Rodney Wilkinson Released from Prison, FINALLY!
Fraudster Rodney Wilkinson (l), Lionel Riley (c) and attorney Marlon Gordon (r) – November 1, 2014
In September 2014 Owen Arthur’s bagman and CEO of the Hotel and Resorts Ltd known as GEMS was implicated in one of the biggest vehicle scams to hit Barbados. He faced 67 charges involving the sale of several cars totalling about $4 million. He was remanded to Dodds Prison.
On the 31 October 2014 Wilkinson’s lawyer was able to secure bail of 1.5 million with three sureties. Three years and some later we ask the question- What is the status of the RODNEY WILKINSON CASE?
The BU household is of the view that although the prima facie case being tried is concerned with a vehicle scam- given the deep relationships Wilkinson maintained with prominent members of the political class before his interdiction- the bigger issue is how a privileged group of people are given reins to trample our laws for personal benefit. This is the perfect case for the newly installed Director of Public Prosecutions Donna Babb-Agard QC on the eve of a general election to send a loud message to those with ears to hear, there is a new sheriff in RH town!
If no-one was locked up for the St. Joseph Hospital teefin it will never happen in Bim.
Roy Davis the contractor is Sincklerâs half brother.
Why did the BLP not share the report of the St. Joseph Hospital?
The political class!
Dear David:
The picture says “fraudster” should it not say “accused fraudster” Isn’t the man innocent until proven guilty?
He is guilty as RH.
@David the blogmaster “deep relationships Wilkinson maintained with prominent members of the political class.”
Do you mean that he was Owen Arthur’s buddy from way back in their Colridge & Parry, and Harrison College days? Didn’t I say yesterday that every Prime Minister of Barbados has had such friends?
You know don’t you that Prime Ministers are no better judges of character than the rest of us. Prime Ministers get fooled too.
Everyday.
lol
Very timely reminder BU. We know that this medium is closely monitored by the mainstream. Let’s see if it is brought to the fore.
Beautify Barbados workers finally remembered. That it comes on the eve of elections is merely a coincidence. DA REALLY TEK WE FA BILLY GOAT.
@David the blogmaster “This is the perfect case for the newly installed Director of Public Prosecutions Donna Babb-Agard QC on the eve of a general election to send a loud message to those with ears to hear, there is a new sheriff in RH town!”
A little birdie tells me that the DPP would be wasting her time pursuing a man who is dying in a Florida hospital.
Having nuff, nuff money, even 4 million dollars does not prevent a 63 year old Bajan man from having stage 4 prostate cancer, in fact affluence increases the chance of getting cancers, all cancers. Affluent people can afford to eat nuff, nuff meat, and exercise little, a diet heavy in meat, and a lifestyle which require little or no physical activity is not good for human health.
I said before that Bajan men have one of the highest rates of prostate cancer in the world and some ‘o wunna took that not to be the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, which it is but took it to mean that I don’t like men.
http://www.wcrf.org/int/cancer-facts-figures/data-specific-cancers/prostate-cancer-statistics
Martinique has the highest rate of prostate cancer, followed by Norway and France. About 68 per cent of prostate cancer cases occurred in more developed countries.
http://www.wcrf.org/int/cancer-facts-figures/data-specific-cancers/prostate-cancer-statistics
Barbados fifth in the world for prostate cancer
Dear David:
In the whole history of Barbados has a Harrison College fella ever been locked up?
No?
Well that means that Harrison College people are like Cesar’s wife…beyond reproach.
HC fellas never do neffen wrong.
Neva.
@ Dr. Simple Simon at 7:56 AM
You like you is a real doctor. You like you only trying to fool BU household with this simple moniker.
But using the axiomatic approach, Barbados is a more developed country. We too like our meat. I am going to have to read you more seriously.
Good insight.
Rodney is one of those ordinary fellows who did not capitalize on those blessings which nature bestowed upon him.He allowed testosterone to rule his judgement,a rake and scrape guy who would not curb his wayward thoughts.He mistook popularity with the female of the species as a gift from above and so it led to his downfall.
So who ended up with all those hired cars, the reaĺ and imagined ones..lol
The scam is still very much alive.
Dr. Simple Simon January 24, 2018 at 7:41 AM #
Dear David:
The picture says “fraudster” should it not say “accused fraudster” Isn’t the man innocent until proven guilty?
David January 24, 2018 at 7:49 AM #
He is guilty as RH.
