Submitted by David Comissiong, President, Clement Payne Movement
“Commissioner of Police Tyrone Griffith and the senior officers of the Royal Barbados Police Force should be putting together a number of motorized flying squads”
The exchange of hundred dollar bills for votes has now become a standard practice in Barbadian general elections, and if this corrupt practice is not brought to an end it will eventually totally destroy the public or civic life of our nation!
Over the past two General Elections (2008 and 2013) a distinct practice has emerged in which politicians and their henchmen descend upon working-class communities and seek to bribe electors – particularly young men and women – with hundred dollar bills.
This corrupt practice has resulted in thousands of young Barbadians forming the impression that many, if not most, politicians – including some men and women who get elected to Parliament and some of those who go on to hold ministerial office – are no more than tawdry hustlers and con-men!
In other words, the people of our country are rapidly losing respect for the men and women who are supposed to be their national leaders. And when a critical mass of a population lose respect for the men , women and institutions that are supposed to provide national leadership, the nation is lost!
Furthermore, the vile practice of vote buying is gradually and sedulously stripping many of our youth of their idealism and moral values, and is also threatening to subvert the integrity of our electoral system , and by extension, our entire system of governance.
And so, the prevention of vote buying must now be viewed as a national priority!
Barbados does have an Election Offences And Controversies Act (Chapter 3 of the Laws of Barbados), which proscribes vote buying and deems it to be a “corrupt practice”. Indeed, Section 6 of the Election Offences and Controversies Act provides as follows : –
1) A person is guilty of a corrupt practice who is guilty of bribery.
(2) A person is guilty of bribery who, directly or indirectly, by himself or by any other person on his behalf
(a) gives any money….. to any elector or to…any other person on behalf of any elector…in order to induce any elector to vote or refrain from voting ;
(5) Any elector is guilty of bribery who, before or during an election, directly or indirectly by himself or by any other person on his behalf, receives, agrees to receive, or contracts for any money, gift, loan, or valuable consideration…for voting or agreeing to vote or for refraining or agreeing to refrain from voting
So, according to the Election Offences and Controversies Act both the buyer of the vote and the seller of the vote are guilty of having committed a “corrupt practice”.
Section 27 (1) of the Election Offences and Controversies Act then goes on to provide that ” a person guilty of a corrupt practice, other than personation, is liable on summary conviction to imprisonment for six months or to a fine of five hundred dollars or both”.
Commission of the corrupt practice of “bribery” also has consequences for the election candidate who instigated and profited from it. The Act stipulates that such a candidate may have votes taken away from his tally, and – in certain circumstances – may be deprived of a seat that he “won”.
Commissioner of Police Tyrone Griffith and the senior officers of the Royal Barbados Police Force should be putting together a number of motorized “flying squads” in marked and unmarked Police vehicles to carry out rapid anti-vote buying surveillance missions in all relevant communities during the last week of campaigning and on Polling Day in particular.
It is time that we lock up a few of these vote buyers !
“TIME TO LOCK UP VOTE BUYERS”, must be April 1st, April Fools Day joke.
Statements like this can be followed by “like pissing up a rope” etc, etc, etc………
Too bad there’s only two funded political parties, otherwise populace could get rich with these $100 per-devaluaded handouts.
Ĺock up ALL vote buyers, not just a few, they would be the politicians who are members of the opposition and their yardfowls, ministers of government and their yardfowls, those are the ones who engage in voter bribery.
The electorate has to be doubly vigilant this election or they will be the ones being locked up for their selling votes.
https://imgur.com/CzhrEyZ
Piece and his grandson were the lead brains behind the posters with SSS….
.,,,,.voters need to get their recording devices ready….for when they are approached to sell their votes. ..CYA…cover ya ass.
We are pissing in the wind if we expect the ensconced political class to implement change. We had Mr. Integrity himself promise to address the matter last general election and another is with us.
The other point is the massive party donations given by corporate Barbados with the obvious expectation of return favours. This is ‘vote buying’ as well.
Corporate Barbados also need to make their own recordings when they bribe politicians, they all want locking up.
This submission is why many are of the view change will never come from B or D and we must support the third parties. History exposes both parties as complicit in the status quo.
David Comissiong of all people should know that this system is incapable of policing itself.
That no about of laws to ‘lock up’ politicians; political fixers; paymasters; the corporate elites who provide the money; companies like Sagicor which illegally donate 1 million dollars to both political parties; and people like Bizzy Williams and COW who, as a strategic imperative, corrupt politicians and senior civil servants routinely, the proceeds from such official corruption supplying the mother’s milk of Barbadian politics and political parties.
And we are calling their rasssoul names.
Yuk know there is a tradition in Barbadian politics where certain people expect their names not be called on political platforms and within a political context. We say fu*k off.
Even political neophytes like Walter Blackman sought to make such a demand, for himself, here on BU. We say Fu*ck off!
The political culture in Barbados has long been utterly corrupted, on all sides.
That corruption has always been so endemic that people have always gotten away with murder – literally and figuratively.
Locking up these criminals is not going to get the rid of this. Who would bring the cases anyway? The same people looking to thief. Or have their agents thief, in their names.
However, a guillotine, liberally applied, would not only correct this problem immediately and in the future but it would also retroactively right historical corruption. The perfect remedy!
Ahem…….. can we prosecute the vote sellers too?
Not vote buyers, lock up the vote sellers!
If there were no vote buyers eg politicians, ministers and their yardfowls, there will be no vote sellers…the electorate..
la guillotine…
“This submission is why many are of the view change will never come from B or D and we must support the third parties.”
Really? So where was the leader of the UPP in the previous elections as a candidate? Granville $10 tip was is vote buying too. You can only sell what people are willing to buy. In my opinion selling your vote is worse than buying one. Despicable!!
@enuff
We are entitled to see the errors in our ways no?
Really?
You will probably find that vote sellers vote exactly as they would have had they not accepted the bribe!!
@John
How does your point address the issue of vote buying? Does it mater that it does not change the vote in your opinion or that an illegal act occurred.
enuff…if there were no drug buyers, there would be no drug sellers/dealers, gun sellers etc…
the politicians of both political parties should be locked up, it is not ok to buy votes nor sell, they are both the actions of lawbreakers..
enuff is enuff.
