Barbados MP shares austerity lessons with Dominican party

Wednesday, March 3, 2004

ROSEAU, Dominica: Barbadian opposition MP David Thompson used a delegates' conference in Dominica on Sunday to pass on the harsh lessons learnt by his Democratic Labour Party in implementing austerity measures while in government to the ruling Dominica Labour Party (DLP). 

David Thompson told the local DLP in an eastern village of Grand Fond that supporters deserted his party in the 1991 general election because of Barbados' economic situation in 1991.

Thompson explained that some Democrats were disappointed with the economic recovery programme his administration had engaged the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and they sided with the opposition Barbados Labour Party that has held office in Barbados since then. 

''We had the IMF in, we did something that needed to be done and what happen to us and must not happen to you all is that some people couldn't stay the course, and they voted against the party and brought down the government, so another party benefited from the sweets, the hard work,'' he lamented.

Thompson, one of three guest speakers at the conference, urged hundreds of supporters decked in the DLP's red shirts to brace themselves for the ''long haul'' that involves sacrifice and bitterness. 

''It's long days of sacrifice and criticism and bitterness from quarters you never expected even some of your own who are not there for the long haul,'' he warned. 

Another guest speaker St. Vincent's reigning Unity Labour Party MP Clayton Burgins called on rank and file members of the DLP to defend their party at all cost despite the ''stark'' and ''harsh'' conditions the island is facing. 

''Rally round your party never mind what the situation may be, no matter what difficulties you currently face or may have faced in the past, no matter what difficulties you're encountering at this moment.

''And no matter how stark and harsh the conditions are, you have to support each other and defend your party and representatives at all cost,'' he urged. 

Antiguan government senator and general secretary of the Antigua Labour Party Llewelyn Smith also spoke at the event that elected Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit as political leader of the DLP. The 31-year-old educator replaces the late Prime Minister Pierre Charles who died in January. 

Agriculture and the Environment Minister Ambrose George has been retained as deputy political leader, while business executive Gerard Cools-Lartigue remains the party's president.

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