est. 2007

Barbados Underground

Bringing News and Opinions to the People

,

NIS Government Paper for Trash

The blogmaster thought it timely to highlight one of several NIS blogs in a COVID environment for obvious reasons. After many years of calling for certified audited financials spanning different governments we are none the wiser – David, blogmaster Is it irrational for citizens of Barbados to lend their accumulated savings , gratuities and separation…

The blogmaster thought it timely to highlight one of several NIS blogs in a COVID environment for obvious reasons. After many years of calling for certified audited financials spanning different governments we are none the wiser – David, blogmaster

Is it irrational for citizens of Barbados to lend their accumulated savings , gratuities and separation packages to the GoB? Based on GoB track record is it unreasonable to expect repayments of those loans? Would you prefer the citizens to buy imported luxury consumption goods with all their income?

The citizens now senior were making provisions for their old age. The interests payments were intended to augment their income /pensions and to educate their children.

Interest rates on GoB papers rarely exceed 7.5 % and they were down to 6% in the last 5 years,. It is a serious breach of contract for GoB to squander its reputation as a country which honours its debt obligations. It is going to be difficult to gain the confidence of lenders in the future. A very short sighted decision.it was to default.

– Vincent Codrington

The blogmaster was reminded that the National Insurance Scheme is the holder of over 2.5 billion in government paper based on their website.

What does the restructure of government debt restructure for NIS and Central Bank of Barbados government holdings?

How will the reduction in investment income impact the fund’s capacity to deliver pensions to senior citizens?

Of greater concern is how will retirees negotiate the economic hurdles posed by the debt restructure because of what they thought was astutely investing in government paper to supplement retirement income. The reality however is that any investment carries risk, government paper is no exception.

Investments

256 responses to “NIS Government Paper for Trash”

  1. pieceuhderockyeahright Avatar
    pieceuhderockyeahright

    @ Sir Fuzzy

    You said and I quote “…The govt actually operates at the speed of the willing or unwilling civil service(servants). nothing that MM wants done will not be done unless she has the agreement of civil servants.

    I have never seen a PM or MP get anything done by merely uttering words or cranking out policy…”

    There are two aspects to that statement that I would wish to remark on.

    Any PM whose Public Service has them to ransom IS NOT A PRIME MINISTER.

    To get the Civil Servants to respond all a real Prime Minister has to do is to send home some of those public servants WHICH IS GOING TO HAPPEN SOON, and that will show who is the person in control.

    Secondly, the public service IS NOT, IS NOT THE SOURCE OF IDEAS TO JUMP START THE ECONOMY.

    Neither are the pensioners!! as Mr Codrington pointed out.

    Anyone who believes that is mad as badword

    Arthur, David Thompson, Fumbles and Mottley, all of them made and will make the same error of picking brimlers and snake oil salesmen to galvanize Barbados into the 22nd century and beyond.

    Then, they are constantly in a state of utter amazement when they fall short of the projected mark BECAUSE OF THE CHOICES OF THOUGHT LEADERS they have engaged.

    Because Ninjaman is found sleeping outside the Tax building almost every day, that does not make him a tax man.

    But this chant on BU on the mal-performance of successive administrations will never change because the single ingredient for change is missing from all of their economic rollouts.

  2. Hal Austin Avatar
    Hal Austin

    The Confucian societies do not have social care systems. That is the responsibility of the family. Children have an obligation to their parents. Maybe, when we are learning Mandarin we will also learn about their public policy models.

  3. WARU Avatar
    WARU

    Somebody gotta answer, senior citizens are brutalized, robbed, disenfranchised and destroyed in Barbados, especially by both governments AND lawyers…this has to be addressed, it cannot be allowed to continue..

    … Barbados signed on to a treaty to PROTECT SENIOR CITIZENS from all types of abuses…and the same governments REFUSE to honour and ENFORCE those protections..as with ALL treaties regarding human rights both government are always quick to sign on to, but MALICIOUSLY REFUSE to enforce and implement.

    The Mia government prefers to further disenfranchise senior citizens rather than pursue her friends the criminals and thieves in the last government and in the business community to RECOVER what was stolen from the PEOPLE. over the last 10. years..

    This is highly unacceptable and should be exposed worldwide..

