Former Prime Minister Freundel Stuart in a rare public appearance since the last general election delivered a speech last Sunday at the DLP St. Philip North branch meeting. Thanks to Piece the Legend for the following audio snippet. So far the blogmaster has not been able to locate the full speech by Stuart (some people…
Former Prime Minister Freundel Stuart in a rare public appearance since the last general election delivered a speech last Sunday at the DLP St. Philip North branch meeting. Thanks to Piece the Legend for the following audio snippet. So far the blogmaster has not been able to locate the full speech by Stuart (some people will say disappointing).
Additional link posted by Ping Ping.
@ Hal Austin February 19, 2020 2:29 PM
For me it is a fact that former DLP ministers and most of high DLP bureaucrats in the present admin hate black people deeply.
Give me one reason why they emigrated in droves to Canada, New York and Florida before and after the lost election. Because they admire white people and hate their own kind.
Whoever looks around Barbados personally knows that the locals are very friendly and that the island is a big paradise. So why did the former ministers emigrate? When you tell the whites in London, Zurich or Moscow that you reside in Barbados, everyone admires you. Only the former DLP ministers and their supporters apparently have a different opinion.
Silly WomanFebruary 19, 2020 1:32 PM
Was Verla DePieza at this weekend’s meeting at which Stuart spoke? if not, why not?
Verla was reportedly in New York attending a Friends of the DLP function.
Why are we even listening to this man? He should have kept as silent as he did when he was prime minister. Does he think he can rewrite history?
Steupse!
@JohnA
any port in a storm? The mysteries of public financial record keeping…. , I guess a projection, of a revised estimate, from a forecast based on a budget, is all gobbledegook anyways. Totals, or projected totals, without the detailed line items….it’s like pelting darts in the dark.
That’s why Verla was elected president. She can attend functions overseas.
[]Donna
February 19, 2020 9:57 PM
Why are we even listening to this man? He should have kept as silent as he did when he was prime minister. Does he think he can rewrite history?[]
Seen many comments like this. Its deja vu all over again.
First off who is we? Speak for yourself.
Media reports indicate after a two year hiatus former PM Stuart was well received by a large enthusiastic audience who cheered and applauded his speech.
Obviously he had a critical mass of listeners.
As neutrals with no skin in the duopoly game, as Skinner talks about ad nauseum ,our position is he has the right to speak like every citizen. It is up to individuals to listen or don’t listen.
History has a way of rearranging context .
Previous to Stuart one Erskine Sandiford was the most vilified PM.
He was hated universally not only for his austerity program he was despised for his appearance.
A bunch of local whites were overheard in Oistin’s car park cursing Sandy in the worst manner back then.
The marches against Sandy by Duke of York and company make the protests by Mia, yachtsman Herbert and the unions against Stuart look like child’s play.
The white plantocracy and elites with persons sounding much like Tron and John spouted venom against Sandy and the Dems to make Hendrik Verwoerd and Jim Crow proud.
It is astounding to hear political scientists and historians in recent times speak of the great statesman and astute visionary Sandiford was.
He is practically deified for saving the dollar.
Don’t rule out the possibility of Stuart’s rehabilitation over time.
He spoke to the base. What is your point? The BLP and other parties if they get traction will want the DLP to return with the tired argument Stuart presented.
@ Donks Gripe and Josh History has a way of rearranging context .
“Previous to Stuart one Erskine Sandiford was the most vilified PM.
He was hated universally not only for his austerity program he was despised for his appearance.
A bunch of local whites were overheard in Oistin’s car park cursing Sandy in the worst manner back then.
The marches against Sandy by Duke of York and company make the protests by Mia, yachtsman Herbert and the unions against Stuart look like child’s play.
The white plantocracy and elites with persons sounding much like Tron and John spouted venom against Sandy and the Dems to make Hendrik Verwoerd and Jim Crow proud.
It is astounding to hear political scientists and historians in recent times speak of the great statesman and astute visionary Sandiford was.
He is practically deified for saving the dollar.“
A very interesting and correct analysis.
It does not matter. A big part of being a politician is the appearance of being electable. It is up to the candidate and political parties to project themselves as being electable. Not the other way around.
Baje
Who do you think they should go with next election?
