Attorney General Adriel Brathwaite says he sees no reason why Barbados could not have a citizenship by investment programme. “However, speaking in Parliament today during debate on the Companies (Amendment ) Bill, 2016, the St. Philip South MP warned that policy makers should not seek to lure wealthy people to our shores only to have them frustrated by bureaucrats.
Pray tell me, Mr. Attorney General, do you want to beef up the National Security or do you want it to have more holes than a Swiss cheese?
You can’t have it both ways.
You can’t sell our citizenship to every Tom, Dick and Harry for 30 pieces of silver and expect that we will have the type of security needed against the ISIS, Boko Haram, Al Shabab, etc.
You want funds to be diverted from the ministries of health, and education. I would suggest that you read the report on page 11 of the above issue of Barbados TODAY under the headline “Seeking a health care cost fix”, and especially the caption affixed to the photo of NIS director Ian Carrington which reads: “NIS director Ian Carrington explaining the dwindling health care budget,” and tell me and the rest of Barbados how you expect funds to be diverted from the Ministry of Health when that ministry has to make do with the paltry amount of funds it is receiving!
The same pertains to the Ministry of Education.
As a member of Cabinet you should know that that is not feasible for either ministry.
All I can see down the road is heartaches for those persons holding Barbadian passports when countries like the USA, Canada, and EU countries deem those holding them as personae non gratae.
How will you distinguish those who really have the interest of the country at heart from those who just want to get their hands on the passport so that they can move freely around the world without let or hindrance?
You already have a problem with vetting those who want to set up business here, because Dean Del Mastro who was out on bail from a Canadian jail came here and set up a solar plant business, and he is certainly not the type of person with whom any Government should be doing business.
This is not the right thing for Barbados, and I agree with Minister Inniss who stated “not in Barbados” about this issue.
65 responses to “Citizen by Investment: Not Bout Hey!”
Caswell Franklyn
The main problem in Barbados is that most people who make policy and those that comment on these policy changes do not speak from a position of knowledge. Persons with money who are willing to invest in Barbados have been entitled to reside permanently in this country since 1975. They were entitled to immigrant status and after a few years they would qualify for citizenship. Citizenship by investment only serves to fast track the process by skipping immigrant status.
Don’t take my word for it read section 6 of the Immigration Act for yourself. Errol Barrow put that provision in place. Why is it an issue now? Could it be that these politicians are nor sufficiently experienced to provide leadership?
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Colonel Buggy
It has already started, and one joker wants us to start learning to speak Mandarin
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Hants
Why would an “Investor” want citizenship? Rich citizens pay high taxes.
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Bush Tea
As Caswell says, we have had this nonsense now for DECADES. Wuh just look around…. They don’t even have to be rich…. they just have to look it …(albino)
Arthur articulate a policy of bringing ‘high net worth’ people here in order to accelerate our route to ‘first world status’…. and gave them BETTER benefits that real Bajans… and now Stinkliar has set a new low with his concessions to Butch ‘the Paradise pisser” Stewart…
Steupsss…
After selling off the fields, hills, businesses and dignity to strangers, we could as well sell off our identity too … and enjoy the couple BMWs we can buy with the blood money…
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Caswell Franklyn
Bushie
You got it wrong with Butch Stewart. The Government only offered Sandals these concessions when they discovered that Sandals was crooked. They had to pay an out of court settlement US $12 m to avoid prosecution for bribing government ministers in Turks and Caicos. That piece of news intrigued this government and the deal was hatched.
Sent from my iPad
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Artax
NOTE 1:
The following excerpt was taken from page 18 of a Green Paper prepared by the Ministry of Labour & Immigration October 2009, entitled: “Comprehensive Review of Immigration Policy and Proposals for Legislative Reform (2009)”:
Economic Citizenship:
Barbados DOES NOT SUBSCRIBE to the CONCEPT of ECONOMIC CITIZENSHIP, and PURSUES a POLICY of NOT GRANTING such STATUS to NON-NATIONALS in RETURN for FINANCIAL CONTRIBUTIONS or ECONOMIC BENEFITS. The legislation should therefore be amended to reflect this.
Recommendation:
The Barbados Citizenship Act should be AMENDED TO STATE THAT UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES will such CITIZENSHIP be GRANTED. Similarly the Caribbean Community (Movement of Skilled Nationals) Act, 2004-13 should be AMENDED to STATE THAT ECONOMIC CITIZENSHIP WILL NOT BE RECOGNIZED as part of the definition of “national”, to correspond with the amendment already made to the Immigration Act, Cap. 190.
