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Sandals MoU?

Social advocate Afra Raymond continues his work by calling for transparency with the agreement between Sandals and the Trinidad and Tobago government. The Butch Stewart company also featured in the Barbados newsfeed this week when newly elected Prime Minister Mia Mottley signaled that she will be meeting with Stewart soon to discuss  the expectation of…

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Social advocate Afra Raymond continues his work by calling for transparency with the agreement between Sandals and the Trinidad and Tobago government. The Butch Stewart company also featured in the Barbados newsfeed this week when newly elected Prime Minister Mia Mottley signaled that she will be meeting with Stewart soon to discuss  the expectation of her government.

-David – Barbados Underground

This is a continuation of my 8 March 2018 article on the Sandals MoU. That MoU was declared as no secret by our PM to the Parliament on 12 October 2017 and that was confirmed by the then CEO of the Sandals group, Adam Stewart, as reported on 27 February 2018 in the T&T press.

My 27 February 2018 request for that MoU under the Freedom of Information Act (embedded below) was therefore made against that background of both parties’ declaration that there was no secret. The Office of the Prime Minister responded on 22 March 2018 to refuse my request, citing that the MoU contained a confidentiality clause which prevented its disclosure at this time. I have since written to the OPM to request a reply in conformity with the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act – I am still awaiting a reply to that letter.

I have now written to Mr Adam Stewart of Sandals Resorts International to request from him a copy of the MoU. (See below)

Read full Afra Rayon article – Sandals MOU

30 responses to “Sandals MoU?”

  1. BEAUTIFUL BEIGE Avatar
    BEAUTIFUL BEIGE

    Instead of grinding the rumor mills, why are we not focusing on issues that affect all Barbadians: rich and poor. We had a drought in 2015 and the threat is always with us. Why don’t we focus on things that can help us instead of constantly focusing on the negative?

    Have a read of this website that gives hope to many countries that have water shortage problems:

    https://www.desalination.biz/

  2. Well, Well Avatar
    Well, Well

    The government can’t talk about confidentiality clauses when it’s the taxpayers being robbed by these parasites, they should not be given concessions unless they earn it and the island or islands benefit first.

    The only thing sandals bought to the islands is it’s scandal from Turks and Caicos and that is no benefit.

  3. bajanfreeparty Avatar
    bajanfreeparty

    crooks

  4. racehrse Avatar
    racehrse

    @beaurifal biege

    The lost revenue in these sweetheart deals could help cure some of the country’s aliment’s if these accusations prove true. So its important that these issues be brought up instead of hiding behind a confidentiality clause which is most likely not legal in this case. If it’s such a good deal for Barbados then it should be made public, and an end put to it.

  5. racehrse Avatar
    racehrse

    @BEAUTIFUL BEIGE

    Excuse the misspelling!

  6. BEAUTIFUL BEIGE Avatar
    BEAUTIFUL BEIGE

    No problem racehrse.

    While we would continue to hope and pray for openess and transparency, we have been doing it for so long, waiting for these promises fulfilled for so many generations I think it’s time to get up and move on. That’s just another lie.

    I wanted to bring this very serious issue into the public purview.

    There are issues of life and death that we are facing here in Barbados. The “Sargassum” seaweed produces hydrogen sulfide H2s.

    I have done a great deal of research about that as well and the fumes have been known to send the elderly to hospital and their death.

    Should we not be putting pressure on the government to address these environmental issues that are affecting our very breath and without water our lives.

  7. AfraRaymond Avatar
    AfraRaymond

    From today’s Newsday in T&T
    http://newsday.co.tt/2018/06/20/sandals-responds-to-untruths/
    Sandals responds to ‘untruths’

    Sandals Grande Antigua.
    Sandals Resorts International (SRI) has described as a “fable” the claim that its guests remain at their resorts, saying thousands venture daily into the nearby communities on tours or for shopping and dining excursions.

    In an e-mailed statement, the multi-national hotel chain also described as a “fallacy” that everything at it resorts was imported, saying local food and supplies are sourced from the respective islands.

    In a recent statement, Naparima MP Rodney Charles advised Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley to “have an earnest chat with Barbados’ Mia Mottley” regarding Sandals as the “all-inclusive tourism model has failed our region miserably.”

    Charles’ statement was echoed by UNC political leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar who, at a public meeting, said the respective island economies had not benefitted from Sandals.

    “Not a cent goes back to you. They lock off the beach. Tourists are locked in an enclave and not coming out to buy even a mammy apple,” she had said.

