Submitted by DGS
While the humble, honest Barbadian makes his way to work early every morning and comes back tired, yet happy after a long day’s work, he is unknowing of a serious potential threat to his lifestyle that demands immediate attention. Other than the Civil Service, the tourism sector is by far the largest employer in Barbados, generating the majority of foreign exchange used by local businesses to purchase goods and services abroad.
For several years the Barbados Hotel and Tourism Association (BHTA) has been relentlessly pleading with the government to lower duties on certain items that would ease the cost of doing business in such a competitive industry (after all it is one of the only industries in Barbados that competes internationally, not domestically and imports foreign exchange). The reasons for this are due to such harsh competition with islands such as Aruba, Dominican Republic etc it is very hard to compete price-wise when we are being taxed on goods and services, which attract little or no duties in other destinations.
This is detrimental to the Barbados economy as a whole, and when the economy is affected- every single person in Barbados is affected. There is less foreign capital flowing into the economy thereby hindering growth. Therefore, in due course, the BHTA formulated a conservative ten-point plan which they expected the Barbados government would grant them. The downturn in the economy placed Barbados in the top ten countries in debt in the world with public debt at 102.1% of GDP. As a result, many people hoped Mr. Sinclair, Minister of Finance would grant these duty and tax cuts. Unfortunately, all hopes were dashed after the budget was announced in September. The only thing Mr. Sinclair did for the hotel industry apart from returning VAT to 7.5% from 8.5%, was to lower duty on heavy cream from 160% to 40%, a slap in the face to the people who have been so eagerly fighting to survive in such a tough global economy. Heavy cream is used minimally in hotels and the overall saving would be infinitesimal to the industry. Meanwhile duties on wooden furniture which must be imported continue at 60% plus VAT. To protect whom? The hotels have to be furnished attractively enough to compete in a global market and many items are simply not available here.
Obviously, when companies suffer in Barbados, so too do the locals working hard for their lifestyle. People are laid off, companies shut down, increasing unemployment rates; and crime and theft increase- making life hard for everyone. (We do not aspire to live in conditions such as Jamaica and Trinidad).
This is where we introduce the problem. Recently Sandals struck a deal with the Barbados government and was invited into Barbados and given a large list of concessions including: no duty or tax on any item used for building and OPERATING the hotel including all Food & Beverages, watercraft and cars for senior management. Even duty free furniture for foreign managers’ homes. It is rumored that no tax on profits and no land tax is also included.
These concessions were granted and signed off in a matter of days by the Barbados government to a FOREIGN company. How did this occur? Without the details we are left to speculate the many possibilities.
Is Sandals good for Barbados?
Conditionally it is – they have plenty of marketing power and ability to bring tourists to the island.(Although an icon such as Rihanna has a much broader reach young future visitors and has put Barbados on the map)-but most certainly not beneficial under these conditions, where local competitiveness is extinguished. Therefore the ONLY WAY Sandals is beneficial to Barbados, is if all hotels are playing on a level playing field with the rest of Barbados, after all the Sandals chain already has more spending power than any hotel in Barbados!
Let me be clear- Sandals Resorts Ltd IS NOT the problem. The concessions granted to Sandals are NOT the problem. The problem is that we are promoting self-destruction of LOCAL businesses by making it IMPOSSIBLE for them to compete, not only in the Caribbean, but in our OWN country! Local businesses CANNOT survive if we have to play with one hand tied behind our back! Does this mean that tomorrow all businesses in Barbados will go bankrupt? No, but it means a long, slow and painful death for ALL local businesses competing in the tourism sector- which is the major driver of the economy! Furthermore, the 150 work permits we are told have been granted to Sandals means 150 foreigners coming and taking Bajan jobs. These kind of grants have never occurred in the HISTORY of Barbados or to the writers knowledge in any sector, far less the tourism sector.
