Adrian Loveridge – Hotelier
The blogs can of course be a double edged sword. The anonymity allows, if the contributor wishes, comments to be made without risk of targeted personal attacks and political labelling while still being able to express an opinion, whether constructive or not. Sadly, if you chose not to hide behind the veil of ‘anonymous’ it holds the risk of the messenger being castigated, rather than evaluating any merit in the message itself.
For those of us who hold democracy dear and have personally experienced alternative regimes, it goes with the territory and if it helps maintain responsible freedom of speech then personally I have no problem. A recent blogger, writing under the name of ‘Fisheye’ put forward 16 points to improve our tourism offerings. To me, one especially stood out and that was to allow our visitors to complete the required immigration form online.
Bearing in mind the rapid trend in online transactions, whether for banking, bill payment, shopping, airline or hotel check-in, car rental registration or whatever, it seems a very simple but effective way to capture important marketing information. It may also speed up the collection of this information to allow the Barbados Statistical Service (BSS) to make it publicly available in a timelier manner. It can often take the BSS ages to post arrival information on their website and even then, months like August 2013 are not available at all. Compounding the difficulty in accessing up-to-date information is the fact that the Ministry of Tourism does not currently have a functioning website.
Other ‘Fisheye’ suggestions included the issuing of local driver’s licenses at the Barbados Tourism Authority’s (BTA) airport office and ensuring widespread availability of lower priced SIM cards to save our visitors from expensive roaming charges.
Value-for-money was also mentioned and is probably the most discussed subject amongst our cherished guests. Many simply cannot understand why a piece of locally available fish cannot be cooked, garnished and served in moderate surroundings for around BDS$25-$30. This has been festering concern for almost as long as I remember and is especially pertinent in our current economic dilemma.
Overwhelmingly key players continue pointing towards tourism as being the quickest route to fiscal recovery. It is therefore difficult to comprehend why Government fails to address the problem head-on, with timely implementation of measures that will have a positive effect on lowering prices.
Something has to give, otherwise the private sector will be forced to follow Government’s example of laying-off thousands of employees to cut escalating costs while attempting to stay in business.
Imagine the consequences this would have on service delivery standards, destination reputation, let alone the moral and social implications.
I would like to end this column on a positive note. While staying at Sandals Barbados a few weeks ago, I commented that not a single brand of local rum was being served. I now have it on good authority that this has changed and that our oldest brand is being dispensed. A sincere thank you to all those involved who have helped make this possible. My hope is that it will be the start of the company sourcing a great deal more products locally.
The submission I made was on the “other” blog but nevertheless you understand my preference to be anonymous.
It seems to me that Barbados is not hurting yet as the BTA and MOT are still conducting the same activities and there seems to be no urgency in adapting or changing to generate new business.
They are many more suggestion I have for Barbados and its tourism but I prefer to sit back and see if Barbadians will continue to blame the Government or take the advice of an old Chairman of the BTA who said “God helps those who help themselves” .
The solution to Barbados’s problems lie in Barbados.
Fisheye;
You said above “I prefer to sit back and see if Barbadians will continue to blame the Government or take the advice of an old Chairman of the BTA who said “God helps those who help themselves”. The solution to Barbados’s problems lie in Barbados.”
On the surface that sounds good and is true at the micro level as related to individual or corporate investments but it does not totally apply to the overarching, and almost cataclysmic, situation that Barbados now finds itself in, courtesy of a government that read the tea leaves correctly, but neglected to make the necessary adjustments in a timely manner out of pure self centred, partisan interest and the oft-demonstrated inability of the leader to act otherwise in anything, imho.
Very few of us who pontificate on BU on matters of this kind appear to realize the stranglehold that Government has on every aspect of the society and even more so the economy, that ensures that even though God helps those who help themselves, such help is almost infinitesimal in relation to the right tracking of an almost failed economy. Government has to be up front in providing the enabling environment for such private sector help while the private sector has to buy in, through their coin of confidence, and work with the government to effect change.
