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2019 Special Audit of the Transport Board

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It hurts like hell to know the general public- read mainly people in the lower socio-economic bracket- is being asked to pay $3.50 bus fare. Then we have to read how successive governments have contributed to the current state of affairs.

All sensible Barbadians must seriously question if the governance model has not outlived its usefulness or is it a case of too much learning. Surely the time has long passed for Duterte measures to be adopted in Barbados. It cannot be business as usual Mia!

Read the Special Audit of the Transport Board to confirm the sorry tale.

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140 responses to “2019 Special Audit of the Transport Board”

  1. David Avatar
    David

  2. David Avatar
    David

  3. SirSimpleSimonPresidentForLife Avatar
    SirSimpleSimonPresidentForLife

    I was at a bus stop this morning for nearly an hour. A young man was there with his son, a boy of about 7. After a while I decided to walk to my destination. The father and son were going farther on, a bit too far to walk for a young child. When I left they were still there. I don’t mind having my time wasted as I have nothing to do, and all day in which to do it. But a young man and his child should not have to wait so long.

    And to think that the Transport Board has for years been wasting the TAX PAYERS MONEY.

    While young children are made to wait, and wait and wait…

    When will we Bajans realize that we do not waste the government’s money, but that we are wasting the TAXPAYERS money? Taxpayers like that young father.

  4. Barbados 2019 Avatar
    Barbados 2019

    Real VOODOO ACCOUNTING

  5. Miller Avatar
    Miller

    Politicians are directly responsible for the current crippling financial and operational state of the Transport Board (TB).

    The TB has been run to the ground with the politicians and their dummies at the wheel.
    Next stop on the road to financial and operational ruination is the Barbados Water Authority leading to the forced privatization of that vital utility to foreign owners in order to obtain continuing IMF bailout funds to pay for the country’s lust for foreign trinkets and toys.

    Why are there still Mercedes and high-end SUVs in the showrooms unless their potential owners have bank accounts denominated in foreign currencies?

    Hard ears Bajan wouldn’t take heed about their conspicuous consumption habits, hard ears they will feel when the shit hits the fan made by the blue-vex overseas creditors.

  6. NortherObserver Avatar
    NortherObserver

    The Auditor General must be in line for a Sainthood.
    He has failed to provide relevant financials, like how many suppliers had the TB on C.O.D and how much they were owed. It’s the IMF who is forcing account payable settlements.
    Recall the numerous press conferences where the Union representing TB drivers, were telling how many drivers were getting paid but had no bus to drive. Over 50% of the total drivers.
    How the MoTransport told us to alleviate the TB bus shortfall he would issue new PSV licenses to ensue the island had enough buses.

  7. robert lucas Avatar
    robert lucas

    Organizations like the Transport Board are packed with sycophants of both parties when they are in power. I once worked in one of them. One couldn’t tell the sycophants anything. They did as they felt like doing. That was over thirty years ago. I was fired as a result of my refusal to do things that reflected badly on myself as a professional in my field. Things seem to have gotten worse with time.. As long as largess continues to be the order of the day, corruption will continue. This country is basically a failed state.

  8. David Avatar
    David

    @Dr. Lucas

    We always come full circle whether discussing the BWA or the Transport Board. The common issue is the inability of a so-called well educated people to identify and remediate issues for the collective good.

  9. robert lucas Avatar
    robert lucas

    @David

    Noted. The educated are interested in social advancement only. They sit and passively accept wrong doings As a result the country is in doldrums,

  10. TheOGazerts & Associates (Restructuring & Financial Experts) - ISO 30025 certified Avatar
    TheOGazerts & Associates (Restructuring & Financial Experts) – ISO 30025 certified

    (We repair buses. We do it better and cheaper)
    (We do restructuring. We do it cheaper and better)
    (We fix water mains. We do it cheaper and better)
    Sewage problems? We fix the lines cheaper and better,,,
    Financial problems? We have loans….

    I am beginning to notice that TheOGazerts & Associates work on many of the problems that afflicts Barbados.
    A word to Mia should be sufficient.

    And to you the words “Finders fee” should be sufficient

    Our motto: If it is under the sun, we do it. We do it cheaper and better. If it can be fixed, we can fix it.
    We have the highest level of ISO certification.

    Whilst some are stuck in the past with 9001, we are ISO 30025… That more than 3 times the 9,000 level.
    ==============================XXXXX==========================
    Life can be beautiful.
    Wishing all of Barbados a beautiful Friday.
    Hoping your day starts with on a beautiful and pleasant note.
    No mater how serious things get, find the humor in the situation.
    Have a Great day, Barbados

  11. Pachamama Avatar
    Pachamama

    David

    What else would you expect.

    This is what governments do.

    The only thing governments can do

    More studies, more marking of time, more embracing of failure.

    An inability to consider that the entire neo-liberal capitalism principles have reached their end point, can go no further.

