IT’LL BE THE hour of decision today for the Opposition Barbados Labour Party (BLP). The party is to settle the issue of who will be its leader in Parliament.
By midday, the elected MPs should have decided whether to drop Mia Mottley as Opposition Leader or to recall former Prime Minister Owen Arthur for the job.
The nine BLP elected MPs – Mottley, Arthur, Rawle Eastmond, George Payne, Dale Marshall, Ronald Toppin, William Duguid and Gline Clarke – are scheduled to meet this morning at the party’s Grantley Adams House headquarters on Roebuck Street, Bridgetown.Already, Arthur has the support of the majority – Payne, Marshall, Toppin and Clarke – to take over the helm of the party, which means Mottley’s leadership of the Barbados Labour Party [BLP] could come to an end today.
She has the support of the party’s general secretary Cynthia Forde and Rawle Eastmond. Duguid since his return to Barbados last Monday has been attending meetings with both Mottley and Arthur. He has indicated he will support who ever gets the majority vote.
The DAILY NATION could not verify whether Mottley will attend today’s meeting with her parliamentary colleagues to discuss concerns over her leadership.
However, some of her supporters indicated that they will once again converge on the BLP’s headquarters this morning in a show of support for Mottley. Last Tuesday her supporters gathered at Queen’s Park and then walked over to headquarters to show their support.
This public squabble over the party’s leadership has not gone down well with some supporters, who have stated that it was not the BLP’s way of doing business.
The dispute comes just before the party is scheduled to hold its annual conference at monthend. (WG/ES)
