Former leader of the Opposition Mia?Mottley?may be doing the right thing in seeking to reform the Barbados Labour Party (BLP), but it could spark a head-on clash with current Opposition Leader and former Prime Minister Owen Arthur, says noted political scientist Peter Wickham.
Wickham was responding to the plan by Mottley to have a new constitution and to change the way business is done in the BLP.
“Mia has essentially taken on the role of a reformer in terms of the political system of the Barbados Labour Party and, one can say, Barbados as a whole at a larger level. One clear deficiency in the way the BLP operates relates to a level of democracy in terms of the selection of the leader.
“The BLP, like most socialist parties, operates on the basis of a delegate system. My assumption is that she is trying to break the back of the delegate system and move toward a popular election, consistent with what is being done in the United Kingdom and in Trinidad and?Tobago,” he said.
Wickham told the DAILY?NATION?yesterday there were serious implications if Mottley got her own way.
“My concern is that it could put her on a collision course with Owen Arthur . . . if she takes up the chairmanship next year, which is likely to be an election year . . . . That really raises questions as to whether or not the BLP can fight an election with Arthur as the political leader and Mottley as the chairman,” he said.
Arthur replaced Mottley when she was deposed as political leader last October.
