[WPPV-TOTAL-VIEWS] VIEWS
“Barbadians are always looking for a Messiah”. That was the salient point made by retired journalist David Ellis in an “unofficial” Zoom meeting think tank in which the panelists included Krystle Howell, Peter Lawrence Thompson the architect of the Barbados Welcome Stamp and David Simpson, President of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of the Caribbean (ICAC).
W
hat Mr. Ellis did not say but which we are now saying is that Barbados seems to have found in Mia Mottley that desired Messiah. The more cynical among us may want to compare her to the Pied Piper.
To be accurate, what we should say is that “a certain segment of the population” has accorded her that status. One can almost hear one of the actors in the risqué annual local production Laff it Off imitating the thoughts of that segment of the population: “Auntie Mia too sweet doah!”
At the risk of incurring their wrath, it should be pointed out that that “messianic segment” consists mainly of certain sections of the youth and what we refer to here as yard fowls. We take party financiers as a given.
The former would be those who have bought into the half-truth that “young people are marginalized” in Barbados and the latter are those who Bob Marley had in mind when he intoned, “throw me corn”.
Actually, what Bob Marley made part of the chorus of his deliberative rhythmic reggae song, “Who the Cap Fit” was:
And then a gonna throw me corn
And then a gonna call no fowl
And then a gonna “Cok-cok-cok, cluck-cluck-cluck”
Very instructive that “dere” chorus, “maun”! But I digress.
No Opposition
Ms. Mottely, in what she no doubt conceptualizes as premium magnanimity, has offered two seats in the Barbados Senate or Upper House to the opposition parties in the election.
For those interested in mining the intellectual treasures of post-colonial Barbados, the Lower House in this country consists of 30 seats and is the equivalent of the House of Commons in the UK. The Senate, whose full complement is 21 seats, is the equivalent of the House of Lords. In Barbados the Senate is regarded as a purely “rubber stamping” institution.
As I understand it, as soon as parliament is dissolved, there are only contesting parties and no such thing as “opposition parties” in an election! But nobody bothers with these details since they have no wish to tango with the devil therein.
Hopefully Barbadians’ memories are not so short that they cannot recall that the same person who is now offering seats to nonexistent “opposition parties” urged the electorate on a political platform not to vote for any opposition!
Appropriately, acting president of the DLP Steve Blackett has rebuffed Ms. Mottley’s suggestion arguing that it is not Mottley’s place to make such recommendations under Section 75 of the current constitution of Barbados. Leader of the unsuccessful APP Joseph Atherley expressed similar sentiments.
What they and the rest of the population of Barbados that has not fallen victim to the miasma or drunk any of the red Ju-C must do now is consider themselves to be the unofficial opposition in the country for the next five years or as long as the current parliamentary configuration lasts.
Perhaps lightning will strike twice in parliament and produce an opposition a la Joseph Atherley?
The Barbados Electoral and Boundaries Commission has not yet put out the official results of the 2022 election. We understand from the Chairman, Sir Leslie Haynes QC, that several staff members have caught covid-19 and are on leave.
Be that as it may, some estimates put the general election turnout at about 45%, potentially the lowest ever on record.
Given that the DLP (the other major party in the election) acquired substantial votes in the election (some estimate it at 31%), the Mottley government is technically not a majority government from that perspective.
Hopefully our unbiased political scientists will raise questions about the legitimacy of the Mottley government.
For the reasons above, we do not quite share Sir Ronald Sanders’ view that “the majority of the electorate of Barbados have trusted them [BLP] with the proper stewardship of the nation’s affairs”. The author was writing in the January 24 edition of the Tribune.
Although it is an elementary point, we do concur that “In the absence of an official opposition in the parliament of Barbados, power of government has been concentrated in Prime Minister Mottley and the BLP”.