The market for votes was constructed, given credence, by the BLP, the DLP, their forebears, and demand and supply conditions central to capitalism.
As times get worse in Barbados we should expect the price of a vote to decrease and supply to increase. Moneymen will therefore increase their demands of the political elites for a given price.
The laws determining how much should be spent in an election were never enforced. Elections were never properly audited.
The relevant body seems to always accept the routine submissions from parties and candidates as if representative of actual spending – the number of electors times the allowable spending per elector.
That legal calculation has always failed to capture what really happens.
It does not capture government spending to influence voters. It does not capture the contents of envelopes which appear in people houses.
It does not capture the corporate buying of elections by people who are investing in getting government to enrich them after the voting is over.
Certainly, it has never revealed to the people of Barbados how it has been possible for the same few people to purchase BOTH political parties, furthering minority interests and thus corrupting the whole system.
This is generally for the people who have access to resources. For the ‘bread and fish’ politicians or the others who have decided that what personal money they may have is best put to other use, a relatively safe seat has been the best bet.
The non-application of statutes is one of the main reasons that Barbados is going down the drain. If you look at the courts and the police, if you look how late ministers and judges drive to work and how early they return to their lavish mansions, you nearly forget that there are any laws in Barbados. A lawless society.
A priority must be to secure an amendment of the Election offences and Controversies Act in order to give the law more teeth in relation to this offence of electoral bribery. There needs to be a loud popular clamour for such an amendment.
Then we need to work on Commissioner of Police Tyrone Griffith to get him to make the right sort of public threats to enforce the law this time around, and to actually mobilize a serious Police effort– at least during the last week of the campaign, and especially on Polling Day.
David
Well by your argument, what stops B or D from saying they’ve seen the error of their ways?🤣🤣 Both are despicable, but yes I believe selling is worse than buying, and buying/selling is manifested in many ways. By the way, who is behind the St.Michael North West Development Foundation that is co-sponsoring a Gospelfest event on Errol Barrow Day?
@enuff
Nothing, so we agree there is a place for the third party.
Is vote buying part of the DNA of parliamentary democracy? Do party manifestos – promises of future policy – constitute bribery?
Here is a recent relevant experience: in May 2016, Republican senator LindseyGrahamSC tweeted: “If we nominate Trump, we will get destroyed….and we will deserve it.”
Last month, December, he also tweeted: “Trump International Golf Club is a spectacular golf course. Great day of fun playing @POTUS @realDonaldTrump.”
What changed Lindsey Graham’s mind. That is why I have said that public servants should be banned from attending parties at foreign embassies and high commissions and the offices of multi-national companies.
Sometimes we are bribed and we do not even know.
David Comissiong
You can’t be serious.
Sometimes we are led to believe that you are working to keep the system the way it is, has been.
You really think the behaviours of politicians and their parties have to be brought to the attention of the COP.
We would have thought that such official criminality was as clear as midday.
@ David Comissiong January 20, 2018 at 3:44 PM #
“A priority must be to secure an amendment of the Election offences and Controversies Act in order to give the law more teeth in relation to this offence of electoral bribery. There needs to be a loud popular clamour for such an amendment.”
You are just letting your mouth run like a person stricken with a very bad case of ‘gastro’ contracted from eating from the KFC on the South coast.
So who would be ‘ENFORCING’ these beefed up laws with “Strength and Security” measures similar to what Dear called for in Gabby’s famous calypso ‘Jack and the Beach’?
Isn’t there already a mouth of legislation full of sharpened teeth on the statute books called Anti-money laundering Act?
So why are the well-known complicit players of the CLICO fraud still on the loose?
Weren’t the ITAL and FOI touted as priority pieces of legislation to deal with exactly what you are now crying crocodile tears over?
And where are these pieces of game-changing legislation now other than in a ward for the comatose ready for resuscitation by either Tweedle-Bee or Tweedle-Dem to trick the naïve voters again knowing full well a promise is just another way of screwing the electorate for free.
I never disputed the legitimacy of a 3rd, 4th or 5th party. I question the logic of voting for an alternative party simply because it is not one of the established parties. Flat tax, ISO, reduced taxes for businesses,, creative economy, toilets in town etc do not even begin to address our problems and therefore not worthy of my vote. I know bs when I see it.
@ Enuff January 20, 2018 at 3:59 PM
“By the way, who is behind the St.Michael North West Development Foundation that is co-sponsoring a Gospelfest event on Errol Barrow Day?”
Even our own David of BU would be surprised to see how many of the apparatchiks and members of the fan club of Solutions Barbados (SB) and the other so-called third parties will be turning up to that stage-managed ‘gospelfest’ event.
Why not keep it on the South coast as a sign of empathy and solidarity with those ‘supremely’ affected?
Aren’t there ‘enuff’ churches and gospel halls in that area of sewage discharge which can be commandeered in order to show evidence that the Bajan god is behind the DLP by using the sewage disaster as a sign of a plague from ‘Him’ on those who refuse to back the dear loving party of the pious people of ‘morally’ sound Barbados?
@ David Comissiong,
You are probably the brightest tool in Barbados’ tool box and a man with high level of moral fibre. My uncle is a great admirer of yours. This is why i am perplexed with your post.
Your premise is excellent: yes, it is time to lock up those vote buyers. However your post fails to give credence as to the current state of Barbados. Barbados is a failing state and is on the verge of becoming a failed and soon to be a collapsed state.
The two major parties are indifferent to the rule of law and will continue to rule in their traditional unethical way. Why would either party pass such a law? This is how Barbados conducts her politics. You would not expect a turkey to vote for Christmas. So why would our politicians be prepared to accept others trespassing on their territory?
I fail to understand why you believe that the Police Commissioner and his force should be used as enforcers to ensure that this wicked practice can be curbed. The current Prime Minister and his cohorts have zero respect for Tyrone Griffith and his team.
Mr Comissiong, the residents of Barbados are living in fear. The intellectuals are petrified, those who are trained in law are equally fearful and the Barbados population lack the temerity to take the next logical step as they are a God fearing people who abhor violence.