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
ARE YOU TELLING ME THE ONLY BRAINS IN BARBADOS WORTH ELECTING TO POLITICAL OFFICE ARE WEARING EITHER BLP OR DLP LABELS?
IF IT IS IT SAYS THAT THE EDUCATION SYSTEM IN BARBADOS AS A WHOLE HAS FAILED AND TOTALLY STRENGTHENS HAL’S ARGUMENT THAT BARBADOS IS A FAILED STATE/ISLAND.
“When you tell the whites in London, Zurich or Moscow that you reside in Barbados, everyone admires you.”
see this ignorant ass…they don’t admire you stupid, they admire that yall are so damn dumb to keep racism, aparthied and disenfranchisment against your own people going 150 years post slavery…… realizing that you learned nothing after the 400 year slavery experience, they admire that the people are still too brainwashed to do anything about it….but with the fraudulent PM talking about “fighting imperialism”…the first thing she should do after that hypocrite speech is dismantle the whole evil shite of propping up the savages in UK by keeping her own people under the oppression and suppression of the nasty colonial practices so that lowlife nuisance negro politicians, ministers and lawyers can collect bribes and continue to help the common class minorities in Barbados to rob the people…as has been happening for 80 years…so no, they do not admire Bajans, they admire what dumb, backward asses you are..
I told you already that thinking does not suit you, you lack basic intelligence.
William SkinnerFebruary 20, 2020 12:45 AM
@ Donks Gripe and Josh History has a way of rearranging context .
“Previous to Stuart one Erskine Sandiford was the most vilified PM.
He was hated universally not only for his austerity program he was despised for his appearance.
A bunch of local whites were overheard in Oistin’s car park cursing Sandy in the worst manner back then.
The marches against Sandy by Duke of York and company make the protests by Mia, yachtsman Herbert and the unions against Stuart look like child’s play.
The white plantocracy and elites with persons sounding much like Tron and John spouted venom against Sandy and the Dems to make Hendrik Verwoerd and Jim Crow proud.
It is astounding to hear political scientists and historians in recent times speak of the great statesman and astute visionary Sandiford was.
He is practically deified for saving the dollar.“
A very interesting and correct analysis.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++
Voted DLP even after I lost 8% of my salary and then did not get my teaching contract renewed.
But I have never deified him or heard ANYONE deify him. Hardly hear him mentioned really.
Furthermore, what happened under Sandi is in no way comparable to what happened under Stuart. If you are waiting for him to be deified just remember that people like me voted BLP for the first time ever after more than thirty-five years of voting. And this time I personally did not lose a thing!
Steupse!
https://www.nationnews.com/nationnews/news/243982/straughn-fee
Government yesterday moved to validate the two per cent fee Barbadians have been paying on credit card and other foreign exchange transactions imposed by the Democratic Labour Party administration three years ago. The Foreign Exchange Control (Amendment) Bill 2020, which was passed in the House of Assembly, provides for the imposition of the two per cent fee on foreign exchange transactions and validates its collection, backdating this section to July 17, 2017, when former Minister of Finance Chris Sinckler announced the fee’s introduction in his Budgetary Proposals.THOUGH HE INDICATED GOVERNMENT WAS RETICENT ABOUT GOING HEAD WITH THE FEE, TO WHICH IT HAD SHOWN SOME OBJECTION AT THE TIME IT WAS INITIALLY IMPOSED. Straughn said the current economic state of Barbados necessitated the continuation.”
We have heard of wuk fa wuk, here comes juk fah juk. Government is only now “validating” the fee, but in fact the fee has been composed continuously since September 2017. It has cost those of us who are trying to educate the next generation thousands more since September 2017. We feel as though we are being punished for assisting the young people with their education. What sort of government does that?
DLP government.
BLP government.
As Skinner likes to say Duopoly rules.
The climate is ripe to nurture the birth of a third party movement yet after a decade nothing. There was hope for the NDP but that too was a one man party.
@Tron February 19, 2020 9:08 PM “Give me one reason why they emigrated in droves to Canada, New York and Florida before and after the lost election.”