  4. Talking Loud Saying Nothing Avatar
    Talking Loud Saying Nothing

    WARU September 30, 2018 12:00 PM, made a very profound statement:

    ” It is hard for me to envision that a government that touted and sold itself as intellectually capable to the electorate…CANNOT now see that unless they recover that money that was stolen, they will continue to go around and around in circles with that billion dollar debt.”

    A short statement and to the point which makes a mockery of all the governments current economic plans all doomed to end in failure.

    We have to confess and admit as a people that our country was never ready or in a position to become independent fifty something years ago. The UK still owes as reparations. The greatest reparation that we could request from the British is that they return to the island and teach as how to self-govern. We should disband our two major parties and invite the British to govern us for a period of fifty years.

    They the British created this mess; let them solve it. For those of you who disagree with me, I will point to the shadow of China hanging over us, in place and ready to pounce on our weakness.

  5. David Avatar
    David

    How can we discuss the NIS Scheme without a mention of the tardy audited financials by external auditors and the laying of same in parliament?

  6. WARU Avatar
    WARU

    Let me break it down for yardfowls and those who struggle with comprehension..

    Hundreds of millions of dollars were stolen over a 10 year period by the previous government and their fellow crooks in the private sector…as evidenced by the AUDITOR GENERAL’S REPORT over the decades and even years before that…a report which Mia and her ministers were waving around the election platform…while screaming CORRUPTION..

    just how many millions of dollars has been stolen is debatable..meaning it can also be in the billions of dollars range…which is bad enough..

    yet Mia claims…no biggie, no revenge, let’s continue to carry on like the theft of Bajan’s money never happened because the former ministers are her friends, despite Donville getting locked up in good old USA….AND the minorities involved in and who colluded with her friends the former minsters ARE HER MASTERS..

    ..because while in Opposition, she worked for them as attorney on the 4 Seasons SCAM…remember that one…$60 million US was used from the Pension FUND on that scam…never to be returned to the Pension Fund so that the elderly will not suffer because their money was stolen by ALL involved…ripped off right before their eyes..

    The Mia government got elected and promptly proceeded to wail, cry and moan about all the scams, high debt, shady goings on, missing money, questionable contracts, outright BRIBERY AND CORRUPTION and a long list of CRIMES AND MISDEEDS THEY FOUND committed against the people, by her friends the former ministers.

    But still Mia is…no biggie,…let’s pretend it never happened, we will have come to jesus moments and forgiveness and immunity…despite her getting on a political platform and screaming about all the PROOF she had about the corruption in the last government that collapsed the country.

    Well it don’t seem anyone is taking her up on her offer to come to jesus or immunity ……because 4 months later..nothing…and she is still not pursuing any of the thieves..

    Now she and her ministers are coming out moaning and groaning about a billion dollar debt while ripping off the same elderly whose Pension Fund they ripped off to begin with to help cause the island’s financial collapse.

    This has to be addressed and exposed so everyone can see the destructive dynamics at play in the tag team DBLP government over 52 years that wrecked the island and ALWAYS TARGET THE ELDERLY FOR VICTIMHOOD..sending them to early graves..

    How will Mia continue to attempt to explain this away or ignore and refuse to address it…just as she is doing the Payne/Marshall Estates theft against the elderly…wishing it away..because those who actually have common sense will know that they too will be victimized by the Mia government when they too reach a certain age…to protect their criminal political friends and criminal masters in the private sector..

    shit outta luck on this one.

  7. Backooful Jack Avatar
    Backooful Jack

    @WARU you kno that I am commited to calling out falsehood whereever I see them. Now you said that “the Mia government still REFUSES, using the RULE OF LAW available to her, TO VIGOROUSLY PURSUE those:
    owning taxes,” This is false. The government has gone after businesses and people who who owe land tax as you can see from this news report from a few days ago.

    BRA to sell 69 properties
    http://www.nationnews.com/nationnews/news/198782/bra-sell-69-properties

  8. Hal Austin Avatar
    Hal Austin

    Can we discuss pensions policy without discussing party politics? Let us talk about pensions policy: its purposes; its design; investment policy; etc. Forget about the Auditor General’s reports for a minute and about which party did what.

  9. Tron Avatar
    Tron

    Piece,

    “To get the Civil Servants to respond all a real Prime Minister has to do is to send home some of those public servants WHICH IS GOING TO HAPPEN SOON, and that will show who is the person in control. Secondly, the public service IS NOT, IS NOT THE SOURCE OF IDEAS TO JUMP START THE ECONOMY.”

