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Local Media Dithered as Sewage Plants Entered Failure Mode

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The Minister of the Environment Wilfred Abrahams toured the location last week where two tanks designed to support the treatment of sewage by the Bridgetown Sewage Plant have been allowed to deteriorate because of lack of maintenance. What he revealed to the public is that one well has been out of operation for almost two years and the other is operating at 20% capacity. God forbid the single operating well fails, the potential for another south coast event of greater magnitude is predicted to be the result.

The 2018 general election is behind us and ALL the ministers and members of parliament paid a price for their inept management of the affairs of Barbados. The final tally of the votes revealed that 70% of the voters placed their X next to Barbados Labour Party candidates. However, there are two questions Barbadians must ask and demand answers:

  1. How were South Coast and Bridgetown sewage plants allowed to deteriorate to the current state and the local media not made aware either via investigative effort or from ‘sources’ and information shared with the public?
  2. There is a management team in place at the Barbados Water Authority (BWA) charged with the responsibility for the management of waste water and all that it entails. Should senior managers at the BWA be held accountable for the sewage disaster as well?

Call out the prayer warriors as a nation holds its collective breath for the next 28 days.

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84 responses to “Local Media Dithered as Sewage Plants Entered Failure Mode”

  1. Ban Report Cards (@banreportcards) Avatar
    Ban Report Cards (@banreportcards)

    I wonder, too, if passers-by knew what they were looking at.

  2. Tron Avatar
    Tron

    We all no that Barbadians are no masters of maintenance.Every piece of technology will be out of order after some years.

    Welcome Haiti and Mozambique, goodbye first world!

  3. Talking Loud Saying Nothing Avatar
    Talking Loud Saying Nothing

    I prefer to go on BU, then follow the news on local media.

    Czar Mia has her hands filled. Imagine that you have recently purchased your dream house. You take possession of the keys. You move into your house; and from day one nothing appears to be what it seems. A door handle drops off, the floor boards creak, the house starts to subside, the taps start to mis-function, and the rest. You’ve been had!

    It then becomes evident to you that the builder was not a professional but a cowboy. The house is later condemned and the structure is demolished. This my fellow readers is where we are at. Mia will need to investigate the previous administration and to take the necessary action to ensure that the people of Barbados are never exposed to such a bunch of misfit, cowboy politicians who were hell built on destroying the livelihood of all Barbadians.

    Time for Mia to start tracking down certain individuals and exposing them to justice.

  4. charles skeete Avatar
    charles skeete

    What local media you talking about you mean those masquerading as media practitioners posing around with camera and pen and using their passes to see how much free food they can eat
    All they interested in is gossip and salacious headlines nothing investigative at all

  5. Well Well & Cut N' Paste At Your Service Avatar
    Well Well & Cut N’ Paste At Your Service

    It’s only after the decade of BU and others and the initial fight to shut down the blogs and the resulting failure to succeed that the traditional joke media on the island decided…. well if ya can’t beat them or shut them down, ya either join them or get kept behind by 50 years..

    it’s only recently nationnews will give you a rare one off glimpse of investigative journalism, but they got a long way to go…still too raggish and useless when it comes to dissemination of useful information to the public, still in the brainwash and mislead the public mode because of party affiliation, yardfowlism .

    barbadostoday made a 360 degree turn around to their original intent to establish a newspaper, yeah I heard all about the intent which backfired immediately. .lol …they paid to learn that you either join the blogs or perish…theyb still a long way to go because had any of the two of them cared anything about the people or island to begin with, what the government did to destroy the infrastructure and neglect the sewage system would have been exposed years ago…..

    …so the traditional media in their original roles of government pimps or government manipulators can also shoulder some of the blame for the destruction.

  6. John Avatar
    John

    The Bridgetown Sewage plant routinely stunk to high heavens under both the BLP and the DLP!!

    It’s been around since the 1980’s I believe so neglect by both parties is the cause for its sorry state today!!

  7. David Avatar
    David

    @John

    If one of the tanks has been inoperable for the last two years?

  8. Peter Lawrence Thompson Avatar
    Peter Lawrence Thompson

    Of course Barbadian news media companies are complicit in the widespread societal dysfunction that is destroying our country… but so are all the other institutions that make up our communities: the Churches, the professions, the schools, etc.