What next? Once concessions are granted to a huge international chain like Sandals, they (the Barbados government) have no grounds on which to reject any other large hotel chain that decides to enter our country or for that matter any other large tourism related company? Where is the line and where does this bloody rollercoaster ride end? The way it is going – the future may very well end up in the hands of foreign billionaires, taking the occasional trip over in their private jets to see how their empire is going. These people will not care intimately about Barbados the way we locals do. They won’t treasure what we treasure and they won’t care. They will be seeking new ways to make bigger year end profits. This is unlike local Bajan owners who care for our island. (This is not pointing a finger at Sandals. Simply pointing out where we may be heading.)
What steps does the Barbados Government need to take to soften the matter and put Bajan hearts at ease? They need to give ALL these concessions to ALL local hotel businesses. This will invigorate and promote local growth from within, keeping our jobs and profits LOCAL.
We as a people have been very conservative in relation to political matters in the past. This is a time when we ALL need to take a stand for the people of Barbados, for our jobs, our families and our lifestyles. There is NO line we shouldn’t be willing to cross. We DESERVE these concessions and we DESERVE a level playing field. Being relentless in our demand is the only way we will achieve justice for the Barbadian people.
Mr. Sinclair is not the MOF though Mr. Sinckler probably wishes he was. in fact he probably wishes he could turn back the hands of time and tell certain people where to shove their Ministry of Finance pick.
The statement above is of interest when we consider based on Adrian’s first hand report that Barbados rum is not featured at the Sandals operation in Barbados.
¨Mr. Sinclair¨ …wooden furniture which must be imported……the 150 work permits we are told have been granted to Sandals means 150 foreigners coming and taking Bajan jobs…
(~_~ )
What steps does the Barbados Government need to take to soften the matter and put Bajan hearts at ease? They need to give ALL these concessions to ALL local hotel businesses. This will invigorate and promote local growth from within, keeping our jobs and profits LOCAL.
(~_~ )
I en noh wuh fuh seh, dog bite yuh!
look enough now.! who the funk wants to come to some nasty dust bowl,concrete jungle full of Negroes who bother you all the time and keep a lot of noise and drop garbage all round the place and rape and rob white women and men.!huh who the FUNK would want to.
check wunna selves. it is pay back time for all them date rapes and sodomy of you 100% assholders.lol i just fall down again.
i mean look to funk around. what do you hear and see???????????
every body know well about bajan trickery ,teefing ,people,mostly men i must admit,cheating and liars. go to hell.yoooooo i near breck my n
back. that time shiteeeeeeeeeeee.I talk to people that have been there especially women and they prayed they would get out of there with their lives.
BLASTED FOOLS.
All private sector businesses in Barbados must put a STOP to the government of Barbados continuing to steal rob them of countless portions of their nominal remunerations.
This is a fundamental position that all businesses operating not just in the tourism sector but operating in all the rest of the commercial sectors of the country must seriously arrive at.
PDC
The policymakers are clearly not listening. There was a spark of hope to see the Ministry of Tourism website down for ‘maintenance’ but back up today still shows a 2007 ‘NEWSLETTER’ with the former Minister of Tourism. The Barbados Statistical Service still has not posted arrival figures for August, September and October 2013, let alone the bumper November the BTA Chairman was boasting about.
For a healthy tourism leakage rate it is necessary to have local ownership of a number of the elements in tourism industry. The leakage must be kept to a minimum by having most of the means of production/service locally owned. We must however be honest and suggest that a lot of GAMESMANSHIP has been played for far too long in our tourism industry. We have had the HOTELS AIDS ACT around for years and many hotels have used it like a baby needs milk and not understanding they have to be weaned off the milk and eat solid food. Too many have been using and abusing systems that were designed for growth to stay stagnated. Too many tricks and games have been played. It is time for the games to stop and for serious honest tourism development to start happening. Government too must get serious with TOURISM and STOP the games that are played at HIGH levels. Everyone needs to get REAL and HONEST in how we think about the industry and the SELFISH attitude that is so prominent must be rid of. TIME to know what we truly want from TOURISM and create plans that are full of INTEGRITY and TRUE BENEFIT to ALL!
I find it incredible that Sandals will not offer at least one rum from the country that invented it. Watch out for the Red Stripe deal soon.
