FREUNDEL STUART is the second Barbados Prime Minister who was educated at Boys’ Foundation School. The first was the late Sir Harold “Bree” St John.
Like Sir Harold, Stuart has ascended to the top job on the death of the elected leader. Sir Harold came to power in 1985 after the sudden death of Prime Minister Tom Adams at Ilaro Court.
The big question that Stuart will need to address after the period of mourning for late Prime Minister David Thompson is whether, like Sir Harold, he will continue until general elections are constitutionally due, or call a snap poll to get his own mandate.
If I were Freundel Stuart, I would call a snap poll for January 2011. As an armchair political strategist, who has had the fortune to cover general elections throughout the southern Caribbean from Grenada in 1984 to Trinidad and Tobago in May this year, I feel that Stuart has a greater chance of success if he does not wait.
An early poll would see him benefit from the sympathy votes for Thompson, a seeming fracture in the opposition Barbados Labour Party (BLP) and the widespread support that the DLP still enjoys, though the latest CADRES opinion poll shows that this has slipped somewhat.
The facts are that Stuart’s Government is faced with the prospect of having to administer some bitter medicine to revive the economy, so it would be better that he secures his own mandate before doing this.
And since he needs to dispense this medicine soon for it to be effective, he cannot delay. That way, by the time the medicine takes hold and begins to work – in five years’ time, all things being equal – his stewardship should have some measure of success.
Of course, another reason he should have the poll and secure his own mandate is that he would be more at ease afterwards to put his own people in place to fulfil his vision, and deal with any rivals as he sees fit.
Right now he is working with the Thompson Cabinet that he inherited. After the period of mourning, we shall see. Godspeed, David From the first time you meet some people, hear about them or get the opportunity to see them in action, you immediately recognise something about that individual.
That was how I felt about late Prime Minister David Thompson. I always thought there was something special about him. I first saw him one evening at Combermere School when a Boys’ Foundation football team journeyed there for a match.
He was talking to some students and my dearly departed buddy Glenroy Corbin remarked how well David could mimic Prime Minister Tom Adams. Because he was tall, slim, “high brown”, wore spectacles and had facial features somewhat-like Adams, he looked and played the part well.
I was impressed. In my youthful naivety I thought then that he sounded good enough to be the next Tom Adams. After that I would sometimes see David in the bus terminal or in Fitts Village, St James, waiting at the bus stop.
As the years went by we crossed paths only when I attended political meetings held by the Young Democrats. He was a dynamic speaker, always ready with a biting quip in response to a suggestion from someone in the crowd or on the platform. Somewhere between then and 1991 we met.
He recalled that I sold magazines at political meetings in 1986. I had published a magazine for those general elections, Politics Barbados, and used to sell copies at political meetings; but I didn’t remember selling him one or even hearing him during that campaign.
Anyway, he told me about this when we spoke at length in 1991 when he came to Britain to speak at a Barbados Independence rally.
I was studying for my Masters degree at the University of Wales in Cardiff, and journeyed all the way from there to attend the event. My admiration and respect for him grew and I always thought that the future of the Democratic Labour Party (DLP) would be inextricably linked to his political fortunes.
The last time I spoke with David at length was in 2006 when I interviewed him, his wife Mara, and their daughters at their St Philip home for the BETTER HEALTH magazine.
It was about his recuperation from a fall at the St Philip Carnival that had resulted in surgery and hospitalisation. Again that warm, engaging personality and keen sense of humour came through.
So comfortable did he make one feel, that it was easy to forget that he was a seasoned politician and not just an average individual with a doting family.
For me, David’s legacy is the humanity he brought to the office of Prime Minister. With friend or foe, he was engaging and respectful.
The testimonies from those who were close to him also bear this out. We were not friends, but he never once made me feel as if I was intruding on his privacy, or even sought to be combative.
He simply took whatever I asked of him in stride, or courteously declined to comment. David Thompson was a true gentleman and I genuinely believe this country is the poorer for his early demise.
To his wife, daughters, parents and relatives, I say take heart in the knowledge that at least he was able to make peace with this world before he passed on. His memory will live on.
• Sanka Price is the SATURDAY SUN Editor. sankaprice@nationnews.com