est. 2007

Barbados Underground

Bringing News and Opinions to the People

,

The People’s Manifesto of Barbados

On 31 October 1517, Martin Luther posted the ninety-five theses, which he had composed in Latin, on the door of All Saints’ Church in Wittenberg, Germany. At the commencement he stated the following: “Out of love for the truth and from desire to elucidate it, the Reverend Father Martin Luther, Master of Arts and Sacred…

, ,
Submitted by Heather Cole
Submitted by Heather Cole

On 31 October 1517, Martin Luther posted the ninety-five theses, which he had composed in Latin, on the door of All Saints’ Church in Wittenberg, Germany. At the commencement he stated the following:

“Out of love for the truth and from desire to elucidate it, the Reverend Father Martin Luther, Master of Arts and Sacred Theology, and ordinary lecturer therein at Wittenberg, intends to defend the following statements and to dispute on them in that place. Therefore he asks that those who cannot be present and dispute with him orally shall do so in their absence by letter. In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, Amen.”

His manifesto was the catalyst for the Protestant Reformation. The aim of this manifesto is to be the catalyst for governance and political reformation in Barbados; to protest against political abuses, against mismanagement of the funds from the public purse, against corruption, against inequality, against burdensome taxation and against obstruction to free and fair elections.

Read full text of – The People’s Manifesto of Barbados

140 responses to “The People’s Manifesto of Barbados”

  1. Alvin Cummins Avatar
    Alvin Cummins

    @Jeff and David.
    I have not finished reading through all the contributions, but when I read Bushies early comments, the first thing that jumped out at me when he’s said “…follow naturally”; which Jeff picked up also, i s the fact that ANY PROPOSALS FOR CHANGE TO THE CONSTITUTION (INDEPENDENCE ORDER) REQUIRES a 2/3 majority of Parliament, and approval in the Senate. It thus requires discussion in parliament and people of one mind. Difficult ,if the governing party is not sufficiently strong.
    More later.

  2. ac Avatar
    ac

    So what so wrong with questioning a framework that already has built in mechanism against the ordinary purpose. Yes that is the way the farmework is being built with more thought on selectiveness than inclusiveness

  3. Violet C Beckles Avatar
    Violet C Beckles

    http://nakeddeparture.com/2015/08/30/corruption-in-barbados-is-like-a-cancer/.

    Others are saying the same thing , but not local or even the news, News seem to side step fort the All NEWS media in BIM is also part of the Problem ,

  4. Heather Avatar
    Heather

    @ac
    Are you afraid that these questions will cause your candidates to plead a “5th ammendment?” An established system does not mean that it does not contain flaws. If your candidates are men and women of integrity who have the best interest of Barbados at heart they will not only respond to the questions but sign on the dotted line as well. Why do you think that there is a word call ‘future’? It is for all that has not yet happened. The problem here is that your candidates want to continue to live in the past.

  5. Heather Avatar
    Heather

    @ac
    “Yes that is the way the farmework is being built with more thought on selectiveness than inclusiveness” This is a contradiction. Why even bother to go to the polls if the intent is to exclude the population. Why not set up a legal dictatorship? The sole purpose of an election is to select candidates by including everyone who meet the requirements to vote. The people must exercise their right to question any politician.

  6. ac Avatar
    ac

    Listen a democracy is not a dictatorship that,s why the system allows for checks and balances through a voting process and not this ad hominem idea that triggers
    a course setting a side that only a few can participate. So far your check and blaances are being set in a course of elimination and not one a man determination of individual choice before going to tge ballot box

  7. Heather Avatar
    Heather

    @ ac
    where are the checks and balances in the present system? Did you mean that flawed voting process that resulted in rampant buying of votes last election? Even your PM and the AG though they admitted this failed to even attempt to rectify the problem. If they were indeed serious about addressing that problem they would have at least started by enforcing the integrity legislation. If I understand what you were trying to write, you are right one man cannot determine individual choice prior to going to the ballot box but one woman sure as hell will try to make individuals make an informed decision on where their X is placed! Your comments make me laugh…

  8. Alden Blackman Avatar
    Alden Blackman

    @ David/BU

    Please don’t think I dislike lawyers, but, as it may 5 lawyers as Prime Minister

    The accountability for good governance in Barbados from 1966 is the responsibility of the Prime Minister, our system of government allowed the PM to share some,( but as it is today all ) of that responsibility, to who he like / think may be a trustworthy Ministers that will or should have integrity and be responsible to provide good governance for the people, perhaps as to the lawyers in government with knowledge of sharp practice and EWB gamesmanship at the polls, set the notion for skullduggery to developed and slide without a dismissal of a Minister, only shifting, or statement like I leaved him (the Minister ) to the people, P M. Adams use gamesmanship, and the skullduggery continued, Sir Lloyd had dismissals/shifting/resignations that were of personal bad natured, PM. OSA used dismissals of Ministers as gamesmanship but skullduggery got worse, the present PM, ————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————-.

