Mia Mottley Smells Election Victory

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, CMC – Opposition leader Mia Mottley has sounded a rallying cry to supporters of her Barbados Labour Party (BLP) to prepare to take up the reins of government.

Addressing the BLP’s 78th annual conference here on the weekend, Mottley told party faithful that they are “girding our loins and preparing for battle.

“This is not a battle for the faith of the Labour party, this is a battle not just for the rescuing and the resuscitation of the economy of Barbados, this is a battle for the protection of the social fabric of this country. For a return to that innate pride that we held and cherished so dearly,” Mottley said.

She knocked the Freundel Stuart administration’s management of the country’s affairs over the past eight years, which saw government introducing a home-grown austerity programme to revive the country’s ailing finances, saying that Barbados cannot survive five more years of Stuart’s “uninspired leadership”.

“So the task at hand is much bigger than winning the upcoming election, that’s just our first stop. The future of our country is at stake. And you know in some respects our election mirrors that of the one currently underway in the United States of America, where people wonder what will be the fate of their country after November 8.”

The former attorney general argued that the BLP is the island’s “best hope” at this time, and announced that early in the New Year the party will make a detailed presentation of its full slate of candidates which were nominated before the weekend conference.

Mottley also outlined the party’s plans for the country, should it be victorious in the next election, which is constitutionally due in 2018.

According to her, among the BLP’s priorities will be to ensure that every household has access to water – a reference to the prolonged water shortage in several communities; tackling criminal activity, and ensuring that every household earns a living wage.

“No household in Barbados shall go without a living income, whether it is from a job, whether it is from a pension, whether it is from NIS (National Insurance Scheme) benefits, or whether it is through additional welfare related benefits, or government working with civil society, but nobody in a house must face a month after month after month without a cent coming in,” she said.

Mottley, whose first ministerial appointment was that of Minister of Education, Youth Affairs and Culture, also stressed the importance of access to education.

The BLP has been highly critical of the government’s decision to remove subsidies on university fees for Barbadians attending the Cave Hill Campus of the University of the West Indies.

Mottley stated that under a BLP government, every child will be able to pursue an education up to tertiary level.

“If we cut education now we will be laying the destruction of this society. And to that end, everyone who wants to go to tertiary institutions must be able to go without worrying how they’re going to pay.

“We understand that government is about choices, but we understand that we must make the right choices, to secure the stability and prosperity of the people of this country,” she said.