    The ugly phrase “media practitioner” is itself emblematic of the problem. A journalist is a journalist, not a media practitioner. A journalist serves the public interest by being the ears and eyes of the community; a media practitioner serves time in a corporation that uses media to turn a profit for the corporation’s owners (note that “profit” is not always monetary… in the case of CBC the profit is the manipulation of public opinion).

    It is not surprising that we have a bunch of media practitioners and few if any journalists. A bright young graduate who goes to work for Barbados Today or the Advocate or the Nation will be offered between $16K and $20k as an annual salary. It is impossible to attract and retain talent with that level of compensation.

  9. Ping Pong Avatar
    Ping Pong

    On the 24 May, the voters very sensibly fired Estwick as MP and minister for water resources. However what about the people who were paid to maintain and operate the sewage plant on a daily basis? Are they now going to periodically and regularly clean out the tanks, grease the pumps, clean the pipes, perform other regular maintenance and report (in writing) any and all material and labour needs to ensure the continuous operation of this vital infrastructural facility? If they didn’t do this before, what leads me to believe that they will do it in the future?

  10. David Avatar
    David

    Based on what we have heard from the GM and line managers, the reason for the sorry state can be tracked to the fact the BWA was starved of resources?

  11. peterlawrencethompson Avatar
    peterlawrencethompson

    Of course Barbadian news media companies are complicit in the widespread societal dysfunction that is destroying our country… but so are all the other institutions that make up our communities: the Churches, the professions, the schools, etc.

    The ugly phrase “media practitioner” is itself emblematic of the problem. A journalist is a journalist, not a media practitioner. A journalist serves the public interest by being the ears and eyes of the community; a media practitioner serves time in a corporation that uses media to turn a profit for the corporation’s owners (note that “profit” is not always monetary… in the case of CBC the profit is the manipulation of public opinion for political ends).

    It is not surprising that we have a bunch of media practitioners and few if any journalists. A bright young graduate who goes to work for Barbados Today or the Advocate or the Nation will be offered between $16K and $20k as an annual salary. It is impossible to attract and retain talent with that level of compensation.

  12. Georgie Porgie Avatar
    Georgie Porgie

    re Call out the prayer warriors as a nation holds its collective breath for the next 28 days.
    AND PRAY TO WHOM?
    WILL WE PRAY TO A GOD THAT SEVERAL BU POSTERS MOCK ROUTINELY ON BU?
    WILL WE PRAY TO A GOD WHOM THE BU BLOGMASTER ALLOW SEVERAL BU POSTERS TO MOCK ROUTINELY & REGULARLY ON BU?

    IT IS WRITTEN….GOD IS NOT MOCKED WHAT SOEVER ONE SOWS HE WILL REAP!

    BARE MOCK SPORT IN THE RUM SHOP

  13. Georgie Porgie Avatar
    Georgie Porgie

    RE LOCAL MEDIA DITHERED AS SEWAGE PLANTS ENTERED FAILURE MODE

    HOW DOES BU DIFFER FROM THE LOCAL MEDIA EXCEPT THAT IT GENERALLY GIVES A LOT OF FOLK THE OPPORTUNITY TO TALK A LOAD OF SHITE ALL DAY EVERDAY?

    THERE ARE NO JOURNALISTS OR INVESTIGATIVE JOUNALISTS ON BU EITHER.
    FEW GIVE ANYTHING OF WORTH

    ONLY MOCK SPORT IN THE RUM SHOP.

  14. Ping Pong Avatar
    Ping Pong

    How much resources are needed to keep bush from growing in a tank? Probably needed a consultant from “away” to come up with a strategic plan, a feasibility report, an operations manual and then a bush removal expert to implement the plan. Minister of Education Bradshaw must include on the list of much needed national skills which are in short supply, bush removal and tank rehabilitation studies with a minor in gender studies with emphasis on sustainable and environmentally responsive development for a carbon neutral future.

  15. David Avatar
    David

    @Ping Ping

    Was offering the official line, go figure.

  16. Roverp Avatar
    Roverp

    A bought journalist is just a propaganda tool.

  17. ks Avatar
    ks

    I agree with Ping Pong …………. those charged with up-keeping the plant in working order should bear some of the blame. If they tried but were ‘starved of resources’, then they should have come out and said so to the media & public…… not hide like a mice & say nothing!!!

