Opposition Leader Mia Mottley Responds To Budget 2008

Opposition Leader Mia Mottley (r)

This evening was the turn of the Leader of the Opposition Mia Mottley to respond to the budget. Like Prime Minister David Thompson, she is a bright young Barbadian who have committed to render to public service. Barbadians will desperately hope that under the leadership of these two young Barbadians our country will be able to steer a path to calm waters. We made the point in our previous blog, and it is worth repeating that the global economic turbulence will surely test our resilience as a people.

We were able to listen to much of what the Opposition Leader had to say this evening. No Barbadian will ever say that that she is not comfortable on the public stage. Here debating antics were as to be expected and we score her a ten. While we have a passing interest in some of her rebuttals, we will wait to hear the government side before we fully critique the budget presentation. However it seems that she has pinned the bulk of her argument on the decision that the government should fore go excise tax to buffer the shock of rising oil prices.

Many who have visited the BU and BFP in recent months would have surmised that the current state of the global economy, and the uncertainty of oil pricing have led to an unprecedented current state of affairs. In such a situation old modalities will not work. The challenge to sustain our nation will call for an awakening of every Barbadian to the fact that our current consumption behaviour which we have come to enjoy must of necessity change. Barbados for all it has achieved has failed to use our revered intellect to build out capacity in the economy to stop our reliance on tourism. We have also failed to enable the environment to build a strategy to achieve food security. Last but not least we have failed to enable the environment to grow alternate energy sources.

It is the view of the BU household that over the next two or three years, a bi-partisan approach maybe required to leverage against the knowledge and experience which is posited in the former government. If we accept that government is a continuum, then our country maybe disadvantaged by operating in the traditional partisan mode. So far in her reply Opposition Leader Mia Mottley has prosecuted with flair. But we feel in our gut that at this juncture in our history we need to hear a little more. The survival of our beautiful country depends on valued contributions from all members of our parliament.

So off we go to listen to the rest of the debate.