There are instances in history where the person in charge does something remarkable act (at the right time) which saves the lives of people or accomplishes some other remarkable feat on behalf of their country or those for whom they have responsibility. Names like Owen Arthur; Tom Adam; Barrow and Clement Payne, easily spring to mind. A captain of a cruise liner or a pilot of a plane – is no different from a Prime Minister of a country. Take, (then 57-year-old) Capt. Chesley B. “Sully” Sullenberger, for example. The world will remember him as the man who landed a US Airways Plane with 155 passengers and 5 crew, successfully and safely on the Hudson River – having lost power to both engines – after the plant hit a flock of Canadian Geese. You probably cannot imagine the degree of difficulty or, how remarkable it is to land a plane on water but the experts thought what Capt. Sullenberger did was such an outstanding achievement that the entire Crew of Flight 1549 was later awarded the Master’s Medal of the Guild of Air Pilots and Air Navigators. The award citation read, “This emergency ditching and evacuation, with the loss of no lives, is a heroic and unique aviation achievement.” It was said to have been described by NTSB board member Kitty Higgins as, “the most successful ditching in aviation history.”
If the DLP was flying that plane, everybody on-board would have been dead and the plane completely destroyed. A far less difficult undertaking and yet, the DLP somehow manages to crash the Barbados economy, AGAIN!
Just imagine: A man can land a plane (without power to both engines) on water but EVEN with such a large Cabinet – the DLP cannot manage a simple economy of Barbados, despite increasing: VAT from 15% to 17.5%; Excise Tax by 50 %, freezing public servant pay for years and then unconstitutionally robbing them out of their allowance!
Little wonder that whereas the experts were happy with the way US Airways Flight 1549 was handled, Moody’s; Standard and Poor’s and others – are unimpressed with the DLP’s reckless mismanagement of the Barbados economy. So while Capt. Sullenberger got an award for “heroic and unique aviation achievement,” the DLP has so far received four downgrades or: “award of shame,” including a humiliating downgrade to “JUNK BOND STATUS.” For the DLP, this is historic, because – despite tremendous effort – not even Sandi, was able to sink the country that low!
The DLP is now alleging that it has done more for Public Servants than the BLP did in fourteen years, is a horrible nonsense, which only serves to remind the country that Public Servants have had their salary frozen and their allowance unconstitutionally hijacked – despite a ‘1995-BLP-amendment’ to Section 112 of the Barbados Constitution, which is intended to address precisely that: prevent the DLP from reducing the pay and or status of Public Workers, to their disadvantage, again. There is a serious point here, except that the Union (which now wants Public Servants taxed more) is not interested.
See what I told you about human decency?
Was Capt. Sullenberger walking around telling anybody on that flight – or the crew for that matter – that he saved their lives? In contrast, even though there is no truth to the DLP’s wild baseless allegation of “doing more for Public Servants than the BLP” – the country will easily detect the DLP’s desperation for hero worship and false praise!
I think workers would prefer their salary on payday, than new office furniture to sit on. But, new furniture or not; new office accommodation or not, the reality is that the Barbados economy is still in recession, perhaps for four consecutive years. Barbados has been downgraded to JUNK; the Transport Board hardly has buses for the same Public Servant to get to work; the QEH does not have medicine; Land Tax gone up; VAT gone up; Road Tax gone up: water rates gone up; the price of food gone up, yet Public Servants’ pay remain frozen. Still, the wild allegation of doing better under the dems!
I detect and understand the DLP’s deep sense of frustration and anger, as displayed by their AG in Parliament Tuesday (November 26)! It cannot cut Public Servants’ pay because of that 1995-BLP-Constitutional-amendment. Secondly, as much as it would like to, it gave a commitment that if re-elected, ‘IT WILL NOT’ send home not one Public Servant and that is the source of its consternation. A few weeks ago, it flew a kite to test the waters, as regards – taxing so-called middle class more. It is why Public Officers should be happy that the BLP made that amendment to Section 112 of the Constitution because the DLP would be cutting their pay again – this time by more than any 8%.
Given the way the DLP functions, somebody has to blamed for the fiscal mess the DLP has created and you know that the DLP has acquired a target and a scapegoat, when on Tuesday, November 26 – the DLP was publicly complaining that 54.5% of Government’s revenue is being spent on wages and salaries for Public Servants. If after five years in office – this announcement from the DLP – is a new discovery, that would be very scary. If it is not a new discovery, then it may be confirmation that the DLP is reaching for the butcher knife and not any Scalpel. An IMF-Mini-Budget may be lurking in the dark.
In the August Budget, the DLP outlined policies to reduce the deficit but (to date) managed to increase it by over $150 million. What if Capt. Sullenberger had made such a monumental mistake or got it wrong, like the DLP keeps doing?
Whereas Capt Sullenberger will be remembered as the man who landed a US Airways plane with 155 passengers and 5 crew, safely on the Hudson River (after it lost power to both engines) – for doing to Barbados – the complete opposite of what Capt. Sullenberger achieved for “ALL” on-board flight 1549 – the DLP will long be remembered as: ‘a party not to be trusted and a symbol of failure and incompetence, which causes severe pain to the people of Barbados.’
Perhaps already having the IMF on stand-by – that the DLP would somehow still be able to tell Barbadians “Happy Independence” – in three days time – would truly be “bold” and “unpatriotic.”
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