Erika A. Pozo

Policy areas:

I am Erika Anne Pozo and I grew up in Road to the Lines, where many of my fondest childhood memories took place. I am a proud mother of 2 children, Renee and Ralph, and an experienced finance professional holding several professional qualifications, both in general insurance and accountancy. I have a sound knowledge of our financial, legal frameworks, and a passion for policy drafting and risk management in this field. My working-class upbringing coloured my life, taught me the value of humility and hard work and has never allowed me to lose touch with the concerns of the community.

I am proud to hold the portfolios for Employment and Public Accountability within this wonderfully dynamic slate of 10 Together Gibraltar candidates.

I am a strong believer that a Member of Parliament in the 21st century should be close to the community he or she represents, and that faith and confidence in our politicians needs to be restored. Our Government must recognise that the taxpayer is THE fundamental stakeholder, and that it needs to be protected. I am also of the strong opinion that democracy must extend further than the ballot box, and that public engagement in politics is the first line of accountability.

Public Accountability is one of the four policy pillars that Together Gibraltar will focus on in order to transform this community. The policies in this portfolio are targeted instruments aimed to put an end to corruption, nepotism, lack of transparency and poor practices that occur here systematically. Our approach will be one of freeing our mechanisms of accountability from political influence, creating new independent layers of scrutiny, and providing better and more information to the relevant institutions and the general public.

I believe that many, much-championed achievements of this Government (and indeed previous administrations) with respect to employment are simply smokescreens behind which a far more complex reality lies - one of ‘underemployment’, short-term contacts, low incomes and exploitative working conditions. Together Gibraltar intends to change this reality and move towards the creation of a fairer and more successful job market, making sure it benefits us all; public servants, private sector employees and businesses. In our administration, union representatives will not be ignored or disrespected.

We are aiming to be the real pioneers in governmental transparency and accountability. In the Ministry for Public Accountability and Transparency that I hope to lead, we will deploy a robust framework and action plan Gibraltar has never seen before. A framework never introduced by any party. A framework we are ready to implement. Democracy will always remain an empty exercise if those in power cannot be held accountable for their actions.

Nelson Mandela said, ‘it always seems impossible, until it’s done.’ We believe everything is possible if we work together.