Professor Michael Howard has smoked his former student Clyde Mascoll into the open to defend his ridiculous assertion that Barbados’ growing population should not be of concern to Barbadians. He ends his note to the Nation newspaper of 29 August 2007 by writing “I believe that Barbados has not yet reach its optimum population because it has certainly not yet reached its optimum level of economic production.” It seems silly that the country should have to subject itself to Mascoll accusing Howard of defending a hypothesis “Has Barbados reached its optimum population?” when by his own admission he is operating on a belief. Mascoll where are your results from your hypothesis testing to support your claim that we need a larger population?

The last time we checked, the servants of the people (Government of Barbados) had not seen it necessary to make public any policy position regarding strategies to grow our ageing population. At this eleventh hour Barbadians are being criticized for our concerns by a politician who has not worked for any major company in Barbados or abroad one single day in his life. When we examine the architects of economic policy in many of the developed countries their bios list significant appointments in the private sector before being lured to the public sector. Forgive us Mr. Mascoll if we don’t have the confidence in your unsupported analysis that we need to grow our population through the adoption of any secret policy. We declare upfront that positive correlations should complement any increase activity and population growth. We disagree with Mascoll on the haphazard approach to our immigration policy which we have no doubt will lead to social dysfunction.

Unlike Howard and Mascoll we are not academicians but we have acquired enough knowledge over the years to understand that all of the world’s problem cannot be solved by statistics. Let us examine Mascoll’s reference to the Singapore model and the fact that it is an island of 247 square miles with a population of 4.1 million (BU research found the correct population to be 4.5 million) people and did not attract any major social issues. In his use of this tidbit to assert his position that a relatively large Singaporean population did not lead to any major social problems, Mascoll neglected to qualify his reference by factoring the following:

• Its system of government can more accurately be described as a dictatorship. Lew Kuan Yew who is credited of being the architect of the Singapore Model is an interesting case study. The salient point to negate Mascoll’s argument is to highlight the total control which Yew had in repositioning the Singapore economy in the 60’s.

• Singapore is a multi-religious country, due its diverse mix of peoples originating from various countries and ethnic groups. However the predominant religions are Buddhism with Taoism, Hinduism, Christianity and others making up the resident population. It is important to factor the religious profile of Singapore which complements a strong culture of intolerance to crime. Leaders of Singapore have used the culture to enforce the discipline required since the 60’s to build its successful economic model.

• A key characteristic of the Singaporean approach has to be the addiction to its physical and infrastructural development. Schools and Industrial Estates have been built outside of urban areas and an efficient transportation system has been invested in which ensures that movement of people for work or leisure is done with ease.

Mascoll mentioned that the ageing population of Barbados was responsible for the government reforming the National Insurance Scheme (NIS). We do not disagree with Mascoll but he needed to say more. He needed to explain why the government has not expanded the scope for the NIS to invest in a significant way in markets outside of Barbados to improve the yield of the fund. It is also well documented that respective governments over the years have used the NIS funds to manipulate the market whether through inflating or deflating liquidity i.e. by giving directives to the Accountant General to buy and sell Treasury Bills and Debentures in the market or by investing in projects which the government has a vested interest (BU thank an anonymous emailer for the heads-up). In other words the important pension fund which belongs to the people of Barbados has not been expertly managed over the years. The people of Barbados now have to suffer this mismanagement by successive governments with the recent reform to the Pension Act which is soon to be proclaimed.

The final point which we wish to make is to discuss the increasing role technology is expected to play in the economy of Barbados as we navigate the future. There is no doubt that as we continue to embrace technology the country will benefit from the freeing up resources. So to counter Mascolls argument that “Barbados has not yet reach its optimum population because it has not yet reach its optimum level of economic population” needs to be “formulated as a hypothesis which becomes testable”. Yes indeed Mascoll we are just throwing your same argument right back at you!

If all of the points raised above don’t convince you that your reasons given to grow the population in the haphazard way we are currently doing is foolhardy, then consider the following:

• Our schools are over crowded, especially at the primary level
• Our lone Hospital is fraught with so many problems that …
• The mismanagement of the transportation system with over 100,000 vehicles on the road has collapsed into gridlock
• Our police force continue to lose good men to other countries which result in a reduction in the reduction of the ratio of policeman to population

Maybe Mascoll could examine the immigration policy of a country like Canada and Bermuda to understand that population growth, supplying needed skills and infrastructural framework must be implemented using a hand in glove approach.

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