MOTTLEY RE-ELECTED LEADER OF BARBADOS OPPOSITION PARTY BRIDGETOWN, Barbados (CMC) - Attorney Mia Mottley was returned un-opposed as leader of the main opposition Barbados Labour Party (BLP) urging Barbadians to speak out against the issues facing the island. Mottley said that Barbadians should become much more vocal about their struggles and to join with her in a movement for a new Barbados. Addressing the BLPs 76th Annual Conference over the weekend, Mottley said there was a growing anger in the country and accused the government of destroying many of the countrys traditional values even as she acknowledged that the power to change the government lies with the voters. Mottley said there were many issues, including the introduction of tuition fees for Barbadians at the University of the West Indies (UWI), the Municipal Solid Waste tax, the concessions granted to Sandals International and the high fiscal deficit, confronting the island. She described as illegal the decision of the Freundel Stuart government to seek BDS$235 million (One Barbados dollar = US$0.50 cents) from commercial banks in an effort to shrink the fiscal deficit. It is illegal and it must stop, she said , warning that such action endangered Barbados future loan repayment ability. You cannot be a lawmaker and a law breaker too, Mottley said, while also being critical of the decision by the government to sign a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the Sandals International group providing various concessions. She said the MOU has not been made public. Until that MOU is seen, there can be no talk of a level playing field, she warned. Mottley had taken over the leadership of the BLP from former prime minister Owen Arthur who quit the party in July at the height of public disagreements with Mottley. Earlier, the party honoured former foreign affairs and foreign trade minister Dame Billie Miller, who urged support for Mottley from the partys general membership. Dame Billie said that she wanted to see a strong and rousing show of support for Mottley, adding I want to hear that you are toeing the party line. This is not the time to be going off on a tangent of your own.
Posted on: Tue, 28 Oct 2014 14:57:30 +0000
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