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Democratic Labour Party (DLP) Manifesto 2008

People come and people go but a great movement goes on forever –Chris Sinckler Tonight at Passage Road the Democratic Labour Party (DLP) launched their 56 page Manifesto 2008, Pathways to Progress. Irene Sandiford-Garner speaks on the lack of governance and financial accountability. See some notes jotted while various speakers spoke: Governance and Financial Accountability…

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People come and people go but a great movement goes on forever
–Chris Sinckler

Democratic Labour Party (DLP) Manifesto 2008

Tonight at Passage Road the Democratic Labour Party (DLP) launched their 56 page Manifesto 2008, Pathways to Progress.

Irene Sandiford-Garner speaks on the lack of governance and financial accountability. See some notes jotted while various speakers spoke:

Irene Sandiford-Garner

Governance and Financial Accountability

  • EDUTEC – $400 million
  • GEMS – $300 million
  • Highway Project – $200 million
  • Publications of agreement by government
  • Adhere to ruled regarding parliamentary questions
  • Press Briefings
  • Constituency Offices to manage $100,000 stipends to manage
    miscellaneous affairs to decentralize government
  • Integrity Legislation – declaration of assets by all parliamentarians
  • Rationalize powers of the Prime Minister
  • Vote on limiting prime Minister to two terms if elected

Haynesly Benn reports as the man selected to slay Owen Arthur in St. Peter

Haynesly Benn

  • Prime Minister Owen Arthur canvassing harder than in previous years according to Benn
  • Reports of fights between BLPites over the co-leader statement made by Arthur with chairs being thrown around
  • Land ownership is too important to leave to market forces: DLP will implement a policy to provide 500 lots in 5 months for first time homeowners. Other lots will be provided to other would be homeowners. Removal of VAT from houses value up to $400,000
  • Abolishment of user fees for Barbadian patients at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital
  • Implement Rescue QEH Plan
    • Increase trained personnel
    • Construction of new Accident and Emergency wing
    • Expand Asthma Bay
    • Upgrade Geriatric Hospital
    • 24 hour opening of selected Polyclinics

Reform of Educational System

  • Convene a forum to discuss relevance of current education system
  • Review school age
  • Co-education
  • Teacher recruitment
  • Use of school property, should not be closed at 3 PM
  • School Security
  • Expand textbook loan scheme for primary school students
  • Include family life, civics, sport, art on the school curriculum
  • Facilitate slow learners
  • Raise school leaving age to 18 years
  • Subsidize amenities fee at UWI
  • Resources available for counseling to improve families and delinquent parents

Employment Related Policies

  • Reopening of Services Commission
  • Create environment for self-employment
  • Policy to manage immigration
  • Increase investment in training of the workforce
  • Assist entrepreneurs with research and marketing
  • Reserve government work for small enterprises

Chris Sinckler Chris Sinckler, the MC for the night assured Barbadians that no one Minister will be able to change water zones and similar decisions. DLP will encourage competition in the distribution sector to drive down prices; re-examine tariff regulating all goods entering Barbados. Selected price controls to implement on a basket of goods.

Financial Policies Delivered by David Estwick

David Estwick

  • Restore balance and prudence to monetary and fiscal policy
  • Slow down the approach to Capital Account liberalization

Spoke at length about current ‘spending spree’ on government projects given the increasing National Debt over 2 billion. Tourism Development exhausted. DLP will roll-out proposals to transform the economy to generate other avenues for foreign exchange.

The notes are not exhaustive and BU visitors can feel free to fill the gaps.

 

196 responses to “Democratic Labour Party (DLP) Manifesto 2008”

  1. donald duck Avatar
    donald duck

    BU. How can you ask readers to rate the manifestos of both parties when the blp has not released theirs. The blp document you refer to in your poll on the manifesto is the report on promises made by the blp and how they performed

  2. Avatar
    Anonymous

    To the Arthur Administration, the average Bajan is a second class citizen.

    Foreign investors come here and want to determine whether we can access the beach by passing beside their respective buildings. The come here and joint to Government by treating us like Dogs..and perhaps this is why in recent years we have had and increase in the number of white persons who have been charged for making negative racial remarks..

