“There are persons who have no respect for democracy, they have a right to talk, but when they believe that right spreads to the creation of a groundswell to breed insurrection Mr. Speaker you will be calling on the military forces of Barbados, the Royal Barbados Police Force to bring back law and order,” he said.
“Who will be the Complaints Authority then? There will be thousands of complaints because by necessity in order to restore order you have to crack some heads, you have to shoot some people, let’s understand this reality. Nineteen thirty seven in this country many persons died, some that we can’t account for even now, so let them speak – .” (more of Ronald Jones’ statement which has sparked debate in the country)
Several interpretations can be placed on the VIDEO. The fact that BU received it from a White person only serves to add another dimension to the interpretation. BU’s simplistic view is if you place ‘power’ in the hands of someone who is operating way below a level of competence then that person will ‘ape’ what they have observed from others.
BU understands what Jones tried to communicate, although some believe it was a poor attempt at exploiting a Machiavellian principle. BU believes it was simply an ignorant statement by a minister of the crown who is responsible for Education, Science, Technology and Innovation who became afflicted with a heavy bout of verbal diarrhoea.
Jones’ statement must be taken in the context of a post colonial Barbados where there is no precedent to support any proposition that Barbadians will rise up akin to the Arab Spring. Successive governments have vested billions to educate our people who see recourse in a modern Barbados is to engage in dialogue versus violence.
The statement to crack some heads and shoot some people must be also be interpreted in a prevailing climate which has become increasingly polarized along political lines. It is a country where the central stakeholders have shown great reluctance to come together to pool ideas and resources to confront the global enemy in the interest of Barbadians. Minister Jones is minister of education and by his mouthings has demonstrated that he is uneducated.
For those who do not agree Jones did any thing wrong BU believes there are several other grounds to dottin him. In 2010 Minister Jones banned the use of cellphones by students at all schools. A casual observation any day of the school week of the streets or school complexes across Barbados, Jones’ directive continues to be ignored. The Prime Minister publicly rebuked Jones for not making the Alexandra King Report available to Cabinet in a timely manner which led to the heavily publicised and bruising Waterman Commission. And it is not coincidental that Jones was demoted from acting as Deputy Prime Minister soon after the Prime Minister intervened in the AX matter. Lastly, and there are other performance issues, Jones was fingered as a lead member of the E11.
What is evident is that Prime Minister Stuart has little wriggle room to discipline his charges given the narrow mandate coming out of February’s general election. At a time when we should be building a culture of meritocracy to confront global challenges we are left with the same old same old – cronyism, nepotism and decisions driven out of political expediency. With the Opposition Barbados Labour Party engaged in yet another internal conflict now is the time for Stuart to make some calculated decisions to signal a new way of doing business. A good place to begin is to dottin Jones!
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