ALL IS NOT well within the Barbados Labour Party (BLP), and it makes no sense trying to mask the difficulties which clearly exist. We speak specifically of the upheaval within the party’s Christ Church West constituency, one of its long-standing strongholds.
So today when party leader Mia Mottley addresses the party’s annual conference at the Christ Church Foundation School, it cannot be just about lashing the Freundel Stuart administration. Miss Mottley will have to take off the gloves and address the swirling controversy surrounding elected parliamentarian Dr Maria Agard. The matter is no longer a purely internal BLP matter, but one which has left the public bewildered.
Most Barbadians are unclear about the controversy, other than assuming there are some machinations to remove Dr Agard even though she has not indicated any desire to step down. This is highly unusual and not in keeping with our tradition in local politics. Our approach has been unlike either Trinidad and Tobago or Jamaica, where sitting MPs are often challenged and replaced.
While the BLP’s constitution and the power exercised by its national executive council may allow wide scope of authority, the reality is that there is a well established common practice of many years. So what must be laid bare in public are all the reasons for this imbroglio in Christ Church West.
Understandably, the BLP will want to use this entire weekend to showcase itself as a government-in-waiting, ready and capable of taking on the mantle of political and administrative leadership. But it must do so as a united force, and given the comments on the Agard affair from a number of its leading figures, it is evident that this is not so. There are also many rank and file members who are unsettled by the happenings in Christ Church West as evidenced by their public comments in the Press and on social media. A political party is not a homogeneous grouping, and within the BLP there are clearly Mottley Bees, lingering Arthur Bees and the Payne Labourites, among others. They are not all on the same page.
So it makes no sense trying to appear united by simply glossing over this situation and ensuring that there is that photo opportunity to portray such a façade. It has happened in the past with Miss Mottley and former leader Owen Arthur, and we all know where than ended. The public is much more discerning.
Governance of a political party today is no easy task and it will be made all the more difficult when within the ranks (of either Bees or Dees) there is an unconstrained corps.
So Mottley must not only speak to party loyalists, but to all Barbados, showing herself as not only as an energetic leader but also one who subscribes to a new ethos that embraces the differences both outside and within her party. The winner at the end of the day will be the BLP.
