Barbados Underground

35 comments

• David

  September 28, 2015 7:03 PM

  

  Received from Due Diligence:

  http://www.barbadosadvocate.com/newsitem.asp?more=business&NewsID=45891

  Business Monday: Call for Barbadians in Canada to invest

  9/28/2015

  YET another call is being made for Barbadians residing in Canada to invest in the Barbados economy.

  Prime Minister, the Hon. Freundel Stuart, made the reminder while presenting the Errol Barrow Memorial Lecture recently in Toronto, Canada.

  While acknowledging that remittances and other contributions nationals in Canada make, and the rest of the Diaspora have made over the years, Stuart is encouraging them to invest directly in the country.

  ¡°For some time now, we have been talking about designing a special kind of bond targeted at the Diaspora, so that people can invest directly in the country,¡± he remarked.
  The Prime Minister indicated that there are advantages of doing this.

  The idea of more Barbadians investing in a range of areas, including stocks and Government instruments, and real estate, has been promoted vigorously for many years.
  At the Diasporic conference two years ago, personnel from a wide cross section of the private and public sectors outlined several areas where investments can be undertaken, so as to broaden the pool of resources which are vital for funding projects, while contributing to domestic savings.

  See also: http://sharenews.com/barbados-pm-calls-for-decolonization-of-governance-structure/

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• David

  September 28, 2015 7:05 PM

  

  Another,,,

  Barbados PM calls for decolonization of governance structure
  By Admin Wednesday September 23 2015

  Barbados decolonized its politics in 1966 with independence from Britain and its jurisprudence 14 years ago when it signed on to the Caribbean Court of Justice as the region’s final appellate court, replacing the British Privy Council.

  With its 50th independence anniversary just over a year away, Barbados’ Prime Minister Freundel Stuart said the time has come to decolonize the governance structure by removing Queen Elizabeth II as the titular head of state and replacing the monarch with a ceremonial president from the Caribbean island.
  Trinidad & Tobago, Dominica and Guyana are the only CARICOM countries with republican status.

  Barbados needs a two-thirds majority in Parliament to authorize the constitutional change. Stuart’s government currently has that majority in the Senate, but not in the lower house.

  “Since we are going to be 50 years very shortly, it’s time for us to address this issue,” Stuart said at a media conference while in Toronto last weekend for the annual Errol Barrow Memorial dinner organized by the Canadian arm of the Democratic Labour Party. “The republican ethic says that holders of public office should come by those offices as a result of the will of the people and should only hold those offices for so long as the people desire to have them. In every facet of Barbadian life, except at the level of the head of state, that obtains.

  “We don’t have anything against the Head of State of the United Kingdom. What Barbados believes and Guyana believes it too and all of the others who have remained in the Commonwealth is that Her Majesty the Queen is head of the Commonwealth and there is nothing wrong with that. But in terms of being the Head of State of the country, it’s time to remove that anomaly.”

  The 34-kilometre island became an independent state on November 30, 1966.

  Barbadians at home and in the Diaspora, including Canada, are overwhelmingly in favour of Barbados decolonizing its governance structure.

  The Monarch has made five official visits to Barbados, including in 1977 when she left by Concorde on her first supersonic flight. In 1989, she returned to celebrate the 350th anniversary of the Barbados parliament.
  The other Commonwealth countries that still embrace the Queen as head of state are Canada, Antigua & Barbuda, Australia, the Bahamas, Belize, Grenada, Jamaica, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, St. Kitts & Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent & the Grenadines, the Solomon Islands and Tuvalu.

  Stuart, who is in New York this week for the United Nations General Assembly, visited Dominica three weeks ago to assess the damage created by Tropical Storm Erika that wreaked havoc on the 750 square kilometre-island, triggering massive flooding and landslides.

  The island’s worst natural disaster in Dominica since Hurricane David in 1979 left 35 people missing and presumed dead. Only 11 bodies have been recovered so far.

  “What Dominica needs very badly is money, engineers and other skilled individuals and the psychological support of CARICOM people,” said Stuart. “I saw the devastation and the country needs all the help it can get. We need to get the international community involved like the financial institutions and the G7 countries to make the distinction between GDP (Gross Domestic Product) per capita and vulnerability. We have been waging that battle at the international level and I will do so again this week at the UN. Once we get that distinction recognized, then it means that small island developing states will be treated differently, in special and differential terms.”