    I hope we see results soon ….. the new “Garbage tax” will put $$$ at their disposal so our garbage should be picked-up, at least, once-a-week in future…. not every 3 weeks at present!!!

    Tron….. 100% correct!!! “We all no that Barbadians are no masters of maintenance. Every piece of technology will be out of order after some years.”

    Charles Skeete…… 100% correct!!! “All they interested in is gossip and salacious headlines nothing investigative at all”

  18. Bernard Codrington Avatar
    Bernard Codrington

    I had warned on this blog that the situation would have been much worse than is officially reported. I was hoping that events would have proven me wrong. It gives me no pleasure to be clairvoyant.

    But surely the technocrats must carry the burden for the deterioration. Do they have no professional pride? Is the taxpayer to pay them to boast that it is not their fault. They control the financial resources. ; even of the political class. They are to advise persuade and execute.
    They too need to read the constitution and General Orders and know what their responsibilities are. I know from experience. I have been there;and I have done that. A professional ‘s loyalty is to his profession.

  19. Bernard Codrington Avatar
    Bernard Codrington

    I will try again. David are you over- editing?

    The Permanent Secretaries allocate human resources as well as financial resources. They prepare the Departmental budgets not the Politicians. The Politicians say this is the policy. He says implement it. The technocrats search for ways to implement. Some will be feasible. Some will not be. The PS/ technocrat should explain to the Minister why it cannot be done and He offers alternatives.

  20. Georgie Porgie Avatar
    Georgie Porgie

    FELLAS. IT ISVERY SIMPLE.
    THE ONLY WAY TO DO WORK…….IS TO DO IT… AND AS QUICKLY AND EFFICIENTLY AS YOU CAN.
    IT USED TO BE DONE BEFORE
    HOWEVER, I ALSO KNOW THAT BEING EFFICIENT DEEPLY OFFENDS THOSE AROUND YOU THAT LIKE TO DRAW OUT THE WORK

  21. FearPlay Avatar
    FearPlay

    @Bernard “The PS/ technocrat should explain to the Minister why it cannot be done and he offers alternatives.”

    Obviously that is how it was done and how it is supposed to be done but, is it so done? When you take a grass roots politician who has never managed more than himself/herself and suddenly bestow upon them a position of authority with a sprinkling of fan worship (at constituency branch meetings), the idiot starts to believe that he/she is endowed with magical super powers and even a vastly superior intellect. There is no need for consultation or is there a need to take advice from seasoned career civil servant professionals.

    One can only hope that as the Prime Minister gets a grip on the disastrous state of the economy left by that last group of charlatans, she will turn attention to righting some of the wrongs done by leaders of the past who took it upon themselves to cripple the civil service in order to boost their own thirst for power.

    This story also begs the question as to the purpose of our daily news rags, some of which are exclusively online. If the purpose is to sell advertising and photocopy what is happening in the courts on a daily basis and delivering it as “News”, then they are doing remarkably well. Just take any of the Friday papers and count the column inches devoted to advertising then compare to hard news. Column after column of cocktail party photos, court events, church happenings, sports coverage and hardly any investigative journalism. Blah, blah, blah, I know the old refrain about fear of prosecution but tell me, who could have prosecuted anyone had this story been investigated and published? What about the situation at Transport Board and MTW? Was any attempt ever made at doing in-depth investigation and getting to the bottom of these situations and alerting the public? I say no. Any why? What used to be the Fourth Estate can now be renamed the Fourth Plantation in their mad quest for the Almighty dollar, so they did not offend in order to continue getting government advertising.

    Here is the rub, the traditional media is incapable of adjusting to the speed and precision of modern technology and the ability of the average citizen to get currently occurring events published, so instead they have lulled themselves into serving their masters and not the people but have the gall to raise the price of newsprint constantly. Not my money!

    The charlatans have been dismissed by the people for exceedingly poor job performance and in some cases lack of performance at all. The question now is should severance be paid to them in the form of pensions for the rest of their lives. There must be a way.

  22. peterlawrencethompson Avatar
    peterlawrencethompson

    How many of us here pay to read the news?? My guess is that we bemoan the lack of insightful investigative journalism, but we are unwilling to pay a single red cent for insightful investigative journalism.

    We have seen the enemy, and he is us.

  23. Are-we-there-yet Avatar
    Are-we-there-yet

    I know that the following comment will be a very unpopular view of the situation but it must be said, nevertheless.

