No third parties in by-election

By Sherrylyn A Toppin

sherrylynclarke@nationnews.com

For now, the St James North by-election appears to be a straight duel between the ruling Barbados Labour Party (BLP) and the Opposition Democratic Labour Party (DLP).

Representatives from both the United Progressive Party (UPP) and the People’s Party for Democracy and Development (PdP) indicated they will not be fielding a candidate. Solutions Barbados (SB) said they were canvassing the constituents before making a decision, while the Weekend Nation was unable to contact Corey Beckles, president of the recently-formed Conservative Barbados Leadership Party.

In the 2022 General Election, there were only two candidates in St James North, down from four in the 2018 poll.

Founder of Solutions Barbados, Grenville Phillips II, said Barbados continued to switch back and forth between the two main political parties, BLP and DLP, voting out one party and electing the other every ten years or so when they grew “tired of their arrogance and the accusations of corruption and mismanagement that comes from the opposition”, forgetting that those same allegations were previously levelled against the other party.

He said they were “doing some reconnaissance” to find out whether there was an appetite for a third party, but recognised there was limited time with Nomination Day on Tuesday May 6, and Polling Day on May 21.

“But if the people are making it clear this is a BLP stronghold, and they’re wedded to the Barbados Labour Party and they’re not moving, or they know if we’re going anywhere, we’re going with the Democratic Labour Party, then that’s what the people want; and there’s no need for anyone to waste their time. It’s really up to the people,” he said.

Cost of living

In terms of election and national issues, former Opposition Leader, Bishop Joseph Atherley, of the PdP, said the cost of living will probably get higher with the tariffs being imposed by the Donald Trump administration, but he was also concerned about management of the foreign debt, productivity, education and the political stability of both parties.

Atherley, who crossed the floor in 2018 and established the PdP, also queried the succession planning of both parties. He asked what would happen to the BLP if Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley were “not there tomorrow for whatever reason”.

“All I’m saying is if our democracy needs to be made stronger, we need to have a party situation in Barbados which is more settled, and to which there is a greater degree of certainty going forward. I think if I ask you that question directly and honestly, what is going to happen to the DLP tomorrow, you can’t tell me with the current rumblings,” he said.

“If I ask you that with respect to the Barbados Labour Party and Ms Mottley is not there tomorrow, you can’t answer me that with any degree of certainty, because are we likely to see the same kind of fallout with Ms Mottley gone as we saw last time with Mr [Freundel] Stuart.”

Atherley also wants a greater push for manufacturing, but not along the old textile model.

“It still has its place, but that’s not going to take us where we want to go. But we’ve got to, with all the technology that’s available today, attract some companies here to Barbados that will be engaged in the kind of production that would help us to capture niche markets for export of products that are worthwhile in the world and can bring us some foreign exchange.”

UPP chairman Ambrose Grosvenor said Government seemed to have learnt very little coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic and cautioned about the over-reliance on tourism. He said he believed investment in the orange economy could pay dividends.

“If you look at what is published in the Estimates for this year, the Government is planning to spend $5 million on We Gatherin’ and $600 000 on what they call the cultural industries initiative.”

He said We Gatherin’ was a “massive” political tool “integral to their campaign to be re-elected”.

Phillips said mismanagement of both the human and other resources of Barbados continued to be a problem and he again urged adoption of the ISO 9001 quality management system, arguing it would solve all the other issues.

He said tariffs and protections had to come down, and both local companies and Government had to be competitive. While Solutions has been pushing the issue for more than ten years, he added that the time Barbados had was even shorter to effect the change.