  Stuart, who is the CARICOM chair, addressed the longstanding Guyana/Venezuela border dispute and made it clear that Guyana has the unwavering support from the Caribbean region.
  While Guyana was celebrating its 49th independence anniversary last May, Venezuela promulgated a decree seeking to swallow up a large portion of Guyana’s Atlantic sea front.
  The vast area west of the Essequibo River, which makes up two-thirds of Guyana, has been claimed by Venezuela as its own since the 19th century, when Guyana was still a British colony.
  “Guyana is essentially at the heart and soul of CARICOM as a founding member, so we support the territorial integrity of that country without compromise,” said Stuart. “We are aware that in 1899, there was an arbitral award of Guyana’s present land area to Venezuela. Guyana was not independent and didn’t have a lot to do with that issue that the British government negotiated with the United States and Venezuela.”

  Stuart said border disputes are notoriously difficult to resolve.
  “Belize and Guatemala have a longstanding territorial dispute and if you go to the Middle East, it’s worse with Israel and Palestine and so on,” he said. “CARICOM’s role is to ensure that the territorial integrity of Guyana isn’t compromised and that if this matter is to be resolved, it must be done not through any belligerent methods on the part of Venezuela, but by peaceful resolution either by negotiation, inquiry, mediation or by a judicial settlement by the international Court of Justice.”

  While acknowledging the remittances and other contributions nationals in Canada and the rest of the Diaspora have made over the years, Stuart is encouraging overseas Barbadians to invest directly in the country.

  “For some time now, we have been talking about designing a special kind of bond targeted at the Diaspora so that people can invest directly in the country and could also see the advantage of doing that,” he said.

  Since becoming Barbados’ seventh prime minister in 2010, Stuart has attended every Errol Barrow Memorial dinner celebration in Toronto.

  The event honours the memory of Barrow, who co-founded the party, trained with the Royal Air Force in the Maritimes and was conferred with an honorary doctorate of Civil Law by McGill University in 1966, the same year he led his country to independence and became his country’s first prime minister. He died in 1987 at age 67.

  “Errol Barrow was responsible for so much that Barbados is today that I consider any opportunity to memorialize him, his work and contributions to be deserving of my presence,” said Stuart. “I am now the leader of the party he founded and the PM of Barbados that he transformed.”

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• Caswell Franklyn

  September 28, 2015 7:17 PM

  

  David

  Constitutionally no Government has a two-thirds majority in the Senate, but over the years I have always suspected that some of those independent senators were not really independent.

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• Violet C Beckles

  September 28, 2015 8:01 PM

  

  We are glad that the World can see he is an ass , full of lies, Who wrote that? MOF? No limits on fraud and lies, None of what he said he is doing in Barbados and expect to get money , No one is a fool, We need the UN to look in to the Laundering of the Banks and the Massive land fraud before any bank can look our way , and here he goes with the wine and lamb skins, Jackass

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• Gabriel

  September 28, 2015 8:09 PM

  

  The electorate of Barbados should be the arbiter of any change in our governance status.What 2/3rds in what Senate this individual is talking about.And why beg people to invest in junk bonds.

  LikeLike
• Hants

  September 28, 2015 8:18 PM

  

  How does having the Queen as head of state benefit Barbados ?

  LikeLike
• David

  September 28, 2015 8:20 PM

  

  @Hants

  Some are of the view it reassures investors. Important to an island heavily dependent on the international business sector.

  On 29 September 2015 at 00:18, Barbados Underground wrote:

  >

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• David

  September 28, 2015 8:22 PM

  

  @Caswell

  Independent candidates are selected by a government appointment GG. Why was Frances Chandler given the boot?

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• Caswell Franklyn

  September 28, 2015 9:03 PM

  

  Maybe she was too independent.

  Sent from my iPad

  >

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• de Ingrunt Word

  September 28, 2015 9:22 PM

  

  So the Republic debate is back at the top of the news again. How exciting.

  This should be of interest to Donna’s fair skinned school mates who, based on her recent retrospectives, supported the Queen unstintingly. They will be fully engaged to retain the status quo.

