Barbadians have had to wait on the Governor to answer questions about the performance of the economy. Many regard the discontinuation of press conferences by the Governor as a blatant attempt to suppress information about an economy in a comatose state for eight years. Barbadians will be expectant the David Ellis hosted forum will be informative for a fatigue public.
Updated
.
Bushie; Wasn’t there a report in a US magazine that Barrow was amongst the top ten richest Black men in the world or something of that nature? That seems at variance with some aspects of Carlton Brathwaite’s reported inside info.
I seem to recall that it was Ebony Magazine. Perhaps the story wasn’t properly researched but oftimes where there is smoke there is usually some fire in the vicinity.
@ Bush Tea January 28, 2016 at 10:36 AM
“This is an OBVIOUS case of a ‘bull shitter’ looking to extend his undeserved appointment to a position that he has no clue how to manage…. Why would he risk making it obvious to even AC that he is clueless, by facing REAL questions?”
A bull-shitter indeed, par excellence! The Central Bank of Barbados is a regulatory financial dinosaur that belongs to Zoe’s Ark of the 60’s and 70’s.
It no longer has an important role in a modern economy and a financial market based on ICT.
The issuing of currency notes and bonds can be handled by a much watered down agency under the aegis of the Ministry of Finance.
How many employees have been earmarked by the Guv for retrenchment? Those who went on strike last time?
BTW, Bushie, your previous scathing criticisms of OSA’s economic management have been dismissed and proven ‘false’ by the PM. He has clearly exonerated OSA of any mismanagement in his recent list of excuses for the poor performance of the economy. Blame it on the last 50 years of poor performance by the UK and North American economies into which Barbados is inextricably bound up. According to him, Bajans are not brass bowls at all but simply innocent pawns in the big game of economic chess in the world of capitalism.
@Miller
The ‘recruitment of OSA by this administration is political, nothing to do with exonerating anyone.
@ David January 28, 2016 at 11:37 AM
Have you read the PM ‘s speech to the BCC at their recent monthly unproductive eating and drinking session with lots of long talk for entertainment?
From what he said there is no need for the services of OSA. Everything contributing to Barbados’s economic woes is controlled by the external forces existing in the North Atlantic. OSA’s advice would just be spinning top in mud.
If OSA allows himself to be used and abused in his futile journey of blind vengeance against MAM then he no more than a common street prostitute hooked on crack and giving golden showers for 25 cents.
Hence the reason AC is no longer interesed in licking Arthur’s feet non stop.
@ millertheanunnaki January 28, 2016 at 11:58 AM #
@ David January 28, 2016 at 11:37 AM
Have you read the PM ‘s speech to the BCC at their recent monthly unproductive eating and drinking session with lots of long talk for entertainment?
For those who have not read the PM’s speech, part of what was a speech of probably at least 60 minutes is in the Barbados Today story “Big hit – Government forfeits over $100 million in tax revenue” at
http://www.barbadostoday.bb/2016/01/28/big-hit/
After reading the story, DD’s reaction was much the same as former regular BU contributor Hal Austin, whose comments are;
Hal Austin
January 28, 2016 at 6:25 am
The prime minister and his leading economic and business advisers are in a spin.
The PM has said the nation has taken a Bds$100m hit in order to keep some international business companies located on the island.
But this is vague and full of opacity, typical of the secrecy of business and the state in Barbados. How many companies are there? What are their names? Ho long have they been operating in Barbados? What were the condition which attracted them to the island? In the time they have been based in Barbados how much have they paid in corporate and all other taxes? How many jobs have they created in the time they were on the island? How much did each business cost the exchequer?
Further, why did he enter a treaty with Canada that was damaging to the island’s finances? Was it the fault of our negotiators? If so, are these people still in their jobs?
He also mentioned lower-cost domiciles, what does he mean by this? Lower corporate taxes? Lower import tariffs? What?
Who are these people doing tax studies for him? Civil servants, private consultants, who? Have these people or officials done similar studies before?
All in all, the prime minister is a snake oil salesman and, so far, has been successful in fooling the people of Barbados. But as the old saying goes, you can foo all of the people some of the time, and some of the people all of the time, but you cannot fool al of the people all of the time.”
