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To David Estwick and Cabinet, it must be about Barbados

In the last six years Barbados has been consumed by an unprecedented type of polarising politics. It is a politics which has reordered national priorities. No longer are decisions made on the basis of what is important on the national front but more to do with what is politically expedient. Political pundits had warned that…

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Cabinet of Barbados
Cabinet of Barbados

In the last six years Barbados has been consumed by an unprecedented type of polarising politics. It is a politics which has reordered national priorities. No longer are decisions made on the basis of what is important on the national front but more to do with what is politically expedient. Political pundits had warned that the 2-seat majority government which resulted from the last general election would have landed us here. A classic illustration is the government’s commitment to send home 3,000 public sector workers but because of political imperatives the national exigency has had to be sacrificed, the result; a bloated Cabinet.

Perhaps the best example of politics trumping commonsense and national interest is the 9-day topical issue –  the Estwick Affair. One member of parliament holds the trump card (theoretically) which potentially affects the balance of government in Barbados. Whereas Arthur would have fired Estwick from Cabinet a long time ago – he had bench strength in the House – Prime Minister Stuart is forced to tolerate a minister who has made it known publicly he disagrees with Cabinet; a severe break from convention.  BU referred to Estwick’s trump card as theoretical because he has developed the reputation as a bluffer.

If the country was focussed on the national priority we should be grilling Estwick about what the Ministry of Agriculture (MoA) has achieved under his stewardship since 2010. Insiders are aware it took several days of suasion to get him to accept the agriculture ministry.

In fact he was on the verge of resigning we understand. In 2010 when Estwick finally accepted the transfer to the MoA he saw reason to list his achievements as Minister of Economic Affairs. We are asking Estwick to again list his achievements as Minister of Agriculture. If we want to promote a system of meritocracy in the country then the value of our leaders must be evaluated by their achievements. Estwick has been instrumental in starting the construction of the Barbados Water Authority building and installation three tanks to store molasses at the Bridgetown port. But what is his report card? More importantly what have you done to further Dr. Estwick to further the cause of food security for Barbados? What initiatives have you implemented or have in the pipeline to reduce our humongous food import bill? Earning foreign exchange is our lifeblood and it is scary to read reports that forex has declined by 100 million in the month of January 2014.

Time to stop the silly games and accept the responsibility of managing the country. A listen to the debate in parliament yesterday should be sufficient to indicate we have an intellectual deficit affecting that august chamber.

<

p align=”justify”>Poorakey indeed!

162 responses to “To David Estwick and Cabinet, it must be about Barbados”

  1. QUESTION 10 Avatar
    QUESTION 10

    Hmmmmmmmm………………………where is this article heading? What is it intended to create? sometimes you have to leave things to unfold.

  2. David Avatar
    David

    @QUESTION 10

    Do you think this is a game?

    Barbadians, especially those living here, have a right to demand better for our people.

  3. robert ross Avatar
    robert ross

    “What have you achieved?”….yes, it is a fair question but with the addition of “given the difficulties you faced”.

  4. David Avatar
    David

    If he faced difficulties then convention dictated he should have resigned and made his feeling known as a backbencher. He can’t be at the table sipping from the cup but slapping the hand of the Prime Minister under whose privilege he serves in our system. He owed it to the people if he faced difficulties to make them known.

  5. robert ross Avatar
    robert ross

    Question…….

    If we must cut back on imported food products and rely more on home grown products WHY are the home products so expensive?

  6. Well Well Avatar
    Well Well

    Why would Sinckler wait until AFTER the workers have been laid off to try and engage the opposition leader, or in his words “throw down the gauntlet”, to change the constitution in order to accommodate cutting public workers salaries by 40% instead of massive layoffs.

    Apparently Sinckler does not think it would have been more prudent to do so BEFORE the layoffs, what was he doing that he could not think of this latest light bulb moment. So, they really expect anyone to take the DLP ministers serious.

  7. robert ross Avatar
    robert ross

    No David…that won’t do. If your question is fair, which it is, it is also fair to ask for further and better particulars.

  8. David Avatar
    David

    Barbados is a high cost location namely because of labour. Economies of scale may help local farmers to be competitive on some products BUT the lure of earning forex must provoke our leaders to come up with a plan i.e. the degree we need to support the agriculture industry. We give subsidies to airline to cart tourists to Barbados don’t we?