But name me one country which was able to prosper and advance purely by the good works of the private sector, especially in the face of Government intransigence, poor management of the economy, and general inability to make and implement timely decisions that affect its population and the private sector.
Which private sector entity can affect all its members and the country at large by doing anything meaningful, as a private sector body, to stop a government from running a deficit on current account in the shortsighted interest of appeasing its yardfowl and the ultimate destabilization of the whole economy?
Which private sector entity can single handedly improve the confidence of tourists coming to the country (and not to a single establishment) that they will be secure and that the other systems which visitors will require to be smoothly working will be in place and functioning properly?
Which private sector entity can directly influence decisions related to foreign exchange at the macro level which themselves will have a tremendous effect on the whole country? Has there ever been a full scale discussion on the likely deleterious effects of a devaluation on the lives of 99% of our population?
The situation, imho, is past the utility of individuals helping themselves with the help of God unless that help is through an intervention in the politics of the situation. IMHO, The first step to restore confidence in Barbados is for FS to somehow go from the PM position peaceably and for there to be a deep restructuring in the Government that will allow decisions to be made on a timely manner. The rest will follow.
“Very few of us who pontificate on BU on matters of this kind appear to realize the stranglehold that Government has on every aspect of the society and even more so the economy”
Never truer words said. If the entire gov’t, civil service and statutory corporation system disappeared off the earth tomorrow I have no doubt that Barbados would rebuild itself in less than a year. But we are burdened with them and they do nothing to help us carry that burden.
“Sealy reinforced his point as he referred to the recent revelation by Governor of the Central Bank, Dr. Delisle Worrell, that the value added in tourism improved, even though the country saw fewer visitors.”
http://www.barbadosadvocate.com/newsitem.asp?more=localNewsID=1267&NewsID=34487
“Value added in tourism fell by 1 percent” (p.2)
Central Bank Analysis of Barbados’ Current Economic Performance, 2013, page 2.
Just Observing
@frustrated businesssman,
If the entire gov’t, civil service and statutory corporation system disappeared off the earth tomorrow I have no doubt that Barbados would rebuild itself in less than a year.
How? You get rid of the civil serv ice, who is going to administer the services provided by the divil servants? does the private sector know how to run the civil service? won’t you end up with a civil service again?
don’t you people think before you write? think !!!
Alvin….I will be easy this morning, did people not survive WITHOUT a civil service BEFORE independence? or was there one that I know nothing about??
@Well Well,
No! we have always had a civil service established by the British colonial Office. the head of the civil service at the time was the colonial secretary. the present civil service evolved out of that. I first entered the civil service in 1951; worked at the Barbados General Hospital as it was then known. that was before I first left to further my studies. I resumed work again just before independence,again at the hospital, and left to further study after independence, so I have experience before and after independence. a country cannot function without civil servants; especially if the government needs to establish safety nets for the inhabitants.
Perhaps you were so well served by the civil servants that you were not aware of their presence. civil servants managed the health services, they managed the water services; actually they served all facets of your life.
Alvin, they aren’t doing the job now. Don’t you think roads, gullies, ditches, suck wells were kept clean for 350 years before there was a Drainage Division? The idle of this country have been complacent in this farce that we need underpaid, non-performing slackers to do jobs we should be doing for ourselves. The sole purpose of 80% of the civil service is to create employment for the unemployable and the remaining 20% are gov’t lackies. Let the port workers walk off the job and see how quick we would have the best port in the Caribbean.
Alvin…i believe the point that is being made now is that the civil service is top heavy and not viable particularly with today’s economic challenges, I have never lived long enough on the island to be serviced by the island’s civil service, and whenever I had to face certain agencies, I found the service way too slow for the amount of employees they have sitting around on their phones chatting away or just ignoring people who are looking for service, and there are always complaints against the ones to whom you are referring……In saying that, contrary to what you are saying, I don’t believe the civil service was as top heavy in the 50’s…..people can and will have to learn to manage that type of hardship again, if they want to move forward.
