Submitted by Jane Brathwaite
BU understands Harry Husbands is the son of Austin Husbands and NOT Senator Harcourt Husbands – David.
Harry Husbands, son of Austin Husbands
The truth is: Harry Husbands is a token and a mole for the Government of Barbados/Democratic Labour Party and has been placed by the party to get things done their way as the current President has been found to be very resistant.
For the signing off of many decisions that affect the University, the President’s signature is needed in order for the decisions to be implemented. The current President is often in disagreement with the government of Barbados and sometimes with the administration of the University.
Here are the facts:
1) Harry Husbands resigned a very well paying Personal Assistant position for the Minister of Labour Esther Byer-Suckoo, paying over $4000 monthly, to become the President of the Guild of Students less than two weeks before Guild Elections.
Related Link: Young Democrats: Value education
If he wanted time to complete his studies, why would he want to run for the position of Guild President and why just resign on the 2ND of March after being at UWI for the same two years that he has been the Personal Assistant? Why now?
You decide.
2) Harry Husbands is the son of Senator Harcourt Husbands [BU understands his is the son of Austin Husbands] who is currently the Parliamentary Secretary in the Ministry of Education, Science, Technology and Innovation. He is a long standing and faithful member of the Democratic Labour Party.
3) Harry Husbands refused to stand and support the position of the Guild to acquire signatures against the payment of tuition fees.
Harry Husbands publicly supported the payment of tuition fees in the Nation News Paper.
Harry Husbands is a full and paying member of the Democratic Labour Party and is heavily involved in the Young Democrats.
While Harry Husbands is charismatic, personable and relatable young man. The post of the President must be taken seriously and is NOT A POPULARITY contest.
@Ross
Look at it this way.If the big able Minister of Finance Stinkler went nito the poor rakey parliament and to a hushed membership sez,two big police officers overheard somebody threatening the life of the said lying Stinkler and up to now the blue eyed acking commissioner cant find this person,why brother ross,you will have reason to be concerned.So watch yourself,is my advice to you.And,for safety you should stop attacking Fumble for now.Wait your chance its coming soon.
@Young and Untrained
Didn’t the two get 400+ votes separated by 70 votes?
Yes, this is what the twitter feed of the University of West Cave Hill Guild said.
I am utterly confused as to why an organisation such as this has a twitter account and no website?
In all fairness Damani did no campaigning and I was informed only put up posters less than five days prior to the election. I wonder if he takes politics seriously?
Given more time, however, the popularity/noteriety of Husbands would have won him that President’s post.
The writer’s post almost backfired simply, a matter of timing. I find with more knowledge Bajans do less. It is so ignorant. When will we learn to adopt a national culture of research and independent thinking? Not just a few who troll around here on BU but all Barbadians hold each other accountable for their actions and not be bought by empty promises from the mouths of liars.
Everyone has an opinion but no one wants to do anything.
I’m glad H. Husbands didn’t win but I’ve had enough of what the current DLP machine stands for untruths and manipulation. His public comments never lead me to believe that his primary interest was deviating from the norm or serving the electorate. Then again which true politician’s ever is these days?
Unfortunately for you there were not a few who read this blog and BU suspects many of them were UWI students. Next time try dishing out iPads.
I can attest to the fact that UWI students do read blogs and dishing Ipads would not have worked because the consensus from here on in is to eat them out drink them out and vote them out whenever the time comes and under any election circumstances even a club election.
Thankfully our hard work ensured that young Harry did not win the guild. Even if the students are to pay fees, it is preferable that it is seen that they are made to do so kicking and screaming and not by being silenced into acquiesce.
Applications to UWI have reduced drastically (unofficial figures at less than 50%) this year and there is expected fall out from the numbers that currently exist. This situation will have implications for the foreign and remaining Barbadian students who will more than likely be required to pay higher tuition, guild and amenities fees, as UWI seeks to mitigate its costs. Given the government’s slash to UWI’s budget, it is also expected that junior and part time teaching staff will be released, creating stress on the remaining as their hours increase in an attempt to fill the gaps. This situation remains dire and appears orchestrated to dismantle the institution, seemingly for personal reasons or worst yet due to sheer incompetence.
The act of keeping young Harry out of the guild president’s chair is to be seen as a victory. He is unfit and ill equip for leadership. After the guild debates he was close to physically attacking a female student who publicly opposed his actions and pointed out the conflict of interest. Young Damani attempted to shake Harry’s hand in an effort at good sportsmanship and was told by Harry to ‘fuck off’! Does the guild of students need such a leader? NO! He is likely to enter national politics and be quite successful and we wish him luck, but for now we will protect the rights of the students to have a representative that will speak out, act or march, even in totals of 10! against anything that they deem unjust.