  Although like Hants I may ask myself too “how does having the Queen as head of state benefit Barbados?”.

  I also then question myself as, to what avail such a change at this time? What particular benefits does it bring to us as a nation at fifty years old?

  Apart from the associated expenditure does it give revenue impetus to our economy?

  Do we align ourselves financially or economically to other nations to whom we are now alienated if we make this change?

  And the answers. None. None. No and No.

  But heh if the PM wants to create a legacy and frame a narrative that at fifty he is bringing full circle the legacy and vision of Errol Barrow then this MUST be done.

  This is the excellent straw-man upon which much energy will be expended away from the more serious issues facing us all.

  But we know that. Full steam ahead to legacy building.

  So this will be done before nest elections I presume…doesn’t make sense otherwise really.

  Do we start dibs now on who will be the first President. I vote Owen!!!! No actually he is too young. So I go for distinguished Judge Leroy Inniss.

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• David

  September 28, 2015 9:28 PM

  

  @Dee Word

  Is it not obvious what the PM and government is about? Barbados will be entering 50 years of Independence led by a DLP government. Don’t you see the significance of the government by winning another term on the wings of nostalgia?

  Surely you must be more discerning.

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• de Ingrunt Word

  September 28, 2015 9:38 PM

  

  So David you read my piece with one eye closed and blinking with the other….

  I made a typo but the sentence ” So this will be done before nest (NEXT) elections I presume…doesn’t make sense otherwise really.” was too sarcastic to get YOUR point of “winning another term” across!!!

  Mr Blogmaster…I see that there are too many words daily and too little time for you to masticate, savor and digest.

  Alas. My old brain discerns slowly, cynically and more sarcastically than before but discerns it does!

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• Pat

  September 28, 2015 10:26 PM

  

  The Governor of the Central Bank was in Ottawa on the 18th of this month. He was selling government of Barbados Savings Bonds to the local Bajans. He also spoke at Carleton University on foreign investment or such. I did not attend either session…..sick.

  Feedback I received was good. He was well received and people thought the returns were good. It remains to be seen, however, if the cash will be there when they want to realize their gains and recoup principal.

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• Walter Blackman

  September 29, 2015 12:08 AM

  

  “Errol Barrow was responsible for so much that Barbados is today that I consider any opportunity to memorialize him, his work and contributions to be deserving of my presence,” said Stuart. “I am now the leader of the party he founded and the PM of Barbados that he transformed.”
  The Hon. Freundel Stuart, Prime Minister of Barbados

  I suspect that many readers have not connected the dots that lie strewn and scattered all over the floor, so I will attempt to do so now. These dots connect CLICO, Barbados as a Republic, and political conditioning.

  CLICO Barbados would have started out under the protective rule of Cyril Duprey. He would have been the head of CLICO Trinidad, Guyana, Barbados, and the Windward and Leeward Islands. Under Cyril Duprey, there was hard and diligent work, and steady company growth. Cyril was replaced by his nephew, Lawrence Duprey who destroyed all of Cyril’s hard work. Lawrence then transformed CLICO Barbados (and the Windward and Leeward Islands) into a “republic” company where policyholders’ premiums could be stolen at will without anyone being answerable to any authority outside of Barbados.

  David Thompson, a de facto “President of Republic CLICO Barbados” argued that the republic status was very good for CLICO Barbados because it immunized the company against the legendary Trinidadian “thiefing”, and enabled the company to become a shining example and product of good Barbadian management. Lawrence, Leroy, Terrence, David Thompson, and members of the political class were the chief beneficiaries of this “republic” company move. The hopes, dreams, and aspirations of the policyholders (the citizens of the republic) were ruthlessly and systematically destroyed. Whilst the roguish beneficiaries built big houses and “lived large” (Hartley Henry’s words, not mine), the policyholders were left to “peep about to find (themselves) dishonourable graves” (sorry for the slight twist, Shakespeare).

  Barbados, as a colony, started out under the protective rule of Great Britain. Eventually, the colony evolved into a nation under the leadership of Errol Barrow. Under Barrow, there was hard and diligent work, and steady national growth. Barrow exhibited fiscal responsibility. He balanced the budget, borrowed prudently, provided adequate health care, instituted “free” tertiary education, provided affordable housing, built a sizeable middle class, and made Barbadians believe that they had a stake in their country. Under him, Barbados was on the rise.

