PM Mottley outlines seven-year mission of restoring brand Barbados

Prime Minister Mia Mottley is promising to make Barbados great again, saying it was time the country become “an exemplar for others”.

She made the declaration on Thursday night during an approximately one-hour address in which she encouraged the “active participation” of the majority of citizens and outlined several plans for the next seven years, while giving an update on several niggling issues affecting the country.

Stating that the time had come for Government to have a frank conversation about where it was, what it has achieved and where it has fallen short, Mottley said her administration was of the view that over the next seven years Barbados must be transformed into a “world-class” society.

The next seven years, she said, “must be used to build the best Barbados that we can build and in so doing, to be regarded as an exemplar for others – to be regarded as one of the best places to live and raise a family and to do business.

“These are not just words that we are choosing, this is what we want, our lived reality of our citizens and the people who visit this country to feel and be able to express,” she said.

Stressing the need for respect of each other and working together, the Prime Minister called on Barbadians to pause and reflect on the country’s legacy.

“This philosophy will strengthen every aspect of our society and its institutions, of our economy and our ability to grow. Fundamentally it is about us as a nation fostering trust and urging cooperation. And my friend, we can, and we shall, but it requires the active participation of the majority of our citizens,” said Mottley.

“In fact, it is a redefinition of how we all view our role as citizens. And it will require us being open to change – change how we eat, how we work, change how we build, change how we relate to one another,” she added.

She acknowledged that the change being pursued would not be an overnight exercise, especially if the country was to be transformed into a world-class nation.

“That is why I have set a timeframe of seven years. We might make it before and if we work harder and faster, we can. But what we must never believe is that the winning of one race or two races will suffice. We might grow year after year but that is not what is needed now. What is needed is transformation for this nation, our country to become world-class,” insisted Mottley.

In the televised broadcast, the PM outlined several sectors where she pledged continued development in waste management, public transportation, port security, water and energy, stating that in some cases work was well advanced.

She said it was no longer sufficient for Barbados to just “punch above its weight”, pointing to the need for sustainable development in all areas.

“For us to do it we must all agree that we can and I am here tonight to tell you that I believe we can and we shall,” said Mottley.

Mottley, who is approaching the second anniversary of her historic election win in May 2018, said she understood how Barbadians were feeling in relation to economic, social and other issues, but said her administration “cared enough” to have started to address some of those vexing issues.

Stating that the hardest part of the task was agreeing to the mission that was needed to effectively address the situation, Mottley said once that hurdle was past “we can achieve it”.

She insisted that while the bleeding has stopped and the economy was being stabilized, the next steps still required the cooperation of everyone.

“It requires the participation of the Social Partnership. It requires the support of civil society,” said Mottley, as she pledged that Government would focus on “the daily things that matter to each of us”.

She said it has not been easy for her administration over the past 19 months and the fight was to address a range of issues that had been neglected for more than a decade.

“For sure, we have stopped the bleeding. The issues of the domestic and foreign debt that threatened to strangle us all are now behind us. We are now on the journey of fostering growth and fueling transformation and we are optimistic about it. We need to stay the course with our actions over a sustained period and we will see growth year after year. But that is not the definition of success for this Government. Our definition of success now has to be the transformation of this country over the next seven years,” insisted Mottley.

Among other things, she said it would require the country to continue its current path of restructuring of Government and many of the services it delivers in order to make it easier to conduct business.

“We must facilitate investments, small and large, from all Barbadians and from visitors, and we must invest further in building, in our sense of community and society, preserving the integrity of our social capital, which is critical to maintain a society but equally acts as the best impetus as we have seen, to increasing productivity and fueling growth in our economy,” she added.
marlonmadden@barbadostoday.bb