President of the Democratic Labour Party (DLP), Dr Ronnie Yearwood, has called on Barbadians to give the party a chance to help restore democracy to the island.
Yearwood was speaking in the end of year DLP media conference held at their headquarters located in George Street, St Michael, on Thursday. He said any public discontent with the Government was in vain while it was unopposed.
“The reality is our democracy is not functioning and it has not been functioning properly since 2018. That is just where we are,” he said.
“People have expectations of the Democratic Labour Party, which I understand, and we have expectations of ourselves, but that can only work in partnership. The Prime Minister talked about giving her the vote and watching her. That is not the mission that I want. ”
The President of the DLP stressed that he wanted to do things differently in politics in Barbados, with a greater onus being on collaboration between all entities.
“I actually want to start a new ethos and a new thinking in politics in Barbados. The only way that this democracy will work, the only way that this DLP will work, the only way that Barbados will work is if we all work together. There has to be an understanding that the DLP is not just the George Street Headquarters or the three people sitting here. The party is the country and the country is the party.”
Yearwood continued: “Our supporters and our members have to engage and give of their all to the party because it is not only about the survival of the party, it is about how our democracy continues to function in the normal way that it should function and we know that is not happening. We know the Government is failing in terms of consulting the people of Barbados on major issues.
“We know that the legislation has been botched many times- think about the new National Insurance and Social Security Service and the fact that the whole Bill had to be repealed and brought back or the fact that two years in we still don’t have a new Republic Constitution despite we announced we were a republic. All of these are issues facing the country on top of the economic issues and the daily bread and butter issues.”
After being in office since 2008, the DLP lost the next two elections without winning a single seat in the House of Assembly.
Yearwood said it was tough rebuilding a party from such circumstances, but the DLP was “functioning”, and the office at the renovated party headquarters was open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. He said except for two or three, the various branches in the constituencies were working and candidate selection would commence next week.
He said after working their 9 to 5s, members then spent a lot of time on the business of the party and Barbados, telling his online audience that while they were sleeping, the DLP was working for them.
Yearwood was elected DLP President on May 1, 2022 after party elections were held. In August 2023, he retained leadership, as 422 votes secured him another two years at the helm. (JC)