  Freundel Stuart, as Prime Minister of Barbados, has been the complete opposite of Errol Barrow. He has been fiscally reckless. He has borrowed imprudently, provided inadequate health care, destroyed “free” tertiary education, provided little or no affordable housing, destroyed the middle class that Barrow built, and has now made Barbadians feel worthless and useless in their own country. Under him, Barbados is falling freely.

  I would have praised PM Stuart for his honesty if he had told the DLP Canadian audience the following:
  “Errol Barrow had no uses or respect for me, so I am now helping to destroy the party that he founded, and the country that he worked so assiduously to transform. As for you Barbadians living in Canada, when my Government was dishing out projects, and handing out lucrative contracts, did any of you ever enter my mind? Not for a minute! Ask yourself: “Is Claire Cowan a Bajan?”
  My government has been practically blacklisted on every international lending market. We are now restricted to borrowing from individual Bajans at home. Soon, they too will get smart, and recognize that we can’t repay them when the time comes. I am hoping that all of you do not read much, and that you haven’t heard yet that Barbadian bonds are junk, so, out of desperation, I am getting ready to design some special bonds for you. Be patriotic. Just give us your money. Don’t worry about getting it back.”

  Now, similar to what David Thompson did to CLICO’s policyholders, PM Stuart is trying to condition malleable minds to make them believe that by becoming a republic, Barbados would be magically metamorphosed into a well managed and prosperous country. In reality, the PM is attempting to destroy any thoughts we have of relying, or calling upon, any outside higher authority to help or rescue us. A new Barbados, with the unchallenged political class lording over us working slaves, is in the making.

  Maybe the Lord will make an appearance and be “the people’s guide” again.

  LikeLiked by 2 people
• pieceuhderockyeahright

  September 29, 2015 5:39 AM

  

  @ Mr Walter Blackman

  “My government has been practically blacklisted on every international lending market.”

  I wonder how many Bajans know this?

  “We are now restricted to borrowing from individual Bajans at home. Soon, they too will get smart, and recognize that we can’t repay them when the time comes…”

  This is also something which one wonders how many Bajans care about this?

  “I am hoping that all of you do not read much, and that you haven’t heard yet that Barbadian bonds are junk, so, out of desperation, I am getting ready to design some special bonds for you. Be patriotic. Just give us your money. Don’t worry about getting it back…”

  Here among 14 comments you have submitted one of the most profound statements about the non-existent economy of Barbados.

  How many people will

  (i) come here to read this article about the lacklustre UN presentation of Froon
  (ii) read all of the submissions and ensuingly
  (iii) see this nugget nested among the rest of the information here

  Tell me how will we be able to make a difference in 2018 when “the Usual Suspects” will seek to seduce the populace again with the same “doo-doo”?

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• David

  September 29, 2015 5:46 AM

  

  @Walter

  A correction, Barbados can borrow but at high rates given our junk status.

  LikeLike
• Walter Blackman

  September 29, 2015 9:04 AM

  

  David September 29, 2015 at 5:46 AM #
  @Walter

  “A correction, Barbados can borrow but at high rates given our junk status.”

  David,
  No correction needed. I used the words “practically blacklisted” deliberately.

  To understand my point clearly, imagine a prostitute is known to have AIDS and Ebola, and someone is arguing that she can still have “customers” but she will have to lower her price.

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• Gabriel

  September 29, 2015 9:26 AM

  

  I hope those Canadian bajans do not forget the Evelyn Greaves much touted Pickering Development Project.Rumour has it that the man is living like Duprey in Florida.I believe I read somewhere that someone has been trying to get back his investment in Pickering.And the DLP government would like to suggest that the opposition is running away investors!Their own cabinet,ministers,friends in the central bank and on its board and high profile hangers on are doing a fantastic job of downgrading Barbados to a basket case economy.
  It’s no surprise that poverty levels have increased dramatically under the watchful eyes of Steve Blackett,the minister drawing a fat salary for doing nothing.

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• David

  September 29, 2015 12:39 PM

  

  @Walter

  Good one!

