LIAT, the Political Football of Caricom
Minister Donville Inniss
A reason our little islands will never agree to fully integrate, whether under the umbrella of Caricom or some other functional arrangement, can be traced to deep insularity. Some have convinced themselves it does not exist until a Shanique Myrie or LIAT incident serve to bring it to the fore.
Barbadians are aware Minister Donville Inniss suffers from an ailment which causes him to run his mouth like a sick nigga botsy. His castigation of Prime Minister Gaston Browne of Antigua recently followed a similar public chiding by Prime Minister Ralph Gonzales – listen to David Ellis’ 630 – yet Gaston Browne picked on Inniss and ignored Gonzales scathing and articulate response directed at him – Gonzales is his equal after all. The politically partisan will rejoice in the putting down of Inniss by Browne and under the breath lament the fact late Prime Minister Tom Adams is dead. If Adams was alive no rookie Prime Minister would dare to spout the nonsense coming from Browne at a member of the Barbados cabinet.
For many years LIAT has been located in Antigua and managed by successive administration as if it were a department of the public service. Barbados is the largest shareholder and therefore has the right to influence and determine policy. If Browne wants to keep LIAT in Antigua he is encouraged to raise the capital to assume a greater equity stake or shut the hell up!
The following was posted to BU by Aviator James Lynch:
LIAT is in a mess, and – whether the shareholders like it or not – it has been in a mess for more than four decades, and at huge taxpayer expense.
What is the solution? It is not political, that’s for sure. And it is not any of the wild solutions found in “Letters to the Editor” or social media, either.
LIAT is a highly technical resource which REQUIRES licensed and experienced professionals to run it, not just any random or politically-connected person who is willing to “see what they can do” or who can beg someone to “try a thing”.
FACT: The only saviour of LIAT can be the shareholders themselves. In my experience the prime ministers listen to nobody, and I cannot believe their “advisors” are suggesting these courses of action.
Those prime minister-owners of the airline need to put personal ego and island politics aside, face the stark reality and do what should have been done decades ago… treat LIAT as an arms-length corporation, get it OFF their own personal desks, and hand it over to the professionals.
Shareholders
As owner-representatives the shareholders should ONLY set the over-all goals of the airline. If run properly and professionally, I believe the various other EC countries would reconsider taking shares of LIAT, but they WILL NOT – and I would strongly suggest they DO NOT – just throw more taxpayer money into the deep and wide money pity that is and has been LIAT for more than 50 years, regardless of the demands and threats from the shareholder chairman.
Board
At the next level down, the current Board should be cleared entirely, replaced with properly qualified and experienced respected regionals appointed as directors, who are as intimate with aviation as humanly possible.
Management
It is reasonable to assume that this new Board would then find, hire and appoint properly qualified and experienced respected aviation professionals – preferably ‘regionals’ – to the level below them who would run the airline at a profit, or at the very least to break even. Problem solved.
CHANGE is the operative word. Without change, in its current form LIAT will always be a global joke.
LIAT’s shareholders do not now demand professionalism and quality but political obedience and mediocrity, they continue to send political appointee hacks to serve in Board and management who know virtually nothing about how to run an airline, and themselves continue to micromanage from afar a fast-changing resource in a technical field and discipline they themselves know nothing about.
My advice – if the shareholders really want to save LIAT – is for them to get OUT of the board room and management suite, and to REPLACE the Board with qualified people who know the difference between a debit and a credit, prop wash and slipstream, aileron and elevator, rivet and tri-wing. Such people are invariably straightforward, and CANNOT be fooled, brambled, jacked up or played, and who would not tolerate for even a week the ridiculous nonsense that has passed for “management” at LIAT for the last many decades.
And such change would include the authority to CHANGE the airline to any specific form which is suited to the region, the climate, the airfields, the conditions and the people.
Globally, executive managers are continually judged by performance, and have no tenure. That is, if they screw up or do not perform, their resignation is demanded by the Board and they are replaced. Same for Board members… if a chairman cannot produce the desired results from the management under his control and he does not replace them to achieve the set targets, he goes out the door too.
Not so in the Caribbean, apparently. Decade after decade the Board and executive management plod their way through hundred-million-dollar losses after meltdown, after disaster, after catastrophe, after hundred millions lost, and life just returns to “normal”. Nobody gets blamed, nobody goes home, nobody is liable in any way.
And, by the way, the taxpayers who foot the entire bill for all this fooling around are told they are not entitled to see any of the accounts.
Let’s be serious and get this straight: Politicians or not, the way real businesses work is that shareholders set the grand overall future target (for LIAT, at the very least, break even). Boards are normally made up of professional, knowledgeable people in the same industry who have the connections and ability to advance the company and with executive management to produce the overall plan to reach that future target, and then execute that plan as professionals.
And if they cannot perform – or they perform badly – THEY ARE REPLACED.
Without such CHANGES from amateur bunglers to industry professionals made from the very top of LIAT – and they can still happen, despite all the lightning and thunder – LIAT is doomed, and I forecast will not last much longer.
Surely, at this point we as taxpayers and passengers have all had and seen – and paid for – enough nonsense.