The southern African nation called Zimbabwe has highlighted to us the way forward: pass the reigns of power to the the army and let them sanitise the political tree. Then we can bring to justice all those individuals who played a prominent role in the destruction of democracy in our country.
Barbados is an infant country lacking maturity. In our drive to become a better nation we should enlist the assistance of Costa Rica, Botswana, Norway and Taiwan to assist us. My God we need all the help that we can get!
Talking Loud Saying Nothing January 20, 2018 at 5:24 PM #
Are we not here talking about professional integrity and cowardice? The law is clear about vote buying. If there is evidence of any such act, then it is the duty of the commissioner of police to investigate.
Any attempt at political interference should be rejected, with a warning that operational policing is the responsibility of the commissioner and any attempt at interference is itself a criminal offence.
The Comey/Mueller investigation in to Trump and his cronies goes on despite attempts at bullying from the White House. Until our public servants stand up to political bullying Barbados will continue to decline.
David January 20, 2018 at 3:09 PM #
@John
How does your point address the issue of vote buying? Does it mater that it does not change the vote in your opinion or that an illegal act occurred.
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An old friend was offered a house by a politician …. all legal and above board.
He told the politician he did not need a new house, he had money to repair his own.
Whatever happened, he ended up with a house he did not want, it is too big for his needs!!!
Nothing illegal happened … and he voted as he would normally have voted!!
Another person I know was sick and needed to be invalided out of the work force … disability benefit.
Politician comes along and facilitates the process …. told him which doctor to attend.
The guy got his disability benefit and did not vote for the politician!!
Strictly speaking, both of these instances were vote buying but nothing illegal was done!!
Both individuals understood there was an expectation that their votes would be cast accordingly, neither did anything different to what they intended … or at least, so they tell me!!
Do you think a politician is going to get caught bribing a voter?
A canvasser might, but it is in the interest of the politician that the canvasser does not as it reflects on him.
Bajans are perverse, they delight in letting people believe they will do something when in reality they intend following their own mind.
In some cases, there is no difference!!
Nothing illegal actually happens and life goes on!!!
After seeing the below story in Barbados Today I felt the need to address this conman and repugnant individual.
The shirt he is wearing aptly describes himself whilst his father John Williams was a former Cable & Wireless and Senator of the BLP when Owen Arthur was PM this bullshitter helped raped the Barbados Treasury through fraud in “WINNING” a large government contract worth many $hundreds of thousands in outfitting a number of Community Centres Islandwide with computers and Internet.
Steven Williams pictured of SunIsle won that contract solely through fraud and his father’s connections.
With a 2018 BLP victory he is hoping to get his hands on more Treasury $$$ assisted with BLP connections through Bribes and Fraud Tendering which were used in the past.
Steven Williams is ONE OF THE MOST BIGGEST BULLSHITTERS IN BARBADOS, FRAUDSTER AND A THIEF OF TAXPAYERS $$$$.
Steven Williams should be in Dodds Prison in St. Philip for theft and FRAUD however he feels with his connections along with CROOKED Barbados POLICE he is UNTOUCHABLE.
Bajans need to be aware of why the country is in its current state both DLP and BLP thieves, whores, bullshitters aptly described on Steven William’s TShirt.
https://www.barbadostoday.bb/2018/01/20/bradshaw-regrets-posing-for-photograph/
Until one of the parties offers a credible solution for the economy’s recovery you couldn’t pay me to vote at all. . . period !! Open the vote to public servants only so they can decide who they want as paymasters and let them run the country as it seems they practically will.
Those two men staduing next to santia bradshaw in the photo op looks like practitioners of vote buying
Maybe those are the two Freundel Stuart saw last general election that prompted him to address the issue of voter irregularities. To be expected we are still waiting.
WHAT IF a law is put on the statue books where the government compulsory sets aside x amount of funds to cover the succeeding election. All competing registered Parties are eligible ( by a closing date ) to a equal share to be used for campaigning purposes valid only by a SET ITENERY, validated by estimates/invoices for services rendered making it ILLEGAL to accept corporate, private or individual financial contributions in any form, not even personal funds. Any breach will forfeit the funds made available, be made to repay the treasury, and the PARTY/individual be eliminated from the electoral race.
Independent candidates subscribe to a similar package.
ALL OTHER EXISTING LAWS ARE AFFIXED TO THIS PROTOCOL.
This was asked on another forum so I ask again, is this the dude behind the Barbados Anonymous clown wearing suit who was threatening to crash all the blogs in Barbados, who sent a list of names of all the business people who paid him to crash a blog in the US, a list that was hopefully passed on to FBI.
It will be very interesting to know..lol
@ Hal Austin January 20, 2018 at 5:37 PM
“If there is evidence of any such act, then it is the duty of the commissioner of police to investigate.
Any attempt at political interference should be rejected, with a warning that operational policing is the responsibility of the commissioner and any attempt at interference is itself a criminal offence.”
Are you ‘fuh’ real, Hal?
Man, take your head out of the Metropolitan Policing clouds and ground your ‘academic’ feet in the dirt of reality of Bajan ‘incestuous’ society.
What more evidence would be required to prosecute cases of vote-buying when the two publicly-declared witnesses to the very acts are not only attorneys-at-law (officers of the court and sworn to uphold the Law) but also entrusted with the Constitutional responsibility to do just that?
Why don’t you ask what happened to the last CoP who tried to exercise his responsibility against your pal Greenverbs who, BTW, is also a bosom buddy of the other CoP (Commisioner of Politics in Barbados)?
We know you are not comfortable in using language other than ‘basic’ English but you can ask one of your surprisingly ‘bright’ children to translate the following:
“Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?”
Alternatively, you can make Google your pal in keyboard warfare.
Hardheaded Hal…..even after his Lloyd’s letter fiasco, I KNOW I posted on here, because my memory very seldom gets things mixed up, it happens, but not every day…..
….that information was sent to the current Chief Justice at the supreme court, the current Commissioner of Police and FSC Frank Alleyne about the fraudulent insurance company CGI, the damage it’s criminal owners are doing to THE SUPREME COURT, injured Bajans and THE SOCIETY and island’s reputation……they have had the information for YEARS…and still sit on their yardfowl asses and do nothing.
