It is official, four candidates vying to lead the Democratic Labour Party (DLP) have been announced. The BU Voting Booth will be open for 24 hours to accept voting from the BU family.
Vote for DLP President
It is official, four candidates vying to lead the Democratic Labour Party (DLP) have been announced. The BU Voting Booth will be open for 24 hours to accept voting from the BU family.
273 responses to “Vote for DLP President”
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Long live the DLP!
#askingforlazarus
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Cuhdeeeeeeaaaaar!
I voted DLP all my life up until the last two elections but love for party never entered into it. I always considered the people who made up the party. I believe I made a big mistake in my conclusions of 2013. In 2008, Owen needed to be taken down. A man too long in power tends to figure himself a god.
Now…
What exactly is a great party???? A party is made up of people. When the cast of characters changes, the party changes.
So….a party that may have been great, no longer is.
Why should anyone have love or loyalty to a party??????
Get some great people and install them but do not expect respect before then!
You think you should be allowed to fail as abysmally and as arrogantly as you did and not spend some time in the wilderness????
You people were Trump before Trump! You expected us to disbelieve what we saw with our own eyes and to believe that there was no garbage at our door, no sewage on the streets and that our children were taken to and from school on Transport Board school buses as usual!
Even now some speak of the “glorious” years!
Purge yourselves and come back cleaner than the BLP! Moaning and groaning and begging for respect will gain you no votes!
Neither will blaming David or BU for your failure to get your act together.
Your problems are WITHIN!
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Correction: love FOR or loyalty to
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@Elon
DLP leadership crisis ‘will likely continue’
WITH TWO CANDIDATES dropping out of the race for leadership of the Democratic Labour Party (DLP), reducing it to a two-man race between Dr David Estwick and Dr Ronnie Yearwood, political scientist Dr George Belle warns the party’s chances of resurgence in the short-term are on shaky ground.
Yesterday interim DLP president Steve Blackett told the MIDWEEK NATION that Francis De Peiza, brother of former president Verla De Peiza, has joined Ryan Walters in taking his hat out of the ring.
“De Peiza’s reasons were very similar to Ryan’s, which is work commitments at this time and other professional duties.
However, he has pledged his continued support for the party and has promised to serve in any capacity when called upon,” said Blackett.
Belle told the MIDWEEK NATION that neither of the remaining candidates inspired hope for rebuilding a party that has twice suffered a clean sweep at the polls in the last four years.
He said the Dems need a young person who “captures both the soul and vision for the party”, but neither of the remaining candidates fitted that bill.
He added that even after the DLP concludes the internal election next month, it must continue the search for a leader who could spearhead its resurgence.
Not impressed
“Truth be told, none of the four candidates impressed me very much, but I think that neither of the two that remain has the capacity to rebuild. I believe that the Democratic Labour Party is still left with the requirement and the need to search for a leader who can carry the heart of the party while at the same time project the capability to build for the future,” said Belle.
He argued that while Yearwood is a relative newcomer to the party, his previous unsuccessful attempt to run on the Barbados Labour Party ticket before switching to the DLP, makes him appear opportunistic. On the other hand, Estwick’s “boisterous” tone had lost him support over the years and it would
be an uphill task to repair that public image, the retired University of the West Indies lecturer said.
“One could speculate that more core-driven DLP would gravitate to Dr Estwick. It is important to note that Dr Estwick did relatively well in the last election campaign where the party crumbled and therefore, he has some credentials on that basis. The problem with Dr Estwick is that the people of Barbados rejected his political tone and boisterousness over the years, and that has made a lot of people step back from supporting him for a national position. However, he is closer to the soul of the party and better represents the culture,” said Belle.
“With Dr Yearwood, on the other hand, it appears that he jumped on to the DLP because he was rejected by the other party . . . . I don’t think that the Democratic Labour Party is best served by a political personality like that at this moment.” (CLM) -
@Elon
The politics of Sinckler’s posting
RECENTLY, THERE HAVE been active discussions on the nomination by the Government of Barbados of Chris Sinckler to the post of alternate executive director of the World Bank.