  9. David Avatar
    David

    No David…that won’t do. If your question is fair, which it is, it is also fair to ask for further and better particulars.

    Agree but the ball is in Estwick’s court if he is being chafed.

  10. PLANTATION DEEDS FROM 1926TO 2014 MASSIVE FRAUD LANDTAX BILLS AND NO DEEDS, BARBADOS DLP/BLP MASSIVE PONZI FRAUD Avatar
    PLANTATION DEEDS FROM 1926TO 2014 MASSIVE FRAUD LANDTAX BILLS AND NO DEEDS, BARBADOS DLP/BLP MASSIVE PONZI FRAUD

    Things in Barbados cost seem to be based on the tourist . The tourist can afford the prices for its may be cheap for them or the same prices back home, Coconut water now cost more than milk ,Milk is 4 times the US prices, Butter and other things, Same with the Land , now seem to be selling for 29 bds a sq ft , up from 25sgft.

    Remember its all about the land , Until the land is taken care of Most will rush to be rich before it law shows up..
    NHC taking Plantation land to sell for pvt builders with no home for the Bajans , Built, sell , leave the island and this stone turns in to a ROCK paved over with no where to grow any thing,
    We will be at the port looking for food like beggars at the port.
    NHC for the tourist
    UDC for the local lawyers to feed on , More Crooks, liars and Scumbags.

  11. robert ross Avatar
    robert ross

    David

    In principle I suppose so IF he wants to be taken seriously. But he’s not and he isn’t so he wont.

  12. robert ross Avatar
    robert ross

    David

    Mind maybe he’s reading this. Someone told me the other day that the CJ regularly reads us. At first he was smiling. Now he is weeping.

  13. David Avatar
    David

    How long have we talked, talked, talked about creating synergy between the ministries of tourism and agriculture? The benefit would be a direct savings in forex as a result of the hospitality sector being encouraged (incentives could be used) to use more local agriculture inputs. What is wrong or how difficult is it for government to enable this approach?

    What about the creative industries: creating/enabling the marketplace to buy local art and related products and services?

    What about the furniture and craftsmen?

    There is so much we could have done to help ourselves instead of business as usual approach.

  14. David Avatar
    David

    Mind maybe he’s reading this. Someone told me the other day that the CJ regularly reads us. At first he was smiling. Now he is weeping.

    The CJ has been stymied by the bureaucracy coupled with a lack of resources and has shown a lack of inventiveness/imagination to implement changes even if described as baby steps.

  15. Prodigal Son Avatar
    Prodigal Son

    @Well Well
    “Apparently Sinckler does not think it would have been more prudent to do so BEFORE the layoffs, what was he doing that he could not think of this latest light bulb moment. So, they really expect anyone to take the DLP ministers serious”………………………………………………….

    And that my friend is the crux of the matter. No one has any faith, trust or confidence in them.

    When MAM and the BLP were offering solutions way back in 2008/9 and asking these arrogant incompetent useless wild boys to sit down and let them all put their heads together for the good of Barbados…………the Stinkliar and Pornville each told her on the floor of Parliament ………..”we dont want to hear nothing from wunnuh, wunnah had wunnah time, now is we time, we gine do things we way, any ideas wunnah got, keep to wunnah selves”.

    More recently she suggested to get together a group to help solve the problems (even if she had dissent from OSA) and what she told by the Fumbler….I dont want no eminent persons…the liar, the joker from St Lucy were eminent enough for him. In the August budget the liar told MAM to put her suggestions on paper.

    And at this late stage, he wants MAM to draft a paper to cut public workers salaries? What a jackass! The Fumbler said on Sunday that he was not committing political suicide (shades of Sandi?). Does the Stinkliar think that MAM is dumb like he is to commit political suicide?

    If he and dem were not so pig headed, arrogant and drunk with power, we would not be in the position we are in today. No wonder Estwick has them having sleepless nights! Idiots! Monkeys handling guns!

  16. Prodigal Son Avatar
    Prodigal Son

    On the south coast, I have seen a lot of tourists on the beach but are they really spending? When they book hotels, is the money coming into Barbados?

