DLP president seeking new talent for elections

President of the Democratic Labour Party (DLP) Dr Ronnie Yearwood is calling on Barbadians locally and in the diaspora to present themselves to serve as candidates for the next General Elections.

Dr Yearwood announced on Friday that all seats in the party are vacant and invited prospective candidates to step forward as efforts to build a new DLP moves full steam ahead.

“Every single one of the 30 seats is vacant and I issue a call for all Barbadians to step forward to serve their country. It cannot be any clearer that this new party is turning a leaf and we are getting ready.

“If you want to be a part of this big tent, this new politics, understanding the underlying principles of service, duty, accountability, transparency, openness and you have a genuine desire to serve your country, step forward. We want to hear from you as we embrace new talent and new prospective candidates to deliver what Barbadians are calling for, a new Democratic Labour Party,” Dr Yearwood said.

Delivering the featured remarks at the DLP’s Astor B Watts lunchtime lecture, at the George Street Auditorium, Belleville, St Michael, the leader said the party would announce when persons interested in becoming candidates can write to the party and indicate interest and in which constituency.

He said prospective candidates will be required to present relevant documents, including curriculum vitae, police certificate of character, testimonials, in addition to outlining their plans for the constituency they are seeking to represent.

“You will have a transparent scorecard so you know the areas that you are being scored on. You will know exactly what is required of you, and you will know exactly what would happen in the process. You will come to the party, the branches, there will be discussions, there will be interviews and then there will be a selection process to let you know if you have passed. So this will be a serious, detailed, step by step process.”

He also gave notice that he would be calling on certain organs and persons within the party to develop what he has referred to as an empowerment test.

“We cannot do things the same way and expect different results. If I am serious about empowerment, I have to have a method, a way to test it. . .There has to be a test by which you measure policies to see if it is working, you can’t be shooting blind,” he said.

The party president declared to supporters that he would be unafraid and uncompromising in executing his job to get the party ready to govern. 

A confident Dr Yearwood said that politics alone does not make a country. He declared that good leadership is also necessary to ensure successful governance.

“That is why I am calling for this new policy. A new politics that is people-focused. A new politics that has participation where people can have a say,” the law lecturer at the University of the West Indies (UWI) said. He noted his readiness to hear what Barbadians have to say and what type of Barbados they want to live in.

“It makes no sense for me to sit here at George Street, in an office, writing policies, developing things for a party that has not heard the people. There will be a disconnect. I have a Barbados in my head that I want to create, but that may not be the Barbados that most people want.

“I have to understand what you want so that I can deliver on that promise. Fundamentally, a new Democratic Labour Party government must and will be, under my leadership, committed to empowering all Barbadians. And that must run through every single thing that we do,” he said.

anestahenry@barbadostoday.bb