BAF – I seriously hope that you are not one of those Bajans, it would break my heart, who would prefer to see our young bright minds of scholars working in swan street or broad street for the likes of the abeds, s y adams, cave shepherd, colombian emeralds, diamond international and all the others who only look after their own on the backs of bajans, while sending their own children to outside universities, and their children never come back to contribute diddly to Barbados You have to admit Bajan scholars have very little to gain and everything to lose by being stuck in Bim. The country actually ends up being the biggest loser, since the scholar still has the brightest mind and will emigrate eventually, there are countries out there that are more than willing to grab a bajan scholar, some would grab all.

It is essential that each and every voter take the high road as of now regarding the political landscape in Bim, everything is now at a tipping point. Massive changes are ahead, unless the corrupt players from both parties are the ones truly running the show in Bim and are untouchable. Time will tell us all, and very shortly.

Whether or not you believe me is not my concern. What I am concerned about is the practise of vote-buying. It occurs on both political sides of the fence. But because I highlighted what I personally experienced from one particular side, I must somehow be a liar according to some politically biased bloggers here. Would you say the same things if I had told you operatives of Noel Lynch approached me?

I brought this issue to the attention of the bloggers because as I stated before, and as was stated by others, vote-buying is not the only problem. It shows that the morals of this society have decayed and this will soon be evidenced in other areas.

We need to hold politicians accountable and insist on strict laws when it comes to voter fraud. Laws that would not only punish the footsoldiers but the politician himself/herself.The message should be sent that noone is above the law and the right to vote is too sacred a right to tarnish.

Rather than trying to find reasons not to believe me, focus on the fact that vote-buying was more blatant in this election. Lobby politicians from both sides to pass legislation to help stamp-out this issue. I have a feeling that no politician will want to tackle this, so if necessary, something radical must be done if ordinary Barbadians like myself want to protect our fragile democracy.

@talkshop
Rotflmao. Best one for the morning

@ac
BOTH parties engaged in the practice. Including the seats where candidate of high integrity were running. No one is saying bees only or dees only. Will you require Freundel, Mia, and Adriel to bring proof too or do you take their word at face value? Enjoy the victory but recognise the implications of what we experienced and witnessed as a COUNTRY.

@check it out
Had a look at the scl link. Much food for thought. Would explain why we had a one man tear down platform from one side. It worked.
what does that mean about the future of mass manipulation in any and every endeavour of life? Where do we draw the line? Is choice really just an illusion? Are we becoming plugged into a matrix constructed by the wealthy and powerful? Lots to think about!

@damani
Your integrity is intact. Your truth needs no defense. There are others who are aware of what you experienced.

@crusoe
Bitter crops indeed. Is this what was meant by a “bitter” tomorrow?”

Rome wasn’t built in a day, neither would Barbados burn in one election. But it’s clear the burning has started.

Just Observing

Damani,

Your peurile attempt to sully the name of PM Stuart is another clear example of how the BLP lies often lead them to not gain the confidence of most Barbadians for any sustained length of time.

Now here it is you first brooched this subject on BU with your posting below:

Damani on February 25, 2013 at 10:41 PM

Saying that nothing can be done about vote buying is like aiding and abetting corruption. Pass legislation, have observers, do something! Because the sacred right to vote must remain sacred. It should not be treated as a commodity to buy and sell. But what brave government will be willing to do that?
—————————————-
Then another posting later you come with this hogwash story that somebody approach you and told you go to the PM constituency office.

So here is how you proved yourself to be a FRAUD :

1. You knew what the alleged voter buyer was telling you was illegai – yet you did not alert the police .
2. You knew where the PM constituency was situated – yet you did not alert the police of what reports you were told.
3. You were able to clearly identify the alleged voter buyer – dress, mode of transport and sum of money offered – yet you did not alert the police.

So clearly you were the one AIDING and ABETTING corruption…….and why should we be surprised……….you came to BU to peddle your fraudulent intentions.
   