Sinckler will work with a group of countries comprising Canada, Ireland and ten CARICOM countries. Canada’s representative is always the director and Ireland the deputy.
The CARICOM countries have one executive alternate director that rotates between them every few years. The last CARICOM country that held this position was Guyana, represented by Donna Harris whose performance was outstanding.
Selection
It is now Barbados’ turn to nominate the new alternate executive director. The selection of Sinckler is a decision of the Government of Barbados. However, he will also represent the nine other CARICOM nations. Sinckler did not apply to the World Bank for this job.
While good governance would dictate that the Government of Barbados chooses the best candidate, irrespective of political affiliations, the final decision is the Prime Minister’s and politics can be a factor. The question is, was Sinckler, who as Minister of Finance witnessed repeated downgrades of the Barbados economy, the best choice?
Hyacinth Greenidge and Clairmonte Grazette in their recent comments in the newspapers seem not in favour of selecting Sinckler whereas Winston Cox thinks “politically it is a very clever and astute appointment”.
Credibility matters
Sinckler was the economic/finance leader of the Democratic Labour Party and was considered by the then leader of the Opposition, Mia Amor Mottley to be a total failure prior to the 2018 elections. He was seen as the architect of “The Lost Decade”.
He fired the Governor of the Central Bank for not following his directives which were to print more money. On the other hand, he was also fired by the voters in the 2018 elections. Are we to assume that Sinckler has since learned from his mistakes/ experiences or did the Prime Minister err in her condemnation?
Does it not seem somewhat
strange that the Prime Minister would appoint Sinckler to serve on her never reported task force?
Why would he, on the cusp of the January 2022 General Election question the leadership of the DLP president Verla De Peiza and say that Mottley demonstrated good leadership on a Front Page interview in the SUNDAY SUN?
Does anyone remember that former Prime Minister Owen Arthur found it inappropriate from an optics point of view for Mia Mottley as Leader of the Opposition to walk arm in arm with Sinckler, Minster of Finance as he was on his way to deliver a Budget speech?
Is Sinckler still a member of the DLP or has he joined the Barbados Labour Party?
Regardless of the politics, let us all wish Sinckler lots of luck and success as he tackles several major CARICOM issues relating to concessionary financing, climate change, technical assistance and getting Barbados and other CARICOM countries to improve their capacity to implement projects from the 70 per cent implementation deficit they are currently achieving.
Say what you mean and mean what you say
Politics appears to have reached the stage where if a Republican or BLP politician says “yes” to something, it will automatically mean that a Democrat or DLP politician must say “no”. Moreover what is even more disturbing is that they can say “yes” emphatically today and “no” tomorrow without any explanation.
Examples of this are the derogatory comments about Messrs Sinckler and Maloney before the 2018 General Election and actions since then. Is the general public to believe that Sinckler and Maloney are villains or heroes, rising again, like the resurrection, at Easter? – JOHN BEALE, former Barbados Ambassador to the US and the OAS and investment officer at the World Bank GroupSource: Nation
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DLP restructuring: A sober reflection
THIS ARTICLE HAS been called A Sober Reflection to separate it from other dominant voices on the future of the Democratic Labour Party (DLP), but which have been either, exuberant, infantile gloating by supporters of the ruling Barbados Labour Party (BLP), or panicked pessimism on the part of DLP sympathisers.
Both spring from the same conceptual error: overwhelmed by the consecutive clean sweeps by the BLP, and the dominant stature of Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley’s national leadership, they treat these as permanent, perpetual features of Barbadian political life.
My analysis instead, assumes that politics is a dynamic and shifting reality, and that the existing conditions can change with unforeseen rapidity. It proceeds not from the outcomes of the last decade, but from a more deeply historically-rooted understanding of Barbados’ political-economy.
In this regard, it is foolhardy to dismiss the historical reality of the DLP, as the party of Independence, post-colonial social transformation and as an organic institution, enmeshed in the political-economy of Barbados. Similarly, it is false to argue that “none of the persons” defeated in the 2018 election, should have a role in the DLP’s future restructuring.