Because they honestly but erroneously believe in the myth of the “Great White North.” I expect that a fair number of your current BLP favourites hold the some beliefs. After all the great white north is a wonderful place when you are collecting a nice fat pension and benefits funded by the people in the impoverished south. Isn’t that the way it has worked since 1492? Grab whatever you can from the labour of the people in the south, stash it in the north, and haul ya body there as soon as you can.
You think poor black people foolish or blind?
@Donks, Gripe and Josh February 20, 2020 12:07 AM “Media reports indicate after a two year hiatus former PM Stuart was well received by a large enthusiastic audience who cheered and applauded his speech. Obviously he had a critical mass of listeners.”
This is not surprising since 33,985 people voted for the DLP in during the May 2018, elections.
What is surprising is that the DLP has not built on the enthusiasm of these 33, 985 core supporters. That the party leadership seemed to have ignored their loyalists. In human relationships is is not god practice to ignore people who are loyal to you, instead the bst strategy is to nurture these loyal people.
But I int no politcal scientist. But I learned a fair bit about HUMAN BEHAVIOUR in my lemonade courses.
@Bajan in NY February 19, 2020 9:20 PM “Verla was reportedly in New York attending a Friends of the DLP function.”
I am wondering if it was a strategic absence.
https://barbadostoday.bb/2020/02/20/de-peiza-stuarts-news-not-the-dlps/
De Peiza: Stuart’s news not the DLP’s
Former Prime Minister Freundel Stuart should feel free to defend his seven-year tenure in the country’s highest office. But not all of his most recent comments reflect the current position or direction of the Democratic Labour Party, President Verla DePeiza has suggested…DePeiza was out of the island during Sunday’s meeting of the party’s St Philip North branch. But reacting to Stuart’s address days later, she stressed the need for its leaders to acknowledge that the people which they swore to serve, were unhappy with their leadership. “We must acknowledge that the people were not pleased with us. We were in government and therefore we have to take responsibility. I have been pretty clear on that. It is up to us to impress the electorate that we are doing the right thing. That is our duty,” the DLP President told Barbados TODAY.
I int no political scientists, but Verla needs to do to Stuart, what Mia did to Owen…made him disappear (metaphorically of course, lolll!!!) and assert her leadership over the DLP.
This two headed hydra thingy can’t go on.
Glad to see Verla pushing back. She can’t afford to be soft.
She can push back all she wants but her public image is what it is.
Verla’s real target is not Stuart, who has a right to put his case to the nation, but the growing ineptitude of the Mottley government. We must not allow grand vacuous speeches to blind us from the fact there is a void where policy ought to be. After two years there are clear signs of failure.
@ Simple Simon
You cannot judge Stuart performance based on Donks Gripe and Greene, because they are DLP supporters. Stuart talking shiite about not “waking a sleeping giant” and “people in a dark room looking for a black cat,” would be described as “articulate and believable.”
You must also be aware the crowd may have not been predominately DLP supporters but would have included BLP supporters and neutral people that were curious to hear what Stuart had to say after being silent from October 23, 2010 to February 16, 2020 (approx. 9 years, 3 weeks).
Obviously, the meeting would have mixed reviews. The diehard DEMS would be quick to say Stuart did a fantastic job and he was “articulate and believable;” the BEES would say he was more ‘froth than beer;’ while the neutrals’ criticisms would be more rational and reasonable.
Additionally, the DEMS would obviously describe “his take down of Mottley using the oft repeated phrase to describe his reticence was nothing short of brilliant.”
That’s what it’s all about…… attack the opponent for laughs. And, you would notice, these are the issues the DEMS presented to BU to prove the meeting was a success.
Yes, Stuart is “magnificent speaker with a great command of the language and knows how to work the crowd.”
But, did he defend, for example, why there was a bureaucratic inertia of government during Thompson’s sickness until a few months after his death and burial?
Did he defend the 23 consecutive credit rating downgrades?
Did he defend telling Barbadians “not one civil servant will go home,” and subsequently surprised them with a retrenchment program that saw over 5,000 of them going home?
Did he explained the circumstances surrounding the failure of his economic policies, such as the:
….. Medium-term Development Strategy 2010-2014;
….. Medium-term Fiscal Strategy, 2010-2014;
….. Medium-term Growth & Development Strategy 2013-2020;
….. National Programme fr Sustainable Development.
