FORMER?Cabinet Minister Rawle Eastmond thinks there are external forces at work determined to undermine him and his St James North constituency branch of the Barbados Labour Party.
Eastmond made these charges in the wake of branch elections held at St Alban’s Primary School, over the weekend, that he thinks may be ruled null and void because the results have not found favour with certain elements of the BLP.
“There is a view that there has been external interference in the affairs of the branch. Some opportunists are trying to take control of the branch and that is the biggest concern,” he said.
Eastmond contends that the general secretary of the BLP, Michael Phillips, presided over the elections, “and all is well as far as we are concerned”.
 A high-ranking source in the BLP says the talk about external forces is “rubbish”.
 “This is nothing more than typical Eastmond . . . and what he hopes will be a distraction from another matter. There is no mechanism in the party for the national council to rule a properly constituted annual general meeting null and void.
“It is unmitigated rubbish. It is another attempt to make it seem like the BLP is an unstable organization. Far from that, the parliamentary group is focusing on the issues of the day and I hope Eastmond is too,” the source said.
Eastmond, who stood in Mia Mottley’s corner when she was deposed as Opposition leader last October, is in no doubt there are plans to unseat him in St James North.
There has been turmoil in this branch since last August when dozens of people were recruited into the St James North branch and 56 delegates chosen to represent the branch at the BLP’s annual conference without Eastmond’s knowledge.
That list of delegates did not include Eastmond’s branch president, secretary or treasurer.
 He said that though that plot had been uncovered and dealt with, there were still forces bent on creating problems within the branch.
 Eastmond, who has had five successive election victories dating back to 1991, says he will not be pushed out of politics.
“I will be serving the interests of the St James North people, one day at a time, day by day. I have no control over God’s divine future.
“It is a question of doing for the people what I can do for them at this stage, doing so honestly and with a sense of commitment. I will not be pushed or made to jump,” Eastmond said.Â