I even used the blogs to DARE ALL THREE OF THEM them to dispute that they received no information and do not know anything about the CGI criminals ….and was met with silence.
Why would Ha, Ha think that crimes like vote buying by politicians and ministers who gave them all their yardfowl jobs to begin with, would bother any of them, even if it is the PEOPLE, TAXPAYERS , the same victims of these crimes, paying all their salaries…lol
Miller…why do you even bother.
The BLP is the most corrupt and vulgar political party in Barbados 🇧🇧.
It’s MPs are remembered for using the most vulgar language and imagery to defile Barbadians.
The most recent and unforgettable incidents :
• William Duguid in the full glare of the public on the floor of Parliament .,,, ” Haul yuh muddah C #nt ” comments
Mia Mottley never asked Duguid to apologize or discipline him
• Santia Bradshaw and Wilfred Abrahams posing in a public space with persons displaying text on T shirts that both BLP Mps were happy to associate with !
The 2 MPs were not blindfolded, wearing spectacles 👓 or shades .
So what can they claim to have not been aware of before posing with persons promoting such vulgar language about Barbadians ????
Iit is a BLP standard to cuss Bajans in the most vulgar manner when the rational thinking 💭 Bajans …, do not give them a …….Free Pass
It goes back to Lammie Craig – ” let the DLP starve ”
William Duguid – ” Haul yuh muddah C#nt ”
Santia Bradshaw and Wilfred Abrahams. – ” Lies , Thieves, WHORES ”
Barbados 🇧🇧 deserves better !!
https://www.barbadostoday.bb/2018/01/20/blp-has-lost-its-soul-laments-arthur/
https://www.barbadostoday.bb/2018/01/20/bradshaw-regrets-posing-for-photograph/
Notice how the blp yardfowls mouths are closed tight ,not one peep out yuh them about the disgusting photo op featuring the darlin miss innocent princess of the blp party Santia Bradshaw sandwich between two blp thugs , Wuh this picture is worth more than a thousand words
Also how in the name of sweet Jesus does Santia Bradshaw expect public to belive she had no idea what was written on those shirts , She cant be that clueless
I have been around Elections in Barbados since 1986, and it is crystal clear that there has been a profound increase in electoral bribery (vote buying) over the past two General Elections. Indeed, it is now such a standard practice that in some communities young people are forming themselves into groups and bargaining with political operatives over the collective price (in hundred dollar bills) of the group vote.
I am convinced that many of the political operatives who are going into communities with bags of hundred dollar bills would be intimidated and frightened off if there was a credible threat that the Police would be taking this matter seriously and asserting themselves to apprehend offenders, and if the existing law– the Election Offences and Controversies Act — made provision for the imprisonment of convicted buyers and sellers.
With such a provision for imprisonment in the legislation, even strong public threats from the Commissioner of Police in the weeks leading up to Polling Day would have a positive impact on both would-be buyers and would-be sellers.
Unlike some of you, I am not merely interested in the complacent espousing of cynical views and the dispensing of personal put-downs. I am more for trying to do something to save my country.
Serious Barbadian citizens should, at the very least, be publicly raising this issue and challenging the Parliamentarians (any one of whom could file a private member’s bill to amend the Election Offences and Controversies Act) and their political parties.
We should also be publicly demanding action from our Commissioner of Police, and appealing to any sentiments of patriotism that may exist in the upper echelons of the Police Force.
And if none of this makes any sense to some of you, then suggest an alternative course of action. Cynical statements and personal put-downs are just not good enough.
David Comissiong
@David C
We are all fighting in the same war though different battles. This is an important cry this is why BU has taken to Instagram where the young ones hangout. Currently test8ng this link and will tweak as necessary. We have to fight this cancer which has reached stage 3 condition.
Fractured…as woman…Barbados does not deserve lying Fruendel and his tiefingv leper friend Leroy, Thiefer of the house Michael Carrington, corrupt Michael Lashley, lying Sinckler, deceitful Dumbville…..
…the people really do not deserve this uncaring, vicious, pompous sellout government either…as woman I cannot be a hypocrite and deceive the people.
Other than that, I dont know which ones are the whores..lol
David BU
Get real – His Majesty King 👑 Freundel Jerome Stuart and the AG on the night of February 21st 2013 did declare to Barbadians and other citizens across the globe 🌎 that there were reports of attempts by a person or persons to buy votes .
How do you mean since the King 👑 comments nothing else was done ✅ ???
Gregory Nicholls was tried in the High Court for trying to buy votes on the said General Election Day under referenced.
If you David or anyone else’s have any other information about attempts at vote buying – then go to the DPP with your evidence and be prepared to be cross – examined .
By the way the DPP is appointed to her post.
Or else hush up your dimwit ….,,,backside !
Keep the subject of vite buying politicians in the public domain every day leading up to the day of election..
,… the BU blog has worked tirelessly for the last two years with posters very creatively designed, supplied and posted …. namely Piece and his grandson, SSS and a few others on BU….
…..who then put the vote buying issue on international forums and got thousands of views…you David are in a position to keep the exposure alive in both newspapers…everday…until election day….and continue referring to the Commissioner of Police…see if that will make a difference.
The blog, in my opinion, has already done an admirable and enormous job of highlighting the crimes of both BLP and DLP politicians and ministers, with very little resources or help from those who consider themselves part of the status quo..
Ah gotta be fair….
with very little resources or help from those who consider themselves part of the status quo……outside of Jeff Cumberbatch, Caswell Franklyn, yourself David C…..and a few others.
Oh…and a forgot. ..
Fractured…as woman…Barbados does not deserve lying Fruendel and his tiefingv leper friend Leroy, Thiefer of the house Michael Carrington, corrupt Michael Lashley, lying Sinckler, deceitful Dumbville…….useless Dimwit AG Adriel….either.
Fractured BLP January 21, 2018 at 9:28 AM #
“Gregory Nicholls was tried in the High Court for trying to buy votes on the said General Election Day under referenced.”
Fcuktured BLP
Perhaps you may want to present YOUR INFORMATION, so BU can read where Nicholls was tried in the High Court for trying to buy votes……….
