February 16, 2024
We believe Prime Minister Mia Mottley when she said she had no clue why one of her backbencher MP’s decided to defect. We believe her. Oftentimes, power does strange things to a person’s head. We also believe Ms Mottley may be too stuck in her own head to see the people around her for who they are.
We believe that the defector, the Member of Parliament for Christ Church South, Ralph Thorne, saw enough of Ms Mottley to say to himself that he is disgusted with her leadership. It happens. Jealousy happens. At that high levels, it is for high stakes.
We also believe that Mr Thorne may have a brain of his own and decided to stand out and create the opposition that Ms Mottley needs. Afterall, Mottley’s Barbados Labour Party (BLP) has all of the seats in the parliament. That cannot be good at any time in any democracy.
In any event, Mr Thorne has not said how he will approach the position of Leader of the Opposition. Will he join the other major political party in that of the Democratic Labour Party? Will a new, third party emerge? Or is he just standing in the gap because no one else in the BLP has the balls to stand up to Ms Mottley? We have no clue, but it sure is getting interesting in Barbados.