Owen Arthur and Freundel Stuart – Purveyors of Folly and Backwardness!
Submitted by David Comissiong, President, Peoples Empowerment Party
On Tuesday 31st May 2016, former Prime Minister Owen Arthur addressed the monthly meeting of the Barbados Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BCCI) and made a call for the privatization of some of the state owned entities of Barbados; the abandonment by Government of some of its “welfare support programmes”; and the implementing of new so-called “private-public sector partnerships” that– in Arthur’s words — “would allow the private sector to expand into activity historically deemed to be the preserve of the state.”
Needless-to-say, the capitalistic, profit-seeking, private sector businessmen and women who attended the BCCI meeting gave Owen Arthur a standing ovation!
Similarly, on or about the 25th of October 2015, current Prime Minister, Freundel Stuart, addressed a monthly meeting of the Democratic Labour Party (DLP) at the Deighton Griffith Secondary School and informed his audience that the DLP Government intends to take away a number of the “entitlements” that the Barbadian people currently possess, thereby– in Stuart’s words– “leaving the State only to look after the most vulnerable people in the society.”
And although the national newspaper that reported on this meeting did not describe the reaction of Mr. Stuart’s audience to this disclosure, one would not be surprised if Stuart’s compliant, partisan audience also gave him a standing ovation!
What makes these two “Prime Ministerial” speeches truly remarkable is the fact that almost exactly three years ago – in the General Election campaign of 2013– both Arthur and Stuart were running all over Barbados desperately trying to convince the Barbadian people that they were totally opposed to any suggestion that state enterprises be privatized, or that social entitlements should be taken away from the Barbadian people!
Now, if I had been in the audience at either of these two events, my first reaction would have been to wonder aloud how hypocritical, untrustworthy, and backward mainstream Barbadian politicians can be!
In addition,I would also have been inclined to ask some very concrete, practical and commonsensical questions!
For example, I would have been inclined to ask Mr. Owen Arthur if he could identify exactly which state entities he would sell off to the so-called “Private Sector”. Is he proposing to sell off our Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Polyclinics, Barbados Water Authority, television station, Sanitation Service Authority, Grantley Adams International Airport, Bridgetown Port, Barbados Community College, or our Transport Board??
What exactly are you proposing to sell off Mr. Arthur? And when you say that you propose to sell our state entities to the “Private Sector”, who exactly do you have in mind?
I would also pose similar questions to Mr. Arthur about his proposal to discontinue some of Government’s welfare programmes!
Precisely which programmes or services would you abandon Mr. Arthur? Would you, for example, get rid of our Welfare Department, National Assistance Board, National Disabilities Unit, Barbados Council for the Disabled, Child Care Board, Geriatric Hospital, Children’s Development Centre, or the District Hospitals?
Oh, please tell us, Mr. Arthur, which welfare programmes or services you would get rid of, and let us see if, like the BCCI audience, we too can give you a standing ovation!
And perhaps while we are at it we could ask Mr. Stuart what precisely are these “entitlements” that we Barbadian people possess, and that he is planning to take away from us.
I am aware, Mr. Stuart, that our Barbadian children are entitled to essentially free education in our public primary and secondary schools. Is this the entitlement that you intend to take away? Or is it our right to seek out medical attention at our Government owned polyclinics and Queen Elizabeth Hospital the entitlement that you propose to get rid of?
Might it be, Mr. Stuart, our old age pensioners’ entitlement to be transported for free on the buses of the Transport Board? Surely you would remember that entitlement: it was the one that your Democratic Labour Party featured in a number of high profile television advertisements during the last Election and pledged to defend against the machinations of the wicked Barbados Labour Party!
So please tell us which counter-productive “entitlements” you have targeted for elimination Mr. Stuart, and let us see if we can applaud you as well?
And finally, to Mr. Arthur’s much cherished “private-public sector partnerships!”.
Of course, Mr. Arthur knows a lot about “private-public sector partnerships”. Why, when he was Prime Minister his BLP administration entered into a contractual arrangement with Mr. Bizzy Wiiliams’ Ionics Freshwater Ltd., by virtue of which Mr. Williams’ company was mandated to construct a desalination facility and to provide the Barbados Water Authority (BWA) with 27,000 cubic metres of desalinated water every day over a 15 year period.
When, however, several years later, the Auditor General’s department carried out a special investigation into the workings of this outrageously preferential contract, they discovered that:-
- The BWA had – to the ultimate detriment of the taxpayers of Barbados – agreed to pay a price for the desalinated water that was substantially higher than was merited.
- The BWA had contracted to secure more water per day than it had the capacity to receive, and therefore the BWA and the taxpayers of Barbados had to pay the company – on an ongoing basis – for work that the company did not have to do; and
- The BWA had entered into a contract that virtually guaranteed the company a massive 18 per cent return on its investment !
So why – Mr. Arthur – would you want to saddle us with more of these types of outrageous contractual arrangements with the Bizzy Williamses, Mark Maloneys, Bjorn Bjerkhams and Martin Da Silvas of Barbados?
Fellow Barbadians, the sad reality is that the vast majority of the traditional political leaders of Barbados have totally lost their way! And if we – the people of Barbados – are not careful, they will end up destroying all that our forefathers struggled and fought for, and will deliver us right back into the hands of a local and foreign minority elite class!
It is sheer folly for any political leader to propose the abandonment of welfare services; the jettisoning of the very few precious social entitlements of our people; the dismantling of our country’s “mixed economy” model; or the delivery up of critical areas of our national system to a traditional elite business class intent on enjoying tax-payer guaranteed, risk-free, business enterprises!
Furthermore, we Barbadians must insist on Barbados being a “civilized” society. And in a civilized society, when economic conditions become difficult, welfare services are not cut; the poor and destitute are not abandoned; and the core social entitlements of the people are not dismantled!
In fact, it is precisely in such difficult times that Government must show its true worth as the principal defender of the “General Welfare” of the people!
Some enlightened and patriotic citizen who is close to Owen Arthur and Freundel Stuart needs to pull them aside and explain to them that they are putting themselves on the wrong side of history : that they are in danger of going down in the history of Barbados as black leaders who turned back the hands of the clock , and who played a perfidious role in taking our people back unto the old plantation!
Barbados Underground 
What is David Commissiong’s problem? He is always complaining. No one ain’t listening to he. Crop Over kaisos out and band fetes sold out. Plenty pork chops and Guinness available. Harbour Master back in Barbados. De gurls looking good wid their weave and nippy outfits. These are the really important matters. Common entrance results out this week, that will occupy the headlines next weekend. Barbados too sweet fuh trute.
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Barbadians should give careful attention to the practical difficulties of maintaining a welfare state before rushing to condemn the prime minister for climbing down from promises made in the past.