……..because I read Nicholls was the respondent in a civil suit brought against him by Nicholas Alleyne, of Callender’s Crescent, Christ Church, for allegedly owing him $9,500 from a loan of $15,000.
Or is this your contribution to “silly season?”
Indeed, it is now such a standard practice that in some communities young people are forming themselves into groups and bargaining with political operatives over the collective price (in hundred dollar bills) of the group vote.
Unlike some of you, I am not merely interested in the complacent espousing of cynical views and the dispensing of personal put-downs. I am more for trying to do something to save my country.
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Since the 60’s EWB et al have deliberately dismantled the very structures that ensured Barbados’ stability for 300 plus years …. the family and faith in God.
What we have now is the result of decades of “investment” in this lunacy for personal gain.
“For they have sown the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind: it hath no stalk: the bud shall yield no meal: if so be it yield, the strangers shall swallow it up.” Hosea, 8,7.
Foreigners will inherit Barbados because Bajans sold it for a mess of potage.
It was great while it lasted!!
Bajans need to individually take responsibility for the problems and decide to solve them like mature adults.
It is no point investing time and effort in laws governing the political class because so long as there are sellers of votes, there will be buyers.
That’s the basis on which slavery worked and continues to work!!
Individuals in communities need to grow up and decide if they want to keep Barbados …. or not.
It then goes from there.
Using the Police as a surrogate to chase down voter fraud is an exercise in futility if that fraud is accepted as normal by individuals in the communities.
… and it will continue to be accepted as normal, as slavery was, until individuals decide to use their common sense and do something about it.
Finally, communities in which “it is now standard practice” cannot be communities if such things happen.
They only become communities when the perpetrators are outed and right triumphs over wrong for the good of the communities.
It is time to lock up vote buyers but to do so the vote sellers need to be outed by the communities of which they are a part.
@ David Comissiong January 21, 2018 at 9:16 AM
Come on David C., no one is taking the matter flippantly or engaging in “personal putdowns” where this extremely serious matter of vote buying is concerned.
As a matter of fact we on Bu have the greatest respect for you and admire your intestinal fortitude in pursuit of justice in regard to other matters through the legal route of which your expertise to pursue such lofty nationalistic objectives was garnered by the sweat your own intellectual brow and taxpayers’ hard-earned dollars.
But aren’t you being a tad unfair in expecting too much of the ordinary citizens where this growing vote-buying cancer is concerned and seen as a major threat to the political enfranchisement of the masses for which much cost was incurred to secure in 1951?
If those who are Constitutionally charged for upholding the laws of the Land have reneged on their legal responsibilities despite their publicly expressed commitment in the light of having prosecutable evidence (eye witnessing) why are you expecting Joe Bloggs to put his life on the limb of garrison-type politics to be that sacrificial lamb for a cause we all agree is the apex of national altruism?
We believe it is rather fitting on this very date to repeat that well known admonition to ordinary Bajans from no other than EWB the celebrated father of Independence if not Adult Suffrage.
‘If you want Justice, then stay away from Coleridge Street (the Local Law Courts)’.
John Liesalot…ya should really be telling ya ilk Bizzy, Cow, Bjerkham and their agents Maloney et al to stop bribing politicians and government ministers, especially around election to get access to thefing money from the people, it has destroyed the social fabric of the island, they should all receive public floggings and imprisonment for their bribery crimes against Bajans..
where is has fictitious, false god been for the 40 years they have been committing these bribery crimes against the people and country.
Bizzy is now so out of his element, he is on facebook offering some scam for Barrows Day…to fool the public.
these crimes of minority business people bribing politicians of both political parties with thousands of dollars, who in turn bribe voters with hundred dollar bills to vote for a particular party, must be kept in the public domain, its evil and destructive…and all involved must be continually exposed, until they leave the earth.
ya know a like to correct me errors…
John Liesalot….where has YOUR fictitious, false god been for the last 40 years that minority business people have been committing these bribery crimes against the people and country.
John Liesalot….where has YOUR fictitious, false god been for the last 40 years that minority business people have been committing these bribery crimes against the people and country.
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Same place He has been from the beginning!!
… but I agree, the minority political class has created a mess in Barbados.
now thats a start, with acknowledgement comes better understanding.
the trick now is getting the politicians and ministers from both political parties to acknowledge the damage and mess that they too have and still are creating on the island, including irreversible destruction of the society with their bribery/extortion/pay to play and vote buying rackets…and the urgent reasons why they should all immediately cease and desist with the corruption practices.
Artax January 21, 2018 at 9:43 AM #
Artax
Your earlier post above @ 9:43 AM truly reveals that you wish to DILUTE the facts associated with the case against Gregory Nicholls !
I repeat ……Gregory Nicholls ( a BLPite ) is the only candidate brought before the law courts of Barbados 🇧🇧 for ATTEMPTED vote buying.
Read the story below and focus on the key points :
• Gregory Nicholls borrowed $ 15,000. from the plaintive on February 21st 2013 ( General Elections Day ) !
• Gregory Nicholls agreed to repay the money 💰 borrowed in two weeks time !
• Gregory Nicholls borrowed the money 💰 on Deacons Main Road – which is the St. Michael North West constituency) where Nicholls was the BLP candidate !
So Artax , when you reflect on the 3 points above – you are of the view that Gregory Nicholls wanted that money so badly – on that day & location ) to pay :
•. Light or water bill ?
• Renew his Drivers License ?
• Or to BRIBE voters to vote for his DISHONEST BLP Arse ????
If you or any person have evidence akin to the Gregory Nicholls —- voter buying story — carry it to the DPP and be prepared to be cross – examined.
Or go back to your ……..DREAM LAND !!!
Jokers ..,,.
http://www.nationnews.com/nationnews/news/62805/attorney-court-usd9-500
Fractured
“Gregory Nicholls was tried in the High Court for trying to buy votes on the said General Election Day under referenced.”
That news article says nothing about being tried for vote buying. Desperation.
@ John January 21, 2018 at 11:17 AM #
“Same place He has been from the beginning!!”
You mean in the Heavens and hiding somewhere in a galaxy puny humans like to call the Milky Way or Mary’s Womb?