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NOTE 2:
BU, please recall that, in April 2012, Barbados held its first citizenship induction ceremony at the Lloyd Erskine Sandiford Conference Centre, where 120 individuals became Barbadian citizens.
During an interview with the media after the ceremony, Parliamentary Secretary in the Prime Minister’s office with responsibility for Immigration, Senator Harry Husbands, ASSURED Barbadians that Government was NOT GOING the ROUTE of an ECONOMIC CITIZENSHIP PROGRAMME, which would give citizenship to foreigners who can afford it.
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NOTE 3:
On the morning of September 2, 2013, during a tour of Limegrove Lifestyle Centre in Holetown, St. James, Prime Minister Stuart told the media that his Administration was CONSIDERING the PROVISION of citizenship through investment. He said: “The Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office, Senator Darcy Boyce and myself and the chief immigration office, have been talking this issue through.” [Barbados Today – September 2, 2013]
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NOTE 4:
MINISTER OF INDUSTRY and International Business Donville Inniss is NOT in FAVOUR of INTRODUCING an economic citizenship programme to Barbados. [nationnews.com – September 26, 2013]
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NOTE 5:
While speaking in the House of Assembly on Tuesday 2, 2016, during the debate on the Companies Amendment Bill, 2016, Attorney General Adriel Brathwaite suggested that Barbados CAN BENEFIT from the citizenship by investment programme similar to that of which other countries in the region are utilizing.
He recognised the dangers of such a programme as it could facilitate the harbouring persons seeking to engage in financial fraud, also suggested that some changes in the system of bureaucracy in the island would need to change.
The above information begs the question as to what exactly is government’s position on economic citizenship?
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Well Well & Consequences
Art…it is not surprising that they continue to seesaw on the issue of citizenship in exchange for money from the biggest foreign crooks they can find, it’s dependent on which minister will benefit the most from the scam…..the ays will obviously benefit more than the nays, with the local citizens, as usual, caught in the middle.
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lawson
If they cant get any interest in the citizenship for money program some ministers may have to go back to the private sector
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Bush Tea
@Caswell
They had to pay an out of court settlement US $12 m to avoid prosecution for bribing government ministers in Turks and Caicos
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This was just Butch’s “character reference” to the Barbados government… The REAL thing that got him the big concessions was that his PERSONAL friend Bizzy recommended him to the Dems….
Do you recall who it was that recommended 3S to the Bees through Gline Clarke?
Seems that everything Bizzy does have some ‘steel’ in it….
No doubt another of Bizzy’s (or now Maloney’s) foreign friends are looking for a patsy country to rip-off …and have been introduced to the AG with ‘high’ references…..
This AG is the ultimate ‘equus africanus asinus’….
PLEASE somebody – explain to us how such idiots could have come through our education system… There MUST be a way that we can identify all of their teachers – and ban them from the damn classroom for treason…
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MoneyBrain
Maybe Bizzy prefers to invite potential Extortion victims into Bim rather than being the focus of the shakedown ALL the time?????????
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NorthernObserver
With all due respect to fellow bloggers, I believe Mr.Stewart was particularly well versed in dealing with the Caribbean’s political elite long before Bim. He needed no introduction.
And the reality is, how Mr.Stewart approaches concessions for his investment is a global phenomena. He didn’t invent it. While once ‘hush hush’, many jurisdictions publicly state the concessions they will offer in return for investments [jobs]. And business-people are very aware of what types of benefit they can extract.
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Well Well & Consequences
Moneybrain….lol, ya gotta admit both Bizzy and the extortionist government ministers more than deserve each other…..Bizzy is the briber who could not get wealthy without the extortionist politicians, so every once in a while, Bizzy introduces another crook to the politicians, gets his cut and the politicians fight over the rest, but guess what, the taxpayers are unknowingly caught in the middle between these demons, they are the ones who lose.
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MoneyBrain
WW
The black Overlords encourage some pun hey to hate Whitey while they are LOVING the sweeeettss $$$$$$ and laughing their ass off at the poor Black peeps while sipping the JW Blue and Dom champers!
Their great pals the crooked lawyers then lash the peeps again when the opportunity arises, which is frequent, without having to worry about spending any years at Dodds!
It is ironic that a whitey like myself CARES far more than these Overlords!
Evil has no race, no shade, no religion!
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Well Well & Consequences
Moneybrain. ..you know you will not get arguments from me in that regard, I blame some whites for taking advantage and maybe they are right, but very little else, I have decided that it’s the black politicians combined with certain lawyers who createcthe environment for that to happen to their own people..
