We just had a read over at Barbados Free Press and they are hopping mad! It seems that the Nation Newspaper has committed a blatant act of plagiarism. The BFP team appears to be so mad that they forgot to ask the Fontebelle daily for an apology. This is not the first time the Nation newspaper has engaged in unethical journalistic practices directed at BFP and BU and until Executive Editor Roxanne Gibbs and her boss, Publisher Vivian-Anne Gittens are called to account by Barbadians, the Nation newspaper which was proudly published by its founders will continue to sink into the mire. The management of the Nation for sometime has decided to go the path of prostituting itself for the almighty dollar. Today is yet another example of the soft underbelly of our leading daily exposed for the world to scrutinize. In many countries of the world the editor at the Nation who approved the article would have been fired because plagiarism is considered a serious breach in the world of academia. Don’t worry BFP Yahoo has picked up the story!
Now that BFP has designated today as Crap on the Nation Newspaper Day let us also make a little observation. We tried to locate the article featured in the image to the left in the online version. Maybe we got our search string wrong, if any member of the BU family can locate the article please post the link. We are overwhelmed with the technology at times!
Located deep in today’s Nation Newspaper on page 22, on the Community Pages is a summary of a Press Conference which was held by Minister Denis Lowe, who has responsibility for Social Care, Constituency Empowerment and Urban Development. At the Press Conference some very disturbing accusations were leveled. To the Nation Newspaper credit the intro paragraph begins with the startling revelation: Missing houses, an unlisted property and multiple payouts to contractors for one home. The reality that a Minister of the Crown could level such damaging accusations and our leading daily attempts to suffocate this news on page 22 is concerning.
Does anyone have the email address for OMC’s CEO?
The BU household views the hint of corruption at the UDC as very serious. One only needs to refer to the Mission Statement of the Urban Development Commission to understand why: Committed to the delivery of quality, timely and effective services to those for whom we are responsible; the upliftment and enhancement of the physical and human capital and the eradication of poverty from the urban landscape. We have received in recent days emails which detail some very disturbing ‘goings on’ at the UDC. We are in the process of verifying the information and if we are able to do so we will update this story. What continues to concern us is not so much the politicians and their acolytes but the involvement of career civil servants in the scams. The other concern is the complete lack of systems in the civil service concerning record keeping. Did someone say first world status?
We must caution the government that if many of the accusations which have been leveled at the former government are not brought to a ‘head’, Barbadians will soon become cynical about the whole affair. We agree with Minister Lowe that institutionalized dysfunctions can compromise good governance but as the former Prime Minister stated on a political platform just gone, how long is too long…?
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