    I ask this because we now learn today that our foreign reserves have fallen by 100 million dollars in January.

  17. pieceuhderockyeahright Avatar
    pieceuhderockyeahright

    Sometimes actors get caught up in their TV/movie roles and beleive that they can dodge a bullet, kill your ex-wife, pay a hitman to terminate the spouse and things like this that normal people like us will not even entertain… or would we?

    The Pit Bull has become so engrossed in his “character” that the general populace have failed to realise where his true skill lies and now, the very characteristic that made him passingly attractive to the mottley population, an euphemism for comical in the Eric Fly sense, now has David captive and, irrespective of the things that he has siad, or may continue to say, that make sense, he, like Arnold Schwartzeneger of “Terminator Fame” is now deemed to have a Pit Bull mentality, dog-like unreasoned mentality, erratic and unpredictable.

    But if one were to examine the written recommendations of the goodly doctor, long before this “do the right thing” littany started, one would see that he is on record giving some sound advise when things were relatively good.

    I quote the pitbull doctor “Barbados has a very heavy debt burden. We now pay $981 million BDS per year from a-revenue of $2.4 billion BDS. This is the key to the continued underdevelopment of the country. I suggested that we introduce a debt restructuring program to take advantage of the very low international interest rates being offered on Country to Country loans and Private Sector Loans. The proposal from Economic Affairs highlighted that we could realize a savings of $541 million dollars per year for 25 years if my recommendation is followed by interest rate savings as well as
    principle savings. This Strategy would achieve the targets in the MTFS by 2012 and show a healthy surplus on the fiscal balance by 2014 and reduce the Debt/GDP ratio to 66% of GDP by 2014.”

    Examine the recommendation for what it is worth, sound advice to give our country breathing space, when there was air left in the global bubble.

    Remember Gearbox, circa 1976, on Broad Street, with several hundred people around him shouting while examining what turned out to be a single hair, remember the words of the purported madman “I have seen many hairs around a cvnt but I have never seen so many cvnts around one hair”

    The problem is that when you are daubed with the brush as an actor who plays in B grade movies, or like Staphano on Days of them Fvuked Up Lives, you can never get the role of a star boy.

    DE laid down with dem dogs and has now arisen wid dem fleas.

    Mark my words, de ole man may not be here in 2016, but de DLP dog is dead, dem gine loose every single seat, including St John wid its Sleeping Widow.

    I doubt that DE will do the honourable thing and throw himself on his sword for three reasons (i) his pension will be forfeit (ii) the DLP government will come crashing down and (iii) the name David Estwick will go down in the an(n)als of Bulbados for time immemorial, ast the single dog (Pit Bull) that caused the demise of the DLP and its confinement to the political doldrums forever.

  18. are-we-there-yet? Avatar
    are-we-there-yet?

    PUDRYR

    Excellent piece uh de keyboard above. Three minor mistakes though;
    (1) He has already earned his pension;
    (2) The DLP does not necessarily have to come crashing down if he sits as an independent and abstains or votes with the DLP in future;
    (3) DE would not ultimately be the cause of the DLP’s demise if he causes a crash of the Government by voting his conscience on an important vote like the Estimates. Those more culpable would be the MoF and the PM and his Cabinet colleagues by virtue of their implementing demonstrably and exceedingly flawed policies (against his advice) that had of necessity to lead us to the situation we are now in. Indeed, he might be regarded in the future, other things being above board, as the one whose brave actions led to the ultimate birth of a new, stronger Barbados.

  19. PLANTATION DEEDS FROM 1926TO 2014 MASSIVE FRAUD LANDTAX BILLS AND NO DEEDS, BARBADOS DLP/BLP MASSIVE PONZI FRAUD Avatar
    PLANTATION DEEDS FROM 1926TO 2014 MASSIVE FRAUD LANDTAX BILLS AND NO DEEDS, BARBADOS DLP/BLP MASSIVE PONZI FRAUD

