Ralph Thorne, leader of the opposition Democratic Labour Party (DLP), has laid out his party’s vision for tackling Barbados’ most pressing issues, including crime, healthcare and the cost of living crisis.
Delivering the annual Errol Barrow Memorial Lecture, titled “The Vision, The Mission: From a Village to a Nation”, Thorne swept over a wide swathe of national issues, including corruption, the welfare systems, education, agriculture, sports, culture, renewable energy, the Constitution, and the economy. He also attacked what he suggested was the proposed removal of Independence Day.
Speaking on Monday night at the Errol Barrow Centre for Creative Imagination at the University of the West Indies at Cave Hill Campus, he engaged a full auditorium of attendees from all age groups. Former Prime Minister Freundel Stuart was also present.
Reflecting on the impact of Barrow’s education policies, Thorne stated: “We speak of a generation that carried this country with great skill and commitment to national duty in those post-independence years. Come and see the pastors and the policemen. Come and see the librarians and the lawyers. Come and see the teachers and the tellers. Come and see the bankers and builders. Come and see the priests and postal workers. Come and see the pharmacists and the farmers. Come and see the artists and the artisans. Come and see doctors and dentists. Come and see the managers and masons. Come and see the judges and journalists. Come and see.”
He added: “The transformation of a society. Come and see that noble project in education, we therefore come to an understanding that education involves not mere credentialisation, but that it elevates an entire society from the primitive to the modern.”
Thorne then lamented the current state of healthcare in Barbados and outlined the DLP’s vision for a balanced reform that integrates public and private healthcare systems.
He said: “With a fairly high complement of public and private health facilities across Barbados, the problem cannot be exclusively infrastructural. We may need to investigate integrated health delivery schemes between the private and public practitioners in healthcare. You will know that I have stopped short of describing or prescribing a national health service.”
He continued: “I believe that there are conscientious and compassionate medical practitioners, including nurses, who are willing to render service within integrated schemes of health delivery. I tread carefully in saying that it is not impossible to create an integrated scheme of private participation within a public health delivery system. While deferring to those professionals within the field, I believe that such a scheme remains worthy of consideration.”
Thorne emphasised: “There must be no compromise on the delivery of adequate healthcare, and a new government must commit to accessible healthcare for all, irrespective of the patient’s social circumstances. Let there never in this country be a compromise on the institution that was created by our own people.”
Addressing the troubling issue of crime, Thorne reiterated his four-tier approach – the military, legislative, socio-economic, and cultural – and elaborated on each point during his nearly hour-long lecture.
He also criticised the government’s handling of the cost of living and agriculture.
“High electricity bills drive a high cost of living. I believe that our agricultural sector must remain a national certainty. Government continues to fail to pursue investment in agriculture. The transfer of lands out of agriculture must be checked immediately,” he said.
With each criticism, Thorne proposed alternative policies his party would implement if they were to assume government leadership.
On the matter of Independence Day, Thorne reaffirmed his party’s stance.
“For as long as this country shall live, November 30th every year has continued to be a celebration of Independence as it has been before. Barbadians, this is your time. For as long as this country shall live, the name Errol Walton Barrow will resonate through all these fields and hills, and there will be no recall of the Independence of Barbadians. Barbadians, this is your time,” he declared. (IMC)
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