Hallowe’en In Barbados – Scary Prospects? October 2011 Vs. 2010, what difference has Owen Arthur made?

by AirBourne / October 30th, 2011

While segments of the Print Media highlighted to an almost Beatific or Canonical state the 1st Anniversary of former PM David Thompson’s death, none of them mentioned the October Revolution… No, not Moscow, I mean when Gline “White Boys“ Clarke {Wonder how the Bees will get monies for next Elections NOW??}, Dale “Ankle Holster“ Marshall {Sharper than a Serpent’s...}, George “Roy Morris” Payne & Ronald Toppin formed a cabal with Owen ‘Just Gimme Another Chance, Man‘ Arthur to become the Flatulent Five, when this sorry lot joined forces many saw the move to be in the wings should a snap election be called for the sympathy vote for the passing of Thompson – many suspect the cowardly crew may have believed the current status of the economy would override the loss of the DLP’s spearhead and if the Bell rang? Then five more years in Bay Street, yet here they are still in the wilderness facing voting not until constitutionally due in January 2013…

There are other wags who feel Owen Arthur can share a costume with Arnold Schwarznegger - both attained political power under shaky circumstances (Schwarzenegger got to be Gov of Calif via their Total Recall rather than elective standards) and both want to resume their previous careers... AKA; "I'LL BE BACK!"

Spewing wind with nothing to back them up, the so-called group did little other than rage against the night signifying nothing… Not even sound nor fury! No wonder so many chose to call them the Flatulent Five – all that was done is to look at past glories and the few accomplishments that not even all of them can lay claim to, merely ride the coat-tails thereof.

This move by Arthur only reinforced in the minds of many he brought nothing new to the table, since after the Senate re-vamp (where the previous holders discovered the change via Radio News) there was no subsequent statement on what form his Shadow Cabinet would take...

It can be said in his favour, how Owen Arthur relied on Mia Mottley’s counsel in some ways – like when during his first few days as Opposition Leader, he at least installed Santia Bradshaw in the Upper Chamber as the Entertainment honcho, which is how she was considered in Mia’s Shadow Cabinet. Some pundits questioned the sagacity in reinstating Kerrie Symmonds to the Upper Chamber given his rather acrimonious separation & divorce which led to his rapid departure from the Senate (which remains fresh in the minds of many Barbadians, whose tongues still wag and make quiet jokes over car seat covers when recalling the incidents that led to Symmonds’ hasty resignation).

While recognising that Culture as a profitable industry was an astute assessment by Mia Mottley who groomed Santia for handling Culture as a business, Arthur decides his stamp must be set in looking at foreign trade as a valid commodity; so he dragged the BLP’s reputation by inserting a personality some view as a DLP re-tread, considering Symmonds’ vicious “Cuh Dear” attack (where he referred to the BLP’s female MP’s as 1,000 Lbs of Blubber – a slur Liz Thompson {Scorpion} never forgot) in a prior election as the Democratic Labour Party’s General Secretary.

Enough hot air to power Barbados longer than Mangrove's natural gas could ever pump - most of the Flatulent Five at Roebuck St, the night of October 18th...

There are audience members who even go so far as to allege the same Symmonds (while under the orbit of George Street machinations), went so far that same night as to examine the children of a former Attorney General to get the crowd to decide whose physical gender was commensurate with their mental persona – in the 21st century, does this have any bearing on running a country? If this is how Symmonds chose to earn ballots, one can only wonder how effective his foreign policy truly is, given that many countries nowadays are LGBT-tolerant and have legislature to reflect same. Some only conduct trade with other nations if other territories reciprocate!

What is even worse, the move reflected another serious lack in Arthur’s purported strategy… Where is the Shadow Cabinet? How come none has been defined from 18 October 2010 up to now? Despite assurances to the contrary from Arthur himself?

Where are his reconstructive plans for Barbados? Has he outlined a strategy for recovery and lay it before the Business community? Why did Owen say he did not expect the Flatulent Five to be formed, when he was carefully laying groundwork for a return since February 2010 at a Royal Fidelity lecture? Apart from that, at BLP meetings in early 2010 when Mottley was not in attendance at certain sessions, it was only then he would ask for another chance – like a lover whose prowess has gone flaccid and has to rely on Cialis or Levitra to flag a dead issue?

While Mara Thompson has enough grace to attend the LIME Pelican Football Challenge or make a donation to the Lynden's Children's Home - would she even want to hear the name Gilkes far less a Parliamentary soliloquy which insults the memory of your late husband?

Arthur’s poor decision making skills were equally apparent in the BLP’s AGC awards this weekend when he accredited former Public Relations Officer of the Bees, Raquel Gilkes, a prize? The same woman who got a lifetime ban in Barbados Free Press for referring to Mara Thompson as a ‘heifer‘ and also deploying what turned out to be Rihanna’s favourite epithet, “C*NT“?

So, is by extension, the BLP rewarding tribalism at its Lowest Common (boy, do we mean common) Denominator? Is this what Arthur endorses? A political landscape with a chasm rivalling the Marianas trench? As opposed to a respectful camaraderie that allows for dissent, like Barrow and Adams of the 80’s then Mottley and Thompson in the 2000’s of this century?

The times they are a changin’ is fairly true with it getting scarier each day, who do you choose – a somnambulent zombie like Freundel Stuart or, hang on, what IS Owen Arthur?? If the ex-leader was transformed by Hallowe’en, it could be a vampire since he is trying to siphon energy from others’ efforts rather than create his own, even if he was a vampire, there are many who feel he should go to ground and not re-emerge as Dracula did in the end, which is to say; stop being a pain in the ash…

There are some on Facebook who believe Arthur's Hallowe'en costume should be that of Fidel Castro - both got in by coups and both should have retired ever since!

It’s doubtful he’d change into a werewolf, since the alpha in the pack initiates and does not react. It is more than likely he’d become a Pointer, since all that dog can really do is just indicate where the problem is -let’s be honest, Arthur is great at finding how his previous mechanisms were broken and he also used Mia Mottley‘s policies when they reinforced his conniving… But if you must be a creature in Politics, is a Pointer the best way to draw a country from a physical/ mental/ spiritual miasma of the Undead? Does any Bee genuinely feel the Flatulent Five can make a difference considering they had almost a decade and a half to make it right? Talk about an ill wind… Barbados is indeed ripe for All Hallow’s Eve!