Having read your article that was carried by the Nation Newspaper on Friday, June 24, 2016, under the caption “The ox to the stall,” it is surprising that you have categorized Mr. Mark Maloney’s business ventures as doing a lot for Barbados. I see it the other way around. The taxpayers’ money and the lucrative contracts awarded by the Government of Barbados have done a lot for Mr. Maloney.

While you did not state it, you left us to compare Mr. Maloney’s breaking the law to Rosa Parks breaking the law. When Rosa Parks broke the law by refusing to get up out of her seat, she was standing up for her civil rights. No civil rights of Mr. Maloney have been violated. In fact, since you have inferred the topic of civil rights, I must inform you that any black Barbadian can now demand those coveted contacts as part of their civil rights which are now being violated as they are clearly being discriminated against by a political group.

When I read the sentence that Mr. Maloney gets things done and that within weeks he can clean up the garbage, my mind instantly went to those green garbage trucks that are sitting in the harbour unclaimed. Were you trying to inform the people of Barbados that the Government has signed another Public Private Partnership with Mr. Maloney? Could these green garbage trucks be the reason why the Minister of the Environment who is responsible for ensuring that Barbados is clean has been negligent in his duties? Does it mean that the tax payers will again be saddled with an additional burden for garbage disposal in the form of another levy? I hope that my thoughts are not correct and the trucks have no connection to Government or the collection of public garbage because as far as the public is aware, no contracts have been tendered for any such arrangements.

There is a problem with the basis on which Government awards contracts. The rules of the tendering process must be changed to ensure that contacts are awarded fairly and transparently to the entire population, perhaps even on a proportionate basis. No Government should award public contracts exclusively to one sector of the population. I am committed to social justice; I am not against others becoming wealthy but I am on a quest for equality for all Barbadians. How could you bring a suggestion that a man who is in clear violation of the law clean up the Courts? Are you inferring that he is already above the law?

Sincerely,

Heather Cole