Nevis Premier sings Mottley’s praises

Barbados is back! This is the verdict of the Premier of Nevis and Minister of Foreign Affairs, St Kitts & Nevis, Mark Brantley who declared that he has seen since the re-emergence of Barbados to its rightful place of prominence on the regional and international stage under the Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley.

Describing Mottley as a Commander in Chief, Brantley said she has restored the regional and global relevance of Barbados.

“PM Mottley has reignited the passions of the Barbadian people and created in her short time at the helm, the type of dialogue and narrative that has captured the attention of the region and the world,” Brantley said as he spoke to Barbados Labour Party’s (BLP) party faithful, at the 81st Annual Conference, Queens Park Sunday morning.

“Let me tell you this morning, Mia Amor Mottley is no ordinary leader. The elements are so combined in her that all of us, even detractors, can admit that Barbados has now a leader of a special pedigree, a leader that comes along only once in our lifetime.”

He told those gathered that Mottley does not offer pretty prose for policy, nor does she offer pedantry and pedagoguery for substantive practical solutions for the Barbadian people.

The Premier said Mottley’s effort is not to sound like Shakespeare or Aristotle or Longfellow by quoting them, but rather to sound like herself, as she embodies the dreams and aspirations of Barbadian people and the BLP.

Brantley said he was privileged to sit at the United Nations General Assembly in 2018 and again in 2019 and to listen with the rest of the world, speeches of unparalleled oratory from Mottley.

“Some said that she carried the banner for the Caribbean on the global stage. I say to you today that she did far more. She carried the banner for the Caribbean, and the global community [had to] stand up and take notice. She articulated our issues with a passion and clarity that had long been missing. In so doing, she singlehandedly restored Barbados to that pantheon of a global voice for us all,” he said.

Brantley also noted that in Basseterre earlier this year, at the CARICOM Heads of Government meeting, he observed the impact of Barbadian leadership on critical regional issues such as the Caribbean Single Market and Economy and the future of regional carriers such as LIAT, which are critical to the advancement of the regional integration process, and noted the renewed vim, vigor and vitality with which the regional agenda is being pursued.

“But to play that role of Barbadian and regional leader on these issues that challenge us at every turn, I wish to remind you that it cannot happen without sacrifice and effort. PM Mottley, like other Heads in the Caribbean, must often find herself traveling to distant lands to the global epicenters of power. My brother Foreign Minister Jerome Walcott and other members of this BLP led Government must often do likewise. We cannot engage the IMF or the World Bank or the EU or the UN or the Commonwealth or even major bilateral partners from a rum shop in Pie Corner, St Lucy,” he said.

“PM Mottley does not have the luxury of agitating only in Bridgetown for change. Her Cabinet colleagues cannot influence issues we face from a barbershop in Black Rock. Nay, she and they must agitate equally in the corridors of power abroad. She must lend her voice and the voice e of the Barbadian people to the cause of development for our region. She is your Prime Minister to be sure but she is for us a favourite daughter of the Caribbean of impeccable and unparalleled intellectual pedigree.” (AH)