Today members of the governing Democratic Labour Party will celebrate the 58th anniversary of the founding of their party with a church service at St Paul’s Anglican Church. Last month, the Opposition Barbados Labour Party celebrated the 75th anniversary of its founding.
These are anniversaries of critical importance to all Barbadians, whether they are members of either party or not. We should not allow these major events to pass without drawing attention to the signal contribution these two organizations have made to the peace, orderly management and social development of our country over the past 75 years.
There is sometimes a temptation to take such events for granted, but we hasten to disabuse the mind of that notion. Almost every improved aspect of our life in this former colonial outpost has been the result of agitation by ordinary people who, having associated themselves in political parties and trade unions, have done much to ameliorate the social and economic conditions under which the people of this country laboured grievously, as recently as 75 years ago. As long as poverty and social vulnerability exist in our midst, the battle continues.
This fact ought to cause us to stop and think not only about the importance of political parties and unions as catalysts for change, but also of the nature and character of those persons who offer themselves as representatives of the people, and our role in assessing and monitoring their work.
It is a signal honour and at the same time a heavy responsibility to ascend the steps of our Parliament with a mandate to look after the interests of so many thousands of constituents whose daily lives in many respects will be affected, for better or worse, by the decisions made in that august body. The honour of representation carries with it certain concomitant duties, and the idea that Members of Parliament should be role models and that their deportment and language in and out of the Chamber should be of high order, can hardly be gainsaid.
One only needs to stop for a moment to consider where we would be without political parties to see how necessary they are. Put another way, it is the existence of opposing parties that best guarantees our freedoms; for opposition parties anxious always to sway political opinion in their favour will, or should constantly, keep the government on its toes while relying on their party as an institution, and its members to encourage and sustain them during days out of office. Such is the contribution of the party to our multi-party democracy.
It is noteworthy that democracies large and small rely on such voluntary organizations to supply the major support for our Western style democratic governance. But then that is consistent with government by the people, for the people and of the people. That is as it should be, since the power resides ultimately with the people.
In congratulating both parties as political organizations, we warmly salute the men and women sometimes derisively referred to as “yardfowls”. Properly understood, it is these ordinary men and women who are the real masters; for it is their temporary transfer of power to the elected members that makes these celebrations possible. We wish both parties and their supporters good political health and longevity.
