A confidential document seen by Barbados Underground (BU) has implicated a Democratic Labour Party candidate nominated to run in the upcoming General Election in some rather murky activities. The investigation dates back to nearly 10 years.
From our inception, we have been reluctant to carry stories which may promote character assassination. However, in this instance, we feel that in the interest of truth, our commitment to freedom of information and transparency of our democracy, this story MUST be told. We have taken a position not to publish it in its entirety until such time when we have received a legal opinion to satisfy some of our concerns. We urge the BU family to appreciate our decision because of the confidential nature of the document.
It is no secret that there is a widely held view in Barbados that people from certain minority groups have been allowed to reside in Barbados, and on closer examination have been known not to speak a word of English. Also they have had very limited relationships with people in Barbados. We have written previously about the unwillingness of the responsible government agencies to inform Barbadians about the true number of legal and illegal Guyanese on our island. We are now convinced that the government before CWC 2007 had no efficient mechanism to gather such information. We have come to the conclusion that the Barbados immigration system is in need of massive reform which would prevent it from being manipulated by groups in our society who have money and influence. The document in our possession refers to the authorities having knowledge of female spouses who are not able to understand the language of their respective Barbadian husbands. The heavy suspicion by authorities that the females participated in a marriage of convenience for money was listed as a concern in the document.
What we find very disturbing is the notion that our authorities have had serious concerns about access to sensitive information within the Immigration Department by low-level employees. One member of the BU household is more concerned at the idea that a low- level employee was thought to have maintained uncomfortably close relationships with immigration officials. Taken at face value, this is a perception which may seem harmless, but when fitted with what we have observed with the large immigrant inflows into Barbados, we should continue to be very vigilant even in the face of being accused of xenophobia.
The document confirms that the key reason behind the racket to the marriages of convenience by a certain group in Barbados was to facilitate their applications for business travel to the United States of America by showing evidence of ‘Barbadian status and Residence’.
We will bring it home now.
It appears from our reading that a current candidate in the upcoming election has been fingered as one of the persons involved in this illegal activity of Marriages for Sale Scam which dates back nearly a decade. Before we make more information public, we are prepared to give all the information which we have to the Leader of the Opposition for his full investigation. We believe that it is in the interest of the Barbadian public that he should open an internal investigation into the candidate selection by his party. Many of our commenters, Adrian H especially have joined BU in the cry for political reform. It is not sufficient that we place an X every five years in an election; our democracy must become more embodied in all that it perceived to be just. Politicians are critical agents in our system of government; therefore the screening and selection process of our political parties must be rigorous to eliminate those individuals who have questionable reputations. The recent pronouncements by both parties concerning the need to introduce integrity legislation are appreciated. We are fully aware this is the silly season which means that it is the right time to make promises to an apathetic electorate.
We give David Thompson three (3) days to indicate to Barbados Underground if he wants the information which we have, before we do the required follow-up story.
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