Time for people to take back power

The time of citizens begging politicians for assistance has to come to an end.

Insisting that it was time for the power to be placed in the hands of ordinary persons, Barbados Labour Party candidate for Christ Church South Ralph Thorne said a form of local government must be brought to the fore.

“Communities must stop believing that eternally they are to be dependent on 30 men and women who happen to be Parliamentarians. Why should you not have the power and the opportunity to determine the quality of your bus service? It is not rocket science. Why should you not have the power and the opportunity to determine where your street lights should be located? Why should you not have the power and the opportunity to determine that you should have natural gas in your community? Why should you not have that power? Why should you not have the power and the opportunity to liaise with the Sanitation Service Authority and work out a proper system of collection throughout this parish? Is that beyond you? I say it is not,” he said.

Speaking at a national meeting in Parish Land on Friday night in support of the party’s Christ Church South candidate and fellow attorney Wilfred Abrahams, he said that the ability to govern was a skill most people possessed.

Expressing his own beliefs as to how these local assemblies should be properly constituted, Thorne said that along with ordinary citizens there should be a representative from the police force, teaching community, church, certain government agencies, like the National Cultural Foundation, and the National Sports Council.

“If a road gets bad you should not be knocking down any minister’s door or constituency office, begging for a road repair as though you are begging for manna from heaven. A local assembly should have the power and administrative authority to write to the government and demand the delivery of these services and amenities into your local communities. This has to be the way forward,” the Queen’s Counsel asserted. (JMB)