In recent days Attorney General Dale Marshall has been in the news relating to several matters. Two items piqued the blogmaster’s interest.
In summary he said he had been following the issue concerning the wall at Joe’s River in St. Joseph, the constituency he represents. And that he was forced to decline public comment on the matter because future developments may involve aspects of his ministry.
See relevant extract of Attorney General Marshall commenting on the issue.
The former Leader of the Opposition in the Barbados Parliament, Bishop Joseph Atherley, is reported to have questioned why this country continues to function under a state of emergency. In his response, the learned Attorney General, Dale Marshall, attempted to be condescending to the Bishop, rather than give an explanation that could stand up to scrutiny. I would not dignify his response by repeating it here. I would only say that his reasons made no sense as usual.
Continue readingEvery once in a while this government finds a catch phrase and sticks to it. We had our “nothing to see here” moments. There was the famous “lost decade” and “old guard.” Once upon time it was “all uh we, my friends and no retreat no surrender.”
The newest catch phrase is “no quick fix.”
Dale Marshall’s response to the spike in crime that equals or surpasses that of 2006-7 which he criticised??
No quick fix.
The Central Bank Governor’s response to bank fees AFTER the Prime Minister said it has to stop?
No quick fix
The Prime Minister’s response to abolishing Common Entrance after proclaiming it so on a political platform and after Dr. Denny bragged about a 2023 end in Parliament?
No quick fix
The roll out of the Summer Nutrition Programme which NO ONE knew about before it was announced??
No quick fix
What about integrity legislation and freedom of information? After all, it’s 30-0 with a packed Senate
No quick fix
Cost of living. Tax on gas? Increasing prices? Decreasing items on shelves?
No quick fix
Legislation to protect the elderly and the vulnerable?
No quick fix
Legislation to protect hard working farmers from praedial larceny?
no quick fix
Repairs to housing damaged by Elsa and the provision of low income housing?
No quick fix
Covid numbers again at 400 with a consistent 33%+ positivity rate?
No quick fix
But then again, what should we expect. We were told to “gimme de vote and watch muh.” We were also told of “mission criticals” “many hands make light work” “we got dis” and “this is who we are.”
Whether BOSS, BERT, SUN, REAP, BOUNCE or whatever…. I guess it’s just back to life and back to reality.
No quick fix!!!
Attorney General Dale Marshall has defended Government’s hiring of private lawyers to provide legal representation for the State, saying that the Solicitor General’s Department, is understaffed.
Responding to an editorial recently published in a local newspaper about the Mia Mottley Government engaging with private legal services, when the administration has the Solicitor General’s Chambers at its disposal, Marshall told the House that with just 20 lawyers currently working in that office, often in multiple roles, the Government had no choice but to employ private lawyers for tasks on behalf of the administration.
“The lawyers at the SG’s chambers are operating in circumstances where today you may be at work as a lawyer and tomorrow they call and tell you that you are the magistrate at District “A”, and you are there for six months and the work comes to an end. They then call you and tell you that you are back in chambers for a month, but after that you are going to the Supervisor of Bankruptcy.
AG defends giving Govt’s work to private-practice lawyers
Are any of these private lawyers going to work on legislation to do with transparency or integrity?
Following his reports over the years you could only wonder what the Auditor General will say about this news.
A. The 2018 report:
For years I have been complaining of a shortage of staff and there is little evidence that this matter is being addressed. This shortage will continue to impact both the timely output and, ultimately, the quality of work since even if new officers are provided, they will have to be trained before they can make a meaningful contribution to the Office. The Office is quite willing to examine alternative ways of conducting its work and this could include the hiring of individuals on contract to assist with any auditing backlogs. In this regard, greater autonomy in the use of resources would assist with this process.
B. The 2019 report:
Selection of Attorneys
3.6 The review revealed that some attorneys/firms engaged by the SOEs were selected by Cabinet, others by the Board of Management and/or the Minister responsible for the SOE. However, the Auditors were not provided with a clear basis for the selection of the legal counsel by these
agencies/authorities. The engagement of the attorneys/firms was stated to be due to the absence of legal counsel on staff at some agencies; and the complexity and volume of legal matters to be dealt with, for others.