    100% correct. The present gov has 100% controll over the country, including police and army, plus 90 % of the official media. Nothing would happen if PM MAM decided to implement a plan to cut down the civil service substantially. She had only to offer the fired servants a free container for shipment to Jamaica, Panama or Guyana to work in some club, plantation or gold mine. If those former sevants also took their families with them, PM MAM would also solve the problem of overpopulation.

    It is some kind of natural law that Barbados will NEVER recover with such a bloated civil service. If the civil service goes on to rape the rest of the Barbadians, Barbados will soon end at the door of the World Bank.

  10. WARU Avatar
    WARU

    “The UK still owes as reparations. The greatest reparation that we could request from the British is that they return to the island and teach as how to self-govern. We should disband our two major parties and invite the British to govern us for a period of fifty years.”

    I was trying to cut up ya statement into tiny pieces but it will not work..

    You want the british…cause they owe you that too…putting DIPLOMATIC PRESSURE ON THE CURRENT GOVERNMENT..to ENFORE THE RULE OF LAW..and stamp out the corruption in the Supreme Court that has successfully rendered it USELESS..

    that should be simple enough to do..

    You want the british to PRESSURE the current government to adhere to aspects of the Constitution that does not recognize political parties so that the unconstitutional practices in the last 52 years by both political parties of abusing their powers to force political party membership on the population, if they want to have jobs, homes or financial security can be treated as a crime….in other words, take away the bajan politician and lawyers powers to abuse the people…

    You DO NOT want the british teaching you how to govern…if you think about it both political parties copied a lot of the nastiest british ways, the brutality, the savagery, the demoralizing practices, they left all the institutions of racism and exploitation in place, they left the stench of the slave society in place for 52 years, both of those rotten political parties did that and used them freely against their own people…to please and appease the criminals in the minority business..community.

    I remember after the Windrush scandal, ah made the suggestion that ..since the Constitution states emphatically that the GG, Ministers in parliament, Judiciary, Police Force, Prison..and everything and everyone else in the system belongs to the UK Crown…the UK Crown should damn well PAY ALL THEIR SALARIES and NOT the majority population whom they all disenfranchise and victimize and on top of that..tief all their money ..

    .well no sooner I said that someone came on the blog and nearly had a stroke…regarding my comment, they had all kinds of explanations why the Constitution is wrong, well not in my books, cause since the Constitution has not been amended to reflect anything else….it could never be wrong …so that stands…

    So no..you do not want the british governing you, you are adults, no longer slaves, you can govern yaselves….but request the British…put pressure on the Mia government to stop playing the ass, stop playing nasty political games with the people’s lives and actually create a functioning Supreme Court..free of corruption…and robbing the elderly their land and disenfranchising injured people….

    …….since the CROWN owns all the reprobates and criminals who ripped off the people, they too are to be held accountable..for the crimes committed against the people…cause they do not even bother to address those crimes either, pretend they do not know it’s happening, but they do and hide behind the Independence and sovereign mantra to avoid any responsibility..they only use what the Constitution say, when it serves THEIR purpose.

    ..AND UK still owe the people reparations, anyway..

  11. Backooful Jack Avatar
    Backooful Jack

    @WARU I think these issues might be a bit too complex for you. The 1.2 billion dollars quoted from the news article are arrears owed by government to small businesses who supplied goods and services to the government over the years and money that the government owes to households and businesses in tax returns. These arrears have piled up to 1.2 billions because sinckler simply stopped paying people money that government owed them. He did this in order to give the illusion that the deficit was shrinking when it wasn’t. This caused alot of problems including small businesses closing due to cash flow issues.

    This number does NOT include the debt owed to people holding government bonds, debentures and t-bills.
    That number is actually $14 billion. The 14 billion is what the government is trying to restructure to bring down interest payments per year. In the debt restructuring the government is looking to save 500 million dollars in interest payments per year. These savings would allow the country to function and to do the things it needs to do like upgrade and maintain critical infrastructure. Before the debt restructuring the country as paying about 68 cents in every dollar in debt payments, this was not sustainable, that is why our infrastructure was falling apart, hence the South Coast sewage crisis. The Stuart government simply had no money to maintain it or fix it and instead of coming to the public to tell them what was going on. it was covered up. This unsustainable debt payment problem was cause by two things Fiscal deficits since 2009 which had to be financed by debt and the many credit downgrades which caused the country to pay higher interest on debt.

