There was a time when Barbadians were clear about the country we wanted to build. It was a time when our leaders were bold in policy making even if it departed from what others were doing. Former Prime Minister and National Hero Errol Walton Barrow asserted many years ago that Barbadians will be friends of all and satellites of none. In a short utterance Barrow was able to encapsulate the esprit de corps of the Barbadian. Sadly as we scan Barbados a few years later we seem to have become sucked into the currents of what is popular is the standard. We have to agree with the oft saying, where there is a vacuum undesirable elements will take a foothold.
Where is the leadership!
Last week Barbadians were treated to the arrival of Jet Blue $99.00 dollar airfare and all. BU like many is elated by the news our tourism authorities were able to entice an airline, any airline to fly the US to Barbados route in challenging times. In the decision, we calculated the many tourists who will change their minds and travel to Barbados despite the uncertain economic times which currently prevails in North America. Our number one foreign exchange earner has been taking a beating of late; we need those tourists to come to our shores. We can criticize our governments for building an economy which is uncomfortably reliant on tourism but until we come up with something better, we have to work with it.
We were surprised to listen and read commentators flapping with glee at the opportunities Barbadians now have to travel to New York to shop. Don’t get us wrong, we are happy some Barbadians can now travel to New York at a cost cheaper than traveling to our neighbouring Caribbean islands. Not sure we wrote the last sentence correctly because it does not say alot about the management of our regional carriers LIAT or Caribbean Airways. Our sadness about the no-frills Jet Blue deal is how it exposes the lack of leadership by regional leaders through the years. Over 50 years and our current crop of leaders including those from Barbados continue to lay waste gains made in the 60s and 70s. We preach the importance of regional integration but how can we be serious with regional air and sea transportation services which are non-viable?
We have the ludicrous situation of Barbadians being asked to participate in Staycations by local hoteliers. Many Barbadians will now prefer to travel to relatives in North America for less the cost of the hotel accommodation in Barbados, or flying to Grenada. We have molded Caribbean citizens who seem immune to exercising any judgment which requires sacrifice. BU blames our leaders who have willingly opened the floodgates in the name of globalization.
All of what our former leaders would have envisioned for the region is literally now history.
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