    Someone commented above that the blame should be placed squarely on the shoulders of the line managers. That would be fully justified if the line manager were provided with the resources and tools to get the job done in a timely manner. It would almost certainly be fully justified if Barbados were an Island of a couple million people where a line manager could be fired and could fairly quickly, get a new job that could provide even the basic necessities for his (or her) family in relatively short order. But in little Barbados such a line manager would be courting almost instant destitution and subjection of his family to the pointing fingers and derisive laughter and barbed taunts of their peers. Check out the generally uncharitable way that the losing DLP people and their supporters are now being treated by many thoughtless BLP supporters and even by many who were formerly, ostensibly, their own supporters. The line manager in Barbados who goes against his manager is taking risks that a similar line manager in a big society like Canada would not face.

    But in this case it would appear that the line managers brought the problem (and likely also suggested remedial actions) to the notice of their superiors and the overall managers did not provide the necessary resources or strategic direction to solve the problem.

    I don’t know, but I am willing to bet, that detailed maintenance plans would have been developed and approved for avoiding such problems and that Management (including the GM, the relevant PS and the Minister) would have, year after year, relegated such actions to the bottom of the priority lists, mainly because inadequate funding would have been provided to the institution by the Ministry of Finance for doing what (in hindsight) would have been an absolutely essential job.

    Maintenance of property and plant has traditionally been a prime area to be cut or placed at very low priority levels by succeeding BLP and DLP administrations for several decades. I have no doubt that such was the main reason for the direliction of duty evident in the Sewage Plants; i.e. grossly inadequate funds provided for maintenance after Government became totally responsible for providing such funds.

    I think only the strategic privatization of the BWA and other such entities will solve this problem. I think also that true-true Public sector reform has to be instituted as soon as possible as it seems that serious reforms have not taken place despite half-hearted efforts over the past two decades or so. I think the monolithic MInistry of the Public Service (or whatever the Personnel Department is now called) needs to be totally restructured to ensure that the PS’s have the power to really take drastic personnel actions without undue reference to a Chief Personnel Officer, inter alia.

  24. Georgie Porgie Avatar
    Georgie Porgie

    I read a lot of “insightful investigative journalism” online daily for which I pay nothing.
    It is just not coming out of Barbados.

  25. Hal Austin Avatar
    Hal Austin

    Peterlawrencethompson,

    There are lots of things wrong with Barbadian journalism, lack of investigative journalism is not one. We have the Nation which reprints press releases unaltered from GIS and other PR people, we have Barbados Today which regularly runs stories quoting from a single source.
    All our national newspapers have an elite of so-called experts that they call upon without any balance to what they say. Just look at how they report politics and economics, in a linear, singular way, omitting a wide world of alternative views. Balance is a key concept in news reporting. These and lots more point to the lack of training.
    We also have the poor digital product – just read the Nation’s website and read that of any publication in a developed country – and I am not talking about money, but design, writing, etc.
    Then we have the matter of the business models: look at the circulation of the Nation and the number of households there are in Barbados and we will see the Nation fails to sell at least a single copy in every household, in a market when it is dominant.
    Look at the ratio of editorial to advertising, a fairly good measure of profitability. Is the cover price relevant? I do not like criticising local journalism, but the people who suffer are the readers.
    Investigative journalism may be sexy, but it is time-consuming and expensive. Stories take long to investigate, may have to be abandoned after weeks of digging, or more likely will end up in court.
    There is a reason why most newspaper in the UK swapped investigations for showbiz nonsense; readers like to read about trivia. That is why the Sun has a circulation of about 3.5million and the New Statesman about 40000, for example.

  26. Georgie Porgie Avatar
    Georgie Porgie

    re It would almost certainly be fully justified if Barbados were an Island of a couple million people where a line manager could be fired and could fairly quickly, get a new job that could provide even the basic necessities for his (or her) family in relatively short order. But in little Barbados such a line manager would be courting almost instant destitution and subjection of his family to the pointing fingers and derisive laughter and barbed taunts of their peers.

    I GUESS WHAT THE ABOVE IS SAYING SINCE YOU CANT GET A NEW JOB EASILY, DONT DO YOUR JOB PROPERLY . OR TRY TO CHANGE THE STATUS QUO…….JUST DO AS YOU ARE TOLD, EVEN IF YOU KNOW ITS WRONG OR NOT EFFICIENT….SO THAT YOU CAN KEEP YOUR JOB.

