Owen Arthur’s last public act was standing up to Granger regime

Death of fmr Barbados PM

…caretaker President expresses “sadness” at his passing

Tributes have poured in for late former Prime Minister of Barbados, Owen Arthur. One such tribute has come from caretaker President David Granger, who on Monday expressed sadness over Arthur’s death.

In a statement on Monday, Granger recalled Arthur’s time as the leader of the 11-member Commonwealth Observer Mission for the March 2 General and Regional Elections. The statement gave a brief synopsis of Arthur’s background as former Prime Minister of Barbados.
“Mr Arthur, who served as Barbados’ fifth Prime Minister for three consecutive terms from 1994 to 2008, died this morning at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Barbados after a brief period of hospitalization. President Granger extends heartfelt sympathy to his wife Julie, daughters Sabrina and Leah, other relatives, friends and the people of Barbados,” the statement said.
“The former Barbadian Prime Minister led recently an 11-member Commonwealth Observer Mission for Guyana’s General and Regional Elections which were held in March. In February, Mr Arthur and the members of his observer team called on President Granger at the Ministry of the Presidency.”
But one of Arthur’s last acts in public life, witnessed by the world, was standing up against Granger’s Government and its intimidatory tactics against the elder statesman and his peers while he was in Guyana as Head of the Commonwealth observer team.

After the General and Regional Elections were held on March 2, 2020, the tabulation process went relatively smoothly for all the regions. That is until the process started in Region Four, the most populous region in the country.
Strange things began happening as the tabulation got underway at the Returning Office at Ashmins building, with Region Four Returning Officer (RO) Clairmont Mingo departing from the Statements of Poll (SoPs) and refusing to show how he was compiling his numbers, complaining of feeling unwell and being rushed to the hospital, and his deputy staff refusing to continue the tabulation for various reasons.
More drama followed as a GECOM staff was whisked away by Police after sneaking into a room with a flash drive and computer, only to be caught red-handed inputting data into the computer by vigilant observers. Eventually, the count was suspended.

Bravery
On March 5, in the midst of all this drama, Arthur along with a number of other diplomats and observers were gathered in a room at the Ashmins building when Foreign Affairs Minister Dr Karen Cummings entered the room. What followed after brought a crescendo of criticism raining down on the Government.
During the meeting, Cummings threatened to revoke the accreditation of foreign organisations who were there to observe the elections and tabulation of votes. She told the international observers that she was instructed to withdraw their accreditation, but she was not in agreement that it should be done; she did not reveal who gave her those instructions and why.
Her comments were made in the presence of some of the most powerful diplomats present in Guyana, including those from the ABCE countries; American Ambassador Sarah-Ann Lynch, United Kingdom High Commissioner Greg Quinn, Canadian High Commissioner Lilian Chatterjee and European Union (EU) Ambassador Fernando Ponz-Canto
However, her utterances were quickly countered by the observers in the room, who argued that her remarks are considered a form of intimidation and urged her to stop talking. After Cummings made faltering attempts to backtrack from her statement, Arthur had intervened and confronted the Foreign Affairs Minister.
“I speak on behalf of the Commonwealth, the largest organisation of people in the world, and I am not going to have, not me, the Commonwealth disrespected by a threat to take away the accreditation,” Arthur had declared.
Dr Cummings had then attempted to apologise. But Arthur had posited that “I am going to speak to the Commonwealth Secretary General shortly…and I have a duty to her to report accurately and I cannot now avoid speaking accurately”.
Moreover, at one point, Arthur held out his accreditation badge to Cummings, saying that he would hand it in voluntarily. As he continued to register his displeasure at the treatment meted out to them, Cummings was then handed a cell phone by Deputy Chief Elections Officer Roxanne Myers.
She spoke to someone on the line and was heard saying, “okay, I am coming out”. Dr Cummings had then exited the room. Everything was captured on video and APNU/AFC was forced to issue a subsequent statement apologising on her behalf.

Mettle
But Arthur would once again show his mettle against the APNU/AFC Government. Prior to current Chairman of the Caribbean Community (Caricom), Dr Ralph Gonsalves taking over from his predecessor Mia Mottley, Gonsalves had expressed hope that the certified results of the 33-day recount would be used to declare the winner of the elections.
The recount results show that the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) won the elections by 15,416 votes over APNU/AFC. This, therefore, did not sit well with APNU/AFC Campaign Manager Joseph Harmon, who proceeded to attack Gonsalves for his statements.
However, Arthur said in a subsequent interview with sections of Guyana’s media that Harmon should not be allowed to attack regional leaders as he is not a leader himself and further, his attacks undermine APNU/AFC’s credibility and what little goodwill it has. In fact, Arthur called Harmon a “mere utensil.”
“In this matter, Joe Harmon is a mere utensil and he is out of order to be speaking to Caribbean leaders in the way in which he is,” Arthur had said during an interview with Kaieteur radio back in June.
Arthur passed away at midnight on Monday at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, aged 70. The elder statesman was hospitalised earlier this month with heart complications and was said to be a patient at the Hospital’s Intensive Care Unit.
He led the country for an unprecedented three consecutive terms from 1994 to 2008, having served as Member of Parliament for the constituency of St Peter from 1984 to 2013. In 2013, Arthur announced that election would be his last after the Barbados Labour Party was defeated. (G3)