OWEN HAS HIS SAY
"A GREAT DISSERVICE to the BLP."
That is how former Prime Minister Owen Arthur has termed last night's parliamentary group vote on the issue of leadership at the Barbados Labour Party headquarters.
Speaking to the media today, Arthur said he did not attend the vote-off because he saw it as an ultimatum on an issue which he claims does not exist and served more as "oaths of allegiance" to Mia Mottley.
Addressing his obvious absence from last night’s parliamentary group meeting, which saw Mottley confirmed as political leader and Leader of the Opposition, Arthur said he could not attend based on the way Mottley had sought to deal with the evident leadership challenges within the BLP.
“I could not possibly attend the meeting to deal with a (leadership) problem that she said doesn’t exist, that I have told the public does not exist and that the party is aware does not exist. It was a disservice to the party that it had to take place by way of an ultimatum by Ms Mottley. It has also put the members of the parliamentary group in an invidious and unfavourable light in the public domain,” he told the media at his University of the West Indies, Cave Hill office today.
Arthur reaffirmed that he had “no interest or desire in leading the country or the party”, while noting that Mottley herself had gone on public record saying there was no power struggle in the BLP.
However, he added, there was an issue pertaining to the BLP’s leadership in the wider community, and criticised Mottley's handling of it.
He said the leadership issue “cannot be confronted by the issue of a public ultimatum for members of the parliamentary party to assemble at short notice to swear what I can only call oaths of allegiance! It has to be dealt with in a constructive manner”. (RJ)
For more details on this story, including Arthur's opinion on the leadership challenges facing Mia Mottley, please read tomorrow's MIDWEEK NATION or visit NATIONnews.com.