Even countries much wealthier than Barbados have been stretched to the limit by the costs of ‘modern’ health care, and the financial demands made by the greedy doctors who run these systems. In the US, ObamaCare is heading toward bankruptcy, and that’s a system of limited subsidies for private insurance, where poor people still have to pay for most of the medical services they receive. In Canada, Medicare is slowly driving the richest province, Ontario, towards an unsustainable debt burden. In the UK, there are medical horror stories every week because administrators and politicians are desperately trying to conserve resources needed to prevent collapse of the entire system.
Cuba has had to dig deep to keep its medical services going, and for a very small island like Barbados, access to medical clinics and hospital care without charge just may have to be restricted to the neediest households in the country.
Politics is the art of the possible. We do not have a right to expect miracles from our leaders.
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chad99999 June 6, 2016 at 1:59 AM ” for a very small island like Barbados, access to medical clinics and hospital care without charge…”
What do you mean by without charge.
Do know that our income tax rates are very high don’t you? higher than in the U.S. or the U.K. Canada etc.
So when we show up at a polyclinic for a “free” procedure we have ALREADY PAID FOR IT 10 TIMES OVER.
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@Owen Arthur “would allow the private sector to expand into activity historically deemed to be the preserve of the state.”
Only IF the private sector can provide these services CHEAPER and BETTER. Otherwise we don’t want their grubby hands on out tax money.
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@Fruendel Stuart “leaving the State only to look after the most vulnerable people in the society.”
I take it then that he intends to tax only the richest in the society.
Does that mean that the middle class will receive no services and will therefore pay no taxes?
If so Mr. P.M. then you have a deal.
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@Simple Simon
It is certainly true that income tax rates are high in Barbados, but it is not true that Barbadians are overtaxed. In Canada, the UK and many other countries, virtually everyone pays dozens of other taxes and user fees in addition to income taxes. Barbadians do not face as many of these additional charges.
.
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I hope that the poorrakey parliament according to Mr Arthur with its useless extravagance is included in the wasteful state enterprises for sale.
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Ping Pong you are right. Every time big issues come up, we have some fete or the other to take up our minds and bodies. So not a soul is worried about anything right now.
Crop Over fever is in the air, then it will be Independence in full swing, then Christmas, after that, Easter, and the mill’s blades go round and round in the wind while its walls crumble.
While we continue to swim in the island elixir and do frenzied wukk ups to our music that if sober, sounds the same year after year; our politrickcians talk all the crap and possibly even do more harm to the country with their actions.
Truth is not one of us could not give one tiny little bit of rat’s arse as to what is going on, if we did, we would be out there marching daily until dem in power begin to fly right and do for us what we mandated them to do.
Barbados is a tiny island that anyone or any government with a good business sense and a love of country could run successfully. Health and Welfare sorted. Crime done. Infratructure perfect. Think state of the art agriculture and food production. Think state of the art solar and eco-systems. Think Nevis, a much smaller island that gets it.
Instead we have greed and wutlessness and we like it so. Now what fete going on tonight I could go to. Anyone got the party agenda? I could do with a little wukk up after reading Commissiong’s assessment of life on the podium.
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The political leaders in Barbados are indeed backward, they pimp for votes before elections and lie to the people….after being elected instead of doing their jobs, thet put all their responsibilities into the hands of the business sector, who they all know most of them are crooks, just out for bettering themselves and raising their own standard of living off the backs of taxpayers.
The whole idea of the politician/business people relationship is to rape the treasury, generate taxpayer funded contracts that would require business people to pay bribes to the leaders, take those contracts to the banks and get mulit-million dollar loans for themselves….the taxpayer is not the beneficiary of these contracts and arrangements and are never factored in as being the recipients if any if those millions…
Arthur is dishonest and should be held accountable for Barbados not having a national bank, the 140 hardwood houses that disappeared, Perter Harris’…CGI Insurance….acquisition of the Transport Board contract that has soaked the entity in liabilities for over a decade, all the William’s, Maloney, Bjerkham etc scams that soaked the taxpayer under his administration for hundreds of millions of dollars ….. and all the corruption that continued under his watch…that still affects the people to this day, particularly since Thompson and Stuart continued the same nasty practices…against the people.
Of course the business sector would applaud Owens idiocy, they clearly see a way forward to rape the island and stagnate the people, with Owens help.., what a beast.
But there are not enough business people to vote him in to destroy the population, so Owen could go scratch. Don’t know what he is trying to achieve, but he is being very destructive, as are all the shithounds for politicians. ..there focus is never the welfare of the people, but lying to the people.
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quote ”implementing of new so-called “private-public sector partnerships” that– in Arthur’s words — “would allow the private sector to expand into activity historically deemed to be the preserve of the state.””
Ah-ah, I tell wunnuh that the Healthcare system would be privatized aka the USA model.
quote ”Is he proposing to sell off our (1) Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Polyclinics, (2) Barbados Water Authority, (3) television station, (4) Sanitation Service Authority, (5) Grantley Adams International Airport, Bridgetown Port, (6) Barbados Community College, or our (7) Transport Board??”
My guess is:
(1) Obviously. Has been on the cards for ages and the QEH , with its (?) inventory acquisition costs and inefficiency, a burden. But ma private hospital would make money, and also be more expensive for bajans. Partially there already, with virtual private fiefdoms in the QEH.
Bajans need to understand that ‘free’ /(which the taxpayer pays for) healthcare is going, going…
Good for the insurance companies, who will benefit (much increased monthly income for them (but they do not cover old people).
(2) BWA- of course, highly profitable, or can be, duh selling water to folks? Hah, someone will ‘acquire’ this and make serious $$$$$$.
(3) Television station – you do not get it yet, do you? Of course not. This is Guvments (either party) way of spreading information (sic). even at a loss of millions per year… it must be maintained…. to educate you lot. Ha.
(4) SSA – well duh. Easy money. Collect garbage for money. But, this one is explosive. Because do you really think ‘Good Garbage Collectors Inc’ will collect garbage from the Orleans or the Pine, who will pay them? No, they will collect from Grapes Hill or Bandy Lane and make oodles.
(5) GAA AND Bport – ha. This is a good one. In many countries Ports are run privately. But then, they are also run according to strict guidelines. A private port in Bim? Snort.
Then too, Guvments have a paranoia about control over the Port. Not sure it will fly.
(6) BCC – Heck yes, eventually, along with every other 6th form school. All tertiary will become private in time. These guvments don’t seem keen on maintaining the ‘Barrow’ ethos and neglect the importance of education.
(7) Transport Board – along with the TV station, another one that should have gone ever since. But a nice voter thing at election. Make it private and ensure that pensioners travel free and school children travel half price.
Probably not happen though, that is ‘votes’.