Tells you everything you need to know.
@Simple
As you know with your simple self many others have been fired as a result of the scam. He created a 911 event in the motor industry 😁
@Gabriel January 24, 2018 at 8:14 AM “popularity with the female of the species as a gift from above and so it led to his downfall.”
Dear fellas: let me tell you a secret. if you have enough money you will be “popular” with a lot of “ladies”, but these “ladies” love you because of what is in your pocket, NOT because of what is in your pants.
The truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.
@ Dr. Simple Simon January 24, 2018 at 7:56 AM
“I said before that Bajan men have one of the highest rates of prostate cancer in the world and some ‘o wunna took that not to be the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, which it is but took it to mean that I don’t like men.”
So why not be even-handed and show what a great equal opportunity critic you are by telling us how prim and proper non-promiscuous celibate Bajan women rank in the area of breast and ‘pussycat-related’ cancers?
You forgot one of the man’s cardinal sins (in your estimation) that you can claim also led to his downfall, compulsive gambling.
BTW, Dr. SS, how come the same “Affluent people’ who can afford to eat nuff, nuff meat, and exercise little” tend to live, on average’ longer than most Africans and Asians?
Now this counter is based on WHO statistics; not fake assumptions from a voodoo bush doctor like you.
@ Dr. Simple at 7:56 AM
I wonder why the incidence of prostate cancer is twice as high in Martinique compared to Guadeloupe. Is there a demographic factor? Or perhaps a question of diet?
@Simple, blogger @Bernard gave you high praise on your doctoral insight but you squandered it immediately with the assessment that :
“In the whole history of Barbados has a Harrison College fella ever been locked up? No?
Well that means that Harrison College people are like Cesar’s wife…beyond reproach.
HC fellas never do neffen wrong.”
Fah trute!
I suspect you really bad talking HC boys n girls. Surely many did quite a bit wrong but they were just to freaking smart to get caught or just as easily had friends in high places to save their backsides.
Incidentally, as noted here before, it was once a solid boast (not sure if still is) that not ONE fella who was a long term Boy Scout EVER went to jail in Bim. NEVA.
Now that you can take to the bank – or courts- really meant that boys trained in that supreme model of quality team work and ethics “never do neffen wrong” for which punishment was incarceration.
I wonder why the incidence of prostate cancer is twice as high in Martinique compared to Guadeloupe. Is there a demographic factor? Or perhaps a question of diet?
Which of the two islands has the highest concentration of banana plantations and/or grew and exported the most bananas?
From The Guardian May 6, 2013
Guadeloupe and Martinique threatened as pesticide contaminates food chain
Chemical once used on banana crops threatening livelihoods and public health by polluting soil and sea
On 15 April more than 100 fishermen demonstrated in the streets of Fort de France, the main town on Martinique, in the French West Indies. In January they barricaded the port until the government in Paris allocated €2m ($2.6m) in aid, which they are still waiting for. The contamination caused by chlordecone, a persistent organochlorine pesticide, means their spiny lobsters are no longer fit for human consumption. The people of neighbouring Guadeloupe are increasingly angry for the same reason. After polluting the soil, the chemical is wreaking havoc out at sea, an environmental disaster that now threatens the whole economy.
“I’ve been eating pesticide for 30 years so I carry on eating my fish. But what will happen to my grandchildren?” asks Franck Nétri who has fished off the south-east coast of Guadeloupe all his life. Aged 46, he sees little scope for a change of trade. Yet he knows he has no option: the area where fishing has been banned will soon be extended. In 2010 a government decree placed the offshore limit at 500 metres. It will soon be 900 metres.
Chlordecone (aka Kepone) is known to be an endocrine disruptor and was listed as carcinogenic in 1979. The coastline was the last part of the island to be contaminated, as the chemical was gradually washed down by the rivers. Pollution centres on the Basse-Terre area, which specialised in growing bananas for export. As the contamination spread, fishing had to be stopped and freshwater prawn farms closed. The same soon applied to the crabs caught in the mangrove swamps. It remains to be seen which deepwater species will be allowed to be caught in the future.
More:
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2013/may/07/guadeloupe-economy-theatened-pesticides-pollution
Is it me, or has anyone in this forum (with the exception of ac) noticed that the FIRST half hour of the CBC TV8 Evening News was DEDICATED to the DLP………
………..and the segment after the sports news began with an excerpt of Freundel Stuart speaking about the economy?
