The St. James North by-election is a few days away and the blogmaster must admit to having an unhealthy disinterest in the political campaign so far. It is fair to conclude that it is a contest between the main political parties Barbados Labour Party (BLP) and Democratic Labour Party (DLP) aka the DUOPOLY. The fringe candidates although likely well intentioned will ‘gift deposits’ to the Treasury. Whether some us hat the idea of the duopoly being perpetuated, it is ‘we culture’.
The anointed BLP candidate Chad Blackman is favoured to maintain BLP’s dominance in the constituency. These kinds of elections are important to stoke life in the system of democracy practiced but as evidenced by the work of the Parliamentary Reform Commission (PRC). The precipitous decline of the DLP in recent elections – accentuated in the Mia Mottley era – has exposed a fault line in our electoral system that should be a concern for civic minded Barbadians. Especially those eligible to vote.
Unsurprisingly, we have the same talking heads called upon to reference political historical data which is disconnected from weaknesses in our electoral governance. What we have are the few happy to be spellbound (blinded) by the theatrics and cut and thrust of campaign politics. There is a minor place for the entertainment value political rhetoric injects into a political campaign, it only serves as a distraction from serious issues like increasing voter apathy and cynicism feeding the waning public trust. We have a large segment that are disengaged which does not augur well for maintaining a relevant governance model.
The current dysfunctional political climate continues to feed a level of political inertia that confirms why there is deepening public disillusionment because of an ensconced status quo. We are faced with the emergence of a de facto ‘strong woman’ and emerging analysis paralysis culture. For example the Mia Mottley government boasts of a slew of laws enacted under its tenure, however, the practice of successive governments sidestepping the implementation of transparency laws confirms the closing of ranks by the political directorate despite different colours colours.
Sadly we have observed local political dysfunction playing out regionally and internationally. We can cite the emergence of Trump politics to expose the emperor has no clothes era and his ‘lookalikes and acolytes’. In the overall scheme of things, the corn beef politics playing out in St. James North is following a tired political script.
Unfortunately the lack of an effective and effecient political governance framework will continue to widen the political governance ‘fault line’ on current trajectory. Where do we go from here?
The blogmaster invites you to join the discussion.