An ugly and unconventional exchange of personal attacks between the two contenders for the leadership of the Democratic Labour Party (DLP) has been condemned by the party’s General Secretary, Damien Griffith.
A verbal tussle at separate branch meetings over the weekend escalated into open warfare between incumbent Verla DePeiza and her main challenger, Reverend Guy Hewitt, on the Down to Brass Tacks talk show on VOB.
Thirty minutes into the programme during which DePeiza was being interviewed on her vision for the party ahead of the DLP presidential election, the two political hopefuls were trading punches over recent personal attacks, the management of party finances, Hewitt’s failure thus far to secure a constituency, and transparency in the party election which is set for this weekend.
Griffith told Barbados TODAY: “We have had a hotly contested election. I think the presidential race has spilled into the public a lot more and that has been a deliberate choice by some people. That, if anything, would be one of the areas of concern for me because our party’s leadership is not chosen by public vote.”
Reverend Hewitt, apparently responding to DePeiza’s suggestion that he was unable to “walk and chew gum”, called the programme to declare that he has never been in the business of making personal attacks or encouraging other members to do it.
DePeiza then declared that as recently as Monday morning she was the subject of personal attacks on social media.
“I have to address the notion that the attacks have not been personal,” DePeiza declared.
“Up to this morning, someone was speaking to me about a voice note that Comrade Reverend Guy Hewitt shared that was a personal attack of his own. I have been subject to personal attacks on social media by his supporters. It is most disingenuous to suggest that he is running a clean, virtuous campaign when nothing can be further from the truth… This is politics, not Sunday School.”
In response, Reverend Hewitt declared: “That is a serious allegation. I challenge her to release that on Brass Tacks so that people can hear it and I can hear it because I have never sought to go after her personally. I have said to my team, ‘when they go low, we go high’.”
The unusual interaction on national radio appeared to have been sparked when DePeiza responded to a suggestion from Reverend Hewitt that funds spent on the refurbishment of the party’s George Street headquarters could have much better been allocated to the party’s general election campaign.
“I am disappointed to learn that Comrade Reverend Guy Hewitt cannot walk and chew gum at the same time,” DePeiza told the programme. “I have two finance teams. One for the building fund and one for the general election fund.
“It is unfortunate that he can’t see the value in both and that he only sees the value in one. But apart from George Street being near and dear to the hearts of our members, the party needs to have a home and it needs to also have a headquarters and it was really very disappointing the condition in which it was at the time that I took over. It could not stay that way.”
The DLP president added that George Street would once again be used to raise revenue, before she struck down her challenger’s suggestions as an indication that he “does not know how to manage money” and, by extension, the public purse.
Hours before, Reverend Hewitt, at a meeting of the Christ Church South branch complained that both he and his members had been victims of attacks and efforts were being made to deny him access to information relative to the coming election. This, he said, did little to quell concerns this year following claims “from reliable sources” of “highly suspect” activities that occurred last year.
But DePeiza dismissed the claim as a flat out lie and said that she responded to concerns about transparency as recently as six days ago. In an email, she revealed that numerous by-laws had been drafted to govern election conduct, but had been deferred until they could be considered at the Annual General Conference. In the interim, candidates are expected to be guided by a personal sense of decorum.
“I will go further, because it is unfortunate that he is such a new member of the party, not actively involved in the party either at a branch or any other level nor involved in the rebuilding of the party, otherwise he would know these things,” DePeiza contended.
The DLP leader also responded to the Anglican priest’s suggestion that he “deserved” consideration as a candidate in Christ Church East Central.
Speaking at a meeting of the party’s branch in that constituency, at the Deighton Griffith Secondary School on Sunday, Hewitt had said: “I was disappointed after bringing more energy and more focus on the DLP in the last three months than we have gotten in the last [few] years, not to be given, even at the 11th hour, [consideration] for Christ Church East Central. I am not telling you I should be the candidate, I am telling you give me a little consideration. Treat me with the respect that you are demanding from others,” he said.
However, DePeiza recalled meeting with Hewitt in May when he was adamant that he wanted to run in St John “and could not be disabused of it”, even after being informed that a candidate had already been chosen.
“In any event, there was consideration,” she said. “It simply was not in his favour, but there was consideration. Both at the Executive Council and at the General Council, the question was asked ‘Do we take account of this belated application?’ and it was an overwhelming ‘no’. That didn’t come from me, that came from the councils. The very process that he said he didn’t want any special favour in, worked like it worked for everybody else.
“There are other seats available. If he wants one, he can go through the correct procedure in a timely manner and apply.”
General Secretary Griffith told Barbados TODAY that he is confident that over the weekend, the party membership will make a “very clear” statement about who it wants at the helm of the party.
(kareemsmith@barbadostoday.bb)