  LikeLike
• ac

  September 29, 2015 3:30 PM

  

  Well let me say that come next election plenty over seas bajans disgusted with the i
  Smut talk and shit talkers way of demeaning this little island going make their presence and voices heard and known at the voting polls

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• James Lynch

  September 29, 2015 5:31 PM

  

  So he wants the Canadian diaspora to send their hard-earned money back to Barbados so the bureaucrats and politicians can fling it away… as one Bajan Canadian let me make myself pellucidly clear to anyone who wants to hear or read – “NOT ONE RED EFFING CENT”. And yes, I am shouting. I did not work through my entire life to support or facilitate the spendthrift ways of political do-nothing say-nothing jackasses.

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• ac

  September 29, 2015 5:56 PM

  

  Who cares if you send ,You probably a pauper anyway,yes uh talking to you james lynch,

  LikeLike
• Due Diligence

  September 29, 2015 6:22 PM

  

  ac

  You must be confusing James Lynch with Clare Cowan who is the the real pauper

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• ac

  September 29, 2015 6:57 PM

  

  @DD did Clare beg yuh bread the stupidly of it all. u guys running all ova de blog like cockroaches who been sprayed wid raid, attack after attack with all kinds of information about a person who might have defaulted on a loan and some udder sh,te talk when all bajans want to know is how to cut high energy cost on their electric bill, Nothing More Nothing Less

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• ac

  September 29, 2015 7:06 PM

  

  Hey the Cahill opposition Brigade want to impress call a town hall meeting and present viable and cheap alternative and sustainable methods for poor Barbadians to cut high energy cost, uh know the poverty stricken kind ,amm not talking about the high end elitist type who want to ram their own venture projects down peoples throat not that type they able and ready to support they own but also able and ready to juck the poor in the eye.

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• Gabriel

  September 29, 2015 8:52 PM

  

  In my view waste disposal can be efficiently handled by the GOB.It has been proven.We just need to get into the 21st century.It does not need a Bizzy or Cow.International agencies are available to provide the know how and train up locals on the job and scholarships at specialized institutions.Garbage disposal is not to be privatised.i thought it strange Mia was encouraging a fee in the House sometime ago and only now I connected the dots with ‘hoesay and hoesay’.Too many scams got taxpayers paying twice for waste disposal.Effing crooks.

  LikeLiked by 1 person
• ac

  September 29, 2015 9:24 PM

  

  i meaning everybody got a VIEW every Tom Dick and Harry who have Never got as close to a garbage dump site except for having a garbage bin or seeing one have a VIEW and all of a sudden can quote chapter and verse on how to reduce tons of garbage , but that is bubuddus fuh yuh everybody knows everything but wont step forward to do a dam sh,te about it,

  LikeLike
• Bush Tea

  September 29, 2015 11:06 PM

  

  @ AC
  Bushie has decided to say something positive about you before going to sleep…

  You are a complete idiot, a clueless clot, and an over bearing brass bowl canine of the female gender….
  …But you are a breath of fresh air when compared to Fumble Froon and Stinkliar….

  So here is the positive statement…

  We would be no worse off if you were Prime minister ….and you would actually do a better job than the incumbent – as minister of fine ants…..
  Bushie say dat!

  LikeLiked by 1 person
• mitchlans

  September 29, 2015 11:40 PM

  

  “Barbadians at home and in the Diaspora, including Canada, are overwhelmingly in favour of Barbados decolonizing its governance structure.”

  Oh really, Mr Prime Minister? Well here’s an idea. Let’s have a referendum on Barbados becoming a republic and find out what the people actually think instead of your arrogant pronouncement of what YOU WANT them to think.

  We all know that your fawning, sycophantic little groups of blinkered followers at your branch meetings or George Street get togethers applaud your every word regardless of whether it is remotely representative of the truth. But addressing and facing the reactions and responses of the real people of Barbados, at least those who have minds of their own, might prove to be somewhat of a shocking experience for you.

  We are not all the weak minded fools you consider us to be.

