Submitted by Douglas
Saturday, 21st February, will mark two years that the Democratic Labour Party, under the leadership of Prime Minister, the Right Hon. Freundel Stuart, Q.C., M.P, was re-elected to serve the people of Barbados. Every day over those two years we have kept our commitment to the people of Barbados to deliver on our promise to develop a Barbados which is: socially balanced, economically viable, environmentally sound and characterized by good governance.
Our Prime Minister, his Cabinet and members of the parliamentary team have shown that they are capable of managing the affairs of Barbados in the most challenging period that this country has ever gone through. We wish to commend our Prime Minister and party leader for his mature leadership style. He has handled every challenge faced with a fearless resilience and integrity.
Over the two years we have had to make some tough decisions to stabilize the economy of Barbados. The people of Barbados, recognising that this action was indeed necessary, kept the faith with our Prime Minister and the members of the Democratic Labour Party.
Now as we enter our third year in office we can see the signs of recovery on the horizon and we know that our labour was not in vain. The Barbados economy is on a growth path and this Democratic Labour Party administration is assiduously working to deliver on our commitments from the 2013 manifesto.
Last week the Freundel Stuart administration delivered two master strokes. The first was the announcement of the approval of $3 Million in study grants for UWI students. The Second was the announcement by the LIAT shareholder governments that Barbados will become a primary hub for the airline.
When the government asked students to carry a small portion of the cost to finance their education at the University of the West Indies, this DLP administration promised that we would make the bursaries available to students who needed a helping hand. Finally, the support offered by this government to students in need of assistance is available.
This DLP administration has always kept its commitment. The process may have taken longer than originally anticipated. However, we need to do things by the book. Those students who will receive the bursaries, I am sure will be grateful for the assistance even though it was delayed.
After the meeting of the shareholder governments of LIAT on Friday it was announced that LIAT will be taking some strategic steps to reduce its expenses and return the airline to profitability. Among these strategic steps was the decision to make Barbados the primary hub allowing the airline to capitalize on the lucrative southern market. The Caricom market is the third largest market for Barbados’ tourism. As the largest shareholder government the success of LIAT is important to Barbados. The strategic move to bring the employment numbers in line with the size of the fleet being operated as well as streamlining the fleet with one type of aircraft will help to reduce the overheads of the airline and place it on a growth path.
These two initiatives show that the Barbados government is moving strategically to bring about crucial changes which will have a lasting impact locally and regionally. Team DLP is on the job and continues to deliver positive results 2 years after our 2013 election victory. Compare this to the idle members of the opposition Barbados Labour party, who are into their second year of consistently trying to retard the progress of development in this country. A callous and idle opposition into its 40th day of being paid for doing absolutely nothing.
Pop Quiz – Trip down memory lane
The 2007 Auditor General report provided a review of the construction of the Police Station at Crab Hill St. Lucy. The following conclusion was provided:
The construction cost of this project has been rising steadily as a result of the discovery of additional defects, and the current estimated cost is $3 million. When this is added to what has been paid to the previous contractor the total cost of the project will exceed $4 million and this is over $2.6 million more than the original contract.
The Project Manager in a report dated 28th February 2006 noted the following: “This contract suffered for two reasons: lack of competent construction personnel, and finance. In short, a company which is not a construction company is trying to operate in a field alien to its capabilities.”
The payment to the contractor for poor construction work constitutes a waste of Government’s funds, which could probably have been avoided had more care and attention been given to the company’s track record in this field of work, and a more pro-active approach adopted by the Ministry to monitor the work of the contractor. (Source: Auditor General’s Report, 2007, page 72.)
1. We ask the Barbados Labour Party to name the incompetent contractor who was awarded the contract?
2. Provide the name or names of the “sanctimonious hypocrites” who presided over this fiasco?
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