JOSEPH SAYS ALP IS UNITED

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Politics

Monday, 04 June 2012 02:30

By Everton Barnes

Antigua St John's - Opposition member for St Mary’s North, Molwyn Joseph, and one of the men said to be jockeying for the leadership of the Antigua Labour Party, is dismissing suggestions that the party is disunited.

Speaking on Sunday’s Big Issues programme on Observer Radio, Joseph said recent conflicting public statements issued by senior members of the party was more an issue of disagreement rather than disunity.

“What’s going on in the ALP is more a question of disagreement rather than disunity. These should not however distract us from our goal of holding the government accountable for its actions,” he stated.

Last week, an ALP motion of No Confidence in the leadership of Prime Minister, Baldwin Spencer, failed to reach the floor of the House of Representatives after the mover, ALP leader Lester Bird, did not return to the sitting of the house due to ill health.

That act raised the spectre of an aging and ailing Bird and his ability to withstand the rigors of a general elections and governing should his party succeed at the next poll in 2014.

Immediately after the motion was aborted in the House, both Joseph and St Phillip North representative, Robin Yearwood, issued a joint public statement which they claimed was designed to calm party faithfuls that ‘all is not lost as the fight continues’.

The following day, ALP chairman Gaston Browne, issued a separate statement suggesting among other things that the statement by Joseph and Yearwood was their way of making a case for a leadership convention. Both men replied separately to Browne’s statement claiming that it was he, Browne, who really wanted the convention since they had not made a call for one.

These disagreements have been played out in the public domain giving rise to fears that the discord is symptomatic of a deeper problem of serious disagreements among the leadership of the party.

Political scientist, Dr George Bell of Barbados, said what may be happening in the ALP is a situation where the leader is not able to stamp his authority on the organization. He said a leader must have the vitality to lead, although, he cautioned, he does not subscribe to the notion that because a person is of an advanced age, that that person cannot lead.

He said the public disagreements among the leadership represent a challenge to the existing leader. “When a party is in opposition, it is more likely for the factions to voice their positions. It is when people would more openly challenge the existing leader,” he noted.

The intellectual added that a united party reflects a strong leader and a party where factions are openly contending is a party not yet ready to take over the leadership of the country.

He said an opposition party must quickly deal with the issue of factionalism if it is to exploit whatever weaknesses there may be in the governing party.

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