Owen Arthur predicted to be the next Prime Minister by Cadres
Owen Arthur predicted to be the next Prime Minister by Cadres

Many heard Owen Arthur on the news today pleading with Barbadians to vote Barbados Labour Party (BLP) and save the country from the ‘financial madness’ which it is presently gripped. He  was predictably generous in allocating blame to the Democratic Labour Party (DLP). Arthur’s position should cause the so-called swing voters to reflect. Despite doing nothing the BLP finds itself in a position that it may possibly be re-elected – on a landslide.

It seems like yesterday the BLP presided over Public Sector Reform, an abysmal failure. Under the BLP administration statutory corporations were aggressively rolled out that in hindsight seems to have added to a moribund public service. Also who can forget that despite a burgeoning public service Arthur still found the opportunity to saddle the public service with ‘contractors’,  many who possessed questionable job descriptions.

Here is an opposition party which for 14 years in government was unable to rationalize public private transportation. In fact many will affirm that the dreaded Zr and Minibus culture took deep root between 1994 and 2007. Yet there is the real possibility that the BLP maybe returned to office to find the situation as it left it.  What does it say about an educated people that we have allowed this problem to take a cancerous form? The biggest irony is that the DLP government introduced free bus fare and one of the reasons given was that we needed to encourage school children from taking private transport. We prefer to feed the monster instead of wrestling it to the ground, we are happy to apply bandaids.

The BLP is on the cusp of winning the next general election with the memory of Greenland, GEMS and several projects which history has indelibly recorded as defining squandermania in the minds.  What does it say about the hybrid Westminster system of government which is the roadmap for our touted democracy?

Even in the face of unprecedented economic challenges Barbadians have been subjected to one week of campaigning where we continue to wait for the issues to be HONESTLY and dispassionately discussed. It must be clear that the current fiscal strategy of government is not sustainable in the face of a protracted global slowdown. It is a big reason BU has suggested that Stuart should have taken the country to the polls one year ago. Instead the DLP government has had to play politics with managing the economy because Stuart in his infinite wisdom decided to ring the bell in the sixth year.

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  1. millertheanunnaki Avatar
    millertheanunnaki

    @David | February 7, 2013 at 11:21 PM |

    David Thompson was a blatant liar and thief and there is ample evidence to substantiate such a claim of wrong doing. So why are we trying to deify a devil?
    Like all of us some day he got what was coming to him; only quicker than expected.
    Just remember Mark Antony speech.

    “The evil that men do lives after them;
    The good is oft interred with their bones;
    So let it be with Caesar” aka David Sweetcakes.

    Even any modern day Brutus more akin to David Thompson’s nemesis and challenger to the throne and any man of mocked integrity would identify personally with the following:
    “There is a tide in the affairs of men,
    Which taken at the flood, leads on to fortune.
    Omitted, all the voyage of their life is bound in shallows and in miseries.
    On such a full sea are we now afloat.
    And we must take the current when it serves, or lose our ventures.”

    David miscalculated the tide and just missed that boat to heaven. Now who knows where he is afloat or adrift on the seas of spiritual uncertainty just in limbo waiting for the judgment day.

    But there is hope. Maybe Mara, the wife of the dead Caesar who must be above reproach, can come clean and confess to some of the millions stolen from the CLICO policyholders now stashed away in many accounts- personal or Families First.
    By returning the filthy ill-gotten lucre to the Treasury or to the policyholders without the JMS or lawyers putting their hands on it the, Angel of Justice and Fair-play might just shine the light of forgiveness and absolve that cursed family of the evil that still lingers in the air and will continue to dog that clan with every boy child inheriting that gene of lying dishonesty.


  2. Let them spend it in the economy and see if that makes a difference’

    AND IT WILL MAKE A DIFFERENCE


  3. @Miller
    “From 1627 to 1951 or even beyond we had white Bajans running things and in charge. Is that still ‘independence’ in your historically blinkered view?”