To H Husbands
I do not support your party but I am not opposed to tuition fees (subject to whatever they will actually be) which have been necessitated by the policies of those who head the institution. I am sorry that this post, and some of the nasty things which were said to and of you, muddied the waters for you but I guess you know that these things are really not that important in the great scheme of things. I send my respects to your Dad and wish you very well. But, to be a maiden aunt, PLEASE don’t put your political interests before your studies. Get those out of the way. Don’t be a ‘young man in a hurry’. It will reek of ambition – bad for you, bad for your chances, bad for the country you aspire to serve. When the time comes, ever keep ‘principle’ before anything else and so retain your integrity. Ultimately nothing else matters. All the best. RR
Good luck to Damani and his team. To all of you who hide behind pen names and speeches vitriol, I sincerely hope you follow the lead of those of us who have the balls to use our given names. I hope that the attempted polarization of Barbados does not continue. After all each of us has a right to choose which party we belong to. We all attend the same schools,churches etc,and join the same institutions. Why can’t we take the high road and stop the silly,remarks! I honestly believe that the majority who enter political life do do with the intention of serving the populace.
And BTW,imy wife and I have been together got 30 years. There is no racism taught in our household. We have friends of every hue, religion and political persuasion
Husbands,you forgot to mention where you went to school.Was it you who the Cement Man referred to as The Beach Bum?Is the boy’s name husbandski?
@ Gabriel, my son,Harry,
one if my daughters,Lucia,my father Harry and I went to the same secondary school, Harrison College. None of us through the back door. My grandson is currently there. I have run a successful water-sport business which is now run by my eldest son,Tony,a product of Ellerslie. The late cement man like you had a problem with identity. What does it matter where someone was schooled? It is what one does with ones education that matters. Grow up. I will not apologize for where I went to school or what I’ve done business wise. Have some balls and identify yourself
@The Husbands
Next time try to be strategic in your response. You found yourself in a situation with an audience and instead of planting a message targeting those visiting the blog you frittered the opportunity by engaging in irrelevant exchanges.
the dlp strategy is top put their people in key position to avoid being opposed. the gg- the cj- the comm of plce-the central bank gov. -next will be the chief of staff- thesup. of prison etc. etc. etc. the guilds of student failed
@Austin, who wrote “To all of you who hide behind pen names”.
Some of us do that for strategic reasons political and otherwise.
BU is like John Moore’s bar. In here you will find Bajans from all walks of life from the elite to the bottom feeders of society and of course the Bajans in the diaspora.
I wish your son continued success in his studies and in life in general.
However he must know by now that a lot of Bajans demonize people who are successful and ambitious.
@Hants
You continue to gloss over the central issue: how does a VP of the Young Democrats reconcile pro government views if he were to function as Guild president given the issues at play? The question was posted several times but remains unanswered.
David he would show true character and represent those who would have elected him.
He would then resign as a VP of the Young Democrats until his Presidency of the Guild ended.
Just to be clear David are you saying that the President of the Guild cannot be a member or supporter of a ruling party?
@Hants
No, just he must be willing to defend his canditature based on his record, it is what people running for office do.
The president of the guild can have any affiliation he/she wants. We simply will not elect someone who on more than one occasion publicly supported the government on an issue that is contentious to 80% of the electorate. He has made his position known PUBLICLY on the issue of tuition fees, and then invited persons to lie for him at the debates stating that he was misquoted, how can he then ask us to vote him in as our representative? He had ample time nearly a year of discussions (on call in programmes of persons like Peter Wickham expressing horror at the position taken, even in his weekly article), to clear up any misquotes, he choose debate night! How do we know that he will represent the majority position on any agenda? Note that at the time he was making these comments that he was doing so as a member of the guild! You are called to serve not to impose. Our hope is that the national electorate at large will start to vote with their heads and hold politicians to a higher standard of politics. That would be a great first step in removing opportunistic, individualistic politicians from positions of leadership, and getting the country back on track. This is the bigger issue!
And David I don’t gloss over anything.
I sidetrack distract and avoid saying anything that could negatively affect people I consider friends or acquaintances.
I remain a supporter of the DLP (not a member) and will encourage any youngster who tries to be as educated as Georgie Porgie and Bush Tea.
@Hants
By your comments you seem to want onlookers to give young Harry a free pass. If he OR his father had responded to the serious queries head on it would have deflected, to use your term, a lot of the flack e go. He was advised poorly and this is the problem with Barbadians seeking high office, they forget PR and effective communication comes with the package.
@Ross
MCI 2 – Hull 0.
Ah!Husbands finally got to mention where he went to school.That was his mantra and which made the ‘cement man'(who got a boy up on the hill with a big able PHD) to call brasstacks and said’This fella Awstin Husbands always calling this programme and say he went to Harsun kolig;so how come if he went to harsun he ’bout de bayside humbugging tourists all day long say he wanta sell dem a jet ski ride.Whah he en no mo than a beach bum!
