Reducing and eventually eliminating the Garbage and Sewage Contribution (GSC) Levy will be high on the agenda of the Democratic Labour Party (DLP) should it form the next government, party leader Verla De Peiza has promised.
Addressing the launch of the DLP’s 2022 election campaign in Checker Hall, St Lucy on Wednesday night, DePeiza teased some of the party’s plans for the next five years if it is returned to office on January 19.
She said the GSC Levy, which went into effect in late 2018, remains one of the DLP’s concerns.
“If ever there was a misnomer that was because the majority of the country has no sewage provisioning and the rest of us don’t know when the garbage truck coming.
“But worse than that, from then until now there has been no reckoning to you as to how much money that garbage and sewage levy has collected. And so there has to be another way to address that. And the Democratic Labour Party is committed to the reduction of the garbage and sewage levy and its eventual phasing out because there are tidier and more accountable ways to raise the revenue that is required, and one of those ways is to diversify our economy,” DePeiza said, adding that the party will give more details in its manifesto.
She added that the DLP has a plan to generate economic growth amidst the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The plan has to have some measure of relief from the present [situation]. And so the proposals that we have come up with are intended to give you space in your households, to give you room fiscally. And I am not talking about empty gimmickry. When in 2019 one of the first money grabs was land tax, do you trust them now to give you land tax relief?” she asked, in reference to Prime Minister Mia Mottley’s announcement earlier this week that over 39,000 people will be exempt from paying land tax if the Barbados Labour Party (BLP) is returned to office.
De Peiza also appealed to Barbadians to give her party another chance at running the country, following its resounding defeat by the BLP in 2018.
“Rest assured Barbados, just like under Sir Lloyd Sandiford you reposed your confidence, you got a little nervous but you reposed your confidence and the country reaped the benefits, just like under the last administration you had to tighten your belts but you are now having the dawning realisation of how caring and how carefully constructed it was, just like those times, this presently constituted Democratic Labour Party is ready, willing and able to stand up for the people of Barbados,” she said.
Meanwhile, candidate for St Philip West, Dr David Estwick was highly critical of the Government’s decision to seek assistance from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) after taking office in 2018. He maintained that the move was not necessary and there were other options the Mottley administration could explore, including utilising government investments.
“Switzerland is utilising international capital markets and raking in billions and billions of dollars, but they can’t think outside the box; they are locked in the IMF box of thinking, and I ain’t going in that box with them at all,” he said.
DePeiza has set her sights on winning the St Lucy seat, four years after suffering defeat in the Christ Church West constituency.
She lamented the ongoing challenges faced by residents in getting a steady, reliable water supply, saying their concerns have been neglected for too long.
The attorney-at-law also plans to work on building entrepreneurship within the community.
“It is time that St Lucy had some entrepreneurial drive within its borders. It is not enough that you leave on a morning to go to work and come back. St Lucy needs a plan of action for people in St Lucy. You should not have to go to Speightstown or to Mile and a Quarter to conduct ordinary business.
“Kudos to comrade Denis Kellman for taking initiatives in Moon Town. That is his creation but there needs to be another one somewhere in St Lucy – and I like Nesfield because so many roads converge there – where you can demonstrate your entrepreneurial spirit … where you can earn a living for your family because another major issue in this constituency is gross levels of unemployment,” she said. (BT)