Basis for Fees
3.7 The total amount of fees reported as paid by the entities who submitted information was over $7 million, with the amount of fees paid to individual attorneys/firms, ranging from $500 to $4 million for work done over the
review period. Generally, there was an absence of evidence to indicate that the basis or rates/fees paid to the attorneys were agreed on prior to services being provided.
3.8 Four (4) of the eight (8) agencies examined indicated that fees charged were generally based on the Legal Profession (Attorneys-at-Law) (Remuneration for Non-Contentious Business) Rules, 1997 (hereinafter referred to as the Legal Profession Rules or the Rules). However, there are legal services which are not explicitly captured in the stated Rules resulting in the basis of the rates/fees not being established in these instances.
3.9 Another two (2) agencies indicated that the General Counsel on staff was responsible for verifying the fees. Whereas, the other two (2) agencies provided no information on the basis for the fees charged by the attorneys.
(C) The 2020 report:
In the past I have expressed concern over the significant number of vacancies which continue to exist in the Office, and how it negatively impacted on the Office fulfilling its mandate. This continues to be the case but has been mitigated somewhat by the manner in which the Office conducts its work, for example the reduction in the amount of sampling of transactions with instead a greater focus on those areas which are considered as more risk prone.
Public reaction to recent revelations at the Government Information School (GIS) – Pressure Mounts on Minister Wilfred Abrahams to Resign – continues to be a source of concern for Barbadians. All eyes now are on Minister Wilfred Abrahams and his newly installed Board presided over by Apostle Dr, Lucille Baird. It is the hope of the blogmaster a priority task of the Baird led Board will be to meet with outgoing Board members and in particular the former deputy Chair Marsha Hinds-Layne. Many Barbadians are of the view- and rightly so- Hinds should have been retained on the new Board if its selection was meant to be resident centric. It would have added needed credibility to the process Minister Abrahams is attempting to sell the public.
Let me give you an example. The mother of this alleged case is now my patient and I don’t divulge any confidential information here; we would have spoken. If you have a child that’s missing, which happened in this case, we all know . . . she was picked up for wandering . . . .
She got information on where her daughter was when she went missing [and] called the police station: ‘Excuse me, sir, I think I know where my daughter is’. She [is told] hold on a minute.
Mr Speaker, I wish I could give you the words, but my mother never taught me to curse . . . . He put the phone on the side and said, ‘This **#!!* woman on the phone talking ’bout some !!**%%@#$%^ missing girl’.
She stressed that police officers must do better in such matters. You really have to investigate, apart from the school, complaints that reach the police stations and the response of the police officers. Too many people are dying.
MP knocks police response to report (Nation Newspaper)
A sub story from the GIS affair that should be receiving equal attention is the matter highlighted by Member of Parliament Sonia Browne in a contribution to the House of Assembly last week. Key duties of any police force is to maintain public order and safety, enforce the law among other responsibilities. We cannot have members of the public turning to the police for assistance and it evokes such an insensitive response. The success of a police force is dependent on cultivating a good relationship with the public it is paid by and sworn to serve. The blogmaster wants to give the benefit of the doubt to the Barbados Police Force in this case but it is a challenge given what we know.
In the same way Minister Wilfred Abrahams was forced to face the music to placate an angry public, Attorney General Dale Marshall should be made to explain the behaviour by the policeman who handled the call from the juvenile’s mother reported by MP Sonia Browne.
The blogmaster has posted several blogs about the dysfunctional, moribund Police Complaints Authority (PCA) since its establishment by exposing the failure to deliver on its mandate. Successive governments have been unable to remedy the situation.
A growing lack of trust by the public in the police force is likely driven by the inability of the Attorney General and the PCA to encourage and process public complaints in a transparent and efficient manner. We MUST hold the police force accountable given its important role as guardians of the state. Our approach to reforming the system must be holistic to achieve service quality. If we do not many young people will be consumed and enarmoured by thug life with citizens continuimg to cry – arm the police pow pow.