Husbands,go and bag yo’ head,ya beach bum!
David
And you should have done the decent thing and apologized. Who are you to dictate what people should do? Should answer how YOU think they should answer? Last evening you accused H Snr of trivializing the discussion. Such god almighty condescension. In fact he was responding to what was said to him. Did you pull those people up? No, you didn’t – but expect people to mirror your agenda. and jump accordingly.
On the substantive issue – there was apparently no conflict of interest since H’s campaign focused, as I understand it, on the inadequacy of the opposition not on a party agenda. Moreover, I assume his membership is educated enough to cut through the party political crap should it have become necessary to do so. What then is the problem? You are in no different position from H – save that he wears his stripes on his sleeve and so can be reigned in. We all know whom he is. You don’t and can’t so in fact you are far more insidious. You’re the man who pushes all the buttons and has tabs on all of us who enter this holy of holies, this hole in the corner. Fact is, we can’t do the same with you. So who are you to judge HH?
Oh dear. Pity.
@ David
Why is Robert Ross, week after week, always chiding you for you impartiality or lack of it. If he is unhappy with the way you run the forum he can walk away. Find something more interesting to do.
H Austin
Use your brain and READ. Oh creepy one.
@Hal
He has always been a BU detractor, don’t worry about we all have roles in which we feel comfortable.
@ David
I think he needs excitement in his life.
Yes.of course if you mean an opponent of lies, hearsay, anonymous character assassination, ad hominem arguments, power without responsibility, brainwashing, bullying, sucking-up, snidery, hypocrisy, pharisaism and all the rest – and that includes those like Austin – this ‘senior editor’ who refrained himself from correcting the blogger who misdescribed him as ‘THE senior editor of the FT’ and had to be reminded to do so.
But then it’s all only a mirror of life isn’t it, the world in miniature? And THAT Austin is the point. We are not indentikits, robots, programmed zombies. And in a democracy, that’s how it should be. Or don’t you agree? BU is NOT a private club. It professes to be a window to the world- and that means putting up with people like me, and Sarjeant, and Dompey and ac, and the real nasties on here, and even boring old sycophants like H Austin peddling the second hand in the name of truth week in and week out.
@Ross
Let us set the record straight:
In the same way you disagree with BU positions the BU household reserves the right, always, to disagree with you. Regarding Dompey aka Fenty, Michael Paine, Obsonky etc, the issue is using multiple monikers in the same conversation na dbeing a pedantic pain in the backside when he resorts to what we describe has ‘dribbling uncontrollably on the blog, we are responsible for the quality of the blog as the final arbiter. ac has never been banned from BU and her only crime is that he or she is an unrepentant DLP yardfowl and from time to time BU will expose the idiocy of marrying all positions to one political party. Sargeant [Sarjeant] has been one of the earlier BU bloggers who we have engaged robustly from time time but one who we respect for what he brings to the blog. He has even been persuaded to submit articles to BU all too infrequently. The BU household takes this opportunity to encourage you to add value to the BU blog space…lol.
@ Robert Ross
Have you taken your pills?
Yeah – they’re called ‘life’ pills and ‘truth’ pills. Try them sometime. They can even work miracles.
@Gabriel,, you asked where I went to school and you got the answer. I will not go into a gutter unless I am going to clean it. Unfortunately, your ad hominem attacks indicate that that is impossible in your case
Hal
The blog claims to be one which adheres to the principle of impartiality but the apposing narrative sees it quite differently.
@Dompey
Read carefull:
When BU was launched the OSA led BLP was in office and no entity put more lashes in that government than BU at the time. The BU Archive is there and you and others who engaged in partisan positions to verify. In fact BLP partisans at the time referred to BU as the DLP mouthpiece and when we featured Hartley Henry’s weekly articles the deal was sealed.
Then the DLP gained office led by Thompson and the reverse occurred, BLP partisans chastised BU for being too soft on the Thompson led government in the first year or so. Our response, we should give them time to set up. Well they have had time and in the process have operated very much status quo and we will put lashes in them too.
Read this part of the comment carefully because you are what is described in local parlance as a ‘johnny come lately’. If and when the BLP regains office we will put lashes in them too if – or should we say when – they stray from their promises.
Husbands
I didn’t ask where you went to school!Can’t you read standard English?Knowing your penchant to rise to your full height and straining to do so at 5 feet, to boast where you went to school,as you have always done in the past and you will continue to do,no doubt,because you think that will impress folk that you are a’bright fellow’,I wondered how come you had failed to utilize your mantra of idiocy and inadequacy.
David
” We are responsible for the quality of the blog as the final arbiter”
David, it would be interesting to ascertain the process you’re utilizing to determine what amounts to quality blogging? And it didn’t’ escaped my noticed that your so called quality control applies exclusively, to those persons who opposes your political worldview.