The black politicians and many of the lawyers are the real criminals in Barbados, that I have learned.
Have you finished reading Philip V. Nicholls’ book yet, it makes you grow a hatred for the lawyers who are pure evil on the island.
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Konkieman
The citizenship sell out is global. They just built an exclusive condo high rise near my office in the US with money from Chinese and Arab investors. $500k USD investment gets you a green card. Condos selling for $1-20 MUSD so people making nuff money.
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lawson
I wonder if they could get 20 million for the sixth floor penthouse in one of Barbados’s high-rises
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Just Saying
All crooked roads lead to Bizzy the Albino Don. Gabberts say One day coming soon.
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MoneyBrain
@Just Saying
What about ALL those MPs, Customs workers, powerful Govt peeps,(melanin adequate) who if they should SWALLOW a NAIL would comfortably EXCRETE a CORKSCREW???????
Most a dem were elected by the people, for the people, NOT to tek dem blendser!
Evil humans know NO race, NO shade, NO religion!
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Well Well & Consequences
MoneyB…..good one, lol
What the government needs to do as a priority is reel in their corruption and reel in Peter Harris, word is that he will take them all down, as they deserve, too goddamn crooked the whole lot..
I live in the UK and a couple of months ago I had one of those in-the-lift discussions with our Vice President for Global Finance and he said while flying from South Africa he read an ad/article which gave the impression that Barbadian citizenship was up for sale….makes you wonder!!!
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Colonel Buggy
Jason Callender February 19, 2016 at 6:51 PM #
Just like the prime real estate in Barbados which is advertised in the top shelf overseas newspapers and magazines.
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Exclaimer
@ Colonel Buggy February 19, 2016 at 10:57 PM,
You forgot to mention the internet. The links below are from a UK website which promotes real estate in Barbados. It confirms what many have believed for some time: the agriculture industry is dead; long live the “Citizen by Investment scheme”.
This scheme will marginalise the Bajan Negro as the vast majority of them will NEVER have the finances to purchase either property or land in Barbados. This means that there will be a scarcity of land available for the individual or a family to grow their provisions. One tends to forget how tiny Barbados is!
We are not entering unknown territory as the Bajan Negro has always been mistreated from the first day that his/her ancestors were dragged on to the island in chains. Our government and the neo-liberalists who have tremendous influence on how business is conducted in Barbados have forecasted, correctly, that the Negro masses will accept whatever is thrown at them.
The only solution to Barbados plight is full scale revolution.
Typical of lying government leaders to advertise the island for sale to the wealthiest overseas and then tell the taxpayers that the are thinking about investment for citizenship and doing research on the feasibility, when they have already pocketed the money from selling out….a very nasty and corrupt lot.
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Exclaimer
@ Colonel Buggy February 19, 2016 at 10:57 PM,
You forgot to mention the internet. The links below are from a UK website which promotes real estate in Barbados. It confirms what many have believed for some time: the agriculture industry is dead; long live the “Citizen by Investment scheme”.
This scheme will marginalise the Bajan Negro as the vast majority of them will NEVER have the finances to purchase either property or land in Barbados. This means that there will be a scarcity of land available for an individual or a family to grow their provisions. One tends to forget how tiny Barbados is!
We are not entering unknown territory as the Bajan Negro has always been mistreated from the first day that their ancestors were dragged on to the island in chains. Our government and the neo-liberalists who have tremendous influence on how business is conducted in Barbados have forecasted, correctly, that the Negro masses will accept whatever is thrown at them.
@ David,
I have sent this message with two links but they did no go through.
I have sent this message with two links but they did no go through.
Received from spam
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Exclaimer
@ David,
Type in: “rightmove overseas Barbados”.
This will take you to the link
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Bush Tea
@ Exclaimer
The only solution to Barbados plight is full scale revolution.
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…soon come.
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lawson
what….do you think the heads of govt and business care………The people are revolting ….yes they are aren’t they ….
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MoneyBrain
The geniuses that own Silver Sands closed down the hotel for years and then tried to sell. Ignorance knows no bounds.
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Exclaimer
@ Bush Tea,
It is a melange of greed, corruption, a complete disregard of the people from their government and the business community; and a nation of people so cowed and full of antipathy towards confronting and destroying this evil control system that has led us to this sombre place.
The Bajan Negro is blissfully unaware of the pending cauchemar that awaits him. Brother Bush Tea, we are slowly becoming “aboriginalised”! Did your jaw drop like mine when you viewed the prices of those marketed properties?
