Submitted by George C. Brathwaite
George C. Brathwaite, founder and interim president of BAJE
Prime Minister Freundel Stuart and his hand-picked DLP Cabinet never cease to amaze me. Their twists and turns often prompt me to dig deeper in relation to the flimsy policy options taken by an administration clearly evasive of reality. More often than not, decisions classically appear to be ironic signs of either the idiomatic factors of a heavy blanket or camouflage.
In governance, politicians will sometimes use the heavy blanket to douse fires that are usually started from within. This tactic has been repeatedly used by the DLP Cabinet to cover the fire already blazing from the cowardly caprice which pays more attention to self-image and making excuses than to measures for pragmatic and national development.
In an unending quest to silence most criticism, the DLP Cabinet has found itself on the short side of effective alternatives and solutions. Hence, resorting to camouflage becomes convenient as the Prime Minister and his Cabinet, clueless for the most part, become daring in their giveaways and maintenance of social entitlements when the country can least afford to give away anything as clearly demonstrated in the 35 million dollars cutbacks proposed for the health sector.
‘seems to us that if you replaced the abbreviation DLP with BLP in your article, everything said here would still be true. Where does that leave us, as a country?
@Pachamama
Perhaps simplistic, but I await your answers since as indicated, both political parties from independence through ad up to at least 2009 were against economic citizenship for the country. Hence, it appears swapping BLP with DLP and vice versa in the article will serve no useful analytic or practical purpose. Deal with what is, and how as an individual you can support or denounce what is being contemplated. Still glad that you shared your opinion although I am less sure who was the ‘us’.
Simplistic ah, we are not normally so described. However, we have never seen anything so important about economic citizenship that there should be any inordinate proscription against this. In fact, all kinds of people, especially Whites and the moneyed, were always able to come and go as they pleased. But we were speaking to the deeper issues that this minor point seeks to avoid. Surely, there are much more important issues on which you could effectively interrogate this administration instead of dealing with them on the margins.
@ Pachamama
I certainly do not see the selling of Barbadian citizenship as unimportant or deserving less treatment that those currently gripping the nation. Indeed, it may well show that the Stuart administration has lost its way over a series of things. Nonetheless, you will note the inclusion to what has been practiced (legally) and what was a proposed change coming out of the most recent budget (also a follow on from the 2012 budget). I do not agree with you, but I take your point.
There was a time not too long ago when the other islands followed the Barbados model/way. Now it is our turn to follow Dominica, St, Kitts etc. What is this saying?
David | September 5, 2013 at 7:09 PM |
There was a time not too long ago when the other islands followed the Barbados model/way. Now it is our turn to follow Dominica, St, Kitts etc. What is this saying?
………………………………………………………………………
That we now have ‘leaders’ who no longer lead.
The articles I’ve read, quoted the PM as saying “some form of citizenship.” additional quotes attributed to him states that — “He suggested though, that such a form of citizenship, had to be carefully examined. “It is not something into which we can rush headlong; we have to look at all the implications. But obviously the world is changing very quickly; we are in a competitive global environment and we have to make sure that we always have a competitive edge, if we are to be ahead of the game, as it were, and therefore that matter is receiving our attention as well,” — WHAT IS THE PROBLEM with that?
Now if the GoB settles on something similar to what the most powerful economy is doing, I cannot fault him. So what is the United States as the worlds most powerful economy doing that Barbados might want to emulate on a smaller scale? The Washington Post reports that Under the EB-5 visa program, immigrants who can demonstrate that their investment created or preserved at least 10 U.S. jobs after two years are granted legal permanent residency along with their spouses and children. The W-Post further states ….The number of foreigners willing to invest $500,000 to $1 million in a U.S. business in exchange for a visa roughly tripled in the past fiscal year, as dozens of cash-strapped enterprises and local governments scrambled to attract wealthy foreign backers through a previously obscure provision of immigration law.
Now, George supports a political party that wanted to open Barbados immigration floodgates to poor indic immigrants from Guyana under the pretense that we are all one; they also use the argument that labor should be allowed to cross borders as capital does. They dismissed the concerns about Guyanese indic leaders insularity, the racial divide in their home-country, the cultural attachment to things Indian more so than Caribbean, and concerns of displacement of Barbadians workers by this reservoir of cheap labor.
In contrast; a program that rewards wealthy foreign nationals with “some form of citizenship,” in exchange for his/her direct foreign investment and employment of Barbadians, is to be frowned upon. Why is that that the BLP and its supporters like George are so against ordinary Barbadians getting ahead? Naturally, the BLP is the party of Bajan business people, the same people who were all for Guyanese cheap labor coming to Barbados, for as they say, “Bajans are lazy, they don’t want nuh work and the Guyanese do.”
