Submitted by Anthony Davis
The Freundel Stuart administration is not interested in in pursuing anti-corruption legislation at present because it is not a priority,” Attorney General Adriel Brathwaite said. “Brathwaite played down the stance taken by University of the West Indies political scientist Cynthia Barrow-Giles who indicated at a recent event that corruption was part of the political culture here, encouraged by the country’s penchant for furtiveness – BARBADOS TODAY dated 04 March, 2016
First of all, Mr. Attorney General, let me give you the definition of “corruption” as printed in Merriam-Webster’s online dictionary: “corruption: “noun: Dishonest or illegal behaviour especially by powerful people (such as government officials or police officers) : the act of corrupting someone or something : something that has been changed from its original form “Full Definition: 1 a: Impairment of integrity, virtue or moral principle: Depravity b: Decay, decomposition c: Inducement to wrong by improper or unlawful means (as bribery) d: A departure from the original or from what is pure or correct 2 Archaic: an agency or influence that corrupts 3 chiefly dialect:
Examples
a) The ancient Egyptians used special preservatives to spare their dead from complete corruption
b) The corruption of the upper classes eventually led to the fall of the Roman Empire
c) Socrates was put to death because the ancient Athenians believed he was spreading corruption to their youth
If your perception of corruption does not fall under any of the above categories, then there is really no corruption in this country.
However, seeing that the Prime Minister stated that there is vote buying in this country – not once but twice, in 2013 and 2014, pray tell me, Mr. Attorney General, if that is not corruption what would you call it?
Several lawyers – including the Speaker of the Barbados House of Assembly – have come before the courts for misappropriation of people’s money.
What is that, Mr. Attorney General?
If you need more proof, I would suggest that you read Philip V. Nicholls’ “MORE BINDING THAN MARRIAGE”. It makes good reading, and I hope that he donates some copies to all of the libraries so that everyone has the chance to read it.
It surely pinpoints the morality in Barbados!
It seems that the word “noises” has become an integral part of Government’s vocab since the time when the PM used it.
There are school children being forced into sexual activity by adults – what is that?
One student was deprived of her rights to an education for almost three months – what is that?
What would you call it when a set of people promise to do something before elections, and then renege on them after they have won the said elections – with one of them stating that he understood “from a practical perspective” why the ruling Democratic Labour Party Government had not kept some of its promises?
Is he trying to say that reneging on promises is the correct thing to do as long as the result wanted had been achieved?
What would you call it when a minister can cast aspersions on the Leader of the Opposition in Barbados, and get away with it without even the slightest hint of an apology?
What about Government’s covert op whereby it has sold our land at 6 c per acre and given our water – which is a very scarce and precious commodity – to Cahill Energy for 30 years, whereas the populace is sucking salt to get water for their everyday use?
And the list goes on. The bell will have to toll at some time!
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