It’s obvious the DLP is blatantly using CBC for its political advantage and campaign purposes……at the EXPENSE of tax payers.
Why should the state own a television & radio station for political parties to use its tax funded resources for the purposes of political aggrandizement and expediency?
And then we had revelations of an “atrocity” committed by the DLP, in its capacity as a private client…… and NOT Government)…….. owing CBC $109,609 for broadcasting that party’ political events…….
……….under questionable (conflict of interest???) circumstances where Freundel Stuart is PRESIDENT of the DLP and as PM, CBC falls under his portfolio.
………and CBC “circumventing” the debt by its continual broadcasting of selected DLP events and excerpts of the contributions in parliament by DLP ministers and senators ONLY……….UNDER the GUISE of “NEWS ITEMS…….while ignoring the other political parties.
For example, CBC used tax funded resources to broadcast Stuart as he addressed the party faithful at the DLP’s annual conference in September last year……….
………but REFUSED to televised a delayed PAID broadcast of the BLP’s annual conference in October 2017.
In other words, the DLP is receiving FREE campaign services………. because the TAX PAYERS of Barbados are PAYING the DLP’s campaign bill.
I find it VERY DISTURBING that, over the years, both BLP & DLP administrations have USED the TAX FUNDED resources of CBC for their political advantage.
These SHAMELESS ACTS are among some of the REASONS why I believe CBC should be PRIVATIZED.
David
You could beg until the cows come home things like these will never stop happening. In fact we should expect worse to come.
Once one could be considered a super citizen, having all the right social connections, even murder could be gotten away with.
Barbados has always been like this for the elites. It is only people like you taking the false and generalized narrative as applicable to all.
This is the bedrock of a modern class and race formation in Barbados.
People like you who see the obvious contradictions will loose friends. The social forces may even gang up pun yuh and send yuh to the other place. LOL
No joking! These people will see this as a threat to their way of life.
@millertheanunnaki January 24, 2018 at 9:04 AM “So why not be even-handed and show what a great equal opportunity critic you are by telling us how prim and proper non-promiscuous celibate Bajan women rank in the area of breast and ‘pussycat-related’ cancers?”
Dear miller: You asked for even handedness. See below:
Rates [or cervical cancer] are also high in developing nations, where more than 80% of cervical cancer cases occur. Worldwide, cervical cancer is the third most common cancer among women and the second most frequent cause of cancer-related death, accounting for nearly 300,000 deaths annually
http://www.worldlifeexpectancy.com/cause-of-death/cervical-cancer/by-country/
Barbados is number 91 in the world for cervical cancer. But I have been following the data since the 1970’s, and in the mid-1970’s Barbados was number 3 in the world for cervical cancer. Cervical cancer is largely preventable or curable, and Bajan women have been educated and have educated themselves, and present themselves to their doctors for screening and treatment. Bajan men can and MUST do the same.
It is not that difficult.
Ok lets privatize CBC because Artax a known blp yardfowl does not like what is being broadcast in the evening News
Haile!Haile! To the new sheriff in Town.
Bro go take a dump(poop)
@millertheanunnaki January 24, 2018 at 9:04 AM “BTW, Dr. SS, how come the same “Affluent people’ who can afford to eat nuff, nuff meat, and exercise little” tend to live, on average’ longer than most Africans and Asians?”
These questions are better addressed to Dr. Georgie Porgie, but in affluent countries everyone has access to clean drinking water, and proper sanitation systems, there are more medical professionals per capita in affluent countries, in affluent countries the populations are better educated. Poor countries have a greater burden of untreated or poorly treated infectious diseases.
@Bernard Codrington January 24, 2018 at 9:08 AM “I wonder why the incidence of prostate cancer is twice as high in Martinique compared to Guadeloupe. Is there a demographic factor? Or perhaps a question of diet?”
Probably diet.
Martinique is significantly more urbanized and more likely to eat the foods common in the metropolis. In Guadeloupe they grow and eat the foods that Bajan centenarians eat.
Thanks for the “Haile! Haile!” and with my rate of success exposing your ignorance…….you’ve finally recognized I’m “the new sheriff in Town.”
…..but, ac…….
……..the tax payers of Barbados want to know if the DLP paid the $109,609 it owes to CBC as yet?
Shameless Freundel Stuart……..the DLP seems to be so BROKE it CANNOT PAY its debt to CBC and is now USING tax payers’ funds to FINANCE the PUBLIC RELATIONS aspect of its election campaign.