….. the IMF “homegrown” structural adjustment programme 2013.
Did Stuart discuss the ‘mutiny’ of the “EAGER 11?” Those 11 dissatisfied MPs who, at that time, were seeking an “urgent audience” with him to discuss matters of “grave concern” pertaining to his LEADERSHIP and “to chart a path forward for the retention of our party in Government?”
This was one of the defining moments of his leadership he should have defended.
Stuart should have been “articulate and believable” on these issues, then “I could listen to him all day.”
“talk yuh talk Froons. I hope this is not the last we hear of you.”
Smart move Verla.
but let Stuart do his thing and forget the negrocrats who like to eat each other or parrot what others say.
Concentrate on presenting your vision for the future and get a new slate of potential candidate. besides you and few others make sure these candidates are not from the baby boomer generation- that generation has done enuff damage.
above talk about law and order even as you address the economy and empower your candidates to speak about their portfolio. dont be a mic hog like MAM. and be as honest as possible with bajans.
@Artax
What about removing so-called free tertiary education?
another thing Verla. Now that Stuart has spoken it is a good time to apologise to bajans for the hardship caused during his rulership.
how you do this is to say that –
despite the admirable defensive of his leadership by ex PM Stuart during a very tuff period in Bim’s history we the DLP would like to apologise for any hardship caused during this period. we understand why Bajans went in another political direction and we will try our best to learn lessons from this. we view role of ex PM Stuart and others in articulating what happen during this period as a type of truth and reconciliation moment from which we will move forward and present my vision for the future of the DLP a party that has done a great deal of good for bajans.
we are proud of our history but the future beckons and onto the future we march knowing that the road would not be smooth, our path will not be straight but together we will fight for a brighter future for Barbadians.
the mantra should be- the future beckons.
@Greene
Unfortunately it will not work as you described. Every time Stuart awakes from his slumber and is allowed to speak under the DLP BANNER it will harm whatever she is trying to do.
@Greene
To add assanine interventions by the Lowes, Jones, Jepters et al.
the truth is that uni education should be means tested. those who could pay should pay the economic portion of it like the DLP imposed. there is absolutely no need for everyone to have a uni educated. we ought to concentrate more on the technical. i am of the opinion uni educated is highly overrated. this issue of free uni will not go away and at some will have to be revisited
a review of uni fees was commissioned by Arthur and headed by Dr Shorey- i stand to be coreected. the recommendations would surprise many or may be not. when MAM was minister of education she shelved the recommendations.
when i tell my friends the amount i have paid in uni fees for my kids they look at me like i am stupid and brag about the little they pay
@ Artax
In the interest of balanced commentary:
“ adjustment programme 2013.
Did Stuart discuss the ‘mutiny’ of the “EAGER 11?” Those 11 dissatisfied MPs who, at that time, were seeking an “urgent audience” with him to discuss matters of “grave concern” pertaining to his LEADERSHIP and “to chart a path forward for the retention of our party in Government?”
Point taken. Did Mottley ever address why she was kicked to the curb by some who now dwell in her cabinet? Was the Arthur inspired mutiny ever really fully ventilated? Has Arthur ever explained why Mottley was” unfit to be PM and was a “despot “. Did Arthur not say that the BLP had lost its soul”.
At the end of the day it’s always the pot calling the kettle black.
The Duopoly Rules
Stuart and whom ever should be allowed to speak. they satisfy a segment of the DLP party but the future beckons. i have no issue with that. let the negrocrats hate. all voices must be heard.
it is what Verla says and the candidates she attracts. politics is the management of many moving parts.
@ Mr Greene
De ole man IS NOT A DLP SUPPORTER FOR ANY ONE OF THE SCUM WHO SERVED DURING THE LAST 10 YEARS (and my support of this Mugabe lot is also known)
But there is a thing that you said the HIGHLIGHTS the mechanics of good politics AND WHAT IS SEVERELY LACKING HERE IN BARBADOS
“…another thing Verla.
Now that Stuart has spoken it is a good time to apologise to bajans for the hardship caused during his rulership…”
Sir, that is a boss move!
A few months back de ole man was conversing here with “Ironside”!
