We don’t know exactly what the late Pastor Cuke had in mind when he established the Abundant Life Assembly, but as a political party of “social revolutionaries”, we have always found the concept of abundant life to be highly appealing.
One cannot be a “revolutionary” if one does not love life. Indeed, for us, the “revolution” is really a struggle against everything that forms an obstacle to life – abundant life – for the masses. Thus, being a “revolutionary” requires us to call forth by our wishes, and to assist by our actions, everything that can alleviate or lift the weight that presses down upon the masses and dampens their legitimate enjoyment of life.
And when we assess the current state of society we find that there is much – far too much – that presses down upon the masses of working class and lower middle class Barbadians.
During the latter stages of the Owen Arthur administration, our party, the People’s Empowerment Party (PEP), produced a pamphlet in which we stated as follows:
“Life in Barbados is far too difficult for too many of our people. Too many of the essential services have been allowed to deteriorate – the bus service; our schools; the Queen Elizabeth Hospital; the water supply system; and the list goes on.”
Well, the Government was changed, and we are now almost [at the end of the five-year term] of the Democratic Labour Party (DLP) administration, but it distresses us to have to report that virtually nothing has been done by the new Government to meaningfully alleviate the weight that presses down upon the poor.
Working class Barbadians still have to endure frustrating waits for public transportation, and are still being accommodated in a shanty-like, ghetto-style facility at the River Bus Stand.
Poor Barbadians who are forced to rely upon the public health service are still subjected to seven- and eight-hour waits at the Accident & Emergency Department of the QEH, and to potentially lethal delays of months in accessing so-called non-emergency surgical procedures.
Young Barbadian mothers who fall into the category of the “working poor” still can’t secure places for their children at affordable state-run day nurseries, and elderly citizens who have spent their best years building up this country are still routinely treated with callousness and shunted from pillar to post by uncaring bureaucrats.
And with all the frustration and stress that the masses of poor Barbadians already have to undergo on a daily basis, why, pray tell, would the authorities wish to further add to the distress by concocting a host of punitive and ridiculous regulations such as the rules prohibiting people in ordinary everyday dress from entering the premises of the new Registration Department?
We could go on and on citing examples of the “weight” that continues to press down upon ordinary citizens of Barbados, but we would prefer to send a message to the DLP and to warn them that they are failing and severely disappointing the working masses.
Our people need and deserve better! And once again, we refer to the PEP’s manifesto, in which we outlined several simple, commonsensical and humane measures for easing the burden on the masses.
Much can be done to solve the problems in public transportation, health, the education system, treatment of the elderly, and the list goes on, but one must begin with a revolutionary consciousness and an aspiration towards “abundant life” for ordinary people!
• The PEP column represents the views of the People’s Empowerment Party.