    WHAT ABOUT RIGHT AND WRONG? ..OR GIVING AN HONEST DAY’S WORK FOR YOUR DAY’S PAY, ETC

  27. Are-we-there-yet Avatar
    Are-we-there-yet

    Oops! I forgot to mention that the current actuality that Public Sector jobs are ironclad secure also plays a big role in the way line managers might react to such situations. If such institutions were privatized that justification for neglect would be ameliorated.

    It might be instructive to read and understand how personnel matters were handled in the UK Commission re. Ms. Wiggins in another blog. That, in a microcosm, gives the whole story of abysmal personnel management in the last Government.

  28. Ping Pong Avatar
    Ping Pong

    Georgie Porgie
    Stop wtiting shite. “Right and wrong”? “Honest day’s work …”? Next thing you are going to write that person’s should study and be tested before running off their mouths about things they know nothing about! Dis is Buhbados yuh hear! Ah mocking yuh in de rum shop.

  29. Well Well & Cut N' Paste At Your Service Avatar
    Well Well & Cut N’ Paste At Your Service

    GP….you have been there done that, you know how it worked under the two blighted 50s, 60s mentality governments.

  30. Are-we-there-yet Avatar
    Are-we-there-yet

    GP;

    I am saying that there is a huge miscellany of reasons why the situation has occurred. I am only looking at a few that I think are the main ones. Proper handling of personnel matters is one. Job expectations at all levels in the Public service is another. The small number of bodies available for refilling jobs and a social construct that emphasizes how the small man should be treated is another. Security of tenure, almost against all odds is another. Nepotism is another, etc. etc.

    Yuh tink de man or woman, whose job it was to mainly do some small aspect of the maintenance routine was responsible? It was the higher ups who looked the other way when the saw the damage increasing week by week, month by month. They might even have tried to get more resources to fix the problem but would have been rejected by the people who held the purse strings, ultimately the Ministry of Finance.

    Punishing that small cog would not have righted the situation. even calling the big-shot to order might not have done so. Yuh see that a few million dollars are now being urgently spent and it seems that this will probably solve or put a partial plaster on the Bridgetown situation. Do you understand how they would have got that money freed up by the Min of Finance? They say hindsight is 20-20 vision. We now have 20-20 vision.

  31. de pedantic Dribbler Avatar
    de pedantic Dribbler

    @Bernard n @ AreWe , you both present here (based on ur posts & name recognition) as former senior govt pros, thus reading ur notes above u both can’t be right…. In fact u both hedge ur bets and settle for half right half wrong! Why?

    @Bernard u state emphatically and it seems very accurately that ….
    “surely the technocrats must carry the burden for the deterioration.”

    They must.

    “Do they have no professional pride?” You continue…and cud have added “or self worth as Bajans to so abide the destruction of the island”

    And u conclude “I know from experience. I have been there;and I have done that. A professional ‘s loyalty is to his profession.”

    So what has happened to this cadre of civil servants.

    To @AreWe, how does an anonymous but purposeful ‘whistleblowing” pic to an opposition pol, media house (regional preferably) or on social media of the overgrown with weed, disused turbine affect a line manager livelihood?

    This situation is one of political malfesance surely but as @PLT notes in the investigative journalism context it is a daunting and horrific indictment on us Bajans individually.

    It is absurd to think that no otherwise sensible person was or is unware of the bad practicises being perpetuated but yet these gross deficiencies continue.

    We don’t need Public Sector reform but some freaking basic Personal Behaviour reform. We are all a crooked, corrupt lot… Alas.

  32. Hants Avatar
    Hants

    Wake up. Have a SSSS. Get dressed and go to work. Do the work you are paid to do. Go home or where ever you choose after 7 to 8 hours of WORK.

    Exactly what did the employees of the Sewage plant do every day ?

    Exactly what did the MANAGEMENT of The Sanitation Service Authority do every day ?

  33. peterlawrencethompson Avatar
    peterlawrencethompson

    Full disclosure; I own shares in One Caribbean Media which owns the Nation.

    @ Georgie Porgie I also read a lot of investigative journalism online for which I do not pay in coin. When we do this we need to realize that we are not the customer, we are the product: we are being sold to advertisers, and this comes with its own slew of problems. Unless there is a viable business model to support investigative journalism, it will cease to exist.

