( L - R ) Arthur , Mottley

BRIDGETOWN (CMC):

Former Barbadian Prime Minister Owen Arthur has announced he will be stepping down as Leader of the Opposition and handing control to Mia Mottley.

Arthur, whose Barbados Labour Party (BLP), in search of a fourth consecutive term, was booted by the electorate in last Tuesday's election, wants to be "just an ordinary citizen", the Barbados Nation newspaper reported yesterday.

He made the announcement on Saturday that he was handing over "the mantle of leadership" to Mottley, a former deputy PM.

"To have been a prime minister for three terms is just extraordinary," he said during a news conference at the BLP's headquarters in the capital Bridgetown.

No ambition or expectation

"When I came to public life in 1983, I didn't have any ambition or expectation to lead either this party or the country ... and that I have been given the opportunity is something that I am really grateful for.

"But I look forward now to being Citizen Owen Arthur again," the Nation reported Arthur as saying.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister David Thompson has unveiled his new 18-member Cabinet, maintaining the size left by the previous administration but at the same time introducing new ministries and reorganising responsibilities.

Thompson, who will also be Minister of Finance, Economic Affairs and Development, Labour, Civil Service and Energy, has included 13 of the party's other 19 successful candidates in his Cabinet.

Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda Baldwin Spencer says the political "winds of change" blowing across the region is healthy for democracy.

Over the past year, incumbents have lost power in The Bahamas, St. Lucia, Jamaica and, most recently, Barbados.

Spencer told journalists here last week that the change of power from time to time is a good thing.

"It's healthy; the people of the region are prepared to respond to current challenges in a particular way," Spencer said while attending an Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States meeting in Bridgetown.

He said, "Governments come and governments go; after a while people may say, 'Let's try another group,' and nothing is wrong with that."

Addressing the Barbados situation where the Owen Arthur administration was voted out of office last week, Spencer said despite the former Prime Minister's exemplary perfor-mance, the people decided they wanted change.

Fresh group

"I think it's where the people came to the conclusion that he would have been there for a period of time and they wanted to see what a fresh group of people would do to take Barbados to the next level," he said.

Meanwhile, Dominica's Opposi-tion Leader Earl Williams is banking on the winds of change to sweep his United Workers Party to government at the next polls constitutionally due in 2010.

"There is a wind of change blowing around the Caribbean and we expect it to happen in Dominica when the time comes," Williams told local media last week.

"When the people are ready for change, no amount of money will have a monopoly on the voters," he said, hinting at heavy election spending by the losing Barbados Labour Party.