If the shareholders of LIAT refuse to get serious and make changes, I beg, on behalf of the poor struggling employees and passengers, set a date two years hence for the closure and SHUT IT DOWN. This sounds drastic, but if given reasonable notice of a shutdown people can make plans for their lives and their travel, entrepreneurs and other airlines can see a way towards starting an airline to serve their countries, and life can go on.
The alternative is for everyone to arrive at all of the airports across the network early one morning and find the LIAT offices chained shut by the bailiffs. Because no business will wait forever for payment, like their shareholders LIAT cannot pay their bills, and – no matter how much is owned by countries – the airline is still governed by the laws of those countries.
James “Jim” Lynch
Caribbean Aviation Consultant
Barbados Underground 
Remember to check our Lawyers in the news page
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Crooks in Barbados can never do clean business,Other CC countries knows full hand who they are dealing with , Yet will not speak up, PM Browne is the new guard looking to work with Stanford paid off crooks,Barbados and SVG want to keep the lies and fraud in place , It will be the WARS of the PMs in the Caribbean ,
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I am of the opinion that the Prime Minister of Antigua, Gaston Browne, is an ignorant, arrogant political novice, especially when one takes into consideration the silly and xenophobic comments he makes.
I spent 6 days in Antigua last week and judging from the comments coming from PM Gaston Browne, it seems as though he has some sort of vendetta against Barbados.
Rather than concern himself with the influx of “refugees” from Guyana and Santa Domingo who have been creating much difficulties in Antigua, from the time he was elected PM of Antigua, Browne has been making xenophobic statements about Barbados more in an effort to appease Antiguans and as an indication he is doing something for them.
One of the first statements he made was that he would negotiate with the USA to have them relocate the embassy from Barbados to Antigua, since it was too expensive for Antiguans to travel to Barbados to apply for a US visa.
Browne has been telling Antiguans he will try to regain majority shares in LIAT, since the Baldwin Spencer administration allowed Barbados to purchase shares to become the majority shareholder, rather than make any significant investment to the maintenance or development of the airline.
He has vowed to resist any attempt to move LIAT’s operations from Antigua to Barbados, because we are only interested in building our economy and finding work for Barbadians.
On July 18, 2013, the board of directors of the Caribbean Development Bank approved a US$65M loan to the four shareholder governments of LIAT to assist with the purchase of aircraft under a Fleet Modernisation Project. Browne has also been giving Antiguans the impression that Barbados does not make any contribution to the loan repayments.
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What Browne should be doing is to sit with Chairman Ralph Gonzales and agree how they can get all of his OECS colleagues onboard and switch from their parasitic ways.
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I suspect our PM only bringing home LIAT to stuff it with his people to look like he is creating employment.
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David April 17, 2015 at 8:55 AM #
“What Browne should be doing is to sit with Chairman Ralph Gonzales and agree how they can get all of his OECS colleagues onboard and switch from their parasitic ways.”
I agree with you 100%, David.
However, Browne has been creating an anti Barbados sentiment among Antiguans, by directing all his pejorative comments at Barbados, rather than discussing the broader issues about LIAT with Gonsalves.
Since he only corresponds with politicians of his class, Browne should encourage the prime ministers of Grenada, St. Kitts, St. Lucia, Anguilla, Guyana, Martinique and Guadeloupe to invest in LIAT, and stop all his arrogant shiite talk.
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@ David
How long must Bushie continue to harp on the OBVIOUS FACT that CSME and ANY kind of general regionalism is nothing but a lotta waste time, energy and especially MONEY….
The ONLY meaningful inter-regional arrangements can be bilateral agreements negotiated between willing and able islands….binding BUSINESS arrangements.
Small minded brass bowls do not have the capability to adhere to long-term multilateral arrangements…..PERIOD.
LIAT is a natural regional entity and should be sold to an organisation such as Goddards Group or MASSY….someone who can tell the politicians to piss off…
MATTER FIXED….
Then those shiite countries that seek to extract unreasonable parasitic tax benefits should be charged a service fee or left out of the damn loop…
Antiguans have ALWAYS generally hated Bajans….nothing new. Browne is just using this KNOWN fact to his domestic political advantage…… what do you expect?
He probably is now realizing, having come into office, that that island is BROKE, has no clear options beyond borrowing, can no longer lean on illegal activities, and without Sanford’s large scale ponzi crookery….will devolve into chaos….
…same shiite position as Froon, with no more CLICO ponzi money, no more NIS free money, sugar industry dead, tourist industry about to be “sargassummed” to death, and all his ministers and lawyer friends exposed as crooks and scumbage…
…why do you think he is on about republics and relocating LIAT…?
A brass bowl and his money are soon parted, …but trusting fools with OUR money will actually leave us bankrupt and enslaved.
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🚅I support all that has been said in the above posts.LIAT is a virtual monopoly and is a major investment in keeping these islands bridged.It has to be properly managed by competent people.It all comes down to TRUST,because I know what can take place when the people’s taxes are used to fund high costs inventory.
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Artaxerxes April 17, 2015 at 8:27 AM #
“I am of the opinion that the Prime Minister of Antigua, Gaston Browne, is an ignorant, arrogant political novice, especially when one takes into consideration the silly and xenophobic comments he makes.”
Browne is definitely Inniss’ equal in dumbness, but bypasses him in stupidity…..
