“Loitering with intent”.
That is how Wilfred Abrahams, the Barbados Labour Party candidate for Christ Church East, described the extra time taken by government before the General Election was called.
And Abrahams, an attorney-at-law, accused the Democratic Labour Party of using that time to enter into secret contracts, such as the sale of the Hilton Hotel.
He made the accusations while speaking at the BLP’s meeting at Lodge Road, Christ Church on Wednesday night.
Former Cabinet Minister, Rudolph “Cappy” Greenidge also criticised Prime Minister Freundel Stuart for using that extra time before calling the elections.
He charged that the legislation granting the 90 days was for unexpected occurrences.
“That particular section giving you permission to go past the five years for 90 days was put there for a reason. That comes in like an emergency section that says if there is a hurricane, if there is cholera. If there is something like an emergency, then you can use that because it is most likely that in a hurricane the schools can be destroyed ad you wouldn’t have anywhere to vote,” Greenidge said.
“That is what it was there for; that was the spirit of that legislation. But he (Stuart) used it I another way. I told him that that was a bad decision that he made and by doing it he lost hundreds of votes to sensible Barbadians who could see through what he was trying to do,” said Greenidge. (MB)
