(Barbados Nation) Former Prime Minister Owen Arthur handed in his resignation to the Barbados Labour Party (BLP) yesterday, but will be serving out the rest of his parliamentary term as an independent representative.
Arthur was alone when he arrived at the BLP’s Roebuck Street, St Michael headquarters yesterday morning. He said it was with a heavy heart that he was leaving the party, but it had lost its soul and its way.
The Member of Parliament for St Peter said he thought “long and hard” before making the decision.
In an interview with The Nation on Thursday, Arthur said he would soon be making an announcement about his political future.
“I am tired of being the source of discord in the Barbados Labour Party and I am going to have to put myself in a position where I am no longer in such a context,” he said. Arthur was conspicuously absent from the BLP’s march against the municipal solid waste tax on Thursday. He said he could not do so, because as Prime Minister, he had introduced an environmental levy to deal with a wide range of issues facing the country at that time, including the “Mount Stinkeroo” situation.
“I am the only person in Barbados who could not with honour have been part of a march which could take action against the Government for seeking to raise resources to finance environmental solutions,” he added.