Senator Caswell Franklyn, Head of Unity Workers Union
Ezra Alleyne, even though partially conceding that he was wrong, attempted to obfuscate the issue with nonsense about the Great Train Robber, Ronnie Biggs and by attempting to place blame on civil servants. He is wrong on both counts.
It is not a civil servant’s fault if the Prime Minister, who has been a member of Parliament continuously since 1994, has not as yet grasp parliamentary procedure. The mistake that she made up to prove me wrong is too basic. It would appear that she is only concerned about power not about observing the niceties involved, in other words, a dictator.
Now to the Biggs’ case of which Ezra exudes such pride. To this day, he does not realise that he was being used by the British government to ensure that Biggs was not repatriated to Britain, since he would have been an embarrassment to people in high office in Britain.
I was an immigration officer in the early 1980s and can say without fear of sensible contradiction that there was absolutely no reason for the UK to pretend that it was seeking extradition. Biggs was kidnapped and brought to Barbados by his captors. He was never legally allowed to enter this country. That being the case, any immigration officer could have refused him entry and put him on any craft to any country that was willing to accept him. Britain did not want to accept and staged a charade, with Ezra included, to ensure that Biggs did not go back to England. It amazes me that to this day Ezra is still proud of the fact that he was used or he still has not come to grips with that fact.
The Attorney General of Barbados continues to make some utterances that makes one raise their eyebrows. His statement that persons made confessions of having taken part in bribery during the tenure of the previous Democratic Labour Party Administration should make us all concerned.
Based on his own admission Mr. Dale Marshall, the person who serves as the Attorney General of Barbados listened to confessions of bribery which one may presumed occurred in his office. As far one is aware the Attorney General is not an ordained priest or a Catholic one at that and neither does his office hold a confessional. Placing the absurdity aside, the maker of the present Laws of Barbados should not have been entertaining any such matters in his office. Upon being informed of the purpose of the visit, he should have done either of 2 things. Picked up the phone and call the Commissioner of Police and await his arrival or advise the persons to visit the nearest police station and confess their crime. He has subsequently not informed the public what he did with the information except to gloat. It is unlikely that he has made a complaint to the police as no arrests have been made.
If persons unknown to the public ended up confessing in the Attorney General’s office, that is not mere speculation but admission to crimes of bribery. This means there are some guilty politicians out there as well, the other half of the coin.
This is now a precedent that has been set by the Attorney General; that the well to do and persons from the upper echelons of society and whoever else were bribers during the tenure of the last administration will not be faced with criminal charges. Just think about it, the persons who are partly responsible for the wastage of the funds of the taxpayers of Barbados, loss of jobs and the economic turmoil that the island currently faces will never even get a slap on the wrist.
We have a situation where crime is spiralling out of control on the island, the police are continuously asking persons to come forward with information on crimes that have been committed and yet the Attorney General has information and is not sharing it with the police. He has set a low standard to the youth by not leading by example. Due process was not followed, and the Attorney General’s lack of action has placed some persons above the confines of the Laws of Barbados and ultimately, is this not dereliction of duty?
However, in addition to the fore-mentioned, it has exposed that the Attorney General was making a political statement as a member of the Barbados Labour Party and was not speaking as an Attorney General of Barbados. He is somewhere in the grey area of the boundaries of proper conduct for an Attorney General. While we are all human and subject to error, this is becoming a pattern.
One may recall that the previous Attorney General Adriel Brathwaite of the Democratic Labour Party refused to admonish his party and his inaction while in office exacerbated social decay. Herein lies the reason why it may not be a good idea to have a member of the Cabinet or an elected person as the Attorney General but to retain an attorney who is without political allegiance to provide legal advice to government.
<S.Gilbert@wi-ltd.com> wrote:I read the article on the link you sent and we all commented on it in the office here – $20m per unit is very very high! To get even close to that number you would have to allow for a full service/maintenance schedule from external engineers (why would you not train local engineers to do it??) and full spares packs for 10 years. Have the machines already been purchased then?KR
From: Mac Holder
Sent: 07 May 2019 13:37
To: Stuart Gilbert <S.Gilbert@wi-ltd.com>
Subject: Re: Your recent enquiry – Container Scanner – Ref E51415Thanks for your response. The government of Barbados just announced they are buying two for US $20M. Thus there is much public outcry.
