The following post extracted from one of the leading Bajan Facebook pages SURVIVING OUR HARSH ECONOMIC ENVIRONMENT

• Maria Agard No this is absolutely NOT TRUE!!!! And we need to stop peddling this form of defeatist thinking. […] […]There are consequences. Anyone can be held accountable for their actions if these actions are inimical to the advancement of the country. The electorate simply refuses to pursue their options. We have THE most aware, educated, technologically connected electorate EVER, also the most apathetic and passive. If you want to see REAL change, the time to act is NOW.20 hrs · Like
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• C. Malcolm Grant Please outline a SINGLE INSTANT over the last 48 yrs where any politician has had to face the music for his/ her actions for accepting bribes, kick backs, over ruling the advice of highly trained technocrats, etc… Succeeding governments PROMISE THE WORLD when it comes to going after the corrupt elements in the previous administration, besides the rhetoric, which one has followed through COMPLETELY to the end…20 hrs · Like
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• C. Malcolm Grant David King I would love to have your thoughts on this one…20 hrs · Edited · Like
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• Maria Agard Barbados has been a signatory to the UN Convention Against Corruption since December 10th 2003. Signatory, but we have NOT ratified the convention even after ELEVEN years!!! We have had two elections since then, not a boy or season has stood firm to declare that this convention MUST be ratified. No we are happy to vote for politicians who feed us BS, go to funerals and share out iPads. If you want to know about the UNCAC you will see that provision has been made, not only for penalties against politicians found guilty of corruption, but also recovery of resources taken form the public purse.20 hrs · Like
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• Marcus Day “”In fact, the Commission observed a real hunger for constitutional change. It discerned restlessness with the status quo, which manifests itself in a pervasive, near universal discontent with politicians and politics alike. At the heart of this cynicism, we detected a widespread belief that our Constitution condemns us to a situation in which, our Governments, once elected, seem beyond
  our ability to restrain or to influence”. St Lucia reform report

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• C. Malcolm Grant Why is this type of action by the Belizean AG not more common place in our neck of the woods… How cam the “electorate” pursue such an option, without the Government of the day’s support…20 hrs · Edited · Like
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• Maria Agard C. Malcolm Grant is this comment material to this topic? I am not following you and can’t access the link you have posted.20 hrs · Like
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• C. Malcolm Grant http://jamaica-gleaner.com/…/business/business71.htmlCCJ hands down landmark ruling – Gives go-ahead for AG to sue former gov’t…jamaica-gleaner.com

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• Maria Agard Thanks20 hrs · Like
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• C. Malcolm Grant Sorry… My bad…20 hrs · Like · 1
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• Marcus Day ” Anyone can be held accountable for their actions” you say BUT WILL they, its clear the entrenched cover for each other and use small boys to sacrifice20 hrs · Like
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• Maria Agard I am yet to see a protest outside the walls of Parliament, even for the most egregious infraction, so you can answer your own question C. Malcolm Grant. There were 248,000 people on the register of electors last election. You mean that ALL were happy with the status quo of the country? If you are not personally and individually invested in fighting for what you want, who do you think will do it for you? And if you are not lifting a finger to do it for yourself, why complain that others have not?20 hrs · Like
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• C. Malcolm Grant Maria Agard let us be practical here, are you suggesting that the ONLY person(s) who is capable to bringing an end to this “revolving door” of the corruption cycle is the “small man” on the street… Where are the offices of the AG, DPP and Commissioner of Police in on all of this… Or is it that such a HISTORIC undertaking would be so POLITICALLY CHARGED, no one wants to touch it, even with the proverbial 10 ft pole… If the POLITICAL WILL existed to pursue such matters, they would be pursued beyond some HEADLINE making statement (on BOTH sides of the aisle), which is essentially designed to placate the general public… The more things change, the more they remain the same…19 hrs · Like
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• Maria Agard Yes Malcolm I am prepared to say that, because I am not giving anyone, including the small man, a pass for inertia. We all have to stand up and be held accountable. If our government(S) are not satisfying our needs, then they need to hear from us, in the most impactful and aggressive of ways.
  And I am not leaving it up to the politicians to police themselves. Why should they? This political will that you speak of does not exist in a vacuum. This political will is defined as the small man, the electorate letting the politicians know that a specific course of action is what they, the small man demands. And in most countries it is revolutionary as well as progressive. Are you prepared to challenge the status quo beyond being a keyboard warrior?