@ Adrian Hinds | September 5, 2013 at 9:24 PM |
“In contrast; a program that rewards wealthy foreign nationals with “some form of citizenship,” in exchange for his/her direct foreign investment and employment of Barbadians, is to be frowned upon. Why is that that the BLP and its supporters like George are so against ordinary Barbadians getting ahead? Naturally, the BLP is the party of Bajan business people, the same people who were all for Guyanese cheap labor coming to Barbados, for as they say, “Bajans are lazy, they don’t want nuh work and the Guyanese do.”
Are you admitting in a surreptitious manner that the propaganda spewed by DLP acolytes likes yourself about the BLP selling off Barbados to foreigners was just a load of hype?
With hindsight do you agree that Guyanese- your fellow Caricom brothers and sisters- who were gainfully employed in the economic sectors of Barbados like agriculture and construction could have been offered amnesty and resident status as long as they were law abiding instead of being deported like criminals?
Miller stop spreading shiite bout the place nuh!
Name one properly documented Guyanese who was deported.
It is about time that you started making some valid non partisan contributions here on BU.
….the damn elections done man…shiite!!!
@Miller
If I remember correctly the Guyanese were not deported or threatened with deportation. They, like all other caricom nationals, were told to “regularlise their status and they were given a number of months to do this. Barbadian employers who were exploiting the cheap labour, and taking advantage of their “dodgy” status, as well as subjecting them to atrocious living conditions, decided to get them out of Barbados as quickly as possible. It was not government’s doing.Meanwhile eheck Canada and its Entrepreneurship Visa program, and then come back to me.Include George Brathwaite in this also.
On the head by Pachamama the nail has been struck.In almost every instance one can be substituted for the other.Barbados is in serious trouble and both parties share the collective responsibility for our demise.Yes the”Here And Now” trains its critical focus on the seemingly rudderless vessel that is the present administration,and heaven knows that it deserves every bit of the criticism it has gotten but the question remains.After what we saw in the last eight years of their rule,exactly what inspires confidence in the party in waiting? Politics and religion as currently practiced in Barbados continue to devide us.A careful listen to Al Barrack on brasstacks today lends credence to this thought.
@ Bush Tea | September 5, 2013 at 10:52 PM |
Sorry Bushie for stepping on your sore corns.
We forget you are anti-foreigner, anti-Caricom, anti-CSME and especially anti-“Trickidadian” investors.
Keep living in your little Bush world unable to face “Reality”!
@Miller
What is the reality?
@ Alvin Cummins | September 6, 2013 at 12:07 AM |
Ask Bush Tea. He is the one who has sole ownership of its meaning.
But let us quote him verbatim:
“The REALITY of life is that people, as a matter of course, tell you what you want to hear in an effort to bullshit you into giving them what THEY want.”
Bajans must be real suckers for bullshit to allow people with less intelligence and education (So Bajans claim) to trick them into parting with their economic assets.
Stuart is just giving public voice to what the Arthur Gov’t was doing by subterfuge in the allocation of permanent residence to non- residents.
This was a nuanced approach: Johnny Moneybags is the principal shareholder in Company X (an offshore outfit) and they set up business in Bim primarily for the tax advantages. He visits Bim a few times and falls in love with the island, nice weather, good beaches, easy communication with other parts of the world and a stable political climate. Johnny wants to build a mega mansion on the beach and money is no object but he wants to come and go as he pleases no junior immigration officer to stamp his passport with a meagre three weeks entry. He approaches the Gov’t and they recognising that any slight to Mr. Moneybags could mean that he would take his business elsewhere acquiesce to his demands.
Why do you think that they never brought in legislation of the type “da beach belong to me”? They knew that these investors preferred to live on the beach and if a man is willing to invest some of his mega millions in the Island yuh can’t very well tell him “yuh can’t build yuh house on dat beach”
So Alvin Cummins what did David Thmpson (that foreigner with the foreigner wife) mean when he said “ever so welcome, wait for a call”
Read Page # 3 of Barbados Today http://epaper.barbadostoday.bb/ and then lets have a chat about why Mottley felt it necessary to Wire Tap even Arthur, we know she is a Sick Perverted Beast but we never knew she was such a low life to listen to people on their private call, or what they would have expected to be private calls, another Sin of CWC 2007 made worse with a power hungry beast like Mottley as AG
@Miller
Bush Tea is correct. There was justifiable concern that our open immigration policy was and had the potential to destabilize our little island. The call for immigrants to regularize their status was a sensible one. Like most issues in Barbados we have to go partisan.
@enuff
Our argument is that if our open immigration policy was left unchecked it had the potential to erode social capital accrued by Barbados. One does not have to have evidence to be sensible about strategic planning. Immigrants living in pig pens, squatting in water zones, managing integration of a minority race into a predominant Black population etc etc.
