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BLP’s Red Alert!

Cynthia Forde and Dale Marshall

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The Barbados Labour Party (BLP) is currently holding its annual conference and a couple titbits of political trivia worthy of mention in this space.

The anticipated crossover of Michael Lashley to the BLP was formalised last evening, his celebrated appearance at the party conference confirmed what many have suspected. There was the annoucement that Barbados’ longest-serving Attorney General Dale Marshall will not contest the next general election. Cynthia Forde, too, will ‘step aside ‘vacant the expensive real estate’ in St. Thomas.

These political machinations are not incidental. The BLP is clearing the deck for general election ‘battle’. Dale Marshall’s quiet exit is no mere reshuffle, it is an admission of failure. The fight against crime has faltered, the court system remains moribund, and public confidence has eroded in the justice system. His departure is seen as damage control by a lowly blogmaster.

Forde’s exit is equally strategic. For years, internal attempts to dislodge her from prime political real estate failed. Mottley has seized an opportunity – whatever it is – to force Forde’s to retire from active politics. Her departure clears the way for the BLP to proactively confront third-term fatigue with a calculated injection of youth and momentum.

Portrait of a smiling man in a suit with a striped tie and a pin on his lapel, against a blue background.
Michael Lashley, Former member of the DLP

What about Lashley? His crossover is not just symbolic—it’s tactical. The BLP sees him as a bridge to the East, a chance to shore up waning popularity in constituencies where the political sheen has dulled. The BLP three in the East in Sonia Browne, Kay McConney and Indar Weir have not been star performers. As far as the blogmaster is concerned this is a rearranging of ‘chairs on the political deck’. Nothing to see here. This is not to say Lashley will not return to parliament but will it help to beef up a poorakey parliamant.

There will be a lot to share in the coming weeks and months but the signs are clear: Mottley is preparing for another win at the next general election. Is there time for the rise of an effective political opposition to prevent the inevitable?

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29 responses to “BLP’s Red Alert!”

  1. BLP’s Red Alert! – Carribwyre

    […] The Barbados Labour Party (BLP) is currently holding its annual conference and a couple titbits of political trivia worthy of mention in this space. The anticipated crossover of Michael Lashley to the BLP was formalised last evening, his celebrated appearance at the party conference confirmed what many have suspected. There was the annoucement that Barbados’ […] Source link […]

  2. David Avatar
    David

    Bees ready for new blood

    The Barbados Labour Party (BLP) is preparing for political transition with new candidates and fresh faces joining its ranks, including former members of the Democratic Labour Party (DLP), as the island edges closer to another General Election.

    Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley, political leader of the party, in her featured address at the 86th Annual Conference yesterday at Queen’s Park, The City, said she was not there to call elections.

    “It is no secret that the last elections were held in January 2022 and we are 15 months away from the fifth anniversary of that election,” Mottley told party members.

    “No, I’m not here to call an election today. I know that some of you feel so. When Owen Arthur used to say that no one knows when the son of man cometh, I would have to say that no one knows when the daughter of man cometh but there are some things that we have to discuss.”

    The Prime Minister said her administration would not allow a repeat of what she described as a “Freundelian 90-day scar” on its record.

    “By every stretch of the imagination, we are 15 months away and I’m not going to have the Freundelian 90-day scar on this Government’s administration. Whenever the next election is called my friends, it must be run on the cleanest, most reliable voters list in our history.”

    Mottley said that was why officials were conducting a door-to-door enumeration exercise in recent weeks and why 16 new registration centres were being opened across the island to capture every eligible voter.

    ‘Your vote is your voice’

    “Our electoral process is sacrosanct. Your vote is your voice and if you are eligible, you need to be on the roll. We have built a pathway for this. Walk in and you can register. Circulars will also be sent to every person whose name is on the list to help us ensure that we can find everyone. Please make sure your names are on the voters list,” she urged.

    She added that the names of deceased persons, those living overseas for more than five years and those who could not be located would be removed.

    “There are implications for constituencies, boundaries and for the number of constituencies and we are also dealing with that,” she revealed.

    Mottley also confirmed that two sitting MPs, Cynthia Forde (St Thomas) and Attorney General Dale Marshall (St Joseph), would not contest the next General Election.