  3. Observing Avatar
    Observing

    Basically, what I gathered to be honest is that as long as Owen is the head the David would NEVER win and election, lets be real I believe that the DLP will win a lot more seats about 6/7 or eight more, but David is just a great no. 2 when he is compared to Owen

    ————————-
    I’ve heard this argument frequently but, the DLP needs 10 seat in order to take government. Regardless of the David/Owen debate, it comes down to constituencies. So outside of the sure DLP 6, let’s look at the red shirts who will not be going to Parliament.

    Noel Lynch
    Joe Edghill
    Reginald Farley
    Jerome Walcott
    Dale Marshall
    Jeffrey Bostic
    Ian Gill
    Rudy Grant
    Clyde Mascoll

    That’s 9 who are 90% gone already. And I aint even start to talk about the shakiness of Wood, Payne, Symmonds, Eastmond, Hammie La, Prescod, Marshall and Atherley. I’ll be honest, prior to November 30 I wasn’t confident of a DLP victory. Now I’m sure of it, and glad for it. Even the BLP’s advertising isn’t resonating with John Public anymore. Owen, owen, owen, owen, like a stick record.

  4. Wishing in Vain Avatar
    Wishing in Vain

    donald duck // January 6, 2008 at 12:11 pm

    BU. How can you ask readers to rate the manifestos of both parties when the blp has not released theirs.

    There can be no defence of the blp as they have had 15 years to set out and put into action programs and if after 15 years in office with little progress in health, social issues, tourism why then are we even raising its head at this time.

    Donald Duck

    You caught a sneak preview of our next poll which we inadvertently made public.

    David

  5. Floyd Avatar
    Floyd

    Many people speak of the environment and high oil prices. Yet I cannot get any discussion going on the DLP’s manifesto pledges on energy.

    I am not endorsing anybody, but their proposals on solar electricity are the most serious policies I have seen in terms of reducing the oil import oil and encouraging the use of renewable energy.

    The DLP is proposing a Smart Energy Fund to provide low interest loans for persons buying solar panels to generate electricity.

    They are offering a tax rebate on the cost of acquiring and installing the solar electric systems.

    They are promising to outfit all new government facilities with solar electric systems.

    This is a truly bold policy.

    Floyd

    We hope that if the DLP forms the next government that such a project will enjoy a transparent tendering process. A project such as this will make some people very rich.

    David

  6. Avatar
    Anonymous

    The BLP continues to refer to the layoffs of the early 90s. Those were hard times but this situation occured all over the world with similar consequences.

    In the 1990’s the IMF had been party to a series of spectacular crashes that have devastated the economies of a number of countries.

    What occured in Barbados was not isolated from this situation.

  7. Dr. Justin Robinson Avatar
    Dr. Justin Robinson

    The Democratic Labor Party’s policy proposals certainly seem well crafted to encourage greater use of solar power in generating electricity.

    I certainly applaud those initiatives.

  8. Avatar
    Anonymous

    Well I am supporting you this time Floyd and not quarelling with you. I for one would put solar panels on my house if I qualified. Since I already have a solar heater. Anything for the good of this my beloved country. Some of us have no choice but to live on the little rock and some of us won’t have it any other way. It is called love.

  9. David Avatar
    David

    We commend the proposal on the solar initiative. this is important because the incumbent seems reliant on the Barbados Light & Power Co Ltdto arrive at a solution to finding alternate energy supplies. Will never happen.

  10. Undertaker Avatar
    Undertaker

    http://www.barbadosadvocate.com/NewViewNewsleft.cfm?Record=33964

  11. Avatar
    Anonymous

    There are so many different anonymouses/or is that anonymice or anonymi (just being corny) that I am really going to have to take a name. LOL

  12. Avatar
    Anonymous

    We all have one thing in common. We are afraid of Owen calling us in the middle of the night ( usually that is not never good news) and causing cardiac arrest.

    WE ARE TERRIFIED OF THIS DICTATOR!

  13. Avatar
    Anonymous

    Actually ‘anonymous’ is an adjective; anonymity is the noun…so the plural must be ‘anonymities’
    ..but one is free to create new words so anonymice could become henceforth the plural or anonymous.

    Let’s break some records like we will iin the upcoming elections…success to David and the DLP

  14. Avatar
    Anonymous

    My twin you like you like bare sport. I like anonymice though. But I am not about to destroy the people’s language since that would not be helpful to anyone. When I first came on the blogs I thought anonymous was a moniker for somebody in particular then to discover that we all can be anonymice/mouses lol.

