by Bennette Roach :
David Osborne is a member of the Legislative Assembly in Montserrat, and on Saturday, November 16, 2013, he announced his separation from the Movement for Change and Prosperity (MCAP) party presently under the leadership of Montserrat’s first Premier, Reuben T. Meade.
Osborne is the son of the deceased John Alfred Osborne who served Montserrat from 1966 to 2009 with a five-year break (1991-1996) as a Legislator, earning the record for the longest serving politician to date. He served as Chief Minister from 1978 – 1983, and again from 2001 – 2006. He died within one year after he retired in 2009. He was instrumental in his son’s election when he popularly contested for a seat with the MCAP party in 2009, after the father endorsed the party. John Osborne was to express regret shortly before his death for the action he took in September 2009, acknowledging that he had made the pronouncement particularly to help his son get elected.
The 51-year-old David Osborne wrote letters of resignation dated November 16, 2013 to the party leader and chairman of the party advising his resignation with immediate effect: “While I remain committed as a Parliamentarian, it is my belief that I can no longer effectively represent the people who have elected me to serve them, while being affiliated to your party.
“Our views on what is in the best interest of this Island, continue to differ tremendously and it is my belief that this conflict creates a divide that is not harmonious nor in keeping with the unity that connected us in the first place. Consequently, I must separate myself from anything that will prevent me from doing the work of fighting for the causes of the people and representing them in the way that I was elected to.”
In his letter of notification to His Excellency the Governor, Osborne cited his commitment “to the electorate and to this Island,” which remains strong, he said. “My desire to create, enforce and maintain fairness, equality and transparency in Montserrat, matches my patriotism as a son of this soil,” he continued.
Then Osborn cited, what is a common theme from all party members and legislators who jumped away from Meade’s previous NPP and now MCAP party for which leadership was handed over to him in 2009.
“The obvious disrespect and lack of care exhibited over the past year to not just me but to the people of Montserrat, have caused me to re-think my affiliation with the MCAP Party and it is on this basis that I have made this very important decision,” Osborne wrote.
He made it clear that he intended to continue to serve as a Legislator and representative of the people. “I will continue to represent and serve the people and firmly believe that I will now be in a better position to fight for the causes of those who elected me.”
In a statement on Monday, he quoted Mark Twain. “Always do right, for this will gratify some and astonish the rest”, continuing, “It is on this basic principle that I have found the need to address you my supporters, well-wishers, friends, family and country at large, to inform you that it has become necessary for me to resign as a member of the MCAP Party.”
He noted the reasons of not being able to continue to work with the “differences between himself and the party,” which he says, “create a conflict that compromises my ability to represent,” and which he says, “Creates a divide that is not harmonious nor in keeping with the unity that connected us in the first place.”
He said to the people that he was elected, “to guard and protect your interests, not to act as a “rubber stamp” to carry out the whims and fancies of a Government who continues to act against the best interest of the people by creating continued hardships and struggles.”
He referenced, “increases in customs duties and public fees, at a time when worldwide economic challenges are being felt, and we are still going through a volcanic crisis, when there is global rising inflation.”
These, after citing other circumstances, he said, “are blatant, irresponsible acts on the part of this Government,” adding, “The private sector continues to suffer significantly as basic operation costs increase due to high electricity bills and overall increases in doing business.”
Tumultuous times for the Premier and recurring criticisms
Resourced observers express no surprise at Osborne’s move and are suspicious that there are other disgruntled MCAP legislators, who may very well make the Premier’s outlook for the ensuing general elections seemingly arduous and suspect. The Premier has reiterated that he intends to let his administration run the full five-year term and has actually suggested a date for the next elections at September 12, 2014.
He has faced the same criticism before when former Minister of Education, Health, etc. Adelina Tuitt (1997 – 2001) resigned from his governing NPP as a party member serving as the party’s public relations officer, having narrowly lost being elected in the 1991 elections. Former Chief Minister who served as a minister in the said 1991-96 NPP government had resigned from the party in 1994 also citing distrust and disrespect as among his reasons for splitting. Also splitting from Meade’s government in 1996, Minister of Education, Health, Welfare and Labour, Lazelle Howes, on October 11, close to the 1996 November elections when only Meade himself retained a seat for NPP.
It was actually a very difficult time for Chief Minister Meade as he was then, as Nowel (Dada) Tuitt, now deceased, had also resigned from the Government. He was not an NPP member, but had joined the government to save it from falling when Brandt resigned in 1994. In 1996 Howes kept her ministerial position, but at the time the Legislature had been prorogued when she left the party, contesting the next election as an Independent.
At the time, Howes too spoke of disrespect she felt that was meted out to her and the decadence that permeated the party. She said, “I have asked myself about the level and strength of the recognition and respect given to the size and significance both of the constituency I represent and the portfolio I have carried,” questioning, “above all, the faithfulness of the party to the high ideals, some of which I have mentioned before, integrity, veracity, and transparency.”
