Fruendel Stuart Government Asked to Improve Communication

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Robert Clarke, Attorney-at-Law, Vice President, People’s Empowerment Party (PEP)

Robert Clarke, Attorney-at-Law and Vice President, People’s Empowerment Party (PEP)

The Caribbean Prime Ministers attended a CELAC (Caribbean and Latin America States) (which includes all of Caricom members) Conference in Havana earlier this week and concluded their discussions and positions of actions on Wednesday, January 29, 2014.

CELAC was inaugurated in 2011 in Venezuela and that Conference was hosted by the late President, Hugo Chavez.  The main objectives of CELAC were the development of serious trading agreements, health integration including research and development, the development of a green environment, the proper utilization of its water resources (that would mean the utilization of the Caribbean Rivers to supply drinking water through the CELAC States and cutting out the importation of bottled water from Europe and North America) and the development of energy using our oil reserves and developing wind and sun energy, among others.

One of the most important elements coming out of this last CELAC meeting can be traced back to the Grenadian Government under the late Maurice Bishop who in 1980, delivered an address at the United Nations demanding that the Caribbean Sea be declared a zone of peace, allowing no nuclear weapons or nuclear waste to be shipped through the Caribbean as it was then done to Japan. The Conference this year was held in Havana and most of the Caribbean Prime Ministers attended including, Mr.  Freundel Stuart, Prime Minister of Barbados.

This information should have been given to the Caribbean people by the Prime Ministers but nothing was said by the Freundel Stuart Administration that he will be attending the Conference and the items to be discussed.   Our Barbadian People were left in the dark as usual.

Mr.  Stuart returned from Cuba and has made no mention in relation to the Conference he attended and what he agreed to on behalf of the Barbadian People. It is strange that the Prime Minister of Barbados ran the last two (2) Elections on, to paraphrase him, “This Government is about the interest of the people”…but the interest of the people doesn’t seem to come into his mind any longer and he has been unable to even discuss his basic position of the people’s humanitarian rights while stumbling along the road to nowhere.

For the last five (5) years,  the main problem was, and remains the standards of living of the underpaid working class and the relatively badly paid middle class, and most importantly, the cost of living. The purpose of a Government is to run a country in the interest of all of its people but the Freundel Stuart Administration  seems to think that a Government must be run in the interest of the Barbados Chamber of Commerce and Companies it represents, the ownership of the Hotels, Barbados Hotel and Tourism Association,  the interest of Members of Parliament, but nothing to do with the vast majority of Barbadians who are seeing hell.

In the Freundel Stuart Administration attempt to pay off its foreign debts, which it itself caused,  he has allowed the Minister of Finance Chris Sinckler to increase the Value Added Tax (VAT) which is the most unfair tax any government can force upon its people. The lower paid workers and those just above, pay the same VAT as that of the 10% of workers at the top.  That lower income group have rent to pay, children to feed,  parents to assist.

It is unconscionable for the Freundel Stuart Government to continue to force pain upon that large working group and is using the fear, first mentioned by Mr. Ronald Jones, Minister of Education and other Cabinet Members to keep the Barbadian working class in line.

The Trade Union Movement has a responsibility to organize their workers to peacefully protest against Parliament for not introducing serious methods now, to alleviate the excessive pain and hardship being suffered by the majority of Barbadians.

I demand that the Government have an open meeting and hold discussions with the people of Barbados to stop this runaway depression that they have caused. In every village in Barbados there are imminent persons,  and I do not mean University Grads, Doctors, Lawyers, Priest, Undertakers, Plantation Managers, Chamber of Commerce members, but the elder people in all of the villages of Barbados who understand the problems and can give relevant solutions to the problems.  Little town hall meetings are not the answer.  We should have evening meetings at halls in all of the thirty (30) Constituencies.

I hope these remarks give the Barbadian People something to think about.

