Challenger raises temperature in NUPW elections

The race for the leadership of the nation’s main public service union heated up another notch on Friday as a key challenger accused incumbent president Akanni McDowall of giving the impression he had emerged victorious over a failed no-confidence motion.

Fabian Jones, who will be facing McDowall in the union’s July elections, said the no-confidence motion was never initiated.

Responding to McDowall’s claims that he had defeated the no-confidence motion because of the failure to get the 50 votes needed to move forward, Jones said while the talk of a no-confidence motion had arisen because of discontent among members of the NUPW, it never materialized.

“A no-confidence motion is a technical process,” Jones said. “Yes, 50 members can convene a forum and sign to have the president removed. Although there were rumours of it because of membership discontent, the no-confidence motion was never initiated. You can’t win a match that never took place.”

In explaining why he believed the no-confidence motion was never pursued, Jones, who finished second behind McDowall in the 2019 poll, said he believed his opponents were more interested in their own campaign efforts at this time.

He said with the elections slated to be held on July 15, there was not much time left for candidates to run their campaigns.

Jones told Barbados TODAY: “I told my colleague who wanted to do it to focus on the campaign instead of going through with a no-confidence motion. Basically, his [McDowall’s] term has basically ended now and to me, it would just be some kind of optics to people and a waste of time because I was soliciting the views of some members.

“I am focused on just beating him at the elections properly rather than try to convey a no-confidence motion right now which might be seen as a waste of time.

“I believe persons are more focused on the election aspect because that is a more legitimate means of removal. A no-confidence motion is a legitimate means too but I think persons are more focused on the elections right now and trying to strengthen their campaigns.”

McDowall and Acting General Secretary Wayne Walrond were not immediately available for comment, while the other presidential hopeful, Kimberley Agard told Barbados TODAY she was in a meeting and could not speak at the time. (RB)