De ole man was discoursing “abstract” concepts AND THIS STATEMENT OF YOURS, is such an intangible and abstract!
You see, Mr Greene, in that statement you moved the discussion from the customary mundane rumshop banter to TRUE POLITICAL STRATEGY!
And, de ole man puts it to you that such strategy, IS BEYOND THE KEN & CAPACITY of Verla Depeiza and the majority of people here on BU.
“What does a political party, have to consistently do, in order to win?”
And Verla Depeiza is not a brainiac and neither is her support mechanism read political strategy.
Her audience, AS IS THE AUDIENCE OF ANY THIRD PARTY, is the people!
When de ole man had instructed Reverend Joseph Atherley to
Officially appoint Senator Caswell Franklyn as his successor
AND
RUN IN THE CONSTITUENCY OF ST MICHAEL NORTH EAST against Mugabe Mottley in his Swan Song Exit, the key thing was THE PEOPLE!
Unfortunately your instruction to the DIM witted VERLA DEPEIZA and mine to the BLP LEADER OF THE PDP will be lost in the wind like a poop!
Similar to how the flatulence called Granville Phillips aka Bedroom Police has disappeared from Barbados Underground
Greene who is preventing Stuart et al from speaking? What some of us are suggesting is that it will not help Verla and the DLP to invigorate the brand.
@ Greene
You are right. The nonsense of ‘free’ education is rooted in the Barrow myth. A university education, paid for by a lot of people who cannot even write their names, is perverse.
A university education immediately puts the graduate in to a higher earning category. That is another example of the transfer of wealth from the poor to the well to do.
Make them pay. How that is executed is another matter. Has anyone ever done a study of national scholarships?
@Hal,
the national scholarship or rather the recognition of students doing well i would leave in place. there should be some type of reward and recognition for doing well.
i note tho that almost everyone of these scholarship winners are from well to do families who could pay for their education. this is not what the scholarship was intended for.
@Greene
I agree that the national scholarship should reflect merit, but we still want to know the true value of a scheme that has been going since the 1920s. That is not too much to ask.
@Artax February 20, 2020 7:39 AM “Simple Simon. You cannot judge Stuart performance based on Donks Gripe and Greene, because they are DLP supporters.”
Thanks for the instruction Artax, but I did not need it you know. My thoughts are entirely my own, and not at al influenced by Donks etc. nor by Greene, Of course many of the BU intelligentsia believe that i am incapable of thought.
Lol!
@ Greene
You got the point. Merit and openness are important. Not just the sons and daughters of the big ups who went to Harrison college. For the secondary schools, I will bring back the scholarships.
@David February 20, 2020 7:23 AM “She can push back all she wants but her public image is what it is.”
Public images can be created, recreated, manipulated,sullied, burnished etc. etc. Who says that a public image has to remain static?
I am very certain that you know these things, don’t you David.
February 20, 2020 1:26 AM
Baje
Who do you think they should go with next election?
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
ARE YOU TELLING ME THE ONLY BRAINS IN BARBADOS WORTH ELECTING TO POLITICAL OFFICE ARE WEARING EITHER BLP OR DLP LABELS?
IF IT IS IT SAYS THAT THE EDUCATION SYSTEM IN BARBADOS AS A WHOLE HAS FAILED AND TOTALLY STRENGTHENS HAL’S ARGUMENT THAT BARBADOS IS A FAILED STATE/ISLAND.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
BAJE I aint tell you no such thing. I aint tell you anything at all. I ask you a simple question
Who do you think they should go with next election?
You can only elect who put themselves before the electorate for elections.
All bajans with “brains” does not necessarily want to or seek to be in elective politics.
Also all bajans with “brains” did not necessarily get educated in Barbados
There is no need for the unnecessary comments, they were not asked for, and the question still not answered.
@Artax, freaking Brilliant above…. I tried y’day to get to the mountain top but failed miserably… You bro planted that flag with VIGOUR!
You outdo Stuart with awesome ‘oratory’ …I am confident the crowd went wild when you suggested … [NOW he wants to talk after being] … silent from October 23, 2010 to February 16, 2020 (approx. 9 years, 3 weeks).”
The rest after that was like a Don Blackman masterclass: a deliberate build up raising to a
super crescendo!