Submitted as a Press Release

82 thoughts on “Fruendel Stuart Government Asked to Improve Communication”


  2. <

    p>This is part of the speech by Raul Castro delivered at CESC conference in Cuba submitted by dercris:

    That is why the central theme of this Summit is “the struggle against poverty, hunger and inequality.”

    While it is true that some progress has been made during the last few years, this has been slow, fragmented and unstable.  According to ECLAC – to which we convey our appreciation for its consistent cooperation with the Cuban presidency and the five studies it carried out in the context of this cooperation – the poverty rate in Latin America and the Caribbean in 2012 reached, as a minimum, 28.2% of the population; that is to say, 164 million people.  And the abject or extreme poverty rate was 11.3%, equivalent to 66 million inhabitants in the region. The most distressing concern, however, is child poverty, which affects 70.5 million boys, girls and adolescents; 23.3 million of whom live below the poverty line.

    The richest 10% in Latin American receive 32% of the total income, while the poorest 40% receive only 15%.

    The peoples of Latin America and the Caribbean demand and require a better distribution of wealth and income, universal and free access to quality education, full employment, higher salaries, the eradication of illiteracy, the establishment of a true food security, health systems for all, the right to decent housing, fresh water and sanitation services.

    These are all achievable goals, progress toward which will be indicative of progress in our region.

    We are in a position to reverse the current situation. With slightly more than 15% of the earth’s surface and 8.5% of the world’s population, our region possesses a substantial percentage of the most important non-renewable mineral reserves; one third of the fresh water reserves; 12% of the arable land; the world’s greatest potential for food production and 21% of natural forests.

    And it is precisely all this wealth which should become the driving force in eradicating inequalities.  The imperative and challenge we face is being capable of transforming this natural capital into human capital, into economic infrastructure and diversification of production and exports, in a way that decisively contributes to a true development process.

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  3. When castro was talking about mineral, forestry and water reserves, I cant believe he was talking about Barbados, This was aimed at SA . Trying to convert it to communism.

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    • Speaking to the issue of communication the PM told the BCC yesterday that he has taken a handsoff to his government sending home workers to satisfy transparency. As head of the civil service should he not be the one speaking to the methodology used to send home workers? Some we understand who have been working for more than 10 years? How will send home thousands of workers conflict with government’s program to alleviate poverty based on the last CDB report?

      What about the news that at the Transport Board there is negotiations going on about the how in sending home workers. What was the purpose of the date announced for sending home people? How can sane people work in such a confused environment?


  6. You called Lawson a jackass, are you not scared his hairy lama-like mothers-in-law come after you for verbally abusing their son-in-law?…lol

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  8. As far as I am concerned both Stuart and Sinckler are distancing themselves from the issues, blame it all on Cabinet.

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  9. @ Equal rights
    ….In all fairness to the PM…..
    Why should he have to prove it untrue that “he can’t manage nothing”?
    The PM has NEVER claimed to be a great leader
    He has NEVER shone as a leader in ANYTHING
    He actually looks like a shy, reserved background person who would much prefer to ease out through the back door, than have all the attention and glare….

    But if a bunch of brass bowls up and give him a big salary and pension for life; a fancy Mercedes to drive bout; a big able mansion at Illaro Court; a chauffeur; maids; free travel and perks; and a whole cabinet of other brass bowls at his beck and call ….
    …WHAT THE HELL DO YOU WANT THE MAN TO DO?
    What would you do?

    Steupssss
    If we choose to put a joker in front; and to follow him – how the hell can we then blame him for making sport…?
    People ALWAYS get exactly what they deserve……and if we think that leadership can be dished out to any Tom, Owen and Freundy just so…. We should be prepared for the obvious consequences.

    Stop picking on the poor man….we are the brass bowls.

