You seem not to grasp , that it takes money and plenty time/volunteers , to be consistently active. Why do you think that David Commissiong has virtually given up on the Peoples Empowerment Party making a dent, and has opted to hitch his wagon elsewhere ?
As for the DLP, it is folly to expect a party with its entrenched place in our politics just disappearing. The same would be said of the BLP , if it had suffered such a humiliating and deserved defeat.
And , by the way, why do you really believe that some people opt not to use their real names on BU? Open public involvement , in such a small society , comes at a high price, especially in the political arena.
The third parties cannot replace or take up the space of the DLP just so.
Get real, David.
@William
So you agree that the current state is that the third parties have not yet evolved to fill the space of a credible opposition voice?
@ David
I have not disagreed with your position. I am simply stating that you expect too much of them too soon.
I would suggest they set up constituency branches and meetings with haste. They should also appoint shadow ministers/ Spokespersons on key ministries and matters.
They also need a formidable presence on social media and should be unafraid to keep political meetings from time to time.
Complete the foundation properly and forget the roof for the time being.
The BLP won all the seats. Barbados is a now a de facto dictatorship within the confines of a traditional democracy.
Atherley is the ” opposition “.
The DLP should focus on rebuilding the party and give MIA and the BLP time to save Barbados from sinking deeper into the abyss.
The DLP should not fall into the trap of being an un elected opposition.They have to be careful not to be seen as sore losers.
They have a foundation on which to rebuild.
@ Hants
you said- “The DLP should not fall into the trap of being an un elected opposition.They have to be careful not to be seen as sore losers.”
what is an un-elected opposition and how does it operate?
@ James Greene
You said and I quote “…that is quite disappointing from bajans who largely benefitted from the policies of the DLP…”
I am a slow man and my reading skills do not permit me to read as prolifically as many of you wiser mense and wummens here on BU.
You would seek to say by this misguided syllogism that because EWK, father of the nation, did all that he is purported to have done for the people of Barbados THAT BAJANS MUST NOW INDUCE AMNESIA and forgive the DLP and let that forgiveness manifest itself by?? giving them all a free pass?
They need to be locked up and nary one of them should be allowed ever to darken the halls of the House of Assembly
The tea lea leaves say you all talking s.hit
Barbados is in the midst of an experimental program called the IMF
Read recently that user fees for health care in Jamaica is going to rise again
The same will happen here causing more pain and suffering
Expecting people to undergo unbearable pain by this govt for ten years is living in a fools paradise
Not going to happen
Bsjans mandate was for better not bitter
@ James Greene
You said and I quote “…that is quite disappointing from bajans who largely benefitted from the policies of the DLP…”
Mentality of a slave.
@well well and Piece
this is what i said in addition to what you picked out- “apart from this last iteration of the DLP being voted out and deservedly so, i cant understand why some bajans are relishing in their defeat and hoping that the party never rises again.”
if you are going to quote me, quote me within the context of my larger statement. it brings a certain cogency to the discussion.
yes this lasted iteration of the DLP deserved to be voted out. but no the DLP should not disappear from the Bim political landscape altho that is ultimately left to the voters to decide. and yes the DLP has a proud history that they should cherish.
if that is a slave mentality then i am a slave
@Skinner, solid anslysis re third party evolution.
A strong personality is needed at the start but as importantly a clear vision on how the party must evolve in the future…thus recruitment of bright, enterprising acolytes in obviously crucial. The party in many ways will be the appeasement platform of the charismatic original leader but it must purposely evolve beyond that while of course milking his/her Oomph and WOW factor to grow popular support…your NDP faltered in that regard.
@JamesG, is it really that difficult to appreciate the utter displeasure many feel towards the current DLP leadership!
A party is a progressive message and the verve, charm and energy (positive or negative) of its leader(s). The DLP folks had great positive energy and the other ingredients in bountiful bushels for much of its early life…in the last 15 years or more it has NOT.
Unless there is a new cadre of DLP leaders to reformulate this party’s current recipe there should be no remorse or tears for its demise…NONE.
You are recalling a vintage period of many years past when you wistfully reflect “that is quite disappointing from bajans who largely benefitted from the policies of the DLP”
Stop and also reflect on the callous, disrespectful way the current DLP people stripped away policies, added more onerous ones and simply afforded largess to self and friends to the detriment of the average Bajan…
…why pray tell should that mentality not be bannished never to return. Why not?
In the UK the Labour Party of Wilson, Callaghan et al fused and ‘reformed as ‘New Labour’…not a totally different party of course… but the point being one of internal change as circumstances demanded.
A slightly better example is the complete reformulation of the Democratic and Republican parties in US. Any 16 year old neophyte would be shocked to learn that the old Dems were pro slavery and that it was a Republican president who took his nation into civil war to fight that scourge…the current narratives of the two parties are the complete opposite re minority rights.