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quote Ping de Pong ”What is David Commissiong’s problem? He is always complaining. No one ain’t listening to he. Crop Over kaisos out and band fetes sold out”
Me does detect tongue in cheek. I agree, article should be titled ‘importance of de wuk up’ and focus on de chunes and gurlz and wuk up fetes.
Dat is where iz at……. Maybe de Bee or de Dee will give way some free tickets, what wid elexshuns now under two years away.
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quote balance ”balance June 6, 2016 at 4:54 AM # I hope that the poorrakey parliament according to Mr Arthur with its useless extravagance is included in the wasteful state enterprises for sale.”
As Mr.Cozier would say ”off the back foot, hammered for four’.
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“Bajans need to understand that ‘free’ /(which the taxpayer pays for) healthcare is going, going”
Yes we do need to understand that there is nothing free in Barbados. We have always paid some of the highest taxes in the world for the services offered by Government and we never grumbled because we could see where the taxes were going but our present predicament spanning both parties is as a result of the unproductive projects and concomitant kickbacks which have saddled the respective governments with unbudgeted for expenditure which is disingenuously laid on the backs of everything else except sleaze and mismanagement.
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We have been paying high taxes, also, our national debt has been rising. Draw your conclusions, an equation must balance.
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“David June 6, 2016 at 6:43 AM #
We have been paying high taxes, also, our national debt has been rising. Draw your conclusions, an equation must balance.”
Forgive my ignorance friend but I cannot conclude on that which I do not understand.
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@Real Ting and Crusoe I am very serious (well kinda…)
Heard at a recent church event (and this is as true as John 3:16): ” Tings brown! I ain’t had a salary increase in 8 years! de cost of living high high high! Dis Gubberment doing real shite! Doan mind doh, I is a party person and I voting D next time. I always vote D! I did always like Barrow from de time I little and I ain’t gwine change now!” May I add, many others expressed agreement.
David Commissiong should really join a Kadooment band and try enjoy heself dis Crop Over instead of trying to stir up dese Brassbowls!
Barbados sweet fuh days fuh trute!
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Ignorance…it’s your own political parties DBLP killing you and you fail to recognize it because you are in perpetual denial, so you deserve what you get….and backwardness, it’s your own politicians selling you out to the business people for kickbacks and stealing from the treasury because they are backward and only need you for votes come election time, you as the people, are otherwise useless to the politicians, because ya have to pay taxes anyway….so you deserve what you get, if after 50 years of being robbed, you still do not recognize you are being robbed by politicians and you have the power to do something about it…ya have the numbers, you are the majority..over 260,000 black people.. ..and ya deserve what you get.
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@ Ping Pong
Brass bowls will be brass bowls….as will be their leaders.
They tend to pursue brass bowlery, and can always be counted on off to sell their birthrights and asse(t)s to the albino-centrics of our world for a bowl of porridge. Just like parros and prostitutes do….
@ David Come-and-sing-a-song
Boss man, you got Bushie frighten yuh…
You are growing in statue with almost frightening alacrity…
You are seeing things with a refreshing new perspective…
You seem to have learnt from, and discarded, your propensity to loiter at the doorsteps of the political class – awaiting handouts.
Like Caswell, you seem to have had your ‘Saul-Paul’ transformation…
Dare we hope…?
Can Bajans trust….?
Shiite man…. ORGANISE something nuh?? …something DIFFERENT…
Wait!! … Why don’t you BUP? 🙂
There are no patents, no copyrights.
David(BU) won’t sue …or even claim ownership..
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David C like most Bajan men, taken the “Pride” out of the country’s “Motto” and awash themselves with it..! Where’s the “Industry” among these “Lot-a-long-talk-men..!?
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You can’t ever accuse David C of talk.
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Capitalism is the uneven distribution of wealth; socialism is the even distribution of misery.
There is nothing the gov’t and civil service does that the private sector can’t do faster, cheaper and better.
If the teefin’ is ever going to be brought under control, the handling of money and assets by the gov’t and civil service has to be minimised.
And to correct Comissiong (not that his ranting Marxist fantasising could ever be corrected), I was standing 40 feet away from the podium in Bay Street on the last night before the 2013 general election when Owen Arthur stated clearly that public burdens had to be privatised. That’s when I realised the BLP would lose the election and we would be condemned to five more years of inept, vision-less mismanagement and further economic decline.
Our people want freeness, not opportunity.
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The “Welfare State”! instead of a piece meal approach favoured by politicians, let’s put everything on the table to be examined under a harsh political/social reality. Let’s start with Education, why a CEE in 2016? Why should children be bussed halfway across the island to attend “A” or “B” school? If they lived in St. Peter or St. Lucy; St. Philip or St. George why shouldn’t they be channeled to the local HS in the area i.e. St. Lucy Secondary, Princess Margaret or St. George Secondary? Why should buses’ ZRs and private vehicles be spewing all those noxious fumes on the highway daily, why should those massive traffic jams be de jure in Barbados? Has anyone ever conjured up the ancillary costs of transporting a child from St. Joseph to Bridgetown to attend school? If you have read this far and am not convinced that I am talking shite, then you would know that it would mean that the children of the DC’s of the world would be going to the Parkinson’s or the St. George Secondary and that just wouldn’t do.
When the rubber meets the road many of these talking heads are just like the majority of us we want to milk the cow but don’t want to feed it, how about University fees for students? That went up like a lead balloon and teachers today are fighting to be paid for work they didn’t perform.
Sea Water and Sand.
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@ David C
More privitisation under the current system would be pure folly.
But with proper rules in place privitisation could save the taxpayer a lot of money.
Who will implement the new rules?
And stop the gravy train?
Not the BDLP.
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REAL TING June 6, 2016 at 5:13 AM #
[Crime done. Infratructure perfect. Think state of the art agriculture and food production. Think state of the art solar and eco-systems. Think Nevis, a much smaller island that gets it.]
Real Ting you are unreal. St. Kitts/ Nevis is the most crime and murder ridden little nation per capita around. Hard to grasp that Nevis’ population is smaller than St. Andrew but they slaughter each other at ISIS pace. Your tiny Nevis doesn’t get it ,research a better example.
The elephant in the room for Barbados is foreign exchange we cant get enough investment/ new money into the country. The one legged economy of tourism is unsustainable.
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@ Frustrated B
Capitalism is the uneven distribution of wealth; socialism is the even distribution of misery.
There is nothing the gov’t and civil service does that the private sector can’t do faster, cheaper and better.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Generally true.
The Government and Civil Service do a lotta shiite, …and no doubt the private sector can do that faster and better too…. (Thinking of Flow/SLIME here)
Boss, the problem with your ‘privatisation plan’ is that we had that already.
It was referred to as the PLANTATION SYSTEM.