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  10. Still waiting for some meaningful repudiation of Caswell Franklin’s claim as to the fraternization on a weekly basis that took place between the union big wigs and the inner circle of this government. As the NUPW threatens court action in relation to this first leg of redundancy the big question is And Then What? Like anything and everything else this action will be stymied by the red tape that is very much a part of the Barbados justice system, so that while the grass is growing the horse is starving. ” Dem belly full but we hungry. A hungry man is an angry man”. Perhaps hunger will open the eyes of those treated like cattle, to the point where their anger will flow in the direction of those who sold them out for selfish gain all in the name of conflict of interest. Let your fight begin with those to whom you gave your money in exchange for proper representation.

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  11. @Bush Tea | February 1, 2014 at 9:16 AM |

    What you said about the man is quite true.
    But the man can also save his face and avoid further shame by resigning with his huge pension intact from day one (if the fiscal cow can continue to give that kind of milk sucked away be the once fatted calf).
    He has tasted sweet life and has found out it’s not worth the public opprobrium and laughter. Let him go back at what he is good at; being a legal meandering vacillator.

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    • BU as a rule have stayed away from discussing site traffic. But here is a little blog with no advertising which continues to gain traction and momentum. Just imagine if a few of our followers would help us to advertise and spread the word.

       

      Steven Williams shared a link.

      18 hours ago

      <

      p>Top 10 (local) website visited by Barbadians in the order of unique traffic
      (1) Nationnews.com
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      ###########################

      Top 10 Websites visited by Barbadians as of January 2014
      (1) Google.com
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      (3) YouTube.com
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      (5) Yahoo.com
      (6) Llive.com
      (7) Nationnews.com
      (8) Wikipedia.org
      (9) WordPress.com
      (10) Bing.com

      <

      p>Source: Alexa


  12. The headline reads ,’A former Hotel association president lambaste gob on inaction vis a vis the tourism industry.’ A question for Jordan what did the hoteliers do with the money saved from the reduction of VAT from 17 1/2 % to 7% for tourism businesses. Was the substantial savings passed on to drive down the cost to the consumers, the tourists? Did the money saved and its quite a bit end up in hoteliers pockets or oversees bank accounts.?!? We don’t know. Will you please enlighten us. You and the hoteliers tell us high prices killing the industry. The VAT reduction was major relief. We the poor people still paying 17 1/2 %. NUPW says if VAT is reduced by 2% the economy improves. Hoteliers VAT gone down five times that to 7%. How come not one of the many loquacious know it all’s in tourism will address what happen to the VAT savings?

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  14. Communication – What Communication?

    From todays media

    Advocate

    “The PM added: “I am not in a position to answer with any definitiveness how many people would have gone home yesterday. The Ministry of the Civil Service has been working around the clock to respond to the decisions of the Government in terms of dealing with a very serious problem which our public finance has been experiencing. The process is transparent and we have adopted many of the procedures that were employed in 1991 to ensure those workers that have to go home are not put to any particular disadvantage and I’m allowing the processes to work.”

    Barbados Today

    “Minister of Finance Chris Sinckler has now gone silent on the 3,000 public workers who the Freundel Stuart Administration told the country would start going home from today.

    And Minister of Labour and Social Security Senator Esther Byer-Suckoo is not saying a word publicly about the layoffs either.
    During the break of a Barbados Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors seminar at Savannah Hotel this morning, Sinckler told reporters he had nothing to say on the layoffs.”

    So

    Prime Minister Not Talking MOF Not Talking MOL&SS Not Talking

    Who is communicating?

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  16. Like a shark in bloody water sensing an imminent attack on a helpless victim, a very agitated David Gill treated the Brasstacks family to yet another regurgitation of his BLP nonsense yesterday. This is same David Gill that won his seat then lost his voice, lost his seat then regained his voice. All this in times of plenty David, or do you not recall? You are as big a failure of the people…and as an added insult to injury YOUR PEOPLE{ since you are homegrown} as the joker you again seek to challenge. Somewhere in the scent of impending victory you now seem to experience is the odour of stout and stubborn resistance my friend. That much I can promise.