  8. NorthernObserver Avatar
    NorthernObserver

    @BB
    barbados already has a desal operation opened in August 2016

    and last year the BWA announced its intention to construct two more
    https://www.desalination.biz/news/0/Barbados-Water-Authority-secures-funding-for-desalination-projects/8791/

  9. Talking Loud Saying Nothing Avatar
    Talking Loud Saying Nothing

    And we wonder why the negro remains firmly on the bottom of the wood heap!

    The Sandals’ economic level is no different to the plantation economic model of his predecessors: he is simply a modern day Drax or a Cumberbatch. The Sandals domino effect throughout the Caribbean has surprised me. So many Caribbean governments have begged and offered all sorts of concessions to attract this “organisation” to their island. Yet, as many have said this economic model does not bring prosperity to Carribean islands.

    On my last visit to Barbados, I was shocked to see that Sandals have a third spot of land in Speightstown.

    Let us see how Mia deals with Sandals. Don’t expect to much from her – apart from hot air.

  10. David Avatar
    David

    The challenge with the Sandals model is that much needed foreign exchange remains offshore. Give the concessions but implement targets to maintain the concessions.

  11. lawson Avatar
    lawson

    Another challenge to the sandals model is if you want to have people come out of the place you have to get rid of the criminal element,. clean up the eye soars ,and pick up the garbage

  12. sirfuzzy Avatar
    sirfuzzy

    Government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the Earth. – Abraham Lincoln

    @ Well Well -> “The government can’t talk about confidentiality clauses when it’s the taxpayers being robbed by these parasites, they should not be given concessions unless they earn it and the island or islands benefit first.”

    We elect leaders that hide information from the their employers(electorate/taxpayers). The so-called thing we call “democracy” is a experiment that needs a major reworking the formulae that we say is working. We may just be brainwashed to think a democracy is better than a monarchy.

    jmt

  13. millertheanunnaki Avatar
    millertheanunnaki

    @ David June 21, 2018 5:31 AM

    It may be true that the Sandals’s tax-free status is a hell of one sweetheart deal.

    But let us be fair. ‘Sandals’ is on the ground, up and running and making some measurable contribution to the Bajan economy.

    Most of its revenues come from overseas customers; not Bajan consumers.
    So whatever share of that income is disbursed locally must redound to the benefit of the same local economy via the multiplier effect. What about the share of forex which must be converted to pay for locally incurred expenditures like utilities?
    How about the workers wages and PAYE deductions?

    Shouldn’t we be also querying another hotel project which has been promoted as having the potential to outdo Sandals as far as contributions to the economy are concerned?

    Let us hear what really is going on with the proposed Hyatt deal?
    Isn’t there an agreement between Visions Inc (Maloney’s vehicle for business development) and the GoB or its agencies in the tourism sector sitting on the desk of the minister(s) responsible for town and country planning and tourism ready to be signed and or executed?

    What now is the ‘holdup’ with the Hyatt hotel construction now that the scapegoat David Comissiong has been neutered and politically muzzled? Or should we just heed the advice offered @ Talking Loud Saying Nothing?

    The Sandals hotel was constructed with foreign money. Can the same be said for the proposed Hyatt or can you expect another raid on the NIS and the non-existent Central Bank foreign reserves?

    It a long overdue time that an official statement ought to be issued with respect to this major project touted to be a major game-changer in the country’s economic recovery programme.

  14. sirfuzzy Avatar
    sirfuzzy

    @ millertheanunnaki June 21, 2018 8:53 AM

    “It a long overdue time that an official statement ought to be issued with respect to this major project touted to be a major game-changer in the country’s economic recovery programme”

    They say all is fair in love and war; but i cannot be said that the same expectation is held in small island nation democracies.

  15. sirfuzzy Avatar
    sirfuzzy

    My 27 February 2018 request for that MoU under the Freedom of Information Act (embedded below) was therefore made against that background of both parties’ declaration that there was no secret. The Office of the Prime Minister responded on 22 March 2018 to refuse my request, citing that the MoU contained a confidentiality clause which prevented its disclosure at this time.

    What then is the true purpose of a “Freedom of Information” act or legislation if the mere existence of a “confidentiality clause” prevents the said information from been released. I sure hope our “proposed” Freedom of Information legislation contains no such back/trap door. If it did I will truly show the true colours of the administration. And tell me that some legislation(bad) is better than no legislation.