To compare Barbados with the USA is the height of ignorance! The professed intellectuals on BU ought to learn how to contextualize. One would have thought that St.Kitts-Nevis would make a better yardstick. Instead jack asses on BU braying about entrepreneurship visas in Canada. Pray tell us where in Canada, USA and the UK the recipients of “economic visas” settle and why? When that question is answered get back to me.
@Sargeant
It shows once again the type of deceit and hypocrisy we are dealing with regards to “Mr.Integrity”. If selling off land is selling out, wtf is citizenship for sale–whoring? By the way the OSA NEVER instituted a policy to facilitate foreign ownership of land; the DLP is about to do so. Look out for more u-turns, this economic citizenship policy is a sign of desperation as the government has adopted a by any means necessary philosophy to avoid the inevitable–THE IMF. The visa is all about FOREX what entrepreneurship what!
A relevant link: http://mobile.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE81B05A20120212?irpc=932
By the PM’s own admission this is something to be thought through. He is doing what OSA use to do, fly a kite. What it has done is to give insight into to how the government is thinking.
@David
Destabilize how? Where’s the evidence?
David
Sometime you does write pure blasted ignorance tho. You aware that almost every country in the world does sell in one way or another citizenship, residency or visas to those have the money to buy them?
“is citizenship for sale–whoring?”
Enuff that is EXACTLY how I described it to a friend yesterday. Barbados is a nation of WHORES! Money is the preferred GOD of the population. Let us get real and stop pretending that we are a religious Christian community. Religion is a money making business and so is politics.
Since Barbados Tourism has declined the government is sending the Industry to the plastic surgeon for a facelift. The diseased body remains the same but the face will look younger for a time. Now Barbados is selling its identity to the highest bidder. Let us face it we are too lazy and ignorant to work and develop viable industries when it is easier selling our poonannies and botsies. All we got to do is to lie down and open our legs.
David
Yes you do and that is our problem, we rely too heavily on emotions for policy making. Even your statement is not definitive. Come on those impacts are not gargantuan. Indians both Muslim and Hindus have been living in Barbados long before the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas. By the way what were/are the benefits? Anyway the Guyanese left and access to tertiary education and health care still slowly being eroded.
http://www.nationnews.com/index.php?print/index/1403
Wire Tapping
And by the way My Lords Hill is Zone 1 and people legally reside in that location and have been for years! What does that tell us?
@enuff
You are reinforcing BU’s position. The bottom line Canada and all the developed countries wh allow different class visas link it to gains. It s planned. In Barbados it was not.
It tells us that those people were residing there before zoning was instituted in 1962.
They have no other place to go.
They had bought land in the area before 1962.
They do not have the money to buy other land in zone two, three and four.
Government (neither party) has ever offered to exchange the zone 1 My Lord’s Hill Land for land in zones two, three of four.
@enuff “Pray tell us where in Canada, USA and the UK the recipients of “economic visas” settle and why? ”
Actually a lot of them don’t settle. They park their money, wives, and children in Canada (or the U.S). and hot foot it back to Hong Kong, Singapore or whatever to make more money. Meanwhile at least in the case of Canada they have access to excellent highly subsidized health care, and university education for their children.
LOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Why are we pretending that selling passports has anything to do with citizenship, patriotism, loyalty or other virtues? It does not. It has EVERYTHING TO DO WITH MONEY.
Thomas Jefferson said “Merchants have no country. The mere spot they stand on does not constitute so strong an attachment as that from which they draw their gains.”
He was right.
@Simple
We pretend because it is the politically expedient thing to do.
@ David | September 6, 2013 at 5:32 AM |
“Bush Tea is correct. There was justifiable concern that our open immigration policy was and had the potential to destabilize our little island. The call for immigrants to regularize their status was a sensible one. Like most issues in Barbados we have to go partisan.”
It’s rather difficult to separate from Bushie’s submissions any genuine concern for the overall or national good as far as policy planning and implementation and his rabid vapid anti-foreigner, anti-Caricom anti-Trinidadian harangue.
Bushie makes his feelings pellucidly known as far foreign investment or ownership of assets in Barbados is concerned. His continuing reference to tourism as “Prostitution” is a case in point despite there is national consensus on the vital importance of this industry to the economic survival of the country bereft of tradable natural resources and with its main commercial agricultural sector in ICU.
David I have no issue with the government managing its immigration policy in the interest of planned demographic goals for the country and its limited resource allocation strategies. However, this must be done in a transparent well planned and executed way. It must be done preferably at the point of entry and done in a professional way encompassed by a sense of decorum and civility. Guyanese were attracted to Barbados like other territories because high economic activity and concomitant demand for cheap immigrant labour; not to take away Bajan jobs and men as was popularly propagated.
