LOCAL businesses want to see stability and certainty return to both the ruling Democratic Labour Party (DLP) and the Opposition Barbados Labour Party (BLP).
Chairman and chief executive officer of Automotive Art, Dereck Foster, told the DAILY NATION instability in either camp “is a problem at any time”, but the current economic condition made it imperative that any issues be resolved quickly.
He was speaking at Hilton Barbados yesterday following a breakfast panel discussion hosted by the Barbados Chamber of Commerce & Industry (BCCI).
Foster commented in light of the illness of Prime Minister David Thompson and his subsequent Cabinet reshuffle as well as the attempt to oust Leader of the Opposition Mia Mottley last Tuesday.
He said it needed to be made known “immediately” who the head of Government would be if Thompson became too ill to continue.
“We need to establish that there is unity and that there is a clear Leader of the Opposition because at the end of the day if there was ever a time for a strong Opposition, it’s now.
“Any time there’s instability people don’t spend money; and if they don’t start to spend money, we will have a big problem,” he said.
BCCI president Andy Armstrong said while problems within the BLP “are their own internal issues”, the business community did not like uncertainty.
Need certainty
He said “if you’re making longer term investments you need to have a certainty that the political situation is going to be stable”.
“So certainly, we would like the Barbados Labour Party to work out their issues and whoever they decide is going to be their leader, rally behind that leader,” the managing director of Armstrong Agencies noted.
He said Thompson’s recent Cabinet changes had increased the confidence of the business community “because there is a little more certainty now how the situation is being dealt with”.
“With the Prime Minister relinquishing most of his ministries there is now a full-time minister looking after those areas – which is very important in the short term,” he said.
“We’re at least two years away from a possible election. so until an election happens, there’s a very small chance of the Government changing. So that’s a lot of time for the Opposition to put their house in order,” Armstrong said.
