Minority party says Mottley administration has failed so far

The People’s Democratic Congress (PDC) has given the Mia Mottley administration a failing grade in its second term in office thus far, based on the Government’s response to the rising cost of living.

Political leader Mark Adamson said that despite many promises over the past several months about major projects being on the way to stimulate the economy, as far as he is concerned, calls for solutions to the main issue facing citizens – the continuous rise in the cost of goods and services – have thus far gone unanswered.

Speaking to the media before his party’s Walk for Justice through Bridgetown on Tuesday, he said there should have been a full restructuring of the country’s financial framework, specifically as it relates to the high level of taxes paid by Barbadians.

“You have to think in terms of a revolution in the financial affairs of this country…. You are thinking also of what is required to put this country back on a very firm and sustainable footing. You are talking about sustainable growth and development, where you see the proper and serious redistribution of wealth based on a stabilisation programme,” Adamson argued.

“You have to go beyond what these people have had to say to the country, what they have been doing in terms of policy, which really and truly have been contributing to the further stagnation, the further decline, decay, destruction of so many affairs of this country. Not just the political, economic and financial [aspects], but the entire gamut.”   

Adamson also lambasted the Government for not moving ahead with the constitutional reform it had promised would swiftly follow the transition to republican status on November 30 last year.

He insisted that the reform should have been a reality by now, with citizens’ input reflected in the final draft of the Barbados Constitution.

“You can’t seriously think in terms of having a republic without there being a constitution…. No constitution, no republic,” the PDC leader insisted.

“We are talking about Barbados in the sense of its constitutional development, you are talking about Barbados having to move away from an independence stage to a post-independence stage. You are actually thinking in terms of a path along which there ought to have been contributions by the citizens of this country, whether they live here or elsewhere.”
(SB)