Former Prime Minister Owen Arthur has been in the news a lot lately. Late week he spoke out on the economy while addressing a St. Peter branch meeting, and yesterday he is being reported in the Nation under the headline Arthur knocks ‘foreigner bashing’. Arthur stepped down from the leadership of the Barbados Labour Party (BLP) when his party was defeated in the general election held in January 2008. The respect which the Barbados media have for the former Prime Minister that he has so easily leaped back into the public sphere is evident, former Prime Minister Erskine Sandiford was not so lucky.
Where is the evidence that Barbadians are bashing foreigners Prime Minister Arthur? From where we sit what we see are Barbadians bashing illegal-foreigners and our open door immigration policy. Public officials of the standing of former Prime Minister Owen Arthur must stop confusing the public, all it does is to muddy the waters on the vexing issue of immigration. Immigration is a contentious issue around the world in the developed countries and even in our region. Yes Mr. Arthur, even in our region, don’t make Barbadians out to be xenophobic when our CSME countries are equally concerned about the influx of illegals into their countries. Did we hear correctly in the news yesterday that Antigua rounded up 100 illegal immigrants and they are in the process of doing the paper work to boot them out of the country?
Antigua like Barbados depends on tourism, they have acted because of concerns of an increase in crime linked to an underground population. The horrible incident which occurred in Antigua recently with the death of a honeymooning couple is still vivid in our minds.
Former Prime Minister Arthur is a committed regionalist and had lead responsibility for CSME when in office. If he is so concerned about the unbridled movement of people, why are only a few categories of worker been given the privilege to work without the hassle of work permits in CARICOM? BU was surprised to read that in 12 years only 5000 CARICOM citizens have been granted skills certificates. Even if Barbados want to be sympathetic to the illegals in Barbados, the cold reality of a contracting economy has created a situation where illegals will be not only competing for jobs but placing pressure on our already stressed physical and social infrastructure. The argument which Arthur uses when he refers to Barbados close ties to Guyana is an emotional one, unusual coming from an economist. He is supported by the obvious PR job being done by the Nation newspaper which started last Sunday with a four part series on Guyana. This argument is asinine. The Barbadian worker who went to Guyana was sought after because of their work ethic and training, they were not going to Guyana as illegals.
Former Prime Minister Arthur is quoted in the article, “Let us start using Guyana land and carry capital and start producing goods because the more we talk about prices, prices, prices, we want to solve prices, how we are we going to bring down prices unless you produce more?” His position is a contradiction when the current situation being played out in Guyana is assessed. Barbados should not be encouraging the mass exodus of immigrants from Guyana, the illegals we mean. Guyanese should be encouraged to remain to help rebuild their country. The truth is the Guyanese are being encouraged by their government to leave so that they can remit much needed foreign exchange to the Guyana treasury.
Mr. Arthur, Guyana will only be attractive to investers from Barbados if the Guyana infrastructure is receptive to the investment. It is well documented that there is a high level of crime in Guyana, the social services require massive improvement etc. Which investor would be willing to take such a risk in such conditions? Although some will, we doubt that there will be any takers in significant numbers. As if the foregoing is not enough there is the matter of thick corruption which is perceived to be at play in Guyana. Here is what the most recent Transparency International Survey reports on Guyana – “Guyana still ranks among the most corrupt countries, slipping three places on the Transparency International (TI) 2008 Corruption Perception Index (CPI) released yesterday. In a survey of 180 countries, Guyana fell to 126 with a score of 2.6 out of 10. It is the lowest ranked English-speaking Caribbean nation on the list and the second lowest ranked Caricom territory behind Haiti.” Again Mr. Arthur we want to ask you the question: would you expect Barbadian investors to be bullish on the investment idea in Guyana at this time? More importantly the question should be asked what is CARICOM doing about demanding that President Bharrat Jagdeo give account for Guyana’s slide on the Transparency International corruption index. Barbados and other CARICOM countries have historically waved their good ratings to support low to zero corruption in government. The credibility of Transparency International should therefore not be an issue.
It is very important that our regional politicians understand the ramifications of indulging in legacy building and rum shop politics at the expense of the our economies.
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