No doubt some Bajans would love to return there…. but most of us are not so stupid….
NOTHING beats a co-operative system …where we ALL own the damn plantation, and where the plantation money has to be accounted for with 100% transparency.
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Cooperative system is the only way to go….the UK, Canada etc have their cooperative systems blazing a trail in their countries and laughingly leave the stupid corrupt little island leaders with their greedy, private sector and privitization schemes.
The private sector in Barbados have bad track records…ably aided and abetted by greedy, unknowledgeable politicians.
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Sargeant wrote ” Why should children be bussed halfway across the island to attend “A” or “B” school?”
Billie Miller created a workable solution to address this problem when she was MOE.
I guess there was too much opposition from those who were concerned about lowering the standards of HC and QC.
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@ David Commisong
The answer from both Mrrs. Stuart and Arthur is ………all of the above.
Unfortunate, Mr. Commisiong you, yourself, was a fervent supporter of the BLP regime when the same OSA carried out the implementation of the most perverse, neo-liberal, Washington Consensus policies, for decades.
When he was selling off Bajan lands to the highest bidder there was not a whimper from you. You had no objections then. When a government’s central policy is to sell off the commons, why did you support that government and not call for land reform. A land reform that never happened since slavery.
As a self-proclaimed leader, a thinker of some note, what did you believe these vicious policies of OSA will logically lead?
We will tell you so that when these same house niggers wake up one morning and start to articulate the re-enslavement of Bajans you wouldn’t act like Columbus. You are now discovering what we have known for 2 decades.
Now OSA is where he is, politically, his main interest is the continuation of the service to the oligarchs which he provided as PM, this time as high paid ‘consultant’.
We were arguing for years that the policies of successive GOB were for the consolidation of all resources into the hands of the elite. And this is already well-advance as evidence by CAHILL, the transfers to Bizzy, COW and the rest. These policies can only continue, on steroids.
So if you think some raassoul body kay whether dat ole woman from down dey dying, in pain, in her bed for lack of medicine, think again.
We have seen the criminal in West Africa, up close and for many years, who sold Africans into slavery, and the Arthurs and Stuarts and Mottleys are not dissimilar.
We have suggested that as a class the elite in Barbados should be eviscerated. Our favoured method has been the guillotine, but only when Bajans find themselves in a neo-slavery condition are they to wake up half foolish one morning and start killing their new en-slavers.
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Talk, talk and more more talk, The atmosphere has too much methane as it is. I’d like to see Barbados make WORLD NEWS for standing up to Empire. Do something great for once. Let the other nations follow. Action starts at the atomic level and compared to other nations Barbados is an ‘atom.’ The only thing that power bows to is a greater power.
I said it before and I’ll repeat these MOFOs that call themselves polieticians in Barbados owe allegiance to Empire. They’ve made their blood oaths and they can’t get out alive. They see what happen to Barrow and Tom and they too will be heart-attacked it they try to get out of their oaths so they will continue to prostitute your children and children’s children to Empire.
UNLESS
You the people stand up to them and make them back to hell off. Stop thinking that you belong to a party because there’s no party they are both the same….like George Carlin said “Its a big fucking club and you ain’t in it.”
Each voter/citizen has more in common with each other (whether or not you like it than you have with the polieticians). Come together and eliminate them. The only power they have is what you give them. They will stay on this path until YOU, THE PEOPLE STOP them.
What the people in Barbados have on their side too is the climate. You don’t live in the cold where you have to worry about getting heat in winter. You have the SUN at your back and you have food.
SHUT THE FUCKING COUNTRY DOWN until they back up off you. Maloney, Bjerkum and all the other parasitic crackers will have to return to their dark, cold caves.
SHUT YOUR MOUTHS AND THE COUNTRY DOWN!
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oh lawd, post getting snatched again!
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Capitalism is a virus. Unless it is destroyed, utterly, like any virus it will continue to feed on the mass.
And those of you who think the credit union movement is somehow safe. We have a warning for you too. Unless this movement goes on the attack …………………………. not too many years will pass before a government of Barbados seeks to privatize it to the oligarchs as well.
For too long this movement has pretended that if it just keeps its head down and continue what it has been doing, mostly good, it could continue to exist. The only problem is that the controllers of the GOB do not recognize such delusions.
Recent attempts by the central government to tax the movement should be seen through this frame.
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@ David Comissiong
As usual, your comments are essentially based on the social, political, and economic ideologies articulated by Marx and Engels in their pamphlet, “The Communist Manifesto.”
Interestingly, you have not suggested any methods you would employ to finance some of these unsustainable “welfare support programmes” without INCREASING TAXES or INCURRING ADDITIONAL DEBT.
The REALITY of the situation is that EVERY SOCIETY is faced with the problem of SCARCITY, because the existing supply of resources is insufficient or limited to produce the quantities of GOODS and SERVICES that would be REQUIRED to SATISFY its citizens during a given time period. Hence, the CHOICE to PRODUCE more of ONE GOOD/SERVICE REQUIRES producing LESS of ANOTHER GOOD/SERVICE.
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Is it a crime or anarchistic to say SHUT your MOUTHS and the Damn Country down. To say that the government derives its power from the people and that the people have more power than the government and that the people should use their power against the government and its cronyism? is that illegal. Let Bejerkum Baloney and the others return to their dark,cold caves. No more SERVITUDE? Is that illegal?
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“When he was selling off Bajan lands to the highest bidder there was not a whimper from you. You had no objections then.”
Name one piece of land owned by the Government whch was sold off by Mr Arthur to the highest bidder.
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Oh hopping crickets dis economic discourse all ova de place. Pon eva blog I dus read here dey does have a post like: >
And each time it does get nuff likes. Jesus lord people get effing real nah.
Eva cuntry must have they wuk-up parties to ease de tension and most importantly generate some serious economic activity. If fetes SELL_OUT dat mean, drinks gin sell, clothes get buy, mechanics gotta fix trucks and ting, and musicians get a gig. Oh shiittte the list is endless.
Do you peeps know how many house owners getting some cash from AirBnb or dem udder sites in coming weeks??? Do you stop and tink bout dem things too…how many taxi drivers or car rental places gine get some coin…de beach vendors dem. My friend down in St James who does rent out he boat and do air surfing and all that nice stuff. He getting some blenzy.
Come-a-sing-a-Long mekking interesting comments which in got nutting to do wid 11-plus or wukking up. So leh we stop wid dese gimme remarks begging for likes and discourse de ting serious do.
Eva mornng we does get up and most ah we does go and shiite at some point in the toilet. Eva morning some serious economic activity is also produced. If we can’t rationally discuss de bodily eff-fluence and the serious economic activity and understand dat both of dem vitally important to sustaining we life den we really should stay in bed!! Seriously.
