Voters frustrated – APP

The Alliance Party for Progress (APP) St Michael North candidate is reporting high levels of voter apathy toward the country’s main political parties.

Maria Phillips, an attorney, told reporters in the Eden Lodge Community, that the response to the new alliance was positive.

“People are frustrated. There is a lot of voter apathy, even in this constituency,” Phillips declared

“There was a lot of apathy last time with the Democratic Labour Party and there are still people out there who continue to feel like that. We need to reach some of those people, because we are really at a transition stage in Barbados and Barbados needs new governance and new candidates who will represent the people and represent them well,” the APP candidate added.

Phillips noted that even in the last election, although outgoing Barbados Labour Party MP, Ronald Toppin won by a large margin, only 52 per cent of voters participated in the historic poll.

“That is a significant number and those are things that we have to look at. You have to understand what is stopping people from voting,” she stressed.

Phillips, who is also the organisation’s spokesperson on law and governance, revealed that many are concerned about a lack of transparency, apparent corruption, and high levels of nepotism that is preventing citizens from gaining equal opportunity.

If elected to parliament, she declared the APP would adopt a zero tolerance approach to corruption while democratising numerous key areas of governance.

“I think the Barbadian public is tired of the talk, tired of the rhetoric and we want to see things not just talked about, but implemented,” said Phillips.

“When money is mismanaged, when it is misspent, it means the government has to look for a new avenue to create that income. It means that you and I are going to be taxed more. These are the issues that are coming out consistently. It means that some of our constituents may not get jobs because a politician prefers to give a person who has run a campaign a job.

“Those sorts of things will happen, but it means that other people will not have opportunities, other people who may be skilled, who have the necessary skills to do even better. Those are the types of things that I would want us, even as an alliance party to address,” the law and governance spokeswoman concluded.
(KS)