I could be wrong but it is felt that the new government played to the gallery of myopic xenophobic anti-immigration sentiments and responded to calls from certain sections of the Bajan society to “deal with the so-called Guyanese problem. The horror stories allegedly meted out to Guyanese immigrants have impugned a rather nasty stain on the image of Bajan immigration authorities and especially the government in the eyes of the people of Guyana and its government.
I still believe a much better approach could have been adopted in collaboration with the Guyanese authorities to resolve the immigration influx. The attempts to blame the Guyanese for the social and economic problems in Bim have proven to be unfounded.
On the contrary, their removal has witnessed an obviously significant fall off in spend in the small business retail sector.
It would be interesting to hear from Bajans who have subsequently visited Guyana what are the reactions expressed to them by the average Guyanese to the Barbados’ government ‘forced’ repatriation programme of their fellow citizens.
We must admit that Bajans are not at the top of the Xmas list when it comes to popularity among their Caricom brothers and sisters as a result of what has transpired immigration wise in the last 5 years.
We know that countries -even from the times of the Egyptian dynasties to modern European states today- have the tendency to blame immigrants as easy targets and scapegoats for the social and economic problems prevailing at the time.
Time will tell how the country is affected by the ‘temporary’ coldness in relations among the neighbours.
well written essay filled with accusations and not one shred of supporting evidence. Chuspe!
David how can I find the thread dealing with Darwin Dottin vs. PSC and Caswell suggestion that he had a strong case?
This jokers Brathwaite should tell us why his party leader would be so nasty and Corrupt to order her bosses phones to be tapped,
Mottley was indeed the person who provided the names and the numbers to Dottin to have those numbers,emails, text and voice listened to. Very sickly and reprehensible carried out by Mottley against Honest Barbadians
Adrian
Never mind Caswell. Darwin Dottin has seen the light and listen to the gospel and knows full well that he could find himself immersed in a situation which he could not manage and in which ‘friends’ put the knife in in other ‘friends’ to protect the political reputation and viability of those who aspire to higher office.
David
Why not get the affidavits of containing the accusations of wire tapping and the defense(s) and put them up ion BU?
Stuart is merely toying with Mottley and when the time is right (of his chosing) he will inflict the moral blow on Mottley using this wire tapping issue.
Despite her best efforts and attempts to manage every political issue to her advantage, the fact is she WILL NEVEbe a Prime Minister and chances are she won’t even lead the BLP into a General Election.
look what so called crook and liar , Sir Allen Stanford did with his , and how much did he pay for his? ,Also add more crime in the Caribbean and spoil the name of said country island.Remember his friends are still here in the Caribbean , doing there business.
Guyanese were attracted to Barbados like other territories because high economic activity and concomitant demand for cheap immigrant labour; not to take away Bajan jobs and men as was popularly propagated.
I could be wrong but it is felt that the new government played to the gallery of myopic xenophobic anti-immigration sentiments and responded to calls from certain sections of the Bajan society to “deal with the so-called Guyanese problem. The
I share your views wholeheartedly on this issue MR MILER.
please do not let us be side tracked by the Dottin issue from the more important issue of the DLP’S unflattering management of the affairs of state.
@Adrian
Will have to make a search for you. If memory serves the letter was posted as an image.
Simple Simon | September 6, 2013 at 1:03 AM |
So Alvin Cummins what did David Thmpson (that foreigner with the foreigner wife) mean when he said “ever so welcome, wait for a call”.
____________________________________
DLP supporters tend to conveniently forget that neither Thompson nor his wife were born in Bim,, nor Liz Thompson for that matter, why these would be calling for tight restrictions on caricom citizens would be kinda strange, in Liz Thompson’s case, she wanted strict restrictions on Bajans who lived abroad if they tried to access housing services because of circumstances, what a bunch of idiots.
@Enuff.In answer to your question re entrepreneurship visa/investor’s visa the following is part of the answer “What is the minimum investment that I would need to apply for a start-up visa?
You must secure a minimum investment of $200,000 if the investment comes from a designated Canadian venture capital fund.
You must secure a minimum investment of $75,000 if the investment comes from a designated Canadian angel investor group.
Toronto and Vancouver attract the majority of Chinese investors who apply for these types of visas.
With regards to your comment about people in My Lords Hill living in Zone 1 areas, it ells us that people are preparedd to ignore the law even if it is for their protection and good. The area designated as Zone 1 does not apply to the whold of MY Lords Hill, it applies to areas such as Blenheim, the back of Licourish village , in the area of The Belle, where a punping station is located the area around station hill etc.
David I think you need to bring that Darwin Dottin vs. the PSC to the fore. I think a lot of “prophecy” and predictions were made in it; and good journalism would/should facilitate a revisit to recollect, and call to account those for and against. LOL
All now fellas scammbling for cover from Dottin and he wire tapping activities. Depending on where the ‘instructions’ came from, if I was Darwin I would like to take an extended vacation outside of Barbados cause some reputation caught up in this criminality.