AC; I see you called for a discussion on ways the evident vote buying could be combatted. I think I provided a template in another post and not a man (except Observing obliquely) pick he teet. The Damiani and “Bayland” posts taken together, suggests strongly that something was going on in the PM’s constituency also, if one reads between the lines, the PMs statement about seeing it with his own eyes and CS evident discomfiture behind him in that TV clip was also suggestive. Closing your partisan eyes is not going to help the situation. Admitting that there is a problem and helping to work out how to solve it will help. Start a post suggesting how we the people can wrestle this gargantuan beast that can gobble up Barbados’ future and seriously affect you and me and all of us can be wrestled to the ground. Remove the opaque scales from your eyes.

BTW, anyone heard yet if the cabinet or any new members of it has yet been officially announced. Time is ticking and the PM seems to be engaging in his old modus operandi so far. Can Barbados survive that?

Fractured; Are you really for real? How many of us would go to the police with a story like that? On the distaff side, How many of us would expect a PM, replete in the robes of integrity, to have been telling us, not that he saw evidence of vote buying, but that he informed the police and other relevant authorities about it. The answer to both questions is not many thinking bajans.

You are holding Damani to one level of conduct and the PM to another. Wheel and come again.

Shame on you!!!

At the end of the day, the seats that will be occupied by both DLP and BLP politicians were bought by taxpayers money. Every move made by either party should be monitored, they bought the seats now let them sit in those seats and do the people’s work, minus the corruption. There is a saying, you get what you pay for, the taxpayers now have to make sure that nothing is made easy for any of the politicians and they have to work increasingly hard to continue to sit in the seats that they BOUGHT.

There are more than enoughlaws on the books to combat vote selling and buying but theyare ignored by the people who are in place to police them. The problem is tht all of them owe their appointments to the saame politicians that they are suppose to regulate, and if necessary punish.

It seemed as if every DLP poster was torn down throughout Barbados it was as if it was deliberate planned operation ordered and paid for. Very few if any BLP posters were torn down it was if that inaction was also ordered. We report you decide which side had the moral courage to resist blatant wrong doing. Yet still the DLP won.

Caswell, from what you are saying this just means that we can sit back and watch the vote buying/selling indefinitely cause no one will want to rock their economic boat, especially the police. It also exposes the fact that Damani and any other voter would have been wasting their time and risking discrimination and their jobs trying to expose vote buying/selling to the police were absolutely right not to approach the authorities. It still places the onus on Prime Minister F. Stuart and attorney general A. Brathwaite who by what they said are fully aware of the vote buying/selling. As everyone should know, the attorney general is fully responsible for the police force, he will have to let us know who the vote buyers in his party are, as well as the ones in the BLP, this also go for the Prime Minister, whether he is fainting every five minutes or not. being both lawyers, the PM and AG knows the laws better than anyone else. It is time to be merciless with this lot, they know exactly what they are doing.

@ observing ……………..How you know it is the TRUTH of which Damani is speaking concering the vote buying of which he said took place with him. Were you there?. You see the problem with you BEES you thrive in ASSUMPTIION! PERCEPTION! And SPECULATION! and when all else fails get deceptive. Now this should be problem where all voices should be concerned not one side hogging the spotlight to score political pot shots

If the Prime Minister and attorney general had not opened their mouths and actually admitted first hand knowledge of the vote buying/selling, I am wondering if this would not end up being one of many open secrets in Barbados.

David, you are so “bias”, it’s rediculous. If you want to be a Journalist you should try to be more “A Political”.

In Barbados Today.bb, it clearly states that there are witnesses to both parties DLP/BLP buying votes, this cannot be covered up. From looking at the photos of some candidates, one can clearly see the guilt. Again, this cannot be covered up, explained away nor blamed away. The culprits have to face the music. You get what you pay for, both parties are guilty, there are witnesses, even the PM claims he is a witness..

Is it true tha there is a problem in d l p and some one is @ bayview hospital

@bajantoy

I heard it yesterday but will await more info.

TOO MUCH POLITICS WILL SEND YOU FOLKS MAD! WHY NOT HAVE A LAUGH TO COOL DOWN A BIT?