    @Hal Austin I agree that journalism in Barbados faces lots of problems, but the one that interests me most is the lack of investigative journalism because opposition parties and independent pressure groups are insufficient to hold the government to account in a Westminster system. If the Nation had a more balanced slate of experts, spruced up its web design, put complete articles online instead of stubs, and afforded better writers and copy editors… it would still be inadequate to the needs of Bajan society without robust investigative journalism.

    My analysis indicates that neither the Advocate nor Barbados Today are profitable. The OCM is a public company so their profits are a matter of public record, but it is clear that those profits are declining under the pressure that old media faces globally.

  34. Sargeant Avatar
    Sargeant

    Sometimes the story is dropped into your lap and with the ongoing issues with the South Coast Sewage plant and the reports that the Bridgetown Sewage plant was a potential problem it should have been relatively simple for a reporter armed with a camera to document the problems at the Bridgetown plant.

    The problem is accountability, if people were fired for neglect of duty the situation could have been avoided but most of the folks who work at the Bridgetown plant will receive their 5% and life will go on. I applaud the passion of the new Minister in explaining the problem and his seeming resolve in trying to rectify the issue. Let’s hope that It is brought under control before it reaches a South Coast level of catastrophe

  35. Hal Austin Avatar
    Hal Austin

    Peterlawrencethomson,

    Investigative journalism is also dangerous. Most investigative journalism is not just getting documents from whistleblowers, it is going undercover. If caught before publication of the story, what do you believe the suspects would do?

  36. peterlawrencethompson Avatar
    peterlawrencethompson

    Yes Hal Austin, investigative journalism is expensive, difficult, slow, and sometimes dangerous… but it is still invaluable.

  37. Georgie Porgie Avatar
    Georgie Porgie

    @ Ping Pong June 12, 2018 10:49 AM

    Georgie Porgie
    Stop wtiting shite. “Right and wrong”? “Honest day’s work …”? Next thing you are going to write that person’s should study and be tested before running off their mouths about things they know nothing about! Dis is Buhbados yuh hear! Ah mocking yuh in de rum shop.

    LET ME PUT IT THIS WAY
    WHEN I WENT TO WORK IN THE CIVIL SERVICE IN “Buhbados yuh hear”, I TRIED TO GET THERE ON TIME, AND I WORKED TO THE BEST OF MY ABILITY AND KNOWLEDGE!

    WHETHER IT WAS PAYING PENSIONS, SELLING STAMPS, AND DOING OTHER SIMPLE TASKS AT THE POST OFFICE, WORKING IN THE PUBLIC HEALTH LAB, PUSHING PAPER AT THE SJJP OFFICE, OR SEEING PATIENTS AT QEH OR IN THE POLYCLINICS

    MY SO CALLED SUPERVISOR IN THE POLYCLINICS WHO HATED MY GUTS FROM THE FIRST DAY ME MET…..WAS FORCED TO SAY OF ME…”GP IS A WORKER, NOT A SHIRKER.”

    WHEN I WALKED THROUGH THE GATE AT ONE CLINIC AT 7.30, ON THE FIRST DAY OF THE STRIKE IN 1991, HE WAS THERE IN HIS CAR WAITING , AND WATCHING

    OF COURSE IT DIDNT STOP HIM FROM TRYING FOR SIX YEARS TO GET RID OF ME.

    IT CAN BE DONE IN BARBADOS
    I KNOW CAUSE I DID IT
    YOU CAN GO TO WORK AND ACTUALLY WORK

    WHEN I WORKED IN OFFSHORE MEDICAL SCHOOLS I WAS USUALLY THERE HALF HOUR BEFORE FOR 8 O CLOCK LECTURERS, AND WAS AROUND IN SOME SCHOOLS TIL MIDNIGHT

  38. David Avatar
    David

    This is the problem right there, ALL decisions we make these days in society can be traced to the economics. Is this how it is meant to be?

  39. David Avatar
    David

    @Fear play

    Slow down, it is all about making money. Journalism has never been classified or treated as highbrow profession in Barbados. The media house has always been run by bean counters. The group finds it difficult to maintain a vibrant Association to advocate issues of concern.

  40. peterlawrencethompson Avatar
    peterlawrencethompson

    @David “…ALL decisions we make these days in society can be traced to the economics. Is this how it is meant to be?”