@Artax
How is the abuse by the DLP of CBC different to when the BLP was in office? Wasn’t there equal comment about Mia employing her girls to work at the CBC as well when she was minister of Information? The interference by successive governments is an accepted practice.
@Arta
Shameless Freundel Stuart……..the DLP seems to be so BROKE it CANNOT PAY its debt to CBC and is now USING tax payers’ funds to FINANCE the PUBLIC RELATIONS aspect of its election campaign……………………..
………….and meanwhile Artax………..sewage water is flowing on the street in front of Lanterns Mall.
A lady was on Brasstacks today in distress over the state of the roads in St John which she has to use daily.
And we have a yardfowl on BU talking RH as usual. The people of Barbados will not forget you all.
Politician denies sexual misconduct allegations from two women.
To return to Wilkinson …Your provocative headline and your glowing remarks compel attention.
In another incarnation more than four decades ago, some of us labored in a vineyard not far from the Old Curiosity Shop, the Pickwick Pub, the Inns of Court, the BBC and The Strand. Others, far more distinguished, had toiled there before, including the late P.M. Errol Barrow, Sir William Douglas, Sir David Simmons, et al. Others, similarly notable, including the Leader of the Opposition and former Attorney General, Mia Mottley, (LEC deprived like many her predecessors), also followed, and labored in that particular vineyard. Suffice it that Rodney Wilkinson, a fellow laborer in that vineyard, and the butt of your ire, was no less personally and academically gifted.
But all this is irrelevant. More importantly, while you are clearly confident in your role (self-appointed) as judge, jury and executioner of one you disparaged as OSA’s “bagman”, fortunately, the presumption of innocence remains elemental in common law jurisdictions. Dr. Simple Simon, Ph.D is therefore correct.
Since when, where, how and why did Wilkinson lose his right to be presumed innocent. Perhaps, HIS right to be presumed innocent is OUR basic, fundamental, individual right to be presumed innocent, until proven otherwise.
As to your solicitation to DPP Babb-Agard to selectively expedite and advance Wilkinson’s prosecution, on the basis of so far unproven allegations, this would appear little more than arbitrary, silly grandstanding. Without minimizing the importance of white collar crime, does The DPP not already face a heavy docket of myriad, record murders in Barbados, attempted murders, and any number of other seriously violent crimes, and a backlog, all competing to compel her attention?
Finally, we live in an era of “fake news” and “alternative facts”. However, I read it in BU; therefore, it must be true. Should not common decency and our common humanity not require that we wish a speedy and complete recovery and a long and healthy life to any 63 year old allegedly hospitalized and beset by stage 4 prostate cancer, regardless of our individual and/or family history? Not one of us will get out of this journey alive.
In this vein, your article, rather than properly suspend judgment until all probative evidence is heard, appears so mean spirited, so unforgiving, so contemptuous, so disdainful of the frailties and foibles of us all.
Sincerely
Caleb M. Pilgrim
@Caleb Pilgrim
Did the principals of Executive Rentals manipulate information to mislead the licensing authority and financial institutions? We wait for the courts to rule. If he is proved innocent BU will apologize, profusely.
@ David BU
I also wrote:
“I find it VERY DISTURBING that, over the years, BOTH BLP & DLP administrations have USED the TAX FUNDED resources of CBC for their political advantage.”
If you READ my contribution in its ENTIRETY and UNDERSTOOD its CONTENT…….you would NOT have written the above response.
Additionally, any reasonable individual would admit there has been an “unprecedented” shameless and reckless abuse of CBC’s and GIS’s resources by this inept DLP administration……to their political advantage.
@Artax
Look at it as reinforcing your comment.
Talking about bagmen, why is there no mention of the famous Glyne Bannister?
Barbados is an interesting island.
It appears as though certain people are of the belief if, “Ninja Man,” for example, allegedly perpetrated a crime, he should be strung up in public, without any regard for his homelessness and mental instability or that he is innocent until proven guilty………..
……….but when someone deemed to be from the upper echelons of life allegedly commits a crime, while their “high society” friends write “eloquent testimonials” in their defence…..reminding us we are too judgmental and should extend compassion to them.
However, if Dr. Tennyson Joseph or Gabby were to drive through their upscale neighbourhoods, unrecognized, these same compassionate, eloquent writers would be the first to assume a man with locks is obviously “up to no good.”
David Bu
Point taken…..