The “Citizen by Investment scheme” will usher in an era of multiculturalism. The Bajan Negro who in my opinion remains both a maligned and a disenfranchised entity will face near annihilation should the government decides to proceed with this scheme.
Take the worst case scenario: where the majority of foreigners may purchase the vast majority of the land. Amongst this motley group of foreigners may be found a number of very unsavoury characters. The world’s governments decide to ban Barbadian nationals from travelling. So your poor and broke relatives will remain tied to an island where they do not have the funds to purchase a tiny spot of land, nor the ability to live their life with dignity; nor the opportunity to work abroad.
Damn even the melanin poor such as Money Brain and Lawson will no longer be able to take a vacation in Barbados in the near future. The Bajan whites like their Negro family members will also struggle to remain a force in Barbados. We are living in an era where the super-rich want to wrap their tentacles around everything.
It is a wonder to me why you guys living in BIM fail to understand what is happening in your country.
So let’s get on with this revolution.
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Bush Tea
@ Exclaimer
You still don’t seem to get the concept of ‘brassbowlery’.
It is the unique ability to sit around making incoherent noises, wukking up, liming on the block and waiting on handouts from dishonest politicians …. all the while strangers and foreigners take possession of all your assets, your culture, even your identity -vis this citizenship-for-sale shiite.
Throughout history there have been brass bowl societies that have exhibited these tendencies … they ALL went the route of the dodo bird….
To be honest Exclaimer, if you were to stand on Broad Street for an hour and look closely at passers-by, it will quickly become clear to you that perhaps it may be all for the better…
If this generation of brass bowls are so hopeless, you must quiver at the thought of the next generation…
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MoneyBrain
@Exclaimer
When the day arrives that I cant afford to stay in Bim, that would indicate that Bim has lost more than 99% of their potential market. Trust me when I say there will be much starvation before that point is reached.
We always return to this place. How do we the citizens wrestle decision making from the political class and those who control. Is there a solution ever?
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The Gazer
@Exclaimer
Did not the US Embassy install a large wind turbine at their site in Barbados?
Didn’t a minister warn against ‘dangerous thoughts’ of causing social unrest over the current water woes?
Do you think that as one hand ensures that it has a continuous and independent power supply, and the next hand issues warnings against segment of the population that they have not done their calculus and are prepared.
Be careful, what you tell folks…. They could be in for a rude surprise.
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MoneyBrain
What with BO opening up to Cuba without forcing the Cubans to treat their own people with the Human Rights they deserve BUT allowing travel between the countries, it wont be too long before Bim falls further into the abyss.
The coming Deflationary Depression will be have a much higher impact on Bim!
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lawson
Canada has a long standing citizenship for money program, so lets see.. your dollar is equal to US dollar our dollar is in the tank , if you were a yank wanting to invest, at the market bottom and get citizenship where would you be heading? No people that want Barbados citizenship are on the run from something MB Cuba US just signed an agreement about flights, Obama visiting watch the cash start flowing in.
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Colonel Buggy
Bush Tea February 20, 2016 at 12:07 PM #
And if you ever make the mistake of referring to the now T&T owned Supermarket chain as SuperCentre, Bajans are quick to correct you ,with some sense of pride, that it is now “MASSY”.
How quickly we throw up our hands and capitulate. Or should that be copulate.
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Colonel Buggy
Citizenship by investment, the Bajan way.
“Most of the Lords Proprietors already had strong Caribbean connections. Ashley Cooper, in addition to a Caribbean plantation, also held a financial interest in the Royal African Company, the major English financial concern involved in the transatlantic slave trade. Moreover some of South Carolina’s most prominent families, including the Draytons and the Middletons, can trace their lineage directly to Barbadian settlers. The first Africans in the colony had been slaves in Barbados. Some historians refer to South Carolina as “the colony of a colony” because of the strong Barbadian influence. Barbadian architectural influence is also found in Charleston, especially the single houses – a single room wide with their downstairs and upstairs piazzas, or porches, to catch the breezes.”
(Jack Bass and W. Scott Poole, The Palmetto State: The Makings of Modern South Carolina, pp.3-4)
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MoneyBrain
Indeed, 13 of the first 19 Governors of SC had Bajan lineage!
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Vincent Haynes
Bush Tea February 20, 2016 at 12:07 PM #
Skippah…..look like we in real real trouble……yuh talk to BBE yet and tell he tuh sort out these BBs.
Who would want to live here???…..
I just came back from St.Andrew travelling over some real bad roads,although not as bad as going through Glenburnie in St.John.Some places were piled high with garbage,then I saw a garbage truck coming from the other direction…I hope he was able to pick up what I saw.
