A political consultant in Barbados is questioning the decision of Bishop Joseph Atherley to become the Opposition Leader, one week after he was elected as a member of the victorious Barbados Labor Party (BLP) that swept the May 24 general elections, winning all 30 seats in the Parliament.
Atherley, the Member of Parliament for St Michael West constituency, has already brushed aside suggestions that he had decided on his new position because he was not made a member of the Mia Mottley Cabinet.
“It is definitely not a reaction to that. I have indicated that to the Prime Minister and to my other parliamentary colleagues. It is definitely not a repudiation of the Barbados Labor Party platform or policies,” Atherley said,
Still committed to BLP?
But Peter Wickham, the principal director of the Barbados-based regional research political company, Caribbean Development Research Services (CADRES), told the Caribbean Media Corporation (CMC) that while it was “almost predictable” as in the case of other Caribbean countries that someone from the ruling party would move in to fill the opposition benches “Bishop Atherley has indicated he is still committed to the Barbados Labor Party. Nonetheless, he has chosen to take a position on the opposition benches. The whole move defies logic. I don’t think there’s a lot of political logic behind it.”
Last weekend, Mottley said she was exploring the possibility of amending the Constitution to allow for the opposition party with the most votes to nominate two members to the Senate. The move was seen as allowing the Democratic Labor Party (DLP), which formed the last government, of having a presence in the Parliament. But Bishop Atherley, the head of the Evangelical Holiness Christian Community Church, said he would be appointing two senators soon, as he is now the Opposition in parliament.
Conspiracy theories
Wickham said he had been aware of “conspiracy theories” that Atherley’s actions were to ensure that the DLP is not represented at all within the Parliament. But he said his information indicates the leadership of the BLP is not comfortable with the situation where the main opposition party is not represented in the Parliament and “therefore the idea that they would have conspired with Bishop Atherley to block the Democratic Labor Party is not something I am convinced about.”
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