BTW, what makes you feel god is a male (He)?
You never know, it could be either a ‘dog’ (your god spelt backwards) or a Bitch like Mary who is impregnated every solar year by the Dog star 4 days after the vernal equinox to produce your sweet baby jesus 9 months later.
What a copied tall tale of pagan fertility!
I am more for trying to do something to save my country.
+++++++++++++++++++
If people cannot function as communities and stop the rot there is no point because there is nothing to save.
All the laws in the world won’t work.
People need to have commonly held beliefs that inform their actions.
The rule of law and order is one such belief!!
I have named a couple already that were purposely dismantled.
How is it that in a country so full of lawyers that the belief in law and order is not cherished.
There was a time when everyone wanted their child to be a lawyer!!!!!!
What happened!!
Enuff
Your problem I cannot help you with !
Gregory Nicholls remains the only candidate in Barbados 🇧🇧 who requested money on General Elections Day and received the money 💰 on the main road of the said constituency he was contesting !
You are RIGHT….. such action is the correct definition of DESPERATION !!
BLP DECEPTION , DESPOT , DESPERATION
Enuff of you ……..get LOST !!!
David Commisiong supports corrupt dictators and now he talks about fighting corruption in barbados. Give me a break
Your PR stunt is over!
I am more for trying to do something to save my country.
+++++++++++++++++++
What is it we came along and found that is worth saving?
Folks, we have to try. Up to now the Police have made no effort whatsoever to deal with this issue of Electoral Bribery, even though it happened quite openly last Election Day. We have to do what we can to insist that our Police Force take this issue more seriously this time around.
I – for one – have not given up on our current Commissioner of Police. I have noted that he has taken measures to prosecute fellow Police officers who ran afoul of the law– even a very senior officer. That gives me some hope. I am also aware that he comes from a family with a proven commitment to Barbados. Maybe he can be encouraged and cajoled into taking measures that are designed to prevent the reoccurrence of this corrupt and illegal behavior. this time around.
I am convinced that we can save our country. We have to try. We have to make the effort.
The PR stunt lies in a ferocious abilty by those who are able use the laws of barbados to position their self interest while closing their eyes to the corruption and corrupt engineers and designers of govts they openly support.
Are James Comey and Robert Mueller men of greater professional integrity than criminal justice officials in Barbados, or does personal and party loyalty and friendship outweigh everything else in Barbados?
In all fairness, I have heard through close relations that the Commissoner’s family have always been known to put the island first, but that should also include rooting out corrupt politicians, even if they are ministers and white color criminals, even and particularly those in the minority population, who have done immense damage to the island over the decades….and so should the new DPP, because the deceased DPP was too corrupt.
regardless of his political stripes, the Commissioner’s salary is being paid by the citizens of the country and not by either government….and so is the new DPPs
All the lawyers are now seen as thieves, incompetent and not interested in doing their jobs as long as the case does not involve minority people or those with status in the society…….
…..vulnerable Black people, if they are not aggressive, stand the chance of being ripped off by lawyers, it is not a profession seen as worthy anymore…too much dishonesty and thievery.
When this government decided to restore the 10% salary cut it revealed the mentality of the people who are our frontbench, Cabinet and political leaders. Further, when Stephen Lashley’s nomination for a national award was accepted because he presided over a lackluster Carifesta it axed it for those with any doubt we are dealing with officials who do not know what it is ‘to serve’.
“When this government decided to restore the 10% salary cut it revealed the mentality of the people who are our frontbench”
Very true. And an ODD mistake from governing politicians. They had a number of other ways to ensure they got that 10%. And that pensions would not be altered. It was a symbolic gesture, both to implement the cut, and then restore it.
So, to whom was the restoration message being sent?
David
We find it difficult to understand what Comissiong is talking ’bout at 1:24 and before
That he is persuaded that another law or bringing election law breaking to the COP’s attention could make Barbados a better place is not so skillfully an avoidance of his usual common sense.
And Comissiong is someone for whom we have more than a modicum of respect. We agree on almost everything.
But at a time where people in his own profession. People who, no pun intended, work with the police every day and have been known to themselves break law as if a cottage industry in itself. Has that been ever noticed by the COP.
Where the Speaker of the House has been adjudged to have broken law and nothing happened to him.
To think that any COP in Barbados, or any change in law, will ever interfere with a well entrenched political culture of official vote buying can only be a deliberate denial of reality or an attempt to favour the party likely to have less of the ‘mother’s milk’ of politics.
Pacha by his comments he conveyed that we must remain optimistic of the COP and seek to remind him of this matter- vote buying- because by his willingness to sanction senior officers it fuels hope.
Concerned.
The Bradshaw photo is by now well known. We have heard a weak apology by Ms Bradshaw (she has difficulty with both her eyesight and ability to read), and another from the BLP General Secretary denying any association with the T-shirt.
Yet where is MAM? We criticize the PM, because he is frequently “MIA” (missing in action), and yet is MAM any different? She has a Twitter account. Her silence is deafening.
@NO
It is the start of the silly season, why would she weaken her hand as it pertains to this matter? Bradshaw made a big error in judgement but her behaviour has to be decided in context. Let the GS statement stand to support Bradshaw’s apology and MAM can adlib a response when she is sure to be asked.
@Blogmaster
one word – LEADERSHIP
NorthernObserver January 21, 2018 at 2:46 PM #
From what I see from afar, Santia Bradshaw is one of the most dignified members of parliament we have. I see her as a future prime minister. Silly T-shirts do not diminish this; especially in a political culture in which people routinely talk about yardfowls, jack asses, and other expletives which should be repeated on a Sunday.
What I find sad is that a generation that is formally better educated than its parents’ and grand parents’ generations, the foul language of politics is still the same. Let us clean up our acts and respect each other.
@HA
my concern was not about Ms Bradshaw or the language.
It is about Leadership.
Where has your concern been for 10 long years?
Hal Austin January 21, 2018 at 1:34 PM #
Are James Comey and Robert Mueller men of greater professional integrity than criminal justice officials in Barbados, or does personal and party loyalty and friendship outweigh everything else in Barbados?
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Corruption can thrive in any society regardless of its progress.