Roverp,
I don’t necessarily disagree with many of your points raised, BUT I don’t think you can generalise. If I add up any benefits we have extracted from the Hotel Aids Act., it represents only a tiny fraction of our investment over 25 years. Yet we have been forced to compete will GEMS and still see Government ploughing millions of Dollars into them annually to help destablise the private sector. We have employed Barbadians (or legal residents) exclusively and paid every tax imposed on us by Government. We are still owed tens of thousands of Dollars in due by unpaid NIS and VAT refunds, yet foreign based companies, with the bulk of their earned income being collected offshore are granted extraordinary concessions, which we could not begin to compete with. We buy locally, every last thing possible, yet our new advantaged competitors don’t even serve a single brand of Barbadian rum.
And people wonder WHY we are mad!
@Adrian,
You are not mad, you are crazy. You trying to convince us here in Barbados that the hotel and tourism sector has never gotten concessions? Are you trying to tell us that the hotel plant is so fragile that the granting of “extraordinary” concessions to one All INCLUSIVE hotel will sound the death knell for the tourism industry? Who you trying to fool? You talk about GEMS, but who are GEMS? Gems grew out of the consolidation of private hotels and guest houses that were supported by government through loans etc and when the loans etc could not be repaid the government took over the responsibility for these under the collective name of GEMS, and has been subsidizing them ever since. That is the problem with the private secctor hotels.
If you are not going to compete with Sandals what about when other entities establish here?
Get off your asses and work. How many hotels advertise on private radios? There is a radio station here, in Toronto,Jazz .fm (91.1) that offers Jazz 24 hours a day. this station is heard all over the world. For instance during their fund raising campaigns they offer jazz safaris to Cuba, New Orleans, Chicago and other places. Hotels offer free accomodation during these Safaris. the important thing. is that the amount of advertising is priceless. A good ad on Barbados’qualities thus goes all over the world. Why can’t you, the hotel sector, not government, can get together and come up with joint effective advertising projects? How much does the hotel and tourism contribute to the cultural industries? How many festivals have the Hotel and Tourism sponsored? Cuba derives a high percentage of foreign revenue by the number of festivals that take place there every year. How much convention business do you actively encourage? How much do you spend encouraging convention business?
Stop complaining about Sandals How come that there are so few all inclusive local hotels? How much in dollars would Sandals remove from the hotel sector revenue by offering drinks to their guests, that are made with duty free rum?
Come again, give me figures.
By the way what were the concessions given to the developers of Port Ferdinand?
@Adrian
Next time you are in Bridgetown, take a walk down lower Broad Street on the left sidewalk adjacent to the taxi stand. You will be affronted by the most awful smell created by the taxi drivers ‘pissin’ in the alley. Imagine this is where taxis and coaches dump tourist all through the day. It is the most god awful smell.
David why don’t you call the MOH and complain?
By the way where is the nearest public toilet to the Taxi stand?
@Hants
There are no public toilets as far as BU is aware, probably has too do with how the public treat them. It stinks Hants, complain? You have to be joking.
Why would government not build public toilets that are vandal proof ?
A simple problem like Taxi drivers pissin in public year after year and nobody does anything.
It is not a priority Hants.
Tourism is our Business. Does this still apply to Taxi Drivers? Not half hour ago I was travelling along the south coast, when there was a heavy build up of traffic due to the BWA repairing a burst main in Welches. Traffiic came to a virtual halt, when the Transport Board bus just ahead stopped to let off passengers there. About ten visitors alighted from the bus,and decided to cross the road to the hotel on the opposite side. There was no traffic movement in either direction. The visitors were clearly visible,and from out of the blue, came a speeding car, horn on permanent honk,and proceeded to overtake the 3 or 4 cars at the back of the queue behind the bus.. The car driver would have clearly seen the pedestrians crossing the road, but never-the-less continued to honk his horn while still maintaining a relatively high speed. The pedestrians had to take evasive measures to stopped being ran over. I thought for a moment that the speeding, honking car was either RBPF or a Fire Service.. Would you believe that it was a Taxi, and to add insult to almost injury, he took a speeding right turn into the driveway of the very hotel where the people he almost ran over are staying.
