Police were last night on the compound of the Democratic Labour Party (DLP) investigating an allegation of breaking and entering at the party’s George Street, St Michael headquarters.
Steve Blackett, who insisted he was still the DLP general secretary despite being suspended by the party’s general council, reported that the locks and chains at the gate of headquarters as well as the office door of the secretariat were broken off.
“The police are here because we had a break-in at the party headquarters of the Democratic Labour Party. The place was secured this afternoon around 2 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. and our camera showed that there were people breaching the chain and the lock of the front gates. Afterwards they breached the door leading into the conference room and the office. We are looking around to see what is missing. So, we will have to continue our investigations further,” Blackett said.
When the Weekend Nation arrived at the DLP headquarters at around 7 p.m., members of the Barbados Police Service were carrying out their investigations. A broken padlock could be seen on the steps of the building, while Blackett and some members of the party were huddled under a tent on the outside robustly discussing the development.
There was a meeting being held inside the auditorium of the headquarters.
Earlier, on its social media page, the DLP secretariat issued a declaration that no meeting was to be held at the party headquarters that evening. During last week’s General Council meeting, during which the decision was taken to suspend Blackett pending the outcome of their investigation into recent conduct, there was a continuation of that meeting scheduled for yesterday. Since then, the party’s Executive Council ruled the meeting and decision to suspend Blackett was invalid.
Last night, Blackett stressed that the General Council had no power to remove him from office.
“To the best of my knowledge, I am still general secretary of the party, I was voted in by 510 persons of the party and I serve at the pleasure of those 510 persons,” he stressed.
