LONG-STANDING?ST?LUCY?MP, Denis Kellman, is ready “to step up to the plate” now that Prime Minister David Thompsonhas passed away.
Kellman, who was elected to the House of Assembly in 1994, told the DAILY?NATION?yesterday in an interview he was now the most senior Member of Parliament and the most senior member of the Democratic Labour Party (DLP).
“I see my role as the one who has to keep the party together, along with the Prime Minister [Freundel?Stuart], because as you would appreciate, he now has the mantle. But at the same time, I cannot ignore my seniority in the party and I have to recognise that I also have some skills. . . . .
“I now have to step up to the plate and ensure that the party is seen as that party that can continue to dominate.”
Asked if he believed that he should be appointed Deputy Prime Minister, Kellman, Barbados’ ambassador to CARICOM, stated:
“I cannot look towards the deputy because that is the role of the leader of the political group, who happens to be the Prime Minister. But what I will say to you, one thing that I cannot take away from myself is now being the senior Member of Parliament and the senior member of the party in the House.”
Asked if it was true that he had voted for himself when the parliamentary group met to elect a leader, Kellman stated:?“I am one who signed the letter for the Prime Minister to be accepted by the Governor General . . . .
“It is not how the vote went. I am not getting involved in the vote. The important thing is the letter that went to the Governor General.”
But Kellman said he would not underestimate his significance to the DLP.
“I have to recognise that I am representing one of the more important constituencies in Barbados and that is the constituency of St Lucy that gave the Democratic Labour Party its first seat and its first Prime Minister, so I cannot ignore that. . . .”