Kammie Holder
On Tue, May 7, 2019 at 5:47, Stuart Gilbert
<S.Gilbert@wi-ltd.com> wrote:
Dear Mr. Kammie Holder,
Re: Container Scanner – Our enquiry ref: E51415
With regard to your recent enquiry about the costs of container scanners it is not as straight forward as you might think – it will depend of the power of the scanner, what you are trying to scan for, whether it is a fixed or mobile installation and therefore whether ground works are required.
As a very rough price guide fixed truck/container scanners are around $1.8m (plus concrete shielding and groundworks) and mobile scanners are around $2.0m by the time you have added in shipping, spares and training to the above it works out at roughly $3-4m per scanner. Hope this helps
Yours sincerely
Stuart Gilbert
Head of Technology Division
Westminster Group Plc
Westminster House, Blacklocks Hill
Banbury, Oxon OX17 2BS
United Kingdom
M: +44 7943 804888 T: +44 1295 756300
Press release submitted by Robert ‘Bobby’ Clarke’, Senior Counsel
In January 2018 the Caribbean Court of Justice ruled that the mandatory death sentence for murderers was unconstitutional. At that time, the Caribbean Court of Justice showed a fundamental principle. That principle was that because a person had murdered another person, the State had no right to carry out murder against that murderer.
It is immature that the present Attorney General, Mr. Dale Marshall in reference to the bringing back of hanging of persons who carried out murder states that justice might now be better served. How?
That comment could come from a non-thinking person.
How could the state killing of a murderer be any different from a murderer killing an innocent person?
In my view, murder by the State is more horrible because intelligent members of Parliament could come to a conclusion that to hang a human being at Dodds Prison is somehow more decent, more loving, more caring, or more understanding than a crime of passion like when a man kills his woman.
All killings are wrong. Because they are wrong you don’t kill the killer you must find a better way of punishment that shows some mercy and not vengeance.
We as a so-called educated Country should be able to
There is no way that the person committing the act of murder could alleviate the pain and suffering that the family of the person that was killed, endure.
In the Attorney General having pushed for the immediate effect to reintroduce hanging will in no way prevent the young people who are now part of the spate of crimes from continuing their nefarious acts.
We in Barbados must be able to recognize persons going off-track; and that should really be done at the primary school level between the ages of 4 and 6. It cannot be done later, when they have left primary school and have moved on to the age of 15-16.
In my view each primary school should have a trained psychologist attached to the school whom can reach and deal with deviant behavior at the before-mentioned tender age range of 4-6.
We tend to forget the horrors that our fore-parents went through during the murderous period of slavery.
The cruelty that Europe went through, through the behavior of Hitler and Mussollini in the two World Wars 1914-18 and 1937-45.
We must move above that. We must be more caring and become our brothers and sisters’ keeper.
Not only should the murderers be put through a learning experience at the prison but all of the prisoners should be schooled in various trades and disciplines so that they can contribute meaningful to society. They can open a proper bakery not only to feed the Prison but to supply the District Hospitals etc. They can make furniture for the schools.
There should be an education policy at the Prison aimed to developing their skill making them more useful to the total Barbadian society, becoming responsible citizens.
As Barbados has a pretty big Police Force, Defence Force and fire brigade and regiment they can make boots and clothing for these entities and this can be expanded into making school uniforms and other industries to help develop Barbados and save foreign exchange.
We can have a public debate on this issue and I would hope that the University of the West Indies, the Churches, the politicians and all interested groups would take part in this debate.
I am reminded of Jesus Christ on the road to Damascus and treating that old, blind man as one of us.
The following invoice is meant to shed light on the settling of the Estate of Marie Stewart as requested by the BU family.
Based on what has been made public so far is it true to conclude that the land being disputed represents part of the estate therefore it is not accurate to state it is the property of any of beneficiaries in the Will? This is the part of the dispute the blogmaster is struggling to understand.
