It is clear to us that the 15-point plan is to rescue, rebuild and restore Owen Arthur.
The Barbados Labour Party’s 15-point plan to power has exposed the true intentions of Arthur. The plan is focused on Arthur’s obsession with a second coming.
This plan has no relationship with the recent announcements by the Mia Mottley Budget response, which has miraculously found $500 million to put into the tourism sector. The 15-point plan rotates on the axis that all roads continue to lead to Arthur. The recent political posturing by the Arthur-led Barbados Labour Party has failed to engaged Barbadians. The country is turned off by a reckless and irresponsible Opposition in a quest to access the Treasury. Every unit in the plan has distanced itself from the most vulnerable group.
The Opposition continues to shift position depending on the outrage of the public. They can’t seem to decide on whether a stimulus package is what is needed or a cut back on spending. They have moved from full blown privatization to selling employees the plant and equipment. They could not make up their mind on borrowing monies to solve the CLICO matter and increasing the deficit or reducing it.
However, the constant in the entire episode has been the stabilization of the Barbados economy by the Freundel Stuart-led DLP Government. This has not gone down well with the Opposition pundits. The Opposition party seems only to rejoice at bad news and that has not been forthcoming on the shape of the economy.
Arthur’s policy saviour for the economy is to privatize the delivery of social services. In this respect, they went on the road with the People’s Forum trying to convince Barbadians, it was time to sell the Transport Broad.
The introduction of the People’s Forum should have really been labelled Road to Power. The Barbados Labour Party should apologize for misleading the public on the issue of rescue, restore and rebuild. This theme by the Barbados Labour Party must be exposed for what it is.
After four years, the Barbados Labour Party is asking the public to judge the Dems against their occupation of office for three terms. They want the public to make a call on a party that has saved jobs in time of crisis as opposed to one that has racked up close to $1 billion in cost overruns.
They have claimed our focus on people and strengthening the social safety net is too costly to taxpayers and should be reversed. They have claimed finding housing solutions and expanding the educational plant is not as important as expanding our revenue base.
The constant numeric reference to life in Barbados does not resonate with the single mother of three children of school age who can travel free on the Transport Board buses. This same mother can turn around and send her children to a well organized and supervised summer camp free of cost. This fact annoys the Barbados Labour Party. Why?
The Arthur leadership has been stuck on returning to power. The Stuart leadership has been stuck on people. We believe people matter, not power.
Let’s rescue, rebuild and restore Barbados by keeping Arthur and his team in Opposition.
• Douglas Leopold Phillips is a pseudonym for the Democratic Labour Party.
