WHY MIA MOTTLEY IS SO SPECIAL

GUYANESE President Dr. Irfaan Ali often wakes up at 5 a.m., prepares his “famous fish curries” and has them delivered on the next flight to Barbadian Prime Minister Mia Mottley. 

It is a “gesture of care and support” for Ms. Mottley, said the British Guardian newspaper, from which I picked up this snippet a few months ago in my continuing fascination with the Bajan leader. 

The Caribbean has been reaching for a fresh burst of superlatives to honour Ms. Mottley, as she – in a world of 7.7 billion people – has just been named by the prestigious Time magazine as one of the 100 most influential. 

The leader of an island of 287,000 – which does not even register as a percentage of the global population – is among those who “shape the world,” according to Time. 

She is in the company of war hero Volodymyr Zelensky, leader of the free world Joe Biden, Russian President Vladimir Putin, talk champ Oprah Winfrey, singers Adele and Mary J. Blige, and other headline icons, innovators, pioneers, and titans. 

To be sure, this is a breathtaking triumph. 

Local media houses are proudly showcasing that feat even though Ms. Mottley has never been properly profiled and featured in this land, a mere 207 miles away. 

The Barbadian heroine has been heralded for speaking truth to power on the climate change crisis at last November’s conference in Glasgow, Scotland. 

“We have these conversations at conferences… as if time is not a problem,” she told the magazine. 

“Ordinary people create a mass movement and are the conscience of the earth.” 

But Ms. Mottley’s international exploits are wider than that. 

Her courageous step to remove the British Queen as Head of State and to turn her 439 km square-mile island into a republic six months ago was a stab against imperialism. 

At the function in Bridgetown, Prince Charles acknowledged “the appalling atrocity of slavery” in Barbados – and certainly Trinidad and Tobago and other Caribbean territories. 

Ms. Mottley quoted Marcus Garvey’s “emancipate yourself from mental slavery,” and criticised a system that “allows someone to become a Head of State purely on the basis of a hereditary line”. 

She stressed: “It is important to let that little Barbadian boy (or) girl realise he (or she) could aspire to become Head of State.” 

That’s tough talk and spirited action from one of the smallest countries on earth. 

But the plucky leader has an unmistakable vision for her island and region. 

She has been deepening relations with Guyana in agriculture, manufacturing, tourism, and other sectors. 

Just last week in Georgetown, she told of immediate plans for a food logistics hub between both countries – with Brazil assisting with livestock – aimed at being a terminal for the eastern and southern Caribbean. 

That is distinctive leadership at a time when food prices at shooting through the roof and expert projections are for continuing inflation. 

Trinidad and Tobago, with an annual $6 billion food import bill, has made no tangible efforts at boosting domestic production. 

More than all that is Ms. Mottley’s clear-sightedness about empowering Barbadians “at all levels”, including creating a technology-driven public service. 

She has blasted commercial banks on “unfair fees,” stating that if they are not prepared “to make some changes”, then “the government would be forced to do so through legislation”. 

In contrast, more than 6,000 small and medium-sized businesses in T&T did not reopen after the Covid-19 crisis, partly because banks refused to hold their hands on fee waivers, reduced charges, payroll assistance, and other measures. 

T&T’s big business is getting fatter – at the expense of the small man. 

Massy opened five new supermarkets, including a mega-store at Chaguanas, and reported higher profit, while community shops folded up. 

Agostini’s recorded a stunning 49.5 percent increased profit in its first reporting period since becoming a pharmaceutical importation monopoly. 

Ms. Mottley, on the other hand, is a no-nonsense people’s leader. 

“The next thing we are going to hear,” she snapped, “is the bank is going to charge you a fee depending on how skinny or how fat you are…” 

She told Time: “We are passionate about social justice… 

“We believe we must do this as an act of self-love not… against anyone”. 

The magazine hailed her as “bold, fearless, and possessing a great intellect and wit”, and “a brilliant politician”. 

The Caribbean is fortunate to have this special leader, especially at a time of raging crises.