@Dompey
Knowing your propensity to dribble comments all over the place you may have the final word.
Hahaaaaaaaaaaaaa, the cut ass young Husbands got seems to have destabilised George Street big plan for UWI. Imagine what will entail next week during the Estimates debate if Mia et al pick apart the numbers as promised.
David, let’s us agree to disagree, agreeably that BU prosecutes with an unwavering impartiality; the improprieties in government. Lol
LOL @ David ….inviting Ross to contribute positively to the blog….
Cuhdear David man! …..don’t make him leave….. 🙁
This man Austin Husbands is something else then….
First of all his son like he feel he is Obama or something….seeking to represent a group, 80% of whom are on the different side of the fence to him on a fundamental issue like UWI fees….
Then Austin runs in to protect his little boy from his detractors, rather than let him, like Obama, stand up like a man and lie through his teeth about how “committed he is to their great cause…”
Then, instead of reflecting on where they went wrong and learning from the blatant mistakes…..he come here abusing the BU clan for the use of psydonoms….THE VERY HEART OF BU…
LOL …if you had called yourself “Shorty” then we could have tried to focus on any ideas you may have presented …rather than on your history of talking shiite pun de radio….
SKIPPA…. From the looks of things, if Harry is planning on a career in politics, – you had better prepare another high level position in your jet ski operation for him, ..cause otherwise he may starve yuh….
I refused to make any substantive submissions on this post until now.
I was informed only today that Husbands’ candidacy was supported by one Minister of the Crown and six personal assistants to ministers who were on the ground trying to get out the vote.
>
@ David (BU) & Bush Tea:
What has become of our girl ac?
There is no annual conference going on and she can’t be preparing any scripts for the upcoming Estimates debates.
Ac, are you OK, my love?
@Miller
ac is around but let her finish her pouting episode.
SAVE US DAVID SAVE US!
LET HER GO LIKE CCC I BEG YOU
AND SEND FENTY AND ALL HIS ALTER EGOS WITH THEM
Miller, she was a breath of fresh air, wasn’t she ? She provided the much needed counterpoise for the blog and my good Fenty, provided the much needed luminosity as well as the vivacity the blog sought.
LOL @ GP
…don’t mind you GP….you would be the first to miss ac….and only baygon can get rid of Dompey…..
@ Miller
Bushie missing ac too…but um is David fault…..he put some hot licks in ac….and like it was at ‘that time of the month…’….so she gone off fuming…
Unlike onions however,….and like a famous American General…..she shall return….for more licks… 🙂
NO BUSH TEA
HER SPELLING AND GENERAL ENGLISH DRIVES ME NUTS
Georgie Porgie
It is sad that I have to say this but your overreaching ego, will be cause of your ultimate demise because your tendency is to marginalized others on the account of your antiquated education.
And the brutal truth is that the values, principles, and convictions which fuels your overreaching ego and your obvious lack of considerability for those persons you deem not worthy of your time and effort, ought to be examine with a strict scrutiny.
@GP
SAVE US DAVID SAVE US!
LET HER GO LIKE CCC I BEG YOU
++++++++++
Speak for yourself sir! One of the few women on BU who is willing to give as good as she gets and you want to show her the door? Just because she doesn’t toss any bon mots your way like JC used to do? If AC is as spirited in other places as she is here she would surely warm the cockles of this aging bull’s heart.
AC come back! Let GP go and keep BT company
Sargeant
I have never came here for bon mots or anything. It is, however, reasonable FROM THE FREE EDUCATION THAT WE WERE SUPPOSED TO GET IN THE 6O’S to expect AS A MINMUM proper spelling, grammar and syntax.
And of course I speak for myself-as always.
By the way, JC SEEMED TO HAVE SOME CLASS– bon mots or NO bon mots.
minimum
I for one would be happy to see AC posting again, and soon. If one reads her carefully it might be realized that there were oftimes nuggets of wisdom hiding in the general murkiness of her copious posts. Her singleminded support of everything the DLP did was mildly disturbing to me until I realized that she, like CCC, was doing a job and doing it well, if only by their own lights. But CCC fled when the going got tough and he realized that, with good conscience. he could no longer enthusiastically support the policies of the new DLP. But AC kept soldiering on.
Wait! I wonder if AC also had a Damascus moment.
@Caswell
Not commenting much lately either but, it seems like you are surprised. lol.
He is a Husbands after all.
Let’s see what the enrollment / retention rates for this year are going to be like.
The proof of the pudding…..
Just Observing
@Prodigal Yardfowl
“This is the modus operandi of the DLP, infiltrate every organisation to promote the DLP agenda.”
That is one of the the most stupid and hypocritical things ever said on this blog but we can expect that nonsense from the Prodigal yardfowl, seeing everything through his BLP blinkers.