    She lauded both as “two of the hardest, best working members of the modern Barbados Labour Party”.

    Last lap

    ‘This is their last going down,’ she said, embracing Forde on her left and Marshall on her right.

    “[Cynthia] Forde, who worked with me in education for seven years and then the rest of the party, and [Dale] Marshall, who has been at my right hand for the last seven years as well. There must be something about the number seven.”

    The Prime Minister said she had already instructed the party’s general secretary to begin the process of finding new candidates for those constituencies.

    “Let the business of finding new candidates for St Thomas and St Joseph begin and I believe that there may be a few other new candidates as well,” she announced.

    In a surprise sighting, Michael Lashley KC, who contested St Philip North three times on a DLP ticket, arrived at the conference to embraces and greetings and was seated among the crowd of BLP supporters, underscoring what Mottley described as “a quiet but telling shift” in Barbados’ political landscape.

    “We are witnessing a quiet but telling shift, and I trust that it doesn’t cause any unease among any of us,” she said. “Members of that fractured Democratic Labour Party are choosing to either support or join this Barbados Labour Party. This is not just political realignment . . . it is a recognition of something deeper.

    “They have seen what we have always known: that the Labour Party is not just a party, but a movement grounded in people first, leadership, national priorities, development and a legacy of progress,” she continued.

    “They also regret that the Democratic Labour Party of Errol Barrow is no longer present or felt. We as a party must be big enough to make room for every Bajan while never forgetting those who built this party and who endured it.

    “So let us welcome those who are ready to build and serve and stand for a Barbados that leaves no one behind,” Mottley urged. “This is not about red or blue; this is about redoubling our commitment to the people and lifting high the Broken Trident for all.”

    She cautioned, however, that the party was not “poaching” anyone.

    “That doesn’t mean we are going looking for anybody or poaching. But to the rest of us, it cannot be business as usual. Decency, delivery and discipline must remain the hallmarks. There must be no arrogance, no improper behaviour, no corruption, no taking of constituents for granted.”

    Mottley reminded MPs and potential candidates that every election starts from scratch.

    “Every election starts with zero seats and zero votes,” she stated. “You have to persuade people to put their ‘X’ for you. You have to go and work and earn every vote. So I say to my ministers and my MPs, do not hold up and I will say to any new candidate, do not hold up. And to the MPs who might be moving on, while you are here, do not hold up either.” (NS)

    Source: Nation

  3. David Avatar
    David

    Gov’t lacks vision, says DLP panel

    The Barbados Labour Party Government is about instant gratification as opposed to having a vision for the development of its people and the country.

    This is an overarching theme which came out of a wide-ranging online Democratic Labour Party (DLP) TV panel discussion on Thursday night.

    It featured host, Member of Parliament and Leader of the Opposition and DLP, Ralph Thorne, attorney and chairman of the DLP Commission on Crime, Verla De Peiza, former director, Urban Development Corporation, sociologist, Dr Derek Alleyne, and attorney Damien Fanus.

    The focus was Crime and the Youth: The Government’s Responsibility.

    Some of the issues addressed by the panellists included policing, attracting recruits and support services, solutions to youth crime, full free movement among Barbados, St Vincent and the Grenadines, Belize, and Dominica and Barbados’ readiness to accept new residents, the Prime Minister’s Cup football tournament and its impact on youth development and the overall conditions of Barbados infrastructure.

    De Peiza, in expanding on some of the issues and questions raised by Thorne, Alleyne and Fanus noted that, “any nation that is building itself – and I am satisfied that we are still under construction, has to keep a critical eye on what is the next step of development.

    “This is my main criticism of the present administration. They are very much into the now. You will have a fete because that gives us instant euphoria. They are interested in popularity. It does not have anything to do with what the country needs to set itself for in the future.”

    She said Barbados’ education system should become responsive and open minded as to what is education and that it did not mean removing academic achievement.

    “We need to be [credited for] achievement . . . someone should be entitled to a Barbados scholarship/exhibition on their skill,” she added.

    Addressing the recent launch of the free movement initiative, De Peiza said the suggestion by Minister of Home Affairs Wilfred Abrahams to Bajans if they can’t get work locally they could go to the other member states was more like exiling Barbadians.

