NOT A SINGLE PROMISE kept!

That's the charge from Opposition Leader Mia Mottley as she accused the Democratic Labour Party (DLP) yesterday of unrealistic promises during the heat of the January election campaign.

The DLP Government marked 100 days in office last Wednesday.

Those promises were made "purely for the sake of winning that election", according to Mottley in a statement issued to the Press yesterday.

"The major achievements of the Government in its first 100 days in office are the increase in the cost of living and an increase in apathy and cynicism among the voting population," Mottley said.

She said the making of unrealistic promises during the campaign were in its simplest form "irresponsible, and reckless when taken to extremes".

"For the Democratic Labour Party to have raised public expectation by setting a 100-day benchmark as the agents of change, is either a mark of incompetence, recklessness or both. Having created a false framework on which to build their policies, their performance for the remainder of this parliamentary term will indicate which one it was," she said.

Mottley said the DLP was a party with considerable experience in Government, and thus could not claim ignorance of the complexities of Government or of the international situation.

In their own manifesto, she said, the DLP stated: "The price of crude oil consistently hovers around [US] $100 per barrel. Reliable forecasts suggest that oil prices are likely to remain in this range for the foreseeable future."

"Oil is now at [US] $115 a barrel and their most recent action of passing on the full weight of the increase to Barbadians is only one example of the Government availing itself of options that do not allow it to appropriately protect the average consumer in Barbados."

The Opposition Leader said Barbadians were still waiting for the Government to do some real work that would have a positive impact on their lives.

In a statement last night Prime Minister David Thompson said his new Government was grappling with the challenging realities it inherited and those that surfaced thereafter.

"We are supremely confident that with the continued trust, cooperation and reasoned thinking of the people of Barbados, we will deliver meaningfully to the people of Barbados, notwithstanding the deteriorating global energy and food supply environment,"
he said.

He said since the January 15 election, he and his team of ministers and support staff have been working assiduously to move the process of development of Barbados forward.