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  17. The old Bobby would be out marching threatening to bring fire and brimstone down on the Capitalists and their Gov’t lackeys , the Bobby of the seventh stage is reduced to submitting Press releases criticising the Gov’ts lack of communication with the masses. Oh how times have changed.

    I see that even the ersatz Chinese on the blog otherwise known as BAFBFP didn’t have a shout out of “Kung Hei Fat Choi” during this year of the Horse for the Gov’t once and again benefactor. He will know the consequences at the next meal when the Boss serves dinner and the chicken head is pointed at him.

    Today is Feb. 1st and the “official” start of Black History month, ah wonder how I would explain the concept to a Namibian in Southern Africa? BTW is there any greater evidence that life evolved out of Africa when the so called “Bushmen” share the same epicanthic fold as their “cousins” in Asia and North & South America?

    One last thing before you speak to any one today (especially for those controlling the strings of the Treasury) look out the window and shout “Rabbit, Rabbit bring Money for me”

    Here endeth the first lesson of “Black History” month.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epicanthic_fold

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  18. @ Waiting…. very good question as to what has happened to the VAT savings? Just last week a friend made the observation, though he never mentioned VAT, and was speaking in relation to other concessions given to the private sector. My question would be this. How is it that such a question comes from “Waiting” and not from someone in the very much vaunted Journalistic Fraternity?

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  19. @H Austin
    Can someone please remind me of the equality for black people in Cuba? Or am I missing a trick?

    +++++++++++++++
    Came across an article in the New York Times a couple of months ago, here is an excerpt:

    “Yet the Cubans were not able to go past their own “outrage on race.” Despite the massive changes discussed here, blackness continued to be associated with negative social and cultural features. Black was still ugly. Black still meant deficit of culture and refinement, rates of schooling notwithstanding. Black was still associated with violence, rape, robbery, crime. Black continued to be black. The justice system kept criminalizing black youths, sending a scandalous number of them to prison. In this regard, Cuba looked very much like the United States. We do not have good empirical data on this issue, but every available report and testimony confirms that in the 1980s blacks represented the vast majority of the inmate population in Cuba.”

    Hope this removes the scales from some people eyes, but who am I fooling?

    http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/11/17/a-lesson-from-cuba-on-
    race/?_php=true&_type=blogs&_r=1

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  21. @ David …young voices coming through from that choir will sing songs of conformity only. What is needed is a challenge to the status quo.

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  22. @ Hammy Hill
    See if you can get David to grasp that all products of the same choir will naturally display the same basic acoustic skills (else they asses would have been ejected long time…)
    …BUP is the answer ….well at least it is the best alternative to the REAL answer…. 🙂

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  23. Man David face um!
    You done know that Bushie like the Doc…… BAD!
    But Bushie liked Lammie Craig too… (Talk bout a man could talk shiite sweet pun a political platform….!)

    But when it comes to RUNNING A COUNTRY in the stormy waters of this century…. The doc is is the same shiite choir as all the rest of them… Same pianist….same choirmaster……same damn tune….

    The only difference with the Doc is that he seem to have a bit more common sense that the others ….perhaps his bowl is not fully brass or perhaps he reads BU 🙂 …and he is not dealing well with the lotta shiite being thrown at him (like many here on BU)

    But HONESTLY, when it comes to SOLUTIONS, …Bushie can see no fundamental basis for any conclusion that he is singing a new tune..

    Pacha is unfortunately right.
    The Ponzi is collapsing….

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    • @Bush Tea

      The big interest which BU has in the whole sorry saga unraveling is if those who were eager not so long ago will allow Estwick to walk alone.


    • Here is a classic case of miscommunication/misinformation. We have the government and Sinckler defending concessions to Butch Stewart but we have Start on the news today supporting similar concessions to local hoteliers.

      Stuart’s defense of Sinckler shows his hand, he is going with Sinckler and dumping Estwick under the bus.


