Armstrong promises increased focus on sports

Democratic Labour Party (DLP) candidate for St Michael North, Dawn-Marie Armstrong has accused the Barbados Labour Party (BLP) administration of neglecting communities, arguing that the decline has undermined sports development and youth engagement, resulting in increased crime on the island.

Armstrong said the DLP, if elected on February 11, would pursue a more structured and professional approach to sport, moving away from what she described as tokenism and one-off tournaments, with a focus on sustainability that would allow athletes to earn proper wages.

Speaking on Sunday night at the DLP’s national rally in Independence Square, the former national cricketer and sport psychologist, said local sportspersons continued to be sidelined.

Armstrong contended that reopening and properly managing community centres was critical to engaging young people and reducing crime. 

“The DLP with its leadership, will build an app to ensure that community centres can be accessed by all in this country, that young people will have the opportunity to receive the mentorship that they need, that women will have the opportunity to have safe spaces to play for their children,” she said.

Armstrong said the proposed system would also allow athletes to use the facilities for training and provide spaces for young men to engage positively within their communities. 

“That athletes will have the opportunity to book a space and train, that boys and young men will have the opportunity to sit and to commune and to speak positively over their lives, because a vision for the development of sport in this country will ensure that young men will no longer be at risk. 

“We say that our plan to develop sport in this country will ensure that crime and violence will be reduced,” Armstrong maintained.

She also criticised what she described as bureaucratic barriers and political gatekeeping in constituency development, recounting concerns raised by residents in St Michael North.

“They told me in St Michael North I cannot ask for any lights to be installed on the poles because I need a member of parliament to write a letter for me to do that.

“Hear me constituents of St Michael North, when I am in that seat, you do not need a letter from me for anything… Under the Democratic Labour Party you will be free,” Armstrong said, while promising that a DLP government would remove political barriers to community and sporting development.