@Alvin
Thanks now answer the 2nd part of the question–Why Vancouver and Toronto? With regards to zone 1 it proves that you CAN live there with the appropriate toilet facilities and those people that are there legally do so.
@enuff
The idea of squatting is that people do so illegally.
@Enuff. !. Vancouver is closest to China and Toronto is the largest city.3 already established Chinese communities are magnets for them. 4 since they are high (extremely high) on education, and since the University of Toronto is one of the best Universities in the world they gravitate there.
The squatters at Blenheim are there illegally, as well as those at Gemswick, Station Hill etc. Any place where people are forbiden to live, and they live there they are there illegally.They have no right there and if the government had moved against them from the time the FIRST building was erected we would not have this problem. T^he concern with this illegal establishment of communities is not only the danger from bacterial contamination of the water in the aquiffers, but the chemicals in things like washing materials…bleach…soap powder, etc that leach into the soil and then percolate down to the water table thus endangering lives of people far removed from the original site.There is a scientifidc and health reason for Zoning. When people callously disregard these things it shows that they don’t care about themselves or their fellow man.
@ David:
What are your views on the FTC’s decision to place a very low cap on the amount megawatts Renewable Energy (RE) generators can ‘on-sell’ to the BL&P via the national grid.
The RE Association are not too pleased about it and is arguing it would spell the death of the fledgling local RE sector. They also claim the FTC decision runs counter to the government’s much promoted RE policy position and Budgetary measures to incentivize the sector as a major element in the transformation of the local economy into a “green” economy and help reduce the fiscal deficit through saving foreign exchange and the need to borrow so heavily from overseas to help pay for oil imports.
We suspect there is more in the mortar than just the pestle and the FTC has caved in to the rather more “persuasive” case put by the BL&P for its long-term viability as a profitable electricity generating business.
@ alvin cummins | September 6, 2013 at 4:52 PM |
“There is a scientifidc and health reason for Zoning. When people callously disregard these things it shows that they don’t care about themselves or their fellow man.”
So what is preventing the present administration from doing the legal, scientific and moral right thing of removing them or providing safe sewage and waste disposal facilities?
Blaming any previous administration, whether B or D, would nor eliminate the risks to national public health.
The maintenance of public health is the second most important responsibility of a government after the protection, safety and security of its citizens.
If this state of affairs is allowed to continue it could result in a major outbreak of cholera or some other bacteria-based public health risk epidemic. This is not a political football to be kicked down the street like a used can for the “next’ administration to handle like Barrack matter. The country’s very economic survival could be at risk.
Tourists don’t visit or investors don’t live in countries where public health is under major threat unless the country in question is endowed with large amounts of natural resources like oil, gold and diamonds.
I don’t recall you being very vocal or indeed being vocal at all when your Barbados Labour Party Government started selling Barbados flags of convenience to whosoever will.
@Miller
Heard the report. Will have to read the rider document issued by the FTC to be reminded of th reason given for 7 megawatts as compared to 20 requested.
Alvin thank you for again answering. What does Vancouver and Toronto have that Barbados lacks? Why Bdos instead of Toronto or Vancouver or Lonfon?
Squatting in Bdos is not due to Guyanese. Secondly there are special toilet facilities that people use (septic tanks) in zone 1. Sewer zone 1 and let people live after all we building a waste to energy plant to piezun people.
@ David | September 6, 2013 at 6:30 PM |
Will await your more informed position. But on the face of it the decision seems to be more concerned about the “economic” viability of the BL&P generating plant than the gradual but large scale switchover to RE for electricity supply in keeping with the Government’s stated objectives.
High RE generation of electricity would have serious implications for BL&P generating capacity which relies heavily on fuel oil and diesel. What would these turbines be doing where there is an excess supply of electricity to the transmission grid from RE sources?
What implications does this decision have for the much promised revised Electricity Act now due for debate in October?
@Miller
The same member of parliament who represented the people squatting in zone 1 has been returned to power. Bet he does not say one thing about the illegal squatters during his term of office. Wasn’t he a minister at one time. thus having the ear of cabinet? the qwuatters have been allowed to build permanent concrete block and cement board structures; wonder how they got Town planning permission if at all. You are sure to hear loud howls if attempts are made to move them now. They are to firmly entrenched. There is even a car dealership and car repair facility in the area. wonder where the waste oil and lubricants and cleaners go when they are flushed and drained out of the vehicles. This in a Zone 1. areaAnd because the administration (whether B or D ) is mentioned is not “blaming” it is stating facts, whether of aomission or commission
@Enuff, ” What does Vancouver …..” I won’t even attempt to answer that. you know. This answer you gave is exactly why we have this type of disregard for the law…”let the people live…” is exactly the sentiments that contribute to this type of behaviour. Nobody ever said that Squatting wasthe purview of Guyanese, Bajans are the biggest perpetrators. Septic tanks are for sewqage but other chemicals are not removed by septic tanks not are all bacteria, parasites or viruses removed by a septic tank.It is this same attitude that caused certain regulations to be changed to allow a Zone 1 area to be changed (conveniently from zone 1 to zone 2.