While it is true that many of the DLP candidates mishandled badly their 2018 defeat, the view that none of them should be associated with future restructuring efforts, cannot be treated as serious analysis. So too is the continual derisive dismissal of any prospective DLP leader on the basis that they cannot challenge Mia Mottley.
It is both conceptually and politically erroneous to reduce the “restructuring” of the DLP to finding the right leader. The DLP’s challenge is to chart an appropriate developmental policy programme, an updated social-democratic programme, relevant to the contemporary global political economy.
Analysis critical issues
Since the Owen Arthur period, the DLP has failed
to match the BLP in the presentation of a broad and viable development vision. This is the real source of the Mottley leadership enigma.
It is imperative that the DLP engages in a thorough analysis of the critical issues confronting Barbadian development and carves an updated and appropriate social-democratic vision.
In this effort, sympathetic intellectuals and technocrats and many of the personalities associated with the 2008-2022 DLP should remain engaged. Even Dan Quayle was consulted by Vice President Mike Pence, at the height of the Trump revolt in the United States culminating in the January 6 revolt.
The current moment calls for a united front, from David Estwick to Francis De Peiza, Guy Hewitt to Richard Sealy, Ronnie Yearwood to Ryan Walters to Kemar Stuart, all participating in this broad repositioning, de-emphasising electoral outcomes. In the restructuring of the DLP, it would be an error if short term electoral considerations would take precedence over broad developmental and transformative objectives.
The DLP should seek first the philosophical and policy-development kingdom, and the electoral spoils shall be added unto them.
In this important exercise, the BLP spokespersons have no role.
Tennyson Joseph is a political scientist at the University of the West Indies, Cave Hill Campus, specialising in regional affairs. Email tjoe2008@live.comSource: Nation
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A very good article by TJ👍👍. His first paragraph is a synthesis of the ongoing wrong thinking.
There has been times when a party won two or three seats and no one wrote them off.
Two consecutive 30-0 defeat is disheartening, but the second was caused more by DLP missteps than by the policies of Mia. It is painful to see the DLP once again acting as they did after the 2018 defeat.
It appears that they consider themselves as the second party (by default) and refuses to do any lifting in order to be taken seriously.
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Truth unlike milk dies not sour
Is this the same Tennyson Joseph whose articles dismissed the old dlp hands as constant reminders of the Freundel years dubbed the lost decade
How is it now he finds words to indicate that the old hands should become as functional organs in the party
That is the question I would like to ask Joseph
But then again politics does make strange bedfellows -
Always attacking the messenger and ignoring the message.
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I read his analysis but I question his comment as I reference his previous responses in which he put forward comments in contrary to what he says now
Don’t think that the dlp would be disregarded or thrown into a waste basket of forgetfulness
However the dlp has reached a critical point since its existed as a party
One that requires a leader that exudes confidence and one that can stand shoulder to shoulder with this current leader
A modern day leader who have the ability to step out and have the respect of the masses
If and when such leader emerges there is no doubt there would be a ground swell of support for the dlp
However within the party The ongoing division exist a reality that needs strong leadership to quiet -
“De Peiza’s reasons were very similar to Ryan’s, which is work commitments at this time and other professional duties…….
Were these persons nominated by others without their consent?
You mean they hadn’t considered their work load before?
Lot of fluff. -
If the process to declare nominees was missed by the blogmaster at the start of this process, apology is extended to all concerned.
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Sandiford-Garner clears air on candidates for DLP president
https://www.nationnews.com/2022/04/21/sandiford-garner-clears-air-candidates-dlp-president/
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“Planning committee member Maxine McClean said the conference, under the theme “Embracing our Legacy, Shaping the Future”, would feature guest speakers such as Professor The Most Honourable Eudine Barriteau, Dr Rose-Ann Blenman-Abange and economist Carlos Forte in addition to undisclosed regional guests and a youth speaker. (CA)”
1) “youth”… The race for a smart toddler has begun
2) this will be the first election a DLP member won since 2018
3)this assumes two candidates will stay in -
ah ha…as suspected earlier.