@William I am surprised by ur contrasting Sandiford to Stuart on a policy governance level (the personal looks stuff is BS and should not be part of any serious debate as you know so let’s dismiss that).
@Donna is absolutely spot on.
It’s fair to say that the Stuart admin took a rough economic patch of land – so to say- and made it into a toxic swamp land of difficult to nurture plants. Sandiford undertook a very unpopular form of re-work and fertilization of a similar patch with very painful and difficult tilling to prep for a re-plant/new growth.
One made a harsh choice that was basically affirmed in hind sight the other just kept on badly ‘soiling’ the economy that will NOT be lauded on history’s pages.
Why compare those two as equitable !
And yes @David, I do not see the upside politically to this reawakening.
When Barrow reclaimed the govt in ’87 (was it?) even he was faced with much doubt of being dated in philosophy and process….and here was a man (love or hate) who had achieved some successes; when Arthur attempted to reinsert himself he definitely faced the same dated attack and he had done possibly the best of all PMs before him!
So how the badword is this man parading as some sage older statesman politician…
Let the party cleanse itself surely but it should be sent to political perfidy for ‘ever and a day’ if the members allow him the room to be any future public figure for the DLP.
Absolute political nonsense… and POLITICALLY insanse!
Greene
The writing is on the wall for de pizza that why all the Duppies now finding their voices.
He best move now would be to get “her” candidates in place ASAP.
@ de pedantic Dribbler
I don’t know where you get this contrast with Stuart and Sandiford, I did from. I merely stated that @ Donks gripe Josh had done a correct and intelligent analysis. I just try to be objective. I have no agenda.
@ Greene
@ Hal Austin
Why does a society educate its citizens?
Why does a society reward those citizens who excel?
Is the current system achieving these objectives or not?
@ Piece
@ David Bu
Are their only purpose to win election to office?
Or to devise a programme to achieve useful social and economic objectives?
What past political leaders do or not do are totally irrelevant. What the present ones do is worthy of discussion. All other approaches are like spinning top in mud.
Just stirring this pot a bit.
The gremlin is at work every time I address David BU. The question is: What is the purpose of Political Parties ?
@Hal Austin February 20, 2020 8:36 AM. “The nonsense of ‘free’ education is rooted in the Barrow myth…Make them pay.”
Both Hal and Green are intelligent enough to know that there is not and has never been any such thing as a free tertiary education in Barbados Tertiary education in Barbados has been PAID for principally by the taxpayers of Barbados. The same taxpayers whose daughters and sons have attended and attend the university of the West Indie, but also Erdiston College, the Barbados Community College, the Samuel Jackman Institute of Technology etc. and those tax paying parents whose daughters and sons received Barbados scholarships and Exhibitions and who receive some help from Barbados taxpayers with their education. So once the Barbados government (BLP, DLP) has made the parents pay, and pay, and ppay through their taxes how much more should government, can government extract from the parents to make them pay?
@Simple Simon
Can you share what happened when the last government decimated the so-called free education model? What happened with enrollment at UWI for example? Have we examined the social impact of the decision? Especially as it relates to high youth unemployment juxtaposed with a middle class that has had to bear the brunt of government austerity policies?
@ Vincent
I will split your question in two: why does one pursue further and higher education; and what is its value to society? First, an individual should be allowed to pursue education/training to the best of their ability and to their satisfaction. The contribution that makes to society is that the higher the proportion of people educated to a certain level the better the society becomes in a number of ways..
This improvement may express itself in economic growth; but there are also soft benefits, such as arts, creativity, and an overall improvement in the quality of life, better institutions, public decency, law-abiding, less violence, etc..
@Vincent
Others more qualified have succinctly suggested it is about winning elections and stoking their popularity.
@ Simple Simon at 9 :57 AM
You are 100% correct. The tax payers are paying for the education of its citizens. Do you imagine how much worse it would be if we did not have publicly financed education? Why should parents pay twice?
Some of us are prepared to send our children to fee paying schools and universities because we are not satisfied with the curricula at the local schools and universities. But it is our choice.
@ David Bu
But what do you think? Do you think these”more qualified ” are correct? What make them “more qualified”?
Leave a Reply to Hal AustinCancel reply