  15. Avatar
    Anonymous

    So you supporting the solar initiative my twin?

  16. Floyd Avatar
    Floyd

    One of the things I like about the solar policy (item no.20 in the online version of the manifesto) is that while it is potentially beneficial and revolutionary it is not an obvious vote winner.

    I am more fearful of the bag of goodies type policies both sides seem to be wooing us with.

    The DLP has clearly gotten some good advice or put some serious thought into the solar energy initiative. Germany has become a world leader in this area. My reading on the internet suggests we have three advantages in this area:

    1. we have sun all year round, so we have more supply of solar energy.
    2. we do not need to heat homes and buildings during winter months. hence, less demand for energy.
    3. we do not use nearly as much air conditioning in summer, again less demand for energy.

  17. Trained Economist Avatar
    Trained Economist

    Floyd, it sure is nice to see the level of debate rise to this level.

    BU seems to have the most sophisticated analysis on policy matters these days.

    At a recent conference of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Barbados (ICAB), James Husbands made the point of a billion dollar potential in solar.

    Responding to a question from Dr. Robinson (who posts here sometimes) he pointed out that solar electricity has taken off in Guyana as a result of necessity. because of the unreliability of supply from the national power company and the fact that a number of homes are built in somewhat remote areas people have gone for solar electric systems, and a number of companies are now in the business in Guyana.

    These proposals by the DLP may make some people rich, but if well implemented could save us a ton of foreign exchange currently spent on oil imports.

    Of course there are a number of powerful vested interests who have always frustrated attempts at renewable energy. So lets see if there is courage to forge ahead.

    Remember, not everyone hurts from $100 barrel oil.

    While we are discussing serious issues on BU, both of the newspapers are caught up in the pomp, pageantry and innuendo of the election. Thanks for BU.

  18. Trained Economist Avatar
    Trained Economist

    Questions have quite rightly been raised about the cost of some of the DLP promises, especially as they seem to plan to remove or reduce VAT on a number of items.

    The BLP now seems to be following suit wiht the PM suggesting that all persons earning up to $80,000 will be taxed at 20%. I would expect that persons earning up to $80,000 are a rather large chunk of the personal income tax net. Effectively halving the amount of tax they pay must constitute a large hit on tax revenues. How is this money going to be made up?

    The economy has done well under the BLP but fiscal prudence has not been a hallmark of the Owen Arthur administration. The Arthur administration has never been able to really contain government spending. Such a large cut in revenue without it being made up elsewhere could have serious consequences for the fiscal deficit.

    The election seems a tight one, fiscal prudence may be sacrificed on the altar of winning. I am hoping good sense prevails.

  19. donald duck Avatar
    donald duck

    the dlp is devoid of ideas. There is nothing on the international business sector which has contributed almost 2/3 of our revenue from corporation tax in 2007

  20. donald duck Avatar
    donald duck

    Another fact. The word telecommunications is not even mentioned in the dlp manifesto. Does this mean they will allow C&W to continue with the service they currently provide to us when their licence expires

  21. donald duck Avatar
    donald duck

    another fact. All the issues highlighted by the dlp on the subject of development of the capital makret are already being dealt with

  22. Anonymous Avatar
    Anonymous

    The DLP seems full of good ideas to me.
    Donald duck is showing quite limited powers of analysis. You do not have to mention a sector by name to be catering to it.

    If you look at the DLP proposals on capital account liberalization many of them are explicitly targeted at the international business sector. Check section 13 of the manifesto, read the policies on capital account liberalization and come again.

    removing exchange controls on non-residents caters to the international business sector.

    allowing non-residents to hold foreign currency accounts caters to the international business sector.

    persons working on work permits will be exempt from exchange controls. that helps the international business sector.

    Go and come again donald.

    The solar proposals are among the most important I have seen in years.

    There is a set of very good ideas on the capital markets as well. Those policies are excellent.

  23. donald duck Avatar
    donald duck

    The dlp proposes to “Increase the tax-free exemption threshold for pensioners
    receiving $3,000.00 per month or less.”

    They don’t say what they are going to increase it to. Are they not aware that the personal allowance for persons aged 60 and over and in receipt of a pension is now $40,000. Therefore such persons who are in receipt of only a pension of $3,000 will already not have to pay tax.

  24. Anonymous Avatar
    Anonymous

    I cannot criticize the DEMS on lack of idea, I am more concerned about the obvious vote gaining give aways.