    ON LESSON TO BE LEARNED FROM THIS MESS IS THAT FISCAL DEFICITS AND CREDIT RATINGS DO MATTER.

    Any future politician that tells you that downgrades don’t matter should be tossed out of office on their head. They are putting you and your family in danger.

  12. Bush Tea Avatar
    Bush Tea

    @ BJ
    The government has gone after businesses and people who who owe land tax as you can see from this news report from a few days ago.
    +++++++++++++++++++++++++++
    Typical…
    Why go after ordinary and businesses people who owe outstanding taxes FIRST?
    … when GOVERNMENT owes those same people outstanding TAX returns and VAT refunds?
    Some of these same people may owe taxes- pending their REFUNDS outstanding now for years…

    Why not go after the CRIMINALS who stole CLICO funds;
    Why not the Lawyers who collected million dollar paydays (are their taxes up to date…?) for doing squat..?
    Why not tax the foreigners who bribed their way to 40-year tax-free leases with ministers?
    …and only THEN ….start selling out private properties…?

    Any bets that some persons with stolen ‘dollars to launder’ will buy up the ‘default properties…”

    We do EVERYTHING wrong….

  13. WARU Avatar
    WARU

    Backooful…I did see the news story, not about collecting land tax…but about.selling 69. properties..that OWE land tax…and that is the very reason why I did not mention it..

    Besides…once elected, both governments always make this big song and dance in the. media and always say that they are going after tax frauds, tax cheats, vat frauds, vat cheats …and on and on..but it is always show..at the end of their terms, you hear…oh there is 800,000 dollars owing by various tax cheats…if they had ever collected any taxes..the amount owing in taxes would never remain the same for decades…so that is another of their scams…collecting bribes…for not collecting taxes.

    If I were you I would keep an eye on where the money from the auction of those 69 properties in tax default end up…and try not to blink..

  14. Bush Tea Avatar
    Bush Tea

    @ BJ
    Before the debt restructuring the country as paying about 68 cents in every dollar in debt payments, this was not sustainable, that is why our infrastructure was falling apart, hence the South Coast sewage crisis
    +++++++++++++++++++
    False.
    Our infrastructure is falling apart because we have jokers making technical decisions about things that the do not understand.
    The sewage crisis is NOT the result of a debt situation…
    It is the result of idiotic management at the political level.

    The debt crisis is caused by the IDENTICAL source.

  15. WARU Avatar
    WARU

    Bushman..Backoofull have to learn that we got our eyes on the ball..not much can get past…we got this.

  16. WARU Avatar
    WARU

    “@WARU I think these issues might be a bit too complex for you. The 1.2 billion dollars quoted from the news article are arrears owed by government to small businesses who supplied goods and services to the government over the years and money that the government owes to households and businesses in tax returns. These arrears have piled up to 1.2 billions ”

    So because of all you just said…and because government OWES this money to small businesses…does this mean it is NO LONGER A DEBIT TO CREDITORS..

    Ah know I am not the brightest bulb …but I am not interested in Sinckler…I am interested in the PRESENT government…PURSUING Sinckler and his ilk to RECOVER the people’s stolen money…am not interested in all the details…

    ..the dude put out a statement in the press that government owes 1.2 billion…he calls it a debt, well if it’s a debt…no matter to whom, it is a debt…..arrears are STILL debt.

    I don’t even need a degree in economics, whatever that is, to understand the basic fundamentals of what a government debt is…all I need is common sense…so…does government not have to repay these people..

  17. Guest Avatar
    Guest

    Most investment portfolio limits go something like this
    equity investments 0% – 30%
    USA GoB debt investments 0% – 80%
    cash 20% – 100%

    If the USA should default, many look-back analysts would say they told you so – well the clock will say any time twice each day. The fact remains that the issue of depriving debt holders of their income in MAM made – the debt restructuring should be the near-to-last action and not the first. As an example, what did the GoB accept for its C&W shares.

