Kudos to Arthur

Former Prime Minister of Barbados Owen Arthur is bowing out of active politics, and even though they were on opposite sides of the political divide, Prime Minister Freundel Stuart has expressed his appreciation and gratitude to Arthur for all he has done for this country.

He was addressing those gathered at Mile and a Quarter, St. Peter on Sunday night as the Democratic Labour Party’s candidate for St. Peter, Dave Cumberbatch, opened his branch office. PM Stuart said Arthur, who served as Prime Minister for 14 years and spent 34 unbroken years in the House of Assembly – first as a Member of Parliament (MP) for the Barbados Labour Party and the last three and a half years as an Independent, is deserving of recognition.

Stuart’s comments came as he noted that Arthur is one of only seven persons in Barbados to have attained the office of Prime Minister, and in that he holds a certain level of uniqueness as well. According to Stuart, the outgoing St. Peter MP is the only Prime Minister of Barbados who has sat in Parliament with every other Prime Minister of this country. Stuart noted that Arthur, who was first elected to Parliament in 1984 when the late J.M.G.M ‘Tom’ Adams was Prime Minister, also saw the late Sir Harold St. John take that post, as well as the late Errol Barrow, Sir Lloyd Erskine Sandiford, the late David Thompson and Stuart himself, who took office following the death of Thompson in 2010.

He made the point while contending that it is unfortunate that the House of Assembly did not get the opportunity to acknowledge the outgoing MP’s contribution before it dissolved on March 6. PM Stuart explained that though Arthur appreciated the gesture, he declined to have the tribute at that time given that all of the MPs would not have been present. This was because the BLP, which he once led, had declared coming onto the end of the Estimates debate last month that it would not be returning to Parliament.

Stuart added, “He felt that if they whom he had served, they who he had fought for, who he had helped to become successes in their respective areas of political endeavour, if they were not going to be there to say thanks to him, he did not see why the Democratic Labour Party should have to do it.”

The PM said that as a Party and Parliament the DLP wanted to “pay respectful tribute” to him. However, he made it clear that their intention was not to behave as though they were “on some Damascus Road and struck down by any bright light”, as Arthur had been their adversary for many years, but he maintained that 34 years of parliamentary life, 14 as Prime Minister, counts for something and should be acknowledged.

“I am saying thanks to him for all that he has done for Barbados. We have fought battles, we have had our battles. Philosophically we were poles apart on certain issues… but he served Barbados as best he knew and we thank him for what he has done not only as Member of Parliament for St. Peter, but as Prime Minister of Barbados,” PM Stuart added.

Similar sentiments were expressed earlier by Minister of Finance and Economic Affairs, Christopher Sinckler, who told the gathering that Arthur’s contribution should not be overlooked, as he knows firsthand the complexities that come with running an economy in a small country with limited resources and very few natural resources.

“We thank him for his work in Barbados and expanding Barbados’ economy and doing whatever he did, and I hope he has a long and happy retirement. At least we in the Dems wish him that, the people in his party don’t wish him that, they would like to [cross] him out and blank him out of history. But we’re not going to allow them to do that though and the people of St. Peter are not going to allow them to do that, because they are going to elect Dave Cumberbatch as a fitting replacement for him,” he said. (JRT)