    Be fair donald duck.

  25. Buppie Avatar
    Buppie

    Donald duck is showing his slip.

    The dems have some good ideas in their manifesto. the question is if they will stick to them and not abandon the manifesto like in 1986.

    I hope somebody runs with the proposals on solar electricity though. That high oil price killing we and if is one thing we have nuff of is sun. How can we let a place like germany, which cold as hell be a leader in solar energy.

  26. Avatar
    Anonymous

    I ain’t know enough about this stuff to post but just to let you know that I am following it.

  27. Brutus Avatar
    Brutus

    “Are they not aware that the personal allowance for persons aged 60 and over and in receipt of a pension is now $40,000. Therefore such persons who are in receipt of only a pension of $3,000 will already not have to pay tax.”

    Donald Duck, when was the law passed to bring about this change? (ie. the increase in the allowance from $30,000 to $40,000)

  28. donald duck Avatar
    donald duck

    Brutus

    It was enacted in early december 2007

  29. donald duck Avatar
    donald duck

    anonymous

    All companies licensed under the various pieces of legislation governing international business are already exempt from exchange control. Therefore they derive no further benefit from the treatment you have highlighted

  30. seltzer Avatar
    seltzer

    Owen Arthur has been on CBC television for past fifteen minutes. Who is paying for this? Are there any rules goverrning political broadcasts. CBC is simply a BLP propaganda station. Owen is one deadly serious dictator.

  31. Brutus Avatar
    Brutus

    Donald Duck, you seem very well informed, so I believe you. Was that one of the bills that was passed when the Dems were boycotting Parliament? I see that the changes to the credit union and RRSP deduction are included on the 2007 tax return. Were these enacted at the same time?

  32. donald duck Avatar
    donald duck

    you are lucky to have a 2007 return already!

    However changes were made in december to the allowance a taxpayer can claim for savings with a credit union and investment in an RRSP

  33. Georgie Porgie Avatar
    Georgie Porgie

    BLP Meeting in Sargeants Village

    Joe Edghill spoke of potency of drugs delivered by the Drug service in such a way that it is clear that he is not cognizant of the fact that potency per se is rarely of clinical significance, because few drugs are of such low potency that the sheer physical bulk of the administered drug presents a problem.

    For example, heroin is approximately three times as potent as morphine. This has at various times been misinterpreted to the general public as meaning that heroin is three times as effective as morphine in the relief of pain and that pain-sufferers are being denied a dramatically more effective analgesic because of the unapproved status of heroin in the United States. In fact, heroin and morphine are of approximately equal efficacy.

    Aparently he was confusing efficacy with potency, as confusion often arises when a person attaches to potency the common English definition of potent as “the capability of causing strong physiological or chemical effects, as medicines or alcoholic beverages.”

    Edghill apparently does not know that the potency of a drug depends on its absorption, distribution, metabolism, and excretion of drugs. For example, a drug that is poorly absorbed following oral administration will be far less potent than one that is readily absorbed, even if the two drugs have equal efficacies (affinities for a common receptor).

  34. Brutus Avatar
    Brutus

    Donald Duck, the 2007 tax return is on the Inland Revenue website (http://www.barbados.gov.bb/ird/pages/forms.htm).

    I am comforted that these are not amendments the government was planning to make retroactively.

  35. donald duck Avatar
    donald duck

    The DLP say that they will Relax Capital controls on the ability of local financial institutions to acquire foreign investments will be relaxed from 25% to 50% over a five-year period. This will allow these institutions to diversify their total portfolio investments as well as improve their capacity to offer wealth management services to non-residents.

    Currently there are no exchange control restrictions on international banks offering wealth management services to on-residents.

    Furthermore what does their 50% refer to???

  36. donald duck Avatar
    donald duck

    The dlp says that it will make it compulsory that all land for sale in major developments be advertised with prices on the local market prior to promotion and sale on the international market to non-Barbadians. Proof of advertising must be supplied when applying for transfer to non-Barbadian interests.

    How do they propose this to operate? No developer who targets the non-resident market will want to do this and this will result in a reduction in investment. Is this policy realistic?

  37. donald duck Avatar
    donald duck

    The DLP says they will provide access to duty free motorcars for personal use for designated public servants.

