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Submitted by Douglas
Owen Arthur would not want anything to do with Mia Mottley's eminent persons group.
“Owen Arthur would not want anything to do with Mia Mottley’s eminent persons group”

It is worth repeating- Sandiford’s structural adjustment programme of the 90s right-sized the public service of Barbados. It is worth stating that the Owen Arthur administration from 1994 started the process of inflating the ranks of the public service of Barbados. Growing the government; to the detriment of the private sector of Barbados – an unsustainable economic policy. He failed to take the advice at the turn of the century to reduce the size of the civil service by 10,000 spread over 10 years. The warning signs were there. But he failed to take the corrective measures.

Owen Arthur would not want anything to do with Mia Mottley’s eminent persons group. He knows that such a group would point fingers at him for failing to continue the restructuring of the Barbados economy which he had inherited from Sandiford. Like the prodigal son, for 14 years he partied, feasted, and feted spending the surplus revenue from the VAT and money borrowed for a rainy day, wasting billions of dollars on dead-end projects (Greenlands, Dodds Prison, Highway Expansion, Kensington, Crab Hill Police Station, and Eastry House). He also presided over decisions which left us with very little space to manoeuvre: the sale of the national bank, the insurance company and selling off the private sector of Barbados to foreign interest. Not to mention the first three downgrades of Barbados’ credit rating.

When you are managing an economy in good times you are expected to make provision and savings for hard times. Arthur did not do this. This was his greatest failure as a leader. He did not have the vision or foresight to adequately prepare for the future.

In 2008, the Barbados Labour Party was voted out for their mismanagement of public funds. Do we remember the cost overrun bill which stood at over a billion dollars? That was money which was wasted, spent and not saved. What a difference it would make today if the Owen Arthur administration had been able to save that money for a rainy day! One of the things which make the Singapore economy great is that they actually save their surplus budget and set it aside for a rainy day. The Arthur administration, which had the opportunity, never did it. When Ms. Mottley advised him as the Minister with responsibility for Economic Affairs she too did not have the foresight to suggest such. What a difference it would make to civil servants if those rainy day savings were available now.

Not only did Arthur fail to save, he failed to invest in projects which would put the Barbados economy on a sustainable growth path. Why is it that we have to wait until now in 2014 for the Sanitation Service Authority to invest millions to construct a Waste-to-Energy plant? Why didn’t Arthur invest the millions spent on Greenland on such a project?

Why is it that we have to wait until 2014 to invest millions of dollars in the construction of a purpose built designated cruise pier to expand Barbados’ potential in cruise tourism and also create a hub for the expansion and development of our cultural industries in Barbados?

Why is it that we had to wait until 2013 to revolutionise our energy generation capacity in Barbados by passing legislation and creating a suite of investment incentives to grow the renewable energy sector in Barbados?

Why is it that we had to wait until 2014 to put serious plans in place to revitalize the sugar industry in Barbados? By building a multipurpose plant capable of producing a number of by products from sugar cane we will be developing a sugar cane industry.

Why is it that we had to wait until 2013 for the Sandals brand to join the Barbados tourism product helping the country to boost airlift from the Canadian and UK markets? Soon, Sandals will be investing over US$65 million into the economy creating over 1000 jobs in construction during the “sandalisation” of Sandals Casuarina.

Why is it that we had to wait until 2008 to recognise that NHC was wasting millions of dollars trying to build office complexes and could do a better job of building housing accommodations for Barbadians?

The answer to those questions – the Owen Arthur administration lacked vision. They did not know then how to restructure the economy of Barbados and they cannot offer today a solution to the economic challenges which the economy is presently facing. That is why Owen wants nothing to do with the eminent persons group. That is why in his opinion Mia was just about political gimmicks. He knows that the only thing that comes from her mouth is, “march!” Marching does not solve economic or financial crisis.

To all Barbadians we are making sacrifices to put the Barbados economy back on track. It is our hope that the sacrifices which are being made now will be brief. The Barbados economy will revive and you can help it to grow. We encourage you to grasp the opportunity for training and re-tooling during this time. Sharpen your skills and help us to build a stronger and more sustainable economy and society. We need to put our minds and talents to creative uses. We need to produce, we need to be creative, and we need to be innovative.

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209 responses to “Operation Corrective Measures”

  1. Hal Austin Avatar
    Hal Austin

    @ Robert Ross
    I cannot continue agreeing with you, but why do we allow second rate people to come down from North America or Britain and tell us what our values should be?
    Some of these so-called professors are not even recognised in their own homes. It speaks to the paucity of ideas at the very top of Barbadian society.

  2. millertheanunnaki Avatar
    millertheanunnaki

    @123 | February 9, 2014 at 1:17 PM |

    For PUDRYR and over 60’s:
    In respect of the puerile piffle of a No 2 done by “123” on February 9, 2014 at 1:17 PM, do you want to do the honours and kick the little jumped-up whippersnapper to the kerb?

    Here he is cussing fogeys. The same fogey generation that “invented” (used cautiously for “123” reasons) the same communications technology that allows the boy still in intellectual diapers to cuss us.
    At least junior has grown over the last few days and instead of cussing and blaming the white man for all his shortcomings he has decided to attack the black geriatrics.

    Ask the silly boy if he ever earned a dollar in foreign exchange for the same Barbados he believes we are denouncing in our old age.
    We wonder what the likes of the obnoxiously rude boy will do when the pensions from abroad cease to arrive as the great leveller in the fullness of time rolls towards the same “123” while taking under the grass of yesteryear.