Snake oil salesman indeed.
Also from the BT story
“We got some research done because the sector felt threatened by the withdrawal of a number of businesses to lower cost domiciles and we had to make some decisions [including] amendments to the legislation, which almost resulted in a compromise of just over $100 million in revenue in order to keep businesses here and we had to place our faith in the fact that once they stayed, over time we could recoup our revenue losses,” he told the gathering which included Minister of Finance Chris Sinckler and other key Government officials.
In response to the situation, the Prime Minister said he had personally visited Canada as part of an Invest Barbados delegation to talk to the IBCs about the issue.”
Question #1 – Has it not occurred to the snake oil salesman that the threatened withdrawal of a number of businesses was due to the inept, lying and non-transparent administration he heads?
Question #2 – Why did he have to personally visit Canada to talk to the IBCs about the issue when he could have talked to the IBCs at their offices in Barbados?
Indeed DD…..only yardfowls would buy that Anansi story. If he wanted to talk to anyone in Canada, there is video conferencing and indeed speaking to their representatives in Bim….they use every excuse to waste taxpayers’ money.
If Fruendel has any smarts, given what is coming down around his ears, he would engage and involve as many of the citizens as possible, I said citizens, not the corporate welfare crowd, in the rebuilding of the economy regardless of party affiliation, they are long past the stage of hogging all the limelight and taking credit, the both failed in making a success of the economy……they both got 2 Fs =failures.
He wanted to be prime minister at all cost, they wanted the government at all cost, be careful what you ask for…,,.you might get it.
The lies the PM engages can be threshed out by following the facts.When the opposition continually warned the then minister Hutson that his failure to respond to the IBC improved marketability of other jurisdictions would have dire consequences for Barbados he paid no attention to the portfolio with the result that many IBC’s pulled out.Some say that is one of the reasons he was not given a ministry the second time around.Secondly,remember that the PM had a few fainting spells that we read about and rumour has it that his visits to Canada are more to do with health matters.
Check out this Nation story
http://www.nationnews.com/nationnews/news/77187/pm-count-private-sector
“PM: We can count on private sector” – which features a picture of Prime Minister Freundel Stuart speaking with Jamaican hotel magnate Gordon “Butch” Steward as Sandals regional public relations manager Dominic Fadee looks on.
“PRIME MINISTER Freundel Stuart has given the private sector the assurance that Government is committed to enabling business facilitation, despite the “rumblings”, “lamentations” and “the Jeremiahs”.
He told a capacity-filled auditorium at yesterday’s Barbados Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BCCI) luncheon at the Lloyd Erskine Sandiford Centre that he was satisfied Barbados could boast of a private sector that was “interested in the development of Barbados”.
“When this country has been challenged by significant economic events, we could always count on the private sector of Barbados to be there,” he said.
In an ad lib presentation entitled Barbados At 50: Reflections On A Relationship, Stuart touched on several areas of concern to the private sector, while commending it for the role it played whenever the island was challenged by significant economic events.”
The guy in the picture is the same Gordon “Butch” Stewart to whom the same PRIME MINISTER Freundel Stuart and his cabinet extended tax and duty waivers/concessions for 40 years tio induce him to open up shop in Barbados.
And Stuart thinks Stewart will step up to the table whenever the island was challenged by significant economic events.
To due what – offer to pay duty and taxes?
@Gabriel January 28, 2016 at 2:59 PM #
“…….remember that the PM had a few fainting spells that we read about and rumour has it that his visits to Canada are more to do with health matters.”
Surely you are not suggesting that PM went to Canada for medical treatment (at the taxpayers’ expense) when 99% of the subjects in his Republic have no option but to go to QEH.
Our best hope is that Froon is suffering from some kind of illness that affects his sanity …and that can it be cured before he drives us all over a cliff.
How the hell do you give the kitchen sink to a foreigner (one who was previously best known for pissing in our Paradise well) …and now coming in the press all ‘flirty’, ‘flirty’, with him and talking shiite about how ‘patriotic’ he is…?