    In march 2007 the leader of the opposition and not the shadow minister of finance said that the duty free motorcars will be for police, nurses and teachers. Why were these not mentioned in the manifesto? has there been a change of heart or have they expanded it further

  38. Fred Avatar
    Fred

    The comment of the political season must be the one I heard earlier tonight at the MASSIVE DLP MEETING AT THE FARM THIS EVENING.

    A PARTY SUPPORTER WHEN ASKED HOW THINGS WERE GOING WITH THE CAMPAIGN AND WITH A SERIOUS AND CONCERNED LOOK ON HIS FACE HE REMARKED THAT HE WAS VERY CONCERNED AND WHEN PRODDED FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT HIS CONCERN HE STATED THAT HE WAS VERY CONCERNED AS TO IF ASSCOLL WOULD MANAGE TO GET BACK HIS DEPOSIT AS HIS DEFEAT WILL BE THE MOST ONE SIDED OF THIS ELECTION.

  39. degap Avatar
    degap

    Voodoo Economics

    Free handouts, giveaways, remove VAT from everything but the kitchen sink, larger pensions, and how exactly will Mr Thompson pay for his orgy of excess, how many services or departments will be gutted, or how much debt will succeeding generations be drowning in to pay for two seat’s handouts? Questions, questions… Invoking the name of Errol Barrow a million times will not change gully water into wine.

  40. Wishing in Vain Avatar
    Wishing in Vain

    Can anyone explain to me the madness associated with the threats against Dr Don Marshall’s life at his attendance of a blp political meeting over this past weekend.

    Where is our freedom of speech our freedom of association, where is our freedom going?

    VOTE TO REMAIN LIVING IN A FREE AND FAIR DEMOCRACY.
    VOTE DEMS ON THE 15 th TO REMOVE THIS DICTATOR.

  41. floyd Avatar
    floyd

    donlald duck seems well informed and i appreciate your input. what i find surprising about your comments is that the barbados international business asscoiation (biba) has consitently been on record, publicly complaining about the impact of exchange controls on persons working in the internatioal business sector. biba has been asking for precisely these types of measures to help the international business sector. maybe biba is unaware of the laws affecting the sector it represents.

  42. floyd Avatar
    floyd

    i think the 50% relaxation refers to localmutual funds. mutual funds in bim are currently limited to 25% of their portfolio overseas.

    relaxing controls on residents may make it easier to offer wealth manahement services to nn-residents, who are put off by the current controls.

  43. Wishing in Vain Avatar
    Wishing in Vain

    Please let me suggest to you that the blp have no safe seats in this election ZERO SAFE SEATS TO THE BLP, the contempt and the dishonesty, the fraud, the scams, the kickbacks, the WAR in the BLP Camp, the PM’s ARROGANT and POWER HUNGRY STATEMENTS, I AM SPECIALLY MOTIVATED NEVER TO SEE THE DLP HOLD OFFICE AGAIN, are all coming home to roost right now.
    The reality is that each and everyone of them is now situated in no mans land, when the clown ASSCOLL is forbidden from entering the houses of BLP supporters in his area what does that say about this election?

    When the guys of Haynesville have turned their backs on Liz Thompson and have thrown their support behind Donville Inniss What does that say about this election?

    I put it to you that each and every one of them are skating on thin ice and do not know what to expect out of this election.

    It is made all the worst for them because of the inclusion of ASSCOLL as Co Leader vote grabbing status, and the all out war that this event has brought to the blp campaign, when mottley, wood, billie and arthur can become embroiled in a all out fist fight with chairs being thrown around at one another it says that this is now the party to be allowed to rule this country.

    Along with this event goes the action of Arthur refusing to speak at Lynch area meeting on Friday night, nor do I expect to see him speak in support of Rommel Marshall either after all these two have vested their support squarely behind mottley for the post of the PM and with it brings the hardships as we are seeing with the infighting and the wars.

    If we add to this pot the fact that the clown Hammy Lashley went to his nomination in a YELLOW Tee shirt symbolic of support for the DEMS and has been telling people in his area that he is not campaigning and that Arthur is a wicked evil man that does not deserve what he has gotten, and that he wants the people of the Pine to vote for his opponent speaks volumes for the disunity within this blp administration.

    VOTE FOR A NEW BEGINNING ON THE 15 Th JANUARY VOTE FOR THE DEMS.