    It has always been about power (economics is just an expression of power), even when the power dynamic was obscured beneath a veil of something else. When we traced decisions to Christian morality, for example, it is just about the power of the established Church and those interests who profited from the power of the established Church.

  41. millertheanunnaki Avatar
    millertheanunnaki

    @ Sargeant June 12, 2018 11:34 AM
    “The problem is accountability, if people were fired for neglect of duty the situation could have been avoided but most of the folks who work at the Bridgetown plant will receive their 5% and life will go on. I applaud the passion of the new Minister in explaining the problem and his seeming resolve in trying to rectify the issue. Let’s hope that It is brought under control before it reaches a South Coast level of catastrophe…”

    Why are we so confoundedly shocked by what was revealed at the Bridgetown Sewerage Plant?

    The previous administration was purposely playing a game of Russian roulette with the public sanitation and health of the Bajan people for over 3 years with the South coast sewage fiasco and explosion the bullet that went off ‘unexpectedly’ as gift to the country as it celebrated its 50th year of ‘monkey-handling-gun’ public sector management.

    Had the previous administration succeeded with its plan to fix the recent elections Barbados would be now creating the perfect opportunity to invite Pres. Trump on a State visit with the sign at the GAIA: “Welcome, Mr. President, to Fully Matured Sh**thole Buybaydus”.

  42. Bernard Codrington Avatar
    Bernard Codrington

    @ David BU at 12: 03 PM

    Your query if not rhetorical is yes? Decisions or failure to make decisions end up costing or benefiting the society.

    We can only hope that we seriously take responsibility for failures and seek honestly to correct them. It goes far beyond changing the Administration, the other components of society need to hold up their corners of the tent. We should really put an end to the blame game and do what we promise to do.

    Georgie is correct. Many of us had/have to endure pettiness and try to concentrate our efforts in doing the job which our employers engage us to do. And for which we have the skill sets. And continue to acquire these skill sets when our present tools were/ are inadequate. That is professionalism.

  43. Georgie Porgie Avatar
    Georgie Porgie

    RE
    When we traced decisions to Christian morality, for example, it is just about the power of the established Church and those interests who profited from the power of the established Church.

    THIS IS NOT TRUE.
    WHETHER THE ESTABLISHED OR NON ESTABLISHED THE CHURCH PER SE DONT REALLY HAVE ANY POWER OVER NUH BODY

    WHAT POWER? HOW MANY LOCAL CHURCHES EX-COMMUNICATE OR JUDGE FOLK….E.G THE MANY THAT “LIVE IN SIN”?

    MOST SERIOUS SINCERE CHURCH GOERS, AND BAJANS IN THE PAST GO/WENT BY FAITH, BY WHAT THEY LEARNED AT GRANNY’S KNEE, OR MOTHER’S KNEE, OR AT SUNDAY SCHOOL, OR AT PRIMARY SCHOOL, OR WHAT THEY UNDERSTAND FROM PREACHING THEY HEARD ON THE RADIO, OR FROM WHAT THEY READ AND UNDERSTOOD FROM THE WORD OF GOD FOR THEMSELVES

    MOST OF LEARNED OF A GOD ABOVE TO WHOM WE HAD TO ANSWER SOMEDAY…AND IT COLOURED OR LIVES TO A GREAT EXTENT

    SOME OF THIS STILL HAPPENS, I AM SURE…EVEN IF NOT AS IN DAYS OY YORE

  44. Georgie Porgie Avatar
    Georgie Porgie

    WHAT EVER HAPPENED TO COLONEL BUGGIE

    I USED TO ENJOY THE DELIGHTFUL ACCOUNTS ABOUT THE OLD BARBADOS IN WHICH HE/WE GREW UP WHICH USED TO WORK, SIMPLY BEFORE WE BECAM,E “EDUCATED” SOPHISTICATED, AND DOWN RIGHT STUPID!

  45. Bernard Codrington Avatar
    Bernard Codrington

    @ dpD at 11:07 AM

    Unlike Well Well,we were born before 1966.
    EWB or JCT captured the essence of the Barbadian character by making Pride and Industry our National Motto.

    The pride is not hubris but the sense of high self worth for which Barbadians are known. And we believed in hard work to achieve our material needs. We were never mendicants. If one has pride one did not beg. Begging was discouraged. We worked. We had the best cane hole diggers and the best medical officers and lawyers. We all practiced our craft.