And these taxi drivers wonder why visitors coming here on the cruise liners preferred to take organised tour coaches.
Many of our taxi drivers are not only pissing in the alleys, but they also pissing on themselves.
David it may not be a priority but it is part of the problem in a filthy nasty stink smelling city of Bridgetown.
Hopefully it will rain before Christmas and cleanse the city.
@Hants
The rain will not help, in fact…
Then again there is hope because this is historic Bridgetown and its Garrison closed by, a world heritage site.
iabingy | December 9, 2013 at 4:22 AM |
…. and rape and rob white women and men.
……………………………………………………………………………….
There is nothing like a personal attestation.
I was in one of the islands, I think it was Dominica, and was quite pleased to see how they had transform and maintain their alley ways.
The alley ways is Bridgetown, will take more than rain to rid them of their buildup of P & S.
Tonight on the news we hear photo addict Lashley talk of a Bridgetown and Garrison Map. I do hope for many visitors sake, that many of the streets of Bridgetown are denoted on this map with a big bold NO ENTRY sign. Does Mr Lashley and his band of Heritagers realise that Nelson Street, Wellington Street, Cats Castle and a host of other chigger nitty inner city communities,that are only given some consideration / promises at election time, are part and parcel of the same Historic Bridgetown.
A good low tech scrubbing and cleaning up of Bridgetown, will turn it from an ugly duckling into a beautiful princess/ prince.
The same minister mentioned renovation work possibly starting in the new year on the old Empire Cinema. I wonder what programme will follow to ensure that the building is adequately maintained, and not end up like the renovated Nitengale Nurses Home which had two complete renovations in the course of 5 years. Last week I had a look at the Cricket Legends Museum (Herbert House to many who went to England) and noticed that the windows are falling to pieces.
What is it about us and maintenance ,of any kind.
What is it about us and maintenance ,of any kind.
**********
Brass bowls don’t do maintenance ….no funding available….no kickbacks,,,,,no naming ceremonies…
What maintenance what?!?
@ Bush Tea | December 9, 2013 at 10:06 PM |
Absolutely correct!
Little or no kickbacks where maintenance of the planned type is involved. Just look at the state of many of the Government owned buildings.
Why are so many government departments relocating to Warrens only to turn it into another congested hard-to-get to by mass transport geologically vulnerable location?
@Hants and David,
I agree with everything said about that alley. The interesting thing is that the portable toilets there were installed by a private individual. This is what I am talking about the hotel sector. Why does this have to be left to government? The stores in town, the banks in town and the hotel sector should be able to get together and have a facility constructed in the area. The taxi drivers themselves contribute to this “infection” because they have no pride either in themselves or their surroundings. Hants would know about Cedarbrae mall or Scarborough town centre. The public toilets there are cleaned every twenty minnutes by cleaners paid by the cleaning firm hired by the mal management. I would be drastic and recommend that all the alleys, like the one being spoken about, should be closed off at each end.
No Kickbacks from Maintenance? That’s not what I heard.
Shortly after the ‘complete roof’ on a school was changed by a private contractor, some years ago ,and that contractor was fully paid , it resume leaking. Contractor #2 was sent to look at the roof,and discovered that the only thing new on the roof was the many rolls of flash band material. Now who would have shared in that large windfall?
Colonel
That is just plain thieving.
Kickbacks are a bit more sophisticated. This is where a $5M dollar building actually cost $8m or even $10m (depending on how high the involvement goes)
LOL
You expect to compare that with a roof for $50,000?
Man that “roof job” probably went no higher than a head of department or senior supervisor….
Wuh Bushie understands that even temps can get involved in “door jobs” and “window jobs”…..but NEW projects are the REAL McCOY..
@Adrian, and David.