“value for money”….That is a novel thought. How can we have competitive “value for money” when our currency, with its less than junk bond status, increased in value about 10% compared to many of our source markets making us even more expensive of a destination for tourists to visit than we were 24 months ago. On the other hand the individual cost of imports should have decreased a similar amount. The fact that we had to borrow money to pay the import bill should be a massive wake up call. Unless we find ways to make our tourism product much more competitive in the” value for money column”, the situation is going to decline further and our future will be further entrenched into the hands of the IMF. .
So nice to read an article from Adrian without the garbage comments by CCC. His momma banned him from BU. LOL
@ Frustrated Business Man
“Realizing the stranglehold the government has on every aspect of the society, and even most so the economy”
If such is the case, then where democracy and free-enterprise does comes in? So you’re saying in essence that we’re dealing with unitary state whose directives come from a central government? In the absence of free- enterprise, the concept of democracy ceases to exist right?
@ Frustrated Business Man
“Realizing the stranglehold the government has on every aspect of the society, and even most so the economy”
If such is the case, then where democracy and free-enterprise does comes in? So you’re saying in essence that we’re dealing with unitary state whose directives come from a central government? In the absence of free- enterprise, the concept of democracy ceases to exist right?
Wait wuh kind a nonsense some frustrated business man belives that in past years gullies etc were better maintained ..welll wunna really gone stark crazy mad. cause nyone who rember how them gullies used to flood and children dive in them for a swim facing deathhead on. gee i mean we need to save and all dat. but not at the expense of having to go back at a time when flooded gullies and lost of lives where acceptable
@ac. Many of those gullies were kept relatively clean,not by central or local government workers , but due to the following.
(a) The gullies provided a source of feed for the many stock kept by villagers , who actually tethered their sheep goats and cows there.
(2) Many cricket pitches were established in gullies,as prime land,unlike today, was reserved for canes. The cricket term “Gully” aptly applied to many of these grounds, as on one that I knew,the outfielders on one side ,had to be notified every time the bowler ran up, as he was out of view.
(3) The plantations, at the end of the sugar harvest, used to de-bushed the gully, using much of that cut down bush as a protection,spread over those parts of the fields nearest the gully to prevent the precious top soil from washing into the gully during heavy rain falls. Today because of the loss of that precious top soil, we have unproductive agricultural lands, and flourishing gullies.
(4) Lastly , the wood in the gully was a source of cooking fuel for many householders in the village .
The flooding of the gullies was natures way of channeling the rain water away from the community..
Dover is an area with very heavy tourist traffic.Last Friday morning I went past Braddie’s Bar which was the venue for “Q in the Community” the previous day. The garbage strewn around the area , rivaled that seen in the environs of Nelson Street. Where is our pride?
Some of what u say is true colonel but this is 2013 butand attitudes have change aalong with different cultures residing . people no longer want to be responsible .therefore has aduty if only for health reasons and safety to step in no sense in trying to save a few dollars in the short run and having to pay out more in the long /run …gone are the days when people felt a real sense of pride about anything. people only care is for self.
Correction in the above comment….Govt has a duty if only for health reason……………..
I questioned the price of fish dishes at hotels over thirty years ago. I am surprised that tourists can actually afford to pay for such dishes today! It was Red Plastic Bag who correctly sang that competition is the key to correcting such stupidity but I am of the firm opinion that the hoteliers in Barbados, all decide to have high priced menus and therefore not one of them can claim to be competitive. Blaming governments and civil servants is the new escape route for corporate pirates, who believe because they provide jobs they have some right to be given everything free.
They can be critical of Butch Stewart all they like but after sixty years, we have not produced any hotelier such as Butch nor any product such as Sandals. That should be food for thought.
