One of the biggest disappointments for BU in the post Independence era has been our inability to capitalise on the investment of billions sunk into education to create a sustainable economic model by developing the human resource of Barbados. We boast we are a literate country compared to others but the true measure of success must be in the quality of our decision making, processes and quality of intuitions. The goal of educating a nation’s people has to be about equipping the citizens to make relevant decisions based on the challenges – always changing – being confronted. In 2014 – after 48 years of Independence – can we say we are happy with the state of affairs?
Critiquing a system where the stakes are high if there is failure must be embraced as a constructive exercise. In this case criticism should not be defined within the narrow confines of a political lens. The challenge is for the leadership and people of Barbados to welcome and filter all feedback and criticism by citizens with a conciliatory and collaborative mindset. We have slowly surrendered to a political system which encourages divisiveness.
In the same way the adage ‘no man is an island’ is generally accepted read no human being is a repository for all information, the same can be stated for government and political party. BU is convinced the success of Barbados must rise on the backs of the collective wisdom of all citizens and other actors in civil society.
We have surrendered our right to mould the best society to a few members of the political class who have themselves surrendered to the money class. Although no political system is perfect what all political systems have in common is the susceptibility to be influenced by the money class. How we are able to minimize the influence by the money class must be a priority for the citizenry.
The Democratic Labour Party (DLP) promised Integrity and Freedom of Information legislation – see document distributed on 3 Jan, 2008 by Reudon Eversley, Communications Director of the DLP in 2008 – in an election campaign message in 2007/8 which called for change, and it resonated with Barbadians who had (still are) become disengaged from the system of democracy reflected in greater than 30% reneging on the right to vote. Seven years after being elected the incumbent DLP government has relegated the introduction of transparency legislation to low priority. The unwillingness to hold politicians and our leaders accountable has mushroomed to a bigger issue than the promise forgotten.
A member of civil society with a key role to play is the traditional media. An effective role by the media must be the dissemination of information both informational and investigative. Given the challenges we are faced with in Barbados and the unwillingness of traditional media to risk losing their license (this is the refrain) or to offend sponsors (money class), it is unlikely traditional media will be able to galvanize change by disseminating the truth. The traditional media in Barbados is ‘impotent’ and has relinquished its responsibility to take on the hard issues. Local media is driven by a few personalities and this is where the definition of media ends. In the prevailing environment social media platforms will proliferate.
Forty eight years later the Errol Barrow vision has been dismantled and replaced with what we have no idea.
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