No confidence motion tabled

Leader of the Opposition, Mia Mottley gave notice of a Motion of No Confidence against the Democratic Labour Party Government, in the House of Assembly yesterday morning.

 

The promised action talked about since early last month, came prior to the start of Government Business in the Lower House. Reading the lengthy resolution, the St. Michael North East Member of Parliament outlined a number of areas in which she said the Government has mismanaged the affairs of the country, contending that there was “no confidence in the Government to properly and effectively manage the affairs of State over the 22 months of its constitutional term of office in the best interest of the country and its people”. 

 

First among her concerns is the Government’s home-grown fiscal adjustment strategy which she maintained failed to meet its stated goals – restore and stabilise the foreign exchange reserves to maintain the country’s fixed exchange rate, reduce the fiscal deficit to sustainable levels and lay the foundation to return the economy to a sustainable path. The Opposition Leader said information from the Central Bank at December 2015 showed that the foreign exchange reserves had fallen from $1.458 billion at the end of 2012 to $927 million at the end of 2015. Added to that, she said the overall fiscal deficit was stated to be 6.3 per cent of GDP during the Estimates, and is projected to rise to 7.8 per cent by the end of March 2017.

 

Her comments came as she also spoke of the downgrades from the international ratings agencies, six since the DLP came to office which she lamented has made it difficult and more expensive for Government to raise capital outside of Barbados, and the outrageous gross public sector debt that the country is now faced with, which stands at 110.3 per cent of GDP, excluding debt owed to the National Insurance Scheme and the Central Bank. If added to debt, she said it would bring that figure to 159.3 per cent of GDP or $13.8 billion – the highest debt to GDP ratio in the Caribbean.

 

She alleges that the Central Bank’s “printing of money to support the Government’s unsustainable deficit and the Government’s desire not to default on local debt” such that it holds almost $1.1 billion in Government paper, puts the country’s exchange rate peg in jeopardy. She indicated that the NIS also holds over $3.2 billion in Government paper, while at the same time being owed about $240 million in arrears by the Government.

 

Mottley said there has also been a doubling of the unemployment since 2007, and there has been a decline in the quality of life of Barbadians across all income levels. Furthermore, Barbadians have suffered a significant reduction in disposable income due to a wage freeze in the public sector and parts of the private sector, the removal of allowances and reductions for income tax purposes and the introduction of some 33 increases in taxes and fees over the last eight years.

 

Her resolution also states that the Government has “persistently refused” to take the people into its confidence in relation to new and or revised policy pronouncements which threaten to have a negative impact on their well-being and the fundamental rights of the citizens; as well as not disclosing the particulars of several memoranda of understanding that have been signed.

 

The Opposition Leader’s resolution also suggests that Government failed to update to people on several societal issues including the levels of crime, industrial unrest, the state of the NIS and the condition of the healthcare system. Also included in the resolution are the recent water woes, which Mottley said puts the health of the people at risk.

 

No date has been set for the debate on the Motion of No Confidence. The last such motion was brought by the Opposition in 2013, but it was defeated. Government currently holds 16 of the 30 seats in the House of Assembly, while the Opposition Barbados Labour Party has 12 seats. Two MPs – the MP for St. Peter, Owen Arthur and MP for Christ Church West, Dr. Maria Agard are Independents. (JRT)