I suggested that the Hotel and Tourism sector could get involved in constructing a facility like the one needed above. Now that I think of it, the bottom floor of the old Cockspur house(opposite the govt monthly parking lot in front of Carlyle house on the wharf, where the Jolly Roger docks.) is vacant. A proper and attractive public toilet facility could be built there, the place could probably be leased from the owners by the Hotel and Tourism Association, they could refurbish it, and they could hire a cleaning company to keep the place constantly cleaned. It could serve the public,tourists, and especially the taxi men,. they won’t have to walk far. Don’t leave everything to l government. Private sector play your part, for the good of the country.
Alvin, I think its a good suggestion. but where would this end. While almost daily we hear Ministers of Government lambast the hoteliers for NOT upgrading their hotels, just look around at many of the Government (taxpayers) buildings and the dreadful condition they are in. This despite having endless taxes to maintain them, at least in the ‘good’ times. I am sure if Government made one of these derelict buildings available (rent free) that we could galvanise enough private sector economic support to pay for the upgrade and cleaning.
I used to take our guests each week on an early morning walk of Bridgetown. We used to finish at the Pebbles Beach Facilities and almost every week NO Government staff turned up at the stated opening time of 8am to allow toilet and change use. If a Government with a TWO BILLION dollar annual budget cannot maintain a lavatory/shower facility, why do you expect the private sector to take responsibility?
http://greedylyingbastards.com/
@Adrian,
I don’t understand you. You agree that the suggestion is an interestng suggestion, but you still want Government to be involved. Why can’t the tourism sector undertake this project on their own? Are you listening to Miller, and Onions and the balance of the Mottley Crew? they are strongly advocating outsourcing and privatization, laying off of people and yet you are advocating more government involvement. Here is an opportunity for the private sector to lead the way. Hos much would it cost to refurbish that ground floor of the building? In England people have to pay to use the toilet facilities, why can’t the sector use this as a revenue earner? Why can’t you create jobs by hiring the contractor to refurbish? Why can’t you create jobs by hiring a cleaning company to keep the place clean? This will be advantageous to the country and the sector.
I just get fed up with your whining, when you can do so much to help yourselves.
@Bovell, You said:
..”people who had $1.7billion in a Foreign Currency Account, have already move $1.4billion from the country.” How did they accomplish this? How could you, or anybody who is loyal to their own country condone this sort of behaviour and revel in it? Do you know what this means? It means that people would sink to all levels to sabotage this country; not the government, because the government is everybody.
You people make me sick!!
@Alvin
Do you think if public toilets were built by whoever which required the taxi guys to pay they would use them?
@David,
for your information; especially when people talking about the salaries of Ministers of government.
The chief executives of McDonald’s and Starbucks earn more than $9,200 an hour, which is at least 1,000 times the hourly wages of their sales associates, according to a new report by the personal finance website NerdWallet.
The report highlights fast food and retail companies with some of the biggest gaps between CEO pay and hourly wages paid to associates.
McDonald’s, Starbucks and Dollar General top the list, followed by Gap, TJ Maxx, Target, Wal-Mart, CVS Caremark, Best Buy and AT&T Wireless.
NerdWallet
Out of those 10 companies, median CEO pay on an hourly basis was calculated as $7,334, compared to $8.73 for sales associates. NerdWallet reviewed 100 companies for the report and selected the 10 that had the highest annual CEO pay to compare the disparities.
@Alvin
And your comparison is meant to do what?
@Alvin
Surely the cleansing and installation of public toilets should be the responsibility of the Chamber of Commerce, not the BHTA. After all, they are great at organising a “duty free day” for locals. They also complain about the centre of Bridgetown dying for lack of pedestrian traffic. The leaders of the Chamber are often seen in the papers and on TV sucking-up to the politicians, perhaps they could put in a word about cleaning up the city and restoring its image.
@ Alvin Cummins | December 10, 2013 at 10:54 PM |
“Why can’t the tourism sector undertake this project on their own? Are you listening to Miller, and Onions and the balance of the Mottley Crew? they are strongly advocating outsourcing and privatization, laying off of people and yet you are advocating more government involvement.”
What makes you feel dirty Bajans (especially the men) would want to pay for the use of such toilet facilities provided by a private sector entity?