Simple common sense, if there are 2 airlines servicing the Caribbean, that is integration X2.
Although I fail to see how travelling on one puddle jumping incompetent airline like Liat, for a mere 45 minutes minimum or 2 hours maximum works out to integration, that’s like taking a train, bus or car ride for 45 minutes or two hours and calling it integration.
Caribbean leaders are jokes, even the ones who were trained or schooled in North American or European countries, they are petty, frivolous small minded idiots who do not know how to use even 10% of their brain capacity and might as well had stayed in the Caribbean and be as mindless as the ones who never left.
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@Benjaminite
You hit the nail right on the head. He may or may not be “bringing LIAT back to Barbados” for employment purposes but as long as it can look that way you will have problems.
One thing is sure: You cannot run a successful airline with a hub close to the extremity of the service area and far away from your largest customer base. I still think Antigua ought to have an important role to play as a “Northern Hub” but it is quite clear that Barbados – because of the US Embassy and the GAIA – drives a lot of the traffic. There is little doubt that there should be a major hub here.
@ Artaxerxes
Gaston Browne is just a politician (that probably incorporates all the arrogance and ignorance to which you alluded). Having travelled and lived in the region, it has to be said that in general amongst Caribbean people there is a very serious negative view of Barbadians and Barbados. We are “proud”, we tek ‘way their men and their women, we locked up people’s sons and daughters (while working as policemen and gaolers), we did not do enough for their children in school (working as teachers and especially headmasters and headmistresses), we charged them too much taxes (as commissioners of income and land-tax).
The fact that several of our parents left these shores and took up senior positions of authority in other caribbean countries was commendable but it has left a real cultural mark against the country and its citizens.
This particular observation is not true among the “higher classes” who interacted with Bajans at UWI or in other professional capacities and see them in a better light.
This situation allows the politicians in the OECS to gain political mileage by playing to that particular underlying strata of their societies even if their rhetoric is empty. St. Lucia has prided itself as stealing the Jazz Festival and the Atlantic Rally for Cruisers while Antigua is happy to have stolen West Indies Cricket Board.
Where will it all end? When we become a banana republic.
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Can we in the Caribbean,especially ,Caricom,really sit down and agree on anything?
Every leader wants to skipper “my boat”
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Tell me something I don’t know April 17, 2015 at 11:32 AM
Interesting view.
What I dont understand is if the PM is so keen on seeing return on investment wouldn’t it be cheaper just to cut some funding into LIAT?I cannot see how bringing the airline wholly into Barbados be more cost effective when you have to source labour, probably heavily imported.
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@ Artaxerxes April 17, 2015 at 9:29 AM
The proposal to move LIAT from Antigua to a more ‘southerly located’ hub is not new. It has been on the table for years. The problem is one of political will to engineer and execute such a bold plan.
Your attacks are quite justifiably aimed at P M Browne but his stance is backed by the Antiguan political class; even his immediate predecessor would give tacit but strong support against the move that would put hundreds of Antiguans on the breadline.
I would like you to convince us how Barbados can pull off this LIAT relocation given the current state of its economy, the moral bankruptcy of its leader and the attendant fading ability to inspire confidence in his administration to get anything done.
Name on project other than the Sandals giveaway that the current administration has successfully undertaken.
What about the ongoing NIS fiasco and lack of financials?
What about the promise to merge, rationalize and restructure or close down those 19 or so statutory boards and agencies indentified over 2 years?
If the current administration can’t even deal with the garbage problem in Bim which requires the acquisition of additional trucks and equipment do you really feel it has the capacity to relocate LIAT or even start a new airline in time to save Barbados from further social rot and economic decay?
What about the CLICO debacle and the head honcho’s open support of a known fraudster? Do you really feel Barbados has the moral or business authority to tell Antiguans to let go of LIAT for the sake of its financial and operational survival?
When the CLICO behemoth of political shame is slain with the arrow of justice in Barbados then Bajans like Pornville can look Antiguans in the eyes and shout cries of opprobrium for protecting their self-interests with Speaker Carry-away-a-ton looking on as the town crier of integrity and moral righteousness.
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Just heard shortkneecrutch Bobby Morris putting his spin on the republic red herring.Hear his twisted stinking Dems logic:DLP parliamentarians,BLP parliamentarians and the single Independent parliamentarian are in favour of Barbados going Republic.Since all 30 of these parliamentarians,according to Morris represents ALL the people,ipso facto,ALL the people are in favour of Barbados going republic.Nasty little fellow.Go to the back of the class for espousing that senile type of logic.Flushing stinking dem.Punk!
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@ Gabriel April 17, 2015 at 5:47 PM
Bobby Morris could only have spewed forth such arrant haughtiness on the certainty of the republic status for Barbados by November 2016 if Fumble has received ‘private’ assurance of collusion to betray the people from the BLP MPs who are prepared to support him to obtain the necessary two-thirds majority to amend the Constitution.
My question to the Opposition is this: What moral right do you have to enter into such a pack with the political devil?
How can you support a change when Speaker Carrington would most likely be the ‘new’ Speaker under the blackened republic?
What would we think about you other than being traitors were you to support Lord King Fumble in this republic nonsense when he continues to protect Leroy Parris from Justice for the fraud committed against the people of the dawning republic.
