The People’s Empowerment Party is speaking out against Owen Arthur’s attack of Mara Thompson, the Democratic Labour Party candidate in the St John by-election.
In a statement from the party today, it noted that the Opposition Leader had distinguished himself during his 14 years as Prime Minister in the area of Caribbean integration.
“What a disgraceful spectacle it is therefore to witness Owen Arthur attacking Mrs Mara Thompson on the basis of her St Lucian birth! How low and politically degraded has Mr Arthur sunk with his xenophobic appeals to Barbadians to reject Mrs Thompson because she was born and raised in a sister Caribbean territory” it stated.
It added: “The PEP’s simple and blunt message to Mr Arthur and the BLP is:- “Stop it! Stop it, before you completely destroy your reputation and do irreparable damage to the Caribbean integration movement!”
The PEP said it was also not impressed with Prime Minister Freundel Stuart’s “persistent personal attacks” on Arthur.
“Unfortunately, Mr Stuart seems to have bought into the notion that our national politics centres around a little personal ‘beauty contest’ between himself and Owen Arthur. Since coming to office, Mr Stuart has wasted time with too many speeches about who “shines like a lighthouse”; who hates themselves; who is the loneliest man and the list goes on, when what is required is nothing less than the establishment, by deeds and words, of a new, widely shared, sense of mission for our nation”.
The PEP said it was also deeply concerned about what it described as the disservice that both the DLP and BLP are doing to the good people of St John.
“Contrary to what is being suggested by their platform effusions, the people of St John are not a backward, simple-minded, helpless group who require a nanny (female or male) to look after them”.