  LikeLiked by 1 person
• Sunshine Sunny Shine

  September 30, 2015 4:39 AM

  

  You know you can hood-hink the fool who was blinded by 2 dollars and a pack Shirley biscuits with a few more promises of more; but the moment someone comes along and offer them a 1000 dollars and two cases of Shirley biscuits, he looks down with scorn on the previous little he was getting and praises his new found saviour with unblemished loyalty because of the lot more he is receiving. This is the position of the ACs brigade. The Democratic Labour Party only speaks to the nation through their loyalist meetings because of a few passed Shirley biscuits and a hold lot of passed out helps that ensures they are cheered on to continue. Thus, they feel revived and reassured in the face of numerous criticisms from those who are thinking for themselves and those who criticize openly to get their beloved BLP back in the seat of free money, to carry out their foolish mandates with lies and deceit, thinking that the numbers that support them, constitutes the larger segment of the voting population that opposes them. There is no other logical explanation to explain the nonsense of the Prime Minister and the foolishness done by some of his ministers without condemnation and consequence.

  LikeLiked by 1 person
• ac

  September 30, 2015 5:30 AM

  

  i tell u bush sh,ite that if you are sooooooo frustrated at govt/s present and past policies you should start your own party and stop running you stupid repetitive mout only an idiot keeps repeating the same sh,ite million times over and does nothing to correct the pain and frustration of that which is felt /idiot .it is abundantly clear that your issues with govt can only be resolved if you take a personal charge in doing so idiot,
  You see the problem fix it . go ahead Dr brassbowl i dare you to stand out from among the crowd and have the guts and political will of those you are highly critical ,, i dare you.

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• ac

  September 30, 2015 6:11 AM

  

  The best part of it is that you have an audience of geriatrics who listened and endorse your crtiticism (notice ac did not say the million dollar word “SOLUTIONS”) implore of them to make a difference they can use whatever resources and clout they have to make your “party ” a reality”
  Why all the outcry bushy shite if all you can do is belly ache
  Time for Solutions ! Time for solutions! Maybe if or when the weed whacker cleans the lot your next goal would be that of bringing the SOLUTIONS, Until then your voice of contention is just meant to be a roller coaster ride fill of excitement and for adventurers

  Oh BTW time to review that 10 point plan nobody seems to notice,

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• lawson

  September 30, 2015 6:59 AM

  

  Since this is about the UN What is more profitable to have an upside down dag hammarskjold or a rightside up freundel stuart

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• Spinks

  September 30, 2015 7:19 AM

  

  Sustainable development includes road and transport infrastructure the Town Hall meeting at Queens College tonight on the IADB loan puts the road network under the spotlight. Living and working in Glenburnie , St. John rules out attendance at the Town Hall meeting . Having said that there are spots of bother attendees are reminded to point out to Minister Lashley’s team.

  The meeting agenda lists the ABC Highway as down for discussion. A question to be tabled is when is the Warren’s to Redman Village section of the ABC to be finished. Then there are the outages and poor street lighting along the entire stretches of the ABC and Spring Garden Highways often the causes of accidents and near misses. These are problems to be fixed.

  Bridgetown cries out for a sustainable street lighting plan. Its laughable the repeated promises by the city merchants organization to brighten up the dimly lit streets of Bridgetown. Not unlike the public sector the private sector promises have turned out to be empty promises. The public awaits the LED and solar street lights much ballyhooed as a plank of the energy saving and sustainable development agenda.

  The sidelining of the Ministry of Transport vehicles is a worry. The Minister is duty bound to return the call to the media on this vexing matter. A workman lacking tools is an exercise in futility. The MOT with broken and idle equipment is the same thing. Whoever stole the $80,000 repairs budget must be brought to justice. Talking points for the Town Hall meeting.

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• mitchlans

  September 30, 2015 5:14 PM

  

  ac, will you and all your dumba.. cronies do us all a favour and STFU about ‘bring solutions’. If you weren’t such a..holes, you would see the press, radio and social media ARE AWASH with economists, financiers, bankers, businessmen and women and just plain, ordinary people who desperately want to see Barbados succeed, making hunfreds, thousands of suggestions for solutions. The problem is that you’all and your rude, arrogant boss man dismiss any and every suggestion and solution as ‘incoherent noise’ or yardfowlism.

  There are literally thousands of solutions being brought, but you are too far up your own a.. to even consider the help that you so desperately need, despite being surrounded by offers.

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