Respect the day!

Leader of the Opposition, Mia Mottley, is calling for July 26th to be respected as truly a Day of National Significance.

Her call came yesterday afternoon as she lamented that there was only a modest gathering at Golden Square, The City yesterday, for the flower-laying ceremony to commemorate the labour rebellion ,which occurred on July 26, 1937.

Mottley’s comments also came as she alluded to the absence of State officials from the event, and expressed her disappointment that the flower-laying ceremony, to recognise the lives lost in the 1937, is not being given the same prominence on the national calendar as the Remembrance Day Parade and Wreath Laying Ceremony, which occurs every November.

“I remain astonished that in spite of us designating today as a Day of National Significance, we do not have the officers of State, or those who lead this country…

“We all go to Remembrance Day at eight o’clock in the morning – from his Excellency the Governor General, to the Prime Minister, to the Leader of Opposition, to the Commissioner of Police, to the Chief of Staff of the Barbados Defence Force, to the Chief Justice, to the members of the Judiciary.

“While I in no way seek to cast anything negative about the continuation of that remembrance ceremony for those who lost their lives in the war – World War I and World War II – I find it amazing that those who lost their lives in the riots of 1937, and those who didn’t lose their lives, but who fought against injustice and oppression and deprivation, will not have the honour of those officers associating with what has been officially designated by Cabinet as a Day of National Significance,” she said.

Mottley continued, “It is wrong and it needs urgent correction, because it sends a double message to our young children who are here, in whose name we must continue to build this nation.”

The Opposition Leader said that if the young people do not understand the calls for justice that existed in 1937, then they do not appreciate what the country has had to do to reach the development it has achieved.

Mottley made the point as she again raised the issue of the decision taken last year by the Barbados Investment and Development Corporation to compulsorily retire workers over the age of 60, which is now before the law courts, contending that concerted efforts must be made to ensure that injustices like those which existed decades ago are not allowed to take root in this country again.

“We have had to live in a Barbados where persons who could have easily had their problems resolved by the structures of Government that we have – Cabinet being the body that settles policy,and Parliament being the body that passes laws – they were told go to the courts… They were told go to the courts to settle normal matters that the Barbados Workers’ Union and the NUPW settle every week without going to the courts,” she stated.

Against that backdrop, the Opposition Leader took the opportunity to defend her Party’s decision last week to abstain from the vote on the Constitution (Amendment) Bill, which seeks to change the age of retirement of the Auditor General and the Director of Public Prosecutions from 62 to 67. She remains adamant that if Government can settle policy on the retirement age of two people, then they can settle it for thousands.

“We all know that to stand up against injustice is not easy, it is not popular; some even try to call you spineless… And if in some people’s eyes it is an unpopular stance, so be it, because the consequences on those people once they pass the age of 55 [is] they can’t get a bank loan for five years, because the bank is unsure of their future.”

Mottley is therefore calling for the issue of the retirement age for those who work in statutory corporations to be properly addressed. (JRT)