    “Whilst Barbados entered that free movement agreement in order to say whosoever will come, the other three territories have made it very clear that is not their aim. If you can’t show that you can support yourself . . . and not be a burden on their social services, they have articulated in no uncertain terms that they are not for prospecting,” she said, adding there was no assurance the migrants would participate in the National Insurance Scheme.

    “A sign saying ‘go to the Labour Department’ is cute but not effective,” said De Peiza.

    She also said Government was trying to align Barbados’ local reality to what takes place internationally.

    “The leadership should be spending the time fixing the issues at home. You cannot be flaming on the outside, driving a fantastic sports car and parking it next to a shack. That is where Barbados is at. The props on the house called Barbados are sagging. Our social framework needs shoring up. Our society is showing all the cracks; they are not being pulled together by anything anymore. Look at our roads, our transport system, our health, our social safety net. With those in tatters, we invite others in and tell our own to go somewhere else.”

    De Peiza said a priority should be on programmes that support young people to give them a place in the society. (JS)

    Source: Nation

  4. Terence Blackett Avatar
    Terence Blackett

    NONE OF THIS GESTICULATIONAL POLYTRICKS WILL AMOUNT TO A HILL OF BEANS

    Recent #WelshElections where the #UK_LabourParty took a kickin’ with a “MEASLY 17% VOTE TURNOUT is symptomatic of the age we live in!!!

    ARE BAJAN PEOPLE SUCH IGRUNT “slaves” THAT THEY DO NOT SEE THEY ARE BEING PLAYED – #Left #Right & #Oblige???

    I am of the “DASTARDLY OPINION” that “TRUMP” has the #GreenLight to cause as much “MAJOR CHAOS” in the Caribbean because it seems that “WAKING A SLEEPING GIANT” is like trying to wake a polar bear dead asleep in the permafrost of dead winter!!!

    I LOVE MY COUNTRY BUT YOU LOT ARE GONNA’ HAVE TO TAKE WHAT YA’ GET & LIVE WID IT

    #ShyteStorm and “ALL”!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    #ImDone

  5. Terence Blackett Avatar
    Terence Blackett

    I WAS PRAYING THAT WAR WOULD BE AVERTED BUT BASED ON HINDSIGHT – IT IS LIKE PRAYING AMISS

    The “DICE” is loaded & horse has “BOLTED”!!!

    #LetTheChipsFall where they may!!!

  6. Terence Blackett Avatar
    Terence Blackett

    THE JACKASSERY OF POLIETICAL MADNESSS IN EUROPE & THESE FAKE LEADERS ARE ALL ITCHING 4 WAR & THEY’RE GONNA’ GET IT IN A WAY THEY’VE NEVER HAD

    The entire world has gone mad & just when you thought that somewhere in some far-flung destination that common folks would at least have enough “COMMONSENSE” to shelter out of a shower of rain – they prove just how asinine they too, really are!!!

  7. BAJE Avatar
    BAJE

    AT LEAST THE 2X3 ISLAND HAS A “SEMBLANCE” OF DEMOCRACY.

    MEANWHILE IN TANZANIA RAN BY ANOTHER WOMAN THERE IS NO SENSE OF DEMOCRACY.

    I LEFT DAR ES SALAAM THE MAIN CITY ON THURSDAY AND TRAVELED ABOUT 9 HOURS TO ANOTHER PART OF THE COUNTRY CLOSE TO THE KENYA BORDER.

    LIKE DAR ES SALAAM A CITY OF 6 MILLION AND THE MANY OTHER AREAS WHILST TRAVELING ON THE MAIN ROADS THE ONLY POLITICAL POSTERS ANYWHERE ARE THE EXISTING FEMALE PRESIDENT AND SOME MEMBERS OF HER PARTY UP FOR ELECTION NEXT WEEK WEDNESDAY.

    NO SIGHT OF ANY OTHER OPPOSITION POSTERS ANYWHERE. SEEMED THEY ARE BANNED.

    TANZANIA UNDER CURRENT WOMAN LEADER IS A DICTATORSHIP IN PLAIN VIEW ALL OVER THE COUNTRY.