It is the rank and file people who decide if it is tolerable or if it needs to be rooted out.
They decide if the country is worth saving or not.
The best that can be done by individuals with a keen understanding of what goes on is to highlight it and never cease highlighting it.
In a way that is what Trump did … harp on election fraud and call on the electorate to be vigilant.
Let nature take its course.
God puts who He wants to be rulers as GP reminds us again and again.
So, yes, our country can be saved!!
… and Comey and Mueller over in the US … they too shall pass!!
I have to apologise to DC for likening him to Trump but whatever it was he did ,,, worked in the US!!
If it works, use it!!
@ Commisong
You are wasting your time even though I support you 100%.
It is a KNOWN fact more than 50% of Barbados Police including Senior management/Detectives are engaged in some criminal activity:
Drug dealing including shielding the Drug Lords who are all well know on the small island operate openly with impunity
Human Trafficking of Regional Prostitutes including aiding and abetting ALL Strip Clubs current owners
Rape including Statutory
Fraud including writing bad checks this include Gold teeth Pastor Mark White Head of Fraud Squad
Blackmail
Planting of Evidence
Falsifying Court Disclosure Documents
Deliberate misplacement of Court files
Accepting of Bribes
Theft
I could continue however it gives a true picture of why the Police has turned a blind eye aided by many Politician Lawyers who are criminals themselves.
Barbados the small island criminal capital of the world from top to bottom.
NorthernObserver January 21, 2018 at 3:06 PM #
my concern was not about Ms Bradshaw or the language.(Quote)
The problem is not even the two silly boys trying to promote their vulgar T-shirts. The fundamental problem is our political culture. We must change and learn to respect each other. With a coming general election it is going to get worse before it gets better.
By the way, just look at the vulgarity, obscenity, threats of violence, aggression, outright lies, smears, and worse of regular contributors to BU, which goes without any comment.
I am not a prude, I grew up in rum shops, but the world has changed – apparently with the exception of Barbados.
.
What percentage of voters actually receive bribes? Are they significant enough to change the outcomes of elections in Barbados?
If they are significant, what does it say about our political and socialization processes?
Are we addressing the real and important issues?
I find that we,as a people, tend to address issues of little significance as they relate to stated objectives.
Human beings will be irrational and driven by emotions. We tend to believe that they are always rational.
Perhaps those offering themselves for public office should be screened for their integrity by the Party Executives. Just another Utopian idea.!!!!
Northern
Leadership? Everyday it becomes obvious that for some reason Mia is held to a higher standard? Do you believe that portraying the Opposition Leader as practising law fraudulently is moral? What about all the other nastiness about the woman?
i have no diffculty with the message and calls for corrective action however i do have a problem with the one delivering the message who from all points and concern never blinks any eye farther less call for any form of corrective measures by way of reform when the dictatorship of govts he supports denies their people a moral right and obligation to a free elections ,
Yet Comissiongs relishes the ideologies of democratic laws to which he can avail self at free will to whip up frenzy among his supports for actions in a democracy he decries
Where is Commisiong voice to be heard or articles to be seen among the Venezuelan people who dare to speak freely against bribers and corruption in venezuela
Santia Bradshaw was caught with her hand in the cookie jar holding the evidence now she wants all and sundry to believe she does not know what a cookie looks like . LOL
For those who might be at lost (BLP yard fowls ) specifically in reference to Santia Bradshaw check Barbados today where all the action highlight her hignorance with the caption title “THE BLP CIRCUS HAS COME TO TOWN”
BTW that photo would make a greatttttt political poster PDYR where are you? time to dust off that canvas board
I was watching a documentary which showed a petrie dish full bacteria and when one drop of crocodile blood was dropped in the dish the bacteria moved away or died . this I believe is what allowed the politicians to swim in the shit at worthing an come out unscathed ergo eel blood and crocodile blood are the same
John Liesalot…dont start.
Ha, Ha, fraud Austin….have your former employers contacted you yet about the fraud you tried on me, they do have your emails and mine, as well as ya letter to Lloyds and their reply you posted to BU.
I did make a complaint about you misleading me, by misusing their computers, or trying to trick me anyway, which failed anyway, they got the proof…so dont you start either.
Well well what?
Enuff….popular opinion is if the ministers, opposition, white collar criminals were not all so entangled with this Williams dude to take down the blogs…they would not now be so embarassed by the same Williams dude……with his liars, thieves, whores tee shirts.
Lol
Wuh ya tink?
@ Hal Austin January 20, 2018 at 5:37 PM,
I prefer to take a more pragmatic stance with regard to this issue. Yes, we have statutes and laws, however they are merely words printed on paper: to be followed or ignored. Well, that’s how our government views the laws of our country. The Hyatt hotel case springs to mind.
When a so-called “democratic” political system utterly fails her citizens – as is the case in Barbados – should not the army intervene and restore order to a corrupt political landscape.
Hal, i argue from the basis that i have no desire to see my fellow Bajans becoming tomorrows refugees. What is the saying “a stitch in time saves….”
David
OK. If there is even a ray of hope we would be on board. But history tells us not to be too hopeful. Hope for the best but expect the worst.
Fractured and ac yardfowls…no one has told me yet who the whores are, can yall tell me?
@Enuff
Everyday it becomes obvious that for some reason Mia is held to a higher standard?
++++++++++
Isn’t what this is all about? If the politicians hoping to replace the Gov’t are not being held to higher standards then everyone should just stay home and close their shutters. “Northern” has been relentless in his criticism of the PM and the Gov’t Ministers especially their handling of fiscal matters. He utters a minor criticism about Mia and the knives come out.
Welcome to the new boss, same as the old boss.
The below was taken from Facebook a few minutes ago
Patrick King
4 hrs ·
I have 20 sworn affidavits on six government ministers in Barbados, i intend to expose these government ministers when ever the elections are called. These minister are involved in stealing taxpayers money.
Only six?