@Artaxian, Come-and-sing-Along ask proper questions. Dat really ain’t nah marxist screaming. De economic facts are de economic facts bro.
How can we actually fully privatize transport…I know that things have improved muchly since Rocklyn days but is there an actual business case for ‘REASONABLE’ fares in a public transport environment in a Barbados?
The gov’t wud have to cap rates and den have to subsidize cause there are always off-routes in a small island and of course we want to maintain some equilibrium to our seniors.
And even in the event of significant private or private-public-partnership a propa government wud have to employ dem officials dem to inspect and confirm that standard of citizen care are being maintained in trute.
Dis private talk is real pretty but the brother asked good questions.
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@ Balance
Owen Arthur created a market for land in Barbados. This policy made no distinction between buyers whether local or foreign. That pernicious policy saw land prices continually escalate, ushered in such a real estate bubble that Barbados was at one time the most expensive real estate in the WORLD.
We are not as narrow minded as you always seem to be. We are talking about a generalized government policy, where government is most important in directing ‘development’, not necessarily a particular piece of land owned by the Crown, as you seem to want to believe.
If you want a case, we have one that is even worse. Remember the land that OSA got his boys to buy somewhere in St. James and then proceeded to sell it to Sandy Lane for expansion, after giving his boys planning permission guarantees. Well this is an even more egregious case that you demanded of us.
Further, no development, including on agricultural lands could happen unless government has a say. The fact that lands might have been owned by the oligarchs makes their general policy no less vicious.
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Looka my crossss though…teh whole quite get catspraddled…so not a bit a sense can’t be made. WTF!
Here is that start-up again: Oh hopping crickets dis economic discourse all ova de place. Pon eva blog I dus read here dey does have a post like: – ‘What is David Commissiong’s problem? … No one ain’t listening to he. Crop Over kaisos out and band fetes sold out. Plenty pork chops and Guinness available…. These are the really important matters. Common entrance results out this week, that will occupy the headlines next weekend. Barbados too sweet fuh trute.’
And each time it does get nuff likes. Jesus lord people get effing real nah…..
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The writer of the article is a socialist so it is necessary for him to protect what he belives he is entitled.
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Brathwaite
you dun know that you aint saying nuffing! Yuh should see Ping ponging pun a fat bumsee to some sweet kaiso dis weekend! Commissiong got to get a life man. Leh we party…pork and Guinness. As YOU wrote more economic activity gun happen because of fete than Commissiong’s rants. Bajans vote a gubberment to run de cuntry and when de time come we gun vote anudder one to run de place. In de mean time leh we get we weave, nippy dippy gurlz, food and fete.
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Brathwaite June 6, 2016 at 12:08 PM #
Perhaps your definition of “‘REASONABLE’ fares in a public transport environment in a Barbados” is paying $2.00 to any destination in Barbados, rather than a system of paying according to distance travelled.
We often brag about the “economic superiority” that separates Barbados from many of our Caribbean neighbours, yet islands such as St. Vincent, St. Lucia, St. Kitts, Dominica and Grenada, have successful privatized public transport systems, despite bus fares being apportioned according to destination.
An individual, for example, living in New Montrose in St. Vincent and working in Georgetown has to pay approximately EC$7 per trip or EC$14 per day travelling to and from work. Travelling from Arnos Vale to Kingstown is about EC$2 per trip.
“And even in the event of significant private or private-public-partnerships” in these island, their governments do not “have to employ dem officials dem to inspect and confirm that standard of citizen care are being maintained in trute.”
Maintaining subsidized transport, free health care at the point of delivery, free A, B, C, D and E is not sustainable for Barbados, which does not have any natural resources. Therefore, to be able to provide more than one service, there will be a need to provide less of another set of services.
The reality is revenue from taxation is insufficient to consistently provide “public goods” and “welfare programmes,” as well as to finance other government expenditure. As such, the government must INCUR debt or INCREASE TAXATION to finance these “entitlements.”
In your opinion, “the brother asked good questions,” but he failed to address the resulting financial implications.
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But…the writer of the article is speaking truth…AC….even if I dont believe in a social philosophy, another failure, your backward political masters are presiding over a dead, useless, failed system….and they do not have the intelligence to upgrade and/or do something more useful, create a new system or adopt the cooperative system…they are failures, of course with you and Alvin following them and being thrir mouth piece, they could be nothing else.
Has your prime minister Fruendel Stuart take the Auditor General’s 2015 report to the DPP yet, to initiate an investigation of all those bad contracts with the private sector, all the taxpayer’s money missing from the treasury….has Fruendel done his job and started a criminal investigation…
ne pas vous les gens voient le cauchemar qui va se dérouler prochainement.
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One day coming soon,Barbados will join those countries where a freed press hunt wrongdoers publicly as Netanyahu is feeling the heat.
http://gu.com/p/4kg6b/sbl
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EWB said one day Bajans will wake up and realize they don’t own this country any longer.The Chinese(aka the Chinks) and now the Russians(aka the Soviets)are both next door in Guyana in a serious way on the door step of Caricom.
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To Ping Pong’s point a person was heard on a radio station this morning quarreling about a fete on the weekend shutting down at 3am.
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Always knew Netanyahu to be a dangerous fraud and liar.
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What Truth a bunch of political rhetoric that simply says that it is in the best interest of barbados to remain a a welfare state even if govt cannit afford ,His loud verbosity against both PM is simply a grading against a capitalist system one which he tries to trade for socialism with all the bells and whistle attached
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wait wait, ac defending privatisation? #noshame
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Enuff no not at all just seeing the forest for the trees in that the message which is being sent by the messenger involves entrapment and deceit placed on a hot bed of self interest. A sale pitch of that type should also have a sign stating ” buyer beware”
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@Gabriel June 6, 2016 at 3:18 PM “EWB said one day Bajans will wake up and realize they don’t own this country any longer.The Chinese and now the Russians are both next door in Guyana.”
So what do you expect us to do? Declare World War 3 on the Chinese and the Russians?
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Maintaining subsidized transport, free health care at the point of delivery, free A, B, C, D and E is not sustainable for Barbados, which does not have any natural resources. Therefore, to be able to provide more than one service, there will be a need to provide less of another set of services.
The reality is revenue from taxation is insufficient to consistently provide “public goods” and “welfare programmes,” as well as to finance other government expenditure. As such, the government must INCUR debt or INCREASE TAXATION to finance these “entitlements.”
Yes this the above is indeed true but this is compounded by mismanagement of what little we have and sleaze. The contractual arrangements with Mr Williams and Mr Maloney are cases in point.
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@chad99999 June 6, 2016 at 3:13 AM “In Canada, the UK and many other countries, virtually everyone pays dozens of other taxes and user fees in addition to income taxes. Barbadians do not face as many of these additional charges.”
