The decisive move by the Barbados Labour Party (BLP) to officially endorse Hudson Griffith as its candidate for the upcoming by-election in St John has been seen by some in that constituency as being in stark contrast to the Democratic Labour Party (DLP), which has remained as indecisive over naming its representative as it has been in implementing measures to effectively tackle the nation’s progressively worsening economic situation.
No wonder then that the BLP team at the Lodge School, headed by Opposition Leader Owen Arthur, received such an enthusiastic response from those packing the room as they attentively listened to the speakers who stressed the party’s determination to bring more meaningful and highly improved representation to people of St John, whose 52 years of faithful support for the DLP has been bitterly rewarded with almost total silence by the decision makers in George Street, Belleville, over whom they will select to seek to be their new Member of Parliament.
It was clear from the speech of BLP candidate Griffith that he was in tune with the thoughts, feelings and ambitions of the people of St John when his long and close association with them caused him to identify himself with their causes, as he pointedly observed that “we need representation and there are things to be done in St John”. And well he could, given that he had been educated at the Lodge School, had maintained contact with them and had in the 2008 General Election been the campaign manager of BLP candidate Tyrone Power who, as chairman of the Rural Development Commission, had worked hard to upgrade their road network and other physical and social infrastructure.
The audience was forcefully struck by the humility and sincerity of Griffith, a self-made, successful businessman who was clearly offering himself to be of service to the people in meeting their needs for developmental representation and not seeking to achieve highly elevated personal political ambitions.
Griffith’s declaration that “there are things to be done in St John” was also very much in keeping with Opposition Leader Arthur’s consistent theme that “We have a lot of work to do” in order to get Barbados back on the path of the economic stability, progress and prosperity that had been enjoyed by Barbadians for nearly 14 straight years when he was Prime Minister.
Arthur dipped into the practical experience of his 26 years in the House of Assembly when he went to the core of Griffith’s overall suitability for representing St John, noting that: “There is nothing more important in representing people than character and he has that quality. The BLP is blessed to have the son of two missionaries.”
The BLP leader called on the DLP to focus on St John’s representational needs rather than the DLP’s political ones. Meanwhile, the DLP seems to think that the people of St John will take anything from it, arrogantly taking its own sweet time to choose a candidate who is not “just anybody”, as the constituency lacks representation.