Democratic Labour Party (DLP) Shadow Cabinet Restructuring Empowers Party's Voices in Barbados Parliament

The Democratic Labour Party’s (DLP) recently announced Shadow Cabinet will be restructured in a way which empowers the party’s voices in the House of Assembly and the Senate.

Leader of Opposition, Ralph Thorne, made the announcement this morning during a media conference at his office, located at the Thomas Daniel Building in Hincks Street in Bridgetown. He said it would be contradictory for the DLP to criticise the size of the Government’s Cabinet only for them to have one at the same size.

Instead, the Member of Parliament for Christ Church South outlined what the next course of action would be.

“We propose to divide all areas of Government (among) the three of us, myself and the two Senators (Tricia Watson and Ryan Walters) and each of us will be a chairperson over those portfolios,” Thorne said. “Those portfolios would be extended to spokespersons across the party; candidates, potential candidates, persons of interests, professionals.

“I want to boast to Barbados now that in the past few months, we have attracted such a high quality of individuals, not necessarily high quality in terms of academia, but high quality in terms of moral content. We have attracted good Barbadians with an interest in this country, Barbadians who want a voice in this country and we are offering that voice to Barbadians at this high level of this country’s governance.”

He added: “That is how we are going to be responding to the Government through two or three Parliamentary voices and that those voices will be extended among a number of persons of expertise and interest and not only expertise and interest but experience. As I have said, we will not be focusing exclusively on academia, we are focusing on Barbadians of experience and knowledge because not all knowledge is borne within academia. A lot of knowledge springs from academia and all knowledge must be respected.”

On February 3, the DLP announced a 13-member Shadow Cabinet headed by president, Dr Ronnie Yearwood.

The party has been at the centre of drama since Thorne crossed the floor and joined the Opposition in February. Most recently DLP General Secretary Steve Blackett filed a no confidence motion against Thorne, the political leader, on Sunday during a member’s forum at the Errol Barrow Auditorium at George Street, St Michael.

However, Thorne believes that Barbadians are buoyed by the presence of an Opposition after several years without one.

“We have a lot of work to do. There is something happening in Barbados that remains a matter of concern. Since I have come to this office, I have had so many calls. One of the interesting things about those calls is that people are giving a religious and spiritual interpretation to our emergence as a parliamentary group. People are saying it seems as if God has had a hand in it and I do not scoff at that because Barbadians are very religious people.”

Despite that though, Thorne admitted to the press that the issues within the party have escalated matters into a national crisis and had to be resolved.