  8. Hants Avatar
    Hants

    Jamaica will need help.

    https://www.nhc.noaa.gov/text/refresh/MIATCPAT3+shtml/261456.shtml

  9. Terence Blackett Avatar
    Terence Blackett

    HURRICANE MELISSA IS A HISTORIC CATEGORY 4 OR 5 STRETCHING SOME 400 MILES IN BANDWIDTH WITH MAXIMUN SUSTAINED WINDS @ 150 MILES PER HOUR WITH 40 INCHS OF CASCADING WATER & STORM SURGE FLOODING – DEAD-SET ON COMPLETE DESTRUCTION & ANNIHILATION OF THAT PRECIOUS ISLAND

    Let’s hope “SEVENTH DAY ADVENTISTS PRIME MINISTER #AndrewHolness WILL COME OUT OF THIS WHOLESOME & NOT IN PIECES!!!

    One wonders why this “ONSLAUGHT” is coming now???

    If the predictions are right, (ONLY THE MERCIES OF THE MOST HIGH) can save Jamaica!!!

    PLEASE PRAY* FOLKS!!!

  10. Pachamama Avatar
    Pachamama

    Mía Mottley had promised term limiting herself. Of recent we’ve not heard a word thereabout.

    Should this picture as captioned not have been a trifecta outgoing?

    Or should such promises, like in the manifestos, be just acceptable lies.

    Is Michael Lashley a defection from around the Thorne elevation, crossing the floor? In which case merely representing a subplot of the political duopoly. A system where actors, both, freely change colors routinely as par for course.

    This is unlikely to be nothing more than another pantomime by the reds as Mottley and crew get a chance to inject empty political rhetoric into the body politic. A body still lying expectant of such occasions.

    Of course, this party conference will be nothing like that of the Chinese Communist Party where performance and accountability measurements are strictly adhered to. Failure to meet targets leading to the rolling of the heads of party leadership. Not literally!

    On the other side, weeee also see no evidence that the Mottley dictatorial regime, in spite of its clear failures, state of loss in relationship to how global issues are continuing to negatively impact Bajans and the inability of the titular opposition to transform itself far less pretend to so do national, Barbados is therefore destined to further entrench an elected dictatorship.

  11. NorthernObserver Avatar
    NorthernObserver

    @Pacha
    weee must assume you love the BB’s ignorance about China? Where Xi, has upended prior norms of 2–5yr terms with retirement at 68, by eliminating both age and term limits. At 72, he has paved a path of ‘forever rule’. There was no mention of succession at the recently concluded Fourth Plenum.?
    And you object to other dictatorial regimes, while praising China?
    Would the removal of 11 Central Committee members recently, at least half of whom Xi appointed be seen as a “failure”, or continued fight against corruption or continued silencing of opponents? Weeee don’t know for sure.
    Possibly Mottley just needs to speak of a fight against corruption, such that whenever persons like Caddle or Sutherland leave office, all BB;s will be left to wonder why, and the Party whispers can relate to “cleaning up corruption”. Shiite Donville may even be made the Czar of fight.

  12. Pachamama Avatar
    Pachamama

    Maybe it’s your ignorance toooo. We’ll bet you’ve never been to China. That you’ve never seen the workings of the Chinese Communist Party close up. That all this is found on the internet somewhere as part of the anti-China propaganda as stoked by White people.

    The Chinese are not emcumbered by your petite bourgoise democracy, purporting term limits which mean nothing and no real accountability standards. Accountability was what last week’s Plenum was all about. Where in the West does this happen?

    It is only the Communist Party’s Central Committee which could have changed the term length, the retirement age, of members. That remains the most powerful organ in China. So don’t get your nickers twisted for the difference between 68 and 72 is still only four. The only person who can rule forever is the Chinese Communist Party.

    And why don’t they have a right, or responsibility, to increase or decrease whatever they want without a care whether White people and their over-exalted systems are pleased or displeased. This is merely based on your hope that a less-abled president would be next in line. We hate to disappoint you.

    The same people, like you, who now regurgitate these arguments are the same people who plotted to overthrow the Chinese government at Tianamen in the late 1980’s.

