Political leader of the Democratic Labour Party Ralph Thorne has declared that the party is a victim of “political terrorism”.
Stating that the current infighting has its origins in the governing Barbados Labour Party (BLP), Thorne said that the 69-year-old opposition party is under threat.
“My party is under threat, this country is under threat and democracy in this place is under threat,” Thorne said at a zone meeting in St Michael South Central on Sunday night at the St Michael School. “All that is going on, I want to suggest to you that it has its connections beyond the parameters of this party.
“There are tentacles reaching into this great Democratic Labour Party. One by one we are discovering who they are. Join together and build strong perimeters around this party and reject those tentacles that are stretching from the Barbados Labour Party into this party.
“If they come through a window we close the window on them. If they come through a door we close the door on them. When Mia Mottley’s party’s tentacles are stretching all the way to George Street, you will be resistant.”
The Leader of the Opposition admitted that people had all right and reason to be upset with the party.
“People should be upset with us. Why are we allowing this to happen to us? Tonight I speak on behalf of this party, I speak on behalf of the constitution of this party. We do not consider any member an enemy. We consider a member an enemy only when he wraps himself in the tentacles that stretch from the BLP.”
Even in the face of these challenges, Thorne insisted that the party intends to move forward.
“I met with the branches at party headquarters last Wednesday. I told them that we have work to do. I described to them as the engine room; the part of the ship that people don’t like visiting. It is not glamorous. Many times it is untidy and filled with grease and grime and it is hot but without the engine room, the ship cannot move.”
He added: “I reminded them that they have a primary responsibility for this party and this country. I went into the engine room and I told them it is their responsibility to prepare us and to prepare this country for the quality of persons who we see here on this platform tonight.
“There will be tussles, there will be personal victories and personal disappointments, but when we draft that manifesto and you see 30 names, those 30 names would have passed through the engine room,” Thorne told the packed St Michael School hall.
The political leader assured the party faithful that the DLP is “making itself ready for the next general election”.
“We are preparing this party for a democratic candidate selection process in which the branches must have an input,” he declared. (IMC)