……and that’s why I also mentioned:
“These SHAMELESS ACTS are among some of the REASONS why I believe CBC should be PRIVATIZED.”
Artax January 25, 2018 at 7:22 AM #
David Bu
Point taken…..
……and that’s why I also mentioned:
“These SHAMELESS ACTS are among some of the REASONS why I believe CBC should be PRIVATIZED.”
……………………………………………………………………
Our most intelligent minister of finance and teefin’ said a couple years ago that CBC could not be privatised because it owes the gov’t millions that are currently on gov’t books as assets (receivables) but actually weren’t collectable so would have to be written off in event of any sale and reflected on gov’t books as losses.
Let that sink in for a moment before responding.
This is the depth of our minister of finance’s economic understanding.
Which is why I keep saying that rum shop economics is all we need in Bim but unfortunately none of the people running this country have even that level of management or finance experience.
There was never any chance of economic recovery under Fumble’s Fools.
@ Artax January 25, 2018 at 7:22 AM
“These SHAMELESS ACTS are among some of the REASONS why I believe CBC should be PRIVATIZED.”
You have waited a tad late to come to that conclusion. This should have happened 4 years ago after the MoF announced his ‘Structural Adjustment’ plan in December 2013.
At least the government then would have been able to negotiate a selling price for the corporation and to save the taxpayers the millions they are currently saddled with in the form of those large loans outstanding the CBC has like millstones around its ‘broken’ neck.
If the DLP has the nasty bitter gall not to settle its debts due to that financially bleeding corporation how do you expect the same Corporation saddled (not managed) with DLP yard-fowls to pay its statutory dues to the NIS and BRA?
Now who would buy- at this stage of the economic meltdown in an ICT changing game- a rotting pig in bag full of financial holes unless being paid to remove it to the partisan political graveyard?
There will soon be many statutory corporations up on the auction block (including the TB and BWA) are you interested?
Forget about the GAIA, that’s already ‘promised’ to foreign investors to go the way of the Hilton hotel to save the forex chamber to the country’s economic heart.
Miller, there is a very easy solution for statutory corporations.
Sell the businesses (not the real estate assets) to the employees in the form of severance package shares.
Those who want the cash can walk with it, those who want a job can be issued shares instead.
Turn tax spenders into tax payers.
This was the outline of the plan that started UCAL when it was clear the BTB workshop was a money pit employing one mechanic for every bus then in service. Before politics beat economics (as it does every time in Bim).
Brilliant
“Bruce January 25, 2018 at 6:51 AM #
Talking about bagmen, why is there no mention of the famous Glyne Bannister?”
Or Hallam Nicholls.
Frustrated…but will they follow that brilliant advice, or leave the population as broke consumers and spenders, only good for buying and consuming pure imported garbage.
Well Well & Cut N’ Paste At Your Service January 25, 2018 at 8:40 AM #
Frustrated…but will they follow that brilliant advice, or leave the population as broke consumers and spenders, only good for buying and consuming pure imported garbage.
………………………………….
As I’ve been saying for 9 years, Barbados does not have serious economic problems, what we are suffering from is very poor governance.
All of our financial problems are simple and if this gov’t had engaged the people in society who had the expertise and experience to give workable advice we wouldn’t be in this position now.
Our ForEx issues could be solved very simply by making all local purchases made in a basket of currencies VAT-free for a period of time. Every cash register in Bim owned by every VAT-registered company can be programmed to issue a VAT free invoice and report the quantity of ForEx that needs to be submitted to the VAT office with the return for that particular period.
THIS IS NOT ROCKET SCIENCE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
There was never any chance of economic recovery under Fumble’s Fools.
this case pales into significance when compared with the CLICO scandal which encompassed robbery of state and people without penalty to those involved in the scam.
At least Rodney Wilkinson had a taste of prison life; the others with whom if you are a balanced commentator would be quite familiar did not have the good fortune to enjoy the luxury of her Majesty’s encampment at Dodds
Frustrated Businessman: Animal Farm sequel playing out in Bim.January 25, 2018 at 7:45 AM #
“Our most intelligent minister of finance and teefin’ said a couple years ago that CBC could not be privatised because it owes the gov’t millions that are currently on gov’t books as assets (receivables) but actually weren’t collectable so would have to be written off in event of any sale and reflected on gov’t books as losses.”
+++++++++++++++++++
This man is charged with managing the finances of Barbados………….. and does not know the simple accounting process for writing off “uncollectable receivables.”