Why did the interim whatever, Blackett, say what he said? He could have put an end to it, before.
Obviously “most” were in the dark on the process. -
Frank these dems are amazing.Four persons were announced for the presidency.Two have since withdrawn citing work commitments.Like you on hearing Ms Sandiford _ Garner, s wishy washy shite talk wasn, t this known before these persons werr announced.On top of that she is claiming the dems had 300 new members but only 60 out of them will receive their membership at the ceromony.Really? 60 out of 300?To me something does not add up here.Ms Garmer_ Sandiford seems to think she speaking to ten year olds.Reel and come again.
Heard sme callers and Mr Wilkinson bigging up Ms Watson today cor her role as an intervenor which is plausible and i agree but to claim she was not bias or supported no party and should be a senator.Tell me this is the same Ms Watson who was s moderator of brasstacks? You only had to listen to her mouthings back then to know which party she favoured in my view.Perhaps Mr Wilkinson and these callers did not listen to brasdtacks back then.I gone. -
Who surprise that Ronnie in de mix? By any means necessary. Ego eh!
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@enuff
Why do you care?
LOL
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Road to 2027 is a long one
By Ezra Alleyne
How the major political parties conduct their business is of importance to every single man, woman and child in this country, when that business deals with the leadership.
That is why the election of a leader of the Democratic Labour Party (DLP) must be the subject of fair comment. Any citizen of this country cannot be fairly accused of pushing his mouth in the business of a party of which he or she is not a member.
Our democracy contemplates that at some stage, the DLP may return to office. Even if that day or night seems remotely in the distance at this time, one day coming not so soon, it will happen.
The contest for the leadership is between two men bearing the title doctor. Dr David Estwick, a medical doctor, a man with significant parliamentary experience and the tenure of a ministry, comes to the platform with the reputation of having agitated against some aspects of the policies that led to the triple wipeouts of his party.
By triple wipeouts, I refer to the two 30-0 General Election victories and the St George North by-election which was won by the Barbados Labour Party (BLP) and Barbados Workers’ Union general secretary Toni Moore. That should redound to his credit because although he was a party to the policy, at least he saw the danger up ahead and did not hide his mouth then.
He enters this leadership stakes with impressive credentials, including fierce debating skills which he will need and which the party has traditionally had in the form of Errol Barrow, Sir Lloyd Sandiford, Sir James Cameron Tudor, Sir Richie Haynes and Branford Taitt.
Dr Ronnie Yearwood is a newcomer.
I know him not only as a colleague law lecturer, but as one of the promising sparks when he was an intern at Government Headquarters under Prime Minister Owen Arthur.
His subsequent academic achievements have marked him out as one for the future in academia. Whether he can also be marked out as one to watch in politics will be known soon.
Academic politicking is a cake walk compared to the treachery even on the home ground of politics. I recall the dignified statement of Prime Minister Freundel
Stuart reminding an audience that treachery was not taught at his alma mater. Politics, however, contains an above average number of concealed openings.
Poisoned chalice
That is why I say that the presidency of the DLP is a poisoned chalice. The authority of that office needs to be amended and clarified. Some have seen the office as a political appointment. It is nothing of the kind. It is the administrative head of the party.
Anyways, this seems to me to be an election to lose. Absent the acceptance of the offer of the Senate seats proposal of the BLP, the new president will not have a voice in Parliament.
The task of the new leader will be to create an alternative programme which must resonate in achievable common sense. It cannot be a statement akin to the so-called alternative budget of Dr Richie Haynes in 1986 which sounded good on paper, but which was destructive of much goodwill within the administration following the DLP victory in that election.
In all of this, I am left to wonder about the Reverend Guy Hewitt. He has clearly decided to sit this one out. If so, it is an inspired decision. The road to 2027 is a long one. There will be more fertile future ground on which he can launch his political career.
In the meantime, I recall with horror the hostility which greeted Branford Taitt when he unsuccessfully challenged Mr Barrow for the presidency. He lost, and on exiting the conference, was spat at by some within the hall.