What are the other LOCALLY BASED businessmen who scrunt, pay their taxes, wait for their vat returns, and drive DUTY-PAID cars supposed to think….? …or do?
@ GP
Why the hell don’t you bring your old miserable tail back home and diagnose the man? …and prescribe the medicine that he obviously needs …. a damn bush bath!!
DD
There is precedent.Thompson used the leper’s private jet plane to fly back and forth to NY at taxpayers’-money expense in ’09.Jagdeo of Guyana who has the dubious reputation as being one of the more wealthy politicians in Caricom,now being compared with Putin of Russia as having billions of dollars stashed away in overseas accounts,Jagdeo used his friend Bobby Ramroop’s private aircraft to fly to the US for an unknown medical condition.
The untouchables have the upper hand in these banana republics.Even communist Vietnam is today saying they are more democratic than so called democracies in that they have freedom of information and more open government.
Kung Hei Fat Choi. From Sam Lords Castle to Carlisle Bay.
Dim sum can’t done. lol
“PRIME MINISTER Freundel Stuart met recently with a delegation from the China Export & Credit Insurance Corporation and the Beijing Urban Construction Group Co. Ltd., who were here to continue discussions on financing projects in the Carlisle Bay Area.”-
See more at: http://www.nationnews.com/nationnews/news/77205/pm-stuart-meets-chinese-delegation#sthash.dhx3nS4C.dpuf
Is Stuart wooing the same Chinese who were chased out of Barbados by the lies of the DLP and the BWU during the 4 Seasons start up in ’06/07?
Stuart would do well to speak with his Caricom counterparts and be updated on the fine print in their contracts…Guyana,Trinidad,Jamaica and Bahamas might be in a position to put Stuart on the straight and narrow. Barbados’s experience with the Chinks has been ok thus far but they have become adept and skilful negotiators,far better than Cowan and co.
Gabriel January 28, 2016 at 9:39 PM #
“Is Stuart wooing the same Chinese who were chased out of Barbados by the lies of the DLP and the BWU during the 4 Seasons start up in ’06/07?
Stuart would do well to speak with his Caricom counterparts and be updated on the fine print in their contracts…Guyana,Trinidad,Jamaica and Bahamas might be in a position to put Stuart on the straight and narrow. Barbados’s experience with the Chinks has been ok thus far but they have become adept and skilful negotiators,far better than Cowan and co.”
Far better negotiators than Cowan indeed, and Stuart and his crew got hoodwinked by Cowan.
Welcome to Chinados.
It will be far more difficult to gain independence from China in 2066, than it was to gain independence from Great Britain in 1966.
@ Due Diligence January 29, 2016 at 1:10 PM
“It will be far more difficult to gain independence from China in 2066, than it was to gain independence from Great Britain in 1966.”
Many Bajan females have emigrated to the UK, Canada and the USA to find work.
Why not consider a similar strategy for the modern unemployment challenges. There is a major shortage of female Chinese to meet the demands of the 17 million excess Chinese males.
That should keep the local unemployment figures in check along with the future population.
There is one big problem here other than language and skin tone. Bajan women are accustomed to eating plantains not Vienna sausages.
Miller
With all those workers being imported to build the Wyndham Grand Resort on the Sam Lord’s site in St. Philip, Bajan women will have lots of Vienna sausages to eat.
Maybe PM Stuart should beg fuh help from India too.
@Hants January 29, 2016 at 2:34 PM
Wynne is travelling with nine Liberal MPPs, 50 business leaders, 19 officials from Ontario colleges and universities and three municipal leaders.”
Who she think she is traveling with a delegation of 78 people? FS?
@DD
u forget the 2 charged with destroying e-mails just began their trial? Good time to get the whole lot of them away from the heat.
Looks like we are in further trouble.
The Guardian
2 hrs ·
Is the global economy about to crash?
A slowdown in China, plummeting stock prices, debt worries in emerging markets and low oil prices point to a bumpy patch in the global economy
https://fbstatic-a.akamaihd.net/rsrc.php/v2/y4/r/-PAXP-deijE.gif
@ Vincent Haynes January 29, 2016 at 4:23 PM
That’s like music to Bush Tea’s ears.