On the contrary, we must regard as wishful thinking Sir Sanders’ hypothetical, anti-parliamentary democracy declaration that:
The Prime Minister and her government have a great chance to demonstrate to the people of Barbados – and the world -that democracy and democratic principles can be deliberately and thoughtfully upheld and strengthened, particularly when the electorate has entrusted them so fulsomely with the power of government. Sir Ronald Sanders Tribune 24 January 2022
As might be expected from persons who do not live in Barbados, Sir Sanders has left out of the equation several facts such as Ms. Mottley’s effectively silencing the main unions by her CCP style intrigue and her brazenly engaging in cronyism.
Perhaps it is the case that Sir Sanders knows of some brilliant farmer who has mastered the art of having foxes guard the chickens. But seeing that we are a relatively new post-plantation society, we are a long way from such agrarian proficiency.
Legislation Ahead
We noted with interest that during the snap election campaign nothing was said about the mooted legislation to recognize gay rights and sanction homosexual marriages supposedly to bring Barbados into the “modern world”. Such legislation was noised abroad by Ms. Mottley during the 2018. Back then, as I recall she promised a referendum on the matter.
But given the 2022 election results, her position is now likely to be that she was given a renewed mandate by the people to make these changes. This was her argument when she dragged covid-19 weary and wary Barbadians into a republic on 30 November, 2021.
For the record, it appears that only a minority of Barbadians opposed Barbados becoming a republic. What people did not understand (and perhaps still do not understand) is what it really meant to them, apart from the fact that they will now call the former Governor General, “President” and that parliamentarians will no longer swear allegiance to the besmirched British monarchy.
The Globalists
We are not surprised that the international press lauds Ms. Mottley as an advocate of reform and progressivism. Of course, by reform Ms. Mottley fundamentally means those advocated by the Great Reset and climate change vanguard.
What we have come to learn (literally painfully in the covid-19 pandemic) is that the so-called mainstream media and regrettably, the “social media giants” such as Facebook, are not friends of the ordinary person.
Such institutions are in bed with the current leftist-communist government in America and the likes of the German economist-engineer, Klaus Schwab founder of the World Economic Forum (WEF), who sees the Great Reset as the way forward for humanity.
Some eighty years ago another German, Adolf Hitler, argued that the solution to Germany’s problems was the takeover of the world under the Third Reich. That creature proceeded to lead the world into World War II and presided over the extermination of 6 million Jews and Europeans in the death camps of Auschwitz.
Hitler’s countrymen and countrywomen could have stopped the lunatic (and some of them tried by the way) had most of them thought for themselves rather than join in the mass hysteria of blaming the Jews and those of non-Aryan descent for the adverse fortunes of Germany.
Was it not another German, the philosopher Georg Hegel that famously said, “The only thing that we learn from history is that we learn nothing from history”? Methinks the Germans have it!
Ideological War
Unfortunately the war we are now fighting is a war against humanity itself and it being waged without bombs and bullets. It is truly an ideological war if ever there was one!
For that and other reasons, the average person seldom sees the assailants far less their bullets and bombs, despite the fact that they are being fired at them through the media every single day!
The Mottley 2022 win is bitter-sweet victory. Having won all the seats in parliament, the PM and her party will be held fully responsible for any fallout, political or otherwise that occurs. It is not unknown for Barbadians to turn on those whom they admire when things go south. Perhaps we should wish Ms. Mottley luck. The problem is that some of us do not believe in luck!
YOUR OPINION HELPS!
[fluentform id=”7″]
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Dr. Aldon Tull, the author, is a retired educator who holds a Master of Science in International Marketing and the Doctor of Education.
He can be reached at editor@barbadosuncensored.com at 246-228-3720 or on Whatsapp at 246-846-3191
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
YOU CAN ADD YOUR FACEBOOK COMMENTS RIGHT HERE AT THE END OF THIS ARTICLE
N.B. THESE COMMENTS MAY NOT APPEAR ON OUR FACEBOOK PAGE DEPENDING ON YOUR PRIVACY SETTINGS.
ALTERNATIVELY, YOU CAN COMMENT ANONYMOUSLY (IF YOU WISH) IN THE COMMENTS MODULE LOCATED NEXT TO THE BU LOGO.
COMMENTS MADE THERE WILL APPEAR ON THIS WEBSITE ONLY
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