    You are the same people who agreed that there was to be one China when the Chinese were on their knees. But now they pose a challenge to Whiteness you now argue that Taiwan should become a military base for White people to use as military beach head against China.

    China is less than perfect, no system is. But your devout hatred of them and their systems make you so blind that you could never accept that they have defeated Whiteness utterly and on all fronts, bringing 500 years of White tyranny to a forseeable end.

    You’ve gone on to raise other misguided critiques which can be easily rebutted when time is available. But regardless, White people cannot reverse this signal defeat the Chinese have firmly located deep withn wunna pooooookey!

  13. Artax Avatar
    Artax

    @ David

    Saw a video in which a minibus is seen parked outside the DLP’s George Street headquarters, and the ‘conductor’ shouting, “seats and moving,” while ‘the old and young’ running to get in, and chanting, “seats and moving.”

    The video ends with the Young Democrats’ president saying, “Hi, everyone. My name is Janine Butcher, and I’m the president of Young Democrats. Listen Barbadians, we coming fuh seats, and from today it is seats and moving.”

    Butcher then joins the chant and beating inside the bus, “seats and moving, seats and moving, seats and moving….”

    Ironically, the same ‘culture’ they’re using for a political campaign ad, was being criticised by Felicia Dujon a few days ago.

  14. Hants Avatar
    Hants

    The Dominican.

  15. David Avatar
    David

    @Artax

    Saw it as well. Sure it will be taken down. An error in judgement big time.

  16. NorthernObserver Avatar
    NorthernObserver

    Pacha
    What makes you think I hate China? I have no issues with China. And since when have I made any arguments re Taiwan?
    It was you who said MAM had spoken to term limits, and that seemed relevant to you, yet the CCP can do as they like. Why can’t the GoB?
    If the CCP is the only person(?) who can rule forever, why not as Tron likes to imply, can’t the BLP?

  17. Hants Avatar
    Hants

    domestic terrorism legislation

    https://nationnews.com/2025/10/27/domestic-terrorism-bill-in-the-works/

  18. 555dubstreet Avatar
    555dubstreet


    Barbados PM Shuts Down Rude Interviewers Live on TV

    “When the Prime Minister of Barbados faces off with tough interviewers, no one expected what happened next.

    In this powerful live broadcast, PM Mia Mottley delivers sharp, intelligent answers that leave her interviewers completely stunned. What began as a tense exchange quickly turned into a masterclass on leadership, confidence, and grace under pressure.

    This viral clip is a reminder of why the Barbadian leader has earned global respect, standing firm, speaking truth, and representing her nation with pride.”

  19. David Avatar
    David

    Sonia Browne has her say.

  20. David Avatar
    David

    The games politicians play.

    Lashley: Not a member of any party

    by ANTOINETTE CONNELL

    antoinetteconnell@nationnews.com

    ATTORNEY MICHAEL LASHLEY, one of the most notable faces of the Democratic Labour Party (DLP), has resigned from the organisation, two days after making a surprise appearance at the Annual Conference of the rival Barbados Labour Party (BLP).

    “I am not a member of any party,” he said yesterday when pressed on whether he had joined the ruling BLP based on his attendance last Saturday at the conference in Queen’s Park, The City, where he was warmly welcomed by Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley and other party faithful.

    Lashley, who contested five general elections, winning three and losing the last two of 2018 and 2022, sent in his two-line letter of resignation yesterday evening addressed to general secretary Pedro Shepherd.

    Dated October 27, it stated: “This letter is to inform you of my resignation from the Democratic Labour Party with immediate effect.”

    Lashley held portfolios of Minister of Housing and Lands, and Minister of Transport and Works during the DLP’s two terms in office (2008-2018) before losing his St Philip North seat in 2018 and 2022 when the party was twice wiped out 30-0.

    As to his reason for leaving the 70-year-old party, he said it was a combination factors, including that he did not like the direction in which the party was headed, and attacks on his relatives.

    “Attack me, I can take it but don’t attack my sister. I come from a close-knit family,” the King’s Counsel told the DAILY NATION, adding that he was concentrating on establishing an office in St Lucia and taking on other legal cases in the region.