    The CJ have to be reading, he made his own comments before about the lawyers, He knows that he will get more pulse from BU and a better reading than the Ministers on a lie detector test,
    He knows they must be locking him out ,supported by the crook lawyers as he already know,
    The people need to understand that , long talk and buying votes cant help,
    Neither can MAM , She may act like she can Help for MAM as AG working under the lies as the crown and working for Violet Beckles , use that to work her way in to her Estate and took what she wanted and paid out with , She also have a very big part to play in this estate of Fraud, So yes she might be the best person to act to look to help , for this is part of her brain child, Let not for get Britton’S Hill cave in killing a Family , Where she get the deed and permission to build ,
    We at Plantati0on Deeds Hold the only seem copy of the Deed in Barbados and Violet Beckles not sold her nothing. MAM need to be in Jail on murder counts,
    The Nation and CBC will not print or ask questions.So what do we have to read and voice our thinking ad knowing , ? B U ,….

  20. Well Well Avatar
    Well Well

    Prodigal…..I am not political, but it’s plain to see the DLP ministers were playing the ass from day one, instead of having the constitution laws changed months ago to help these workers now on the breadline, Sinckler was busy trying to put the image in everyone’s head of Mia running down Broad Street naked in his mind it was in her bid o seek attention.

    Inniss is too busy with his other business ventures to want advice from the opposition, I have never heard such an asinine and idiotic statement spoken from a public leader, not even from the many Republican idiots in the house of representative s in the US.

    Ross……It is being said that NO ONE even listens to the CJ, hope he is reading this……..

  21. Peltdownman Avatar
    Peltdownman

    PUDRYR
    So, with DE having given such sound advice, why wasn’t it followed? It is part of the Barbadian psyche that no matter how good the advice is, if you didn’t think of it first, you should ignore it. Nobody else should get the credit. As for achievements at the MOA, have you ever tried swimming in mud?

  22. balance Avatar
    balance

    Quantcast
    David | February 12, 2014 at 9:14 AM |
    “If he faced difficulties then convention dictated he should have resigned and made his feeling known as a backbencher. He can’t be at the table sipping from the cup but slapping the hand of the Prime Minister under whose privilege he serves in our system. He owed it to the people if he faced difficulties to make them known”

    I do agree with the gist of your comment but under whose privilege does the Prime Minister serve?

  23. Prodigal Son Avatar
    Prodigal Son

    Looking at the list of Ministers at the top of the page, I have some suggestions to make………….you know Dems say we BLP bloggers only criticise, we dont offer solutions. Here goes:

    Cut the following Ministers and Parliamentary Secretaries:

    *Jepter Ince…….he had no right to still be anywhere near the Ministry of Finance when he could be on Brasstacks talking about the country’s physical deficit when he was referring to the Fiscal deficit

    *Darcy Boyce………whatever he does can be handled by who ever handles trade….by now he has been repaid for his treachery.

    *Irene Sandiford Garner……..She is just a traveller and a socialiser on the cocktail circuit……cut her and let the lazy Richard Sealy do some work for a change. The taxpayers cannot be forced to pay for her lifestyle. I am sure the credit union would be pleased to hire her again.

    *Patrick Todd…….. he can help out a funeral home, they are quite busy these days. But what the heck does he do? Last in, first out should be applied to him.

    *Harry Husbands…….his task is done, there are no more private schools to tour, he could ask David Ellis for a moderator pick again.

    *Esther Byer Suckoo………she was a failure in every ministry she had. Just ask Sir Roy or Alex McDonald……even the dead king realised that she was out of her depths and shifted her every reshuffle he had…why should the taxpayers be saddled with her, she has her practice, let her go back to what she knows best

    *Maxine McClean…….. a total failure, should have been fired a long time ago over the Myrie incident….more so too because she refused to face the electorate, she did not even speak on a platform during the election.

    Donville Inniss can have some more responsibility, when MAM had a similar job, they laughed at her and said it was a part time job….his is a part time job, he now even have time to be General Secretary of the DLP. He cannot be that busy as he has time like Kellman to speak on every matter.

    Dennis Lowe can pick up some more responsibility to keep him busy, he would have less time to look to see what he could get for himself.

    Last and least, this lazy Fumbler we have as a PM can take a full time ministry and do some real work. He is still to this day doing the same things a dying man was/was not doing.

    So there you have it mr/ms fraud “just asking”………. these are some suggestions to help take Barbados out of the dark bottomless pit. Six cabinet members axed……great savings to the taxpayers!