Let us hope this is a thing of the past and that we won’t have any of what Sir James Tudor once referred to as “numbers becoming the handmaiden of folly”.
In the meantime, Dr Estwick brings experience to the table and Dr Yearwood brings youth and inexperience of actual political office.
Perhaps a leadership contest between Donville Inniss and Guy Hewitt would have been more interesting.
Ezra Alleyne is an attorney and former Deputy Speaker of the House of Assembly.Source: Nation
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On a sad note
ONE OF THE DIFFICULTIES confronting the new Government in 2018 was what to do about the broken financial system. The other thing was how to face the many credit failures and downgrades of Barbados.
There is no doubt that the decision to print more and more money of the Democratic Labour Party Government was based on illogical thinking. It meant that those in charge of finance at the time did not see that the more money printed (issued) and passed into the economy, the more will be spent on imports causing an outflow of foreign exchange on goods and services imported and a drain of the foreign reserves unless there was a compensating earning of foreign exchange inflows. There were no foreign reserves to speak of.
The damage to Barbados is such that right now we are handicapped from borrowing from commercial banks worldwide except perhaps China’s banks. This means also that Barbados has sought help from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on weaker terms and not going when the economy was stronger. Do you not feel that this has harmed the average Barbadian irreparably? What prospects do we have of repaying the IMF and the institutional loans within the near future? Even though politics is a funny business, do you think people should be rewarded? Tourism will have to be exceptionally good in the next two or three years to even keep us afloat.
This was not the only deficiency laid at the feet of the administration. The accusations levelled led by the now Government at the then administration was such that none, bar none could be exonerated. Indeed, it was the first time that a political party did not have a redeeming feature. Barbadians vented their fury on those who were in Government in 2018 and again on those in opposition in 2022 so infuriated were and are they.
Loss of reputation
Barbadians have not shown forgiveness for the abyss into which we have sunk, the shame of having to renege on debt and the loss of reputation. Now this. Funny, obviously not everyone shares this loss of reputation. The second drubbing in 2022 defies the belief in forgiveness that is not shared by all.
That the new administration in 2018 found a depleted treasury was not surprising and that blame had to be placed on the shoulders of the then Minister of Finance.
It is now surprising to witness the present elevation and the support from quarters that were previously regarded with respect and as clear thinking even if themselves once judged as deficient. But that is not surprising as Barbados has always been full of contradictions many of which are in evidence today. It is vexatious but amusing.
But lack of opposition is not good
for the country. While the Wild Coot has not said it up to now, the 30-0 results of the last two elections are not good for us. We will get strange decisions even decisions that are contradictory.
As we go along we shall see that we need strong opposition voices so that decisions that surprise us can be vigorously challenged. We shall hardly see someone cross the floor again as what happened in 2018.
There was lack of political support in 2022 for the switch made in the previous elections.
Strong opposition will have to come from outside of the group. But our Prime Minister seems to have set the ball rolling. Maybe she is following what the Lord said to Apostle Peter when he asked: “Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?” Jesus said to him: “I do not say to you seven times, but seventy times seven.
So who is next to be forgiven; perhaps the Wild Coot! But cat luck is not dog luck.
The coming years will be full of challenges, and while we are happy to see that that spirit of forgiveness still exists among us, there must be logic to decisions.
But you know according to the saying, “if yuh spit in the air it will fall back in yuh face.” We wait to see the future.
We do not know what has motivated this act of forgiveness. Neither can we say that the performance of what is to be done will be beneficial to Barbados in any way so as to make compensation. However, according to the Biblical quote we shall expect seventy times seven more acts of exoneration in the near future.Harry Russell is a banker. Email quijote70@gmail.com
Source: Nation
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David
I don’t care. Drinking water and minding muh bizness. -
“We do not know what has motivated this act of forgiveness.”
Another good read minus the above. I think Wild Coot knows very well…lol -
Time to demonstrate unity
By Ezra AlleyneSometime later today, the Democratic Labour Party (DLP) will elect a president. The candidates for this position are contrasting studies.
