Barbados PM not bothered by pending no-confidence motion

Prime Minister Freundel Stuart says he is not worried at plans by the main opposition Barbados Labour Party (BLP) to file a motion of no confidence in his Administration.

“This is the third no-confidence motion that is being brought by the leader of the Opposition since the DLP (Democratic Labour Party) came into office. The first was brought against the late David Thompson, one was brought against Minister of Finance Chris Sinckler and this is the third one now,” he told supporters over the weekend.

Last Friday, BLP leader Mia Mottley told a news conference that over the past 13 weeks, Barbados has been on auto-pilot “lurching from crisis to crisis”.

“We cannot have a government by stealth, a government by rumour and a government by anonymity,” BLP and Opposition Leader Mottley said, adding that this all adds up to “no government at all”.

She told reporters that there was a “culture of silence” within the government “which is unacceptable given the dire state of affairs in the country today”.“This motion of no confidence is not about having the parliamentary majority, because we clearly do not have the parliamentary majority, but it is about bringing the facts to the people of the country because Barbadians deserve the right to be able to determine their future and their destiny,” she added.

But Prime Minister Stuart, addressing the monthly meeting of the St Michael South Branch of the DLP, said the motion of no confidence had more to do with Mottley’s fear of the outcome of the BLP’s elections for a new executive of the party in October.

“There is a corps of people in the parliamentary group of the BLP committed to having Mottley removed as leader. Now that is not any secret, that is very well known. They do not hide their mouths and, as a result of that, the people who advise her, have decided that the best way to deal with that threat is to try and get rid of all the people in the parliamentary group who do not support her.

“They have reasoned that if they bring a no confidence motion — even though you do not support her because it is a parliamentary debate that would have been inspired by the opposition — even those persons who do not support her would be forced to line up behind her and vote on the no confidence motion,” Stuart added.

In the 2013 general election, the ruling DLP won 16 of the 30 seats in the parliament.