    …1 Do not place additional burden on the cash flows – UWI students continue to pay fees, no increase for the public service
    …2 Collect amounts owed for vat, income tax, import duties and so on
    …3 Recover amounts stolen through the use of bribes etc.
    …4 Recover US$ amounts diverted to overseas accounts
    …5 Reduce the public service to an appropriate size by reducing compensation and eliminating those that have no interest in work
    …6 Terminate 50% of the cabinet, consultants and the like
    …7 Dispose of or securitize appropriate assets to reduce the debt
    …8 After all of the above, then talk to the debt holders about contributing a portion of their income

  18. Backooful Jack Avatar
    Backooful Jack

    @WARU Yes it is money owed to these people. I just make that distinction because there is a slight disagreement among some about whether it should be included in the debt to GDP ratio. Personally I think it should be included, but a distinction still has to be made sometimes to not confuse with bond holders.

  19. Hal Austin Avatar
    Hal Austin

    Guest,

    Sorry. Plse explain. Is that what most are, or what you are proposing?

  20. john Avatar
    john

    These bonds that were issued at 7.5% should never have been issued at that rate as it was totally unsustainable when compared to global rates. At the time long term bonds in the USA were yielding 2.8% with UK bonds in the same ball park. Truth is the government was on a cash grab and the central bank went along with it. They should of drawn the line in the sand and said no more enough is enough, as it is their job to protect the investor. But then again as has been said by many ” the central bank boss is a creature of the MOF”. My question is who is the creature of the investor and who protects them? Say what you like about the USA, the FED Chairman does his job in protecting the public in such cases. In BIM it seems to be a case of “brek fuh yourself.”

  21. Guest Avatar
    Guest

    What was the current head of the Central Bank doing at the time
    What was the current director of finance doing at the time

  22. A. Dullard Avatar
    A. Dullard

    These bonds that were issued at 7.5% should never have been issued at that rate as it was totally unsustainable when compared to global rates. At the time long term bonds in the USA were yielding 2.8% with UK bonds in the same ball park.

    False. This is not how it works. The coupon offered on BGI sovereign credits can not possibly be at the same level of that offered by US and the UK if looked at from the perspective of an international investor. The spread to the US treasuries for example has to reflect the higher risk (default, liquidity, etc.) of the GBI bonds. This is Financial Economics 101.

    A. Dullard

  23. WARU Avatar
    WARU

    Backooful…I understand when dealing with demons, one must be specific before they make things disappear right before your eyes and then tell you to your face and with a smile that you never saw what you did…..BUT…first D and now BLP have both overplayed their hands over the years, they overdid everything and did it all in a backward manner…and they are played out..

    SO…there is no one above the age of 20. living on the island that any one of the current lot in parliament can FOOL in these times, unless it is a lonely, vulnerable elderly person…their usual victims..

  24. Hal Austin Avatar
    Hal Austin

    Guest,

    Plse explain your asset allocation strategy as above.

  25. Backooful Jack Avatar
    Backooful Jack

    @Bush Tea Call me naive but I doubt engineers working at the BWA would just sit there and let a sewage system collapse. Letters were sent to cabinet because the BWA as already making huge losses and could do nothing about it. They needed funding from central government who also had no money.

  26. David Avatar
    David

            Both of you are right, however, there is a reasonable inquiry to be made if we were to assess governments approach to maintenance of physical structures. Clearly there is a systematic process to grapple with.
  27. Tron Avatar
    Tron

    @ Guest September 30, 2018 3:15 PM

    We presented such plans for years. No native politician ever listened and will ever listen to us despite the fact that many developed countries significantly reduced the size of admin and social welfare between 1990 and 2018.

    They want the fat welfare state with the many lazy laggards in the civil service AND they want to keep the peg.

    That is not working so. Even the native so-called economists and so-called advisors with their limited “education” must understand that the real world does not work like Swan Street.

    Barbados has set the course for a total crash. The default and the haircut was just the beginning. Watch the following months what happens to the foreign debts in USD. These entities to not care about calypso, gospel and some “pride instead of industry”.

    I advise everybody to prepare water, canned food, lights, barbed wire, ammo and a sharp machete for the coming impact … and a non-return ticket to North America, Europe or China.

  28. T.Inniss Avatar
    T.Inniss

    IF we need any more evidence that Mia smoking some of the wrong stuff and is out to sea – we just need to look at the choice of the person to lead or chair the NIS Board and the Deputy chairman.

    Goodness gracious man – yuh mean Ian Gooding Edgehill fuh trute.Who is he when he at home – I think he is an HR Manager at a Hotel.No experience in finance,no actuarial skills, – but just another political decision to satisfy the back bench because he was not made a minister.

