Owen Arthur refuses to meet Mia Mottley

(Barbados Nation) Mia Mottley is taking her latest rejection by party leader Owen Arthur in stride.

Twenty-four hours after Barbados Labour Party chief Owen Arthur refused to meet with her, Mottley said it is clear to the country she is trying to bring healing to the BLP.

“I tried. That’s all I can say,” Mottley told NATIONNews today.

The long-serving MP for St Michael North East on Monday requested a personal meeting with Arthur to discuss the on-going controversy involving colleague and St James North representative Rawle Eastmond, as well as some other party issues.

But today it was reported that, Arthur, the former Prime Minister, who deposed Mottley as Opposition Leader in 2010, denied Mottley’s request, saying Eastmond would have to follow the party’s constitution and be nominated to run for a seat he has won in the last five general elections.

Arthur also said he would not be meeting with Mottley regarding any other issues.

“In the interest of the country, and of the party, I sought to meet with Mr Arthur. I tried, and the country has seen that,” Mottley said in response to Arthur’s rejection.

Opting not to reveal her next move, a calm sounding Mottley said the next move isn’t hers.

“We will just have to sit back and see what the future holds,” Mottley concluded.

Eastmond, who has been the MP for the area since 1991, has declared he will not be part of an open nomination once the voters list remains padded, and impure.

He has received public support from Mottley, as well as the party’s former general secretary, Cynthia Forde.

At a St Michael North nomination meeting two weeks ago, a pumped up Arthur said there would be no perpetual candidates in the BLP, and all prospective candidates would have to follow the party’s constitution and be part of a nomination process, just like he did.