Opposition Leader, Mia Mottley (second left), is joined by Members of Parliament, Kerrie Symmonds (left), Dwight Sutherland (second right) and Gline Clarke, during yesterday’s press conference.
No confidence!
A MOTION of no confidence will be filed against the Freundel Stuart administration early next week by the Opposition Barbados Labour Party.
Opposition Leader, Mia Mottley, said that over the past 13 weeks, the island has been experiencing “an unparalleled series of dislocation, bad news, challenges and crises”, upon which government remained “silent, mum and comatose”, including the recent downgrade by Moody’s, the contentious Cahill waste-to-energy plant, and the ongoing challenges at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital.
“Starting with the water crisis, continuing with difficulties being experienced by the unions on behalf of the membership... the workers... who feel in many respects that they have been significantly disrespected and/or duped, whether it is BRA, the NCC, or as recent as yesterday at the SSA or the Water Authority, which indeed led to the shut down of both the country’s airport and sea port.
“The difficulties at a number of schools – Lawrence T. Gay, Combermere School – the difficulties experienced by students in relation to the Springer Memorial incident with the young lady, the announcements of government seeking to govern by stealth, whether it is the finger printing or the repeal of the Catastrophe Fund...” she also outlined.
Accusing the government of operating under a culture of silence, she told the media yesterday at her Parliament offices that this was unacceptable given the island’s dire state of affairs.
“We do not believe that Barbados can continue to drift for another 22 months on a platform of indifference and incompetence, and to that extent, Barbadians must be given the facts.
“This motion of no confidence is not about the parliamentary majority, because we clearly do not have the parliamentary majority, but it is about bringing the facts to the people of the country, because Barbadians deserve the right to be able to determine their future and destiny on the facts available to them,” Mottley insisted.
The Opposition filed such a motion against Minister of Finance, Christopher Sinckler, in 2013, which was defeated by the 16-seat majority vote held by government. Since then, the Barbados Labour Party has lost two of its 14 seats, with MP for St. Peter and former Prime Minister Owen Arthur and Christ Church West MP, Dr. Maria Agard, now both being independents. (JMB)