I remember the following persons with the full backing of the BLP hierarchy orchestrating strategic roles in many organizations:
Former BLP Senator and candidate Gregory Nicholls – BCA secretary
BLP candidate and Senator Wilfred Abrahams – Bar Association President
Former BLP candidate Wendell Callender – President National Association of PTA’s
BLP candidate Ian Gooding Edghill – President of The Employers Confederation
BLP candidate Oliver Jordan – President of the BHTA
Sandra Husbands at the SBA .
Allan Fields on almost every major corporate board as an “independent” Senator while getting an ambassador pick from Owen and funding the BLP campaign.
Who could forget the BLP giving The Israel Lovell Foundation hundreds of thousands of tax payer’s dollars and then Trevor Prescod becomes the BLP candidate for the same area where the organization is based.
We all know who pulled the strings for Dottin to be Commissioner of Police and why.
The list can go on and on
In government the BLP pushed all its people in certain positions and continues that strategy as we speak.
Prodigal, you spat in the air and it landed smack in your face. Be off !
@poor Gabriel, Btw, I forgot to mention that my QC daughter is a practicing physician…so now you have one more thing to occupy your puny mind,and stew over,and I almost forgot that one of the boys is a Combermere past student…parva parva animos delrctant..
@Bajanfuhlife
Let us agree both parties are culpable. Come out tings!
@ Bajanfuhlife.
You must add to hat list the appoitment of David Simmons straight from Attorney General to Chief Justice ..
David
At the end of the day, I’m glad you took the point. Kilroy lives..
Bajanfuhlife. You are showing how dumb one can be with your list of achievers from a particular party. As I can recollect, an individual cannot make become a president without the support of others. All of them were proposed and won. You have to ask yourself why your colleagues failed. We have to remove ourselves from partisan politics and let others proposed based on your merits. Husbands senior was the sole obstacle why his son failed to get the nod. Stupid boasting cannot propel anyone to leadership.
“an individual cannot become a president without the support of others.”
@David
as blog master, i think you should refrain from labelling bloggers as johnie come lateley, or political yard fouls, that should be left to the bloggers, even though I abhor such labels, and will only use them if attacked by another blogger.
I am cognisant of the fact that democracy must prevail, but i believe, as chief editor of this blog, you should not inot into the gutter to score a point.
Georgie Porgie
“From the free education we were supposed to get in the 60’s, to expect as a minimum proper spelling, grammar and syntax”
Porgie, it should have read: from free education we
supposed to have gotten and get.
In any instance, you may have gotten the opportunity to developed the proper spelling, grammar and syntax or so you may have thought but your ability to think critically, is in serious need of repair. And as I have said in the past and I shall continue to reiterate in future: a valued education teaches one how to think and not what to think.
Georgie Porgie
It should have read: from the free education we were supposed to have gotten and not get.
@newblood
Thats for your feedback and here is some more. Try to have a little respect for other commenters by posting with some coherence instead of the ‘potta an skinnsas’ you posted above.
@Piece
The point which the traditional guard does not get is information is being accessed via online in a brave new world. Just this morning there was a graph put up by a cable network which shows only 5% of young people access news via traditional platforms. In fact online growth when compared to TV, Radio, newspaper is the only trendline point up.
Georgie Porgie
This is my final comment for the morning: sir your level of self- centeredness is egregious, despicable and atrocious and I am sorry if my choice of words offends you in anyway. But if anyone here should accuse me of being as arrogant as you have been, I would sprint to the church altar and ball out for God to save my wretched soul.
In the centre of the arena there stands a gladiator armed only with a pen and that Gladiator is called ASTUTE.
They said and i quote..”The president of the guild can have any affiliation he/she wants. WE (my emphasis not Astute’s) simply will not elect someone who on more than one occasion publicly supported the government on an issue that is contentious to 80% of the electorate…”
There is a new day a-birthing and neither the DLP nor the BLP is seeing it nor is the society at large.
These young people are not being led by the old die hard sentiments of political patronage and serfdoms like those that Lammy Craig and ole men like me were stepped in.
The day of ME-ism has arrived and is here to stay.
Do not fool yourselves that this phenomena of young people using a different metric in their voting/decision making patterns only exists on the UWI hill with the Stool (no not the faeces, Hilary’s lookout point – though some feel that they are the same thing given his Reparations battle chant of late and its failure, in utero, like Custer’s Last Stand).
No siree it is a pervasive trend that is fed by WIIIFM, what is in it for me a “dopamine” of the airways that none of the lies that politicians used in times afore can satiate.
This is the true opiate of the people it is a drug that he who gets “the formula” like Obama has twice, can make that sway.
There can be no doubt that BU has inserted itself into the cyber highways of the conscience of the people.
