Thank You

Chapo Poll Favours Bees

THE POLLING EXPERTS have spoken — an increasing number of Barbadians prefer the Barbados Labour Party over the Democratic Labour Party to run the country’s affairs.

Additionally, it showed that on the issue of leadership, Barbadians prefer Owen Arthur over David Thompson two to one.

A series of constituency polls commissioned by the BLP and conducted by the Cave Hill Associates Polling Organisation (CHAPO), a group of pollsters whose finding across the Caribbean have proven to be remarkably accurate, contradicts another done for the Nation newspaper by local pollster Peter Wickham.

The CHAPO polls each sampled 600 voters in 14 constituencies identified as battleground ridings, based on election results over 25 years, compared to Wickham’s 30 persons polled per constituency.

According to Deputy Prime Minister and St. Michael North East candidate Mia Mottley, this approach makes the CHAPO poll significantly more reliable than the Wickham formula.

Of the 14 constituencies polled, the BLP leads in nine, there is a statistical dead heat in three and the Bees are behind in two. The CHAPO poll ignored constituencies like St. John and St. Peter where there is less doubt about the outcome. Just two nights ago political scientist Dr. George Bell at Cave Hill reported that there had been a “swing back to the Government”.

“What we are seeing now is that during the campaign there is a swing back to the Government,” he said. The complete results of the CHAPO poll are expected to be released to the public this weekend.

Has the DLP lost its’ Way ?

A former DLP member attending one of Monday’s nominations for the January 15 poll was heard to say that Prime Minister Owen Arthur was completing the social and economic revolution begun by national hero, the Right Excellent Errol Barrow.
To be associated with the completion of the work begun by Barrow indicates that there has been a blurring of “the ideological divide” divide between the DLP and the BLP, if ever there was one.

It may be recalled that duing a brighter period of DLP history the BLP was depicted by DLP spokespersons as the party of corporate Barbados. These spokespersons were able to convince a wide cross section of the Barbadian society with this falsehood even though one of the founding fathers of modern Barbados was national hero, Sir Grantley Adams. In spite of this blatant falsehood, History has recorded that Sir Grantley worked tirelessly on behalf of the workers of the country. So much for the power of propaganda in a liberal democratic society where competing ideas are allowed to be ventilated.

However, thirty six years after the death of Sir Grantley, Arthur has been able to restore the BLP to its rightful place as the party of the masses with the establishment of the Poverty Alleviation Bureau, the Urban Development Commission and the Rural Development Commission.

Students of West Indian History may recall that celebrated West Indian author, the late CLR James, had accused Barrow of splitting the working class movement at a time when Sir Grantley had effected a social revolution without the shedding of blood.

Arthur, who wears his social origins as a badge of honour in a country where several high fliers are known to distance themselves from their less fortunate relatives, has shown that he is unafraid to recognise talent wherever it is found.

His willingness to welcome political figures like Clyde Mascoll into the bosom of his party speaks volumes about his vision as a political leader.

It must be told that he also embraced intellectuals whose social origins had excluded them from making any meaninful contribution to the devlopment of the country.

Any accurate history of the current period must record that Arthur opened several doors for children who were born in the gaps and footpaths across Barbados.

This writer challenges anyone to identify another Prime Minister of Barbados who would have appointed a known Pan-Africanist or a member of the Rastafarian community to head a government department in an island which is known for its conservatism.

He would have been conscious of the fact that such appointments would have aroused the ire of monarchists and individuals who would want to deny our sordid colonial past of slavery and the dehumanisation of the black population.

Always conscious of his social origins and paying dutiful reverence to the work of Sir Grantley Adams, Arthur said recently: ” We have a special history in Barbados. I stand where I am today because there is a person in our history called Grantley Adams who fought not just for the vote, but to create a society where the children of poor people could rise to the highest office.

“I am here as a validation of the vision of Grantley Adams. I am here because the BLP is true to that vision and it gave me a chance to prove that the struggles of the 1930s, 1940s, 1950s and the 1960s were not in vain, but that people like your children should be able able to rise to the top. We are aware that the question is often asked:” Can any good come out of Nazareth?” the Prime Minister added.

He suggested that one of the questions Barbados has to ask is: ” Can good come out of Rose Hill, St Peter or Deacon’s Road, St Michael? Can these people aspire to rise to the top?”

It is noteworthy that during Tuesday whistle stop tour of the St Michael North West constituency Arthur pointed out that he stood where he was today because of Grantley Adams and Mascoll stood where he was today because of Barrow. In making this observation he repeated his charge that as currently constituted the DLP had repudiated the legacy of Barrow and was destroying the very reason why the institution was formed.

According to Arthur, Mascoll’s unceremonious removal from the office of the Leader of the Opposition was a clear case of the repudiation of Barrow’s legacy.

Under these circumstances the question must be asked: ” What role will the DLP play on the local political landscape now that it has denied the son of working class parents access to one of the highest political offices in the country?”

On the other hand, Arthur continues to honor Adams’ legacy with the warm welcome he has extended to the sons and daughters of working class Barbadians who seek to realise their fullest potential.

Owen

Mia Set Record Straight

Deputy Prime Minister and Barbados Labour Party candidate for St. Michael North East, Mia Mottley, had a number of questions for the Dems yesterday.

She wanted a number of answers from the Democratic Labour Party after they ran a misleading ad in the Press concerning the closure of a number of supermarkets over the years.

She asked at a Press conference yesterday:

What about Jordan’s Supermarket, which operates stores in Speightstown, Fitts Village, Baxters Road and Fairchild Street?

What about Eddie’s Trading, now a virtual chain of stores in Speighstown?

What about the Carlton and A1 and Emerald City chain?

What about Popular Discount?

What about Shop Smart?

Who owns these and how do you account for their growth? What about the scores of indigenous retailers who have established businesses all over this island?