  9. Enuff Avatar
    Enuff

    @David

    Yes they do, and different systems with the same types = same result!

  10. Well Well & Consequences Avatar
    Well Well & Consequences

    And the crap continues…..

  11. Well Well & Consequences Avatar
    Well Well & Consequences

    This is the end result of decades and decades of corruption in Haiti….with the same politicians every year running around talking about “democracy”…talk is cheap.

    http://www.barbadostoday.bb/2016/02/06/transitional-government-to-be-installed-in-haiti/

  12. Walter Blackman Avatar
    Walter Blackman

    Heather February 6, 2016 at 4:10 PM #
    “Did you mean that flawed voting process that resulted in rampant buying of votes last election?”

    Heather, “that flawed voting process” has been facilitating vote buying since pre-independence days. By the time we came along, vote buying had manifested itself in the expression “corned beef and biscuits politics”. By the time Aaron, (or is it Arson?) passed along, the “corned beef and biscuits” had been replaced by fridges, TVs, stoves, paid rent, and paid utility bills. Today it has reached the stage of significant cash.
    Based upon what I have observed, I would conclude that the incidence of vote buying is increasing in Barbados. The last election showed me, not that the practice had become “rampant” for the first time, but that those involved had become brazen and open in their operations.

    It is against the law for a candidate or voter, to buy or sell votes in Barbados.
    No political party, in Barbados, instructs its candidates to buy votes.

    Let us manufacture a scenario.
    A candidate believes that he has a good chance in an election. He hears that his opponent, who holds the seat, plans to “give away” $100,000 in the constituency. He also hears, that if he manages to win the seat, and his government wins, he will get a ministry. Talk in political circles leads him to believe that If he gets a ministry, he can make as much as 5 million dollars per deal, and four deals per term.

    He doesn’t have any money, so he borrows $150,000 from friends and investors to “backraise” his opponent. The constituency is small, so the voters can see him and his opponent spending thousands in the rum shops, the fetes, and the Karaoke sessions. They see “old” house boards coming off, and “new” boards going on. New cell phones, I pads, and computers being paraded…..Mothers getting lunch money for their children…
    He notices how deceitful some of the voters are. How they are taking from him and his opponent. How they always want more..more…
    Visited by this viewpoint, he sees the vote buyers as repulsive parasites with whom he must now do business in order to become a millionaire. He reminds himself, that should he win, he doesn’t want to see any of them for another 5 years. They have already been paid for their services.

    On election day, he distributes his last $30,000 to voters. In an act of desperation, his opponent scrambles together $60,000 and comes with a final blitz.
    Convinced that he has lost, and going for broke, our candidate tells the authorities that he personally saw his opponent buying votes. “The law has been broken”, he asserted. But when the results come in, he is declared the winner. From that point onward, he keeps his mouth shut. “My opponent can’t do or say anything. He is crooked just like me”, he reasons to himself.
    He submits a candidate expense account showing he spent only $3,000. Therefore, he spent $147,000 on buying votes.The report is accepted. No questions are asked.

    He gets a ministry. “I don’t want these malicious natives to know my business. Now where can I find some people in China, Europe, or North America to make some deals with?” he asked himself.

  13. Well Well & Consequences Avatar
    Well Well & Consequences

    Lol…..from your post to the Divine’s ears….Walter, who already knows and saw, so did the PM & AG, according to what they said to the media..

  14. ac Avatar
    ac

    the fact being that there is and never will be a perfect system , her alice in wonderland dream like approach of weeding out corruption based on questions being asked to candidates is ridiculous, How many of those question she poised would one find the perfect candidate to answer all truthfully , Then what ? does the new system and its process become obsolete thereby thrown out and a new system takes it place every five years
    Right now the system with all its flaws can be revisited when election time comes around with the x being the voice of the people giving resounding no,s to thieves liars and scalliwags who made their way into the system. if an individual refuse to exercise their power of the vote the flaws in the system would continue and society have no one to blame but themselves

  15. Zoe Avatar
    Zoe

    @Miller-NAKI,

    “Now when will the end come? On Monday 8th February, the start of the Chinese New Year of the Fire Monkey?
    The only end time from above will be in the form of a comet or a rogue asteroid ten times bigger than the one due to do a flyby of Earth around March 5th.”