The Big Lie has to meet its waterloo some day.
How can the world economy continue to expand (given the earth’s limited resources) without an inevitable bursting like an overblown balloon?
There is a principle called Pareto’s Optimality. And the World has reached that level.
But here is a similar principle. The more the economy expands the more the world become a hotter and colder place due to man-induced climate change.
@VH
to answer your question I have been in a 100% cash position since Dec 15th 2015.
Moves by CB’s to negative rates, albeit minimal negative, is to try and scare investment.
Nearly every recent corporate move I had read of, has a heavy tax driver. It is not about the intrinsic investment but how it can improve the bottom line via some financial finagling. People everywhere are scared and they are sitting on their money.
Since Jan 1 2016 the outflow from funds has been at an all time high; and several of the same funds have been moving from investments to cash.
These are very uncertain times globally. We have Grexit, Brexit, Germany under siege politically, and almost all the central banks have maxxed out the aid they can provide via cutting rates. The investment low rates aimed to produce is not occurring. Forget growth, most operations are just trying to hold on to what they have. Froon told us of a 100M$ tax hit to keep some IBC business. Once they leave, they ain’t coming back? This however, drives the tax level down from already low levels.
The signals are there for shit to happen.
Did we read some where that the US economy is slowing down?
Who has been monitoring the DOW and other exchanges of late? There is no rhythm to the market, it is always a tell tale sign there is something in the offing.
The exchanges only give minimal surface information. I mean the bond market which precipitated the 2007-8 crash, was ultimately because the bond rating agencies were giving groups {tranches) of mixed packages higher ratings than they should, hence covering the underlying weakness. The entire ABCP debacle had a similar history.
It is unclear to me, if there is a specific culprit here, hence play cash cause I don’t know what to short.
Those who missed the discussion can view the recording updated above.
@David, the markets are skittish about a number of things; uneven and uncertain global economic growth, oil price volatility, China’s slowing down and of course geopolitical issues like potential Brexit.
Re, the discussion I found Lisa Gale’s contributions to be very valuable, particularly the concerns she raised in regards to business facilitation which has been an issue the Private Sector has been raising constantly.
Gabriel January 28, 2016 at 5:39 PM #
“Thompson used the leper’s private jet plane to fly back and forth to NY at taxpayers’-money expense in ’09.”
Gabriel,
Your statement has aroused my curiosity and has left me trying to figure out how PM Thompson’s flight could have been made at taxpayers’ expense.
The whole CLICO fiasco epitomizes unbridled theft, professional incompetence, and political piracy. I am not in any way defending the deceitful, illegal actions of David Thompson but I must say that he was not the first politician to steal CLICO’s policyholders’ premiums, and common sense alone tells me that he was not the last.
In an attempt to maintain your reading interest, and to slow down the angry palpitations of your heart if I did otherwise, I have deliberately decided not to mention Owen Arthur’s name in this post. So far.
Let us tackle the problem from basic principles so that you can understand the conceptual difficulties I am grappling with.
CLICO, more out of business ignorance and less because of any justifiable corporate need, decided to rent a jet at the astronomical rate of US$75,000 per month. Bad decision or not, the jet was presumably rented to facilitate or conduct CLICO’s business in the interest of its policyholders. In no shape or form was that jet rented to transport ministers of the Government of Barbados. Using different words, any minister of government who has to travel overseas ought to book a flight on a registered, bona fide passenger airline or ship. These regulatory practices are imposed and observed in non-banana republics to prevent or minimize corruption, blackmail, and bribery of government officials.
At the rate of 20 business days per month, the rent for CLICO’s jet would amount to $3750 per business day. We have not mentioned the cost of fuel.
Gabriel, have you actually seen any invoices sent from CLICO to the Government of Barbados related to flying David Thompson, as a government minister, to and from New York? I would be extremely surprised if you have. I might be wrong, but I don’t recall the Judicial Manager mentioning such payments from the Government to CLICO.
To my mind, the David Thompson-CLICO jet issue boils down to one of corrupt governance. The jet trips cannot be viewed as a gift, because neither the PM of Barbados, the Speaker of the House, nor any government official should be accepting gifts in excess of a low nominal amount.