@Miller
The BL&P instead of buying fossil fuel buys energy fed into the grid what is the problem?
@ Alvin Cummins | September 6, 2013 at 6:58 PM |
“.. wonder how they got Town planning permission if at all. You are sure to hear loud howls if attempts are made to move them now. ”
And you point is what, Alvin? Do nothing? Public health is not a political partisan game of fottie to be kicked around.
We are dealing with the health of the nation and its economic survival. Not some two-bit hand-to-mouth politician whether it is Trevor P or Kenny Worst the representative for the area.
When people were removed from Emmerton Lane the people kicked up a fuss fueled by politicians of the time. It was so dramatic that even the Mighty Gabby immortalized it in song. Where are those people today?
The worst thing a people can do is to shit in and foul up its water supply. Clean potable ‘Water’, after fresh air, is the bedrock to a healthy life and good public health.
@ David | September 6, 2013 at 7:15 PM |
The problem is that the generation capacity would be seriously underutilized. Electricity supplied via RE sources would not pass through the BL&P generating plant but direct to the transmission grid.
Much of the ‘bulk’ cost incurred by BL&P is related to its generating capacity and is a major determinant in setting the price charged to customers and setting of the ROI. The more electricity ‘generated’ with the existing plant the lower the unit cost for onward transmission to the grid and consumers.
What you have just argued would only make the FTC looks like a pack of fools inadvertently scuttling the government’s RE objectives and programmes.
Offers by Owen Arthur and Mia Mottley to work with the Government were rejected in a cocoon of comic relief that constantly indicates buffoonery in an aslylum and not highly paid people tasked with managing people’s lives.
———————————–
Carson C. Cadogan | September 6, 2013 at 5:31 PM |
I don’t recall you being very vocal or indeed being vocal at all when your Barbados Labour Party Government started selling Barbados flags of convenience to whosoever will.
I hate this kind of comment, the back and forth nonsense. You people are taking the affairs of this country and turning them into some foolish political partisan game. It is time that people get serious about Barbados
JUST ASKING
Stop making sport. All Bajans don’t have short memories like you.
In the early days when David Thompson reached out to SEETHRU. He was rejected out of hand by SEETHRU who then promptly hopped on a Jet plane and headed to the Island of Antigua to help the government with the same problems which were starting to befall Barbados.
But it is a dangerous thing accepting help or ideas from SEETHRU, look what happen to Jamaica whose Government implemented many of his “ideas”. It led them into the hands of the IMF to this day.
just asking
Have you ever seen any photos of SEETHRU when he was young and sporting dreadlocks?
@balance September 6, 2013 at 9:48 AM “it is felt that the new government played to the gallery of myopic xenophobic anti-immigration sentiments”
That foreigner David Thompson was the leader of myopic xenophobic anti-immigration sentiments, remember his “ever so welcome wait for a call” The myopic xenophobic anti-immigration sentiments came from the then LEADERSHIP of the DLP. Thesenegative sentiments did NOT come from the the people.
Wait how come this thread has morphed into one dealing with xenophobia? The leading article must not have been well received. George you seem to be failing in catching a wind fuh dah kite yuh did flying. LOL!
@Carson C. Cadogan |September 6, 2013 at 9:33 PM” …just asking…
Have you ever seen any photos of SEETHRU when he was young and sporting dreadlocks?”
No. But if you have such a picture, please post it here. I think that SEETHRU is very cute and he must be even cuter as a locksman.
I dying ta see de picture
@ Alvin
As usual you are clueless. Go read the Water Protection Policy at the town planning website. I am still waiting to hear about Toronto, Vancouver and London vs Barbados, but I can give you a hints agglomeration.
@ David
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/sep/06/iain-duncan-smith-quiet-dangerous
@enuff
An uncanny parallel you say?
Lol
lawyers for sale , QC for sale , Police COP for sale , Judges for sale, title deeds for sale,wire tap for sale , land for sale not from the owners , stolen car parts for sale, time share for sale , drugs for sale, under age drinking for sale, POT for sale, slave for sale , VOTES FOR SALE. DLP/BLP for sale, town and country approvals for sale ,, sex for sale
Sir titles for sale, CHURCH for sale, shorter jail time for sale,
visa and passports for sale ,, seem like the business is Good.
