Barbados opposition launches campaign

Leader of the opposition Barbados Labor Party (BLP), Mia Mottley says her party will tackle several social issues if elected to govern the country in the May 24 general election.

Campaign officially launched

Mottley, in an address to hundreds late Saturday as the party official launched its campaign “Lift Off”, said issues related to transportation, problems plaguing the South Coast Sewerage Project and free tertiary education would be solved immediately should her party win at the polls.

“They keep asking how we are going to do it. We will show them how to do it,” Mottley said.

Would increase pensions

The BLP leader also promised that non-contributory pensions would be increased, should the BLP regain the government.

“The days of pensioners getting BDS$77.50 (One Barbados dollar=US$0.50 cents)will be no more. From June 1 pensioners will get BDS$225 every two weeks,” she said.

Supported by candidates who will be representing the party, Mottley said her team has the innovation and ingenuity to come up with solutions to simple economic problems the current Democratic Labor Party (DLP) administration could not solve.

Would be first woman PM

Mottley, who could become the first woman here to head a government, said the country still faced a direct date with destiny when a foreign debt of BDS$120 million would be due, but she was confident a BLP administration could get the country’s economy back on track.

Mottley, an attorney, will go up against Prime Minister Freundel Stuart who in the last general election of 2013, led the DLP to win 16 of the 30 seats with the remainder going to the BLP.

Nomination Day is today, May 7.