Technically speaking, the value of the trips made by David Thompson on CLICO’s jet would have to be viewed as imputed income to David Thompson. Imputed income would attract income taxes. However, on what basis can PM Thompson accept any form of income from CLICO when he never provided any services to the company?
On what basis did PM Arthur accept $75,000 from CCB (CLICO’s subsidiary) when he never provided any services to the company? The two of these former PMs are birds of a feather that ought to have been “flocked” together.
If we are serious about tackling the CLICO heist, a part of CLICO’s policyholders’ stolen money must be returned from the estate of David Thompson.
@Alicia
Did she say anything we don’t know though?
A people who’ve been on this planet forever and is now celebrating 50 yrs of independence, an independence that’s dependent on offshore corps setting up shop in their house and not paying any rent yet they can’t demand rent nor demand that they leave their property. Real Independence.
“To my mind, the David Thompson-CLICO jet issue boils down to one of corrupt governance. The jet trips cannot be viewed as a gift, because neither the PM of Barbados, the Speaker of the House, nor any government official should be accepting gifts in excess of a low nominal amount.”
Walter….with that statement, it appears you may know the low nominal amount government can legally accept from local and foreign business people, you may also know the maximum amount business people on the island can legally contribute to campaign elections….do you care to share that info with us, so we can get a clear picture about how much in favors government offcials would owe business people which is at taxpayers expense.
As it was, David Thompson was the attorney for Clico doing all their dirty work of disadvantaging their policyholders. ….that can be counted as performing services.
Didn’t Thompson also travel on Sir Kyffin’s jet as well? What does this imply if true.
http://www.nationnews.com/nationnews/news/77062/-growth-expected
Another view not reconciling with Governor Worrell and the Central Bank.
Well Well & Consequences January 30, 2016 at 7:52 AM #
“Walter…. it appears you may know the low nominal amount government can legally accept from local and foreign business people, you may also know the maximum amount business people on the island can legally contribute to campaign elections….do you care to share that info with us, so we can get a clear picture about how much in favors government offcials would owe business people which is at taxpayers expense.
Well Well & Consequences,
As far as I am aware, there is no limit on the value of gifts that government officials in Barbados can receive from donors. For comparison, an employee of the USA Executive Branch is limited to receiving individual gifts valued at $20 or less, and a maximum of $50 from one donor during a 1-year period.
There is no limit on the amount of contributions that political parties and candidates in Barbados can receive from local and foreign business, or foreign governments.
To summarize, in Barbados, there is absolutely no public transparency or accountability with respect to the financing of political parties. There is only one reason why this unwholesome state of affairs persists: the political class and the commercial elite in Barbados do not want any laws passed that would restrict or interfere with their ability to do whatever they like in the dark.
Foreign governments also inject significant amounts of money into both political parties in Barbados and the Caribbean. The contributions are typically distributed to the various political parties throughout the region by using a handpicked, uneducated “political consultant”.
To gain a deeper understanding of this particular process, I recommend that you contact Hartley.
Of course, at the end of the day, those persons and businesses (local and foreign) who invest in Barbadian political parties and candidates must be given a return on their investment. That explains the ever-increasing presence of shady companies waving lucrative government contracts in our faces, and the hiring of dunces from 1st world countries to produce expensive “studies” and perform consulting work that Barbadians can easily do. Barbadians are being crowded out, in their own country, by their own government.
As a result, the bulk of Barbadian workers and voters are being transformed, day by day, into highly taxed employed slaves.
@ Walter Blackman January 30, 2016 at 11:43 AM
“There is no limit on the amount of contributions that political parties and candidates in Barbados can receive from local and foreign business, or foreign governments.
To summarize, in Barbados, there is absolutely no public transparency or accountability with respect to the financing of political parties. There is only one reason why this unwholesome state of affairs persists: the political class and the commercial elite in Barbados do not want any laws passed that would restrict or interfere with their ability to do whatever they like in the dark.”
Walter, your fellow “Cawmerian” Caswell might wish to disagree with your above assertion.
