We are just days away from celebrating the life and legacy of our country’s first prime minister and Father of Independence Errol Walton Barrow – the man whom we hailed for decades as being the giant behind our post-Independence achievements, one of the greatest of which was free education.
While he led the Democratic Labour Party (DLP), the visionary was loved and embraced by Bajans from all walks of life regardless of their political allegiance.
So much so that in 1997, ten years after he died, there was great national uproar about an attempt to drop Errol Barrow Day, given the introduction of National Heroes Day a year later. The Most Honourable Stetson RPB Wiltshire expressed the sentiments of the majority of Bajans in his calypso, Issues of the Day: “Leave Errol Barrow Day right dey”.
Apart from the national holiday in his honour, he was named a National Hero, there is a statue built in his likeness, his image is on our $50 note, a section of the highway is named after him and the creative space at the University of the West Indies Cave Hill Campus bears his name.
It is totally understandable then, why the executive of the political party which he led would see it fitting to name their party base in his honour. The intent is plausible even if the execution is flawed.
The DLP believes it is preserving and honouring Barrow’s legacy. General Secretary Steve Blackett said a resolution was tabled, discussed, debated and passed at the party’s annual conference – the highest decisionmaking body of the party outside of the General Council – at the same auditorium, stating emphatically that “it was about time the auditorium was named after one of the founding fathers of our party and the Father of Independence, Errol Walton Barrow”.
According to a WhatApps message that purportedly originated from son David Barrow, the renaming goes against his father’s wishes.
It read in part: “It is visionary that the current name would be as non-partisan as it is possible to be in Barbados so as to enhance its wider commercial attractiveness which has benefited the party over the last approximately 40-plus years. I do not see how you can honour Errol Barrow by dishonouring his express wishes and yet seek to cloak yourselves in his legacy,”
So why did the DLP not reach out to the family and engage them formally in the first place? We note the apology after the fact.
But that is not good enough.
Why was objection to the renaming not done formally as well? Couldn’t official correspondence be sent to the party registering concerns? Was there no way that this issue could have been dealt with privately and managed properly.
We believe the entire saga could have been handled differently for a better outcome. We do not believe that either had ill-intent.
However, as it stands, with just a few days before Errol Barrow Day this disagreement is laid bare in the public domain – at a time when the focus should be on Barrow’s positive and overwhelming contribution as a statesman, when Bajans should be reminded of this champion who was determined to improve the lives and livelihoods of the poor, when we want to ensure that younger generations and generations to come are made aware of his significant work.
We have former DLP ministers and MPs speaking out and being quoted in the media registering their disagreement with the party’s official position. There is a clear divide on the issue, even within the bosom of the party.
One former minister declared that there are more pressing national issues affecting Barbadians which should engage the party’s attention.
Ironically, the DLP has repeatedly used Barrow’s legacy to remind the electorate of the great things which the party has done.
In recent times, the party stoutly objected to the proposal by the government to rename Independence Day.
But sadly, the party is now at the centre of an issue which has caught national attention and which is less than honourable to the legacy of the Father of Independence. And the timing could not be any poorer.
This row over the renaming certainly cannot be the mirror image the DLP wants the country to see.
This mirror image should never come from the party he led ahead of what would have been his 104th birthday.
This mirror image certainly is not doing credit to Barrow’s legacy.
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