Gonsalves for BLP’s “fresh guard” conference

Prime Minister of St Vincent and the Grenadines Dr Ralph Gonsalves will be joining the members of the ruling Barbados Labour Party (BLP) this weekend as the party celebrates its 84th anniversary.

Gonsalves is slated to address the party’s gathering on Friday and will be followed on Saturday by party Chairman, Prime Minister Mia Mottley.

On Tuesday during a press conference at the BLP headquarters in Roebuck Street, in The City, chairperson of this year’s annual conference Member of Parliament for St Michael West Chris Gibbs told the media there were a number of highlights for the celebrations with its theme Riding Rough Waves with Resilience, Taking Fresh Guard.

“The theme embodies the fact that the nation is encountering challenging times. A lot of global issues have been bearing down on our nation and we are resilient people. We can overcome these challenges because this reliance largely was inherited from our forefathers, so together we will make it,” he said.

“Taking fresh guard means we are looking to the future and we will do so together. We will look to the future with fresh eyes ever so mindful of our past.”

Gibbs explained that while the party was celebrating 84 years in existence this would be the 83rd annual conference as there was no event last year due to restrictions associated with the COVID-19 pandemic.

He said the conference would be held in Queen’s Park, from Friday October 21 until Sunday October 23. There would be a ceremony for 46 award recipients and 30 awards are planned for outstanding people from the community including members of the party’s youth arm and the Women’s League.

A new award – the Owen Arthur Award – would be presented to an individual in St Peter. There will also be the conferring of the Grantley Adams Award, the party’s most prestigious accolade.

Youth leaders would be giving reports on various subject areas and Members of Parliament would be required to speak on the island’s reformation process.

There would also be an election of officers to fill vacant positions.

The second vice chairman position will be decided in a race between Senator Shanika Roberts-Odle and Minister of Elder Affairs and People Empowerment Kirk Humphrey while Kurt Haynes is running against Government backbencher Marsha Caddle for the third vice chairman position.

Chairman of the party is Prime Minister Mia Mottley and the first vice chairman is Minister of Education Kay McConney. Dr Jerome Walcott, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade is the general secretary and Minister of Industry, Innovation, Science and Technology Davidson Ishmael is the treasurer. (SZB)