    Then who is the Deputy Chairman – the snake oil salesman Avinash Persaud.

    Why is Mia putting this man on every important Board.He is on the Financial Services Commission,on the NIS,Board, he is a Financial consultant to Mia,he might even have something to do with White Oaks etc.

    This man is a fraud and has no track record of success of any major project.Remember Arthur warned P.M. Skerrit of Dominica about Avinash and Arthur told Skerrit to do his due diligence – but ‘hard ears yuh wont hear ………….’

    These are the type of decisions which give an indication of Mia’s emptiness.’No plan Mia’ .Steupse.

    I agree that the civil service needs to be trimmed.Mia is now trapped because she made a big song and dance when the temporary workers from Beautiful Barbados and some workers from the NCC were sent home under the last govt..So again politics will be at play once those hard decisions have to be made.

    Sir Lloyd Sandiford bite the bullet and cut the civil service down to workable size and in comes Owen and built it right back up with his BLP lackeys. With the last govt adding some of heir own – although they were constrained by the financial circumstances and got a cussing from some of their supporters.

    It is clear that rural and Urban Commission need to be disbanded,so too the Pan African Commission,Bureau of Gender Affairs,Water Authority needs to cut some of the fat,Kensington Oval or Komi,National HIV/AIDS Commission (but she women friends Alisson Leacock and Jackie Wiltshire forde there so she might not want to touch them) the Productivity Council (who up to now have done squat about improving productivity)Youth Commissioners etc – these are just a start.

    Where both breadwinners or the sole bread winner is employed by govt then some consideration and care need to be shown there.

    Mia Mottley knows she has a 30 – 0 majority.She can do whatever she wants but instead of changing the legislation that ham strung the last govt – so that she can cut public servants salary whether thorugh a percentage cut in their earnings or a cut in the number of days worked – instead Mia felt the priority was changing the constitution to allow Rawdon Adams and kay Macconney to join the government.

    NO PLAN MIA !!!!

    See when I tell you its all political games where Mia is concerned and she has shown no appetite for making the hard but necessary decisions to take this country forward.

  29. John2 Avatar
    John2

    @guest?
    Terminate 50% of the cabinet may be a good financial saving move but also an unwise political one.

  30. Dishonest Bajans Avatar
    Dishonest Bajans

    @ Tron
    I advise everybody to prepare water, canned food, lights, barbed wire, ammo and a sharp machete for the coming impact … and a non-return ticket to North America, Europe or China
    xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

    I hope Barbados economy fully collapse and its dollar fully devalued similar as 🇯🇲 and 🇬🇾.

    Too many ignorant people and now the laughingstock of other Caribbean islands they used to look down on.

    What you sow is what you reap.

  31. T.Inniss Avatar
    T.Inniss

    See what I tell you – cutting the cabinet by 50% might a good financial saving move but an unwise political move.

    Didn’t Mia say -“Give muh de vote and watch muh”.

    So it seems we can put a fork in it because we like we done fuh trute .Wise financial decisions will not be done by Mia – but only the ones that will benefit her politically.Wuh loss.Help us all !

  32. Vincent Codrington Avatar
    Vincent Codrington

    @ Tron at 5 : 08 PM

    I always wondered why the ancient Greeks cut off the feet of those who bring bad news. I will consult with Dr. GP as to which part of your anatomy to cut off should your forecasted crash take place.

  33. bajans Avatar
    bajans

    WARU September 30, 2018 12:00 PM,

    ” It is hard for me to envision that a government that touted and sold itself as intellectually capable to the electorate…CANNOT now see that unless they recover that money that was stolen, they will continue to go around and around in circles with that billion dollar debt.”

    Their first priority is to remove squatters from government land and even demolish their houses. These people are not ministers, or their friends, or the minority thieves. These are poor Barbadians, the equivalent of India’s “untouchables”. This is the government Bajans elected. They have already evicted several from NHS housing. The roads from the airport to the West coast is in pristine condition. I know, I stayed there this winter. However, try driving around the rest of the island, go to parts of St. John and St. Joseph and be careful, you may end up over a cliff and down the gully.

  34. Enuff Avatar
    Enuff

    TInniss
    Gooding-Edghill was a member of the NIS Board under the DLP, as the represnetative of the BEC. What does knowing about actuarial science etc have to do with chairing the NIS board? The igrunce that people post to score political points eh.