    @ dpD

    Where have our pride and industry gone to? I know that you have the answer. But if you do not know ask Well Well. LOL

  46. Well Well & Cut N' Paste At Your Service Avatar
    Well Well & Cut N’ Paste At Your Service

    Yeah…and look how well all of that turned out…

    I was born long before 1966 but minus all the brainwash and mindbending, thankfully,.

    my kids and grandkids are thanking me that in keeping with tradition…they too were never subjected to the destruction of the black mind.

    Luckily for this and future generations, they have been awakened….fully.

  47. Are-we-there-yet Avatar
    Are-we-there-yet

    dpD;

    Nobody, above the level of a labourer, who worked at the Bridgetown or South Coast sewage plants, or indeed who worked at BWA and was aware of the horrible situation at those plants, could have been blameless re. the extended nature of the evolution of the problem. As you say, some pictures to the media might have worked wonders. But has this been a part of our culture? Do we have any instances of a Public sector worker going public in matters of this sort over the years? I seem to recall that a senior Technical Officer made a damning internal report on the situation to her technical and administrative superiors who presumably should have remedied it. BU published the report some time aga. The Officer was apparently rewarded with being promoted to a post of project manager with the sewage systems presumably with a mandate to fix the problem, but yet the situation got worse and worse. Do you think that the officer did not do whatever was in her power to correct the situation? Do you think that she got adequate resources to do so? Who do you think would be responsible for managing the recovery now that adequate resources have been provided? If it is the same or similarly qualified and experienced person can you appreciate what factor would have made the ultimate difference?

    The knee jerk reaction by people with experience of how similar situations would have been treated in Canada or the USA or even Jamaica where adequate expertise and work ethic culture and whistleblowing laws are widespread, is that Technocrats who apparently mismanaged such situations would be summarily fired and replaced and that would solve the situation. Historically, It does not appear to work that way in the Barbados Public Sector. What might work could be that you contract someone from Overseas to work specifically on the problem on a performance contract using funds from some external funding agency. Were adequate funds available?

    The new Government has a lot to do at the granular sociological level as well as re. the methodologies for allocation of scarce resources and spending controls to improve outputs in matters of this sort. It is key to our being able to surmount our current dire challenges.

    But to seemingly apportion all blame to Technocrats flies in the face of our culture and seemingly historically acceptable work ethic of people paid out of the Government Purse. A work ethic that has been nurtured on the breasts of successive Administrations. Only wholistic government policies and forward looking strategies in a restructured society and economy will implant the necessary improvements, not teasing out only one low hanging emotive factor from the continuum of factors for consideration.

  48. Are-we-there-yet Avatar
    Are-we-there-yet

    dpD;

    I missed the part of your post which said “We don’t need Public Sector reform but some freaking basic Personal Behaviour reform. We are all a crooked, corrupt lot… Alas.”</>

    I partially agree. We do need a basic Personal Behaviour reform, and that comes to some extent, by example from the top, as well as Public Sector reform. The two are interdependent.

    There seem to be few in the current top echelons of the public service who can be used as good examples by juniors.

  49. Georgie Porgie Avatar
    Georgie Porgie

    RE Yeah…and look how well all of that turned out…SINCE WE HAVE LIKE INFIDELS DEPARTED FROM BELIEVING IN GOD IN BARBADOS

    REGULAR MURDERS FOR NOTHING
    DRIVE BY SHOOTINGS
    STABBINGS ETC

    LIKE WE HAVE NEVER SEEN BEFORE

    I THANK MY GOD FOR all the brainwash and mindbending,

    BUT THE GOD OF OUR FATHERS WILL HAVE THE LAST WORD!

    THEY THREW OUT GOD, THE BIBLE AND THE TEN COMMANDMENTS IN THE US TOO

    NOW WHAT DO THEY HAVE? WORSENING ANARCHY!

  50. Bernard Codrington Avatar
    Bernard Codrington

    Georgie

    May I add: ” By the sweat of your brow you shall eat bread”.
    How can one go to work every day ,sees a defective piece of machinery ,does nothing about it and draws a salary for maintaining that machinery.
    You and I would have vire funds from a non essential line item and make out a case for the required funds in the next budget.Even sourcing funding outside of the Budget. Managers solve problems not just identify them.

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