    He said the work of his newly-formed foundation would also take up some of his time.

    Lashley is the latest politician to depart from the DLP and some of those have gone on to form organisations, including the Friends of Democracy.

    Meantime, Dr Sonia Browne, who in 2018 put an end to Lashley’s winning streak of three election victories, said she intended to still be the BLP candidate in the next election for St Philip North.

    “As far as history and I am concerned, the incumbent, unless he or she steps back, they contest the following election. As far as I know, I don’t think he has joined the party as yet. Nobody has told me he has joined but I am living as I always lived. I’m expecting to be a part of the next elections.”

    Browne admitted to being unaware that he was attending the conference, but also said she was not a part of the top brass of the BLP.

    “I attended like all the other MPs and everybody else and then I saw him come in to pomp and pageantry. That is as much as I know about it,” she said.

    Browne, a medical doctor, stressed that she was not a person easily intimidated and certainly not by the presence of Lashley.

    “People who know me know that I’m not easily intimidated. Tthat’s just not in my personality. I deal with things as they come and how best I could. I’m not one to be stomped on,” she said.

    She maintained that if his attendance was meant to do that, it did not.

    “I know his family so I don’t see it as intimidation, not in the least. I don’t know if that was the intention,” Browne said.

    Lashley did not immediately comment on why he attended the conference.

    Source: Nation

  21. David Avatar
    David

    Outgoing member of parliament Dale Marshall speaks:

    Youth crime linked to domestic violence

    ATTORNEY GENERAL DALE MARSHALL has drawn a line between rising domestic violence and the growing number of young offenders in Barbados, warning that unchecked dysfunction within families is fuelling wider social instability and crime.

    Speaking at the opening of the two-day Regional Symposium To Advance State Responses On Domestic Violence at Hilton Barbados Resort, Needham’s Point, St Michael, yesterday, he said the evidence increasingly suggests that domestic unrest within the home is a key factor in shaping criminal behaviour among minors.

    “Our police statistics demonstrate that we’ve had an uptick in domestic violence, but perhaps the one thing about our statistics that we have to consider is the large and increasing number of very young individuals who are involved in criminal activity. I think everyone agrees that children practise what they see,” he said.

    Marshall pointed out that while there may not yet be a “scientifically established causal relationship” between domestic violence and youth crime, it was almost intuitive that such a link exists. He added that children raised in violent or unstable households often model that behaviour later in life.

    “It stands to reason that a family environment where domestic violence is a feature, is going to be a dysfunctional family. And our experience shows that dysfunctional families are often the breeding ground for young individuals who are involved in crime.”

    The Attorney General stated that in the past year alone, the authorities have charged two 16-year-olds with firearm homicides, and several others under the age of 16 for a spate of robberies and car thefts that “subjected parts of Barbados to a reign of terror”. He described these cases as evidence of the urgent need to reorient dysfunctional families before their problems become national crises.

    Marshall, addressing regional policymakers, researchers and victims’ advocates, said governments across the Caribbean have a legal and moral obligation to take decisive action.

    Legal duty

    “The state has a duty, it is a legal duty; it is the protection of the law that is owed to individuals. We don’t just owe protection of the law in the courts, we owe it in this context as well,” he stressed.

    Reflecting on the deeply entrenched cultural attitudes that once normalised domestic abuse, he recalled hearing as a child the saying, “I know he loved me because he beat me”. He said such beliefs, long embedded across Caribbean societies, underscored the scale of the challenge facing policymakers today.

    “When we talk about genderbased violence being long established and penetrating deep into our soil, you can understand the nature of the beast we are trying to wrestle with. These are attitudes that we should have sought to root out decades ago, but it is never too late.”

    He also underscored Barbados’ legislative response, noting that domestic violence laws were first enacted in 1982 and later strengthened in 2016 to ensure they remained current. The updated Act broadens the definition of domestic violence to include emotional, financial and child abuse.

    “Child abuse includes causing or permitting the child to witness, hear or be exposed to acts of domestic violence. That element is especially important,” he noted.

    Marshall said that the symposium, jointly hosted with the Inter-American Development Bank and the Caribbean Development Bank, was intended not just as a forum for discussion but to produce concrete resolutions.