Things change…parties change…people change!
Yes it would be ironic and initially sad if the DLP became irrelevant due to internal warfare but we would all survive, grow and prosper and STILL revere the successes of Barrow, Crawford, Tudor et al of the once great party.
I gone.
“if that is a slave mentality then i am a slave.”
Yep…ya are.
The Democratic Labour Party will not disintegrate and die.The party has a legacy that all fair-minded Barbadians ought to be proud of. Present day Barbados was built by both political parties – BLP & DLP. This is a fact that cannot be denied.
The last Democratic Labour Party administration disappointed virtually every Barbadians including your truly and deservedly was voted out of office.
I want people to understand that in 1999 the DLP lost 26 to 2 and in nine years later was the government of Barbados.The great Democratic Labour Party will rise again.
as well any party should rise (again) if its members were operating in the interests of their electorate.
Right now we have a 60 day old government some of whose members are acting like the DLP acted with its salary restoration and increases WHILE WE PEOPE SUCK SALT
Not one of those fvckers that brought this country to the point that we are today MUST EVER BE ALLOWED BACK INTO THE HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY!
I dont know how loudly de ole man can shout this.
THey almost killed the country and we only have to pray that Mia and her 24 degenerates DO NOT DO THE SAME with their 3 contracts for their friends UNDER THE NAMES OF DIFFERENT AGENCIES.
Never again
Rest assured, the DLP will rise again. That last group, and I use the term group loosely because it had a main faction, produced a pattern of arrogance and defiance, which unfortunately has been seen elsewhere. And they crash. Sadly, voters tarred them all with the same brush. Sad because a meaningful opposition is healthy.
And for the sake of Barbados, find a new leader who has a few ounces of financial common sense, who even if not MoF themselves, has a strong candidate for that role.
PIECE WROTE
THey almost killed the country and we only have to pray that Mia and her 24 degenerates DO NOT DO THE SAME
BE IT KNOWN TO YOU DEAR PIECE THAT MIA AND THE CURRENT DLP WILL DO WORSE
RECALL 2 TIM 3:1-7
This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come.
2 For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,
3 Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good,
4 Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God;
5 Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.
6 For of this sort are they which creep into houses, and lead captive silly women laden with sins, led away with divers lusts,
7 Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.
@Northern
The new leader doesn’t have to be a financial savant, he/she should surround themselves with competent people who are not yes men/women. Financial gurus don’t fall off trees, it will take sometime before the DLP can identify someone who can fill that role, is Mia a financial guru? Maybe not but she is prepared to listen and take advice, attributes that Freundel was sorely lacking.
BTW folks who lean to the DLP and can handle the financial docket may not be too keen to identify themselves after all they have at a minimum 5 years in the wilderness and will be concerned about career and family.
@ Dr GP
I going try to get you ban.
Every time I does be feeling hope, that things can get better, you will give me a rude awakening
You and Pachamama.
The two of you cause me much self introspection and when a feller thinking and hope springing eternal from this my heart, then wunna brings a reality check.
I have not seen Pachamama for a while so I ent know what happen with him but you are here.
I wake every morning with a song in my heart, to my GOD, and His Son Jesus Christ and the Promise that I have in HIS Triune Being and then I ask what can I do to do some good.
I do the usual things, and sometimes come to “the job that BU provides” heheheheh and which they monitor how long you linger on their “property” heheheheheh
But my hope is that, somehow, my comments, and statements and brimling in the rumshop might trigger something, no matter how small, in a kindred spirit which might help UP DE VOLUME.
Sometimes while here I see some brilliance and or acts of kindness, most time though it weighs heavy on my spirit.
But in spite ot this, I, more that most people, knowing what i know, and being where I am, have to have hope else there is no need to open my eyes
de pedantic,
You are wrong about Labour and t he birth of New Labour.
@negroman “Present-day Barbados was built by both political parties – BLP & DLP.” Correction my friend, you should have said “Present-day Barbados was built by both parties and destroyed by one”. In deference to you, I will let you say which one.
@Hal, LOL…you took a one line summary to wit “…fused and ‘reformed as ‘New Labour’…not a totally different party of course… but the point being one of internal change as circumstances demanded” and so assertively note my inaccuracy….🤣…seriously.
So are u saying I am wrong because there was NO attempt to rebrand from Wilson/Callaghan’s Labour with the term ‘New Labour’ by Blair et al because of the pressures of the political play of the day?
Am I wrong in that brief sentence because there was NO long term effectual distinction between new and old, thus it was a mere public shell game and nothing NEW whatever?
Or am I wrong because I made a very succinct remark about a complex landscape which has impacts from the Liberal party, Salmond’s Scots and the various other players in your ‘Hackney’ political life up there…🤣….AND the comparative DLP link was a bridge too far…eh!
