BLP engaging the public

Leader of the Opposition, Mia Mottley, yesterday afternoon briefed the media on the BLP’s plans, during a press conference at her office located at the Parliament Buildings. She told journalists that this first People’s Assembly, scheduled to take place at the Christ Church Foundation School starting at 7 p.m., is the party’s way of taking its preparation in relation to the promises outlined in the Covenant of Hope document in early May, to the next level.

 

“We indicated then that once we started to distribute this document which sets out our principles and our visions, or to put it more appropriately sets out who we are, what we stand for, and what we will fight for in terms of our vision for Barbados, that we felt that it was important that this be an interactive process,” she said.

 

Mottley made the comments as she maintained that it is important that Barbadians have the opportunity to share their thoughts on the country’s way forward, as she contended that the power of the people is greater than the people in power. Chiding the Government for not engaging the public, the Opposition Leader said that over the next few weeks they intend to host similar People’s Assemblies in St. James and St. George and following a short break for Crop Over, they will hold similar talks with Barbadians from the diaspora who are will be visiting for the Crop Over season. This, she said, would allow them to hear from as broad a cross section of Barbadians as possible.

 

“We have our own ideas, but we believe that our own ideas are not the only ones that we must listen to and we must get the country in the habit of understanding that Barbados is ripe for a new governance. It matters not only what we do, but it must also matter how we do it, with whom we do it, and for whom we do it, and that is the most important thing we believe, as we move into the second phase of independence. This is our 50th year and therefore we have no excuse for changing how we relate to one another and how we govern in this country,” Mottley said.

 

With that in mind, she stated that in addition to the People’s Assemblies, the party will restart its ‘Rubbing Shoulders’ programme on June 30. The focus in the first instance, she said, will be the agricultural sector, where they will be looking at both sugar and non-sugar agriculture and what the players believe is necessary to help build out the sector. All these efforts, she explained, will feed into the BLP’s manifesto for the next general election due in 2018.

 

“We also anticipate that it is going to take time to build out this new process of governance, because Barbadians have not necessarily been afforded the opportunity to have the level of participation in the formulation of policy for a political party as we are opting to do, and therefore we will work Barbadians. It takes time to change a culture and we believe the time has come; we cannot continue to educate people and treat them as if they are only to be spectators of their fate, rather than firm craftsmen of their fate,” she said.

 

To that end, Mottley said the party is particularly concerned about those in the 18 to 35 age group, many of whom she said are unemployed or underemployed. As such, she is reaching out to persons in that group to come out to the various parish consultations so they can share their perspectives, on not only the type of Barbados they want to live in, but how they see themselves playing a role in the country. (JRT)