Decision-making tussle between DLP executive council, general council

A decision-making tug-of-war continued late Friday evening as the executive council of the strife-torn Democratic Labour Party (DLP) overruled its general council, giving a vote of confidence to “suspended” general secretary Steve Blackett and president Ronnie Yearwood.

The day after the general council – the party’s second highest organ – announced that Blackett and Yearwood had been suspended on undisclosed charges, the executive council met and agreed to throw its full support behind the two leaders. And the DLP president has called on the party to unite.

When asked by reporters if the suspension was valid, second vice-president Walter Maloney would only say: “There is a constitution, and we will follow the constitution slavishly.”

He said the executive council met Friday night primarily to discuss the ongoing infighting in the party founded 69 years ago by Father of Independence and National Hero, the Right Excellent Errol Walton Barrow, and to seek to rebuild the public’s confidence.

That meeting followed on the heels of police being summoned to investigate the apparent locking out of Blackett from his office and the changing of the locks by “an intruder”.

But Maloney placed blame on a group of dissident members within the general council for the action.

He said: “We need to try our best to recover the confidence of the people of this country in this party. There are too many things that have been going on. And one of the other things that we agreed…there is a constitution, there are rules that we must follow. And so, we decided this afternoon that we will repose our confidence [in] the general secretary and the president.

“We have seen some things that have happened that are questionable. Before we jump off in the deep end, we need to make certain, because these are individuals who were voted in just last year. The membership of this organisation voted for these individuals.”

The DLP executive member continued: “What we are seeing is a group of persons who are members of the general council, in their right, making decisions without the general body being part of it.”

He acknowledged that differences and problems would occur within the party, but he insisted that the rules and processes must be followed.

“Let the processes work. So, it’s the message that you are sending: ‘If we don’t like you, we are going to get together as a group and we are going to suspend you, or we are going to do this.’ We are still waiting to hear what the charges are. You are suspending some person with no charges,” Maloney said.

He also expressed concern at the message the continuing “misbehaviour” of some senior party members was sending to younger people who have an interest in being part of the party’s work.

In response to the public perception that the damage has already been done by the warring factions within the DLP, Maloney said the organisation will continue to try to build consensus with society.

“This party that survived the last 69 years certainly will respond in a way that the public will understand that we are willing to work with you,” he said. “There are some problems that we have seen, and we are willing to address those problems. But we are not just going to throw things under the carpet and say they never existed.”

Also speaking to reporters after the executive meeting, Dr Yearwood issued a call for peace and unity in the DLP.

“I want to say to all Barbadians and to all Democratic Labour Party members let peace prevail. We have a job to do on behalf of the people. We want to come together in a sense of solidarity, in a sense of togetherness as the democratic party family that we know as we are,” the party leader pleaded.

He said that in difficult times, families come together where love and peace are more important than ever.

“We ask, let peace prevail,” the DLP president urged. “Let it reign and let us go forward and do our best for the people of this country. I will continue to work day and night on behalf of this great party, on behalf of the people of Barbados to ensure that there is a credible, functioning, working political party to provide them with, not only the opposition but to provide them with a vision of the future that they can want for themselves and their family.”

In the midst of these developments, the entire executive council, the president and general secretary have no-confidence motions hanging over their heads.

Veteran member Hartley Reid in April filed a no-confidence motion calling for the removal of Dr Yearwood, Blackett and the party’s entire executive council. The motion was deemed flawed by the executive council.

A week later, Blackett hit back with two resolutions, one calling for the revocation of the membership of political leader Ralph Thorne and his immediate expulsion from the DLP. The second was a motion of confidence in Dr Yearwood.

emmanueljoseph@barbadostoday.bb