    As usual off the mark.Barbados has a history that is replete with instances of not following what the other islands did. Read about the charter of Oistins, read about one of the oldest parliaments in the western hemisphere right here in Barbados. We always tried to chart our own course – That is why we refused to go the devaluation route even though other Caribbean islands had gone so.
    We have seen that devaluation did not work in other Caribbean islands and we refused to go that route with the IMF. Similarly, we have seen that bringing back former Prime Ministers is not a magic solution in a tourism dependent economy hit by recession in your major source market.
    Therefore, even if St. Lucia,Bahamas, Jamaica and even Grenada bring back former Prime Ministers, in Barbados we will not follow blindly especially when that former Prime Minister is surrounded by the worst set of BLP candidates ever assembled some of whom like Jerome Walcott were disasters as ministers.


  4. With all that independence, one would think that Bim would get rid of all those antiquated and archaic british laws that were written by slave masters to the detriment of slaves, written with the intent to undermine black people’s progress and still used in 2013 by black politicians to undermine their own people, these politicians stubbornly refuse to repeal these ugly laws and get them off the statute books. The police force is still referred to as her royal and the prison as her majesty. Yeah, real independence.


  5. Pat – No I never used JUJU


  6. Miller……I understand the current PM has already lost two toes to diabetes. Understand his diabetes is real bad hence the constant swooning. Voters may want to consider this, burying another PM will be expensive, can Bim afford this???

  7. millertheanunnaki Avatar
    millertheanunnaki

    @! | February 8, 2013 at 9:28 AM |

    Off which mark? The mark that Barbados up to 1951 was controlled both economically and politically by White Barbadians and blacks in the main we relegated to subservient servile roles? Would you say that those two contentions are historically inaccurate?

    Maybe we should ask the remnants of this fiercely independent ethnic group to take charge again
    The so-called local independence- fought against Cromwell and won in ‘Oistine Bay’ in 1652 and signed onto in that gin and whisky tavern ‘Ye mermaid’s Inn’ to stop the Barbadoes becoming a Crown Colony under Charles II was for the most part initiated and controlled by the White planter and commercial classes in Barbados. Not enslaved or indentured black Bajans. You only have to look to the statue of Lord Nelson which was erected before the one in the real Trafalgar Square in London to appreciate that the politics of the day revolved around white “independent” Barbados not blacks who were still seen as plantation chattels.

    If you want to talk about any role played by black Barbadians in achieving Barbados’ so-called economic or political independence you must start with the role ‘Bussa through to the mulatto Samuel Jackman Prescod to Charles D. O’Neal, to Sir Grantley, to Wynter Crawford & EWB and included would be our owned ‘honorary’ black the Bajan white man TT Lewis.
    Since you are so steep in History tell us which Parliament is older that the one in Bim outside of the UK?

    It would serve you well to leave the Barbadian History lessons to the likes of the two Marshalls, Sir Hilary, Sir Keith and the late Mr. Hughes and stick to what you are good at. That is, being the propaganda mouthpiece of the damned lying party.

    You do an excellent job in channeling the filth from the stinking cesspool and factory of lies in George St. It would be most informative if you could research the annals of that once apartheid residential district and tell us whom that street is named after.

  8. millertheanunnaki Avatar
    millertheanunnaki

    @ Well Well | February 8, 2013 at 10:09 AM |

    This diabetes endemic pandemic among Bajans is not only leading to amputation of limbs but also appendages. Nearly all diabetic men in Bubaydus especially those in the PM’s age group are walking around with withered thumb-like dangling appendages between their legs which were once roaring lions but now long dead. Even ac would agree.

    Barbados is accustomed to burying dead PMs in office. He, Freundel himself, wants a State funeral while being a living dog instead of a dead lion.

    We need to make these undertakers bid for the business rather than award “ PM turnouts” based on partisan party support to make sure Bajans get a good “viewing and mourning’ and value for money going six feet deep to temporary house and even out the ‘quick’ today from the ‘dead’ tomorrow.


