Wood backs Reifer

A former Cabinet Minister has expressed concern about the governance of this country under the current administration.

Economist Anthony Wood, who was a Member of Parliament under the Barbados Labour Party (BLP) from 1999 to 2008, also warned that should the Barbados Labour Party’s candidate, trade unionist Toni Moore, be elected to the House of Assembly come November 11, labour will suffer and “will be in for a rough ride”, as he charged that “you cannot serve two masters at the same time”. His comments came as he took to the Democratic Labour Party’s (DLP) stage on Sunday night to endorse Floyd Reifer to be the next Member of Parliament for St. George North.

Speaking to a sizeable crowd gathered at Newbury, St. George, Wood, who was the BLP’s deputy campaign manager for the 2018 General Election, said that he has had concerns about the governance of this country soon after the BLP won in 2018. With that in mind, he told the people of St. George North that they had the opportunity to send a message to the ruling party and help to get the country back on track. Sunday’s meeting was the second time that Wood, who resigned from the BLP earlier this year, has spoken publicly about his concerns, including the Government’s failure to fulfil its campaign promises to the people of Barbados and failure to bring legalisation to stamp out corruption.

In addition to arguing that the Government was not keeping its word, he criticised the decision to have a large Cabinet when they came to office, after years of criticising the former DLP Administration for having one as well. He said it was unfortunate that the 27-member Cabinet was appointed and continued to operate, even as the Government implemented a retrenchment programme, which put a number of government employees on the breadline.

“I do not like the direction that the governance of this country is being taken by Mottley... If you don’t keep an eye on those things, we will forever be sorry in five or ten years’ time for not calling out the Barbados Labour Party, and putting serious pressure on this Mottley Administration,” he maintained.

He added, “I am challenging St. George North to do what Barbados in its wider context is expecting of you. You need to ensure Floyd Reifer becomes the duly elected representative for this constituency.”

Wood, who described himself as a public advocate, also raised concern about the proroguing of Parliament in August, and the delivery of a new Throne Speech at the September 15th start of the new parliamentary session. The former Cabinet Minister described the move as a “distraction” and said the Throne Speech was really nothing more than a mid-term BLP manifesto, as he again endorsed Reifer’s candidacy.

“...Go out in the largest possible numbers to ensure that some of the wrongs are righted, in that Floyd Reifer is elected. Stay away from the garbage, disparaging and disrespectful talk, that is to be punished in the polling booth on November 11th,” he contended.