#SpeakingOut – We must trust the PM

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed by the author(s) do not represent the official position of Barbados TODAY.

by N Herbert

Barbadians need to have more faith in Prime Minister Mia Mottley.

I certainly do.

There is a lot of talk that if she retains the government that she will be cutting public sector jobs and cutting pensions. I wonder where this nonsense is coming from.

It is just political talk that is trying to demonise a good woman. Only last year in mid-May PM Mottley said that there would be no job cuts in the public service and I believe she would have no reason to mislead us.

After Erskine Sandiford cut our money by eight per cent in 1991, Owen Arthur not only restored people’s money when he came to power but he also amended the Constitution making it illegal for employers to cut workers’ salaries without their permission.

Most pensions are a reflection of a percentage of what you would have worked for in the past, contributed to government coffers and entitled to by law.

If we have laws that forbid employers from cutting people’s salaries, I do not see any sensible government tampering with people’s pensions.

In my opinion, even if this was not unlawful, it would open up a can of worms that could lead to the government being taken to court yet again.

Barbados is a country of “haves” and “haves not” and in the same way that the DLP’s pay cut 30 years ago cause great hardship on poor people, to cut pensioners money by 10 per cent would be catastrophic for not only the poor, but the elderly. All that I have seen and heard of

Miss Mottley, tells me that she has the interest of the “haves not” at the forefront of her decision-making.

I believe Barbadians can trust Miss Mottley always to do the right thing, especially for lower and middle-income people and pensioners in this country.