  24. It’s not today but according to the Nation P6 “…. Estwick is one of three Cabinet Ministers slated to speak tomorrow (Sunday) …… at Princess Margaret Secondary School at 5pm”.

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  25. Sgt, you actually missed the documentary quite recently, which dealt with the treatment of black people in Cuba and it wasn’t not good. More imporatntly, Claudette Williams wrote a book which dealt with the treatment of blacks in the Spanish speaking Caribbean. It’s a very interesting book and every blackman ought and must get his hands on one of them. This book gives one a deep insight into origin of the racial speech, after the importation of the African slave in the Spanish speaking Caribbean.

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  26. Here is the title of the book written by Claudette Williams: Charcoal and Cinnamon: The Politics of Color in Spanish Caribbean Literature. Every blackman ought and must get his hands on this book, it is going like hot cakes baby.

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  27. I believe with all of my heart that the time is right for a serious push by independent candidates in Barbados. I really think that there are more people turned off by the monumental rip-off facilitated by the BLP/DLP band of crooks than we realize. While the present system cannot be changed overnight I feel a start can be had here. If two or three traditional strongholds from either side can be taken, or if not seriously shaken by independent candidates the message that Barbadians have had enough starts to resonate with these modern day bajan Al Capones.

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  28. I love it ….BAFBFP ….So….. your not Latin, you have no forestry, you have no minerals, you have no oil and you still think castro wants some big partnership with you other than you to become communist. LoL Why not stick to sniffing around the girls on the blog Remember …. what did communists use to light their houses before candles…….electricity

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  29. Hamilton, I think the Checks and Balances in the present system needs to be address and not the entire system in itself.

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  30. Lawson, irrespective of Castro’s imperfections as a man… he still ought to be lifted up in the areas of Africa as well as Caribbean, for his commitment to the black cause.

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  32. BOBBY IS 82 YEARS OLD..HE HAS BEEN FIGHTING FOR THE POOR IN DOMINICA, ST LUCIA, ST. VINCENT, GUYANA AND GRENADA..IN 1971 ERROL BARROW AT A MEETING IN INDEPENDENCE SQUARE TOLD THE CROWD THAT HE WOULD BE GOING SOON TO PARLIAMENT AND PASS AN ACT TO DEAL WITH BOBBY..HE DID JUST THAT..HE AND HIS LOYAL GOONS PASSED THE PUBLIC ORDER ACT..TOM ADAMS TOLD HIS CROWD THAT WHEN HE GOT INTO POWER, HE WOULD REPEAL THE ACT.. THE ACT HAS BEEN AMENDED AND IS STILL THE LAW OF BARBADOS. (BLP AND DLP = SAME THING).BOBBY BROKE THE LAW AND HE WAS CHARGED, TRIED AND CONVICTED..I DONT KNOW ANY OTHER BARBADIAN THAT HAVE BEEN PERSECUTED BY THE DLP AND BLP. BOBBY STILL MAINTAINS HIS INDEPENDENT SOCIALIST VIEWS..AND IS STILL WILLING TO MARCH FOR THE PEOPLE.

    WHO IS WILLING TO MARCH ALONGSIDE HIM?!….RESPOND.

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  33. Hal Austin | February 1, 2014 at 9:37 AM |

    Can someone please remind me of the equality for black people in Cuba? Or am I missing a trick?
    ……………………………………………………………..
    You mean the Cuba that had 71 ships plying the slave route from West Africa to the Caribbean at the height of the slave trade ,whose main customer was the United States?
    You mean the Cuba that stopped importing male slaves after it was obvious that slavery was coming to an end, in preference for women who would be treated like breeding sows?
    You mean the Cuba, that when Castro took control in 1959, packed back ,in the middle of the night, Bajans and other Caribbean men who, were engaged in back breaking work there ?
    You mean the Cuba which not only repatriated the Caribbean men , but also their black Cuban born wives.