THe rank and file know of it, politicians, at least the savvy ones come here to read it, and the not so savvy ones come here and experiment on it, much to their chagrin (I give you L Austin Husbands and son who dont understand its power)
Even the Political Attache for specific Embassies are now tasked to come and analyze the “pulse” and underlying sentiment of the people for all smart people and intelligence gathering entities understand the power that blogs like these wield.
These are tools which make or break societies and while some of the wiser bloggers understand how this works unfortunately many contributors miss the boat completely.
It is time to “up the ante” in this sphere to a point where we either pursue serious strategies to rebuild our Barbados by proposing men and women who love our country, above self, and will die for such, as opposed to the opportunists and biased aspirants like Husbands junior who have an agenda that is partial to self/party at the expense of Barbados.
Who is this “WE” that the blogger Astute speaks of?
It is the “we” at Cave Hill, the “we” in Marl Hole, Emmerton Lane by the shite processing plant that was never to smell, it is the we Bajans that are suffering and did not have a plate of food to eat for the last two days while Stinkliar and Fumble, Mia and the rest of them continue to full their bellies and get rotund in the process.
It is this “wretched WE”
It is the “we” that perceived Harry Husbands to be partisan in his politics, at a time that bias about the tuition fees issues cannot be afforded especially for the more than 60% poor Bajans who were attending the University or sending their children to the UWI with the hope that if they had a degree such would give them an opportunity for a better paying job.
@ Astute
Husbands was voted out because he was not promoting the interests of the many.
I wonder then if the newly elected are so “we” oriented if that same new guild would show the commitment that they have to the “we”
I wonder if, in classic Star Trek moment if they would be leaders enought to live by the maxim “the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few, or the one” ?
Tell me if this newly constituted guild, to show their commitment to students above that of self, would think of making a a change to its constitution and incorporate the ultimate mechanism of accountability?
Given all the rhetoric about a “We” do you Astute think that with all the stark improprieties of former Guild Members, who used student fees to finance cars, homes, trips and womanizing expeditions, that said new guard are really devoted?
Do you think that they would be prepared to show their commitment to all the students and “put their money where their mouth is”, to implement the ultimate “Seppuku” mechanism for Emperor and country and incorporate the POWER OF RECALL to quash the power of these demi-gods, if the need arises?
That mechanism, enshrined by students on the Hill, this shining bastion of things noble, would possibly show their ultimate commitment of our future leaders, the equivalent of throwing oneself on one’s sword, for things that”WE” believe in, don’t you think?
Or have “WE” just replaced one mole Harry Husbands with another who will employ similar strategies under cover of night, sine restraint, until the next guild elections?
I await your response
PUDRYR
Nice post!
Let me add that the Guild elections might well be a bellweather of things to come.
It would appear from comments on this blog that the Husbands team was reinforced by a number of DLP youths and a Minister in the effort of bring out the vote, while Damiani Parris ran a very pedestrian campaign.
If we discount many of the non nationals at UWI who might not have been disposed to vote because of previous non-support by bajan students in previous battles and that the main campaign issue was essentially parochial, it seems that the result seems to suggest that the students substantially rejected the glitter of the Husband’s campaign despite the apparent close numbers in the poll for there is little question on who was the more attractive candidate. But despite his attributes he lost because as you said the students can now add self interest to a voting procedure where previously there was no such concern.
On the national front it is likely that self interest will trump corned beef and the result might be unlike anything we have seen before in Barbados.
Those who have eyes to see …………..
PUDRYR;
I did not see your second post above when I posted mine but the answers from “Astute” should be interesting, to say the least.
Who is responsible for overseeing the audit functions of the Guild?
@David
i expected such a response from you, as you beleive that u r the onlsy one blessed with the monopoly to insult bloggers, but that has not changed my position, You have a blessed sunday. I have made a promise during this season to refrain from doing certain things so i will say to you thanks for your dribbly response.
@Newblood (dd)
Sod off.
It can only be seen as positive that the linkages between guild elections and national elections are being made, so I will continue in this vein. whilst the results of the uwi election does not reflect any extreme confidence in the leadership of the guild what obtains is better to the alternative. Those to whom much is given much will be expected. Damani and his team now have much to prove by way of their actions over the coming year. ‘Deeds not words’ after all was his campaign mantra. The one thing that is assured by ensuring that the leadership of the guild is not hijacked by any political party, is that the student body will not be silenced on issues that it deems important enough to speak out on.
Much of the focus being placed on the guild however should be directed to the government that matters…National government.
“Given all the rhetoric about a “We” do you Astute think that with all the stark improprieties of former Guild Members, who used student fees to finance cars, homes, trips and womanizing expeditions, that said new guard are really devoted?” These accusations are unfounded, by me at least. What I will say is that if any politician in the guild or on the national level misappropriates public funds and this can be proven then there should be mechanisms to deal with said persons…I prefer the mechanism of the court of law. Such comments are troubling as they speak to deeper issues of lack of personal integrity in society as a whole and the need to finally implement integrity legislature backed by the ability to act and institute real punishment. Some 30 million disappeared recently that the government is yet to give an account for and the country hardly bat an eyelid outside of a few.