Where in your manifesto did you propose to the people the republic for the country?
What’s wrong about waiting until the next general elections (in the interest of efficiency) and put it to the people as at separate issue to vote on?
‘Do you agree Barbados should become a republic? Yes or No.
The voice of the people in a true republic is supposed to be the voice of God. Not Fumble, not Bobby Morris, not Donville, not Mia not even politically-dead Owen and certainly not the 30 members of that dictatorial political class of jackasses that can’t even get the PAC up and running far less the tabling of a straight forward report from the Committee of Privileges.
Let the people speak and be heeded!
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What do you guys want the PM of Antigua to do and say. Liat is so important to Antigua’s economy, he is going to fight to keep Liat there. He’s not going to roll over and sleep and not say a word.
I want to whole-hearted agree to bringing a Caricom airline based here. But whenever government gets involved in anything, it just runs a lot of things into the ground. e.g Congaline. I hope if the airline based here materialises, it will be a private-public joint-venture to help mitigate political interference and not drain government resources.
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Prime Minister Gaston Browne needs to explain why a member of his cabinet agreed with the decisions taken at the last LIAT shareholder’s meeting. He needs to respond to Prime Minister Ralph Gonzales dressing down of him or shut the hell up.
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Kevin April 17, 2015 at 7:08 PM #
What would guarantee the problem in Antigua would not duplicate itself here?PM Browne has a right to be concerned but to pull the entire outfit here would be just as unwise.He might end up having the last laugh because I suspect LIAT will fail here and opening up the north to some healthy competition.If I were PM Stuart I would thread carefully.
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@ David April 17, 2015 at 7:21 PM
Who say Gonsalves is telling the truth?
Why hasn’t PM Stuart or his representative not yet confirmed what PM Gonsalves is affirming?
Why has a minister (Inniss) with no portfolio responsibilities for aviation or regional integration matters been let go like an attack dog to charge at Browne? Where is Sealy or Bobby Morris or even the conveniently loquacious McClean as she was at the outset with the Myrie case?
Don’t you think a politician that sees Barbados as a ready-made market for his country’s most profitable export product would not try to appease its customers or massage the ego of the country’s boss man?
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@Miller
Why should the others speak if the Chairman if the Shareholders have spoken?
You agree LIAT continues to be used as a political football?
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Those whose Lottery numbers have not come in, in an independent Barbados, will reap the jackpot in a Republic Barbados, frig the natives.
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@ David April 17, 2015 at 7:46 PM
Of course LIAT is a political football and will continue until it falls out of the sky.
The chairman of shareholders is also a politician who would say one thing in private and the complete opposite in public.
The same way the chairman of the bajan cabinet agreed to the “First in, Last out” principle when cutting the staff at the NCC. And what happened when one of the same voters’ (shareholders) representatives went contrary to that agreed and publicly announced principle?
Now who is the bigger liar and hypocrite here?
PM Browne’s representative on LIAT’s Board or the NCC (nasty crooked con-artist) in the bajan cabinet of two-timing liars?
The NCC fired workers have as much right to fair treatment and honest dealings as the real stakeholders in LIAT. Do you think this LIAT relocation would take as long as it is taking to hear the NCC workers’ cases before the Fumble arranged ERT headed by a lawyer who has no moral compunctions or professional ethics when it comes to paying his dues for practising his lucrative profession.
If Hal G can be chairman of the ERT why can’t Leroy Parris be made chairman of LIAT? After all he has a god-like track record of causing regional business enterprises to collapse. But more importantly, he is the close pal of the largest shareholder representative, unlike Gonzy who really thinks he (the main shareholder rep) is just a stuck-up piece of ugly black shit.
Those who live in glass house should not throw stones.
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@Miller etc.
Do you really feel Barbados has the moral or business authority to tell Antiguans to let go of LIAT for the sake of its financial and operational survival?
+++++++++++
I guess Antigua is now occupying the moral high ground after any memory of Sanford’s Ponzi scheme is now history. Our more recent Ponzi scheme is still in the headlines but has Sanford’s knighthood been rescinded?
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@ Sargeant April 17, 2015 at 8:58 PM
“Our more recent Ponzi scheme is still in the headlines but has Sanford’s knighthood been rescinded?”
Yes it was rescinded by the “Queen”.
What you should be of immediate interest to you is the high probability that Hal G, QC a delinquent dues payer might soon become Sir Hal G, QC before the republic shit hit the monarchy fan.
Would you be supportive of the proposal to award Leroy Parris the highest honour for meritorious achievement called the “Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves” medal for sophisticated fraud and clean-cut money laundering.
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But when you think about it, Barbados would be better off as a Republic with Stuart as the President.
Given his disposition ,status, or whatever, we would not have to worry about an Imelda Marcus First Lady with a 1000 pairs of shoes, or a Grace Mugabe who commandeers a jet plane at the taxpayers expense to go shopping in Johannesburg , or a Michele Bennnet-Duvalier, who along with her friends purchased expensive minx fur coats, to wear in the tropical Haitian Palace with the Air-condition system turned up to the max. Or an Asma al-Assad ,who during the midst of a bloody civil war , in Syria, found time to go shopping at Harrods and such places in London. And not even a Stella St John to change out the curtains and the interior decorations.