  24. Hamilton Hill Avatar
    Hamilton Hill

    Can anyone tell me if persons working in Dr Estwick’s ministry are still forbidden to interact with those in the ministry of finance?

  25. Frustrated Businessman Avatar
    Frustrated Businessman

    At PS: If Fumble would give up the Ministry of Town Planning to Donville it really wouldn’t matter to anyone whether he came to work or not. That ministry is key to our development and has been paralysed for five years.

  26. Pachamama Avatar
    Pachamama

    @ David
    What is Barbados, anyhow? What has it been? Is what it has been been any good to most of us? It what it has been helpful in the future? What kind of a future should that be? Should that be a future as based on the last 500 years? Or should a longer cultural experience be brought to the national dialogue table?

  27. David Avatar
    David

    @Pacha

    Let the debate continue…

  28. Due Diligence Avatar
    Due Diligence

    @ Pacha

    I see in Barbados Today that, while paying tribute to the late Sylia Pearline Springerthe, the PM is lamenting the demise of the Village Tailor, as the Executive Class (no doubt including his Ministers) shop for their clothing in New York, London and Miami, .

    Sounds like the PM would like Barbados to be what it has been

  29. SITH Avatar
    SITH

    The scary thing abut having a drop in FX of $100 million is that it occurred when we being told by some Ministers that January was a bumper crop for tourism. Thank God we have some brain surgeons presently on the island to figure out all of this mess and create a forward path for our future….the IMF will do it. None of the local leaders seem to be able to figure it out. Just get ready to tighten your belts and buy local whenever you can, car pool, stop buying unnecessary imports. The party is over.

  30. Caswell Franklyn Avatar
    Caswell Franklyn

    David

    You claim that the CJ has been stymied by the bureaucracy coupled with lack of resources…. Where did you get that? Could you tell me how many judgments has been delivered by the CJ? And then tell me what resources are needed to deliver judgments.

  31. QUESTION 10 Avatar
    QUESTION 10

    http://www.imf.org/external/np/sec/pr/2014/pr1451.htm

  32. QUESTION 10 Avatar
    QUESTION 10

    http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/scr/2014/cr1452.pdf

  33. watchman Avatar
    watchman

    This DLP government came to power by acts of dishonest doing, lead by David Thompson who was a lier, and thief
    He and Leroy Parris thief Clico policyholders money to pay like minded people for the votes to win , please look at all the ministers see how confusing their are , the God is at work with the praying
    of people who money was stolen from
    clico , the devil is at work in the DLP camp for the blood money deal
    we the people are the collateral damage

  34. QUESTION 10 Avatar
    QUESTION 10

    watchman

    very diplomatic.

  35. watchman Avatar
    watchman

    @question 10
    That the only way to explain the Confused and conflicting ways of the ministers actions , and also how the DLP supporters
    on this blog are thinking , these people are really mindless , I have no fears because I know God is at work, it just a matter of time

  36. balance Avatar
    balance

    Well Well | February 12, 2014 at 9:16 AM |

    “Why would Sinckler wait until AFTER the workers have been laid off to try and engage the opposition leader, or in his words “throw down the gauntlet”, to change the constitution in order to accommodate cutting public workers salaries by 40% instead of massive layoffs.

    Apparently Sinckler does not think it would have been more prudent to do so BEFORE the layoffs, what was he doing that he could not think of this latest light bulb moment. So, they really expect anyone to take the DLP ministers serious.”