With the coming of the Silly Season you will be witnessing both B and D propaganda to see who will be able to fool the voting public. The issue of the manholes emitting sewage in the street and a few days of non-activity gave comfort, but alas, tonight I pass the area and the manhole spewing sewage in the road in front of the Worthing Gas Station, the Bank and Massy. I am saying it without prejudice that a sewage system built with “x” capacity will eventually become problematic. Have you sit back and ask yourself how a massive hotel complex can be constructed with endless toilets, endless baths, endless sinks, endless washing machines, endless outside pipes, thousand of square feet of roofing with gutters leading to somewhere…. I presume all roads lead to the sewage system. Too much water for an under capacity system. We need to get this sewage off the roads and stop the wedge that piercing our tourism industry. Two five storied buildings for the BWA and Sanitation Services. Those two building could have housed numerous ministries and reduce the high rents being paid out monthly. T-shirts is just a distraction.
Today is a start David Comissiong, your clarion call to discus the issue of vote buying reached the callin program today. It must be sustained.
I fully intend to pursue it David, including with the Commissioner of Police.
Be relentless if you believe in what you are doing!!
https://www.barbadostoday.bb/2018/01/22/beware-of-credit-rating-agencies-warns-mp-james-paul/
Onky way for the simple minded voters who believe in politicians and sell their votes to understand the damage they are doing to themselves and the country.
Sorry…wrong link.
“Time to lock up vote buyers, Comissiong says
Added by Sandy Deane on January 22, 2018.
Saved under Local News
4Save
President of the Clement Payne Movement David Comissiong has urged authorities to make the prevention of vote buying a national priority ahead of upcoming general elections.
In fact, he is challenging the island’s two main political parties – the Democratic Labour Party and the Barbados Labour Party to immediately introduce a bill in Parliament to amend the Election Offences and Controversies Act to address the vexing issue.
In a strong statement, the social activist warned that “the exchange of hundred dollar bills for votes” had become a standard practice in general elections in Barbados and across the region and if the practice was not brought to an end, it would eventually “totally destroy the public or civic life of our nations.”
Comissiong, an attorney at law, pointed out that under the Election Offences and Controversies Act (Chapter 3 of the Laws of Barbados) both the buyer of the vote and the seller of the vote are guilty of having committed a “corrupt practice”.
He however expressed concern that the Act fails to stipulate that offenders are to be fined or imprisoned – except in the very limited and restricted case of persons who indulge in activity on the public road or in a public place, on Election Day (during the hours that the poll is open), and within 100 yards of a polling station.”
@ David Comissiong January 22, 2018 at 2:07 PM
Excellent!
‘To whom much is given much is expected’.
Your dad Vivian is proud of you as he looks down on his son David and says:
‘There goes my beloved son in whom I am most pleased’.
Many of us will be glad to support you in this extremely worthy cause in trying to save the moral souls of black Barbadians who are about to sell their political integrity for a mess of material pottage.
May Light Perpetual shine on your dad’s spirit as his mortal remains lie interred in the Methodist Churchyard on Bay Street.
To quote one of your father’s favourite passage from the Bible
“Not everyone who says to me Lord Lord will enter the Kingdom of Heaven, but only he who does the Will of my father who is in Heaven”
Miller
From whence does he ‘look’ down?
@ Pachamama January 22, 2018 at 2:51 PM
Figuratively speaking, of course!
You must admit that some men and women can interpret religion in its ‘purest form’ and take parables like the Good Samaritan as a principle according to which they must try to live their lives.
Saint Francis of Assisi springs readily to mind.
And it is these paragons of the good side of homo sapiens we should appreciate in the eternal battle of yin yang or light versus darkness or good (god) versus evil (devil).
Wuh loss! My man Freundel got wunna too good. Miss Maguffy say she bonging and start a campaign before de bell even ring cos she power hungry. And all she do is start with the big lotta foul ups bleeps and blunders already. Murder!
Somebody call me this morning and axe me if I see de picture with Santa P Bradshaw hugging up de two BLP monkey men wearing tight bodices wid a big bull cow pon de front. And in de picture de nedder BLP man up behind dem, round de back skylarking and skinning he teets like he down Kadooment. All a dem know good enough why dem does call women whores.
And somebody send me dis one hay too from one a de papers. Um too sweet, especially de part bout de las bus! Ah gone!
Greengiant
January 21, 2018 at 8:07 am
The relation of those wearing the tee shirts, those rubber stamping the wearing of the shirts and the tee shirts themselves are the hall mark of the BLP.
Between 1976 and 2018 I have heard and seen some of the most disrespectful, gutter related, and lower leveled remarks, slogans, and comments made by generations of BLP candidates and members of the party.
Bradshaw and Abrahams are both young attorneys. Intelligent people who knew exactly what they were doing when they posed for those pictures. The heat of the moment. Yes. A moment of political madness? Yes.
There is however an association between the daughter of a former BLP Member of parliament (Bradshaw), and the sons of a former BLP Cabinet member (Williams). We have to ask the question. Are these two Williams brothers members of any party branches? Are they associated in any way with the B L P campaign? Are they contracted to provide any services to the party?
Its fine for the apologies to come from the candidates, and later from the party’s General Secretary, but the campaign has started according to the opposition leader. “I’m not waiting on Stuart to call the election, the B L P is in campaign mode”.
So Mr. Payne (Chairman) let me see the constitution of the party applied to these two young men, or the candidates if they have violated any party guidelines. I have the facts as to who these young men are, the association with the party both personally, and professionally. If no one clears the air, I will when the government dissolves parliament, and announces the official campaign started.
The opposition has never declared a political campaign started within the Commonwealth of nations. I know of and fully understand the fear, desperation, and urgency with which the opposition leader is moving. This is her last bus out of Roebuck Street, if she misses this one she has to walk all the way home. The additional challenge for her is that she’s made so many enemies over the years, that some, even within her closest circle can’t be trusted by her. Talk about bayonets, daggers, pen knives and razors drawn to cut any votes that would enhance the candidates who support her? The game plan is that even if the B L P does win the election, she must not find enough support within the parliamentary group to become Prime Minister.
We wait, watch, and imagine the calamity to take place in Roebuck Street.
Observers noted that the DLP held a political meeting at LT Gay primary yesterday. The fact is both sides have signaled by decisions taken that they are gearing up. We can even take the decision by the DLP to name their final candidates. Todd the lamb to the slaughter in NE, Kim Tudor another etc.