‘There are some who stand tall and stand out no matter where they are from…’ – Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala
By Sue-Ann Wayow
PRIME Minister of Barbados Mia Mottley has been chosen to grace the cover of next month’s edition of Time Magazine after she was named as one of the world’s top 100 influential people for 2022.
On Monday, Time, revealed its annual list of global influencers.
Director-general of the World Trade Organization (WTO), Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala wrote for Time, “There are some who stand tall and stand out no matter where they are from—whether a large, densely populated country or a small island nation. Prime Minister Mia Mottley of Barbados is one such person. Bold, fearless, and possessing a great intellect and wit, the Prime Minister is a brilliant politician who knows how to shake things up.”
Mottley’s advocacy was documented in the magazine with Time publishing that Mottley always cared deeply about critical issues impacting the world ranging from poverty to debt to climate change.
Mottley has accomplished many firsts including being appointed the country’s first attorney general in 2001 and becoming the youngest person to be named Queen’s Counsel in Barbados. In 2018, she became Barbados first woman prime minister as leader of the Barbados Labour Party (BLP) since 2008, also the party’s first female leader.
In September 2020, she made a historic announcement that it was time for Barbados to break away from the British monarchy which meant that Queen Elizabeth II was still head of state.
In July 2021, the Day of National Significance in Barbados, Mottley announced that Barbados’s cabinet had decided that Barbados would become a parliamentary republic by November 30.
And on that day, Dame Sandra Mason became the first President of Barbados, making Mottley the first Prime Minister of Barbados as a republic nation.
Okonjo-Iweala stated, “Mia Mottley is an icon in her country, having won re-election by a landslide. The Prime Minister strides boldly on the world stage. She is an embodiment of our conscience, reminding us all to treat our planet, and therefore one another, with love, dignity, and care.”
In an interview with the magazine, Mottley said, “The choice of my public life, has been to be a lawyer, an advocate, as well as to be a representative of the people. And I say representative as opposed to politician because I believe I am here to represent the interests and the voices and there are so many who are voiceless and so many who are incapable of action.
“But of those of us who have the capacity to make that difference in their lives and will, then the world will be a better place.”
