Since I last posted, we had a former PM going at it with his former deputy, and now Ms. Rih-Rih has broken her silence on the Chris Brown debacle, just in time to promote her new album....
Anyhoo, first things first.
The Owen Arthur/Mia Mottley "showdown" was an eye opener, not so much for what was said, but for what really wasn't said. Let me break it down for you folks who aren't clued into the political scene in Bimshire.
For about 14 years and up until January 1998, Barbados was led by Prime Minister Owen Arthur. In the latter stage of his administration, he had as his Deputy Mia Mottley. However, prior to the last election, he overlooked Mottley in favour of former Opposition Leader (yes I said Opposition Leader) Clyde Mascoll to be the co-leader of the Barbados Labour Party.
When the BLP's plans for re-election went to hell in a handbasket, it was alleged that that party decided to do some bloodletting, and Arthur was the chief victim. Mia Mottley was named Leader of the Oppposition and Arthur faded quietly into the sunset.
Or so it was thought. Bear in mind, Owen Arthur still had his fans, and many still believed he was the best choice to lead the BLP. That led to all kinds of perceptions of a power struggle in the BLP camp, and Ms. Mia finally put her foot down and went public, requesting a referendum of her parliamentary council on who they wanted for a leader.
Arthur didn't turn up for the vote, which Mottley won, but the next day held a press conference and put his former deputy on blast.
"The challenge facing Ms Mottley and the party is not within the parliamentary group. The challenge is to have a leader who enjoys wide aceptance and acceptability in the wider society and wide acceptance in the parliamentary party.
"That cannot be resolved by a vote among the parliamentary group," he said.
Arthur advised that his former protégée now needed to "recognise that there are things that you may like to do that could affect the standing of your party"; prepare herself for the fact that everybody was not going to like her; and immerse herself and "work harder than anybody else".
In typical Arthur style, he appeared to state his lack of interest in contesting Mottley's leadership of the party, but in fact threw her to the wolves by raising a lot of unanswered questions. And what did he mean by Mottley needing to "recognise that there are things that you may like to do that could affect the standing of your party"? You better ask a friend here in Bim, 'cause I ain't touching that one....
And now Ms. Robyn Rihanna Fenty. Girlfriend has finally gone public about her treatment at the hands of what's his name, sitting down with Diane Sawyer in an interview that will air on ABC'S 20/20 tonight. Snippets have hit the web, and I've posted two for you below.
Serious stuff. You all know Brown's camp is going to retaliate in some way, with his album coming out in a few weeks. Keep your chin up, Rih-Rih.
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