BRIDGETOWN, Barbados– Prime Minister Mia Mottley has told Barbadians that they cannot afford to “sit down and play dead” as she warned of tough times ahead due mainly to the global inflation rates, the war in Ukraine, increases in the cost of living, rising oil prices and the on-going coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
She told a church service commemorating the 84th anniversary of the ruling Barbados Labour Party (BLP). As the country continues to deal with the impacts of these challenges, Barbadians cannot afford to “sit down and play dead,” urging that they “develop the resilience that guided generations of Barbadians that came before us.”
Prime Minister Mia Mottley at Church service marking the 84th anniversary of the ruling Barbados Labour Party (BLP)
“We are entering a period in the world again where discernment will also be required of us. To accept that everything is as it is seen cannot be the way, and simply to do things because we feel like it or because it is easy cannot be the way.
“Leadership demands of us sacrifice. Leadership demands our resilience. Leadership demands empathy. Leadership demands of us seeing, hearing, and feeling others.” she added.
Mottley urged citizens to seek options and alternatives to help reduce expenses, noting carpooling, utilizing the public transport system, planting their produce, and bartering as examples.
“This government has invested in the most advanced public transportation fleet that [has] been bought in the Caribbean per capita and with the electric buses, WiFi, and air condition. And as far as I continue to see and ride in them, they are being maintained in a way that I must commend the Transport Board two years after purchasing these buses.
“But I don’t only commend the Transport Board, I commend the traveling public of Barbados because you have treated them with a care and attention that I ask you now to treat to all other public assets and pubic vehicles,” she said.
“Secondly, all of us don’t have a green thumb, but we still at least know how to plant something basic. And once we do that in our community and start to barter, you will never be able to provide yourself and your family with everything that you need, but … to be able to provide and offset that 10 percent or that 20 percent extra that you are being asked to spend when the month comes, then it is through the planting and the rearing of livestock. The raring of livestock is the best gift we can give our children because it teaches them responsibility from a young age.”
She acknowledged that her administration, which won all 30 seats in the last general election in January, has faced several obstacles since assuming office in 2018, adding, “we have a responsibility above all else to commit to bolstering our faith; a commitment to act not out of a spirit of fear but a spirit of courage.
“And we must live in this world today, develop the resilience that was akin to those who went before and who faced far greater struggles and tribulations than we shall ever know because they faced the first tribulation of not having control over what they said, what they did and where they went.”
and then 