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Leadership Politics - PNP/BLP Style
ANALYSIS
RICKEY SINGH
Sunday, November 01, 2009
WITHIN weeks of holding their respective 71st anniversary annual conference, there was a virtual reversal of moods, at the leadership level, for Jamaica's opposition People's National Party (PNP) and the opposition Barbados Labour Party (BLP) in Barbados, compared with what had prevailed a year ago.
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| RICKEY SINGH |
In the wake of defeat for the PNP by the Jamaica Labour Party of Bruce Golding in the September 2007 general election, following four consecutive terms in power, the internal leadership division was quite evident at the party's 70th anniversary convention.
Former National Security Minister Peter Phillips, who had emerged as the primary leadership challenger to former Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller, did not even show up for that conference.
In contrast, last month he introduced Simpson Miller when it came time for her to address the convention, with retired party leader and former four-term Prime Minister PJ Patterson standing in the middle, enthusiastically holding aloft their hands to underscore his anxiety for a public show of unity.
Patterson, a lawyer and international consultant, had quietly backed Simpson Miller's rise to the helm of the party and her subsequent succession as prime minister.
In Barbados, following the defeat of his Labour Party administration after three consecutive terms in government, Owen Arthur, an economist and now also an international consultant, lost no time in nominating his former deputy prime minister and high-profile militant colleague, Mia Mottley, to be the party's new leader while maintaining his presence in Parliament as representative for St Peter.
There is, however, no doubt that the situation within the BLP is more tense and will continue to reach a more dramatic stage in another six months.
There was a general feeling that both of these oldest of parties in Caricom were cautiously marking time pending further consideration for leadership changes, ahead of new general elections that could be held within months of each other in five years' time.
Mottley's surprise
An unexpected development was to impact negatively on the BLP's efforts to quietly manage a perceived rupture in relations at the leadership level of the party.
Against the backdrop of rumours of disaffection between Mottley and Arthur being spread, which both denied (the former more than the latter), the BLP leader made a surprising, if not shocking announcement.
She declared at the closing of the party's 71st annual conference her intention to place her leadership on the line the following day (Monday, October 26) at a meeting of the party's nine parliamentarians - they would either endorse her or seek a change of leadership.
There is a convention by which the DLP and BLP - both have similar constitutions - require that their parliamentary leader is endorsed by the elected MPs of the House of Assembly before taking the oath of appointment as leader of the Opposition.
Why Mottley chose that route for a fresh endorsement remains quite puzzling, since Arthur had made it clear that he was not interested, "at this time", to again lead the party in posing a challenge to the ruling DLP administration under Prime Minister David Thompson. Arthur was satisfied with being a "team player".
However, there may be an answer of sorts in the release of the results of a public opinion poll last September ahead of the DLP's 54th annual conference.
Commissioned by the DLP, the poll - conducted in August by the reputable Caribbean Development Research Services (CADRES) of political scientist Peter Wickham - and its results significantly coincided with the DLP conference.
The results essentially placed Arthur well ahead of Mottley in popularity ratings to lead the party at a new national election as well as for leadership of the country. That came hardly as a surprise. And Mottley, regarded as being quite politically astute, robustly denied claims, in and outside of the media, about a "leadership struggle" in the party between herself and Arthur.
She summoned a special meeting of the nine-member parliamentary group last Monday night to determine whether she would continue in her role as parliamentary Opposition leader. It came as no surprise that she was overwhelmingly supported by the group - seven of the eight MPs in attendance voted for her while one abstained. Owen Arthur was a no-show.
The former prime minister and party leader was to subsequently explain his absence by contending that he could not have participated in such an unnecessary political exercise as it was simply a case of Mottley waging a battle with herself.
Arthur reminded the media that it was Mottley herself who had said, following the CADRES poll and speculations about leadership divisions, that there was "no leadership struggle". In the circumstances, Arthur argued, he could not have participated in an event that would be remembered as "a disservice to the BLP".
The "leadership challenge", he said, was not with him but between Mottley and the Barbadian people.
It may be difficult to argue against Arthur's political logic. At the same time, he should recognise that by his own hasty media response to Mottley's public challenge for endorsement, he too may well have contributed to grist for the mill on a "leadership struggle" that neither wants to admit.
There may be more in the proverbial mortar than the pestle. But a relevant question could be: Why was this very critical issue of national importance (now in the public domain) not first discussed either in the privacy of the BLP's decision-making councils or at its 71st conference?
As we wait to see what will happen in the BLP, adjustments in political attitudes continue to take place in the councils and top leadership structures of the PNP, as Peter Phillips bides his time before making another challenge to Simpson Miller for leadership of the party in a new general election.
There can be no doubt that at present, the leadership issue is cause for concern within the Barbados Labour Party, and in another six months we could see a major development - perhaps another "review" of Mottley's role as Opposition leader will be conducted by the parliamentary group.
For now, however, regardless of how guarded their public responses are, it is difficult to believe that either Arthur in Barbados or Phillips in Jamaica really have no interest in responding to demands, whatever the manifestations, to seek the leadership of their party. As the saying goes, "In politics all things are possible."
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