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Political Blood Sport

11/6/2009

The amount of body blows shared over the last week will give impetus to the reviving of professional Boxing in Barbados.

We predicted that political blood would have been spilled and from all reports the Board of Management of the Barbados Community College are now rewriting the rules for the type of activity that will be permissible in the future.
The apparent argument is that the Barbados Labour Party used the facility for something other than stated in their letter seeking permission. Instead of hosting a conference they end up having Barbados Labour Party Blood Sport [BBS] title match.

We warned Barbados last week that the political blood sport that was engaging the corridors of the opposition was not quite finished.

Out of the blocks early, were two distinguished Barbados Labour party stalwarts blasting their former leader Owen Arthur. The sad tale of Owen and Mia was not started while in Opposition, as we all know.

There were occasions in the past when Owen Arthur, as Prime Minister allowed his deputy to stew as he reclined in the rocking chair taking in the view. The higher the monkey climbs the more he…oops she shows her tail. As a matter of fact,Owen facilitated her climb.

One remembers the questions posed by the journalist at Lloyd Erskine Sandiford Centre regarding homosexuality and the issue surrounding decriminalizing the act. Day after day the news papers and the call in programmes were set a fire,until Owen intervened to defend her.

On the occasion of the Party conference, Owen was openly smarting, the photo appearing on the front page of the Mid week Nation of October 28th shows the glean in his smile as he addressed the issue. One can sense the joy in his mood as he made his way onto the front page of his favourite newspaper. Owen was heard by all appealing to Caribbean Broadcasting Corporation to carry his comments by asking, if CBC will carry what he says?

What Owen has essentially done is to shake the tree of the status quo within the corridors of the Barbados Labour Party. The challenge that has been thrown up is for them to examine the leadership issue and not to support based on origins. Owen has been somewhat of a nominally within the BLP’s seat of power but he served their purpose and now they are ready to tear him to pieces. Owen has made some enemies within the corridors of power as he went about the business of fashioning a BLP agenda.

This agenda was embraced by the then party stalwarts as they were the recipients of the BLP’s largesse.
Owen’s comments are not to be taken lightly. He was not speaking to his party members but to a constituency that once reposed confidence in him. He was appealing to Barbadians to take a good look at what the current leadership of the BLP offers and make an assessment. He opened up a discussion not on gender but on competency.

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