    Naki-Monkey, You are such a deceived FOOL! If the light that be in you, IS* DARKNESS, Oh’ how great is that DARKNESS!

  16. Well Well & Consequences Avatar
    Well Well & Consequences

    AC….you are right, the politicians will lie anyone. So why not make them honest by letting them sign on the dotted line as evidence. Yardfowls love evidence.

  17. Well Well & Consequences Avatar
    Well Well & Consequences

    *politicians will lie anyway…..anyway.

  18. chad99999 Avatar
    chad99999

    Note: Wittenberg is a university town in Germany, between Berlin and Dresden. It is not in Austria.

  19. Bush Tea Avatar
    Bush Tea

    @ Enuff
    It is possible to design systems that are ”brass bowl” proof.
    What is not possible, is for this to be done – or even conceived, by brass bowls….

  20. Heather Avatar
    Heather

    @Chad you are correct

    @:David please change to Germany.

  21. Enuff Avatar
    Enuff

    BushTea
    Haha, the cooperative movement?

  22. Hants Avatar
    Hants

    http://news.yahoo.com/police-2-dead-3-wounded-jamaica-political-rally-152613700.html

  23. Hants Avatar
    Hants

    http://www.nationnews.com/nationnews/news/77605/martelly-steps-successor-haiti

  24. Bush Tea Avatar
    Bush Tea

    @ Enuff
    Haha, the cooperative movement?
    ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
    Well – Bushie DID mention the challenge that brass bowls would have with the concept….

  25. Artaxerxes Avatar
    Artaxerxes

    Heather February 6, 2016 at 2:15 PM #:

    @ac: Are you afraid that these questions will cause your candidates to plead a “5th amendment?” An established system does not mean that it does not contain flaws. If your CANDIDATES are MEN AND WOMEN OF INTEGRITY who have the best interest of Barbados at heart they will not only respond to the questions BUT SIGN ON THE DOTTED LINE AS WELL. Why do you think that there is a word call ‘future’? It is for all that has not yet happened. The problem here is that your candidates want to continue to live in the past.”

    @ Heather

    Heather, you must bear in mind that resistance to your ideas will come from especially those who continue to benefit from the “fatted calf” and would have to maintain “political correctness” in addressing the issues.

    Ironically, during the general election campaign the DLP sought to address issues pertaining to the honesty and integrity of their candidates and entire voting system. This was also articulated on pages 46 and 47 of their 2008 election manifesto, as follows:

    “At the moment too many Barbadians perceive voting as a waste of time since many PARLIAMENTARIANS HAVE MADE PROMISES DURING THE ELECTION CAMPAIGNS, WHICH THEY HAVE NOT DELIVERED. They have subsequently made themselves INACCESSIBLE AND BECOME UNRESPONSIVE TO THE NEEDS OF THEIR CONSTITUENTS. Very few people outside political cliques want to pursue a career in politics, for a variety of unflattering reasons.”

    “There is therefore a need to clean up politics in Barbados. The Democratic Labour Party has SELECTED a TEAM of CLEAN, CARING, COMPETENT AND COMMITTED POLITICIANS WHO HAVE SIGNED ON TO A CODE OF CONDUCT THAT PROMISES GOOD GOVERNANCE.”

    Amidst claims of corruption by the DLP throughout that election campaign, the status quo remains the same as a new era of corruption raises its head in projects such as CAHILL and the arrangements made to repair Transport Board buses and SSA garbage trucks by a particular company or party associated lawyers charging a government entity almost $900,000 to give legal opinions on contracts. The BLP now eagerly await their turn.

    As you rightly alluded to, the PM and AG appeared agitated on television after the 2013 elections as they spoke about “election irregularities” and promised investigations. Those occurrences should have spurred Stuart into tabling integrity legislation as priority.

    However, he did not, and we will not see any investigations since candidates from both parties were guilty.

  26. Frustrated Businessman aka Republic my ass. Avatar
    Frustrated Businessman aka Republic my ass.

    ac February 6, 2016 at 8:33 PM #

    Right now the system with all its flaws can be revisited when election time comes around with the x being the voice of the people giving resounding no,s to thieves liars and scalliwags who made their way into the system. if an individual refuse to exercise their power of the vote the flaws in the system would continue and society have no one to blame but themselves

    Unless, of course, the names on the ballot represent different versions of the same corruption, in which case, people vote by not turning up to vote for either.