All your Right for sale and slavery in full Effect . so why We still looking for 300 to 400 million dollars?
http://epaper.barbadostoday.bb/
page 10 & 11 look at COW and Beckels what do they have in common ? Look at them all read Well . Time for truth is here .
George this fella like he actually earned his letters……
By Carlos Atwell | Mon, September 09, 2013 – 12:10 AM
Partisan politics is clouding the debate over the payment of tuition fees at the University of the West Indies, laments a school principal.
And he is calling for a rational debate on the matter so the real issues at stake can be properly analyzed.
Dr David Browne, principal of Queen’s College, said he saw the end of free tertiary education coming and had proposed a solution as many as four years ago.
“It is folly how we are approaching this debate. In my opinion, it has gotten clouded in the sense that people are using it for political purposes. I saw this coming and said four years ago – I’m not saying this now because it’s happening – that somehow we would have to find some ways and means to fund and subsidize tertiary education,” he said, adding that the debate over free education in Barbados had been ongoing since 1986.
Browne, speaking to the DAILY NATION yesterday after St Leonard’s Anglican Church held its students’ recognition service, said he had suggested the set-up of a university fund using money from a special tax since the way Barbados had been funding tertiary education was doomed to fail.
@ Adrian
Super! Did I buy or steal mine?
ha ha ha LOL oh you have them too? I was actually showing contempt for the designation. LOL! Is there any merit to his position on the current debate? Or is he simply calling the kettle black as a DLP supporter/member? LOL!
His words are worthy, public discussion (informed) is necessary. I do not think it is too late.
Is it to late for you to be part of a such a discussion? We know the BLP’s position; but, what exactly is your position on the issue of education fees becoming the burden of the student? David Brown and Peter Wickham as well as others seem to think that free tuition cannot be sustain — peter W gave his suggestion on how to go about making the change. What say you? can it be sustain? should it be sustain what changes would you suggest? To whom does the burden fall for the same at Newcastle college?
I wrote and gave mine. It is a policy that should not have come to the public in the way that it has. Moreover, I do not see how do you get to this point without exploring other alternatives. I fail to understand how arguments of student wasting time should have fell from the lips of government ministers when through policy that could be corrected either by offering incentives or having punitive measures for those overstaying their time without a definitive and sanctioned cause. I can go on and on, I can speak about the distortions being made and repeated just to score political points. The truth is if as many of us are willing to subscribe to the view that Barbados’ ultimate resource is its human capital, and if we understand the connection between human capital and national development inclusive of attracting foreign investments, it is definitely in our interest to ensure that the broadest sets of people have ready, affordable (free or discounted) access to tertiary education. Finally, Barbados has remained one of the highest taxed countries in the hemisphere, and it is for that reason I will contend that the people pay and have paid for the right that their children should have ‘free education’ and that the policy makers be more imaginative and innovative for finding means to alleviate the problems without punishing generations now and those to come. Let the public have information and let the debate flourish.
Heard Colin Jordan chiming on the UWI debate. Then again he is said to be the replacement candidate in St. Peter. We really need to stop being political with this matter. When free education was offered in Barrow’s time it surely cannot be compared to now.
David September 9, 2013 at 1:33 PM “When free education was offered in Barrow’s time it surely cannot be compared to now.”
But education was NEVER FREE. When “free secondary education for all or free secondary education for none at all?” as I heard Barrow, Walcott etc. say on the political platforms around 1962 our grandparents and parents were paid very little, but they were producing 200,000 tonnes of sugar a year, a commodity which fetched good prices on the U.K market, so our education was not free, it was paid for by the labour and sweat of our grandparents and parents. Nowadays it is not free either, since we “sweat” in air conditioned offices and hotels so that we can pay $30,000 per year in income, property and VAT taxes to pay for the “free” education for our children and grandchildren.
So I don’t know where this freeness talk ever came from.
“Is it to late for you to be part of a such a discussion? We know the BLP’s position; but, what exactly is your position on the issue of education fees becoming the burden of the student? David Brown and Peter Wickham as well as others seem to think that free tuition cannot be sustain — peter W gave his suggestion on how to go about making the change. What say you? can it be sustain? should it be sustain what changes would you suggest? To whom does the burden fall for the same at Newcastle college?”
other than talk neither the opposition, Mr Brathwaithe, Mr Wickham nor Dr Browne are in a position to change anything. the government just did not think the issue through and when challenged responded with wishy-washy reasons like ‘timewasting by the students’ to justify the government’s mishandling of a policy which could in one swoop impact negatively on the lives of the very vulnerable households the government swore to protect in the last election campaign. i invite to read Mr Nigel Harris’ in yesterday’s sunday sun and stop trying to defend the indefensible. Failing to point your colleagues to the error of their ways might do them more harm than good.
