Former Editor Of The Advocate Newspaper Tells Of Victimization By Former Prime Minister Owen Arthur

Former Prime Minister Owen Arthur

Leader of the Opposition Mia Mottley issued a Press Release over the weekend which strongly condemned a recent position taken by the David Thompson led government. CEO’s and other political appointees at statutory boards are now expected to offer their resignations should there be a change in government. This position has created heated discussion in Barbados and in the Bajan blogosphere. Many on the government side have questioned the sincerity of Mottley’s position. One such person is Ruedon Eversley, a former Editor of the Advocate newspaper who was literally chased out of that job by former Prime Minister Owen Arthur. It is well known on Fontebelle that both newspapers parted company with thousands of dollars to Arthur and others of his government just to keep the “peace’, ooops it extended to River Road as well!

At the request of Reudon Eversley we have published his article in full. We have to say that if half the things mentioned in the article are true, it is not only an indictment on former Prime Minister Arthur but also on the people who surrounded at the time.

EVIL AS HELL THE LOT OF THEM

Reudon Eversley

The long dark night of the BLP has come to an end. May Barbados never see the likes of it again. By the way, I want to encourage other Barbadians who were similarly targetted by the BLP because they were Dems or were otherwise affiliated, to tell their story. Barbadians must get the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. It must no longer be kept under the carpet. So Mia Mottley is calling for justice for BLP supporters. Why didn’t she call for justice for me, when I was editor of the Advocate and was being persecuted almost on a daily basis by the BLP?

The full story of how I was treated by the Barbados Labour Party has not been told but I will do so one day and Barbadians will see what an authoritarian government we had. How we were on the brink of dictatorship because when the press is attacked and bullied into submission, freedom is always in danger.

Some ill-informed Barbadians said I was too big for my boots when I reported Owen Arthur to the World Press Freedom Committee. If you do not stand up for yourself, no one else will. If they only knew what was happening to me, they would have been in full agreement. The media in Barbados were afraid of carrying the story. They apparently did not want to experience the wrath of the BLP.

How many Barbadians know, for example, that the BLP complained to the Advocate’s management because I refused to eat their food at a media luncheon to launch their 1999 general election campaign? As a result, I was threatened with dismissal. Well, I sought legal advice and was prepared to sue the Advocate for breach of my human rights so they backed off.

Let me say that the then CEO of the Advocate Mr Metzgen was a decent man who recognized what was going on and tried to defend me. I cannot say the same for certain members of the then Board who seemed more eager to please the BLP than to defend their employee – see supporting documents submitted by Reudon Eversley.

Why would I want to eat from the BLP ? Their yardfowls used to leave the most foul messages on my voicemail, telling me they are going to get my … you know what .. out of the Advocate because I am a Dem. They could have easily poisoned me had I eaten their food and I certainly was not going to expose myself to that risk. I have my children to live for.

The BLP wanted someone else to be editor of the Advocate. I never asked why the person in question did not get the job. I knew I was chosen on the basis of my professional track record, qualifications and vision. Systems Caribbean Ltd., after interviewing a short list, recommended me for the job. And, let me say this, without blowing my trumpet, the Advocate made a dramatic turn-around under my leadership. The record is there.

I have a copy of a letter which Owen Arthur personally wrote to my chairman. I have kept it so that my grandchildren one day will see how this man tried to take bread out of my mouth. And I had done nothing wrong. He called my office one morning hopping mad. I told him I had just come in for the day and had neither pen nor paper in my hand to take notes of what he was saying. His letter, claiming I was disrespectful, said I told him I was taking no note of what he had to say. Different meaning!

When all the crap was happening, I spoke to a certain well-connected BLP person and he told me they would have a problem with me because David Thompson is my friend. Imagine that? In fact, he even went as far as to tell me that I was on the phone in my office talking to David Thompson two days before, which was true. Talking to David Thompson was obviously a sin in the BLP’s books. Now, the person could have only found out this information from two sources: either the BLP had someone in the Advocate’s newsroom who was spying on me and reporting back to them or they had my telephone bugged.

I will have more to say later and it will make uncomfortable reading or listening for Owen Arthur. I will relate an experience which convinced me beyond the shadow of a doubt that Barbadians had made a grave mistake in choosing Arthur as their leader. He should know what I am talking about if he remembers a certain phone call he made to the Advocate one day.

The BLP is now demanding the justice they denied others. But they are getting a good deal. A well-known BLP person was recently appointed to a senior post at a statutory corporation which the BLP had refused to give that person. That would have never happened with a Dem under a BLP government. But I will say this: David Thompson is a gentleman – has always been. He has treated them all with decency and fairness which they did not show to Dems when they were in power.

After I was forced to leave the Advocate, I could not find work in Barbados. I had to go overseas to earn a living to feed my children. I applied for a job at a government institution for which I was perfectly suited. I was invited to an interview but I was warned it was just a sham. My source told me that a certain person said I would never work in Barbados as long as the BLP was in power. I called up the HR person at the organization in question, told him to withdraw my name and keep the job because I didn’t need it as I had a better one overseas. A BLP yardfowl even saw me at a public event overseas and remarked, in front of everyone present, that the BLP had made a “refugee”. Incredible but true.

My respect for David Thompson grew immensely during this period. You know why? He showed me his human side. He would call me quite regularly – not to discuss politics – but to enquire how I was doing. That meant a lot to me because you know who your real friends are, not when you are up, but when you are perceived as being down. This is the quality person who today is the prime minister of Barbados. It gave me great pleasure to work for him in the DLP election campaign in January as Communications Director and to have played a role in rescuing Barbados from the clutches of the BLP.

I have told half of the story. The best is yet to come. You do not have to like me personally but, on the basis of what I have shared with you: Wasn’t I denied justice by the BLP? I am a citizen of Barbados – certain foreigners were treated better than some Barbadians by the BLP – and the Constitution of Barbados gives me the right of freedom of association. By associating with the DLP, I broke no law but the BLP government targetted me.

But you see, the BLP always believes they are entitled to special treatment. Other people, however, can be treated like doormats. I wish them well, personally, but may they remain in the political wilderness for a long, long time to reflect on the evil things they have done and to repent for their sins. Perhaps the BLP was hoping I would have buckled and come to them on bended knee, like how some persons did, to beg them for a pick. If they were, they would have waited in vain. I would have preferred to die with my dignity than to debase myself by doing such.

Further, I knew the God I serve would not have allowed it. God is good! God is great! I thank my greatgrandmother for my Christian upbringing. During those dark BLP days, it served me in good stead. It gave me the assurance that with patience this too would have passed, that the BLP would not be in power forever and that they would eventually fall in humiliation. Secondly, my Christian upbringing assured me of my ability to survive once I believed it was possible. “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”

I expect certain BLPites on this blog will respond in their usual nasty way by going into the gutter because they can never face the truth. The truth always hurts. Going down in the gutter is not for me. The gutter is home to centipedes, slugs, cockroaches and other types of vermin and I am not at their level. Others however are free to make that choice through their behaviour.