#BTColumn – Sheep and goat bleat – we should not

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

So, I read in your newspaper madame editor, where Sir Roy Trotman is quoted as stating that Prime Minister Mia Mottley approached the BWU’s independent government senator Toni Moore to contest the St George North seat.

And according to Sir Roy, she was initially reluctant but then agreed. Sir Roy never said whether it took her 30 seconds to capitulate or perhaps three minutes.

But that is not the point. Sir Roy never said whether Moore compared her pay slip from the BWU to one that might have been brought by Miss Mottley showing her an MP’s salary and perks.

But that is not the point.

Sir Roy never said whether as a unionist if Moore was promised that she would be in line to replace Colin Jordan as Minister of Labour if she won the St George North seat. But that is not the point.

Sir Roy never said whether Moore had managed to complete any arithmetic courses that would make her understand that if she asks one government for an outlandish 23 per cent increase for workers, and she refuses their seven per cent counter, but then accepts five per cent from someone else, it makes mathematics teachers at primary and secondary school look really bad. But that is not the point.

If each constituency has a branch and the branch is part of the selection process for candidates, why was the Prime Minister soliciting – in this instance though – a candidate for a seat?

Where was the branch? Who were the other candidates? What was the vote split by which an eventual candidate was arrived at?

What is the branch president and executive saying? This is the point. But what has happened has been allowed to happen because “This is who we are”.