Leader says promises will be kept

The road to national leadership has been a long one for Prime Minister Barrow. When it became clear late Thursday night that his party had finally achieved victory he told News Five’s election analysts that his promise of honest government will be kept.

Dean Barrow, Prime Minister
“I certainly am determined that above all we do things properly, that we operate a government of honesty, a government of dialogue, a government of accountability. Accountability, not just to the larger population but accountability even to our public officers who have been asked over the past five years to do some really unfortunate things. But in that sort of a context where I am determined that you don’t go in there thinking that you’ve all of a sudden become lords and masters of anyone. Where I am determined that those in Cabinet should at all times remember or be reminded that we have to act as true servants of the people and that we have above all to operate on a basis of visual honesty. I think with that and with the technical support that we will get from the public officers and with the tremendous amount of help that people in the society will want to give, the tremendous amount of goodwill that will be available, we’ll do a fine job.”

Stuart Leslie
“Can we talk politics for a minute? Clearly when you lose an election like this there is a lot of soul searching and you have to look at lessons. But also when you win I want like to think that you have to look at lessons even if it is for the future.”

Dean Barrow
“I think the basic lesson is that the people are sovereign, the people are boss because I keep repeating that is the reason why we won. I know it sounds self-evident and perhaps trite, but in a very real meaningful way that it the case here. It’s as a result of people having developed this determination, this resolve—certainly I think 2005 is a watershed here. Certainly from 2005 to on to insist that things be done differently in this country, that’s basically responsible, primarily responsible for this victory. Stuart, going forward, you bear that well in mind, you never lose sight of that. That has to be your anchor and you have to operate always on the basis that the moment you slip, the moment there is any kind of … retreat in any way from that kind of principle there in begins the road to your destruction.”