Ok bro…I was wrong.
So as we are on the subject, do give the blog your take on how Blair changed that Labour party and what the Dens can learn from him…if anything….just saying bro.
May the DLP of Sandiford,Thompson and Stuart burn in hell for ever and ever and ever.All three are no effing good.
Piece Uh De Rock Yeah Right – July 26, 2018 1:10 PM
I AM VERY SORRY PIECE
BUT IT IS CLEAR TO ME THAT WE HAVE REACHED THE STAGE DESCRIBED IN 2 TIM 3:1-7
at age 15 my girl friend taught me this verse that she had just learned in Sunday school
Numbers 32:23 b
behold, ye have sinned against the LORD: and be sure your sin will find you out.
I HAVE FOUND THIS TO BE ALL SO VERY TRUE
PERHAPS THE FELLAS IN THE ECSTACY HAVE COME TO THIS CONCLUSION TOO
Mr. McDowall did not learn from Walter?
McDowall to repay union monies spent
Article by
Barbados Today
Published on
July 26, 2018The National Union of Public Workers (NUPW) has decided not to pursue any serious disciplinary action against its president Akanni McDowall.
However, following a six-hour meeting at its Dalkeith, St Michael headquarters, the National Council, the second highest decision-making body of the union, ordered the president to immediately return the union’s credit card, which is to be cancelled.
The embattled McDowall has also been ordered to repay all union monies spent for personal use.
Furthermore, a sub committee of the council has been set up to make recommendations on a new credit card use policy for the NUPW.
In the meantime, no president can use any credit card belonging to the union, inside sources told Barbados TODAY.
NUPW President Akanni McDowall (fourth from left) and other union members look on as General Secretary Roslyn Smith (second from right) reads her prepared statement.However, in a prepared statement issued to reporters just after 9 tonight NUPW General Secretary Roslyn Smith was short on details.
All she would say is “the National Council met this afternoon at 2:30 p.m. and you would see that we had long, robust and animated discussions related to a number of issues. This type of interaction strengthens the union for the long journey ahead. We are confident in our leadership to guide this union, the union’s membership through the gripping times before us.”
Smith, who has been publicly at odds with the president in recent weeks, in particular over his positioin on possible public sector job cuts, also said “the president remains buttressed by the members of the union to lead us on that road”, while making it clear that during today’s meeting no charges were brought against him.
However, the meeting was adjourned until next week Thursday when the council will continue to look at the union’s finances.
Earlier in the evening an attempt was made to issue a joint statement to the press. However, that was aborted after McDowall and Smith failed to reach consensus on the contents of the release.
This mood contrasted somewhat to that at the end of the meeting with union officials, including Smith and McDowall, smiling and posing for photographs for the benefit of the press.
Official sources have however told Barbados TODAY that the majority of the time was spent at tonight’s meeting discussing the credit card matter.
Sources also said council members had decided not to go through the whole process of calling a special general conference to remove the president for fear that the process could turn nasty.
“We really want the union to heal and go forward with a united front,” one executive member told Barbados TODAY.
However, McDowall, though eager to pose for photographs and to create a sense of unity, declined to comment to reporters at the end of the night.
The DLP will be hard pressed to announce itself as a relevant political force or a viable alternative for political office for many years to come.
The scale and unprecedented magnitude of the loss at the last poll speaks for itself in terms of percentages.
To not have a voice in the parliamentary affairs even though some of the independent Senators may be have some proximity to George Street; still is not enough to narrow the gorge that has emerged to separate this irrelevant political institution from the mainstream political presence in Barbados.
The Dems essentially have self destructed.
Freundel has mummified the institution a long time ago.
The blogmaster saw one of the three ministers today that participated in the mini budget exercise on Facebook, there was no smile, no projection that we will be an energized party. It was all about maintaining a serious expression and hurrying out of the public space. It did not portend very well for a good response from the DLP at a time our governance is calling for more dissenting voices.
Glad to hear that the DLP has called a meting for August 12. I wish them well.
But I am not sure why they awarded themselves an 11 week vacation, May 24 to August 12.
Simple Simon
Neither “B” nor “D”
@Sarge
I agree fully.
And a few ounces of financial sense does not imply a guru. Yes they were hard eared. They can hire all the gurus they require, but if they ignore them, we are no better off?
While your observation re MAM listening seems accurate, I am more impressed by her ability thus far to make decisions. A quality I admire. It has become far too common in politics to appoint task forces and consult endlessly, when they could have made two wrong decisions and then the right one, meanwhile the consultations still going on! And then it’s a year to ‘produce the report’.
de pedantic,
Both your history of the change and analysis are wrong and out of sync with what is generally accepted by UK political theorists and thinkers. Books and numerous newspaper and periodical articles have been published on it. Look at the policy initiatives of the Blair/Brown governments since 1997 until tossed out by Cameron/Clegg.