The Health & Safety Act ought to require business houses serving the public to provide adequate toilet facilities (the one in the same UK which you alluded to mandates such).
If you want the private sector to undertake these public health responsibilities then you need to ‘incentivize’ them. Can you explain the purpose behind the Municipal Solid Waste tax of 0.7% on land values? Why not exempt (fully or partially) from the tax those businesses which are prepared to contribute to the establishment and operation by private cleaning enterprises? This would include public toilet facilities not only in your so-called municipality but also in other places offering commercial and entertainment activities and attracting large crowds like the Oistins Bay Gardens especially on Friday nights.
We would suggest to you that instead of talking about the toilet facilities of places you know very little about other than hearsay, you focus your energies on solving ‘solid’ problems right in your own toilet bowl.
The same way you demanded your preferred incompetent administration to resolve the Al Barrack embarrassment why not use the same gusto to call on the MoT and the Ministers of Health and the Environment to clean up the ‘mess’ that pertains at the Oistins Bay Garden Solid & Liquid Waste Facilities before it becomes another filthy embarrassment to your once clean and tidy country.
@Miller,
i DON’T SWEAR OR USE FOUL LANGUAGE, BUT YOU HAVE ME CLOSE TO THAT POINT. wHA T DO YOU KNOW ABOUT ME. i know ABOUT THE PAYMENT FOR TOILET FACILITIES IN lONDON. i HAVE BEEN THERE AND i HAVE PAID TO USE TOILET FACILITIES THERE. i ALSO WENT INTO THE TOILET FACILITIES AT HARROD’S WHERE THERE was an attendant waiting tp present you with a squiart of lotion when you washed your hands. Thos are not paid for by government.
“What makes you feel dirty Bajans (especially the men) would want to pay for the use of such toilet facilities provided by a private sector entity?
Why do you think so little of your own people? Has it been tried yet and failed? Dammit you are too judgmental.
Dammit again, the damn thing would for the BENEFIT of the damned Tourism Sector. All the hell INCENTIVISING they need is bies.the knowledge that it will rebound to their advantage. And now that you mention it, Toilet facilities can be built; BY THE DAMMNED HOTELS that bring the tourists to Oistin’s Bay gardesn, in the area where the old Esso station used to be. Stop sucking at the government bubbies. We are tired of hearing about incentives, and tax reduction and tax exemption.Afte all whatever the government provides should be for the benefit of ALL, not a few.
@Miller’
Your words: The Health & Safety Act ought to require business houses serving the public to provide adequate toilet facilities (the one in the same UK which you alluded to mandates such).
If you want the private sector to undertake these public health responsibilities then you need to ‘incentivize’ them.”
Do you ever think about what you write? I think you should do that.
@ Alvin Cummins | December 11, 2013 at 9:56 AM |
So you have been to Harrods to use the toilet facilities? If you can afford to “shop” at Harrods in Knightsbridge then you can afford to pay the ‘quid’ required to use the exquisite washroom facilities provided. Why should Harrods allow all and sundry to walk off the streets to use its toilet facilities FOC? The payment for toilet facilities at most business places is more of a deterrent to the deliberately filthy than a money-making service.
This is nothing unique to London. All over Western Europe especially in Germany, Belgium and Switzerland you are expected to pay a small fee for the use of facilities but which is reimbursable when you buy items from the shops in the establishment. However, nearly all motor way service stations cum rest stops or welcome breaks in the UK offer toilet facilities for free.
Yes, too many Bajan men are known to be unashamedly unhygienic. Why not take a tour of Bridgetown aka pissy town, especially to those alleyways near the taxi stands, and prove it to yourself as the “perfumes” discharged by humans stink to high heavens?
We trust you are not one of those smart Bajan men who like to take out their willies next to the road in plain sight of everyone passing including children and ‘fire a long leak’, with a final shake; even the hands of the next person he meets.
In Barbados, men pissing in public is a past-time openly enjoyed by the likes of you with very poor standards of personal hygiene and limited sense of decency.
That is why you find the lack of toilet facilities for public use no big thing in a country that seeks to invite people to its shores for its economic survival; albeit boasting about its so-called high standard of education.