Really???
Income tax
National Insurance and Social Security, compulsory contributions to (I think that in the U.S. this is called payroll tax)
VAT tax
Property tax
Customs duties tax
User fee tax for prescription drugs
These are only some of the taxes and fees imposed on the average householder.
Does anybody in the Canada, UK or many other countries pay $12,000 USD income tax on gross pay of $55,000 USD
It is clear that you do not live here. it is clear that you do not pay taxes here.
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“We are not as narrow minded as you always seem to be. We are talking about a generalized government policy, where government is most important in directing ‘development’, not necessarily a particular piece of land owned by the Crown, as you seem to want to believe.
If you want a case, we have one that is even worse. Remember the land that OSA got his boys to buy somewhere in St. James and then proceeded to sell it to Sandy Lane for expansion, after giving his boys planning permission guarantees. Well this is an even more egregious case that you demanded of us.”
I stand corrected because I am not in a position to refute your case but I think it is not fair to suggest that the selling off of agricultural land or crown lands for development began under Mr Arthur. It started way back in the sixties. I need not mention Sanford which became a nestling ground for DLP bigwigs and cohorts.
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@enuff
Do you watch Jeopardy?
What is a yardfowl?
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@Artax June 6, 2016 at 1:07 PM “free health care at the point of delivery.”
Um ent free.
It is tax funded.
Don’t use the word free in front of me.
So let us say that I paid $24,000 in income tax last year (and the year before, and the year before, and the year before and etc. and ad infinitum) and now I need my lame foot dress at the polyclinic I should have to pay again?
Why?
Wha’ happen to my money?
Did the captains of politics and industry use it to buy themselves a new C class Mercedes Benz every 3 years (the same ones that drove past meyesterday morning while i waited outdie of the polyclinic.
They think that we do not see them?
Did the politicians use my money to give other people (mostly foreigners, and rich white people) tax holidays, and sweetheart contracts?
While I pay and pay and pay, and pay some more?
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Truth always bring out the demons in David
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Do NOT use the word free in front of me.
I have NEVER received any freeness.
I pay for everything. Sometimes I pay 2 or 3 times.
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@Crusoe June 6, 2016 at 5:51 AM “Ah-ah, I tell wunnuh that the Healthcare system would be privatized aka the USA model.”
But why would anybody do that? Since the USA model is the most expensive in the world.
We cannot afford the USA model.
We are not rich Americans.
We are a bunch of poor tail Bajans catching we royal.
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@Crusoe June 6, 2016 at 5:51 AM “Good for the insurance companies, who will benefit (much increased monthly income for them (but they do not cover old people).”
And the insurance companies do not particularly like covering sick people either.
If you are young and healthy and require no health care the insurance companies love you (or love your money) but don’t you dare get old or sick, or old AND sick.
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@Simple
The issue here is that the government has no money. It is not whether you can afford, it is that the government cannot afford.
Imagine the DLP now engaged in privatization strategies after vilifying Artur last general election.
@hypocrites$liars
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Now the writer has written with plenty disregard of what necessitate govts to pursue a different path or policies . He then goes on to rip into both PMs with obnoxious chastisement putting aside that both PMs even though at odds with some of the measures each would take to move barbados forward that in each of their measures or goals their was the importance of taking Barbados on a path that lead to sustainability along with a helping hand of govt a instrumental to instill in the people a desire to be self sufficient
The writer tries to play the man but not the ball
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“Politics is the art of the possible. We do not have a right to expect miracles from our leaders”
Good one Chad9x5…but it’s the politicians who tell the people pre-election lies in making the voters believe that politicians can walk on water and fix all things financial….just wait for it….2018 is around the corner…or better yet, just listen to lying Hilary and lying Trump….intelligent people know that they cannot deliver aything they are promising US voters, but millions of idiots are hanging on to their every word and both candidates continue to lie like there is no tomorrow.
Just wait for DBLP political, their lies will be on steroids….soon come.
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@Frustrated Businessman aka Republic my ass. June 6, 2016 at 8:38 AM “If the teefin’ is ever going to be brought under control, the handling of money and assets by the gov’t and civil service has to be minimised.”
But since the private sector and the politicians and the civil servants were all raised in the same homes, and schooled in the same places and churched in the same churches, why would we get a different result?
Have not we seen some of the private sector in government bracelets?
My feeling is that the private sector is just as tiefin and just as incompetent as the politicians.
And pleaseleave the civil servants out of this.
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Did any of the media practitioners invited to eat free food at Llaro Court ask the prime minister if he still has a plan to move Barbados to a republic?
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Mission control to Simple Simon: not only will Government continue to tax you (and all o’ we), it plans to increase the level of taxation AND to decrease the amount of social services it extends to the public. So we will be paying more for less. Yuh can’t do one shite about it.
Do like me and wuk up and do dixie like a madman. Pork and Guinness, fete and gurlz. Don’t waste time talking shite and trying to discuss economic matters (you ain’t know anyting bout dem tings and nobody ain’t listening anyway). If yuh able, go have some sex, have fun, be happy.
Doan mind Well Well & Consequences or Hopi. Dem doan live bout here. Dey don’t even know who Karl Broodhagen was. It would seem most of the posters pun BU live over and away and left Barbados many many years ago! Yuh see why Stuart does punish us wid laugh!
Barbados sweet fuh trute!
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Only two options for Government – Comissiong
Barbados Today Monday 20th January, 2014
Social activist David Commission Social activist, David Comissiong, wants the Freundel Stuart administration to form a government of national unity or call fresh general elections.’;Those are the only two options that I see,’; Comissiong said.Contending that the administration is in disarray, he likened the current economic crisis in the country to the situation that existed 20 years ago that forced the Democratic Labour Party government to return to the polls.’;It’s like in 1993 when Mr Sandiford’s government found itself in constant turmoil and confusion.
Two years ago he was giving advice ,, Two years later he is chastizng both PMS cant seem to make up his mind
I think he should try to save Venezuela a brand and a political system that he feels a lot with at home and leave Barbados to a democratic brand of governance of which the electorate has an absolute right of choosing their govt
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@ unBalanced
Our case has never been that the sale of crown lands or agricultural lands started under OSA. That is a canard.
But he certainly escalated it.
He did so to the point where little was left unsold. He repositioned the local economy to almost entirely rely on real estate sales, to foreigners, for its survival. That represents neo-liberalism on steroids.
And Arthur will now be allowed to continue this, if circumstances allow, by his new friends in the DLP.
You are what is wrong, and will continue to be wrong, with Barbados.
And there is only one way to rid the country of those mentalities.
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Ok Ping Pong. See you at the next pork lime/Guinness rush hour/Q in the community.