Perhaps he interprets the process to mean government losses the money as a result of “writing off the debt.”
…………truly amazing……….
But, people, including Stuart, have been saying the guy is doing an excellent job.
@ Miller
As FB continually mentions, many of these state owned agencies are used by political parties to facilitate the employment of the party faithful and provide “kick backs” for their financial supporters.
For example, the Owen Arthur BLP administration closed the NAB’s Housing Welfare Programme to establish the Urban and Rural Development Commissions. This created a situation where TWO entities were created, financed and staffed………to undertake the same services that were provided by the NAB.
During a press conference held on January 8, 2014, at Government headquarters, the inept Sinckler said government was reviewing the functions of 19 statutory corporations with a view to consolidating their operations.
He added that of those 19 institutions: “Some will go out of business, others will merge with each other and perhaps where it is feasible and makes sense for private involvement in the operations of any of those institutions that will be undertaken as well.”
In July 2016, Sinckler also promised a “major overhaul” of the Transport Board (which has not occurred as yet) and reiterated “that a serious look was being taken at all the operations of statutory corporations and over time Government will be rolling out its full programme for statutory entities.”
To date, statutory corporation’s status quo remains the same.
A minister of finance is not a bloody book keeper of second-rate accountant. Chris Sinckler may be incompetent and should not have been in his job fore the last seven years, but tinkering with numbers on a spreadsheet is not his job. He employs underlings to do that.
Hal Austin January 25, 2018 at 10:16 AM #
A minister of finance is not a bloody book keeper of second-rate accountant. Chris Sinckler may be incompetent and should not have been in his job fore the last seven years, but tinkering with numbers on a spreadsheet is not his job. He employs underlings to do that.
……………………………
I agree Hal but a Minister of Finance has to have a basic understanding of finance. It is clear to me and everyone else holding the purse-strings of our economy that Sinckler has none.
And that is why there was never any chance of economic recovery under Fumble’s Fools.
Who does the idiot think he is addressing?
The people who need to have confidence in this economy for it to function are not the same idiots who voted for him.
And perhaps he should have consulted his underlings before making certain pronouncements.
But Chris Sinckler’s pompous, boisterous, bombastic and insulting behaviour and his tendency to be “deceitfully untruthful” for self aggrandizement purposes, certainly reminds us of an unrated jackass journalist whose comprehension skills are questionable.
Artax
You have hit the nail on the head. Hal is just being personal and petty. Sinckler’s statement was POLITICAL, nothing to do with truth.
Enuff January 25, 2018 at 10:43 AM #
You have hit the nail on the head. Hal is just being personal and petty. Sinckler’s statement was POLITICAL, nothing to do with truth.(Quote)
Not so. A minister of finance is a politicians, not an accountant or economist. The minister has an army of assistants to do the donkey work for him; what s/he must be is someone who listens and takes advice, which is not Sinckler’s strong point.
Why is it that many Bajans see an alternative view is a personal attack? Some of the best chancellors of the exchequer – Kenneth Clarke (lawyer), Gordon Brown (historian/journalist), Alistair Darling (lawyer), Nigel Lawson (financial journalist), Sir Geoffrey Howe (lawyer), James Callaghan (trade unionist) et al .
Another crooked Bagman of Owen Arthur was David Shorey cut from the same cloth as Rodney Wilkinson
@ David BU
Interesting “debate” on today’s “Brass Tacks” with Lynette, Grenville Phillips II and Ryan Straughn. I tuned in late………but it seems as though a representative of the DLP is not there.
@Artax Prodigal
Just tuning in.
Grenville and Lynette demonstrated a lack of the historical in their responses to the PSV caller. It was Tom Adams who levied the unusually high PSV fees as a punitive measure to react to the indiscipline that manifested back then.
I understand Hal’s point and I’m sure he understands mine.
When someone in charge spews shite that makes no sense, thinking people dis-engage.
It doesn’t matter whether the shite came from his underlings or his interpretation of what he was told by his ‘experts’ is beyond his grasp, Sinckler was never going to move our economy onto a recovery footing because the people he needs to make any plan work know he is a crook and an idiot.
The fact that he is a bombastic and belligerent crook and idiot is irrelevant.
Frustrated Businessman: Animal Farm sequel playing out in Bim. January 25, 2018 at 11:34 AM #
You got it in one. The minister (CEO) is the person who must take ownership of the policy, but it does not mean s/he is responsible for working out the details. That is what briefings by the team are for. But when the proverbial hits the fan it is the minister who takes the flak.
