Not Mia and me!

by RICKY JORDAN

MIA MOTTLEY'S leadership challenge is not between her and Owen Arthur, or her Opposition colleagues - it has to do with what she symbolises in the minds of Barbadians.

That is the view of former Prime Minister Owen Arthur, who said yesterday his former Deputy Prime Minister and current Opposition Leader was not accepted by most Barbadians as a future leader.

"I cannot say there is not a challenge of leadership in the BLP, but the challenge is not about a struggle between Ms Mottley and myself.

"The challenge is, as represented in the Peter Wickham poll, that Ms Mottley . . . faces a problem of being accepted by the society at large and faces a problem of being accepted by a cross-section of the BLP," Arthur told the media at his UWI, Cave Hill office.

He said there was one facet of the issue which neither he nor Mottley could do anything about, and that was that after being leader of the BLP and country for 14 years, a large measure of support for him remained in sections of the society and the party.

"And she has to live with that . . . . I can't do anything about that, but there's a part of it that she has to deal with, and it has to do with what she symbolises in the minds of the people of Barbados and how she comes to get the people of Barbados to accept her as their leader," he stated.

Arthur said he was still finding it "most exasperating" that over and over again Barbadians from all walks of life were telling him that they wanted him back.

He also said it was not something he was promoting or encouraging, but it existed and therefore represented a challenge to the party.

This challenge, Arthur added, could not be confronted by issuing public ultimatums for party members to swear oaths of allegiance.

"The BLP has a challenge and we have a situation where there's not a contest for leadership within the party, but there is a problem in the wider Barbados society, where there is unacceptance and unacceptability of the present leader of the party," he said.

"I would like to see Ms Mottley succeed in politics . . . . I made Ms Mottley my Deputy Prime Minister . . . . I also stepped down voluntarily as leader of the party," Arthur said, reiterating that last Monday's confirmation vote could not settle a leadership issue which was rooted in the wider society.

"The challenge facing Ms Mottley and the party is not within the parliamentary group. The challenge is to have a leader who enjoys wide aceptance and acceptability in the wider society and wide acceptance in the parliamentary party.

"That cannot be resolved by a vote among the parliamentary group," he said.

Arthur advised that his former protégée now needed to "recognise that there are things that you may like to do that could affect the standing of your party"; prepare herself for the fact that everybody was not going to like her; and immerse herself and "work harder than anybody else".

"Ms Mottley does not have to be me," he added, "but she has to make herself likeable, she has to be respected because people want to believe that their leaders are full of integrity . . . and she has to consider the use of power; not be feared negatively, but be understood as a person who can use power effectively."

He further noted that, having had the opportunity to lead Barbados for three terms, he was not about to do anything to destroy any legacy of leadership which he had established.

"I have no interest whatsoever in being involved in dividing the BLP. I would have no interest whatsoever in wanting to re-emerge as leader in a divided party.

"My only interest is wanting to serve if I still think I have something to contribute to the people of Barbados," Arthur added.