How often do we hold our nationally elected politicians to task? How many theorist have written for a change to Westminster to reduce the power of the prime minister and the executive and to produce a legislature that is not constrained by collective responsibility and would therefore breed less corruption?
A system of recall is absolutely necessary in order to keep leaders in check, in its absence the electorate is responsible for keeping untoward characters out of leadership positions that affect us socially, and economically. Unfortunately, too often they show their hands only when they assume office. The student body was lucky that Husbands’ political ambitions saw him speaking when he should have remained silent and were thus able to draw a reasonable assumption of the type of politics that he would practice if elected. We are not always this lucky but when we are and we still choose to vote based on socialization and authority then we can only blame ourselves. The electorate holds all the power but too often they are ignorant to this fact. An exercise of that power should begin with a demand for a better quality of candidates. The qualifications required for candidacy are too limited. The ideas of what public service means are flawed. The systems of governance are unbalanced and corrupt. Our leaders are petty, childish and vindictive and this is extended to their public policies which essentially affects all of us. And until WE the people, the electorate demand better, better will not be had.
The question begs, how do we demand better? We demand better by refusing to accept worst. It really is that simple! We utilize the power that we have, however limited we perceive it to be, to place our votes for candidates who we deem worthy not by their lineage, seniority, or generosity during election season, but by their understanding practical and otherwise of what it will take to make the country and by extension the region more sustainable. Too many people enter politics for personal gains whether financially or otherwise. The electorate is the only body with the power to keep them out of office and if the exercise at UWI proved anything, it proved that this process works. Young Harry spent an amount of money on campaigning; videos, pins, expensively done posters, anti-campaigning and so on in a way that no other student was able to, and was still unable to gain the votes of those who were too discerning to be swayed by the glitz and glamour. This if nothing else, is to be emulated by the wider public on a national level.
@ David [BU]
And that my friend says it all, the old guard are lost in the old methodologies of, as Are-We-There-Yet put it, “corn beef and biscuits”
You may be sure as night followeth day that, were it not for the fact that you blogged on a non-resident domain at wordpress.com, one outside of the domain of these petty men and women, occupants of our House of Assembly for Idiots and Miscreants, your site would have been shut down by Owen, Mia, Fumble and Ronald Jones
But, barring the second, with her financial resources and mental agility, the rest are imbeciles, surrounded by ICT illiterates.
@ Are we there Yet
As with all things sensible and for that which is greater than self, I do not expect the Damaini Jones’ and his crew to bring any new blood or self sacrificing ideas to the Hall of the Guild.
If I were promoting Banks and Heineken for 25 cents a bottle for Guild parties, wet T shirt contest for the female students and pum pum shorts, or spliffs using banana shanks, that would be the pillar on which the guild and its members would rally.
AWTY, this issue of Power of Recall is much like the Integrity Legislation proffered by our fabled leader Fumble and the late David T truly a Farmer at Heart for was it not he who, in style of Lowdown Hoad another farmer, spoke of rearing the fatted calf?
With all respect to “he who is passed to other fields, (or should i say circles, according to Noel Lynch) it is obvious that the minions he left are indeed eating some sort of “bovine on steroids”
Note how, like bloated cows, each of them, barring Patrick “what is your sexual preference” Todd of the City of Bridgetown, (he who when paid $15,000 on the 26th of each month is broke on the 27th, like Hamila used to be) is now looking like a pig in two bolts ot cloth!
How can you tell your constituents “i feel your pain” when you meet with them in the constituency office, six feet away behing your big desk, because your guts all over the mahogany table?
Wunna feel people fooling nuh?
My guts touching my skeleton cause i ent eat fuh days and you like the Pillsbury Phvcking Doughnut Boy!
Let me prophesy this 30 – 0
@ Astute
Clear concise points, I do wish that I could write like that.
I know that, based on your respose to my comments about Guild Presidents and Treasurers dipping into the kitty (and the other feline equivalent) using the assets of the Guild, I know that you are yet young and have not been around long enough to know of what was par for the course in times afore.
Ask around, it is well known who the culprits were and are.
You said and i quote “The question begs, how do we demand better? We demand better by refusing to accept worst. It really is that simple!”
By itself that does not work.
For two reasons, one the calibre of people promoted at the national level and in the various strata of our society, are endemically of the very worst DNA we could ever get. And this is not a jibe at lawyers who are failed persons in their substantive places of employ.
No siree I am not throwing any jibes at Fumble Stuart and his slothful legal skills.
