Call it Owen Arthur’s olive branch.
The former Prime Minister last night vowed the Opposition would go into the next general election pulling on the same rope and in the same direction. And, his first action was to give former party leader Mia Mottley the opportunity to respond to this month’s Estimates and the next Budget in the House of Assembly.
It was only a little over a year ago that Mottley was deposed as Leader of the Opposition, and replaced by Arthur.
“Tonight I will start binding up the wounds of the Barbados Labour Party,” Arthur told a large crowd at a political meeting held at the same spot in Haggatt Hall, St Michael, where the Democratic Labour Party held a similarly large meeting days before coming to power in 2008.
“Mia, thank you for your words tonight. I have work for you. On March 12 you will reply to the Estimates, not me. When [Minister of Finance] Sinckler brings his Budget, you will respond to it, not me. All together, pulling on the same rope, and pulling in the same direction,” Arthur said to loud applause.
“We must not fail Barbados,” the former Prime Minister added.
At last night’s meeting, held under the theme CLICO – A Call For Justice, Arthur also touched on the CLICO debacle, calling it one of the greatest acts of financial mismanagement in the history of the Caribbean.
He said the issue did not just surround former Prime Minister David Thompson and CLICO’s executive chairman Leroy Parris, but the entire DLP Government.
“This is one of the reasons why the DLP should not merit your confidence to be returned as your Government again. It is because this Government has created an environment where the CLICO debacle could be fostered and nurtured,” Arthur told the meeting.
According to Arthur, at the centre of the CLICO controversy is a blatant disregard for the rule of law in Barbados, highlighted by the company’s blatant willingness to still sell policies even after being told not to do so by the Supervisor of Insurance.
He noted that Guyana and the Bahamas’ governments had dealt with their CLICO issues; that the government of Trinidad had started, and it was only the Government of Barbados that was yet to deal with its own, so policyholders could be assured of how and when they would be reimbursed.