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Party could have a new president by May 1

by Barbados Today
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The two candidates vying for leadership of the country’s second oldest political organisation are both eminently qualified to restore the party to a place of prominence,  interim president Steve Blackett declared Thursday.

As the Democratic Labour Party (DLP) named former government minister Dr David Estwick and law lecturer Dr Ronnie Yearwood as the only people in the race, Blackett slammed critics of the party’s rebuilding efforts.

Ahead of an extraordinary conference early next month, he said not even Jesus of Nazareth would be a fitting leader in the eyes of some pundits.

“The Hartley Henrys and the Dr George Belles of this world will never have anything positive to say about the Democratic Labour Party. Our existence does not depend on people like that,” Blackett told Barbados TODAY.

Henry, a leading strategist who has worked for the Barbados Labour Party during its most recent political campaigns, said a recent DLP shortlist was evidence that the party was “out of sync” with the demands of the Barbadian electorate.

Late last week, Dr Estwick, Dr Yearwood, business executive Ryan Walters and lawyer Francis DePeiza, had been reported as candidates, though they were only nominees who had neither declined nor accepted.

At the time, Henry said the four candidates were “basic” and “could not capture the attention of the party’s base”. On the other hand, Dr Belle, who has been critical of the Dems in recent times, reserved judgement on the four people.

“If Jesus Christ of Nazareth came back to this earth and presented himself as a prospective candidate of the Democratic Labour Party, I believe that Hartley Henry and George Belle would say that he is not good enough because he came from Nazareth, he was the son of a carpenter, and he was not of the ilk to fill the eyes of people of Barbados,” said Blackett.

“As far as I am concerned as the interim president, I ignore people like that. We are getting on with the business of the Democratic Labour Party as you have seen here this morning and we are doing what we have to do to re-emerge as a political force in this country. We hear them because we are not deaf. That is all I will say to them,” he added.

Blackett acknowledged that in the absence of a sitting parliamentary group, the question of political leadership would have to be explored in contrast with the office of party president.

Nevertheless, he expressed confidence that either Dr Estwick or Dr Yearwood would serve the country well.

“In any part of this hemisphere or beyond this hemisphere and two persons of the character and ilk of Dr David Estwick and Dr Ronnie Yearwood had emerged as prospective leaders in those jurisdictions, the people of those countries would be happy and honoured to have them,” said Blackett.

“Only in Barbados, you can look at some person of the ilk of Dr Ronnie Yearwood and Dr David Estwick and say that they are of no calibre to lead this country.

“Our two candidates who have emerged all have the qualifications, they all have the political savvy to take the party forward. Whichever one the rank and file members of the party decide on, I believe that they will do us well. I am excited about the prospects of this party. The party is down at this stage and the only way from down is up. I suspect that we are on the rise like a phoenix rising up from the ashes, this Democratic Labour Party will do well,” Blackett added.

During a press conference at the party’s George Street, St Michael headquarters, former DLP first vice president Irene Sandiford-Garner clarified reports that Walters and DePeiza had dropped out of the presidential race.

The election planning committee member said that the four names that emerged in some sections of the media were nominated by some of the party’s 30 branches, consistent with the election process, but had not indicated whether they were interested in the position.

“In this instance, they were asked to have special meetings, given the resignation of comrade [Verla] De Peiza, to nominate persons who they would wish to see contend for the post of president. Those names that the media would have gotten hold of, we did not announce those names because people do not like to have their personal or political business in public unless they themselves are ready. So those names came to us as nominees,” Sandiford-Garner explained.

She said such reports could “endanger people’s livelihoods”.

“Their political life is their political life, but when their names come out there because somebody thinks they have a special scoop, it becomes dangerous for that individual. So we have to be very cognisant of these little things that can cause big problems for people,” she warned.

During the special conference on May Day, the party will hear from numerous distinguished Barbadians including former principal of the UWI Cave Hill Campus The Most Honourable Professor Eudine Barriteau, Canada-based economist Carlos Forte, and director with pharmaceutical giant Johnson and Johnson Rose-Anne Blenman-Abange. kareemsmith@barbadostoday.bb

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