Sinckler is obstinate, stubborn, arrogant, over-confident and other things. He is simply a bad minister with an equally bad prime minister who is afraid to rein him in. The net result is that the nation suffers.
The issue is not if he is a good book keeper; rather, it is if he is a good team leader. I have written speeches and heard them being spoken by others as if they were their own. That was good leadership. The speaker (leader) does not have to sit down and write all his/her own speeches.
@ Hal Austin January 25, 2018 at 11:05 AM
“Not so. A minister of finance is a politicians, not an accountant or economist. The minister has an army of assistants to do the donkey work for him; what s/he must be is someone who listens and takes advice, which is not Sinckler’s strong point.”
Neither was Sir Lloyd Sandiford or David Thompson. So your ‘point’ about ‘listening and taking advice’ is rather banal.
Isn’t such an approach to decision-making the ‘expected’ hallmark of any good minister or leader at any high level involving technical matters?
What any good minister of finance ought to capable of doing is not the preparation of any spreadsheet with ‘exotic’ looking numbers but understanding the impact of those ‘summarized’ numbers on the wider economy and on the lives of the general population.
For that very reason a minister of finance should be equipped with the basic numeracy skills acquired at the eleven plus stage of assessment to be able to tell the difference between 0.07 and 0.7 and appreciate the impact of imposing a tax at the rate of 0.3 % and one of the magnitude of 3%.
The current MoF might be able to bullshit taxpayers and promise them refunds 3 years in the waiting while envelopes are being stuffed by his BRA.
But to not know the impact of increasing an NSRL from 2% to 10% and to argue that it is only an 8% increase is certainly more than confabulatory obfuscating to even high-flying financial journalists like you, Hal.
@ Hal Austin January 25, 2018 at 11:47 AM
“Sinckler is obstinate, stubborn, arrogant, over-confident and other things. He is simply a bad minister with an equally bad prime minister who is afraid to rein him in. The net result is that the nation suffers..”
Sounds as if a certain boffin from the world of journalism has finally decided to do some much needed introspection and is looking at the man in his self-made mirror.
Self-criticism instead self-adulation is always the better medicine to cure a bad case of ‘obstinacy, arrogance, over-confidence’ all fed with an oversupply ignorance and stupidity
So Hal my man, when are you going to go back home and show the Bajan jokers not only how to write speeches and have them read aloud by the circus of political parrots but to also to walk the walk by implementing the many proposals contained in those very speeches fit only to be laid in cow pens to receive the fertilizing output from their behinds?
Hal
I do not support the idea that a minister must be an expert in the area of his/her portfolio. All I am saying is that Sinckler intended to justify not selling CBC by any means necessary even if it meant telling an untruth.
@enuff
Let us agree that while the MoF does not have to know how to use an abacus he or she must have a high level of financial intelligence. Does Sinckler infuse confidence in those about him that he qualifies?
Enuff January 25, 2018 at 3:17 PM #
I do not support the idea that a minister must be an expert in the area of his/her portfolio. All I am saying is that Sinckler intended to justify not selling CBC by any means necessary even if it meant telling an untruth. (Quote)
Why the mad rush to sell CBC. Those of us who remember CBC when it first started, it was a decent television station, capable of competing with the best in the world. The situation then was that management was outsourced and the local presenters – Vic Brewster, Marva Manning, et al – were all competent.
Quite often with the Barbadianisation of jobs, we normalise mediocrity. A far better and more economical strategy will be the auctioning of a license for a second television station, while at the same time removing political interference with CBC.
I am told Sinckler has a post-graduate degree in international trade from Cave Hill – an economic degree.
@ Hal Austin January 25, 2018 at 3:35 PM
“A far better and more economical strategy will be the auctioning of a license for a second television station, while at the same time removing political interference with CBC.”
The Internet has put paid to such a scenario ever occurring in the current Barbados.
The economics cannot justify the sane investment in a multi-player sector with a dwindling viewing audience drawn to the nostalgia of the traditional T.V. watching.
The government has only Hobson’s choice.
Let some ‘entrepreneurial’ entity or persons take CBC off its hands and charge them an annual license fee with specific conditions of compulsory broadcasting, free of advertising charges, notices of national import.
