De Peiza: It’s a referendum on Govt

THE CAMPAIGN TO ELECT a new representative for St James North is not just a by-election, but a national election.

So said former president of the Democratic Labour Party (DLP) Verla De Peiza, as she spoke in support of candidate Felicia Dujon at a DLP meeting in Reservoir Road, Ashton Hall, St Peter, on Saturday night.

Every Barbadian will not participate in the election, she said, but the people of St James were “charged with the responsibility” of letting the Government know how the wider population felt about how they were being treated.

De Peiza told constituents that when they vote, as a referendum, it will show the Barbados Labour Party (BLP) Government that they were dissatisfied with its performance on the national level.

The attorney said she found displeasure in people having to line up in public to receive a one-off, tax-free Solidarity Allowance of $300 from Government.

“I watched the line and my heart hurt for my people who are in such a state that they have to line up for the $300 that their Government ran on a slogan that said they cared . . . . [They] have the nation’s people in the hot sun and pouring rain lining up for $300 that can barely carry them one time to the supermarket when they know they have a better way to get the money to the . . . people,” De Peiza said.

She also called the BLP Government “masters of slogan-making” which made promises they did not keep: like banning plastic bags, the HOPE housing project and the waste recycling project.

Opportunity

“They cried down the plasma gasification programme . . . and we have a world of problems with garbage collection and disposal, but the worst part of it is they are trying to bring the same project but to put it at the port. That shows it was never about nation-building but getting kudos for themselves,” she declared, adding that if this was disappointing, the people of St James North have an opportunity to redress it on Wednesday when they vote.

De Peiza said Dujon spoke on students’ behalf.

“You watched her when the IDB survey was issued to people’s children without their notice and with very questionable content for little children. Felicia spoke up on their behalf. When a whole set of madness went down at Springer School and the nation’s children were scared stiff with what really ought to be a very innocuous exercise – you need to have drills but it can’t be to that extent . . . . When they had issues at Alexandra, she was down there. It did not matter where the issue was, she took her role seriously as the spokesperson. I am satisfied that Felicia will bring that same energy and tenacity to the exercise on behalf of the people of St James North,” she said.

De Peiza urged St James North constituents to “pull the plug on that relationship” with the BLP.

“You have to show backbone and mettle. You don’t have to stand up and shout, but you have to walk with purpose to your polling station on the day. You stand in that polling booth with your pencil and your conscience and vote,” she said.

(JS)