Successive governments have created the means and the infrastructure for hoteliers to succeed: airports, sea ports etc. The problem with our current system of government is that quasi-civil servants, appointed by politicians usually screw up everything. I cannot believe that the Ministry of Tourism does not have a proper website but that is also true of the hoteliers ! So in this case the pot is calling the cattle black.
Many moons ago , the tourists used to leave the hotels in St. Lawrence Gap and frequent a nice little rum shop down de road. The reason was simple: A banks beer in the hotels was probably around $6 and at the rum shop it was perhaps about 90 cents. And so it is today with the road side food vendors: A great meal for no more than $10/12 and the identical meal in the hotel maybe $60 !! Blame the governments and the civil servants for that too!
But we also had the plantation owners pressuring successive governments for all manner of things and yet the agriculture industry hit rock bottom. And we have also had the manufacturers begging for everything and that went down too. The hoteliers are up in arms about Sandals but they don’t have a comparable product or presence in the market place. In other words Sandals because of the high level of marketing will perhaps be in a position to at least enhance Barbados’ presence in the market place while those who are moaning and groaning cannot guarantee anything.While Butch was busy innovating and building; our hoteliers were busy begging. Now that St. Lucia is apparently doing well, they are blaming the governments. Oh my!
Who says the hotels do not have websites? Would be interested if any leading hotel in Barbados does not have a website. Government as the enabler of the industry which is still the #1 foreign exchange earner must lead the way.
On 27 January 2014 22:00, Barbados Underground
Argentinian peso in freefall as economic crisis deepens
Currency falls at fastest rate since 2002 collapse as central bank runs out of reserves to enter market
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p>
People walk by a sign showing the plunging rate between the Argentine peso and the US dollar in Buenos Aires. The currency has fallen just over 17 percent in the last two days against the dollar, and economic analysts expect inflation to hit 30 percent this year. Photograph: Victor R. Caivano/AP
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p>The peso is suffering its fastest fall since Argentina’s 2002 economic collapse as dwindling reserves keep the central bank from trying to prop up the currency by intervening in the foreign exchange market.
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p>http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jan/24/argentinian-peso-freefall-economic-crisis-deepens
oops should read pot calling kettle black………
my apologies.
All have beensaid about the hoteliers after yearsand years of govt concessios have nothing to show that they can be of benefit to the country.moreoverif one can tally all the lloans and subsidies that the hoteliers have received at taxpayers wexpenses it would more than triple what butch have receved as for the jobs .govt had to use taxpayers money to help prop up that end of the bargain to so that the hotels would not send home workers…look how david try to change the subject .. Argentina
Remember what the former minister of tourism reminded us in an earlier interview. There is no private or public sector, there is one sector.
On 27 January 2014 22:24, Barbados Underground
@ David,
I never said the hotels dont have proper websites. I said the hoteliers meaning the BHTA (Barbados Hotel & Tourism Association) whose website is not of any exceptionally high standard , as was pointed out by a top marketing executive, whom they invited to address them a year or so ago.
ac | January 27, 2014 at 3:04 PM |
Wait wuh kind a nonsense some frustrated business man belives that in past years gullies etc were better maintained ..welll wunna really gone stark crazy mad.
ac you don’t understand Frustrated Businessman’s way of thinking. You realize FB is specific on 350 years ago.. Back in those days he would love to see return the gullies and ditches were inhabited by slaves. . No doubt the darkies foraged whatever they found there to barely keep themselves alive. Most important of all the businessmen back then didn’t pay a red cent for labour. You wish those days would come back again ,isn’t that right Frustrated Businessman.
Tourism Our #1 Business ,,,, Not true . land fraud and money laundering,
Crooks liars and scumbags.