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  34. Mandisa, are you saying that there shouldn’t be such an act against civil disobedience? The right of speech is constitutional but without certain prescribed limits Sir. Freedom of Speech comes obviously with certain responsibilities friend!

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  35. Sorry! What I really meant to say is, Freedom of Speech is Constitutional but within certain prescribed limits.

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  36. Bobby was also a member of he People’s Progressive Movement and a regular user of the Black Star bookshop in Pinfold Street.

    @ Colonel
    I am familiar with Cuba. I had relatives there.

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    • @Vincent

      There is some confusion around whether a press conference or not. Last we heard he held a meeting with his branch people this afternoon.

      We continue the vigil!


    • The latest on Estwick’s press conference is that he will be addressing his constituency tomorrow at Princess Margaret.


    • Dr. George Belle indicated this week in response to intimidation from a government quarter that the public order act is unconstitutional.


  39. Yo ho to all…..anybody could tell me why one is having so much trouble logging on to BU?….Why so much interference from plug-ins and the like…..why am I talking gospel or what?…..like people dizzy and ent want you to write a shiite bout wha gine on….what is happening in Bdos nowadays doa?…Is this the spangalourios n bounteous land ac and that odder C promised? Now I hear Polly Poodle want to be in the lime-light AGAINnnnnn …..stuppes bare boo..you hear…he ent gine proffer one shiite….a blow-hard is what you call it……man could read hush face den…..Too sorry for all the low end workers that get send home….too harsh

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  40. ..IN 1971 ERROL BARROW AT A MEETING IN INDEPENDENCE SQUARE TOLD THE CROWD THAT HE WOULD BE GOING SOON TO PARLIAMENT AND PASS AN ACT TO DEAL WITH BOBBY..HE DID JUST THAT..HE AND HIS LOYAL GOONS PASSED THE PUBLIC ORDER ACT
    +++++++++++++++
    The Govt’s in the Caribbean were running scared of the radical movements which were coming to the fore during that time. If successful they would have overturned the power structure in the region. Bobby and his cohorts fared relatively well given the tenor of the times (I remember Glenroy Straughn continuing to teach during the day and speaking at PPM meetings during the night).

    Stokely Carmichael (who was born in Trinidad) was barred from entering his native country. Walter Rodney paid with his life in Guyana after he was barred from re-entering Jamaica to continue his teaching career.

    Where have all the radicals gone?

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  41. @Bush Tea 9.16am Feb01
    I find no fault with your assessment of the PM except to point out that he appears to have managed to market his ignorance to the extent that the other DLP parliamentarians choose to have him as the one likely to command their subservience in the House and so swore to the the GG who also in his ignorance to his oath to Her Brittanic Majesty offered the said Mr Ignorant as a good and proper candidate for the provision of counsel to the Realm.
    Lawd come for yuh wirl!

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  42. The BLP was denied permission to hold their People’s Assembly at the Princess Margaret school’s hall last Sunday. Passing strange the venue is available for the DLP this Sunday. The Dems will do well to remember that BLP members are also taxpayers.

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  43. This is part of the speech by Raul Castro delivered at CESC conference in Cuba submitted by dercris:

