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- Adriel Brathwaite, Attorney General
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- The Right Honourable, Fruendel Stuart
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- Hal Gollop, Attorney-at-Law
A few years ago Minister Michael Lashley was the starboy of the Democratic Labour Party (DLP). He was complimented for expanding the housing stock, exponentially. He ensured Barbadians erased Liz Thompson’s ‘bumblebee’ prototype from memory. Years later many of the houses built by Lashley with tax dollars are unoccupied or rotted. If we include the Coverley PPP it gets worse. A few years later Minister of Transport and Works Michael Lashley will be recorded in a political footnote as having presided during a period where the state of Barbados roads deteriorated to a level slightly above a cart road.
Of concern to the blogmaster though are observations arising from the waning LEC debate.
Some are of the view now that the LEC debate is behind us, more important issues will be have the space to fuel discussion. What they fail to acknowledge is that the political principals who waylaid Barbadians with the manufactured issue of Mia’s LEC are also responsible for informing and leading the country on the pressing issues of the day.
In his Sunday Column – The Jeff Cumberbatch Column–Non – litigious Resolution of Defamation Lawsuits – Jeff Cumberbatch shared his view on the LEC matter:
To the best of my knowledge and belief, Ms Mottley has been duly admitted to the local Bars, both Utter and Inner. Unless and until she is removed therefrom or otherwise disbarred by appropriate procedure she remains duly admitted. Omnia praesumuntur rite esse acta [Apologies for the Latin] It means that there is a presumption that acts done through the court are rightly and properly done.
The outcome of the recent court case Mia Mottley vs Barbados Today confirmed that Mia Mottley is qualified to practice law in the Courts of Barbados.
What Barbadians must reflect on is why did the Prime Minster of Barbados- a seasoned lawyer and former Attorney General- not have the knowledge of the law and procedure related the LEC issue. One must assume he did not know because he said nothing.
Although the Attorney General is a legal neophyte and light weight he had the resources of the Solicitor General’s office and other state resources to have been equipped to clarify the LEC matter in less than 24 hours. Some should recall he promised on the floor of the House of Assembly to investigate the matter. A promise he failed to keep. One must assume he dis not know.
Then there is Hal Gollop, better known to the BU household as a school teacher and musician, who prosecuted the LEC matter recently at a DLP political meeting. What has his failed LEC argument done to injure his reputation as a lawyer? Clearly he was party to a political plot to ‘decapitate’ the leader of the Barbados Labour Party (BLP) a few months from a general election. One must assume he misinterpreted the relevant laws and procedures related to the LEC issue.
The challenge Barbadians face is that we have an obsturate political directorate whose members are willing to crash the economy on the altar of political expediency. Why should intelligent Barbadians expect that this government is able to appreciate what rising oil prices will do to the economy? We are a country with a DEBT to GDP ratio of close to 150% and foreign reserves cover of 8 weeks. Despite the current state of the economy this inept lot prefers to try to hoodwink Bajans by floating a silly debate anchored to Mia’s qualification to practice law in Barbados.
Imagine if Stuart, Brathwaite and Gollop were able to put heads together to promote a component of transparency legislation promised from day one? Wasn’t Gollop contracted to draft a roadmap to assist with moving Barbados to a Republic? Didn’t Stuart and Brathwaithe promise to examine existing to electoral laws to address what they admitted to irregularities that occurred last general election?
Bushie
Wuh yuh callin muh nem fuh…….ah tired cussin yuh……ah gine leh Hal and artax pelt de lix in yuh RH backside…..lol……ah gla yuh duz speek de trufe…….Bushie is full of it an yuh rite …..me too…..go tek yuh meds now or sum bush….lol.
Tax avoidance and cheating is not a victimless crime….
“The economist Gabriel Zucman and his colleagues have spent years estimating how much wealth is stashed in low-tax havens and what that means for government coffers. He’s found that 63 percent of foreign profits made by American multinational corporations are stuffed in these subsidiaries and accounts, depriving the country of about $70 billion in tax revenue each year.
