President of the Democratic Labour Party (DLP), Verla De Peiza.
PRESIDENT of the Democratic Labour Party (DLP), Verla De Peiza, has
dismissed the Barbados Labour Party’s (BLP) analysis of itself as the
party celebrated its second anniversary of leading the country, over
the weekend.
During a virtual discussion yesterday evening, De Peiza stated that
the DLP was not invited to the programme hosted by the island’s lone
television station, nor was she aware of other parties being invited
to give a balanced assessment of the Mia Mottley-led administration.
“To see persons who spoke with one voice, it was very disconcerting
and it didn’t speak well for steps towards democracy and strengthening
our systems in this country. Matter of fact, it was very unnerving
that we would attempt an analysis by the very persons who were being
evaluated. That didn’t make sense.
“It was a slap in the face to the people of Barbados. And even if you
ended with a conclusion that they did wonderfully well, how would you
ever know if there is no proper means of testing and evaluating?”
During the discussion on Sunday, the BLP’s General Secretary, Dr.
Jerome Walcott, gave the Government high marks for its performance
since taking the reins of government back in May 2018.
De Peiza, while giving the DLP’s scorecard of the BLP, acknowledged
that the past two months have posed “peculiar challenges” with
COVID-19, but maintained that Barbados was facing a critical situation
even before the pandemic made its way to our shores.
“COVID has offered a spectacular excuse, but not necessarily is the
reason for why we are where we are at.
“In particular, the DLP has always been critical of the provisions of
BERT (Barbados Economic Recovery and Transformation), which seemed
more to favour the business class than ordinary citizens in Barbados.”
She acknowledged the shifting in goal posts and parameters on a whim
by the OECD and the EU.
“The solutions that were offered up in relation to that, are part of
why we are where we are at.
“We have had repeated policy positions that favour business and not in
any way that would redound to the benefit of the average Barbadian.
Trickle-down economics has never worked in Barbados and I don’t see
anything to see that it will now.”
The DLP president said the country was already in a situation while
striving to reach the six per cent that was mandated by BERT where
contractions were observed in the economy, prior to COVID-19.
“Matter of fact, up to the January Central Bank Report, while the
report itself did not use the word ‘recession’, we were already having
that conversation in relation to Barbados and the standard definition
of recession. So before COVID came, we were already facing a
situation.”
Additionally, De Peiza said the removal of the National Social
Responsibility Levy was another factor that favoured the merchant
class, but not necessarily the average Barbadian.
“And again in response to COVID, we are seeing policy positions that
target the same group of people over and over again and this is a
concern for the BLP and they need to address it as a matter of
urgency.
“You can’t talk around it. It is a reality. Constantly the middle
class is pounded and they were already at the paycheque to paycheque
position and they should be supported at this point in time and any
pay cut, by whatever name you call it, is going to have a knock-on
effect in terms of what transactions can happen in an economy.
“In all of this, the creation of other revenue streams, small
business, we were not seeing the support coming through in the same
way for the smaller entrepreneurs that we were seeing for the more
established businesses. This is a concern for the DLP and one the BLP
has to face up to,” she exhorted. (JH)