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#BTEditorial – Leadership during a crisis

by Barbados Today
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Political pundits will tell you, the easiest place from which political parties can govern is from the opposition corridors.

From the sidelines, it is easier to hold the ruling administration’s feet to the fire, call them out on their missteps and errors, and suggest alternative actions you are certain are applicable and will resolve the problem at hand.

The Barbados Labour Party (BLP), under the leadership of Mia Mottley was a formidable Opposition force during the Democratic Labour Party’s (DLP) lacklustre period in office. The BLP represented a tour de force in opposition politics.

The Dems were given no honeymoon. Their excuse that the decade-long global financial crisis had been the genesis of Barbados’ economic troubles and not poor leadership and execution on the part of the Freundel Stuart administration, was rebuffed soundly.

As Opposition parties are expected to do, the BLP and its backers, used every avenue to highlight the Government’s failings. From out-of-season political meetings, regular walk-outs of Parliament, to a string of social media postings and memes that cemented the public’s image of the Dems as a group of bungling incompetents.

Mottley, who is not known to coddle even members of our own side, offered this biting description of a budget speech by former Minister of Finance Chris Sinckler.

“It is a cut-and-paste Budget with no clear concept as to where we are going or what we will achieve. Bajans will feel pain but, unlike the past, you will not know its severity or to what end,” she told the media during an interview at the Opposition’s office. She deemed Sinckler’s presentation as the “most rambling and incoherent Budget speech given in the history of Barbados”.

And who would forget the 2017 Mottley-led March of Disgust and Rally through the streets of Bridgetown?

That was the expected cut and thrust of politics, and Sinckler was a man known to have a political hide that is thicker than your average elephant.

Sinckler too, is no shrinking violet, and has dropped a few punches on Mottley during his time in office.

Having been swept to power with an unprecedented 30 constituency wins at the polls, Mottley suffered only one defection from her embarrassment of riches, when Bishop Joseph Atherley jumped ship and formed the People’s Party for Democracy and Development (PdP).

But as we fast forward to 2021, the administration is just past the half-way point in its term. The Mottley team has relished the praise they have received for its rather tidy reversal of Barbados’ spiralling debt problem.

The successful debt restructuring programme has allowed our country’s economic planners some wiggle room to begin spend on development projects for the people of this island, rather than simply paying down foreign and domestic debt with a significant portion of every dollar we generated.

The year 2020 was billed as the year of Gatherin’. It was to be used as a vehicle for reconnecting Barbadians and their descendants from every corner of the globe. And of course, the project was expected to generate tourism and investment dollars at a time when the economy needed it most.

But like a thief in the night, the COVID-19 pandemic arrived at our shores. And for months we handled the crisis well. Our Prime Minister was praised by Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the Director General of the World Health Organisation (WHO) and heralded her among the female political leaders who had demonstrated calm, assured and competent handling of the crisis.

But it is clear that the administration, which has grown accustomed to being the subject of accolades, is now showing signs of distress from the weight of criticism from ordinary citizens and the sheer magnitude of the economic and public health crisis created by COVID-19.

The displays of anger and short-temperedness by members of Cabinet during recent Press conferences, are telling signs that the pressure of governing during a crisis may be taking its toll.

As we have outlined earlier, it is easier to govern from the sidelines. We know that heavy is the head that wears the crown. The administration must demonstrate its capacity to lead, take the tough decisions required, be prepared to respond to the questions and barbs of a discerning citizenry who have easy access to smartphones and who are prepared to put the leadership on blast, if that is what is required to get their points across. 

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