    The challenge thrown out by Mr Sinckler to the Opposition to move a resolution to further cut Public Workers salaries which have been cut indirectly since 2010 is another example of the political gimmickry the administration continues to unashamedly foist on the country even in these perilous times when the situation begs for serious discourse from those charged with the responsibility of managing. Having blamed the recession from day one for the disastrous state of the economy; wouldn’t it have been prudent for a visionary administration to move such an amendment in their last term when they had the required majority to do so. That challenge is for the gullible and ought to be thrown into the political dustbin.
    In 1991, before cutting salaries less we forget in addition to sending home workers, the then administration in their wisdom sought permission from affected public workers( Judges, Director of Public prosecutions, Auditor General were immune to the cuts by law) by way of written communication to cut their salaries to facilitate the value of the Barbadian dollar. It is my understanding that the majority of public workers assented and the constitution was accordingly amended to pave the way for the cuts which were challenged unsuccessfully all the way to Her Majesty’s Privy Council by the National union of Public workers. In fulfilment of an election campaign promise, the incoming administration amended the law to rightfully in my view prevent the ‘willy-nilly’ cutting of public workers salaries. Do you think that it could be fair that every time a Government finds itself in trouble in its management of the economy that Public servants and public servants alone should be penalised and made to feel the brunt of austerity measures because they depend on the public purse for their survival. Not at all. Public servants alone do not benefit from the economy and should not sit idly by and allow themselves to be the scapegoats for the failures of any administration. WOULD IT NOT BE FAIRER FOR THE GOVERNMENT TO INTRODUCE A 10% STABILIZATION TAX ACROSS THE BOARD TO ENCOMPASS BOTH PRIVATE SECTOR AND PUBLIC SECTOR WORKERS SO THAT THE RAIN WOULD BE ALLOWED TO FALL ON THE JUST AND UNJUST.

  37. balance Avatar
    balance

    “Barbados is a high cost location namely because of labour”
    In addition to the high taxes( to cover the freenesses we once enjoyed but now slowly dismantled) imposed on goods at the point of entry and which are passed on to the consumer by the importer to recoup his expenses.

  38. David Avatar
    David

    In addition to the high taxes( to cover the freenesses we once enjoyed but now slowly dismantled) imposed on goods at the point of entry and which are passed on to the consumer by the importer to recoup his expenses.

    There is a price to pay for not being a producer.

  39. balance Avatar
    balance

    Oooooh soooo true!There is a price to pay for not being a producer but a conspicuous consumer

  40. Waiting Avatar
    Waiting

    Speaking about ‘It must be about Barbados ‘ the newspaper headlines today would be more accurate thusly ‘ BLP refuses to join GOB to ensure Barbadian jobs are saved’.

    Its unbelievable that a heartless opposition refuses to cooperate with government to repeal a piece of legislation to allow pay cuts instead of job losses. That chilling action by the BLP is the defining moment of the current economic crisis. The stark reality of this depraved BLP stance means their moaning and crying for displaced workers are fake the only thing real is the crocodile tears.

    Were the government to go back to the polls an objective Mia pursues twenty four hours a day every day the BLP will be soundly beaten. The DLP campaign simply has to be constructed around the dastardly acts of the BLP to deny cooperation with government to save 3000 public sector jobs coupled with BLP reluctance to participate in the 10% pay cuts for Parliamentarians.

    The public wants to hear from BLP pimps and loafers at UWI. Jokers like Straughan and Belle should be duty bound to weigh in on this disgraceful stance by the opposition. We must hear from the Church and private sector. The trade unions should speak up on the BLP’s rigid position. Leadership at all levels in the society must make their voices heard on this matter. Miller, prodigal ,Caswell and the yard fowl brigade will soon be here with a bariffle of lies and spin to justify the shocking refusal of Mia, Kerrie Simmons and that sad lot to save Barbadians from the bread line.

  41. David Avatar
    David

    Cabinet meeting should be lively tomorrow you think?

    At the point we are agreed that we are NOT in an IMF program and continue to receive technical assistance?

  42. Bajan in NY Avatar
    Bajan in NY

    @Waiting, you honestly believe Bajans would expect an opposition party to go beyond the call of duty and bring an unpopular piece of legislation to parliament. Don’t you think the government should take the legislation to parliament and force the opposition to vote against if it is convinced a salary cut for civil servant is what a majority of Bajans want
    I’m with Balance in believing that all Bajans and not only civil servant need to share the burden this time.

  43. Mark Fenty Avatar
    Mark Fenty

    There is more than enough evidence to support the position that during the initial stages of the economic meld down in America: Republican as well as Democratic governors, had opted for furlough days, salaries freezes, changes in the health benefit plans and a reduction in the hourly pay rate of the public sector worker. ( No job losses) And these measures, however painful, had proven effective over an extented period of time. (At least many people were able to keep their jobs and healthcare benefits, irrespective of the new measures) Now, it seems as though the DLP is heading in this direct but without much avail!