The blogmaster continues the exchange with Sarah Cyrus regarding accusations leveled at Ministers George Payne and Dale Marshall. You will recall the first exchange represented in the blog post – Family Feud Over Land Matter Gone Public.
In an effort to get a better understanding the blogmaster asked a few more questions:
The land sale took a very long time because the original deeds were lost. For ten years, Ms. Atwell survived on her pension and financial assistance from her great-nephew Teon and another cousin. It never occurred to the other beneficiary to check and ascertain that bills were being paid. I was told that Ermine advised other family members as to the bank where funds are being held. The funds belong to Ermine’s Estate and her sister in equal parts. The sister insists that she wants the land back. Ermine was the Executrix and made the best decision for the Estate and for her own survival.
2. Why did the attempt to settle the matter in a civil manner fail?
From what I was told by other family members, those who are screaming on social media chose to go to court rather than sit down and have a conversation.
I believe that Ms. Stewart is enjoying 15 minutes of fame and expects that the sale will be reversed because of public sentiment. With respect to settling short of legal action, I have been told that one family member flew to Barbados at her own expense and attempted to meet with Mr. Payne and Ms. Stewart and her mother. Mr. Payne’s office accepted the appointment and when the three women arrived, the secretary advised them that Mr. Payne could not meet with them because, “they had engaged in litigation.” I doubt that they are willing to settle the matter short of getting the beach land back.The family has sided with Mrs. Atwell on this matter and are no longer commenting.
The following two communications occurred between the blogmaster and Sarah Cyrus – David, blogmaster
Communication 1
With regard to Senator Franklyn’s response – Senator Caswell Franklyn Responds to Facebook Video Accusing Ministers George Payne and Dale Marshall of Fraud to the video allegations, I can categorically state that he did speak to my cousin Ermine every Sunday.
However, his statements regarding Glenda Stewart not returning to Barbados are erroneous. Glenda visited Mr. Holder in his final days and paid for Mr. Holder’s funeral and her mother’s. I know of her visiting at least six times for extended visits. Further to that, she paid the loans that Mr. Holder had accumulated and she paid for the repairs when the home suffered a fire in 1986.
Mrs. Atwell was not a recluse. She was eccentric but very intelligent and sociable. She sold the land because the house had fallen into a state of disrepair and she needed to rectify some legal matters. As for documentation, I am in possession of all documents related to the sale and the entire estate. My cousin trusted me. Yes she was angry because her sister brought a legal tort, however, attempts to reconcile the matter were hindered by those being accused.
All attempts to rectify discrepancies in a civil and sensible manner were rebuffed again by those being accused.
Communication 2
Sorry for my delayed response. There are some less than professional legal manoeuvrers on the part of those accused as I agree that my cousin Glenda, as a beneficiary of the estate, should have been duly notified by counsel prior to the sale. However, the sale of Weston was done in Ermine’s legal capacity as Executrix of the Estate of her mother Marie Louise Stewart. My cousin Ursuline, the younger sister of Ermine and Glenda was the co-executrix but she died before the Testarix, Marie Louise Stewart leaving Ermine as the sole Executrix. The lawyers advanced Ermine in excess of $200, 000 (yes, she provided me with every document that she signed) and to sell the land was the only way to pay the debt. Pamela and Glenda have cause for legal action but not with regard to the sale of the land at Weston. There is a great deal more to this saga and I think those accused should be held accountable for their shenanigans. I am not sure that social media is forum but I guess they need to be heard.
Documents
[Barbados Underground] The following was shared by Senator Caswell Franklyn in response to the following question –
@Senator
Is there any light you can shed on the lady and her mother posting videos to Facebook accusing Payne and Marshall of some unscrupulous action?
“David, Blogmaster
I know more than most about the situation which led to these two people defaming Marshall and Payne on Facebook.
This matter arose out of the sale of land of the late Ermine Atwell. She was the widow of Melvin Atwell, attorney-at-law. The two people making the allegations about Marshall and Payne are Ermine’s sister and niece.
Ermine was a recluse who lived alone with her dog, Zena. For a number of years Ermine would call me every Sunday, unless I was out of the island or there was a problem with Cable and Wireless. We would talk about every conceivable topic, one of which was her sister’s and Niece’s efforts to get their hands on Ermine’s land.