    VOTE ALSO TO SECURE OUR DEMOCRACY AND OUR FREEDOM OF SPEECH AND OUR FREEDOM OF ASSOCIATION AND OUR FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION.

  44. ~B~F~P~E~ Avatar
    ~B~F~P~E~

    Do these PEP lunatics think that anybody in Barbados will take them seriously?

    Viagra is neither a political issue nor a national one.

    ~B~F~P~E~

    PEP candidate takes hard line on Viagra
    Published on: 1/4/08.

    MEN MAY SWEAR by it, but People’s Empowerment Party (PEP) candidate Rosita Broome wants the sexual performance-enhancing drug Viagra out of Barbados.

    “Why hasn’t a product like Viagra been recalled from the shelves, seeing that it has such acute side effects, for example loss of sight, heart problems?” she asked.

    In Barbados, Viagra is a prescription drug, not sold over the counter. Its manufacturer, Pfizer, has refuted allegations of serious vision side-effects, including blindness.

    Broome raised the issue when the PEP launched its general election campaign last Sunday in Bush Hall, St Michael.

    She said that with the list of recalled drugs growing, Barbados needed to pay closer attention to its pharmaceutical imports.

    She said, it should set up a special facility to test new drugs as well as imported foodstuff.

    The candidate for St Michael West suggested that even though these items had to get United States Food and Drug Administration approval for sale, Barbadians needed to be cautious about putting them on the market and buying them.

    “We in the PEP suggest that a testing facility should be set up to analyse and test the food and drugs that come into our country.” (TY)

  45. Wishing in Vain Avatar
    Wishing in Vain

    The Nation Newspaper is the most disgusting paper ever published in this island.
    The attempt to influence voters on behalf of the BLP is clear to see, left me suggest to them despite their best efforts to steal the election on behalf of the ruling party the gov’t will change and this is clear to me.
    We need our freedom and we need it now.

  46. donald duck Avatar
    donald duck

    wiv

    the nation newspaper is very pro dlp. why then are you disgusted with it

  47. Wishing in Vain Avatar
    Wishing in Vain

    When the Hoyos family can write an article critical of the BLP as this one is, the WIND OF CHANGE IS CERTAINLY BLOWING A GALE THRU THIS ISLAND.

    The leadership question
    By Pat Hoyos Published: January 6, 2008

    Anytime you talk politics in Barbados, the question immediately turns to the issue of leadership. And it is almost always about David Thompson, as in: But can he really lead the country?

    This question always shows up in the polls. While both major parties are running neck-and-neck, they say, Owen Arthur’s image as a leader outstrips Thompson’s by two-to-one, if I remember correctly.

    This is of course being used as a put-down for the current Opposition leader, and the Bees have made the issue the centre piece of their campaign, believing that the more they remind voters of Arthur’s supposedly commanding margin in the leadership category that people will flock to the Bees once more.

    Somehow the thousands who assembled at Oistins to meet the DLP candidates didn’t get the message.

    You see, I look at it a different way, and because I fall asleep trying to analyse political polls, of course my analysis will be faulty. But I figure that if the Dems can be running an even race with the Bees despite the perception that they have a weak leader, can you imagine how they would perform if they were perceived to have a strong one?

    All of which informs my feeble mind that putting the leadership question at the top of the agenda may not working for the Bees. Thompson seems, moreover, to have learned how to respond to it effectively: By remaining low key and not appearing defensive about the “poor leadership” accusations, he is allowing a sort of “underdog” image to work to his advantage.

    Instead, he is promoting his team, which belies the rule-by-division image of Thompson which the Bees are spending a lot of money on in their campaign (e.g. the full page ad quoting Freundel Stuart in last Thursday’s Nation).
    And instead of showing a large group of candidates in their ads, the Dems are showing collections of four (for education, agriculture and so on) to emphasise what it sees as the depth of professional experience and knowledge in specific areas among its candidates.

    This also seems effective to me, as it quietly counteracts the “leadership-by-division” image which the Bees are trying to imprint on the Dems. I hope it works because our democracy is not, to my mind, being served by any campaign which says essentially that there is really no contest because of such poor leadership on the other side. Then why have an election, I wonder? Let’s just declare a one-party state right away and be done with it.

    I’ve said it before, and don’t mind saying it again, that the Dems have as talented and well-versed a collection of candidates as do the Bees, in terms of education, experience, willingness to serve, dedication to people and so forth. The Dems and Bees are two parties whose candidates are so well matched, and which differ so little in overall philosophy that they are interchangeable. Why, even their former leader can fly from his roost to a safe berth at the top of the other party.

