Today, adjustments to ministerial portfolios announced last week by Prime Minister Freundel Stuart take effect.
As there has been wide comment on the significance of these adjustments, I will not add my one cent worth. Rather, I prefer to focus on what I call the Mara Thompson factor and the legacy of late Prime Minister David Thompson.
The fact that Mara was not included in the Cabinet makes me again question the wisdom of Stuart going for a by-election in St John instead of calling a general election, which he was unlikely to lose given the national outpouring of affection for Thompson.
Besides that, he had an Opposition publicly feuding and bitterly divided after the parliamentary group’s coup against then Leader of the Opposition Mia Mottley.
Stuart would have done the Democratic Labour Party (DLP) a tremendous service had he returned to the polls then, even though there was no progress by Government on the key issues they won power on, like combatting the cost of living.
However, they had enough momentum to deal an effective blow to their Barbados Labour Party (BLP) opponents.
What I’m speaking about is basic. In every form of combat one strikes a decisive blow against an opponent when they are at their weakest and where they are most vulnerable. And politics is war; it is the ultimate in savage combat without the direct use of weapons.
That Stuart chose to carry on with David’s mandate rather than secure his own suggests he did not have the political courage to take this option, or was somehow led to believe that it could have ended catastrophically for the party.
Or, he just may have preferred to enjoy the tenure of leadership he could not have anticipated getting in January 2008.
Of course, none of this matters now, but what does is that because of that decision, Stuart’s Government has to face the electorate in 18 months and right now, the economy is not improving at a sufficient pace to give them comfort for the future, nor is the deficit being so effectively tackled that they can cancel the unpopular taxes on allowances that has chopped the pay of several hundred people.
What’s more, the Government has to engage in public sector wage talks that can catspraddle the recovery effort, while food, gas and utility costs continue to increase for the average Barbadian.
And Mottley and new Opposition leader Owen Arthur seem to be working together, so the fracture in the Bees is all but healed.
Having vigorously batted for Mara, one would have thought that when Stuart decided to adjust his Cabinet, that he would have included her. But to do so would mean someone had to go or have their portfolios severely cut.
Again, Stuart chose the less contentious path. He basically left the status quo in place.
So what was the hullabaloo over having Mara in the House of Assembly all about then? Why was it so necessary to bring her in and not have a general election where Stuart could have gone to St John and comfortably secured himself instead of staying in an uncertain riding?
Could this all relate to the wishes of Thompson, who did a major reorganization of the Cabinet weeks before his death and laid a course which Stuart is unwilling, or does not have the support to change?
The relevance of this question has to be seen in Stuart’s rebuke of Minister of Health Donville Inniss, yet leaving him in place.
It can also be seen in his not touching Minister of Finance and Economic Affair Chris Sinckler, who the public perceives as his rival.
The fact is that the Prime Minister, unlike the leaders before him, is saddled with the perception that he is not completely in charge of his Cabinet, and the fact that he dared not touch any minister’s portfolio significantly, supports that view.
This point is reinforced by the fact that Stuart’s Cabinet is now Barbados’ largest ever, and this when the public is being asked to hold strain.
No leader would set him/herself up for such criticism unless he/she could do no better.
As time unfolds, just how much of this perception is reality will become evident.