Yesterday my daughter again asked why I didn’t do something useful
with my time. Talking about my “doing something useful” seemed to be
her favorite topic of conversation. She was “only thinking of me” and
suggested I go down to the senior center and hang out with the girls.
I did this and when I got home last night I decided to teach her a
lesson about staying out of my business. I told her that I had joined
a parachute club.
She said, “Are you nuts? You ‘re almost 75 years old and you’re going
to start jumping out of airplanes?” I proudly showed her that I even
got a membership card.
She said to me, “Good grief, where are your glasses! This is a
membership to a Prostitute Club, not a Parachute Club.”
“I’m in trouble again, and I don’t know what to do… I signed up for
five jumps a week.” I told her. She fainted.
Life as a senior citizen is not getting any easier but sometimes it can be fun.

Thanks GP!!!

lol

Observing

@ Georgie Porgie | February 26, 2013 at 2:59 PM |
Very amusing indeed!
That’s a bit of much needed comic relief.

I plan to take my friend Old Onions to “Rehab” on Fontabelle.
We all (including ac) need some form of emission, Onanistic or otherwise, to get rid of the political build up over the last 2 years.

Maybe the old lady Rachel Pringle of the local Fleet Street might experience a revival of the motto: “For the cause that lacks assistance, Gainst the wrongs that need resistance, For the future in the distance, And the good I can do”.

Maybe David of BU ought to take this motto on since it is only on BU that such a spirit of intellectual defiance can be found today.

@Miller

Would never have guessed you frequented such places. Next time we can take turns with the $2 dollar bills.

Fractured BLP, your name says it all for me. You are letting your political bias cloud your vision. My above statement was referring to the legislators in this country. Can I invite election observers or pass legislation?

I did what I could do. I have brought this issue to the attention of this blog (and it is being dismissed as propaganda..how ironic), I have written a letter to the editor of the nation newspaaper and I have spoken to a lawyer as well to find out how I could proceed. I spoke to him today in fact and I was advised that nothing could be done if I was unable to identify or help locate the “vote-buyer”. I was told the only evidence I have is my word and hearsay is inadmiscible in the court of law.

The lawyer confirmed that it would not make sense to go to the police and report that a young man of my height, build who is apporximately my age approached and offered me money while wearing a “dems now dems again shirt” and expect a serious investigation to be conducted. I cannot give them his name or even his nickname, where he lives and he had no scars or tattoos that I could see. Tell me what police wouldn’t laugh in my face? Or worse yet, curse me for wasting their time. I was told unless I find out more about this young man or can produce tangible evidence, it is a lost cause.

That is the dangerous thing with vote-buying, it is done in such a way that it can be hard to trace.

I hope that my letter is published in the nation so that all of these skeptics and yardfowls can see that I was indeed serious when I said that I will do something. The next thing I intend to do is approach Mr Stuart first and then Ms Mottley. Both parties need to know that Barbadians are displeased with the way this election went down.

Damani,

Shame on you. You mean to tell us the only lawyer you could have consulted was George Payne ?

The advice you claimed you got….could have only come from George Payne……given what he did in St. James North ….to get rid of Rawle Eastmond during the branch elections there a few months back.

Get loss with your nonsense !

The reason why I gave an account of my personal experience was to show that vote-buying occurs at the highest level of political parties. Not once did I Say that BLP was innocent. I actually hope that Mr Stuart was totally oblivious to the vote-buying in his constituency.

All I wanted was to encourage others to speak out about the issue and I hoped that some would be encouraged to lobby the politicians they are close to.

Damani,

You and other BLPites wasting wunnah time. Bajans watched how the BEEs quartered their very own with rigged branch and conference elections COMMONLY referred to as ‘ VOTER PADDING’. Rawle Eastmond pleaded till his lungs hurt for the BLP to clean up their act…….yet no change !

Mia Mottley called for a change in the way BLP selected their party officials……..and Owen Arthur as Leader and George Payne as party Chairman then…………CHANGED NOTHING !!

So who the BEEs think they are FOOLING !

The BEEs are past masters of TIEFING elections……..just take another look at George Payne and Dale Marshall faces on page 4 of the Nation newspaper of 26 February, 2013…….and realised that both SCAMPS……wondering how Barbadians ain’t fall for their bribery and tricks on 21 February, 2013 .

Tek DAT !