There are laws on the Statute book that regulate the financing of ‘election’ campaigns. The problem is (as is the norm in Bim) with their enforcement.
@ Walter Blackman
I see you drop in on BU . a welcoming good set of eyes to the troubling situations in Bim, have your say
David January 30, 2016 at 7:57 AM #
“Didn’t Thompson also travel on Sir Kyffin’s jet as well? What does this imply if true?”
David,
If David Thompson flew on Sir Kyffin’s jet as a private individual, there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. It would be left to the Board of Directors to chastise Sir Kyffin for abusive use of the jet, if it is company-owned.
However, David Thompson as PM of Barbados, flying on Sir Kyffin’s jet, creates a huge problem. Firstly, the PM should not be using the jet to conduct government’s business. Secondly, since no government business is being transacted, the trip must be seen as personal travel. Thirdly, the situation becomes worse if Sir Kyffin’s company is the recipient of government contracts.
To give you an insight into the problems that a PM would create by such a course of action, I will lean on the regulations of the USA, a “non-banana republic”.
According to US regulations, “an executive branch employee is prohibited from accepting a gift from a “prohibited source” or given because of the employee’s official position, unless an exclusion or exception applies. A “gift” is defined to mean anything of monetary value, and specifically includes “transportation, local travel, lodgings and meals, whether provided in-kind, by purchase of a ticket, payment in advance, or reimbursement after the expense has been incurred.”
A prohibited source is a person (or an organization made up of such persons) who:
is seeking official action by, is doing business or seeking to do business with, or is regulated by the employee’s agency, or
has interests that may be substantially affected by performance or nonperformance of the employee’s official duties.
Note: If a gift of personal travel is from a foreign government or an international or multinational organization composed of foreign governments, an employee may accept the gift only in accordance with a statute.
More specifically, notwithstanding an exception, an employee may not:
accept a gift in return for being influenced in the performance of an official act;
solicit or coerce the offering of a gift; or
accept gifts from the same or different sources on a basis so frequent that a reasonable person would believe that the employee is using public office for private gain.”
In Barbados, all of these regulations have been deliberately shunned and frowned upon by the powers that be.
For more reading, please go to http://www.oge.gov/Topics/Gifts-and-Payments/Travel
By 1976, Errol Barrow had transformed Barbados into a modern nation with a debt burden of only $250 million. Having been provided with such a good and cheap head start, one would have thought that the politicians coming after Barrow would have focused their attention on laws related to ethics and good governance with the aim of building a progressive and egalitarian society. Instead, they opted to sprawl open the floodgates of bribery, corruption, and kickbacks for the unscrupulous few.
Consequently, we, as a sold out people, are now left to “peep about to find ourselves dishonourable graves”.
Sad.
millertheanunnaki January 30, 2016 at 11:55 AM #
“Walter, your fellow “Cawmerian” Caswell might wish to disagree with your above assertion.
There are laws on the Statute book that regulate the financing of ‘election’ campaigns. The problem is (as is the norm in Bim) with their enforcement.”
millertheanunnaki,
I am not arguing that there are no laws in Barbados that regulate the financing of election campaigns. We all know that Parliament provides an annual subvention (over 300k) that is shared between the DLP and BLP. Additionally, each constituency is provided with an office and stipend. On top of that, MPs can make an annual tax deductible contribution of $5000 (10% of their salary, if smaller) to their political party. Candidates must also report election expenses and list the name of persons who contributed to their campaigns.
Well Well wanted to find out if there are limits to the amount of contributions that local business people can contribute to political campaigns, or if there are limits on the amount of “gifts” that government officials can accept from local and foreign interests. I was simply telling her that no such limits exist, and offering my “two cents” as to why.
By the way, I mentally noted some excellent points you made with respect to NIS about a month or two ago. I plan to pick back up that NIS discussion sometime in the near future.
David
The article on Amercan Banks de-risking and its impact on the Caribbean by Ronald Sanders,page 19 of Barbados Today……seems to need more airing…..if it is as dangerous as stated why has GoCB not shown how we will deal with it.