Yes sir, Fumble comes without the baggage, just like LIAT.
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@Miller etc.
I am on record in favour of abolishing these hifalutin titles but HG is a very valuable advisor to the PM so he must be rewarded with a title commensurate with his ability, knowledge and contribution to the country, money is fleeting but you can carry a title with you (or at least on your grave maker), and you don’t have a clue of the legal opinion(s) that he has authored for the Gov’t.
The above was written tongue firmly in cheek it is up to the cognoscenti to separate the wheat from the chaff.
I thought that this Republic talk was all about throwaway lines at a local constituency meeting now it seems to have taken a life of its own and Freundel and Company may indeed decide that this would be icing on the cake of the 50th anniversary of Independence. So we takeaway a figure head at Buck House and replace her/him with a figurehead in Bim with the accompanying “bread and circuses” three day drunk but how does that improve the life of the “grass root” Bajan?
One of Chairman’s Mao failed schemes to transform the Chinese economy was called “The Great Leap Forward”, when the Republic comes I will be spraying on the walls a la Banksy “Sorry! The lifestyle you ordered is currently out of stock”.
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They say one shouldn’t judge that aside looking at the buffoon Gas Browne there is striking resemblance to Charlie Chaplin lampooning the infamous Austro-German dictator who became the most despised leader of all time. What is it with the moustache. Cut it or reshape the moustache Browne. I dead with laugh whenever I see a pic of Gas Browne and that 1940’s moustache. What a joker. His attacks on Barbados are as predictable as some of the other Caribbean leaders. Unless your head is buried in the sand Barbadians are not well liked in the region. Antigua land of convict Sir Allan Stanford and the notorious Birds is true to form with their PM Gas Browne launching attacks on us. Nothing new and Browne is a lightweight anyhow and should be ignored. His concern should be Arabs giving away Antiguan passports as a bonus for a couple hundred dollars investment in Antigua Barbuda. LIAT is doomed if it remains as is and remains domiciled in Antigua. Its best bet is to move to the more populous Southern Caribbean. That is as obvious as Antigua’s most revered adopted son Stanford running a massive crime fraud syndicate or Gas Browne’s moustache looking like you know who.
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LOL @ Togetherness
…he look like a female rabbit in truth 🙂
ha ha ha
LOL
oh shirt!!
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@ Togetherness April 18, 2015 at 1:25 AM
“ Cut it or reshape the moustache Browne. I dead with laugh whenever I see a pic of Gas Browne and that 1940’s moustache. What a joker. His attacks on Barbados are as predictable as some of the other Caribbean leaders.”
Togetherness, we were “waiting” with the ‘vain’ hope you would drop that xenophobic jingoistic crap since you have now embraced OSA into your inner circle of trusted advisors.
Didn’t he argue on good authority and indeed ‘seasoned’ experience that Barbados relies more heavily on its economic survival on the Eastern Caribbean than the other way around (except for St. Vincent with its multi-million dollar export of mind-altering substance to keep the Bajan youth in a daily state of suspended animation)?
Suppose Antiguans were to make “laughing sport” not only at the many foibles and failures of your own home-grown version of the fumbling Magoo but also at his nose that could provide the landing space and accommodate at the same time 3 VA 747’s at the new VC Bird Int’l ?
What would you say about that? The joker Browne can certainly cut his moustache as you recommend but would you proffer similar advice to your dear beloved party leader?
We are sure you have heard the adage: ‘Cutting off your nose to spite your face’. But do you really feel that is possible given the rate of speed the man operates at?
Man LIAT and the CCJ would move to Barbados and the CDB relocated to Antigua before a millimetre of skin is removed from Fumble’s oil tanker size facial protuberance.
How come Barbados is now the laughing stock of the Caribbean? Was it so under EWB or Owen Arthur? Barbados might have been envied and secretly admired even if Bajans were seen as a class of stuck-up pompous whingeing imitators of the English hypocrisy.
But they certainly were not laughed at in the square of public ridicule and contempt as they are under the current administration. From the Gestapo like deportation of the Guyanese to the humiliation of Myrie to the massive CLICO Fraud involving a former PM to the condemnation of the CCJ now to attacks on P M Browne for just protecting his country’s interest just as Barbados would seek to protect its rum industry. Who or what next in the crosshairs of the fumbling incompetent tactless administration?
“The right to swing my fist ends where the other man’s nose begins.” ~Oliver Wendell Holmes
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@Miller
“The right to swing my fist ends where the other man’s nose begins.” ~Oliver Wendell Holmes
……………………………………………………………………………………………….
He would have to have a fist like Popeye to deal with Fumble
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Seems Gaston Browne will have his hands full in the weeks ahead. His government is being sued by the former Governor General, how embarrassing.
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The GG was a political hack that did a lot of questionable things in the last days of the Spencer administration. She is suing for severance and those kinds of monies. The
Antigua government is broke like the Barbados government so she may have to wait like the NCC or Transport Board workers had to do in Barbados!
Interesting times in the Caribbean and quite beneath the dignity of the office, I would say!