    That is why the central theme of this Summit is “the struggle against poverty, hunger and inequality.”
    approximately 10% of the 111million cuban habitants live in what we would consider here to be below the poverty line and this is in a country rich with resources… so there isequality in that respect .cubans employed by the regime or in jint ventures take home an average monthly wage of 10 US per month ator 240 pesos at the semi official rate of exchnge..although housing, transportatransportation, health and education are heavily subsidized by the Cuban state, life on official wagesis extremely difficult sincethere is littleleft after paying for the subsidised goods and services..Every Cuban has a ration book used to purchase basic food-stuffs at state operated stores but these supllies re insufficient and must be supplemented by groceries purchaesd if possiuble from for much higher rices at regular farmers’ markets.security personnel earn significantly more than nurse, doctors. .those cubans with access to remittances fromabroad obviouslyenjoy a better standard of living than those completely dependent on the avails of the of Cuba’s decadent socilist system..The basic 30 month product food basket allotted to every cuban inclydes 2.5kg rice,1.5kg brown sugar,1kg fish,1/2 kg beans, 28gcoffee,270gsalt,and 14eggs.other products such as such as vegetable oil, cornmeal,soap, detergent fruit/vegetables and a small quantity of meat once or twice a year are distributed irregularly on a per family basis..Everyone geats one roll odf bread per day and children up to the age of seven get a liter of canned or fresh a day, plus regular allottments of chicken or beef.

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  46. It would be interesting to ascertain the reason or reasons why those Facebook comments appeared on the BU page? It sure seem like they were out of context….!

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  47. From
    http://www.barbadostoday.bb/2014/01/31/time-for-adjustments-warns-pm/

    Time for adjustments, warns PM
    Added by Emmanuel Joseph on January 31, 2014.

    The days of allocating taxpayer revenue to induce businesses to invest in Barbados, may be over. This was indicated today by Prime Minister Freundel Stuart while addressing a Barbados Chamber of Commerce and Industry business luncheon at Hilton Barbados Resort.

    “There appears,” Stuart said, “to be an emerging view in some, admittedly restricted quarters, that government must allocate taxpayer revenue to induce businesses to invest,” Stuart observed. However, he told the business leaders, they now had to come up with a fresh approach if they wanted assistance.

    “The small size of the local economy and narrow base of the principal drivers of economic activity, renders private sector demand for substantial fiscal support unsustainable. I should be pleased to know from you, any other creative and innovative ways in which we can help you,” he suggested.”

    To improve communication Freundel Stuart should have said.

    “The small size of the local economy, the narrow base of the principal drivers of economic activity, the substantial fiscal support recently extended to a new player in the tourism sector, the shrinking government revenues and restraints placed on it by a major international financial watchdog renders government unable to meet private sector demand for further fiscal support at this time. I should be pleased to know from you, any other creative and innovative ways in which we can help you,” he suggested.

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  48. The Cuban government never claimed to be a perfect government by any standard, but it is progressively moving toward the Democratic Ideal. The United States of America, which some claimed to be the perfect system of government known to mankind, had to deal with the birth defect of Slavery for some four- hundred – years.

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  50. Over the past 2 weeks or so the Prime Minister appears to be improving the rate at which he communicates with the public through third party addresses, etc.

    The last address to the Barbados Chamber (of Commerce?) was an interesting historical look at previous recessions in Barbados with the objective of convincing the population that the DLP and particularly the MoF were doing very well under the circumstances and that the Great Errol Barrow and Tom Adams had not done any better as Ministers of Finance in their time than Chris Sinckler has done in his. I suspect it was also geared to correcting the unwonted impact of the earlier black cat statement.

    One thing which stood out in that message for me was that, according to FS, escalating oil prices were primarily responsible for his listed recessions in Barbados since other causative factors were either glossed over or omitted. It seemed passing strange therefore that, in the face of rampant recession at home and abroad between 2008 and now, the offshore oil exploration projects started by the BLP were apparently discarded or not followed up over the last 6 years and that a nascent Renewable energy project that built on BLP initiatives during their latest years at the helm of government (when there was no blatant recession) was not aggressively implemented during this period of rampant recession.

    Freundal has seemingly used his legal skills to educate the Barbadian public as to the state of our economy, albeit at a superficial level. I wonder if this will suffice to give the populace the urgently needed confidence that we are being optimally led at this time.

    I’ve only looked at one aspect of FS’ uptick in communicating with the public. I wonder how other posters feel about FS’ improving communications with the general public.

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    • Didn’t the government and the unions commit assure Barbadians that sending home whole households would be avoided?