Alden Blackman January 30, 2016 at 11:58 AM #
“@ Walter Blackman
I see you drop in on BU . a welcoming good set of eyes to the troubling situations in Bim, have your say”
Alden,
I drop in on BU to make a comment or two, whenever my professional life allows me to do so. However, I constantly and silently read and digest the writings and opinions of others.
In my humble opinion, BU is growing by leaps and bounds and this growth is being fuelled by a high level of analysis on the part of the bloggers, and a thirst for knowledge and facts on the part of the readers.
Thanks Walter….very informative. I am sure Hartley is a font of information. Don’t care how much legislation is available to curb and reduce corruption on the island, we all know none of the leaders want it to stop, we saw lately Stuart distancing him self from bribetaking but he never once said, as Prime Minister, he will stomp it out or reduce it, corruption is that attractive to both parties.
Exclaimer….I hope you see the problem and why you will hear nothing about corruption in Barbados….as small as it is, the island continues to be divvied up so the local greedy and the foreign greedy can get their slice at the taxpayers expense.
“Foreign governments also inject significant amounts of money into both political parties in Barbados and the Caribbean. The contributions are typically distributed to the various political parties throughout the region by using a handpicked, uneducated “political consultant”.
To gain a deeper understanding of this particular process, I recommend that you contact Hartley.
Of course, at the end of the day, those persons and businesses (local and foreign) who invest in Barbadian political parties and candidates must be given a return on their investment. That explains the ever-increasing presence of shady companies waving lucrative government contracts in our faces, and the hiring of dunces from 1st world countries to produce expensive “studies” and perform consulting work that Barbadians can easily do. Barbadians are being crowded out, in their own country, by their own government.”
Guyanese gine leff Barbados an return to Guyana soon.
http://guyanapress.com/guyana-poised-to-become-economic-giant-with-700-million-barrel-discovery/#
With the discovery of 700 million barrels of oil in Guyana, I can picture the brains of Owen and Mia ticking excitedly. A fly on the wall would pick up the following conversation:
“Hi Mia. This is Owen. Girl, forget about the little bassa bassa that is going on between the two of us about who should control Bajan taxpayers’ money. There is real real money to be made here from this oil discovery in Guyana.”
Owen pauses to get an idea of what mood Mia is in.
“I am listening”, says Mia.
“Haven’t you figured it out yet?” Owen asks. “The same trick we used against T&T can be used against Guyana. The Arawaks of Barbados stocked the southern Caribbean Sea with flying fish, shark, bill fish, king fish, snapper, shrimp, Jacks, dolphin and ning nings long before the arrival of Columbus in the New World. Technically speaking, all of the fish in the southern Caribbean belongs to Barbadian Arawaks and we have inherited the ownership rights. Since the Barbadian Arawaks used to pursue their fish all the way to Demarara and Tobago, we can encourage our fishermen to start fishing in Guyanese waters. This is nothing new. They would simply be going where Barbadian Arawak fishermen had gone before. As you well know, it is very easy to trick Bajan fishermen into believing us and becoming pawns in our game. If they end up in Guyanese prisons, who cares? Of course, our covert intention is to take Guyana before UNCLOS and get our hands on that oil. I really believe that the two of us can join forces and pull this off. What do you say?”
“Give me a few minutes”, says Mia. “I have to go and take a bite. I will get back to you when I am finished.”
sh Tea January 28, 2016 at 10:40 AM #
”
Cuh dear balance…
You don’t think Bushie knows about Carlton …. and anticipates his bias…?
Even so, the picture of a man who was meticulous with the country’s money; avoided the temptation to enrich himself; and enjoyed the basic pleasures of life while having the power to do otherwise …presents a special lesson for us at this time in brassbados….”
Cuh dear bushie didn’t know you were such a brassbowl to fall for Mr Barrows pleasure of pulling wool over the eyes of his minions
Mr Barrow was born on a plantation- drove a Mercedes when mobolettes were the order of the day-never heard of him obtaining a scholarship for higher learning- attended the London School of Economics- give me a break bushie wuh even Grub became wealthy and you tell me his mentor remained poor and humble while allowing others to reap the rewards. another myth about the Skipper.
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