@GC Brathwaite
It is a policy that should not have come to the public in the way that it has……
Let the public have information and let the debate flourish.
**************
Oh really? What do you propose? Discussion ad nauseam until the cows come home where academics and would be academics could jaw and jaw and produce what? A White paper? A Green paper? More likely a Red paper which matches the colour of debt that the country is hemorrhaging.
The last Gov’t couldn’t even summon the courage to change Barbados to Republican status despite all the consultations at home and abroad talk… talk… talk. They couldn’t even reassign a disruptive local headmaster talk… talk… talk…. Now you want the Gov’t to engage in more talk to satisfy your whims?
An elected Gov’t is tasked with making decisions which they in their wisdom deem to be good for the country, if the people disagree they can show them the door and their replacements can reverse those decisions if they believe they are bad for the country.
You have stated your opinion so you should continue to work with the Opposition to ensure that they have the chance to change course come next election.
@ George Brathwaite .
You should take greater care in your use of language given your professed status as an academic . In this case you should benefit from consulting a book on English Usage which would help you to distinguish between the use of the words INCREDIBLE and INCREDULOUS . If you still find difficulty one of your former Lodge school teachers might be of assistance ; you should give Patrick Frost a call .
Heard this morning on the radio that an IMF and IADB team is now here assisting in the development of an economic stability status report for Barbados and that preliminary partial findings are that; Barbados finances are stable; the Banking system is awash with liquidity and stability; and that the unemployment statistics are moving rapidly in the right direction – downwards.
Is this the same Barbados that the Government itself was portraying as having lost 300 million dollars foreign exchange earlier this year over just 2 months; that needed to have 400 million dollars shaved off our huge fiscal deficit; that had to have a draconian budget that trimmed an excess 35 million dollars from the Hospital in circumstances which left that institution with a pittance for working capital; that signaled it was jettisoning its policy of total support for at least one tertiary institution; that called for a 10% reduction in personal emoluments; etc. etc.?
This is very good news but something does not seem right. Why should the Government be sending out these mixed messages now? Why should they be trumpeting and reacting harshly to a message of dire economic circumstances and then the international funding agemcies coming and finding everything is OK?
Does this mean that they will now put on hold the measures like the Validation tax and the solid waste tax which would appear to be not needed now and stop terrifying the acting and temporary employees ?
What is the correct position?
I am truly confused.
@ A Lodge boy like you
Just perhaps if you read what was written and was equally as discerning you would come to the realisation that the correct word was used. Nevertheless, I thank you, and I am ‘believing’ you to be a Lodge Boy schooled in the Queen’s English.
many Lodge boys
questionable sexual orientation
Bellhouse/effect
Its Porgy
Its FourG
Its the Ram eating the Ham
Question
Who got the biggest balls
Who is this Caddle lady on the talk show today?
Tell her go to the top of the class regarding her response to Minister Kellman. Is his head hard?
oH YES !
love it
she cornered kellman
reminded me of having
a fish on a hook
tried to get away to no avail
Nefetari to the world
This is what BAJAN radio needs
and that infectious laugh
oh oh oh -Nefetari !! uhmmmnnnn -good !
Wow!
Confusion is joke!
I turned on Brass tacks an hour or so ago and heard a lady explaining the situation of the temporary workers, etc. I honestly thought it was a PS putting the Government side and was shocked to learn it was actually an NUPW rep and a lady I think very highly of.
It seems to me that we are in deep potta where the NUPW and a Government that has shown that it is actually anti-worker in crunch times despite its pronouncements and protestations to the contrary, appear to be indistinguishable in policy.
It seems that we have to pray for God’s help for the public workers in the coming months, the NUPW won’t.
Brasstacks cutting all the time and we cannot hear a lot of the contributions by callers.That is a definite sign that things getting out of hand.When VOB start cutting callers for fear of a lawsuit,read between the lines.The Government in trouble.Recall Market Vendor said 71 businesses shut down recently.
Nefertari is one of the best things that happened to VOB of late.Nice voice,nice control,an appearance of innocence until you cross the Red Line like Kellman is wont to do.
I say again we respect the institution of Government.We reserve respect for any individual until he/she cross the Red Line of Bias and then we will rip you to shreds if you talk nonsense,a facility with which this administration is cursed.
It appears David Ellis is bending over backwards to put government’s side, this s good know?
@ David | September 11, 2013 at 2:43 PM |
You can’t fault David Ellis for that. He is trying to protect his bread and butter.
It is well known that the current DLP administration is putting massive pressure on VOB to tone down its anti-government rhetoric on its call-in programmes. VOB better toe the line like CBC and its pro DLP acolytes or face serious “victimization” during the coming months like threats of reduced advertising by businesses dependent on government for contracts and difficulties in negotiating broadcasting licence renewal.