That kind of arrangement has been around for donkey years. There is no longer any reason why the State would want to compete with the private sector in a so-called highly educated society whose members should be able to differentiate broadcasting shit from T.V. shite.
Hal
Keep up–I am not talking about selling or not selling, but about misleading to make a political point. International trade is an Economic degree? You’re all over the place.
David
Note I said expert, as oppose to understanding. lmao
Enuff January 25, 2018 at 3:17 PM #
All I am saying is that Sinckler intended to justify NOT (my caps) selling CBC by any means necessary even if it meant telling an untruth. (Quote)
The inverse of not selling is to sell, thus my response. He can only justify NOT selling if there was pressure to sell.
Dave,
What do you know of the Bajan cretin who beat the Canadian woman to death on a beach in Barbados?
Dave,
What do you know of the Bajan cretin who celebrated the vicious murder of a Canadian tourist on a Barbados beach?
Murda ah lie cricket an lilbaby Jeebuz
@Artax January 25, 2018 at 7:07 AM “upper echelons”
Upper echelons my @ss. 50 or 60 years ago we like Ninja Man were all barefoot, and raggedy pants. And Ninja too deserves a presumption of innocence.
That said it should not take three years, or four, or more for Rodney or Ninja Man to have their day in court.
If that is indeed happening the state/judicial system is mistreating both gentlemen.
And that is WRONG.
@Artax January 25, 2018 at 10:11 AM “During a press conference held on January 8, 2014…
Sinckler said government was reviewing the functions of 19 statutory corporations with a view to consolidating their operations…To date, statutory corporation’s status quo remains the same.
But, but, but, that was 4 years and 17 days ago.
How can that be?
@Hal Austin January 25, 2018 at 10:16 AM “A minister of finance is not a bloody book keeper of second-rate accountant. Chris Sinckler may be incompetent and should not have been in his job fore the last seven years, but tinkering with numbers on a spreadsheet is not his job. He employs underlings to do that.”
Most of your so called underlings went to school, college and university with Chris, and many of them have done better in their in their academic and professional life that he has.
So by what measure are you calling them underlings?
And Chris does not employ anybody.
Chris is employed by the taxpayers of Barbados, as are your so called underlings.
Frustrated Businessman: Animal Farm sequel playing out in Bim. January 25, 2018 at 10:30 AM “It is clear to me and everyone else holding the purse-strings of our economy that Sinckler has none…The people who need to have confidence in this economy for it to function are not the same idiots who voted for him.”
And who are the idiots who provided the campaign financing which permitted the DLP to attain office twice? Are you one of those moneyed idiots frustrated businessman? Because it seems to me that there is more than one set of idiots in this thing.
@Well Well & Cut N’ Paste At Your Service January 25, 2018 at 8:38 AM “Or Hallam Nicholls.”
Or David Shorey?
Lynette showed her ignorance today.She made the point that the Minister of Health is a qualified engineer and is therefore qualified to make a professional input into the Sewage fiasco.Grenville had to correct her.She must have been embarrassed to make that faux pas as leader of a political party.Elementary mistakes like that suggest a rocky path to leadership.
Lynette is out of her league.
A clear case of the Peter principle.
She sounded like a senior clerical assistant.
But because our current political leaders are such clowns, even coherent clerks are options.
Grenville makes the most sense of all …by far.
His message however is lost in a kind of contemptuous abruptness….
He actually reminds Bushie a bit of Barrow and Adams.
@BushTea, as Phillips` messaging director you would be formidable but let’s be real, nonetheless.
How in the name of nimble politicking can Phillips remind you
a bitof Adams or Barrow!Of course they are all arrogant, type A personalities but so what.
In which platform manifesto would you see either of the two gentlemen offering a justice reform of charging a petty criminal 10 times the value of his theft!
I did not hear the wise man today so maybe he enunciated how he will pay the nation’s bills after removal of the VAT, reduce income taxes and so on but do you also compare those strategies to those gentleman.
We all like Phillips as a decent, focused achiever but in a politically charged environment to equate him to those political pit bulls – even, a bit – is insane.
“Or David Shorey?”
Isnt he the dude sits on the board of CGI Insurance, all of them are incestous and very corrupt, not a single one of them has clean hands.
Dr. Simple Simon January 25, 2018 at 8:06 PM #
Most of your so called underlings went to school, college and university with Chris, and many of them have done better in their in their academic and professional life that he has.
So by what measure are you calling them underlings? (Quote)
The minister if top of the decision-making pyramid.