BLP building a dynasty – Alleyne

Staunch Democratic Labour Party (DLP) member Derek Alleyne is challenging fellow party members and the media to speak out on issues affecting the population.

Accusing Prime Minister Mia Mottley of “building a dynasty”, Alleyne told party supporters he was disappointed that Barbadians were falling victim to Barbados Labour Party (BLP) “propaganda”.

“I have chosen to deal with the Barbados Labour Party and its mission to create a Barbados in an image that will serve its own cause and that cause is to lift Mia Amor Mottley to hero status,” he told the gathering at a St James South branch meeting at Queen’s College on Sunday night.

“Yes, some people have raised their voices in concern about the steps being taken but in my view they are missing the mark. Mottley is building a dynasty not a legacy, and Barbadians are helping her.

“  I say dynasty and not legacy for a simple understanding of legacy determines that it is a gift or a record, but dynasty means much more,” he contended.

Alleyne charged that there were several “glaring quiet zone offences” that the BLP was guilty of but Barbadians were remaining silent on these.

He identified some of those areas as the largest cabinet in the history of the country, an amendment to the Constitution in order to appoint some senators, the high murder rate last year, the amount of money the island was now borrowing, the high level of taxation, and the retrenchment of public servants under the Barbados Economic Recovery and Transformation (BERT) plan.

“But as we sit here new men and women have been hired in the debushing programme,” he said.

Alleyne, who called on DLP members last August to stop feeling sorry for themselves, said while he understood the DLP still had some housekeeping matters to attend to following its humiliating defeat in the last election, it was critical for members speak out on these and other issues.

“Internally there are many challenges to overcome in the DLP and we need each other to mount that charge. However, across Barbados the poor are crying. I have never seen so many people asking for help in my lifetime and from people you didn’t think would ask,” said Alleyne.

“With Mottley promising more layoffs and more taxes, the road ahead may never have been travelled by Barbadians before. Good men and women are required to chart a path and many of us have demonstrated where our hearts and heads are. We have to move now before we make ourselves irrelevant. Above all the DLP’s voice must be heard and heard with conviction,” he insisted.

The loyal party supporter also accused media houses in Barbados of not being true gatekeepers.

“As we meet now the media houses in Barbados are influenced by a Mottley array of propaganda. I speak not of the journalists who prepare reports and articles but the powerbrokers who sit in their armchairs and decide the fate of all Barbadians who do not share in the philosophy of the Mottley BLP. Like the Trump Republicans we now have a Mottley BLP,” he said.

Alleyne said he would “not be fooled” by a recent decision by Government to place a plaque at the St Lucy home of National Hero Errol Barrow, adding: “Time will be sufficient for many discussions about the direction this country is taking and the extent to which the populace appears to have taken leave of its senses and is awaiting a saviour.

“Political institutions need to stay relevant because when they cease to be a welcomed voice then the fate of that institution is placed in the balance,” he warned.

“The DLP is bigger than any one individual and no matter what the issues and concerns are, dialogue that brings healing to the party must take place. Most of all the people of Barbados feel betrayed not by the DLP but by political parties,” Alleyne added.
marlonmadden@barbadostoday.bb