According to Ermine’s version, the sister Ieft Barbados in the sixties and did not look back, not even to attend their father’s funeral in 1975. Then out of a clear blue sky the sister returned to Barbados, and only made contact with Ermine by way of a lawsuit to get portion of Ermine’s land that formerly belonged to their father. The sister lost the case.
Ermine was willing to help her sister if she had asked but was hurt and angry that the sister took her to court. As a result, she vowed to me that the sister would get nothing from her and as far as I know, Ermine was taking steps to make sure that the sister would get nothing.
Ermine died suddenly and I don’t know how far she had gotten in disposing her property. I know that Ermine believed in George Payne and Rawle Eastmond but had chosen George to deal with her legal matters.
I did not comment before for two reasons: I was not asked; and Marshall and Payne should be able to take care of themselves.”
The following documents posted to BU’s Facebook Timeline:
Prime Minister Mia Mottley supported by Attorney General Dale Marshall are scheduled to hold a press conference at 4:30PM today. The event will be streamed on social media.
Here is a recording of the press conference. The PM was a no-show.
Former Attorney General Dale Marshall
No? Too difficult?
The DLP has no interest in such things?
Ok.
The AG is also being asked to investigate whether or not the opposition leader can practice law in Barbados? How about if he investigates the Justice system in Barbados grinding to a halt? How about he investigate the plight of the people who have cases before the court, but must wait years before they can get a decision? The Bar Association has compiled a partial list of some of the outstanding decisions, with some decisions still outstanding after 4 years. That’s a good place to start.
No? Too challenging? Not interested?
Ok.
So……instead of dealing with critical issues affecting the country, the DLP prefers to look at stuff that just might sound good on an election platform?
Well, do get on with it Mr. AG!!
The country is behind you!!
Way, way, behind you!!
In fact, if you turn around fast enough, you will see the country disappearing in the distance deeper in the mire.
Dale Marshall Witness Statement (1)
Dale Marshall Witness Statement (2)
Dale Marshall Witness Statement (3)
Dale Marshall Witness Statement (4)
Dale Marshall Witness Statement (5)
Dale Marshall Witness Statement (6)
Mia Mottley’s swearing in as leader of the Opposition at Government House with Arthur and Payne in February 2013
In recent times, the government of the day has come under the lens of the Mia led faction of the Opposition Party. However, her efforts at stamping her leadership has been undermined from the word get go .Mia’s gusto and zeal has ignited only a part of her team. The George Payne and Arthur faction have remained faithful to the No support Mia policy.
Word reaching this side of the fence, after rubbing shoulders with those in Opposition is that Arthur has renewed his vows to ensure that the Mia’s reign is shorter than it was on the last occasion. Arthur is so worked up about Mia’s leadership that he has decided to keep busy by making public statements and appearances. While not speaking to the issue of leadership in public he makes no bones about in conversation to those who will listen. He actual uses the ‘H word’ to describe her.
Owen Arthur, Leader of the Opposition seen driving an Audi SUV in recent days
Those who followed the debate in the Lower House (highest court in the land) this week gleaned that Leader of the Opposition Owen Arthur was missing from the debate, AGAIN. The practice of visiting for a brief period to be marked present has been perfected by Arthur during this term as Opposition Leader. The job of leading important debates has been routinely entrusted to former leader of the opposition Mia Mottley. Another observation has been the low-key involvement of Deputy Leader of the Opposition Dale Marshall.
To question Arthur’s lack of participation in debates in the Lower House will probably provoke the predictable partisan howls. If we accept that Arthur was busy preparing for his sojourn in New York, his attendance record in parliament and early departure on many other occasions are a matter of record. Arthur’s willingness to ‘diss’ the ‘poorakey’ Lower House has to be regarded as gross disrespect of the highest court in the land. How many Barbadian workers are able to arbitrarily decide their hours of work?
It is instructive that there are a few Barbadians who remember that the role of the Opposition Leader is recognized in the Constitution of Barbados.