  9. Morning peoples. A lil fLu lick muh up. Looks like I miss alot.

    @Baffy
    John Boyce win the photoshop of the campaigan award. lol.

    @Dennis
    Thanks for the figures and the facts. Some people abhor those two “f” words.

    @David
    has anyone proved or debunked the “60% internal economic spend” argument?? this is at the root of what the BLP is proposing. Granted though, the general electorate like the sound of getting something back somehow. Have to wait on the manifesto to break it down.

    After the DLP’s 2008 manifesto and resultant unfulfilled promises, I suspect the public will be breaking out the magnifying glasses this time around.

    Just Observing


  10. Last night Sinckler was blistering he all but called that pint size midget The RT hon a snake oil salesman boy did chris pelt some heavt duty reality in the RT hon backside i waiting to hear how OSA gonna reply as to how he gonna give ibillion dollars in cuts/and bring the deficit down.


  11. @Observing(…)

    Mascoll claims he has researched this matter for his PHd. Not sure what other rigour his research has been subjected to. On FB Pat Hoyos could only offer an anecdotal feedback on it. But you are correct, we need our independent minded academics to speak to this issue.


  12. “Last night Sinckler was blistering he all but called that pint size midget The RT hon a snake oil salesman boy did chris pelt some heavt duty reality in the RT hon backside i waiting to hear how OSA gonna reply as to how he gonna give ibillion dollars in cuts/and bring the deficit down.”

    i ain’t doubt you ac for that’s what they are bellicose opposition spokesmen but can’t manage, when offered the opportunity, behave like they still on the election platforms; it looks at the moment that the electorate in planned to be fooled this time but the blp campaign so lacklustre up to now that one never knows whether it will be tweedledeedum or tweedleddee.


  13. Miller and Onions after months of bellyaching about ” call de elections ” the best the BLP can offer the electorate is a CAKE SALE plan ?

    Sell CBC !
    Sell TRANSPORT BOARD !
    Sell SSA !
    Sell NHC !
    Sell Mia Mottley ….to the DEMS !

    Barbados deserves….BETTER
    NOT….BITTER !!


  14. @Fractured BLP
    “Sell Mia Mottley ….to the DEMS !”
    You mean Arthur was trying to divest Mottley too.


  15. Heaven help Barbadians if the DLP by some stoke of the imagination ever win this election. The heavy dose of reality when it hits them will forever destroyed people’s faith in politicians. cause mark my words, the truth will come out!


  16. Watching closely you stated earlier “As a small businessman I reckon the BLP spent close to $2 million in the first week….”
    It’s about time that people stop accusing political parties about excess spending during elections. All elections are treated like investments by business houses. This don’t mean that these businesses are looking for any repayment or hand-out. Let’s say the Bees have a program that will create employment and money in your pocket, Company A will ensure that the party get in and maybe, I say “maybe” might give a donation or pay for entertainment, or food or the rental of tents. Once the businesses pay for these extravagances it will not be construed as a political expense. Let me refresh everyone who use spending to get political mileage including the present PM. In 1994 the Bees complained about where the Dees getting money from, In 2008, the Bees complained about the Dees having a money cow. Finger pointing about political financing will never go away, Let’s deal with more pertinent issues people.


  17. ‘because of my admiration for the late Mr.Thompson and was made to look like a fool when the facts came out”
    MR HIL I WAS PONDERING ON THIS COMMENT FOR WHAT IN HEAVEN’S NAME COULD CAUSE A MAN OF YOUR OBVIOUS INTELLIGENCE TO HAVE ANY SPECIAL LIKING FOR MR THOMPSON?
    SURELY, NOT AS A PARLIAMEMTARIAN OR AN ATTORNEY FOR HE HAS NOT EXCELLED THEREIN; I HOPE I AM NOT PREEMPTING YOUR ANSWER BUT AS A GOOD POLITICIAN , YES. I STILL AWAIT YOUR RESPONSE.

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