    The point being made here is not that thieves, liars and incompetents exist in the system, it is that thieves, liars and incompetents THRIVE in the system.

    In fact, it could be argued that it is now THEIR SYSTEM!

    I cannot imagine the pressure of embarrassment the couple honest cabinet members must feel right now; no-one could be oblivious enough to not know what their bed-fellows are doing to this country. If there was any conscience left in any of them there would have already been resignations.

  27. David Avatar
    David

    A democracy is not defined by the x every five years. It requires everyday interactions between the citizenry and government.

  28. Hants Avatar
    Hants

    FUH TRUE ?…..FUH REAL ?……. A BAJAN OWNED COMPANY PERFORMING.

    “The DAILY NATION confirmed that fresh from earning a $62 million profit and its “highest earnings per share ever” of 83 cents last year, GEL has received shareholder permission to hike the remuneration of its seven non-executive directors from $276 000 to $418 000 annually.

    http://www.nationnews.com/nationnews/news/77634/gel-sweets#sthash.rtNBziXL.dpuf

  29. Hants Avatar
    Hants

    “We will never forget where we come from. We stay true to what we are. I always correct people who say we are a restaurant. We are not. We are a traditional Bajan rum shop that sell modern-day rum shop cuisine.” – See more at: http://www.nationnews.com/nationnews/news/77535/raising-bar#sthash.kIHr6cYj.dpuf

  30. Frustrated Businessman aka Republic my ass. Avatar
    Frustrated Businessman aka Republic my ass.

    HANTS, you remember a couple years ago when GEL said it was no longer investing in Barbados because of gov’t ineptitude?

    They followed through, hence the performance.

    http://www.barbadostoday.bb/2014/08/31/goddards-issues-ultimatum/

  31. Bush Tea Avatar
    Bush Tea

    @ Frustrated B
    Boss
    ANYTHING that Charles Herbert runs will be successful……

  32. Well Well & Consequences Avatar
    Well Well & Consequences

    SSS….don’t know if you followed this from the beginning but you can’t have officials, civil servants bullying you around, transfering your child and you did not sign off on it, even if you asked for the transfer, you should have an opportunity to speak to the same officials and find out from them why they think the school they chose for the girl is the best fit and will her grades continue to improve in a changed environment or if it would be more prudent to leave her at Springer and I would want to know why the hell she is being made to pick up garbage of other children who have no sense of cleanliness for their surroundings. ….I know you will not accept any old crap from a teacher, principal, Jones, none of the idiots in Bim that think so highly of themselves.

    In addition, we know the problems on the island, they are even being spoke about in international circles….you cannot want change but keep the same nasty dehumanizing practices in place that continue to be passed on from one generation of practitioners to the next, it will never end.

  33. Well Well & Consequences Avatar
    Well Well & Consequences

    David,,, I believe my screen changed on me….

  34. Hants Avatar
    Hants

    @David,

    Did you read the BarbadosToday Editorial?

    http://www.barbadostoday.bb/2016/02/09/on-balancing-freedom-with-responsibility/

  35. David Avatar
    David

    @Hants

    When Kaymar was editor in chief at the Nation did she not publish flying fish & cou cou. Agree with her the Nation is satisfying an agenda.

  36. Vincent Haynes Avatar
    Vincent Haynes

    David February 10, 2016 at 5:05 PM #

    This I believe is about ratings….you may have noticed a full page Add for the last week or so in BT suggesting that the Nation is loosing the position of #1.

  37. Is being a humanitarian enough to convey the full love of Christ? | From guestwriters

    […] The People’s Manifesto of Barbados […]

  38. Colonel Buggy Avatar
    Colonel Buggy

    @David
    You asked about the distribution of the water supply in St Joseph. This was common knowledge many years ago when the then Water Works Department was decentralised, unlike the BWA today ,where all reservoirs had foremen and employees who knew the system. The following photos are an indication of the BWA’S uncertainty.
    http://i.imgur.com/tfnQ8Xd.jpg?1
    http://i.imgur.com/jwVLqxF.jpg?1

  39. Colonel Buggy Avatar
    Colonel Buggy

    oops! . Wrong place

  40. David Avatar
    David

    Thanks Colonel Buggy, will highlight this in a separate blog.

Older Comments
1 2 3

The blogmaster invites you to join the discussion.

Trending

Discover more from Barbados Underground

Subscribe now to keep reading and get access to the full archive.

Continue reading