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Our brand of the Westminster Model of governance needs review and redesign to take account of the differing experiences of 21st century office holders coming out of a plantation hegemony.Unlike their Barbadian counterpart,Antigua’s GG seem to have a love of the old style colonial governor wearing white tunic type dress complete with headdress featuring plumes!The former GG Louise Lake-Tack even carries a name befitting her colourful character.Some political appointees can be relied upon to do the unusual so when the good lady decided as a parting but unusual gesture to confer knighthoods and other local honours to include the cook,gardener etc among her household staff,she did not betray the modesty and conservatism for which the office bearer of a former dispensation might have been expected to uphold.As one local parliamentarian said in the House of Assembly as an aside”Now is we time,wunna had wunna time” No class,no broughtupsy,Its a waste of time to hope for a better tomorrow.We are into a different era of governance;one recalls the Kant dialectic
thesis,antithesis,synthesis.
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Ladies and gentlemen, while your discussion ranges from one subject to another a number of facts remain…
Over 500 of LIAT’s jobs are in Antigua. If those jobs were in Barbados and in jeopardy through the stupidity of politicians you would demand your leader demonstrate as much fire on behalf of Bajans as Browne is demonstrating on behalf of his people. You cannot have it both ways.
Bringing LIAT’s Head Office to Barbados will destroy the airline, for the simple reason that neglect of the aviation sector in Barbados has resulted in an almost complete lack of qualified talent and oversight in that field – as has been demonstrated by the failure to achieve Category 1 status. Bajan bureaucrats cannot threaten the FAA, so the FAA still allocates the correct status to the country. And on departure basically tells them not to call back for at least ten years. Aviation in the EC has become the cash cow, and even while hauling in millions in departure taxes and various fees they still do not want to put a penny back into it.
LIAT’s losses will not stop because you move it to Barbados. In fact it will cost another hundred million US dollars (which they obviously do not have) to relocate to Adams – and while you are banging your fists on the table demanding the jobs move to Barbados, guess who will have to pay for it? Better pull your wallet out and start counting it out now. The Bajan bureaucracy will further inflate LIAT’s costs, and not a soul here can tell me different.
LIAT’s losses will not stop, because the core problem of abysmal management and unqualified and inexperienced oversight has not been removed – that of Prime Ministers meddling in affairs they do not understand, that of a Board who (seriously) know nothing of the industry they are overseeing (no, tourism is NOT the same as aviation), and executive management who do not appear to have a clue what to do right.
Evans will presumably remain, and any qualified, experienced airline turnaround manager will tell you that – in MOST airlines they are called to – the public will see definite changes at 30 days after his arrival, and that by 100 days the shouting is virtually all over and the airline is on its way back to profitability. But a FULL YEAR after he arrived, Evans is still touring the stations and enjoying the scenery, and up until a few months ago he was still assuring the employees that nobody would be laid off.
LIAT airplanes are not brick-and-mortar restaurants, they move themselves from island to island. LIAT airplanes can be scheduled and positioned to meet any demand, but if incompetence is the order of the day – as it is at LIAT – then you really could base four aircraft in every island that LIAT serves, and flights would still be delayed and cancelled.
This is serious stuff. LIAT is on the verge of disappearing, and that would be a terrible event because it is not a solely Bajan or Antiguan airline but a regional airline – a regional resource.
For more than 50 years the politicians have screwed it up and cost YOU, the collective taxpayer, hundreds of millions of dollars – and then the same politicians have the gross insolence to tell you that the annual accounts are none of your damned business.
Minority shareholder PM Skerritt has called a shareholder meeting – we the taxpayers pay for this stuff, but again, those and the Board meetings seem to be another top secret – and hopefully as the more statesman-like figure in the EC he will be able to make some sense out of this ridiculous situation.
But even he is dealing with The Froon and Comrade Ralph, so don’t hold your breath.
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James Lynch April 23, 2015 at 10:24 PM #
Ladies and gentlemen, while your discussion ranges from one subject to another a number of facts remain…
Over 500 of LIAT’s jobs are in Antigua. If those jobs were in Barbados and in jeopardy through the stupidity of politicians you would demand your leader demonstrate as much fire on behalf of Bajans as Browne is demonstrating on behalf of his people. You cannot have it both ways.
……………………………………………………………………………………….
Bajans since the days of Granley Adams have always been accused of having a short memory, and this appears to be true for many of us.
But if my memory serves me rights LIAT was headquarted in Barbados ,and some 20 or so years ago, it moved lock,stock and barrel to Antigua, and not 500, but many many employees in Barbados were put on the breadline. Very few were offered relocation to Antigua.
And no. Neither the Bajans nor the Barbados politicians kicked up any fuss about it. The retrenched workers had no support from any quarter. It was a done deal.
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Colonel Buggy, Sir…
LIAT was started by Kittician (Sir) Frank Delisle in Montserrat, and when it outgrew the grass runway on the hillside there he moved it to Antigua, where it has been ever since, through various changes in ownership.
FACT. Although it has had a pilot base/hub there for many years, LIAT has NEVER been headquartered in Barbados. And no huge amount of Bajans have ever neen “put on the breadline” by LIAT – not the kinds of quantities Chairman Lying Jackass Holder has been discussing at Board level, whether he rejected it or not.
So your memory serves you incorrectly… I am myself a Bajan and I actually worked at LIAT, based in the same Antigua, from 1980 to 1996 – from 35 to 19 years ago – and I can 100% assure you that Head Office was always located in Antigua, and was never in Barbados (no matter what these #@$%& politicians may want us to believe).
