images
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Sealy warns Bajan values under attack
Article first appeared in Barbados Today Published on
January 9, 2022
Democratic Labour Party (DLP) candidate for St Michael South Central Richard Sealy is sounding the alarm about what he sees as a rapid slide away from traditional Barbadian norms and values under the Mia Mottley administration.
His comments came Saturday night as he staged a virtual gospel concert and constituency meeting in support of his bid to regain the seat, he lost in the May 2018 general election.
As the island undergoes another election campaign while battling increasing cases of COVID-19 on the island, Sealy, a former Minister of Tourism and International Transport, told his online audience those values on which this country was built, were now “under attack” and citizens were being asked to “accept behaviours” that did not “accord with our norms”.
The former Member of Parliament for the constituency now held by Marsha Caddle of the Barbados Labour Party (BLP), insisted that there was now growing confusion over what was right and what was wrong.
According to Sealy, whose campaign slogan is It’s About You, contended that it was time to forge a new national identity, as he called on citizens to look inwardly and to determine a way to improve the current situation.
During his speech, Sealy also lamented the devastating impact that the pandemic had wrought on the education of school children and that community leadership was at an all-time low.
The DLP candidate argued that detachment was also rampant in the Barbadian society, as there was a widespread belief of two parallel societies operating on the island in which those with means and wealth were not subjected to the same rules as those who were dispossessed.
To support his argument, he pointed to the differential treatment meted out to those in big business who breached the COVID-protocols while “ordinary people” were thrown in jail during the lockdowns.
According to Sealy, Barbadians needed to be clear in their minds that the current government was operating in the interest of certain people.
He contended too that while he had dismissed allegations of “despotism” he was convinced of it following the decision of the Prime Minister to dissolve Parliament and rush the country into a general election in the middle of a raging COVID-19 pandemic.
As he put it, “something has gone wrong in Barbados” and the electorate needed to right the situation by electing the DLP to office.
Barbadians will head to the polls on January 19 following a three-week campaign, just three years into the five-year term of the Mottley administration. She led the BLP to a historic clean sweep of all 30 constituencies in 2018. However, Bishop Joseph Atherley quickly defected from the BLP and formed the official opposition in Parliament.