As it happens I like all the things you mentioned above, pork, beer. wukking up (both vertically and horizontally.
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Ping.Pong…while Stuart is punishing yall with laughter….the credit rating agencies are punishing yall with downgrades…I aint feeling a thing.
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Someone just whispered to me that Moodys downgraded Barbados again on June 1st, I did not even read that in the newspapers, thrre is just mention of the June 1st statistics online by Moodys.., dont stop wuking up Ping Pong, it will get better and better…lol
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@Simple Simon
A Canadian taxpayer with an annual income of $55,000 will pay about $10,000 in federal and provincial income taxes, plus a 13% sales tax called the HST, plus property taxes, customs duties, and excise taxes on gasoline (18 cents/litre). The taxes on liquor and cigarettes are astronomical (e.g., up to 80 cents/litre for beer, $4 per pack of cigarettes).
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Correction: the gas taxes – sales, excise, fuel and carbon taxes – amount to about 40 cents/litre.
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And what service will they receive in return?
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Our VAT is 17.5%
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All of that talk about paying taxes in the US…depending on your tax bracket, ya get attractive returns…people been complaining about getting returns on time in Barbados….and ya get services depending on your needs.
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Simple Simon June 6, 2016 at 6:52 PM #
“@Artax June 6, 2016 at 1:07 PM “free health care at the point of delivery.” Um ent free. It is tax funded.”
@ Simple Simon
“Free health care at the POINT OF DELIVERY” is SELF DEFINING.
In other words, although health care is financed by taxation, a patient does not have to pay when he/she receives treatment (i.e. “at the point of delivery.)”
To emphasize the point, for example, bus fares are subsidized by taxes, yet we have to pay $2 per trip “at the point of delivery,” i.e. each time we ENTER a Transport Board omnibus.
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The Prime Minister has been knocked for 6 over the discovery that many people on murder charges are being granted bail, to walk the aisles of supermarkets in Barbados.
We can therefore surmised that the Prime Minister has also been knocked for 6 ,over the following.
Folks in the Scotland District have been without a regular supply of water for the past years,while still paying high water rates..
Folks in Whitehill,St Andrew ,have no road, water or a bus service.
That plans for the proposed multi-million dollar Andrews sugar factory appear to have gone the same route as the Four Seasons Project,and that agriculture is dead.
That the 2016 sugar crop only produced 7000 tonnes of sugar, probably the combined warehouse stock of Massy and Popular supermarkets.
That Barbados is covered in garbage from North Point to South Point,and from Ragged Point to Holetown, as there are only a few SSA trucks to service the whole island.
That the UNESCO World Heritage Site at the Garrison, could be mistaken for a half -way SSA station. And Bridgetown is not much better either.
That it is easier to obtain any desired type of firearms off the streets of Barbados , easier than a pound of Yams or Butter Beans.
That Barbadian motorists are pumping millions into the Barbados treasury,by way of road taxes, numerous VAT Payments, overpriced gasolene and diesel,and in return receiving bugger all, but potholed roads,and dark areas on the ABC Highway where street lights are not working ,or have not been replaced after an accident.
That the good discipline of law and order on our highways ,has taken a nose dive.
It appears to me that our Prime Minister ,not only knows Leroy Paris,but also Jack Shit.,
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Hopi June 6, 2016 at 10:07 AM #
You have the SUN at your back and you have food.
………………………………………………………………………………………….
By using the word ‘you’, its clear to say that you do not live in Barbados. Yes , we have the sun, but our food comes from Trinidad and Tobago,as our once arable agricultural lands are now bearing concrete plants.
As someone once said, God help Barbados if the weekly spaghetti and macaroni boat from Port of Spain should sink.
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Should read:
people been complaining about NOT getting tax returns on time in Barbados
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@Col Buggy………..Its a disgrace that such rich arable agricultural land is literally going into the pockets of rich folk i.e the realtors and golf-club owners, but the people only have to look in the mirror to see whose at fault. I think ‘education’ will be the downfall of that island. No more skills, no more affinity for the land and too much damn pride. Looks like Mother Nature will have to step in and give Old Father Time a Hand because the people are dead, dead to their condition as its approaching the mid-night hour.
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The only reason Barbados does not grow it’s own food is because the skills and resourcefulness to do so aren’t there. In South Korea and Israel massive quantities of fruit and vegetables are grown in greenhouses and in backyards. The Barbados government has an Agricultural Marketing & Development Corporation that was supposed to create linkages between agriculture and tourism, but it is a hopeless failure.
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http://www.nationnews.com/nationnews/news/81995/uwp-win-election-st-luciap
Ha-ha….AC aka WAK and Alvin…ya’ll are next…lol
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Oh what a disgrace!!!!
“GOVERNMENT’S MANAGEMENT of the economy came in for a battering yesterday following Moody’s Investor’s Service triple point downgrade of Barbados’ credit rating from Ba3 to B3, pushing this country further into junk bond territory. Economists, business organisations, politicians and civic leaders here and in New York all said the downgrade was expected and showed Government needed to get “serious” in achieving an economic turnaround. In its report on Monday, Moody’s said the size of the downgrade reflected the reinforcement of negative fiscal trends given the increasing size of the country’s fiscal deficit and their expectation of continued challenges to Government’s efforts at fiscal consolidation.”
The politicians and yardfowls are too busy helping Bizzy, Maloney and Bjerkham rob the country and people, faces too deeply buried kissing ass….blights, be gone.
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for the record ac did not have a man running in the ST.Lucia so the outcome would not have mattered to me , The last days brouhaa got my attention because of the stench pf political interference which was said being emitted due to the presence of several blpites including the leader of the Opposition party Mia Mottley in the ST. Lucia political process
Any how if the BLP feel a sense of vindication it only shows that the BLP had a vested interest in having Anthony lose
ac have clean hands and as i stated no interest of any kind stemming from who win or lose
So the Blp posing on the bragging rights of the winner of STL election exposed a rightful concern of Anthony about the blpites invasion of ST,lucia in weeks and days ahead of the election
As they say the higher the monkey climbs the more he exposes his tail
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Don’t let the door hit you and ya political masters in the ass…WAK..lol
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Perfect…those bank notes should go on a memory wall of corruption, never to be forgotten, always readily available as a reminder of how easily politicians can be corrupted and in turn corrupt others and destroy a country..
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That’s some excellent imagery……..bills should go on a memory wall of corruption…….always readily available to show how easily politicians can be corrupted by business people in the private sector in Barbados…excellent.
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When we deading wid hunger, when we deading wid lack of medical care, when we killing one audder fuh toilet paper and rice, in udder words when we get like Venezuela, it is only then that we will unnerstan dat we doing shite. But looka muh crosses, ain’t it Venezuela dat Commissiong thinks is heaven pun earth?!! Even when we reach that stage deh still going be plenty people saying “I is a D (or a B) till ah dead!”
