Political heavyweight Mia Mottley can and will be beaten.
That’s the strong message communicated by the youngest candidate in the upcoming General Election.
First-time candidate, 23-year-old Kemar Stuart of Solutions Barbados, is hoping to unseat the Opposition Barbados Labour Party (BLP) leader in St Michael North East, a seat she has held for even longer than Stuart has been alive.
Speaking to the media after he made his deposit of $250 into the Treasury yesterday, he said that while the discouragement to persuade him not to run against the seasoned politician outweighed the encouragement, he wasn’t daunted at the formidable battle ahead which will also include Democratic Labour Party candidate Patrick Todd.
“I don’t feel daunted at all. She is a person just like everybody else. She can and will be beaten on polling night,” Stuart declared.
“I get a lot of encourage but the discouragement outweighs the encouragement [but] I focus on the positive and try to do what I do best.
“Get the task finished and show the younger generation, win or loss, that there is positivity in whatever you believe in,” Stuart added.
Stuart said he decided to enter elective politics because he wanted to make a positive impact and serve as an example for his contemporaries.
“I want to show the younger ones who are suffering in silence that you have a voice, that you too can be here where I am.
“All you need to do is make that step. And I believe I am the first of many that will be on the ticket for political elections in the future.”
A banking and finance student at the University of the West Indies, Cave Hill campus, Stuart was most passionate about advancing what he deemed as a currently under-developed financial system.
“ . . . The research that I have been doing show that there is not much innovation in the financial sector. So through Solutions Barbados we will seek to table legislation to innovate the entire financial sector, broaden the base, look at some investment and venture capitalists to invest in the younger folks as opposed to the traditional commercial banks that basically focus on capital.
“We will be seeking banking and innovation in a way that it grows the youth to create wealth. So we don’t have a younger generation filled with desk jobs basically.” (SDB Media)
