DePeiza tells Barbadians to watch BLP administration

Barbadians have been urged to pay closer attention to the island’s democratic institutions and “creeping” public policy changes under the ruling Barbados Labour Party (BLP).

On the second night of the Democratic Labour Party’s (DLP) 66th annual conference at its George Street headquarters on Thursday, party leader Verla DePeiza said citizens must pay close attention to the administration’s actions rather than its rhetoric.

She warned of possible policy changes coming down the pipeline as the change to republicanism and mandatory vaccinations continue to take centre stage in public discussions.

“We need to be very careful, we need to be mindful of these seemingly small incursions into our democracy, because all of this matters,” said DePeiza.

“That creeping, almost imperceptible changing of the manner in the way our country runs, without having a conversation with our people. It is not that you are against change, but it cannot be that you do not know changes are being made.

“One of their first tasks in Parliament was to change the constitution to fit a circumstance, so we are not shocked, those of us who were paying attention, and I can tell you the Democratic Labour Party is keep its eye on that ball on behalf of the people of the people of Barbados.”

Though she was adamant that the DLP supports the move to a republic, DePeiza said the rushed nature of the change, with no visible public discourse in the offering, ran afoul of what citizens deserved.

She declared: “We understood the manner in which they were going about doing this change was completely against the grain of all that we know to be democracy. I will state bluntly again, the Democratic Labour Party stands for the move to a republic, but never did we ever contemplate doing that without consulting our people.

“The Democratic Labour Party understands government to be a form of servant leadership. We are put in leadership positions to do the will of the people, not to enforce our will on the people. We call on the Government of Barbados to hold consultations with the people of Barbados before any rash moves are made to a republic with an eye only on legacy, when the lives of our young people are going to be affected.”

She also rejected any notion of electing the president of the would-be republic. Both parties have supported the creation of a ceremonial president to replace the Governor-General who represents Queen Elizabeth as Head of State.

DePeiza said: “What is this talk about an Electoral College? You could have found another name because the Electoral College we watch every four years in the United States does not fill us with confidence that it represents democracy.

“Our forefathers fought too long and too hard for us to allow this to slip through our fingers just because one body told us to watch, it cannot be. We must on our guard, and we must not afraid to stand up and be counted.” (SB)