@ Alvin Cummins | December 11, 2013 at 10:04 AM |
Are you trying to take the piss or what, Alvin?
If you want the private sector to provide toilet facilities not only for its staff, visitors and clients/customers but also for every Tom, Dick Henrietta and even the vagrant Alvin walking off the streets and not patronizing their businesses, then what is the government going to do with all the taxes collected including the so-called municipal tax?
Public health is first and foremost the government’s responsibility and a first call on the Treasury. Not football tournaments! If you want to pass that responsibility onto private enterprise to be delivered as a service to the general public free of cost then it would have to be incentivized.
But how can we expect a blasted ass like you to understand such when you are still determined to argue that Barbados can pay for its imports in Bajan dollars?
What a silly old fool you are, Alvin!
@Alvin
Tell us why you were a failure in your business in Bdos, you are all talk
@ Alvin
HUSH do!
…do it for Cawmere, Cawmerians everywhere….and for Bushie….but most of all, do it for Alvin.
There is consensus that Barbadians are not environmentally friendly or hygienic when there is the need to piss. It is cultural. What we need to do is to enforce fines complimented by education to force new behaviour. It seems odd offering this suggestion after billions spent on education and our boast of high literacy but there is the reality.
@ David
Discipline is about 60% of “education”
That we cannot manage a simple hygienic issue of littering or pissing in public speaks VOLUMES about our so-called education system.
If we are unable or unwilling to CHANGE an obviously flawed system that has FAILED to produce meaningful results beyond highly lettered BBs, then we deserve all that we are seeing…..
Keep hoping for different results from the SAME shiite system….
@Bushie
Agreed and this is where successful economies like Singapore separate themselves. There is an indiscipline which has become endemic in Caribbean societies. How do we pull it back?
“There is an indiscipline which has become endemic in Caribbean societies. How do we pull it back?”
Enforce laws, charge offenders, pass integrity legislation, jail dishonest politicians, lawyers and corrupt judges!
“There is consensus that Barbadians are not environmentally friendly or hygienic when there is the need to piss.”
Or there is a high incidence of prostate problems.
@ Islandgal
Enforce laws, charge offenders, pass integrity legislation, jail dishonest politicians, lawyers and corrupt judges!
************
LOL
Too late for that now…. If we jailed ALL those who deserve it, ….Dodds would be just about big enough to hold the honest people – while the rest of crooks would be “imprisoned” on the rest of the damn place…
Besides….how can we expect the imprisonment of crooks when THOSE who should be doing this, THEMSELVES need to be locked up?
DO YOU UNDERSTAND THE GRAVITY of Plantation DEED’S accusations against the HIGHEST LEVELS of our legal top brass?
Have you heard ANY denials, clarifications, explanations, counter-suggestions or ANYTHING…?
….and de man CALL NAMES, DATES and PLACES……is it that they fal to see the importance of having a squeaky clean judiciary? ….or that they have no defense?
Clearly, there can be no serious justice dispensed by persons who EVERYONE now “knows” are themselves tainted…..
@ Bush Tea | December 11, 2013 at 2:30 PM |
“If we jailed ALL those who deserve it, ….Dodds would be just about big enough to hold the honest people – while the rest of crooks would be “imprisoned” on the rest of the damn place…”
They say ‘laughter is the best medicine for a sick soul’. What a good dose that is! It definitely shows off your literary class.
One of the best I have read for long, long time. Jail is indeed too good for the white-collar crooks in Bim.
@Chaucer.
It just shows that you know nothing about me. My business was not a failure, I ran it successfully for over ten years. I closed it when I had to return to Canada and could not find a person who fulfilled my criteria for continuing to run it, in my absence.
@Miller,
My first experience in London with paying for use of toilet facilities was in a subway station and it was not free.
My experience at Harrod’s was another level of private sector provision of toilet facilities.
Noam Chomsky once wrote a book called “Corporate Welfare Bums.; a characterization that fits the private sector; especially the hotel and tourism sector that fits nicely into this category. You were in a position for fourteen years to introduce the necessary legislation (Pubic Health act), that you spoke about earlier.
