#BTEditorial – When politicians seize their moments

Recent political happenings after the St George North by-election have been interesting, if not particularly major. Though these occurrences could be likened
to would-be lions that meow, they still offer some fodder for reflection on Barbados’ politics.

As defections go, or perhaps more accurately – departures go – the recent movement of political flyweights George Connolly, Rodney Grant and George Pilgrim from the Democratic Labour Party (DLP), and the earlier exit of the heavier weighted Anthony Wood from the Barbados Labour Party (BLP), present material for discourse during intervals from more pressing matters. Politicians leaving parties is nothing new. National Hero Errol Barrow left the BLP to form the DLP.

Don Blackman quit the BLP government to join the DLP. Dr. Richie Haynes departed from the DLP government in 1989 to form the Opposition National Democratic Party (NDP). Former DLP president Dr Clyde Mascoll blanked that party and is today a highly paid financial advisor to the present BLP government.Of more modern vintage, Hamilton Lashley’s movement between the DLP and BLP was akin to side-on viewing at a lawn tennis match. Current Opposition Leader Joseph Atherley initially assumed that role while still a member of the BLP.

Kerrie Symmonds once discourteously belittled the physical dimensions of three BLP women while he was a member of the DLP but subsequently aligned himself
with those same women in the BLP. That is the nature of politics and Barbadian politics has proven to be fertile ground for such situations, or more pointedly, such naked expediency.

Some political departures have been momentous and with national repercussions, others have principally been self-serving. So, how do we judge the latest chapters of political to and fro? The departure from government to opposition ranks is not very common in Barbadian politics but when it does occur, the reasons provide for greater consideration than the storyline of those who jump from the political wilderness on to a government’s gravy train.

Mr Wood, a former government minister and with a significant national profile, publicly outlined his grievances about the happenings at the Barbados Agricultural Development & Marketing Corporation. He also expressed his frustration at not being afforded an audience to discuss urgent matters with Prime Minister Mia Mottley despite requests for such. His exasperation was perhaps exacerbated when one considers he was the BLP’s deputy campaign manager in 2018 and helped to strategise the party’s victory at the polls. He quit the BLP and though not officially joining the DLP, took the opportunity to vent on the latter’s platform during the recent by-election.

The cases of Messrs Connolly and Grant are not unfathomable. According to DLP president Verla DePeiza, both joined the party in 2018 before contesting the general election of the same year. They lost and two years later, both have quit in pursuit of greener pastures. In a democracy they are entitled to do just that, though one would hope neither insults the intelligence of Barbadians with any deep philosophical or intellectual verbiage about the moorings that underpinned their decision. They do not need to explain anything.

Indeed, Prime Minister Mottley has already publicly welcomed Grant “back home”. Thus, it would appear that Grant’s “transition” is a verse taken straight from the Book of Lashley, his erstwhile mentor. DePeiza admitted that Connolly had not been around the DLP much after losing his election bid. She played down the significance of his departure, which still begs the question why a party with such an established history would make an unproven newcomer its third vice-president.

As a lesson moving forward in its rebuilding stage, the DLP ought to be mindful of grabbing political floaters whose interests might be tilted more towards themselves than the people they purport to want to serve. Opposition politics holds little glamour or immediate forward mobility. Having gained all 30 seats in the 2018 general election, it is highly unlikely that the Barbadian electorate will turn away from the ruling BLP to any significant degree after five short years. Mr Grant and Mr Connolly, it can be argued, have thus taken poet Horace’s advice to political heart with respect to “carpe diem”.

Mr Pilgrim’s situation is somewhat different to that of his itinerant political colleagues. He has been a stalwart within the DLP – only. And, according to reports, he has been an excellent internal organiser. But on the national level he has been a successful failure. Mr Pilgrim has been defeated thrice in general elections and once in a by-election. Not only was he rejected in his home constituency of St Thomas on multiple occasions but history will remember him as the only post-Independence DLP politician to lose the St John fortress. He lost in his bid to be the DLP president at the party’s last annual general conference and failed as campaign manager for Floyd Reifer in the St George North by-election.

National elective politics has not been particularly kind to Mr Pilgrim. Thus his departure from the DLP is no major surprise as it might seem on the surface. He has given no public explanation and according to DePeiza, none was given to her. But everyone has a tolerance threshold and he might have reached his.

Some have even suggested resignation was the route he should have taken after the collapse of the St John rampart. It is now left to be seen if Mr Pilgrim will court Roebuck Street, or whether Roebuck Street will take the position of St Thomas, St John and the various DLP branches if he goes knocking. We wish them all well.

And now that the interval is over, we return to focus on more pressing matters.