  52. Talking about communication? can someone plse explain why the parliament website is never up to date? Just check out the budget speeches archive. Are they hiding something?

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    • Government websites are generally behind. It seems there is no priority to update web content on a timely basis.

      On 3 February 2014 08:38, Barbados Underground


  53. @ David

    Democracy can only work if the people are informed. Denying the people information is a form of dictatorship. Caricom is the same.

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    • This is a legacy issue which speaks to the laziness of the public service and a reluctance to align to current business and other realities. It makes one wonder if we will ever be able to get an efficient business facilitation ethos fired up.

      On 3 February 2014 10:20, Barbados Underground


    • The media in Barbados is in name only. A few practitioners try but the system is against them. If they were smart they would coopt social media by creating an underground alliance.

      On 3 February 2014 10:25, Barbados Underground


  55. David

    Good idea. In 2004 I asked the UWI how many studnets dropped out of degree courses and the woman press officer gave me all kinds of cock and bull story about people dropping out for all kinds of reasons.
    I asked no matter what the cause, what percentage of students fail to take their final exams. I am still waiting for the answer.
    The point is that all this information should be in the Vice-Chancellor’s annual report.
    It involves taxpayers’ money.

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  56. Hal Austin’s political acuity (an endless source of delight and occasional amusement) has yet another pronouncement to make to David on February 3, 2014 at 6:45 AM

    Here it is:

    “David
    Good idea. In 2004 I asked the UWI how many studnets [sic] dropped out of degree courses and the woman press officer gave me all kinds of cock …”.

    Ah, world. Now we can judge in objective terms. Why, world, do you think Mr. Austin specified that he asked a “woman press officer”? It’s not a mistake or a typo. Mr. Austin wanted to underline that the press officer he spoke to was a “woman press officer”.

    Not only is that telling, but it bears some thinking. It bears a lot of thinking about the future of Barbados. It also makes him look like a prick.

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  57. LOL @ David ….King of understatement…man you too sweet.
    Government websites are generally behind. It seems there is no priority to update web content on a timely basis.

    Shite man David….
    -Government ACCOUNTS are 10 years behind…
    -Urgent infrastructural maintenance is 15 years behind…
    -Response to the Auditor General’s POINTED accusations of dishonesty is 20 years behind…
    -million dollar court cases are decades behind….

    ….and you talking ’bout web shiites…?!?
    What the hell would they post on these web sites?…jokes about brass bowls…?

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  58. David said
    Government websites are generally behind. It seems there is no priority to update web content on a timely basis.

    http://gisbarbados.gov.bb is an exception, with almost daily PR propaganda pieces posted.

    EXAMPLE

    http://gisbarbados.gov.bb/index.php?categoryid=9&p2_articleid=11866

    “Barbados Could Benefit From Chinese Tourists
    Published on February 3, 2014 by Julia Rawlins-Bentham

    Barbados can capitalise on what appears to be a growing interest in Caribbean markets by Chinese visitors.

    

Minister of Tourism and International Transport, Richard Sealy, said figures outlined in a recent United Nations report indicated that one out of every five tourists would come from China. “Over the next five years there will be over 500 million Chinese looking to go outside. 



    These will be people who are looking for a destination, and Barbados should be one of those destinations,” he said.

    

He was at the time speaking during a recent courtesy call with Chinese Ambassador Wang Ke, at the Ministry’s office.

    

During the discussion the Minister suggested that matters related to convenience and facilitation be given to Chinese visitors, as they represented a very large segment of the market.

    

Ms. Wang said Chinese people were also looking at retirement facilities in the Caribbean for their elderly citizens because the weather was favourable.



    Bilateral relations between Barbados and China, and Barbados’ new cruise terminal were also discussed.”

    It seems the new Ambassador Wang Kee has had every member of Cabinet bowing before her since she recently arrived.

    Retirement homes for elderly Chinese citizens, could be the next growth industry.

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