Submitted by Anthony Davis
IF BARBADOS, The Bahamas, and Trinidad and Tobago were included in a new global survey on social progress where would they have ranked? … Jamaica was 44th on the list of 133 countries which were studied for the progress they have attained in meeting the social needs of their citizens. The survey covers roughly two-thirds of the countries that belong to the United Nations (UN) but it didn’t include most of CARICOM’s top performers – Barbados, The Bahamas and St. Kitts-Nevis among them – when it comes to such things as education, gender equality and efforts to make people feel secure on the streets and in their homes – Nation Newspaper
I forgive Tony Best when he surmises that Barbadians may be caught off guard if Barbados fails to make the list of the 50 most highly rated states under the Human Development Index (HDI) report due to be released later this year. He lives overseas, and is not living through the carnage which this Juggernaut is leaving behind as system after system is being demolished by this Government, but we are to believe that all’s well in beautiful Barbados. Everything which was put in place for the wider spectrum of our society has been demolished with impunity. The funding for education, health and welfare has been drastically cut, with the Minister of Finance stating that there is a “low cash flow”.
There is no low cash flow when it comes to the sweetheart deal given to sandals as the taxpayers’ money is handed over to a foreign hotel chain which has been given all manner of tax breaks and concessions amounting to millions of dollars yearly as it does not have to pay taxes even on goods purchased in Barbados as the farmers are left holding the nasty end of the stick once again. This hotel chain is being fawned over by all and sundry as if it is the best thing since sliced bread.
Can you imagine that the head honchos of this chain are allowed to purchase vehicles tax free when those of local hotels which are struggling to make ends meet are still to receive the same deal – 18 months after the three-week one was given to Sandals?
It is obvious that with such an advantage that hotel can bring more people to the island. However, I question how much the spend of the visitors will be seeing that that hotel is all-inclusive. This means that accommodation, beverages and food are paid for up front, and therefore they don’t have to venture outside their stronghold to get anything whatsoever.
Now we have a god called Sandals which is being worshiped daily either by the Minister of Tourism, or one of the head honchos he has put in place at the two tourism entities. Almost daily there is one of them expounding the greatness of that entity. It is Sandals which has brought in so many and so many visitors, as if the other hotels don’t do the same – despite the advantage which this Government has given to that chain of hotels. Usually it’s home drums beat first, but here it is the opposite.
What about the stand-alone bars and restaurants, watercraft operators and taxi operators, and all of the other things which people have been encouraged to go into as entrepreneurs?
What about all of the foreign exchange that is need here, but is being flown out on a daily basis to its headquarters?
Every day either the Minister of Tourism or one of the two head honchos of the tourism entities can be heard fawning over Sandals and/or its owner. They should gather some pride and act like other Barbadians. The Minister of Finance did not have the money to help the scions of the poor, the needy and the vulnerable to remain at the University of the West Indies (UWI) Cave Hill Campus, but he could take their parents/guardians taxes and give them to a hotel chain. He did not have enough money for the Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH), but he could dump our taxes into Sandals. He did not have enough money for the mothers on maternity leave who had paid their money into the NIS Funds, but he had money for Sandals. What about the Welfare Department? He didn’t have any money for that department either, but we all know where the money they should have received has gone.
How about the Barbados Transport Board? Did he have any money to replace some of the aging buses so that the working populace – who do not have the luxury of being picked up by a chauffeur-driven high-end vehicle – can get to/from work in a timely manner?
No way!
Most of the things which they demolished would have redounded to the benefit of the female population as they are the ones who are studying most, they are the ones who have to go to the QEH when their time to give birth is up, and have to receive their maternity leave cheques from the Welfare Department. Yet the Prime Minister can say that the DLP put many of these things in place. However, he used the wrong pronoun when he stated that we did this and that. He should have said they did this and that.
If Gross Domestic Product figures are not a reliable gauge to progress, why is the minister of Finance still using them?
I have no problem with the term yard fowl as it is part of the Bajan dialect.
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