est. 2007

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Qualifying For The Job Of Chairman of The National Insurance Board

It is commendable that June Fowler and her group of CLICO policyholders are seeking to recover all funds they have invested in CLICO. One gets the impression that she has placed all responsibility for satisfying policyholders claims on the ‘treasury’. The lawyer for the group – a Mr. Tariq Khan – supports the Fowler’s position…

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Minister of Labour and Social Security, Dr. Esther Byer-Suckoo

It is commendable that June Fowler and her group of CLICO policyholders are seeking to recover all funds they have invested in CLICO. One gets the impression that she has placed all responsibility for satisfying policyholders claims on the ‘treasury’. The lawyer for the group – a Mr. Tariq Khan – supports the Fowler’s position by attributing blame to the failure of the Office of Supervisor of Insurance.

One of the issues BU has with their position is what about the rest of us who avoided investing in CLICO’s risky investments and observed the legal doctrine caveat emptor? What is funny is that many of the CLICO investors who bought the disputed Executive Flexible Premium Annuity (EFPA)  product had no difficulty making fun at Leroy Parris and his green verbs.

Another issue we have with the claim, what about the rest of Barbados and our ability to survive in the harsh economic environment if government has to shell out three hundred million dollars to settle EFPAs coming due and asset shortfall? Yes in an ideal world we would want investors to be indemnified. This is especially true when culpability can be found in the negligence of the regulator. However no one can fault government’s obligation if it maintains a macro-view. Its primary job must be to manage the national resources for the good of all. Government’s tight cashflow which has persuaded it to violate a court order to pay Al Barrack 70 million is a case in point.

One of the peripheral issues BU has with this CLICO business has to do with Tony Marshall, retired banker and VOB talk show host and  Senator Jepter Ince. Both gentlemen held senior positions in CLICO Holdings Barbados Ltd although it must be stated they both left CLICO before the meltdown. Tony Marshall is listed as being a director in CLICO Holdings Barbados Ltd and he was also a director of the CLICO Balanced Fund going back to 2003. BU does intend to cast aspersions on the two gentlemen but we intend to put our position for consideration.

Ince is a former Chairman of the National Insurance Fund (NIS) and Marshall is its current. To be honest BU would feel comfortable if Chairman Marshall would demit the office of Chair of the NIS for obvious reasons. He has been ‘tainted’ by association with CLICO and he should stay as far as possible from the most important fund in Barbados.  If he is unwilling to resign then Minister Esther Byer-Suckoo, who has responsibility for social security, should help him along. Senator Jeptor Ince for appearances sake should not have been appointed Chair of the NIS in the first place.

Barbadians need to start questioning decisions more not to defame anyone but to ensure there is transparency in decision-making. It simply does not make sense to the simple minds of the BU household to appoint a former director of CLICO Holdings Barbados as Chairman of NIS. The appointment of Jepter Ince as Chairman appears to have been tampered with after only a year.

64 responses to “Qualifying For The Job Of Chairman of The National Insurance Board”

  1. old onion bags Avatar
    old onion bags

    @ Bajan fa life
    yaawn- bring the cheques, bring the copies, bring an incriminating letter, bring something to prosecute the late DT, not the usual hot air- wunnah miss de point

    Boss ya hit D nail pun the head……WAIT TILL ELECTIONS dawg, the evidence coming….we now sent to Miami for 4 BIG projector screens to expose at meeting, all these documents all you left behind unshreaded…so stand still boss…um coming. But not DT ..he wife… your MP..and all and sundry.

  2. Sargeant Avatar
    Sargeant

    @Old Onions

    Boss ya hit D nail pun the head……WAIT TILL ELECTIONS dawg, the evidence coming….we now sent to Miami for 4 BIG projector screens to expose at meeting, all these documents all you left behind unshreaded
    **************

    One of the reasons that the DLP is facing difficulties is that they squandered the opportunity to put the BLP in the political wilderness for many years. Thompson promised to bring in Forensic Accountants to track all the kickbacks and graft that was a constant during the latter years of the BLP Govt but never acted on it. If you think that Arch Cot was the only castle in the air why do you think Barrack had so much trouble with the building at Warrens? Another untendered gift to someone that will cost the taxpayers millions.

    Thompson was not built like Arthur, Thompson had everything handed to him on a platter from Barrow’s seat to the leadership of the DLP but Arthur had to scrap for everything…. for his seat (vs Leacock) for the leadership of the BLP when he cried that he didn’t make enough to support his family and Forde stepped aside. So while Thompson was content to be the genteel politician and let sleeping dogs lie Arthur is built to go for the political jugular, if the roles were reversed Arthur would have ensured that the DLP would “never assume the reins of power” (his words) in Barbados again by exposing all the rot that was part of any DLP Gov’t. Thompson missed the opportunity and as the old proverb goes “a lost opportunity can never be regained”.

    So “Old Onions” perhaps your days of driving around with a tin of sardines may be coming to an end, you may soon be able to afford caviar again.

  3. old onion bags Avatar
    old onion bags

    @ Sarge
    Why don’t you let sleeping dogs lie….The ‘late Great” is no more with us and should not be blamed for the present PM follies.To postpone the solution does little for the problem(s).
    By the way what genteel politician you taking bout….?Genteel when he had in the Grey Goose maybe.

  4. Porridge Avatar
    Porridge

    @ Hants

    I agree with u 100% in your belief, but if he was a puppet only, then he responded to his commands regardless what those commands were, and was well rewarded at the end.