Having looked at this matter, I think this is a perfect scenario for one of the two candidates to withdraw his candidature and support the other in a deep and meaningful demonstration of party unity.
As the late and wily Forbes Linden Burnham once said, “Politics is the science of deals”. It is another way of saying that politics makes for strange bedfellows. What the DLP sorely misses now is the peerless wisdom of a Cameron Tudor.
Only two
A disturbing observation is that only two of its many members are interested in grasping the leadership nettle to resurrect the fortunes of the party. Why?
Also, no woman has thrown her hat (pardon the pun) in the ring.
The baptism of fire experienced by Verla De Peiza, the outgoing president, almost certainly has had a deterrent effect.
Are we to believe that there are no females within the ranks of the DLP who could run Barbados competently? Or is it that in the DLP the hand that rocks the cradle is not allowed to be the hand that rules the world.
Contrastingly, no Barbados Labour Party (BLP) hopeful is disqualified for having rocked a cradle; or for not even having had a cradle to rock. Back to the candidates . . . .
Dr David Cleveland Estwick’s roots run deep in the DLP. He has considerable experience and can carry a bruising political fight to any opponent, at any time. He may not always win the fight but he can shake up the party, leading it from the front while holding its banner high.
Yet questions are being asked about whether he is one for the future.
As a trained gerontologist, Estwick has expert nous about the frailties of advancing years. Still, arguments valid or not, based on his age may be his Achilles heel in this contest.
This past week, John Beale, our former Barbadian Ambassador to the US, writing in the Daily Nation, seemed to favour Dr Ronnie Yearwood. Beale, who morphed his way from banker and businessman into a plum ambassadorship, and has never been any party’s member, as he always reminds us when he writes, must have an uncanny road map understanding of the fertile undergrowth workings of political parties. I pay keen attention to his writings.
He supports his support for Yearwood by referencing Owen Arthur as equally
inexperienced when he became leader of the BLP. Wrong John . . . dead wrong.
When Arthur became Leader of the Opposition in mid-1993 he already had under his belt being a senator in 1983-84.
Track record
Further, he won an historic rerun by-election for St Peter in 1984, and in 1985, Tom Adams appointed him Parliamentary Secretary in the Ministry of Finance and Economic Affairs, where he remained until 1986. From 1986 to 1993 when he became party leader, he was the St Peter MP. Clearly, the BLP was nurturing this youthful and promising talent for future preference. He was being afforded hands-on experience.
Gravedigger politics is not the way of the BLP.
Arthur had to be properly blooded.
So quick learner that he was, when appointed Leader of the Opposition, Arthur was able to hit the ground not only running but near top speed.
With political events moving more quickly than lightning, the party threw its full united weight behind Arthur and the rest is history.
Yearwood has not had that good fortune.
Political scientist Peter Wickham is on record as wondering why Yearwood decamped from the BLP to the DLP.
Good question, but I do not hold that against him. Both Don Blackman and Hamilton “Hammy La” Lashley “crossed over”.
The difference is that they held seats in the Lower House when they crossed. Unlike senators, they could not be fired under a street light.
Yearwood has yet to win a seat.
The current situation of the DLP is perhaps best summed up by Devaron Bruce, a political scientist writing in another section of the press.
He says that “The BLP . . . understand[s] the civics of politics and creating and grooming young individuals from early because those individuals will be there for you for the long term”.
The DLP, he then says, has not been able to “master that and understand it as yet”.
It seems to me that one of the candidates should withdraw and support the other. The road to 2027 is long . . . and winding. I say no more at this time except that I repeat my earlier call for a demonstration of unity.Ezra Alleyne is an attorney and former Deputy Speaker of the House of Assembly.
Source: Nation
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Ronnie might be the new Soul but along with that soul energy must be driven and brought forth with zeal and downright passion not only in words but actions that speaks to the needs of the people especially those that have been left behind in the black community while the economic fortunes of the white establishment grows for the better
The blogmaster invites you to join the discussion.