A pig in a poke is what Minister of Finance Chis Sinckler says the Opposition Barbados Labour Party (BLP) is selling to the Barbadian public.
Speaking at a Democratic Labour Party (DLP) meeting at Deighton Griffith School on Sunday night, he maintained that while the BLP was always quick to criticise every attempt his party made to turn Barbados’ economy around, it was never as eager to put forth its mandate for the country.
He queried whether the BLP even had a mandate for this country.
Touting the new Barbados Sustainable Recovery Plan prepared by Government, the labour movement and the private sector, which was laid in Parliament last week, the St Michael North-West MP admitted that while it might be the party’s fifth or sixth plan as suggested by political opponents, at least they were making every effort to move the country forward, unlike the present Mia Mottley-led Opposition.
“The point is, not one of them who is supposed to be practising or preparing themselves to become the Government, could engage on these Estimates. They found themselves dancing all around [the Barbados Sustainable Recovery Plan] because . . . they could not find themselves to criticise the Social Partners for producing this document.”
He challenged Mottley, who described the new plan as a “glorified to-do list”, to bring an alternative to be held up to public scrutiny. Sinckler said the BLP was asking Barbadians to treat their lives as a lucky dip.
“You are going to get a pig in a bag, or so you think, because when you open it . . . whether it is in a poke, a bag or a blanket, it ain’t really what it is. They are marketing something to you and you don’t even know what it is you are getting . . . .
“Not a word about how they are going to fix roads, rebuild the foreign reserves, bring down the deficit; nothing.” (SDB Media)