De Peiza: All hands on deck

President of the Democratic Labour Party (DLP) Verla De Peiza says it must be an all hands on deck approach to help the party win the St George North seat in the upcoming by-election.

De Peiza, who said the DLP’s is ready to fight the battle on behalf of the people in St George North, described the by-election in that constituency as a prosecution of the BLP administration over the last two and a half years.

“We thank the Prime Minister [Mia Mottley] for us to showcase ourselves in a by-election, and we thank her as well for her personal choice of candidate, I could think of no better person to prosecute at this time. The Democratic Labour Party is ready. Take 90 days, take 30 days, we are ready and marching forward and going on and bringing Barbados with us.

“We are marching from George Street to St George North and that is just the beginning, we have some candidates in place and we will make sure that a priority this coming year is to fill our slate of candidates, so that any other time that they wish to call a by-election we are also ready to move forward. And that the eight who have been chosen so far will also be motivated to step forward and get their work done.”

Delivering a fiery speech at the DLP’s George Street, St Michael headquarters during the party’s General Conference, this morning, the newly re-elected president said she was ready to walk the length and breadth of St George North, preaching the gospel of the DLP and its promise and philosophy to keep people at the forefront “of everything that we do”.

“The last officers of the party, and the present officers of the party, and all of our membership from all 30 constituencies and the affiliate bodies have a role to play. All hands on deck. Stand with me as we commit to each other and we commit to St George North and we commit to people of Barbados that the time is right, and hot and ready for us to bring a challenge to this present administration and have them understand and appreciate that you don’t actually need to be in Parliament to speak up on behalf of the people of Barbados and for them to appreciate that someone has their ear and is willing to raise a voice on their behalf,” she said.

With the ruling Barbados Labour Party (BLP) announcing trade unionist Toni Moore as their candidate for the by-election last week, following the retirement of longstanding Member of Parliament Glyne Clarke, De Peiza said the executive of the DLP St George North branch met last Wednesday and are expected to meet again sometime during the next few days. (AH)