The bell has rung and the silly season is well and truly in high gear. I have honestly been morbidly impressed by the creative use of the social media that is emerging in this campaign. The use of the cartoons and print messages are already setting the stage for some interesting campaign moments (I am not so sure about the PAROs though; I would rebrand if I were them.)
Of course we cannot forget the free fetes (that is what I call them) that are seemingly becoming a staple of both political parties. Already the stage seems set for an entertaining election season.
However, that only goes so far; I for one am eager to get past the frivolity and the hype and get to the issues at hand. We have had to wait so long for the election bell to ring, I think we deserve some substance or at least a bit of both.
In that vein, I have some questions I hope will get answered during the course of this election so that the populace can vote on something else besides platform antics, and corned beef and biscuit strategies.
To the Barbados Labour Party (BLP):
Since your economic stimulus plan and privatization solution was practically rejected by everyone, what will your new strategy be for revitalizing the economy? The Barbadian public is highly forgiving and tolerant, perhaps overly so.
They will easily forgive the flawed elaboration of the prior policies but we need something to replace them with. It would be good to have some specifics, not the hairy fairy grandiose mouthings about what the other party did wrong, but exactly what is your economic plan. I figure if you are going to sell yourself as the saviour coming in on the big white horse carrying two economic gurus, that it cannot be so hard to put something sensible on the table.
Will the entire BLP cabinet, if it wins, be prepared to publicly declare all of their assets and as well as those of all directors, committees and commissions which they establish? It would be interesting to see if the declarations made in opposition can be lived up to when in office. If in office, how will you restructure the public service to ensure efficiency and increased productivity while trying to maintain jobs?
Besides the hugs and kisses and platitudes, what tangible assurances can you give the public that the rift between the current party leader and Miss Mia Mottley are well and truly healed and we will see an united BLP in Government?
To the Democratic Labour Party:
Having presided over two downgrades and the suggestion by the current Prime Minister and party leader that nothing much will change if the party gets re-elected, will we once again be doomed to the continued parroting about the Medium-Term Fiscal Strategy, or will you seek to adjust and adopt some innovation in your approach to economic policy?
Your key priority in the last election campaign was cost of living, cost of living, cost of living. By all accounts, based on our lived reality, this was clearly not achieved. How do you intend to address this if given another opportunity? It would be great to give the public something concrete and that makes sense – telling us about Cost U Less as an answer to the cost of living will only add to the entertainment value of your campaign but leave the rest of us none the wiser.
Given the ghost of the Eager Eleven and the shadow of the popularity ratings, can you give any assurances that if the current party leader is returned as Prime Minister, that the Hon. Christopher Sinckler will not end up as minister of garbage, beaches and rainwater?
Finally, if given another term, will the party stop behaving like it is in opposition, always complaining about the past and the faults of the other party and actually elaborate a vision for taking this country forward? What innovative policies and programmes can we look forward to which will help us to tackle the turbulent times ahead?
To the public of Barbados:
Will we behave like a politically mature population and demand that the politicians place tangible programmes in the public domain so that we vote with our heads rather than narrow party loyalty? Are we prepared to doom ourselves to a government no one deserves?
• Shantal Munro Knight is a development specialist and executive coordinator at the Caribbean Policy Development Centre. Email [email protected]