I hope your memory will somehow be beaten back into service, Sir, because – as they say – a mind is a terrible thing to waste. And a political brainwashing is a terrible thing to experience.
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James Lynch April 24, 2015 at 3:23 PM #
Appreciate the Memory jump start .
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If PM Gaston claims there is a report authored by the CEO of LIAT he should produce it or shut up!
>
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David, that report is freely available on the internet – despite Chairman Jackass Lying Holder claiming it is just a rumour. In fact, I copied it into several Groups on Facebook, and here is another link to it…
Click to access BarbadosAirCarrier.pdf
Lying Jean Holder did claim to the Press it was just a rumour. However, it was later evident that CEO Treasonous Jackass David Evans produced it – as he has done at other airlines – presented it to the Board and it was rejected. There is NO WAY that Holder does not have his own paper copy of that document in his possession at this very moment, given to him to study and consider.
This makes two CEOs in a row who will have made major contributions to the destruction of LIAT – from the inside. Both chosen by this current Board, and by this current Chairman, and approved by this current shareholder’s Chairman of the <IAT brief.
WHERE IS THE ACCOUNTABILITY?? But this is Caribbean politics, and the loss of several hundred US$ million of taxpayers money is of no account whatsoever, just get back to business as usual.
It is MY THEORY that Brunton was “fired” from CAL as bait to infiltrate LIAT, whose CEO was then a former Board Member acting in that position until a permanent CEO could be found. Brunton left CAL with money in the bank – a very unusual situation for that airline – so he was not under-performing there and there was no good or valid reason to fire him.
Once inside LIAT, he presented a plan to the Board to replace the (hardy, reliable and appropriate) Dash-8s with brand new ATRs – the same model as CAL blew a chunk of money on – with a supposed price tag of US$ 100 million. Except that – as told to me by another aviation consultant – such a price tag would have been closer to US$ 250 million when all the bills were paid.
The premise of the new aircraft was that the new fleet would save LIAT all the maintenance costs for five years under warranty… yet even now LIAT is still fighting with the choice to pay either salaries or aircraft leases at the end of every month. It was never that bad with the Dash-8s, and the ATR interiors are already falling apart.
Not to mention the cost of re-training over 100 pilots as well as engineers and mechanics (plus accommodations, plus air fare, plus allowances, plus, plus, plus) at the ATR facility in Toulouse in France. Not to mention the cost of the total spares package, plus spare engines, etc. You get the picture.
To add insult to injury and lose whatever remained of good will for LIAT in the Caribbean, in the middle of what he himself described as a “meltdown” stranding thousands of passengers across the network, Brunton then took one of the operating aircraft off line and chartered it to a visiting politician.
Well done, Captain Brunton, mission accomplished!! T&T and CAL must be proud of you… is your picture hanging in a position of honour in the CAL Boardroom yet?
And perhaps we ought to be asking CEO Evans how much T&T and CAL are paying him to finish that demolition job.
FACT: The ONLY way LIAT is going to survive into 2017 is for the shareholder Prime Ministers to withdraw from the aviation scene, appoint a Board composed of people who have more than a whiff of a clue about aviation, give them the mandate to break even or better, and let them get on with it.
As I have stated before, in such an arrangement if management do not perform they should be fired. And if the Board do not perform then they should also be fired in their turn.
I say enough with the wasteful politics and political appointees already. Put professionals into this highly technical resource to run it, of SHUT IT DOWN,
And while we are at it, make LIAT’s annual accounts freely available to the taxpaying public who pay for LIAT and have been denied such access for decades because the politician shareholders say it is “none of their business”.
One way or the other let us STOP THE NONSENSE at LIAT.
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@ James
…you do realise that this situation with LIAT is not at all unique…… Indeed, name almost any government run or controlled entity and your analysis stands.
What exactly is there about LIAT that leads you to even hope for the implementation of a meritocratic management approach there?
You REALLY think that any of the collection of brass bowl politicians in the region would EVER appoint a Board based on technical and professional competence?
…or publish financial reports on a timely basis …. and have everyone review the lotta shiite that occurs within these entities?
…or open themselves to people like you – who know what they are talking about – analysing the reports and offering true perspective rather than spin…?
shiite man…. stop dreaming do!!
When LIAT runs out of money, the political jackasses will simply extract more money from us bowls as they always do…..
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Probably via a new “flight tax” to compliment the last “shiite tax”..
bb’s….
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Thanks for the link James, has DE publicly referred to the document? We know the MOF of Barbados dismissed it.
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If there is one thing to be said of liars and thieves, euphemism for politicians and priests, in this day of the internet, is that you can tell all the lies that you want but the digital records of your misdeeds and infelicities soon come out the woodwork to expose your lies.
I guess the MoF, and Holder et al., would never have thought that, somewhere in this digital world, a record of their conspiracy would be available for all and sundry to see.
I shall lift up mine eyes unto the hills from whence cometh mine help,
Mine help cometh from THE LORD who hath made both the Heaven and the Earth,
HE SHALL NOT SUFFER my foot to be moved.