The problem for Barbados the less tourist we have ,,the less people can be defrauded of things not built or land deeds make up to off shore Person that trust people with big titles.,,Ministers, QC, PM , MOF and others
The going to the police and the courts for long and longer delays with not Justice,
All you out there please do the Numbers and see what is what ,
Fraud is the biggest exchange we have and no law enforcement ,
Why not lay off police and DPP, LET NOT FOR GET THE JUDGES,
@David
So it means then that the Barbados dollar has risen by 17% against the Argentine peso. That is interesting for a currency that has no market and is only backed by borrowing US$ from offshore. When you are broke there are very few options open to solving the problem..
@Sith
It is the price Barbados has to pay to maintain the parity.
On 28 January 2014 00:47, Barbados Underground
and yuh got,,,the idiots like the BLP malcontents that would agree wid the nonsense FB say,, how could any body in their right mind compare that kind of donkey lifestyle and use it as an example to the way things should be today, i meaning wuh he think people went to school to go backward although the BLP govt has all but forcing people to have to return to them days FB talked about,,,since in their fourteen years they did nothing of real importance that would help country in hard economic times like these so no wonder FB talking all that sh,,t in the name of saving money
William Skinner, just so we can guage the merits of your contribution, could you please advise when last you stayed at a hotel owned or operated by Sandals or associated brands and which property/year was it in?
@Loveridge
William Skinner, just so we can guage the merits of your contribution, could you please advise when last you stayed at a hotel owned or operated by Sandals or associated brands and which property/year was it in?
/\/\/\/\/++++++++/\/\/\/\/\
Why is the onus on Skinner to prove that he was a guest at a Sandals property in order for “we” to “guage” whether his criticism or praise has any merit? I don’t hear you asking anyone who supports your POV to provide any similar details on their experiences.
Criticism is the forté of BU but judging from your criteria I should surmise that there are more ex PMs, MOFs; MOT, Economists; Financial gurus or all around experts per capita on this blog than any other blog on this planet since everyone comments on everything and they must have had the relative experience to support their arguments.
Sargeant,
sadly so many people write and crticise tourism when they really do not know very much about the subject at all.
I am pretty much convinced that if a tourism entity on Barbados had been given the same advantages as Sandals, then we would have had
something comparable by now.
What adrien and others do not understand is the behaviour of the hoteliers is one that most find offensive ..with an attitude one in which they belive that the GOVT OWES them something..even threatening GOVT if they were not allowed the same benefits as Sandals. people find that kind of arrogance selfserving and not seeking resolution to the nations problems.being confrontation and combative flies in the face of those who know how well and accomadating govts have been over the years to hoteliers
David
ARGENTINIAN PESO IN FREEFALL AS ECONOMIC CRISIS DEEPENS
It is not just the Argentinian peso that is in decline
While Canada’s economy is “relatively” strong vis a vis the rest of the world, the Canadian dollar has lost over 10% against the US$ Dollar (and the BDS Dollar), over the past few weeks; and the Canadian MOF and Central Bank Governor are “talking it down” to help Canadian exporters compete.
Further, the Argentinian decline is not the only emerging markets currency in decline – see:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/international-business/latin-american-business/you-cant-put-all-the-emerging-countries-in-one-basket/article16533848/#dashboard/follows/
You said “It is the price Barbados has to pay to maintain the parity”
DD wonders if the obsession with maintaining the 2:1 US/BDS ratio is a price worth paying for some sense of national pride in the currency.
@ Adrian Loveridge
I assume you are saying that the only way to comment on Sandals is to stay there. I guess you would never comment on the moon or mars ! All I said is that we have not produced one product such as Sandals and we have not produced a hotelier such as Butch. I think he started by selling household appliances. On occasion Adrian, I have positively commented on your property and I have never stayed there either. I also want you to know that I have been the owner of a small tour business; I have managed a restaurant on St. Lawrence Gap and at one stage was involved in training the staff at a hotel. I have also been active in fighting for vendor rights and most of all I am a Barbadian that has offered myself for political office and is committed to the development of my country and my region. Now if staying at Sandals is the criteria for expressing a positive view a very successful Caribbean enterprise I don’t think we should discuss the governments failings either because as far as I know you have never been a member of any cabinet and neither have you been a minister of Tourism. Let’s keep it on subject and forget childish red herrings.