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• C. Malcolm Grant The politicians have SYSTEMATICALLY cultivated a culture of learned helplessness in the electorate over the years, yet they now expect those very same people to turn around and hold them accountable… Admittedly, I’m having great difficulty reconciling this dichotomy… “Keyboard Warrior” I’ll accept as a compliment, for the clever use of social media allows you to reach a far greater audience that someone standing at some street corner (even on a busy street), with a placard in the their hands… Obama’s electioneering team in 2007 used this to their candidate’s winning advantage… Ignore social media and you perish as a politician… And I suspect that this fact has not been ,lost on our current crop of politicians, seeing that most have active FB pages… Getting back to the original topic: I can see why so many in the public domain have lost faith in politics and politicians, consequentially there is little likelihood of ANY ELECTED GOVERNMENT gaining 50% + 1 of the TOTAL REGISTERED electorate in any election on the horizon… Relatively low election turn outs will continue to be the norm, for this and other reasons… But, this “Keyboard Warrior” will continue to do his part, once I have life, clarity of thought and remain an independent thinker…18 hrs · Like
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• Dane Ian Christmas I think one of the problem we have in Caribbean politics is that our institutions are weak .. That’s why politicians are hardly held accountable … I am not for retaining the Privy Council as our final appellate courts but the concerns of those for are quite valid.. They fear the CCJ would go th eway of our other institutions and become weak and compromised .. The media has a role to play..They must be independent, but alas, they have gone the way of all flesh.. Contributing to the problem we have of accountability of governments..18 hrs · Like
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• Maria Agard You do realize C. Malcolm that the ‘you’ I refer to is generic, so no need for you to be personal.
  Secondly, the term keyboard warrior has its merit as an instrument of change. Those of us in the local political field advocated the use of social medi…See More

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• Adrian Pinder I’m wondering if we can change this Westminster model and choose one that suits us. One that forces the electorate to become more active in the political process outside of elections.17 hrs · Like · 1
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• Adrian Pinder My thinking is that we vote in a Senate instead of it being chosen by the pm and this Senate be voted in by the electorate half way in the election cycle. That way halfway in and the electorate isn’t happy they can still have a voice. The lower house then should not be allowed to pass any bill or law no matter how many times it has been sent to the upper house.17 hrs · Like
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• C. Malcolm Grant I have repeatedly lead the the SOHEE troops to water, and once time permits will continue to do so, but at the end of the day, I cannot make them drink… People have been so mind controlled by The System over the years, he/ she is often too timid to buck the status quo… MANY hold the view that without a politician as a primary benefactor, there is little chance of them achieving some of the fundamentals for existence… The process of enlightenment will take a while, but the key to ultimately broad based enlightenment via this forum, is to continue putting forward thought provoking/ jarring posts in order to set off few light bulbs within our members… PS: I did assume the “you” you were referring to above was directed at me… Obviously I was wrong… My apologies…17 hrs · Like
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• C. Malcolm Grant We need to institute immediately the electorate’s ability to recall elected officials prior to a GE… Term limits of all elected officials needs to become a reality – Four terms as a parliamentary rep, two terms as PM…17 hrs · Like
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• Dane Ian Christmas I agree with Adrian Pinder, we have outgrown parts of our Bicameral Westminster System ” … It has outlived it’s usefullness .. Maybe we need a different model .. Maybe , like he suggested, a hybrid between the Bicameral and the first pass the line / winner takes all system..17 hrs · Like
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• C. Malcolm Grant Campaign finance reform needs to be placed squarely on the table… No one individual/ company/ corporation should be able to buy an election…17 hrs · Like · 1
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• Adrian Pinder The problem is going to be enforcement.17 hrs · Like
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• Dane Ian Christmas That’;s where the media comes in … Investigative journalism .. Suppose political candidates are being funded by drug lords or criminal bosses? .. Suppose corporate bosses actually run the show and our elected leaders are no different to those murderous, corrupt, kleptocrats in Africa?17 hrs · Edited · Like
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• C. Malcolm Grant There is a problem before enforcement and that is getting such changes into Law… Our politicians are going to vehemently oppose any changes to the process which would limit their sphere or influence, or anything which may undermine his’ her “right” to become a multi millionaire…17 hrs · Like
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• Maria Agard Malcolm the ‘you’ in my thoughts will never be personal, always generic, because the same challenge I throw out to you, I do so to all others including and especially myself. I just believe that the time has come for us to make each other really uncomfortable with our position right now. Only then will we enforce change.16 hrs · Like · 1
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• Maria Agard Campaign finance reform is a must. People get elected not for their thoughts or policies or plans for development, they are elected because there is enough money to make others happy and that is wrong. But we like it so.16 hrs · Like · 1
• David King C. Malcolm Grant you have posted all the discussion points that need to make it to a national discourse. The voter apathy you mentioned is a real concern. We need to teach civics in our schools. The average Barbadian does not understand the individual role required to participate in a democracy outside of voting every five years. Do you know there is concern in the USA also about how the PACs operate and are manipulated by politicians? Why would politicians with a vested interest in the status quo lead the change you want? To cap our concerns must be the passive role of media houses in Barbados. We have a problem and I am not sure what will have to occur to trigger the change we need t have.