  35. WARU Avatar
    WARU

    Bajans…thanks for the warning.

  36. T.Inniss Avatar
    T.Inniss

    Name all the former chairmen of the NIS Board and see if they all did not have a background in finance or Economics or somewhere near there in those specialities.

    HR Manager – really now !!

    Especially at a time like this when you need prudence and competence in guiding the NIS Board – Ian Gooding Edgehill and Avinash Persaud certainly do not cut it.

  37. BA Avatar
    BA

    the way out is growth. the theft, mismanagement, socialism that got us here will be very painful to undo, and will need time. we need to grow quickly. GOB only makes money from taxes. right now it makes that money from taxing us. if you dont want to get eaten by the hungey lion feed it someone else. i say we very aggressively go after the taxes of other rich countries that really wont miss the few hundred million that we need. Rihanna is reportedly worth 250mil USD (well deserved) . that makes her the most financially successful barbadian ever if we dont count the corrupt. she also hangs with the big dogs in her industry. instead of asking her for free concerts so we can forget that we are broke, why dont we ask her what it would take for her to copyright her songs, name, brand, image here in barbados. then ask her to tell her friends that we can lower their current taxes if they do the same. fx money for nothing. win for her win for us.

  38. Charles Skeete Avatar
    Charles Skeete

    Mr T Innis I hold no brief for Mr Edghill and no respect for Mr Persaud whom I believe is a financial speculator but how much worse can they do than Mr Justin Robinson who surely cut the NIS down to the ground

  39. sirfuzzy (i was a sheep some years ago; not a sheep anymore) Avatar
    sirfuzzy (i was a sheep some years ago; not a sheep anymore)

    (quote) To get the Civil Servants to respond all a real Prime Minister has to do is to send home some of those public servants WHICH IS GOING TO HAPPEN SOON, and that will show who is the person in control. (quote)

    +++++++++++++++
    I think you may be on to something; but dont stake your life on it or dont hold your breath. If you read what i write occasionally i often the refer to the civil service as the permanent opposition. If you can remember the British TV programme “Yes Prime Minister” that is where i first heard the term uttered.

    I will paraphrase what the Jim Hacker’s (Mr Ministrer) was told by (Sir Humphrey – Nigel Hawthorne). “MPs come and go, further more PMs come and go dear Minster; but the civil service is here to stay”. There is the government the loyal opposition and the permanent opposition(civil service).

    May also remind say that the civil service also can remove the PM as all of them usually have the right to vote. So i guess alm PMs and MPs dare to thread lightly as the cilvil servant is also your boss u are their employer.

    I wonder why the term/position “permanent secretary” is only used in the civil service”? less us all go figure

    just my take.

  40. T.Inniss Avatar
    T.Inniss

    Charles Skeete

    We are swimming in dangerous waters here re the NIS – so we cannot settle for a ‘They can’t be worse than Justin Robinson’ – at this critical juncture my friend.

    This is what I mean about Mia’s seeming lack of appreciation or understanding for the difficult road ahead – when she makes decisions that would ensure her political survival rather than the survival of the # 1 Entity – the country Barbados.

  41. Redguard Avatar
    Redguard

    @BA

    if you really believe Rihanna controls her money I got a Clico life policy to sell you.

    Jokes aside, you are right the key is growth. The problem is we are led by lawyers, accountants and economists, when have they ever created anything other than chaos.

  42. BA Avatar
    BA

    regard – the people who control her money also have money (theirs and hers) and also want to be “tax efficient” as does messi (read about his tax case), google, apple, amazon, starbucks, mcdonalds (who just won a tax case brought by the OECD that make us shit ourselves when they walk in the room) etc. there is a whole world of billions that we can go after, but we will have to fight and do it right. dubai, luxembourg, cayman, bermuda, arnt rich countries because they make widgets nor sell tourists trinkets.

  43. T.Inniss Avatar
    T.Inniss

    Instead of tinkering with the Constitution to give greater powers to the P.M. under the Town Planning legislation and the other related ammendments; Mia should be busily working on ensuring Consumer protection whether it has to do with Insurance Companies,Telecommunications Companies and those damn dishonest lawyers within the Bar Association.

    It is the small foxes that spoil the grapes.

    As a matter of fact, Govt should not be paying close to $70,000 every year per student for those who want to study law and another approx. $90,000.00 to those who want to study medicine.