William, ‘red herrings’ – Please list all the registered hotels on Barbados who do NOT have some sort of website?
‘I cannot believe that the Ministry of Tourism does not have a proper website’, but sadly your belief does not stop it being a FACT.
Adrian,
I never said that the hotels don’t have websites. I simply said that the “hoteliers” do not have any outstanding website either. I recall a year ago, the BHTA invited an international marketing professional to address them and he told them that their website(BHTA’s) was below par.
I was merely making the point that both sides ,that is, the Ministry of tourism and the hoteliers are equally guilty of mismanagement of the tourism product.. When I said I could not believe it -it was more in disbelief/exasperation than disagreeing with you !
Here is the exact quote from my piece:
“I cannot believe that the Ministry of Tourism does not have a proper website but that is also true of the hoteliers ! So in this case the pot is calling the cattle black.”
I hope this settles the matter but I maintain that Sandals presence is a plus. Furthermore, we have accommodated all types and kinds of foreign businesses and business persons who have ripped off the workers and the treasury by not paying in national insurance deductions they took from the workers and failing to pay taxes. Sandals is a Caribbean product that has proven we can compete internationally within the tourism industry. I am not saying that all the concessions were merited and or should be given but one can understand why they were given.
@ac
even threatening GOVT if they were not allowed the same benefits as Sandals.
And what did Butch threaten if he didn’t get the concessions, ac? Not to come, that’s what! Even if was not stated out loud, it would have been implied, because that’s what happens when you negotiate. I use the word “negotiate” loosely, because in this case, the government just folded. It seems incredible to me that so many people think that there’s nothing wrong with a situation where one large hotel chain gets massive concessions, and the rest of the industry gets much less. Then in a couple of years, the other hotels will be blamed for not making a contribution. Believe me, I’m not a fan of some of the hoteliers in this country, but this situation defies belief.
SO in butch case it is what the Sandalks BRand had to offer .while these belly aching overpriced and lacklustre offerings by the hoteliers cannot match Stewarts brand “hands down”. Show me one hotel brand in bdosthat have a more arrgressive and effecient marketing strategy in that is worthy to be one the same level as SANDALS Nothing from nothing leaves nothing…..
@David
So the Peso dropped 17% in 2 days. At least it can be still traded for US$. Our fixed currency peg to the US$ is a bad economic policy that until corrected will continue to be our major stumbling block. It is reducing the cost of imports and thus discouraging local production while at the same time increasing the cost of our major FX earner tourism with the result that we have to borrow money with very difficult terms to pay for the import bill.
The GB pound used to trade at 6 to 1 to the Barbados dollar, now it trades at 3 to 1. Since we started the Brazil marketing program our dollar has climbed 30% against the Brazil real. How exactly are we suppose to compete against destinations that don’t have this fixed currency peg handicap.
Peltdownman | January 28, 2014 at 1:30 PM |
“And what did Butch threaten if he didn’t get the concessions, ac? Not to come, that’s what! Even if was not stated out loud, it would have been implied, because that’s what happens when you negotiate. I use the word “negotiate” loosely, because in this case, the government just folded”
Negotiate?
Butch and his US negottators and New York attorneys playing hardball against the softball team of Stuart, Sealy and Sinkler. No contest!
look are you comparing a business deal to a bunch of whiners threatening to use strong arm tactics against the govt by dismissing employees, if they did not get what they “think” they deserve in way of concessions,,, REALLY…
@Adrian,
You said …”Many simply cannot understand why a piece of locally available fish cannot be cooked, garnished and served in moderate surroundings for around BDS$25-$30.