  5. old onion bags Avatar
    old onion bags

    One cannot help but notice the deafening sound of silence that has occasioned on this bright red Valentines Day of many a DLP contributor to this blog.Could it be that because of the color RED being same the color of Valentines trivia ( flowers etc). has etched a similar resemblance of the colors of a particular now popular party, and has cause a temporary pandemic of some sort on the minds of these way wards few ?. These once potent bloggers have seemly gone recluse in a false sense of comfort, after a pending onslaught, predicted in a recent so called ” foo foo” polls.
    Bloggers like CCC,ac,Bajanfalife and not forgetting abominable Sarge, all seem to have somehow today, loss their fiery tongues. May be a meeting has been called by the pending new leader to finally implement what he had started, given that for some, it is a red letter day.
    What ever the reasons,Valentines or not, it would be remiss of the Ole Onion bags not to have noticed these things and hope that those once worthy nemesis-es have somehow been jolted back to reality and are resolved to sound all alarms to their powers that be ..it is time to get off your arses and start rolling…you have been weighed and found wanting.

  6. Appollo 13 Avatar
    Appollo 13

    After all hell broke loose in Trinidad on the Friday when the news broke that CLICO had gone bust, the next morning, Saturday, the dead king made the then Governor of the Central Bank and the Supervisor of Insurance hold a press conference to tell the people of Barbados that CLICO Barbados was separate from Trinidad and that it was a sound and well managed company, the dead king ordered the Governor to invest TEN MILLION DOLLARS in CLICO.
    The talk around financial circles is that that money was invested into CLICO to repay the CEO who had invested his TEN MILLION DOLLARS of his personal money in the DLP campaign and this government money was only to pass through CLICO to avoid suspicion. Things went from bad to worse in CLICO, the CEO resigned but when he did not get his ten million out, he then sued CLICO under the guise of trying to get commissions and bonus dued to him. No wonder there was a contract which was drawn up by the dead king days before he died! No wonder this contract was not available to be shown to William Layne when he asked for it. Even on his death bed, DT was still trying to protect his friend and CLICO.

    The policyholders need to get some kind of court order and a private eye to investigate FAMILIES FIRST account and follow the money trail.

  7. Bajanfuhlife Avatar
    Bajanfuhlife

    @Appollo 13 – Bring proof now nuh not innuendo- – “there was a contract which was drawn up by the dead king DAYS before he died”! – Yeah, days before he died really- Put up or shut up!
    The investigation might lead right to the doors of a certain leader of the BLP opposition and the chequES received from a CLICO subsidiary – the gramnmy for “CLICO Hypocrite of the Year” goes to Owen Affa.
    Clico policy holderss cannot in good conscience vote for Owen Affa.

  8. old onion bags Avatar
    old onion bags

    Bajanfa life
    Hush do.
    Nobody had closer ties to Leroy Parris than the late DT and one wonders why ? (lol ..maybe we should ask Lawrence Duprey).Then we have Freundel throwing in his hand in the sordid scheme of things saying ….”I see nothing wrong with the man..Is he a leper ?….(opps blunder)
    Imagine, Barbadians who should be HIS No.1 concern losing $$ million and our good prime minister will take sides with CLICO …that is grounds enough for his resignation as a conflict of interest.
    But such is the state of things with these incompetent jokers..Did you hear Min Blackett today ? I wonder who will step up next, to look like a poppet tomorrow ? Because almost everyday it seems like a comedy of errors.

  9. Caswell Franklyn Avatar
    Caswell Franklyn

    Balance 2:54 am

    Your comment really does not make sense. You would not have been able to invest in CLICO if the Supervisor of Insurance was allowed to follow the Law. You were only able to do so because of a failure on the part of the regulator. Put another way, if the government agency responsible for regulating CLICO had done its job, there would not have been nothing for you to invest in.

  10. Sargeant Avatar
    Sargeant

    @Old Onions

    I am minding my business but is it true that the Supervisor of Insurance during the BLP Gov’t reign left a position as GM at a company that made chicken feed to accept the job? Did the BLP give him that patronage plum and hope that he couldn’t do any harm in that post? Could I say with a straight face that the chickens came home to roost?

  11. balance Avatar
    balance

    thank you mr franklyn then my conscience should be clear if i join the movement to pressure the govt to pay me for my losses in the clico investment. sarge-the last supervisor of insurance of barbados after having been severed from his general manager post at the bdos flour mills was brought back into govt at the behest of his good friend the then chief personnel officer and placed in the the post of supervisor of insurance ahead of the knowledgeable acting supervisor who had worked in that office all her life and knew her stuff. this was more a friend thing than political patronage.mind you though, the former supervisor is an extremely bright fellow. did his acca in record time.

  12. old onion bags Avatar
    old onion bags

    @ Sarge
    I often wonder why you always come up with these soft, limp and nonsensical innuendo for attacks. May be that is all “you are accustomed to raise ” . Do you think that the above is worthy of an onions’ retort ? Even a school boy would know of “the fruits” of political patronage by both parties but, equally, I am made to understand a certain sargeant was once a benefactor of such, but fell out of favor and all turned to sour grapes…hehe.

  13. old onion bags Avatar
    old onion bags

    @ SargeBajanfahlife

    I can’t hear a word from certain people on this Emera issue….they suddenly gone mum. (even switch blogs) .

    “Emera made a killing of a fortune Cad $247 mill this quarter and attributed it to investments in the Caribbean..”

    …and Barbadians crying out to the FTC that the BL&p rates are too high.

  14. old onion bags Avatar
    old onion bags

    I hear a certain man in bay st, feeling very uncomfortable but rich and crying foul, looking for informer.Tell he the news coming from ole maple leaf and bajans not as stupid as he believe.

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