  16. David Avatar
    David

    @Miller

    Your government is at the helm, we wait for the Prime Minister and Minister of Tourism to elucidate on the Hyatt matter.

  17. Well, Well Avatar
    Well, Well

    “We may just be brainwashed to think a democracy is better than a monarchy.”

    At last…someone else figured it out…lol

  18. millertheanunnaki Avatar
    millertheanunnaki

    @ David June 21, 2018 9:42 AM

    But you have to admit it’s a matter of national economic emergency, not so?

    Isn’t it a cause which needs assistance in order to generate economic opportunities in order to resist social upheaval in the future?

    How can there be economic recovery without growth with the Hyatt erection seen as a stimulant to that growth?

    Isn’t tourism seen as the forex-earning cylinder required to fire the engine of growth in the Bajan economy?

    How can there be regeneration of Bridgetown (IADB free-money and all) without a major project like Hyatt getting off the ground?

    Maybe Mary the many pussy ac and the headless yard-bird Fractured BLP can put some heat under the ‘bottom’ of current BLP administration to get the Hyatt erection up and ejaculating economic growth fluid.

  19. Enuff Avatar
    Enuff

    David

    I think the question should be about what documents should be open for public scrutiny and at what time in the negotiation process? Have anyone here worked in an organisation where FOI applies?

  20. FearPlay Avatar
    FearPlay

    Talking about Sandals and the massive(?) financial contribution it is making to the island, has any on here tried passing through Dover in front to the hotel recently? The strip has literally been transformed into a one land road servicing two lane traffic. Go have a look at around 5 pm any evening. Traffic parked all along one side of the road, staff using a pedestrian crossing as though Sandals owns the roadway and traffic inconvenience to the max. Take a trip one avenue over and this time it’s staff parking that has turned what was once a quiet neighborhood into an immense one land car park. Ah, progress. Maybe the RBPF or someone from the MoT should pay a visit.

  21. David Avatar
    David

    @Fearplay

    Let us also throw in what is occurring on the seaside and vegetation.

  22. sirfuzzy Avatar
    sirfuzzy

    to poke a little fun at this issues maybe be a re-branding is required.

    “Sandals” new brand is “Scandals”

  23. Georgie Porgie Avatar
    Georgie Porgie

    RE to poke a little fun at this issues maybe be a re-branding is required.

    “Sandals” new brand is “Scandals”
    VERY GOOD PUN!
    PUNS ARE FUN!

  24. NorthernObserver Avatar
    NorthernObserver

    “@Miller…Your government is at the helm”

    and YOU questioned one day, weeks back, when I made a similar determination…lol

  25. David Avatar
    David

    @Northern Observer

    Yes, the blogmaster is known for using a bit of sleight of comment.

  26. David Avatar
    David

    Here is the statement issued by Sandals this week to respond to the ‘fake news’.

    https://barbadosunderground.files.wordpress.com/2018/06/sandals-press-release-june-2018.pdf

  27. Gabriel Avatar
    Gabriel

    I find the reference to ‘fake’ news verybfitting because this Sandals investment model is very much akin to the trump models.The general idea is to squeeze every concession out of some of these down on their luck government’s like the last one we had where nobody believed anything they said.Sandals need to publish the Agreement or the Tax Free Concessions they got from the Stuart administration.Letbus read for ourselves.No amount of Press Releases or Statements according to the Butch bible would do.Publish the Agreement with the Barbados Government.We remember how you helped sink Air Jamaica while your hotels were benefitting from bringing that Agreement.

  28. David Avatar
    David

    Can the Central Bank / government confirm the claim by Sandals that they are generating the forex it is claiming?

  29. pieceuhderockyeahright Avatar
    pieceuhderockyeahright

    It does not matter what any of you Say The Hyatt hotel will be approved

    And it does not Matter What Madamoiselle Prime Minister Mottley says Sandals will NOT BE moved by no newly arrived Bajan Irrespective of her local lineage

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

    Mia as PM should have access to a copy of the S(c)andals agreement with the exgovernment and make the terms and conditions public so that the people, the 111,000 voters who elected her government would know what the former fraud government tied them into for 40 years with butch stewart, nearly 2 generations.

    He had a lot of talk for bajans recently and he don’t even live on the island and getting every damn thing free….let’s see what’s in that agreement that gave him all that courage and chutzpah to talk down to bajans and voicing loudly in the newspapers that they get too much welfare.

    Remember…just like Grenville and his cockup….butch never asked or demanded or threatened the newspapers with any lawsuit to retract what he said.

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