PM not unnerved by no-confidence motion

PRIME Minister the Right Honourable Freundel Stuart says he is not unsettled by the most recent no-confidence motion led by Leader of the Opposition Barbados Labour Party, Mia Mottley.

In fact, the Prime Minister is suggesting that this motion has very little to do with the performance of the DLP-run government, but more so about the internal politics of the Barbados Labour Party.

 

His comments came during a St. Michael South branch meeting over the weekend where he noted that this is the third no-confidence motion to be filed by Mottley, since the DLP took over the government in 2008.

 

According to Prime Minister Stuart, “Her position is under threat. There is a corps of people in the parliamentary group of the BLP who have expressed commitment to having Ms Mottley removed as leader. That is not any secret, that is very well known.”

 

“The strategy is this, they have reasoned that if they bring a no-confidence motion, even though you don’t support her, because it is a parliamentary debate that would have been inspired by the Opposition, even those persons who don’t support her would be forced to line up against her and vote on the no-confidence motion.

 

“And all of this results from the worry that the Constitution of the BLP, requires that Ms. Mottley not stand for Office as chairman of the BLP at the upcoming party conference according to my advice, since she cannot stand for re-election because they have term limits in that regard, she is not going to be Chairman of the party when the party goes into general elections,” it was explained.

 

The Prime Minister told his party faithfuls that Mottley fears that whoever takes over the party in October of this year may reverse much of what has been done in the party, including the expulsion of Dr. Maria Agard, an act which he described as “political assassination”. “Her camp is afraid that Maria [Agard] will be brought back,” the Prime Minister predicted.

 

He told the audience that former Leader of the Party Owen Arthur was also threatened with expulsion, but resigned before this could occur. “So what they are saying is, look, we don’t have to win the next election, Ms. Mottley is still a relatively young woman, she can wait so let us clean out the cupboards of the BLP, all those people who don’t support her and let us try to rebuild the party in her image.”

 

He suggested that should the parliamentary group not fall in line, there will be a “carnival of expulsions” and a new crop of replacements will be brought in. (JH)