  44. ac Avatar
    ac

    and the BLP really believes that people don’t understand their irrational political reasoning for not bringing the legislation.,

  45. Artaxerxes Avatar
    Artaxerxes

    @ Prodigal Son

    Your list is very interesting but you seem to have forgotten the consultants and managers. These are a few to start with:

    Robert “Bobby” Morris is the CARICOM Ambassador. During his tenure, what has he done to the Caribbean unity cause? What are his views on the Myrie case? Has he made progress with the fishing agreement? I have not heard him on speaking on anything pertaining to CARICOM. Instead, he can be seen at luncheons or DLP meetings talking about the trade union, history or spreading DLP propaganda. Is he being paid for this?
    Maureen Holder is the political analyst/consultant at CBC. She should be the propaganda consultant, since her aim is to criticise the Opposition Leader, stifle the contributions of those persons who may have another view of the DLP [often labeling them as BLP supporters], criticize Peter Wickham and the other VOB moderators, while heaping praise on the DLP. At least she is earning her money, obnoxious as she is.
    Hugh Foster is the consultant at the Tourism Board. We all know he canvassed for James Paul. Exactly, what is his job and what is his track record at the board?
    What work is Undene Whittaker being paid for?
    Hamilton Lashley is still a consultant.
    What about the General Manager at the Transport Board? She can be seen at DLP scenic rides, wearing a DLP t-shirt and hugging Ronald Jones {front page of the Sunday Sun}. Yet the Transport Board in turmoil. Image, a banker in charge of transport

  46. Bajan in NY Avatar
    Bajan in NY

    @ Mark Fenty, there is also more than enough evidence that those policies by GOP and Democratic governors plus the introduction of right to work laws have led to the widening of the gap between the super rich and everyone else in America.

  47. Mark Fenty Avatar
    Mark Fenty

    The operational cost within many of these state agencies were seriously reduced as a way to save money. Travel was seriously limited given the price of gas at the initial stage of the crisis etc.

  48. Prodigal Son Avatar
    Prodigal Son

    Waiting

    You are more ignorant than I thought. After six years of your destructive lying party ignoring every suggestion to improve the way you were governing or lack thereof, you really think that the BLP would commit political suicide now trying to help you liars out of the dark hole you have this country in.

    Why, we Bees know how you play politics……..nasty and you would turn around and hang the BLP politically with this! You liars would tell the public workers that the BLP cut their salaries. This crisis is yours, so own it!

  49. Artaxerxes Avatar
    Artaxerxes

    @ Waiting

    Are you for real, or just plain stupid?

    On December 13, 2013, Chris Sinckler made a ministerial statement in parliament in which he indicated the government’s decision to lay off 3,500 civil servants. This was decided by the Cabinet, were members of the BLP there, or did they hear the same way we did?

    It was the duty of Stuart and Sinckler to propose the suggestion of repealing the legislation to prevent cutting of salaries to the Opposition before bringing it to the House. This could have been done in the same way they hasten to parliament to adjust the laws governing the PAC, after it was revealed that the Ministry of Finance was providing funds directly to the NHC [to pay some of the same workers they sent home], and not seeking the relevant authorization to do so.

    To suggest the BLP should propose a resolution to ask government to cut salaries after the fact is somewhat ludicrous.

  50. balance Avatar
    balance

    “I’m with Balance in believing that all Bajans and not only civil servant need to share the burden this time”
    In addition Bajan Yankee, no one would be allowed to travel unless they are in receipt of a tax clearance from Inland Revenue and the Vat Dept. If you are not indebted to these agencies ,then you have nothing to worry about.
    Institute ‘Operation Clean sweep” to target all self-employed persons with a view to bringing them into the tax net to share some of the burden of paying Govt bills instead of relying solely on those captured in the system; rather than hounding the vendors on the street, attach income tax payment clearance to vending license acquisition; it is inconceivable that in this day and age that fish vendors can work in Govt subsidised markets and are quick to make a big stink when the ice machine is not working or the water turn off and these same fish market vendors brag about how much money they make and do not pay a cent in income tax or national insurance yet have market licenses issued by the Govt to work.

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