Donville Inniss – 6.1%
An interesting bit of analysis which the recent CADRES poll has produced is on the question of leadership preference by Barbadians with a drill down on the uncertain voter category. Many – including BU – are not surprised that the deputies of the two main political parties scored low, Dale Marshall and the de facto deputy of the Democratic Labour Party (DLP) Richard Sealy who has emerged after the Eager 11 fiasco. Both have a passive political personage which qualifies them for the job.
David Estwick – 1.8%
In the poll at the national level Donville Inniss scored 6.1% and David Estwick scored 1.9%, among the uncertain voters the scores dipped to 4.3% and 2.2% respectively. Given a perceived popularity around town by many politicos who believed they (Inniss/Estwick) enjoyed a greater appeal, the fact that Esther Byer-Suckoo scored 2.4% can be used as a benchmark to judge the serious of the challenge by the two at this time.
Submitted by George C. Brathwaite
One week in politics is certainly a long time and it can bring about a number of casualties whilst, at the same time, that timeline may elevate the statuses of others. Last week’s bye-election in Barbados has come and gone. At this time, it appears that the main losers and winners were the two candidates and parties. However, if we care to dig deeper, there are several losers and winners that much attention appears not to have passed their ways. In this short article, I consider a few factors that cause me to explore in a reflective manner the political course that is being charted in Barbados.
From the onset, I wish to congratulate Mara Thompson and the Democratic Labour Party (DLP) for their successes despite that they both resonated failures in certain aspects. While Miss Thompson brought a caring yet sedate spirit in order to win overwhelmingly from the beleaguered Barbados Labour Party’s (BLP) candidate Hudson Griffith, I do not believe that her placing herself as a victim of ‘Arthuritis’ will have any prolonged potency to help her dodge the figurative bullets that are inherent to Westminster-styled politics as practised in Barbados. Indeed, the Leader of the Opposition in his heyday is known to have crafted a style of his own that does not soften to the tunes of gender, colour, race, creed, or even social status. In that vein, and after his welcoming speech, Mr. Arthur is unlikely to continue with niceties if such ‘soft politics’ will not render him electoral satisfaction or attract his familiar smirk of victory.
Similarly, the DLP adeptly avoided the real issues confronting Barbados (i.e. the state of Barbados’ economy given limited growth outlooks and challenges for hauling in the deficit; and the social cancer that is seeping in with rising unemployment and escalating violent crimes being repeatedly reported in the news). Of course, there are many other issues requiring urgent attention especially regarding the tourism and investment sectors. On the relatively few occasions that the economy and the social ineptitudes confronting the island gained the ascendancy, the DLP spoke in generalisations; excused themselves from governing responsibilities based on the current recession; and at times, the platform speakers denigrated from what ought to have been opportunities for expressing a national vision, to the vapid characterisations and innuendoes that are so familiar to gutter-bound politics.
Opposition Leader Owen Arthur (foreground), Dale Marshall (Hudson Griffith's Campaign Manager) - Photo Credit:Nation
Week-after-week, the Opposition Barbados Labour Party appears to be ending up with egg on its face. It is as if, having reviewed its leadership, you would now be well advised to talk what that party is saying with a pinch of salt.
Let’s start with the By-election. For almost 21 days, the BLP went across the length and breadth of St. John, trying to pull down Mara Thompson while telling the people to find her “unacceptable” because, in the BLP’s view, she is an “affront” to Barbadians. It therefore came as a real shock to Barbadians when on the morning she was being seated in Parliament, the very person who told the people of St. John that they must find her “unacceptable” and an “affront,” told the Parliament of Barbados that he wanted to extend his most sincere welcome to her, as a new member of the House of Assembly. It is this level of political hypocrisy why people are joining the cause for a new politics in Barbados.
It was also at that point that it occurred to me that whenever a Barbadian has cause to look in your direction and say: “you ain’t have no shame at all,” you know that you have a very serious problem. Is the leadership of the BLP now in the practice of trying to grab headlines? Could it be that the new BLP leadership is slowly realising that it is not resonating with the people and is therefore attempting to jump onto ‘the Mara Thompson bandwagon’ in a desperate attempt to save face and regain, unrecoverable, lost ground?