    He added that the organisers deliberately ensured that victims of domestic violence were included in the conversation, as too often their voices were “lost amid the theories and technocracy”.

    “I wanted the victims, the people whose lives have been furthest carved, to have the opportunity to sit with us. Most of us are fortunate, but I wanted the victim who is often crying alone, with a sense of hopelessness and no support, to be part of this dialogue.” (CLM)

    Source. Nation

  22. Bush Tea Avatar
    Bush Tea

    What political ‘brilliance’ …to embrace a man within a political party – whom YOU had publicly accused of all types of malfeasance, questionable associations, moral short-comings, and ethical weaknesses – which was NEVER dismissed formally.

    What does it say about the MORAL and ETHICAL standards of that party?

    Dr Browne says that she awaits the ‘wishes of the party’ as to whether she will be the upcoming candidate…
    The wishes of the PARTY?
    What about the wishes of the CONSTITUENTS?

    If the party has become a MAFIA organization, …and we allow the party to decide on the candidates – does that not tell us that our parliament will be a mobster outfit?
    …and does that not mean that the COUNTRY will be a mess?
    Is THAT what we want?

    Fixing this shiite BEGINS with the voting communities SELECTING WHO they wish to represent them. That way, if and when mafia types are selected, the voters have only themselves to blame.

    As it is currently, they have a choice between Mobster ‘B’ and Mobster ‘D’.
    And apparently, if Ms. ‘B’ is NOT a mafia fit, then Mobster ‘D’ may be adopted for the pick…
    What a place!!!
    So let some COMMUNITY MINDED candidates emerge and nudge us back to some level of democracy.

  23. David Avatar
    David

    @Bush Tea

    A most noble perspective, BUT, a political party is a private association in our kind of democracy. The wishes of the party executive is paramount.

  24. Bush Tea Avatar
    Bush Tea

    We are saying the same thing…
    Noble RESULTS come from noble perspectives.

    It IS a private mafia gang…
    if anything, controlled by the ‘Malmoney’ types.

    If the broader society sits back and ACCEPT such leadership, then we have no one but ourselves to blame for the results.

    Poverty and chaos are the fruit of laziness…

  25. Artax Avatar
    Artax

    @ David

    As I’ve mentioned in this forum on several occasions, there aren’t any significant political, ideological or philosophical differences between the BLP and DLP.

    The ease with which a member can leave one party to join the other, and then be ‘WARMLY EMBRACED’ by the same members and supporters they PREVIOUSLY cussed, isn’t surprising.

    I also remember when Thompson held is first press conference after becoming PM in January 2008. He appeared on television with then AG Stuart, accusing the BLP of financial misappropriation, while promising to ‘lock up’ all those former ministers allegedly involved.

    Fast forward to May 2018, when Mottley became PM. She similarly appeared on TV with her AG, Marshall, waving papers, and accusing the DLP of financial misappropriation as well, promising to prosecute former DLP ministers allegedly involved.

    There weren’t any INVESTIGATIONS…… NOT a BOY ain’t get arrested, charged and prosecuted.

    What more could test “the MORAL and ETHICAL standards of” any political party, than Donville Inniss who violated his oath as MINISTER of Industry, International Business, Commerce and Small Business Development in the former DLP administration, to commit misconduct in public office, when, according to Acting Assistant Attorney General Nicholas L. McQuaid of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, he “engaged in a bribery and money laundering scheme to line his own pockets at the expense of the people of Barbados,” and was subsequently charged and prosecuted.

    On August 24, 2025, Inniss was ELECTED as FIRST VICE PRESIDENT of the DLP.

    Or, after years of promising Barbadians they would introduce INTEGRITY LEGISLATION, BOTH the BLP and DLP have FAILED to do so.

  26. Bush Tea Avatar
    Bush Tea

    AMEN!

  27. David Avatar
    David

    Tie Welcome Stamp to Immigration Bill

    IN MID-2020, Barbados launched the world’s first visa for remote workers, the 12-month Barbados Welcome Stamp. Estonia followed suit about a month later, and then the floodgates opened.

    There are now more than 50 countries that offer some sort of visa for remote work visitors. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.