    What would he do when tourists of the same fogey generation find it too “taxing” to come and spend the much sought after disposable income on rude children like “123 and a skip” to allow them to buy their toys and trinkets from abroad.

    PUDRYR, do you want to finish “disciplining” the brat or should we just overlook the miscreant of an urchin and put it down to an misunderstood outburst of exuberance from the very young but naïve new kid on the blog?

    ‘Every generation always blame the one before’ for all the ills in their modern society. Whom should we fogeys blame, the colonial masters?

  3. Colonel Buggy Avatar
    Colonel Buggy

    Well Well | February 8, 2014 at 5:29 PM |

    Mark Fenty…….you know Eli Whitney invented the cotton gin and he had none of the above credentials and none of the above degreed names you called from the above schools invented anything…that’s the major problem in the world .
    ………………………………………………………………………………..
    Frank Butcher, the Bajan who made a workable aeroplane, and who pioneered the manufacturing of metal bus bodies in Barbados,among other things , would have faced prosecution if he had referred to himself as an engineer in Barbados ,simply because he had no university papers.
    But its really funny that a number people trained in Britain and now living in Barbados ,are registered with the UK Engineers’s Registration Board, and are entitled to call themselves Engineers in the UK and the EEC, but not so in Barbados.

  4. robert ross Avatar
    robert ross

    Filled with the Spirit Miller is back breathing wafer and wine. Yeah.

    But Miller, O wise-one, be patient.

    123 still has to learn that 4 comes after 3. Besides, for all his cheek maybe he is the “little child”. He’s certainly learned the BU game quickly.

  5. Mark Fenty Avatar
    Mark Fenty

    @Colonel Buggy

    I really do not care if the blackman invented MOON and whiteman invented SUN. What I do care about however, is that it is done to the betterment of the conditions that afflicts a helpless humanity.

  6. pieceuhderockyeahright Avatar
    pieceuhderockyeahright

    @ MillertheAnunnaki

    I wont not where to go with the young whippersnapper and his useless counting (what a difference the vowel “o” makes to the pronunciation of that word else I might have “said a bad word).

    If it were Monday, I would have told him something like if his ole man, one of the same generation that he seeks to denigrate this day of rest, with his commentary, had done the right thing and committed the sin of Onan, he would not be here to make such statements but we ole peoples dem but it is Sunday and I cannot say these things dem.

    I attribute his comments and contempt to the of-late syndrome called “batting too long”

    You see Mr. Miller we are of that generation that experienced 5 day test cricket with scintillating centuries but 123 comes from the limited 20 overs generation, intellectus interruptus, a cadre of quick gratification so-called batsmen that abound around this place.

    They are not born to last long and will not experience any golden years, they prefer short innings, infected as they are by the diseases like HIV/AIDS that brings them lowe early in their youth, sorry, I, like Fenty, am beseiged of late with misspellings.

    So because they will NOT make it beyond 30 years, they spit upon us grandfathers and tell us that we should withdraw from the fray, “impotent things that we are”

    And even now, challenged as we are in our osteoporotic existence, we can run rings around their lilliputian psyches, without need to use the online thesaurii that recent comers obviously resort to in their abusive submissions.

    Is it worth it to tell that lad how, unlike Greek that has no ablative case, latin words in similar case, cannot be followed by any other word but a “by, with or from”? Can somebody tell him that you can’t say commensurate of?

    So when he and his partner in crime upon the spoken/written word Henderson Bovell, or should i say Henderson Bovine, bull russian that he is with the english language, juxtapose these words in their dribble, you can appreciate the agony that literate readers feel when you struggle through what they have written.

    Then of course when you comment on their intellectual shortcomings they resort to threats of violence and does use bas words dem pun we the saints at de church.

    Of late oh Anunnaki it is quite tiring to engage with these characters

    On one side here we encounter this paucity and on the nex side we have Jonesing, Minister of Edukashun, you ent got no choice but withdraw from the fray ( a ting dat alternating current would want people like me to do permanently) Observe the 123 reparte…

  7. Colonel Buggy Avatar
    Colonel Buggy

    Mark Fenty | February 9, 2014 at 8:07 PM |

    @Colonel Buggy
    I really do not care if the blackman invented MOON and whiteman invented SUN
    ………………………………………………………………
    @ Mark why are you so eager to play the race card. In my submission about Frank Butcher, I described him simply as a Bajan, not a black one ,nor a white one.

  8. Mark Fenty Avatar
    Mark Fenty

    I’ve noticed that you have drawn a few words from my expansive vocabulary, to composed what appears to be rambling mess? (Whoever you may be) And as I’ve said numerous times before: I am writing on a phone without the help of spell check. So therefore, what I’ve written on this blog thus far, comes drectly from my standard memory bank. Commend me you ought to because my vocabulary is of the rare type. (Whoever you may be!) Love ya!

  9. Mark Fenty Avatar
    Mark Fenty

    Colonel, I am just sick and tired of this black and white crap that seems to infused this blog from time to time. Could God! The name Fenty is practically the whitest name a blackman like me myself can carry on the island of Barbados. Taa Hell with the race business because in the final analysis it all boils down to green cash brother. You know, the late Justice of the Supreme Court Sir Oliver Wendell Holmes said that, ” life is continual clash of groups, nations, races, and classes, representing great conflicting principles, strugglying for survival in a world of limited resources.” Good night brother and God bless!

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