This election campaign may be described as a thinking person’s campaign. The country faces a choice between two political parties whichare established on the local political scene, but the poll comes after the untimely death of the man last elected to lead the administration of the affairs of state.
His successor as prime minister is therefore making his first appeal to an electorate which has just passed through one of the worst recessions in world history. He is opposed by a leader who has had 14 years as captain of the ship of state and who can legitimately claim some detailed knowledge of the Barbadian economy and the location of the political icebergs which can ruin the best laid plans of mice and men.
Given the recession and its impact, the economy and its management will, we feel, be a key issue in this campaign, and we have as the Fourth Estate to call forth from the political parties a rational, reasoned debate for the acceptance of their views.
This election is emphatically one in which the players must kick the ball and not the man. In other words, the issues and not the personalities of the candidates must be the topic of debate.
Politics may be a popularity exercise but it is the choice and execution of policies which affect the lives, welfare and well-being of the people infinitely more than the personality of this or that candidate.
We need to hear proper justification for the policies pursued by the Government which have led to the present situation. They ought to be called upon to defend the budgetary policies from 2008 right up to the present time, and there must be the clearest possible answer for their policies on energy pricing which have had such an impact on the cost of living.
The Opposition cannot in proper discharge of its duty to the electorate sit back and simply take potshots at the Government. That simply will not do.
The stakes are too high for a party to think that the textbooks which say that the duty of the Opposition is to oppose, oppose and oppose again are right. It will not deserve to catch the favour of the voters unless it not only shows where the Government has gone wrong, but also indicates clear reasonable and sensible policies which stand a chance of getting this country moving again.
The contest will therefore have to be a serious one on the issues. It will be agreed by most people that we have to find ways to get growth in the economy, with policies which encourage private sector foreign and domestic investment.
Privatization has become a political football between the two main parties even though both in this parliamentary session seem to have embraced the policy.
We anticipate that it cannot now be on the front burner of either party, given that many more serious problems have to be dealt with; and yet there can be no running away from the fact that as a priority matter, our several statutory corporations must become more efficient so they do not continue to be bottomless pits into which the central administration pours millions of taxpayers’ dollars. The parties need to tell the electorate clearly what they will do about these monumental inefficiencies!
If we have suggested that the manifestos will be important documents in this election and moreso than in the past, it is because we believe the current situation calls for the clearest thinking on the part of voters.
Both major parties must recognize that outrageous promises which stand no chance of execution but are proffered to attract votes only will not do.
These are serious times and the electorate expects serious and clearly thought out plans to promote growth, secure our currency and move our country forward. Surely, that cannot be too tall an order for our established political parties!
