Former Prime Minister Owen Arthur has made a case for his Barbados Labour Party (BLP) to be returned to office, charging the ruling Democratic Labour Party (DLP) had shown itself to be the perfect example of how not to govern a country.
Speaking at a joint St Peter/St Lucy branch meeting at Alexandra School Sunday night, Arthur said governance was about making difficult decisions that eventually led to positive transformation in the society. But when the DLP administration was not practising inertia, it was making decisions that had grave implications for people without engaging them in initial discussion, he complained.
He said Government had made fundamental changes to the country’s health policy without entering into debate with the people beforehand. He told the meeting there was currently nothing more serious facing the country than Government’s “mangling” of the Barbados Drug Service.
He said the DLP was practising “government by stealth”, where there was no communication between it and the people on anything.
He said the BLP had successfully managed the economic fallout caused by the September 2001 bombings in America; reduced staggering unemployment and inflation through sound policies; and successfully introduced and managed VAT to the country’s benefit.
But he charged that what the DLP was subjecting Barbadians to was akin to a horror movie running in slow motion. He described Prime Minister Freundel Stuart as a decent man who wanted the country to do well. But he stressed that unfortunately Stuart had no clue about what to do.