I have known this area for 52 years a greater part of my life and it looks tired with properties looking sad and delapidated,on the way back through St.Peter,St.James&St.Michael I looked and spotted similarities to St.Andrew.
A case in point will be the Holetown festival the poorest I have seen but I bet you that it will be hyped up in the papers tomorrow……did any one see a schedule of events in the papers for it…I did not.
I think we are over rating the present desireability of our once great island,the infrastructure that we once boasted about is presently in the ICU.
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Colonel Buggy
Another prime piece of agricultural land turning into an industrial development . In the right hand corner there is Chefette warehouse complex under construction and in the left hand corner there C.O Williams developing commercial lots for sale at Lears.
And in “water scarce” Barbados we see some big water mains already put in place to accommodate this new development.
Perhaps in future when purchasing a piece of land to build a home, to ensure a constant supply of water, make sure it is near one of these developments.
@ Vincent
…yuh talk to BBE yet and tell he tuh sort out these BBs.
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Top man..
BBE don’t sleep…
Nor need instructions from Bushie about who to sort out…(otherwise a lotta asses ’bout here would be grass..)
There are SPIRITUAL LAWS in place that will deal appropriately with BBs..
Some call it Karma….
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de Ingrunt Word
@David February 20 12:17 PM , being one of the more active sources of people power on the Bajan landscape I am a bit gobsmacked by your query/comment to wit :” How do we the citizens wrestle decision making from the political class and those who control. Is there a solution ever?”
Are you suggesting some fresh paradigm beyond the normal coup d’etat or electoral change?
Is it not clear that George Orwell’s Farm is a fundamental aspect of our psych and society. Thus the more we change the more we remain the same.
CHANGE is always necessary so this is NOT to sound defeatist or self-serving but when we wrestle the power away what happens to the new power-elite? Is the power-elite of today not the sons and daughters of those who fought valiantly to wrestle and take power 50 years ago?
Only if power did not corrupt those who achieve it !
So do we need to wrestle the power or do we need to hold the power elite’s feet to a fire that burns them badly when malfeasance is found.
Punish and reject. That’s the key. Otherwise as you have chronicled here repeatedly we are on our hamster wheel of same old-same old: New corrupt power brokers replacing old corrupt power brokers.
Amurca went to Jamaica and the Jamaicans sign on to shiprider just so.Then the Amurcans come to Buhbaydus and guess what.They had to back off.The cabinet and the guvvament did too brain strong.Amurca withdraw.
Now Amurca is back and the sleeping Primate raising cane.The Heads of Asses called Caricom say item no 1.Duty free mosquito nets,duty free flit,bop and baygon.Item no 2.Dem writing a letter of complaint to the UN because some big banks in Amurca say dem not dealing with no indigent(or is it indigenous)banks in the Caribbean no more.These indigent banks like too much laundering of money.Like Clico money in the Central Bank.So the leper now got Froon writing the UN to complain that trade in the Caribbean West Indies now in potter because these banks done dealing with crooks.Who affected?The man in the street.Who cause this situation.The Leper and Do-pray.What will Republic Bank have to say now.Them still praising Froon government to high heaven?And what about 1st Citizens.Still owned by Clico or is it the T and T government….same ting.When the CoI into Clico revealed that Lawrence Duprey was being paid an annual salary of $90 million,all ya tink the FBI and the Secret Service did asleep nuh?Plus they got peeps like Wickeham that does go to the US Embassy parties and spill he guts and get mention in Wilky Leaks..and an odder one that does frequent the US Embassy parties does be the DPP of Buhbaydus.Maybe he spilling he guts bout the tiefing Guyana man Jagdeo,Brassington and de Limacol man who got the pharmaceutical market lock down in Guyana.So Caricom gine write a letter all because some lepers and politically connected crooks now on the radar screen and Peter gine pay for Paul.
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Hants
“The UK will vote on whether to remain in the EU on Thursday 23 June, Prime Minister David Cameron has said.”
Barbados SHOULD vote on whether to become a Republic before the next elections.
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Hants
Canada’s loss is Barbados’ gain. lol
“DR WILLIAM DUGUID is back in the fray.”
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Gabriel
Hants
A spanner get throw in the works.Jerome Walcott got to look for somewhere else to run.Donville Inniss ass is grass again.The skunt man coming back for yor’ tail Pornville.
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Vincent Haynes
de Ingrunt Word February 20, 2016 at 5:28 PM #
Skippah…..wuh yuh confusin David fuh,yuh aint see dat BT dun got um covered wid duh BBE.
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