If the private sector knows that a smelly Bridgetown would be detrimental to the industry upon which they depend, why do they need incentives to correct it? I mentioned two malls here where the toilets are open to the public, where the management employs a private company to keep the place clean, and they don’t question who uses them.
That is why we will always have problems; people like you can only think in terms of the dollar and have no consideration of people; the very same people you want to vote for you; the same people you want to vote for you, and you hope would put you back in control.
I still argue that what we purchase CAN; not MUST, be paid for in the coin of the realm, and I was speaking about payment in the coin of the realm; Trinidad dollars, purchased with Bajan dollars, and NOT U.S. dollars..Tha’s what the argument was about, so don’t shift the situation.
Just two days ago I ordered an item from the US and was asked whether I wanted to pay for it in U.S. dollars or Canadian. I paid the equivalent Canadian dollars, in Canadian dollars, NOT U.S. currency.
@Bushie, Have you not learned by now that I am now cowed by the likes of Miller, Chaucer, Old onions, or even you? People like them don’t know me, how dare people like Miller even hint that I don’t have a sense of decency. Based on his background and standards he should be the last person to come with that. He didn’t go to Cawmere. And to besides he is not honest! And calling me a vagrant, he got to me mad and/or an idiot (in the derogatory sense).
@Bushie, correction: ” he got to be mad.”
It makes one smile when you read all of these experts recommending how to improve the tourism stake in Barbados to attract more visitors.
Bring in Brand name Hotels
Use Rihanna to sell Barbados.
Establish Casinos in Barbados
Allow the cruise ships to open their casinos while in BridgtownPort.
Do more promotion in Europe and North America,
Build pretty hotels etc etc etc.
In the Nation today , letter writer and frequent visitor to this island has written a fairly long letter entitled ”Beauty now a beast,” outlining some of the pitfalls that maybe causing some fall off in tourism. In short, what he is saying is that over the course of a few years Barbados has become a dirty, stinking unkempt place that no first time visitor would want to return to.
All of these fancy hotels that we talk about, and all the international chefs we bring in to prepare exotic meals , may means squat ,when the meal is finally served in a honking environment .
If Mr Mandy Johnson, a visitor,is able to see these things, why can’t us who live here daily ,and especially the ones who have a big stake in tourism and those whom we have put in Parliament to improve the lot of this country and its people. Are we going to wait until visitors intending to come to the Caribbean realise than many of the other islands are far more sanitary than us,and do like the Atlantic Yachting people? among others.
An expat who was involved in a high profile case, which was highlighted in the British Daily Mail ,is quoted in that newspaper as saying that Barbados is a dump, and we did sweet f-all to improve on our image,after such a damaging statement went out to the whole world..
By the way, are we still on track to become a First World country in a few years time?
It makes one smile when you read all of these experts recommending how to improve the tourism stake in Barbados to attract more visitors.
Bring in Brand name Hotels
Use Rihanna to sell Barbados.
Establish Casinos in Barbados
Allow the cruise ships to open their casinos while in BridgtownPort.
Do more promotion in Europe and North America,
Build pretty hotels etc etc etc.
Maybe the powers that be feel it is much easier to do all the above than to actually motivate the uncouth, “dont-give-a-damn” litterers and polluters in the population to actually dispose of their garbage and bodily fluids in a sanitary and non-polluting manner (not to mention, finding the will and wherewithal to get the rid of all the eyesores like rab land overgrown in bush, broken down, ruined buildings and old car bodies dotting the landscape along with the assorted castoffs and garbage piling up in the gullies). So they conveniently overlook the concept that the tourists who spend thousands of dollars to traverse the Atlantic Ocean to reach our shores really are not likely to be overly thrilled about spending their hard earned holidays in a high-priced, 166 sq mile litter bin.
The allocation of marketing dollars is where the glitz and glamour can be found. In the meantime the product deteriorates. It must of necessity be a multi prong approach. Has the minister operationalized the separation of marketing and product yet? What about the White Paper initiatives re: Master Plan?