I am speaking of the fact that we sem only able to bring the dredges of our society, the mediocre and faint of heart, the inept and intellectually challenged, to the ballot box.
“By their deeds ye shall know them, now tell me how you can bring a female rabbit like Michael Lashles or Noel Lynch to 250K people and the same people vote for them scunts?
You will note that i have not made this a partisan thing and have presented candidates from either side of the divide. I could go down the list Richard Sealy of that fellow Gill from Tweedside. all brass bowls.
Unless and until we the people have the ultimate mechanism, The Power of Recall, all the sexy talk about demanding better by refusing to accept worse, will fall flat on its face.
Once you know that “We” the people have a mechanism that meks your scunt go to parliament pun a week to represent me for that $15K plus “WE” the people paying you, well you going do shi*e for 5 years, come and write a nex pretty manifesto, play alot uh wuk up music pun a night for the election campaign weeks, print pins, tshirts and videos and screw we royally fuh a nex 5 while you secure your pension.
PODRY
You must have read the late Tony Benn’s Five Questions on Power and which you should ask your MP
1.WHAT POWER HAVE YOU GOT?
2.WHERE DID YOU GET IT FROM?
3.IN WHOSE INTEREST DO YOU USE IT?
4.TO WHOM ARE YOU ACCOUNTABLE?
5.HOW DO WE GET RID OF YOU?
The Barbadian electorate must wake up to reality.More of the same is out of the Question(s).
Gabriel
Are you saying that the Barbadian electorate is a bunch of degenerates who doesn’t know how to make an informed decision?
Because if the DLP is selling one narrative and the BLP is selling another that is diametrically opposed to that of the DLP’s narrative. Then obviously, the BLP has failed in its efforts to articulate a convincing narrative that is capable of persuading the Barbadian electorate to see it their way.
PUDRYR
What standard should we expect of a PM?
How do we arrive at that standard?
What are the Objectively verifiable performance indicators of a good, just passable, or a poor PM?
Given the necessity for the power of recall, How do we go about making it become a reality?
Can “demanding better by refusing to accept worse” work only in a regular voting regime after 5 years suffering?
How does a recall system work? Should we have a system that keeps high officials in order somewhat like the Clinton-Lewinsky impeachment?
Back to paragraph #1 and insert Cabinet Minister for PM.
Just rambling as I often do nowadays.
Gabriel
It’s time for the BLP to go back to the drawing -board with the AFTER- ACTION-REVIEW in hand. Because it speaks to the reality of a political party that is incapable of defeating a ruling party, in one of the worse economic crisis in recent years.
Are we there yet
I have great confidence that history will be the final arbiter of the PM performance.
@ Are_we-there-yet
No one has the gift to see inside a man and determine that he has the qualities for any position and will stay the course and I am the first to acknowledge this.
I would be lying if i said that i could answer question #3 and anyone who says that they can is a stranger to the truth.
” A political recall is the process by which a public official is removed from office before his or her term is over. The recall process is designed to provide a check on the sovereign power of elected officials. If officials fail to represent the will of their constituency, then the voters have the power to take back their vote through a recall election.” see http://people.howstuffworks.com/political-recall.htm
All i know is that in 5 years these political dolts does do alot of damage and that that carte blanche is too long. By the time they have finished it is absolutely impossible to retract the damage occasioned by their tenure.
I can identify with your rambling comment since that is what ole men does do all de time
newblodd on March 16, 2014 at 5:31 AM
@David
as blog master, i think you should refrain from labelling bloggers as johnie come lateley, or political yard fouls, that should be left to the bloggers, even though I abhor such labels, and will only use them if attacked by another blogger.
I am cognisant of the fact that democracy must prevail, but i believe, as chief editor of this blog, you should not inot into the gutter to score a point.
@ Newblood
A good observation you have made , unfortunately the blog owner David , is too steeped in skulduggery to make the necessary changes you have suggested.
AWTY;
Hey, I think I will change my pseudonym to “Jus-Ramblin” after we reach where I think we are going. The coming estimates debate will be a significant determinant of that.
AWTY
Hey, I think I will change my pseudonym to “Jus-Ramblin”
++++++++++++
Isn’t one change enough? A second change will make you another Simple Simon.
Did Simple Simon have another pseudonym? Or does your comment have a deeper meaning than it appears to have? But in any case, ask Newblood about the possible utility of changing pseudonyms as long as one doesn’t post under more than one pseudonym in the same conversation or topic.
The moniker “Are-we-there-yet” will outlive its raison-d’etre when everyone recognizes that we have indeed reached the place where this Government’s policies were almost sure to take us. We are almost there now.
Its just a progression from checking things out; to trying to determine where we were going and when we would reach there from the signposts on the way; to just rambling when we get there. I suspect many of us will be rambling when the full enormity of our new situation hits us.