EVERY SO OFTEN one sits and begins to reflect on incidents that occurred in their lives that has played a part in either changing their lives or impacting on how they saw things in the era they are reflecting on.
This happened to me last Sunday as I read the many comments circulating around the newest political gossip surrounding the impasse between different elements that have existed for a long time in the Christ Church West Barbados Labour Party (BLP) branch.
This kind of fusion and confusion appears to be a part of the political climate that exists in “out of office” political parties in our beloved country. I have lived through attempts to remove Errol Barrow from the leadership of the Democratic Labour Party (DLP), and the frantic rush by the late Sir Cameron Tudor to Barrow’s location in Christ Church to use his brilliant powers of persuasion to bring him (Barrow) to recognise his importance to the party – not that Barrow did not know – but that the others should accept.
Branches play a critical role in either the success or failure of a candidate seeking to gain election or re-election to parliament; a branch rupture can be as terminal as a heart attack to the human. The amount of time and medication needed leaves little room for correcting the problem. Christ Church West has always had its fair share of challenges; Henry DeBoulay Forde, as he was then, understood the different levels of people he represented and recognised that his representation had to stretch across the length and breadth of his constituency; he won because he shone but it was not easy – winning never is.
Political journey
William Duguid fought using the animal instincts passed on to him by his family; he understood the culture and walked around and through it with a confidence that his bearing/demeanour, seldom or never displayed as social arrogance since it never existed.
To understand the political journey you would have had to make the journey at least once. The lessons you learn are lasting and reveal a controlling a part of you. I played an important role in the St Michael East branch of the BLP; I enjoyed working in the constituency as it was my home town. The branch was thriving, branch unity was high, members were coming out in their numbers, Don Blackman, the incumbent, was preparing, for one of his many change of loyalties, but no one was willing to fight against him and the DLP in the East.
The farthest thing from my my mind was to contest a seat, but Miss Milroy Reece, a respected long-serving member of the party’s national council, came to the East, saw the numbers and efficient manner in which the branch was operating and measured the way the president, secretary and others gravitated towards me and recommended I contest the seat; my branch did not let me down after I accepted the challenge and only lost because some elements in the branch – not the executive – switched to the DLP. The reasons were understandable, but it showed the power of the branch – from a possible winner to a four digit loser. We also lost the election.
Yes, that is the power of the branch, but there does not have to be a fight to show who is the baddest; neither party can win but clearly shows the real danger. Silly power struggles can lead to a nation suffering collateral damage while the contestants return to their comfortable lifestyle, while branch and member after the fact in silent reflection whisper. “if a coulda… woulda…shoulda”.
Unfortunately, this wisdom would have come much too late.
– David ‘joey’ Harper