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That was the suggestion of Opposition Barbados Labour Party (BLP) Leader Mia Mottley on Sunday at St Giles Primary School, as she delivered the feature address after the unopposed selection of Trevor Prescod to contest the St Michael East seat in the next general election.

Mottley said Barbadians merited a different type of politics and a new form of Government that moved away from the traditional practice of division in the country.

She said when Thompson's Democratic Labour Party (DLP) took over power two years ago he promised there would be "no night of long knives".

Yet, she added, people who previously worked at the Urban Development Commission (UDC) and Rural Development Commission (RDC), Ministry of Transport and Works, School Meals Department, Registry, and other areas, who believed him and were now out of work, knew differently.

She charged that rather than concentrating on the aspects of development that had previously worked for the country, Thompson was caught up in the worst practices of traditional politics.

She said he made promises which he had broken to virtually every sector in Barbados, including the nurses, teachers, police and other public servants.

Mottley noted that promises of no VAT on electricity, duty-free cars for the police, interest-free mortgages for public servants and a food import deal with Dominica had all come to naught after two years in office.

She stressed she did not believe in a type of politics where people were being singled out for home and job assistance merely because of their political affiliation.

The BLP leader said she did not begrudge the families of DLP politicians and UDC and RDC officials acquiring new homes or having their houses repaired, but she explained, this should not have been done while others were being deliberately ignored.

Mottley said there were certain social amenities that should be above partisan politics, as was the case under the BLP. She noted colour, political affiliation and gender should not determine who would receive Government assistance.

She said she intended to step away from traditional politics and challenge Barbadians to a new reality. She suggested that if people watched Haiti and what was now occurring in that country, they would understand the importance of "getting it right" when it came to providing for all Barbadians across party lines.

She said what existed now in two short years was that people believed they did not have a fair chance at advancement under the DLP. (WG)

Source: Nation Newspaper, January 20, 2010.
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