#BTColumn – Crass and tasteless!

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed by this author are their own and do not represent the official position of the Barbados Today.

by Roderick P. Harris

I know that politics can change people.
It can make the meek and mild very aggressive.
It can make the genuinely honest suddenly less so.

It brings out the man in some women and it makes some unidentifiable to persons they were previously associated with. Politics is not for the squeamish and as some have said, it can be a blood sport.

While I attribute none of those qualities to Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley, her disclosure of a private, totally legitimate monetary transaction between her party and Caswell Franklyn was not only unfortunate but demonstrated the descent to which she is willing to go to belittle citizens of this country.

In a country where the Government is seeking to control and dictate every facet of public opinion, Mr Franklyn is the only objective voice that speaks with a clear commitment to working class people and the rule of law.

The irony is that despite the PM’s personal attack on the gentleman, not once has Franklyn been wrong on anything that has emanated from his mouth with respect to industrial relations and our laws.

His clarity on such issues is amazing although he is not a trained lawyer. But of course, we have had others who have spoken with clarity on legal matters and they were not trained lawyers either.

My fear, though, is that rather than condemn personal attacks on citizens by politicians, we will continue to allow blind political allegiances, sheepishness and several touches of goat, to close our senses to what is right and what is wrong, because “this is who we are.”