    The brilliance of Prime Minister Mia Mottley’s initiative was not simply that this replaced a significant portion of lost tourism income during the COVID-19 pandemic, but that it was a pioneering innovation in immigration policy with the potential to help the country address its long-term demographic deficits.

    It is, therefore, astonishing to me that our draft Immigration Bill 2025, which has been referred to the Joint Select Committee (Standing) on Governance and Policy Matters for detailed examination, has failed to integrate the Mottley Government’s groundbreaking Welcome Stamp innovation.

    The objective of the new Immigration Bill is to support Barbados’ long-term goals of sustainable population growth, national development and global competitiveness. Therefore, it makes no sense that the Bill ignores the most widely imitated immigration policy of the 21st century, an innovation that had its origin right here in Barbados.

    The fundamental difficulty in designing a good Barbados immigration policy is that when we attract people to move here, we need to simultaneously engineer an economy which provides the jobs that they will work at to sustain themselves and their families. The entire economic balance of our social safety network depends on achieving this growth in jobs at a rate commensurate with the growth in population.

    Bring their jobs

    Prime Minister Mottley’s insight in creating the Welcome Stamp was to integrate the arrival of jobs with the arrival of people. Welcome Stampers bring their jobs with them. Not only do they bring their jobs, but the five years of experience with the programme has proven that they are tailor-made to fill the deficits in our demographic structure.

    They are young, they are highly educated, they are experienced in exactly the digital domains that we know our 21st century workforce needs to acquire. This makes the Welcome Stamp contribute directly towards the immigration goals of national development and global competitiveness.

    The Prime Minister also understood that she was inviting digital neighbours, not digital nomads: people who would want to adapt to Barbados and make it their home for the rest of their lives, not just be long-term tourists.

    Currently, there is no explicit route towards permanent resident status in Barbados for Welcome Stampers in the Immigration Bill 2025, no matter how long they have been in Barbados on the Welcome Stamp, how well they have integrated themselves into Bajan society, or how much they are contributing to our communities through their volunteer activities.

    The route to permanent resident status is in the Fourth Schedule of the Immigration Bill 2025 beginning on Page 48. It is a points-based system which takes into account age, Bajan descent, diplomatic service, real estate in Barbados and other assets in Barbados.

    It is obvious that the Welcome Stamp needs to be integrated into the new Immigration Bill. The entire corpus of the Remote Employment Act and its amendments needs to be written directly into the Immigration Bill, 2025. The Welcome Stamp Visa also needs to be acknowledged in the Fourth Schedule by a clause which stipulates that: three consecutive years on the Welcome Stamp visa will be worth up to three points; and five consecutive years on the Welcome Stamp visa will be worth up to five points.

    The annual renewal process makes the 12-month Barbados Welcome Stamp an effective internship for permanent residency status. Welcome Stampers can decide if Barbados is indeed the right place for them to live for the rest of their lives, and the Barbados Immigration Department has years of interaction and experience to make a decision of their application for permanent residency.

    – PETER THOMPSON, management consultant

  28. Bush Tea Avatar
    Bush Tea

    @ PLT
    Surely you know that the welcome stamp idea has already been ascribed to a particular personality in Barbados who has refused to be a vassal of the current dispensation.

    Had this proposal been confidentially presented and adopted by the powers that be, the concept would not only have been adopted as the BEST method of solving the population / NISSS issues, but perhaps even copyrighted (similarly to airbnb,) to become a global Brand.

    But then the political glory would have been ‘misplaced’, and remain with the KNOWN originator.

    Far better (politically) to pursue a similar (even if FLAWED) process of open immigration, which also brings the added POLITICAL benefit of winning mass favor (from the beneficiaries and local idiots)… even if nothing else makes economic, social, logistic or common sense.

    In sum, that Welcome Stamp model was always too logical, too advanced and too sensible for our inept political class to REALLY appreciate.
    All that they saw was political gain – and that could NOT be claimed when the originator of the idea has ALREADY made it public.

    …but you must know all this…. 🙂

  29. Hants Avatar
    Hants

    The winner will be

    https://nationnews.com/2025/11/02/nicholls-first-out-the-blocks-for-st-thomas/

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