Submitted by Joan Worrell
The following was submitted before former Prime Minister submitted his resignation earlier today.
David, I am surprised that 12 hours after an interview between Owen Arthur and Kaymar Jordan captioned ‘Arthur Fed Up’ in yesterday’s edition of Barbados Today, you have not made reference to it. Prove to me and other readers of Barbados Underground that you are different from the mainstream press as you often boast. However I would be the first person to apologize to you if you are too busy to read the E-Paper. Let me give you an extract of what he said in the interview in case you were in fact too busy.
Quote ‘Arthur who was Prime Minister for 14 years said it would be hypocritical for him to support such a call at this stage since one of his first acts when he took over the Vovernment in 1994 was to introduce an environmental levy.
I am the only person in Barbados who cannot with honour participate in an event with the intention of protesting totally against a Government introducing a measure to raise resources for environmental solutions, and I cannot do that with honour because I introduced one as my first acts as Minister of Finance and Prime Minister of Barbados, he told Barbados Today, adding that his decision was prompted by three reasons that remain valid.
The first is that at the RIO Summit in 1991 the Global Community committed itself to heightening the fight to find solutions to environmental issues and urged that countries and Governments introduce in their fiscal system, measures to raise resources for environmental management and sustainable development on the basis of the ‘polluter pays’ principle.
‘It is for that reason that in 1995 I introduced an environmental levy as Minister of Finance’’ Arthur recalled.
He noted that the levy, which was in existence for 15 years was introduced at a time when the absence of resources for environmental development and management led to a debacle at Mount Stinkeroo and it was no longer acceptable that the country should see the absence of financial resources as a reason why we have Mount Stinkeroo in Barbados.
We had to put in a South Coast Sewerage System. We still need one for the West Coast. You had to protect the shoreline and I could go on.
Based on that, Arthur said he could not now fault the Freundel Stuart administration for its move to apply resources to deal with environmental management, even as he warned ‘You have to do it properly’ .
This Government abolished the environmental levy and then came with a tax that was absurd. It is now trying to make the tax sensible but I can’t participate with honour in a march to have no environmental resources at all.
He went on to dismiss Mottley’s proposal for a water levy to replace the Municipal Waste Tax, saying it would only make matters worse. That would cause me, if that was to be the proposal to do in St. Peter , what I did to the Municipal Waste Tax. I would have to tell them not to pay that too. So I am in a very conflicted position.
Ends Quote.
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