It was interesting to read in the May 23 edition of the DAILY?NATION of Mia Mottley’s open declaration of intent to transform and modernise the Barbados Labour Party (BLP) by pushing for the opening of the voting mechanism to allow the entire membership to participate in electing the leadership.
There are two ways of viewing the Mottley crusade.
The first is to see it as a noble campaign to bring the BLP into the 21st century.
This view has been carefully cultivated by Mottley herself. In so doing, she has demonstrated tremendous political skill by linking her efforts within the BLP to the political modernisation of Barbadian society itself.
She has also wrapped herself in the martyr’s cloak, declaring herself ready to suffer isolation and friendlessness for the sake of the higher cause of “giving ordinary members of the party a right to vote within the institution”.
She has also played the role of grassroots champion who will not allow the BLP to “be used by a few people”, a rather ironic stance given the hostility of the party elite (elders) to her rival.
Interestingly, Mottley’s heroic self-portrait has been readily accepted by some political observers.
Peter Wickham, in the May 24 DAILY NATION, supported Mottley’s crusade on the basis that “she has the opportunity now to seek change in a way that she probably would not have been able to do had she been the Leader of the Opposition”.
Significantly though, despite his endorsement, Wickham expressed a “concern”, 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”.
It is the implications for the political fortunes of the BLP, and Mottley’s own manoeuvrings, which present a second perspective from which her democratisation crusade can be analysed, beyond the simplistic acceptance of the nobility of her cause.
Whilst the democratisation of the BLP is a necessity, the manner in which Mottley has declared her intention represents nothing more than a political response to her ousting as leader. Her tone was more appropriate to a declaration of civil war rather than that of an internal party discussion. In a context where the re-election of the Democratic Labour Party (DLP) depends, more than anything else, upon a BLP fracture, it should surprise none that well-known DLP operatives have been eager to voice their encouragement.
Mottley has every right to push for the BLP’s democratisation. However, she can make an even greater contribution to Barbadian political development if she provides an example of mature internal debate and discussion.
Bitterness, and personal tit-for-tat have too often characterised leadership contests within Caribbean political parties. Her crusade can succeed, with patience, by canvassing the mass base and moving a strong resolution.
It will not sway the majority of her parliamentary colleagues.
Tennyson Joseph is a political scientist at the University of the West Indies Cave Hill Campus specialising in analysis of regional affairs.
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