We worry a lot about the cost of social programs in this country, saying we simply can’t afford many things that we know could bring big rewards. But that missing $70 billion from corporate offshore tax avoidance would go a long way. A mere $140 million could replace the lead water pipes poisoning children in Flint, Mich. It would cost just an estimated $22.5 billion to end homelessness by providing all needy families with rental assistance. President Barack Obama asked Congress for $75 billion for his initial universal preschool plan; universal preschool for all 3- and 4-year-olds would cost $98.4 billion over 10 years.
Senator Bernie Sanders’s College for All Act doesn’t even require the federal government to cover the entire $70 billion cost of public college tuition, but it could if this money were available to the government. Divvying up $70 billion a year to each parent in the country would be a huge step toward ending childhood poverty. And the available pot of money, were offshore tax avoidance not an option, would be even larger if rich individuals were taxed at the rates we all face here at home.”
Transport Board workers are on strike this morning and management seems puzzled and thinks that the strike is strictly political.
Here are some ways to make the TB better while not robbing the Bajan tax payers.
FIRST: [BOTH parties] Appoint the Board by MERIT ONLY and not by friend, family, political or lodge buddy connection.
SECOND: Stop [BOTH parties] granting licenses to your friends, relatives, political cronies, and lodge buddies to run yellow buses and ZR vans on the TB routes, so that the TB cannot compete because there are too many vehicles on the most lucrative routes.
THIRD: Maintain and replace the buses as per the manufacturers instructions.
FOURTH: [BOTH parties] Hire and retain staff by MERIT ONLY and not by friend, relative, lodge buddy or political connections.
FIFTH: Send the high priced Trinidadian consultant back home and instead take advice from me. I actually take the buses. I am retired. I have time on my hands. I can give GOOD FREE advice. And no I don’t hate Trinidadians as most of my paternal first cousins are Trinidadians.
SIXTH: Have some respect for the workers and their unions. You CANNOT run a public transport system without your workers. If you heard two weeks ago that the workers are unhappy that all overtime has been eliminated [even while paying a high priced Trinidadian is on board] for God’s sake act on that information and start having a conversation with the workers and their representatives.
This simple free advice comes to you from a 100% Bajan, who actually takes the TB buses.
Again this is about a general lack of leadership and management in the country.
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Dr. Simple Simon Phd November 13, 2017 at 7:02 AM #
“Transport Board workers are on strike this morning and management seems puzzled and thinks that the strike is strictly political.”
Dr. SS PhD
Does it surprise you the Transport Board’s General Manager, Sandra Forde, said she received information which suggested the “strike is strictly political?”
The political environment in Barbados indicates general elections are imminent and Forde is (was) a secretary of the DLP and is an operative of that party.
Sandra Forde has been an abysmal failure as GM and TB has deteriorated significantly under her watch and that of the Minister, Michael Lashley.
Lashley has failed to justify paying a Trinidadian consultant $22,000. He said a document submitted by Price Waterhouse Coopers found that initiatives of the consultant had saved the Transport Board millions of dollars………
……………. yet TB continues struggling to maintain 80 units in operation on a daily basis.
Why has this PWC document not been made available for public perusal?
If Sandra Forde was in receipt of information, since last week, which suggested TB employees would go on strike today…………..
…………… why did she not take the initiative, as GM, to do all in her power that was necessary to avert the strike?
Another reason why I believe Forde was not only an extremely poor choice for the General Manager, but by her actions thus far, she has demonstrated that she is indeed a piss poor manager.
The island is sinking fast….it will be interesting to hear the views of IMF when they review and make their current assessments public.
Government cannot hide that report or stop IMF from making it public..
What a mess.
Simple…your advice makes too much sense, they hate to hear anything that makes sense.
They highlight the word self destructive and elevate it to a whole new level.
As Bushie has been saying for some time now…
Our ass is grass
It is just that be are so clueless
that in finding out
WE will be last.
@Artax November 13, 2017 at 7:53 AM “Lashley has failed to justify paying a Trinidadian consultant $22,000.”
You sure he is only a consultant?
You sure he int on staff?
@David November 13, 2017 at 7:49 AM “Again this is about a general lack of leadership and management in the country.”
But David If we paying people to manage and they aren’t managing why are we still paying them? I say “cut off their money”
The sooner. The better.