Two thousand and thirteen will be the 11th general election I would have participated in, in Barbados. The first in 1966 was simply as a voter and from there on at a series of different levels, as an active participant in the electoral process. In my judgement, in the interest of our country Barbados, we must all work to ensure that the quality of our performance continues to improve and be maintained at a level of excellence. I am confident we will do this. In this context, I reiterate that we need to make this 2010 annual conference a major success. I want to urge every single member of our party to ensure that they are financial and that they attend the annual conference, particularly on Saturday, August 21, before 9 a.m. as that will be the day we cast our votes.
It is clearly obvious that our ministers must continue to manage their ministries well and also look after their constituents. The political landscape is littered with good ministers who did not win their next election. We must do all we can to avoid this happening and recognise that in the context of recent years, attempting to take on any additional important post, like being an officer of the party, is not advisable nor in the interest of our country or party. This “one person, two important posts” may have sufficed in the early years, however more and more party members have come to realise that we must all maximise our support behind our ministers and other officials, holding their feet to the fire when necessary and reaching into the highly talented ranks of our party to find all officers that we need.
However, I believe I speak for all when I say that should the Honourable David Thompson wish to run for the position of president of our party, we will elect him unanimously because of the symbolic and real value that his leadership provides. In the event that our leader decides to forgo the position this year, I want us to mobilise unanimous support for the Honourable Freundel Stuart to become our president. Many of us have shared over the last several months, identifying the tremendous talent who could become outstanding officers of the Democratic Labour Party to prepare our party to perform at its very best in the general election of 2013. A number of names have been shared with me but I do not believe it is appropriate to identify those people in this column. We need to reemphasise our branches and their functions within the party. Even more importantly, we need to restore the general council it to its true place as a sovereign authority between one annual conference and the next.
It is my deep conviction that Barbados needs a vibrant, committed, and transparent political party, working with all the people in our country to come out of still turbulent economic waters and to ensure that the necessary development dealing with issues like worker-ownership, economic enfranchisement of the majority and the long-overdue world-class legislation on integrity, accountability and transparency underpinned by a freedom of information act, are carried forward. The Democratic Labour Party has made an indelible contribution to this country for many years. It must now fully use the enormous amount of experience available and ensure that our journey from this annual conference will lead to a successful outcome in 2013. Let us recognise it is God’s will and the people’s choice that will decide the outcome of 2013, but let us ensure, by our prayers and performance that we qualify for our second term in government. •Frank da Silva is a member of the Democratic Labour Party and a former high commissioner.