Why is the UK still doing this crap to Caribbean Black people.
http://www.nationnews.com/nationnews/news/180243/help-collis
..this man Collis Kiñg was born in the Caribbean before any of the islands became independent…apart from his service to cricket, he was born under the British flag as a british citizen..
..all the big talk UK always has for Barbados and the Caribbean about this “special and strong bond and reltionship” they have with Caribbean people they need to start acknowleding, ACCEPTING AND RESPECTING. ..the fact that black people born in the Caribbean before independence are STILL british citizens….and why are none of the shitehound lawyers on the island picking up this cause and exposing UK for clear travesty and disenfranchisement that UK is still practicing against people of that age group born as british citizens. ..most of them are still unaware, their parents did not know, their grandparents did not know they were british citizens so how could we know…we only found out because of the brutality against black Caribbean Windrush Generation…
…..one would think..that Commisiong now that he is Caricom Something or Other….would take up this cause.
Negroman
When the DLP faced the elections in 1999 its was already 5 years in opposition. When the DLP faced the elections in 2008 it had already been in opposition for 14 years.
And to think these greedy fckers are trying to get REPARATIONS off the backs of our deceased and brutalized ancestors but not one of them, including Beckles, are willing to challenge UK about acknowledging their BLACK CITIZENS BORN in the Caribbean under British CITIZENSHIP…before independence.
How do they expect to move forward if this issue of UK disenfranchisement of Caribbean people born under the british flag is not addressed…wuh even the british created Barbados Constitution mentions it specifically and these Reparations seekers are pretending to be deaf dumb and blind to its existence.
that 14 yer period between 1994 and 2008 is, in my opinion, what messed up Bim. land prices escalated, greed became good and Bim was sold off by those in power. a politician or political operative from the then government when asked about the sell off of the west coast boldly declared that land is only an asset. that period set the stage for what we have now and it is not pretty
James Greene,
I won’t do it again, what is important is to compere the 14 yr rule of Owen Arthur with global and regional economic performance. Remember this was the period when a few dreamers, including Marion Williams, went about talking about Barbados being a ‘first world’ nation; sadly, they actually believed it.
In 2008, after the global banking crisis struck, Ms Williams, some Trinidadian doctor in economics and I appeared on the now defunct BBC Caribbean service. Typically, while I was saying the outcome of the crisis for the Caribbean was going to be painful, Ms Williams said it would not affect Barbados. I could not believe. I wanted to scream.
In short, for over 50 years, Barbados has been under-performing the global ad regional economies, a period dominated by the neoclassical synthesis of Keynesianism and general equilibrium theory. The global financial crisis signalled its failure, but has this been reflected in economic policy in Barbados (just look at Sinckler’s failure to manage the economy and what is coming out of the university)?
The intellectual cheating is to concentrate of juvenile party politics while the really serious stuff passes us by.
I am sure all is reading or listening to what is happening .
A drug story that would eventually fall into the laps of this govt
A must read before the blp morons start getting comfy beliving that this govt would last five years
A word to the wise is sufficient
When will Bishop Atherly be legally and constitutionally be appointed leader of the opposition no he has formally resigned from the Barbados Labour Party. Mr Atherly’s decision opened a can of worms with respect to a one man opposition and arising from his resignation the issue of recall
Tourism combined with filthy people who throw garbage around destroys coral reefs.
https://www.facebook.com/sciencenews/videos/10156457215796870/?t=8
And dont forget that money from the alleged drug trafficker flow into the blp campagain which should give Mia concern and cause for some sleepless nites
Here is a warning to you. Your identity is known to regulars on the blog. You should curtail how you are running at the mouth.
A word even to the ignorant should be enough.
Say what.! Yuh mean that there are spies on BU. Well let me tell you something brother my hands are clean do not take drugs do not smoke nor do i associate myself with any drug dealers . i have better sense than that
So there you have it
@ David and Piece Uh De Rock Yeah Right
@ Brother Hants
As we are all noticing that the Institution that is Barbados Today has entered the fray
And is duplicating all of the material that Barbados Underground is prosecuting
Almost like clockwork!
It is as if they have heard that BU is the “go to SOCIAL Advocacy” site in Barbados and is now seeking to use its popularity and its content to improve their newspaper sales.
Maybe just maybe their Nubian Princess Kaymar may see de ole man grandson stoopid cartoons and give me a piece heheheheheh?
What you think me Brother?
PUDRYR
You are so right.All of the media houses and don’t forget our brother the senator are indeed checking this site and using the information posted here.
And that is a Good thing!
David said yesterday that as far way as Denmark they were logging on.
That is why I believe he should UP the game and start doing what the other brown nosers (journalists) won’t do.
At least they could acknowledge Underground though.
The blogmaster invites you to join the discussion.