    Right now instead of looking for $200 million to cover arrears to UWI.CAVE HILL SHOULD BE MANDATED TO COME UP WITH NEW DEGREE PROGRAMMES TO HELP TOWARDS NEW AREAS OF GROWTH & DEVELOPMENT.

    I am talking about areas such as those undertaken by the late Professor Headley in Solar Energy or that in black belly sheep research by Professor O’garro (I think is his name -originally from St Vincent).

    We need to be looking for overseas firms to partner us with in the manufacturing of cell phones right here in Bim.

    The Hotel Sector need to be forced to do some innovative things with the packages they are offering – which right now is very tired and can be found elsewhere at a much cheaper cost.

    The govt also needs to insist that those bookings made overseas should bring back to Bdos at leat 50% of that foreign exchange – because after all whenever there is a slight sign of a worldwide financial storm – govts of bdos – both BEE and DEE all rush in to offer financial support to this sector- all paid for by us the weary taxpayers.

    Again I ask why did Mia unfair the retirees and pensioners who invested in govt bonds when it was clear there were other options which could have been persued.

    Right now – they are reading what we are saying and she is still going ahead with her big cabinet,nuff consultants and political advisers and rewarding of her MPS.

    Guess she is giving us the middle finger and telling us to SUCK IT UP !!!

  44. sirfuzzy (i was a sheep some years ago; not a sheep anymore) Avatar
    sirfuzzy (i was a sheep some years ago; not a sheep anymore)

    In North america when farmers who grow food that we eat and need to survive gets a tiny portion of the pie; but accountants economists and financial advisors get larger portions than farmers etc we know why the world is upside down.

    So in Barbados we do the same just that we import all of our food; but we got nuff lawyers(liars) accountants(acount-cants) economists etc. The type of professions that we can do with a lot less of IMO.

  45. Tron Avatar
    Tron

    @ Dishonest Bajans September 30, 2018 5:28 PM

    I do not want devaluation or anything bad for Bim. I really, really wished the country would take a very different course, I wished Barbados was a model country.

    It is not. We must stick to the facts and the possibilities, not to any believe or false pride.

  46. Enuff Avatar
    Enuff

    TInniss
    The problem is that too many Barbadians (board members included) confuse the role of the board with that of management. Gooding-Edghill is not the Executive Chairman. Your contribution about lawyers and doctors, solar energy etc is naive, but it sounds good to those who know no better. Funny how you are slagging off doctors in one breath and calling for innovation and new areas of development in another. Don’t you see the link and the possibilities?

  47. David Avatar
    David

    Note T. Inniss ignored the question posed about the unsustainable DLP policy of dumping state assets. Talk is cheap isn’t it.

  48. Enuff Avatar
    Enuff

    And he forgets that the DLP vowed to shut down SOEs too, and instead flooded them with party supporters. All now Derek Alleyne still drawing UDC money after warning Mia that he was going in the gutter for the elections. Who is his line manager now? While TInniss on BU promoting culling, the Gen Sec of the DLP in his column today said the opposite.🤣🤣

  49. Mariposa Avatar
    Mariposa

    It is written in the agreement that bond holders have a right/can (to)
    cash in their bonds after a year .
    So investors holding bond paper for more than a year can use that option

  50. T.Inniss Avatar
    T.Inniss

    HELLO !!

    Naive – really?

    Currently we have a surplus of lawyers here in Barbados who are not engaged in any foreign exchange earning exercise .

    In addition if you have been following the comments from BAMP and the QEH – currently there are more medical interns than there are spaces for employment at the QEH.Tell me again what new field Mia envisages these medical degrees will cover to assist in growth of this economy?

    Why all of a sudden you are now seeking to shield criticism of and reduce the role of the Chairman, when you did not leave a stone unturned in washing Justin Robinson in cuss and criticism.

    Tell me again who was the head of the NIS Dept ? under the last govt – the Director of NIS – one Ian Carrington – who you all now promoted to Director of Finance in the P.M. s office.

    I well recall what Walter told us about Ian Carrington and another civil servant – about they being promoted above their competence.

    It would be interesting to find some of the comments made by Carrington under the last govt and compared them with now.

    Wheel and come again buddy.

Older Comments
1 2 3 4 … 6
Newer Comments

The blogmaster invites you to join the discussion.

Trending

Discover more from Barbados Underground

Subscribe now to keep reading and get access to the full archive.

Continue reading