Have you ever been fishing? Do you know what is involved, the effort it takes, and the costs of outfitting a fishing boat for a fishing trip? The fishermen have to be paid, the owner has to see a reasonable return on his investment, the fish processor is working for a livlihood, the restaurant has to pay the chef and kitchen staff and it goes on.
I still have not gotten any SOLUTIONS, or suggestions for solutions from you.
@ Allvin Cummins | January 28, 2014 at 9:53 PM |
There goes (up in smoke) your brilliant idea of using locally produced goods and services instead of the imported cheaper and sometimes (inferior quality) variety.
Do you really think ‘greedy’ and often unpatriotic Bajan consumers would be prepared to buy the more expensive local variety which reflects all the high-cost inputs you so rightly identified as opposed to choosing a much cheaper (but better marketed) imported variety on the shelves of food retail outlets owned and controlled by the businesses which manufacture the goods in T&T or benefit from unjustified excessive mark-ups if the goods come from China?
Listen, Allvin, it’s time you stop preaching to the regulars and blaming the poor ordinary consumers.
Why not direct your concerns and proposals for rectification to the ruling administration which can make a difference? Yes Allvin, the same administration that saw it fit to have its party’s manifesto printed overseas rather than using a local printer.
Now you are in Bim on holiday why not take a drive around the country beginning at Graeme Hall where the Ministry of Agriculture & Bush is located and see why your proposal for local food production and agricultural produce for export will always be a pipedream riding you in your nationalistic nightmares.
The Bajan black belly sheep told us so while she was vacationing in New Zealand visiting her fatter but cheaper distant cousin soaking in meaty preservatives for shipment to Bim instead of being used as food for dogs and carnivores held in zoos.
Miller,
This attitude of you and yours in the BLP, an attitufde that shows no pride in what is ours, is what has us in the position we are in. You would dig up your own navel string; if it is buried in Barbados, and nt we, as long as it is out of Barbados. You and your lot have done enough damage to my country, it is time for you to get lost and let the country get back on its feet. Do you know what is going on at
Graeme Hall? I am sure you just pass the road see what you see and jump to conclusions. Do you know what kind of research in agriculture is going on? Stop and find out and then come back and report. Re Printing of Manifesto overseas, where was yours printed? How much money was “contributed” by “corporate Barbados” ( expecting a cut-back), and monied overseas BLP sympathisers, to its production? Things that are equal to the same thing are equal to one another.
As far as Bajans buying the more “expensive” according to you, local product, my answer to ou is yes. The problem that “Your ” Trinidad distributors, in the guise of local businessmen, do not supply the local goods. They do not give them the prominence in the market, and they do not order them. In addition their mark-up, gives the Trinidad product an uncompetitive advantage.
, .I told you already that I do not preach to the so-called “regulars” like you because you are fixed in your ways and only saeek to displace; or as George Bell put it, “remove the political obstacle”. I am sorry for you because it is so stuck in your craw that all the Heimlich manoeuvers will not get it unstuck. I am afraid it will be there for a very long time.
By the way are you the same Miller that wanted o chastise me for “harping back”? Keep catching at straws. YOUR PM is smarter than you give him credit for.
@Miller,
slight typographical error..”if it is buried in Barbados,” should read,”if it is buried in Barbados, dig it up and rebury it any where as long as it is out of Barbados.”
Ho much research in agriculture was done during the fourteen years you were in government? There was a Ministry of agriculture under the guidance of a Mr. Griffith was \n there?If I am wrong tell me.
@ Alvin Cummins | January 29, 2014 at 6:35 PM |
Shouldn’t you be more concerned at this time about the threats of revealing all by the current Minister of Agriculture & Bush who can bring down your DLP administration instead of referring to some nondescript retired mandarin?
There is a thread going about the loose cannon; or should we say wild vine. Why not contribute?
http://www.chumfm.com/Contests/Register.aspx?ContestID=188496
Thoughtful article ! I loved the info . Does someone know if my business can access a blank 2009 SBA 2404 version to fill out ?