    And just for the record, let me say I also believe that David Thompson is capable of running the country as prime minister.

    If the leadership question is fairly put on the table, however, it should also be asked: How good a leader has Owen Arthur been? Because some poll says it’s two-to-one over Thompson means nothing to me, as I am here talking about my own perception, whether you agree with me or not (it’s a little thing called freedom of expression, and more people should try it.)

    Owen Arthur is not the leader he started out as being when he first came to office. He is missing in action far too often. A couple of years ago, the letters M.I.A. would certainly have been apt for this condition, but now they seem to have changed to C.L.Y.D.E.

    Arthur seems to rule by fiat, and has done too many policy reverses without explaining his reasoning to the country for me to be comfortable with calling him a great leader. His arrogance in office now seems to permeate almost everything he does, and his decisions seem to make overall sense only when judged by one criteria, which is, what’s good for big business is good for the country.

    How else do you account for the demise in service at the QEH, where people are literally dying to be seen, compared to the rise of private emergency rooms? Or how about the quicksand of Edutech, where millions have been spent with little to show for it?

    What about the enormous cost overruns on so many projects, from the prison to the highways? We have also seen the government’s unyeilding, hard-headed approach to those insanely stupid flyovers, and its willingness to give unknown and untested companies massive BOLT projects which will tie up our infrastructure in so many contractual knots that we will be paying through our teeth for them long after Arthur has retired? And with no discussion, no give-and-take in debate, no explanations, I can only conclude that we live by arbitrary Arthurian decree. Is that good leadership?

    The Arthur government has allowed the bogey man of globalisation to scare citizens into tolerating a concentration of corporate ownership unlike any we have witnessed before on this island, and the main question I have for Thompson is: Will you let it continue, just changing the names of the players? If you win the government and do so, your administration will be no better for Barbados over the long term than the present one.

    So far, Thompson has said the opposite. His party is stressing the detoxification of the body politic from the infusion of the many corporate carcinogens it has ingested of late. Will the Dems really take us into public rehab? Will there come a day in Barbados once more when the government accepts that there are things which it must take responsibility for doing because to privatise all the way upstream results in selling us all down the river?

    Where do you draw the line? Is it at the hospital bed and the school gate only, or is it in the many other services now provided, sometimes poorly, by the state? Can you manage a hybrid process under which private enterprise plays a role in an overall sector controlled by the state, not only through strong regulatory agencies, but by retaining ownership of key players, like water and transport and roads and prisons?

    And what future will Bajans have in their own country if buying a house and a piece of land to put it on are priced outside their means, and if every young couple must get into hock up to their teeth for 30 years in order to buy anything out there?

    Yes, the two sides in my view are equal in the quality of their human resources and the opposition has equal potential to the incumbent party’s experience, but how we move forward in the next few years requires, in my view, clear action on those types of issues. And a lot of the answers will call for more consumer discipline and responsibility, because you can’t sustain lower prices if you continue to create more demand than there is supply.

    In my view, the leader who can answer these tough questions and show a middle way through the competing interests of average citizens and private corporate interests is the one who will deserve to be the prime minister.

  48. buppie Avatar
    buppie

    donald duck seems to have a lot to offer but he seems more interested in savaging the dlp proposals rather than analyzing them.

    what do you think of the solar electric proposals.

    what do you think of the cautious approach on capital account liberalization

    what about the proposal to resrve 40% of govt procurement to step up competition in the distribution sector

  49. Wishing in Vain Avatar
    Wishing in Vain

    Duck, If you feel that the Nation is a DLP supporter you are a clown, why then have they banned Peter Wickham’s articles ????

  50. donald duck Avatar
    donald duck

    Quote from the nation today. They say that Thompson provided the following response to Prime Minister Arthur’s comment on the DLP having discussions with the Taiwanese

    “THE DEMOCRATIC LABOUR PARTY (DLP) has not received any campaign funding from either China or Taiwan nor has the issue of diplomatic relations been discussed by party officials.”

    The answer may be factually correct but can the press ask the dlp if they are expected to receive funding from the taiwanese. They also need to ask Thompson to deny allegations that any person, not being a party official, participated in the discussions with the Taiwanese on behalf of the dlp

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