YEA, HE THAT KEEPETH ISRAEL SHALL NEITHER SLUMBER NOR SLEEP
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Bush Tea April 25, 2015 at 10:21 PM #
When LIAT runs out of money, the political jackasses will simply extract more money from us bowls as they always do…..
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So to date we have the following on the reserve Barbados Government Salvation Army list.
1. EMERA
2. LIAT
And I wonder what is the status of the loan taken out of the National Insurance Scheme funds to pay out retrenched workers of the Transport Board. Has the Transport Board been realising any profits to service this loan?
Will the Government continue to dip into the taxpayers funds to subsidise the Transport Board?
Looks like the Transport Board is on a winning streak . Heads they win, Tails they win.
Only in Barbados.
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Bush Tea, as people who know me will tell you, I speak my mind, I speak straight, I have no hidden agendas, and frankly I don’t give a rat’s a$$ about anywhere or anything else. All I know is that after decades of abuse a multi-million-dollar regionally-owned resource is being unnecessarily politicised out of existence, and the available resources of all the shareholders COMBINED will not be able to bring it back if and when it fails.
At this rate, the bailiffs will chain the doors one night for the massive debt, in the morning that will be that – and I believe the hard-working front line employees, if nobody else, deserve better than that.
The three majority shareholders are all broke, we well know about Barbados already – on the edge of civil unrest, in my opinion – and now that Stuart owns more than 50% we can pretty much guarantee that the others are not going to beg or borrow cash to support the one leader who refuses to make decisions and lose every cent. Comrade Ralph may make all the wrong decisions, but at least he makes them.
Over the last five years I have myself personally appealed nicely, reasonably, rudely and repeatedly to all of the parties concerned, privately and publicly, directly and indirectly, to make changes, and have provided suggestions.
Owners and managers in the tourism industry have appealed for the resignation of the Board, of the Chairman, of the shareholder’s LIAT Chairman (Marxist Comrade Ralph), all with not the slightest deviation from the course of any of them.
In fact, in all that time Holder released another of his long line of non-selling books – and in the time he should spend working on LIAT he is writing yet another one – and the shareholders appointed yet another individual to the Board who also has no clue about aviation.
At this point in time I can say, without fear of contradition, that I have personally done as much as humanly possible without actually going to the PMs offices and shouting at them. I have even sent messages to Fumble’s cellphone, and just over a year ago the person Comrade Ralph called a “Buccaneer” who offered to Joint Venture with the shareholders on LIAT and insert US$ 200 million to clean it up was me.
I can also now say, without fear of contradition or any doubt in my mind, that this is the WORST Prime Minister Barbados has EVER had, even if simply because he refuses to make decisions (but of course for many more reasons that that).
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James
The man cussed David Thompson in 2006 and said he didn’t like people of Thompson complexion.You would be less favourable to be sure.Froon is a man who don’t trust his own cabinet ever since they went to the GG on no less than 3 occasions to oust Froon.Never mind what he say about who esteemed and who genuine.Btw you heard anything from the little fellow from St Lucy recently?Once upon a time you couldn’t hear a call in programme unless you heard his frivolity for contributions.One day he made a mistake and said Sagicor benefitted from the Government’s largesse(which they borrow).Kellie got cut down further(he short already).If the long serving member for St Lucy who was rewarded a cabinet post for being the longest serving DLP parliamentarian,has been cut down to size,you have joined the line James.
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but Gabriel, as it is can anyone in Bim get cut down any more than the populace has been cut down already?
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Referring to David’s Post a few back, DE – presumably LIAT CEO David Evans – has neither confirmed nor denied that he was the author of the VERY brief and basic outline of a Business Plan for robbing LIAT, the CDB and non-majority shareholders to to start “Newair” in Barbados.
Which suggests that he DID create and present that proposal to the Board as an option, otherwise by now it would have been in his own interest to publicly deny it and get a furious PM Browne off his back.
What shortened his noose rope considerably is the fact that this has been exactly his MO in the last couple of airlines he worked for… to close down the airline, rehire chosen people on management’s terms, and move on.
In his arrogance aind incompetence he isquoted as saying he had negotiated with pilots before, but had never come across such unreasonable demands. But when you close one company and hire whoever you want on your own terms there ARE no negotiations… and in Europe professionals – especially now – have a multitude of options to choose from.
In the Caribbean, there are few options, and the pay everywhere sucks – including at LIAT, so the pilots are between a rock, a hard place, and the everlasting God-awful management who are always seeking conflict. At LIAT you must accept that you will never fly anything larger than a turboprop, and you must accept that you will forever be harassed to just do your job. With few exceptions the other sub-regional airline flying jets demands a local passport (and has always done so).
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GP
One has always assumed things in Barbados would get better.We were well on the way and making lots of social,cultural and economic progress from ’61 to ’07.Then the spanner got into the works and we are in what appears a never ending downward spiral with a major problem in the simple word…….confidence.
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YES GABRIEL…I KNOW
BUT NO ONE IN THEIR WILDEST DREAMS COULD IMAGINE THAT THIS BUNCH OF IMPOTENT IMBECILES COULD DESTROY EVERYTHING SO QUICKLY
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Are you calling my favourite sledgehammerhead a mere spanner? Dis clung is at least a 70-pounder, I will have you know – solid lead on the inside.
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