Senior Minister Criticizes Opposition Leader's Political Actions in Christ Church South
September 5, 2024
Senior Minister Kerrie Symmonds criticizes Opposition Leader Ralph Thorne for leaving the Barbados Labour Party, citing issues with his choice of DLP colleagues and treatment of long-time party members.
Senior Minister Kerrie Symmonds recently condemned the actions of Opposition Leader Ralph Thorne, saying his former parliamentary colleague had abandoned not just the Barbados Labour Party, but also the people of the Christ Church South constituency he still represents.
Speaking at the nomination meeting for Senator Dr Shantal Munro-Knight as the new BLP candidate for the constituency at St Christopher’s Primary School, Symmonds lambasted Thorne for joining the Democratic Labour Party (DLP) and then having the gumption to name former ministers Richard Sealy and Dr David Estwick as spokespersons in a shadow cabinet.
“When Ralph Thorne was going to run in 2018, he said it was morally reprehensible that streets in Worthing (Christ Church) could be desecrated with people living with sewage in the streets. Can you imagine you can live to see the day that after all we have done to fix the constituency, that he would pick the same Richard Sealy and David Estwick in a shadow cabinet?”
The St James Central Member of Parliament said he did not have to remind any Barbadian about Sealy and ministerial colleague John Boyce choosing to bathe along the South Coast six years ago, claiming there was no sewage issue when that was not the case.
“We had to fix the Bridgetown Sewerage Project too,” the attorney noted.
He also found fault with the actions of Thorne as the political leader of the DLP, based on what transpired at the party’s annual general conference last week Sunday.
“It was sad to see what happened to Undene Whittaker, who served that party for 47 years. Miss Mapp, we can’t forget Miss Mapp that served them faithfully, denied access even to pass water. We can’t forget Miss Mapp in the bus commercial. The pleasure is no longer theirs is Ralph Thorne’s democracy. That is how he practises democracy,” Symmonds charged. Whittaker, a long-standing DLP member, was not allowed into the general conference that Sunday, and was subsequently sent a warning letter by the DLP after holding a press conference, during which she claimed women in the party had not been treated justly.