Pork and Guinnness, fooping and fete
I nevah see a place like Barbados yet
tings brown as shite
but as long as I got Q, tings allright
Wunnuh could talk bout economy and politics
Freudel gun laugh and stay mute
Barbados could only be sweet fuh trute.
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chad99999 June 7, 2016 at 12:05 AM #
The only reason Barbados does not grow it’s own food is because the skills and resourcefulness to do so aren’t there. In South Korea and Israel massive quantities of fruit and vegetables are grown in greenhouses and in backyards. The Barbados government has an Agricultural Marketing & Development Corporation that was supposed to create linkages between agriculture and tourism, but it is a hopeless failure.
Untrue.
Arable agriculture has been demonised by every gov’t since independence, it is therefore not an aspirational pursuit for entrepreneurs; quite the opposite in fact.
This is less true for animal husbandry and our chicken and pig production is consequently up-to-date, although expensive due to the high cost of any pursuit in Bim compared to other Caribbean islands. Agrofest animals have been quite incredible for the past several years.
We will not have meaningful arable agriculture until the gov’t teefs get their hands off of the sugar industry. Without that rotation crop there can be no others.
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Well Well & Consequences June 7, 2016 at 6:16 AM #
“Don’t let the door hit you and ya political masters in the ass…WAK..lol…”
@ WW&C
The consortium of yard-fowls is “shitting grits” now. If Stuart is so confident about an increased support for the DLP, I bet he won’t call the general elections early.
However, although the DLP yard-fowls want to keep the focus on Mottley and her leadership style, surely many of us remember 11 members who were brave enough to make themselves known, also have a problem with Stuart’s leadership style.
After seeing what occurred in Antigua, St. Kitts & Nevis, Grenada, Trinidad & Tobago, Guyana and now St. Lucia, perhaps the 11 would emerge again lest the DLP suffers a similar fate.
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Art…let’s see, they are not comfortable for sure. Donville is thirsty to be prime minister, but not only is he a bad choice, but you do not want the same comfort zone of corruption settling into and further destroying the economy….for a third term.
The other islands’ populations are not tolerating the nastiness, they made the necessary changes to thrir governments…using electorate and voter intelligence and so should the bajan voters….get those parasitic, lying, useless blights…..gone.
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chad99999 June 7, 2016 at 12:05 AM #
…………………………………………………………………………………………………..
I beg to differ, Barbados has the skill and resourcefulness to grow its own food, what the farmers may not have is the will and patience to continue to grow food to be reaped by crop thieves, and the despair of very little hope of forthcoming legislation to protect them. Many a farmer has given up.
For a couple of years there was a massive vegetable farm, consisting of many green houses,at Strong Hope in St Thomas. It would be interesting to know why it was closed down.
Then there was the Australian in the north who was forced by the Courts to abandoned his vegetable farm ,consisting of million of dollars of equipment, all because one of the local mafia wanted to be given preference to purchase the land, which he eventually said he was not interested in, after the Australian farmer was booted off.
Agriculture in Barbados is virtually dead, as a few business men in Barbados believe that there is more money to be made planting houses, than planting yams,canes or potatoes.
We have some young bright farmers who are working against the odds to keep,local foods on our tables, but are not given the support and protection in an industry so vital.
Here is a pic taken at Lower Greys ,in the heart of the St Georges valley agricultural belt. The land has been taken up , like so many other fields of good arable land, to make way for a housing development.
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Another 1000 acres of agricultural lands ,not “making any money” may soon fall into the hands of the housing developers.
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@ David Comissiong:
“What makes these two “Prime Ministerial” speeches truly remarkable is the fact that almost exactly three years ago – in the General Election campaign of 2013– both Arthur and Stuart were running all over Barbados desperately trying to convince the Barbadian people that they were totally opposed to any suggestion that state enterprises be privatized, or that social entitlements should be taken away from the Barbadian people!
David Comissiong, what you wrote above is NOT ‘entirely’ true.
It is primarily because of Owen Arthur’s Privatization proposal that the deceitful volt-face Stuart was able to win the 2013 elections.
Don’t you recall Mr. Commisong that famous slogan ‘No Privatization under the DLP’?
But let us put the past behind us where it belongs and look towards a better future by looking on the bright side of Privatization.
Don’t you think a well planned programme of privatization can effectively bring about fiscal savings and administrative benefits by way of:
There will be absolutely no need for such an obese Executive Cabinet of 19 as currently exists to provide jobs for the political rejects and incompetent parasites. A smaller Cabinet will mean less political involvement in the day-to-day management of a smaller bureaucracy and, by extension, in the lives of the ordinary citizens.
Less corruption because of less procurement and building contracts for greedy politicians and corrupt top bureaucrats to determine and award to selfish private sector thugs.
Politicians would be unable to go around at elections time promising people jobs in the Public Sector or taxpayers’ funded freebies. The quality of representation, the proposing of legislation to improve the rights of citizens (especially those of minority groups and those currently disadvantaged) and the governance of a public bureaucracy focused primarily on regulatory matters would be the main ingredient or political menu potential candidates would have to ‘sell’.
Don’t you think that too much direct dependency on politicians and on the various social agencies of the State has created a culture of slavery-type dependency among young black people? Shouldn’t education, especially at the University level, be about self-reliance and determination?
Where is the dividend from the billions of dollars spent on educating citizens if they are still “umbilically” tied to the State? Why educate a people if they then are to be told what to do and be under sycophant control of politicians?
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And now we are hearing that chicken wings which had become scarce to Barbadian shoppers, because of their popularity in the fast food outlets,are once again available on some supermarket shelves,but with a catch .Many are now complaining of these chicken wings being tainted. Probably rejects from the two fast food giants.
50 Years of independence, I tell ya.
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http://www.barbadostoday.bb/2016/06/08/missing-in-action-2/
Let’s hope Holder is not running for politics, ya cannot be complaining about backlogs at the court and be part of the problem causing the backlogs and not the solution. ..fixing the problems.
How does that make sense.
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WW&C
This is politics.Holder is BLP.Bannister is DLP.
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Jeeze…no wonder the judiciary is in such disarray…do they lock up or not the accuseds based on party affiliations as well….sick does not begin to describe, if true.
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Gabriel the situation with Bannister and Holder isn’t political, lawyers possess horrible attitudes informed by arrogance. They steal clients money, disrespect the court and treat persons who pay them for advice with scorn. What is refreshing is at last law enforcement came around to jailing the culprits like the common criminals they are.
BU’s Lawyers In The News puts names to faces of lawyers who are convicts or are allegedly accused of malfeasance. Lawyers caught in skullduggery belong in prison.
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