The absence of any clear Democratic Labour Party (DLP) strategy that appears likely to reverse this Government’s fortunes has been glaring enough to convince commentators that Prime Minister Freundel Stuart is not serious about winning the next election.
In fairness to him, it is important to make a few points about strategy, the first of which is that most of us inhabit an entirely different political space from that of the Prime Minister and while in “our” opinion a strategy might seem illogical, this does not necessarily mean that he agrees with “us” or doubts himself for one moment.
It is also important to note that a “political strategy” does not need to be made public, or that the central political figure necessarily has to be aware of the specifics of that strategy. It is, therefore, entirely possible that Prime Minister Stuart does have a strategy to win the next election, even though it appears “odd” to us and he himself might be unaware of it or prefers not to say.
As such, we have a sense of where the Prime Minister is going strategically based on recent comments. This strategy appears to be built on several pillars that speak to the critical issues in the next election as perceived by the Prime Minister. These are:
• Propaganda and public information;
•Leadership in both its internal and external dimensions;
• The DLP’s message.
The Prime Minister has recently assured us that the DLP’s strategy will remain a secret until the appointed time. There are those among his believers who still anticipate a surprise announcement. It is, however, becoming clear that the likelihood of a clearly articulated, mind-blowing strategy from the Prime Minister is as likely as an early election, so we could as well critique what is on the table since little more can be expected.
Overstated
The strategy relating to propaganda and public information is perhaps the area in which the DLP and indeed the Prime Minister’s opinion of himself is most overstated. As such, he has been making assumptions about that which we (the population) know and believe. Although there are few credible proponents of the DLP’s propaganda outside Government at this time, it is clear that attempts have been made by the state-controlled media to highlight positive DLP propaganda which is perhaps no different from what the Barbados Labour Party (BLP)
did in the past.
The propagandistic difference on this occasion is the manner in which the Prime Minister deals with negative information such as the CLICO report, the Standard & Poor’s rating and the CADRES poll. In all instances, Stuart’s strategy has been essentially to treat these reports (all of which reflect professional assessments of his Government’s performance in one regard or another) as “irrelevant”. This type of reaction is novel and assumes that a Prime Minister has the inherent ability to determine what information the public should draw upon when assessing a Government’s performance.
In the Cold War, era governments suppressed information, which is virtually impossible in these times. Hence, the Stuart strategy of telling us what is “irrelevant” has emerged and appears to ignore the fact that a country with 98 per cent literacy is likely to determine for itself what is relevant and irrelevant.
It therefore boggles the mind that a serious politician can assume that the taint left on his Government by the CLICO report vanishes overnight by virtue of the fact that “he” has deemed the report to have been stolen and branded his Government’s image “clean”. We will therefore continue to hold our opinions and the Government will offer nothing to alter our perceptions as it walks unwittingly towards a political brick wall.
There are two aspects of the leadership issue that the Stuart strategy needs to address since he faces threats from without and within. The internal threat has all but vanished and he appears to believe that his approach to the internal issue would be equally effective externally. It will be recalled that Stuart “won” the leadership of the DLP without physical exertion by simply letting his main opponent appear to fight for something that was “rightfully” his.
Since then, we have often heard him speak of “preparing for this job for several years”, which sounds ironic but appears to have captivated the rank and file of the DLP. Consistent with this approach, it is now obvious that the Prime Minister’s focus will be on the sins of his predecessor, while he refuses to defend his own shortcomings, which is, of course, unnecessary since there are none.
The most logical aspect of the Stuart strategy relates to the DLP’s message and this is logical simply because there are few other options at this eleventh hour. In several of his recent statements, one will notice a preoccupation of the Prime Minister with the DLP’s history. This no surprise since it is the DLP’s most valuable asset at this time.
Rich history
There can be little disagreement that the DLP’s rich history can provide a “Sarah Palin” effect for the party’s campaign. However, it leaves an important flank exposed since the DLP will, in so doing, not explain to potential voters what it has been doing since 1976 and leave voters too young to remember those golden years with few options.
It will also be necessary to discourage non-voting, which I have already suggested will be the DLP’s Achilles heel in this next election. Naturally, the Prime Minister would have ignored this item in the “irrelevant” Wickham analysis of Sunday, April 15, but seems to have come to a similar conclusion on his own. As such, he has already started to remind us of the civic importance of voter participation, and it will be interesting to see how successful this civic campaign will be over the next six months.
Although it is doubtful that any of this can reverse the DLP’s fortunes, it is clear that the Prime Minister genuinely believes it will, and one of the unfortunate realities of Caribbean political parties is that they function like plantations with all the power located at the top.
As such, those entrusted with the responsibility of advising the Prime Minister also rely on him for their political and economic existence and his views will quickly become their gospel which is preached across these fields and hills for better or worse.
• Peter W. Wickham ([email protected]) is a political consultant and a director of Caribbean Development Research Services (CADRES).