    You should expect more of the same.

  12. David Avatar
    David

    @Pacha

    Governments elected by the people? Governments selected from the people?

  13. Hants Avatar
    Hants

    “I forced as a condition to serve in Cabinet that they all submit their declaration of assets which the Cabinet secretary has held in sealed envelopes pending the completion of the establishment of an Integrity Commission. That Commission I’m told will soon come,” she said.

    https://barbadostoday.bb/2019/06/28/steps-to-stamp-out-corruption/

  14. John A Avatar
    John A

    I said weeks ago you can’t throw more money behind inefficiency and expect it to fix the problem. While this RH foolishness continues how did we address it? We increased bus fares by over 50 percent. There is one person here that needs firing and it’s the person that approved the payment. Not the Minister, not the bus driver or the mechanic. Will he or she ever be fired, of course not it’s after all the civil service.

  15. David Avatar
    David

    @John A

    How does the government hold political appointees accountable?

  16. David Avatar
    David

    Before the comment is misconstrued, political appointees versus being qualified read competent.

  17. Vincent Codrington Avatar
    Vincent Codrington

    @ John A at 7 :50 AM

    No. it is not the Civil Service. It is a State Owned Corporation.
    The Minister appoints the Chairman and BOD . BOD appoints the CEO and other senior officers. Who appoint should disappoint. Further more ,prima facie , how would you describe this activity? We making RH sport in this place and for a very long time. Systems? It is people.

  18. ks Avatar
    ks

    As a pensioner barely eking out a living with our high taxes, this type of behavior really hurt …… the Auditor General should be commended for bringing such bad behavior to light but he should name Company A, Company B, & those who signed off in the QA Dept.!!!! Time for TRANSPARENCY, as promised!!!

  19. John A Avatar
    John A

    @Vincent

    Yes it’s people but it’s more about the calibre of people appointed. You and I know boards are appointed here as rewards for political patronage. In other words a B would be given a chairmanship now over a better qualified D. So you have started with a broken formula. Now the workers and management are still all civil servants protected by the civil service and unions. To fire one of them is dam near impossible as a result. Now my radical suggestion would be for all entities like the Tranport Board to be governed by rules similar to those used in the private business sector. So you thief or don’t produced you go.

    My point is you can’t have an organisation run by a board aiming for greater efficiency and then saddle that same board by employee protection based on the civil service act and Union flag. Before I get cuss for being anti union what I mean is yes they have every right to be unionised, but when you give them the power for example to shut down the bus service because a driver get “unfair”
    Then the tail wagging the dog.

  20. Vincent Codrington Avatar
    Vincent Codrington

    The higher the monkey climbs the more he exposes his Rs. Stop the leaks and the system will function.

    We do not need any transparency.
    We do not need any accountability .
    We need to put some free range
    criminals behind bars.

    My calypso progressing well.

  21. John A Avatar
    John A

    @Vincent

    I think the day you see any jailed for thiefing is the same day you will win the calypso crown 😂

  22. Pachamama Avatar
    Pachamama

    David 07:02

    That those are the popular memes, yes!

    But they are meaningless. Those structures can make no critical contact with the problems we now face.

    They have been made irrelevant by the passage of time, the shifting power relationships, the gaming of the system etc

    The radical transformation this country needs has not been traditionally brought through a ballot box.

    And to expect this administration to do anything but operate near the central tendencies of all others before it was always representative of a surplus in expectations on your side.

  23. Vincent Codrington Avatar
    Vincent Codrington

    @ John A at 8 : 22 AM

    Because we wanted the Transport Board to function like the Private sector we designated it an SOE. We did not make it a department of the Civil Service.
    The BOD of SOEs has the same statutory obligations as that of a Public Liability Company. Workers joining a trade Union does not change the status. We are a Democracy. It is the persons so appointed that are negligent and unprofessional.

  24. Vincent Codrington Avatar
    Vincent Codrington

    @ John A

    I am still in the drafting stage. My Calypso going to be ready for this Crop Over. I hope your correlation tracking too.

  25. John A Avatar
    John A

    @ Vincent.

    I get your point but we still have the problem in the SOE ‘S OF what I would refer to as the civil service approach. For me you either go all the way or not at all. If you want it to run as a business then privatise it. IF you want it to be the political nesting point for yardfowlism and political gratuity then find left it so. Where you and I differ is I don’t see any middle ground as decades and various boards have shown with the said SOES

  26. Vincent Codrington Avatar
    Vincent Codrington

    @ ks at 8 :12 AM

    The Auditor General has discharged his responsibilities. Each of his reports were specific to irregularities of each department and state corporation. Any further actions must be enforced by other entities of Government.

    Yes . There are 280,000 Barbadians suffering the same disgust as you.

  27. John A Avatar
    John A

    @ Vincent

    @ David

    The solution as I see it is to scrap the SOE approach all together and replace it with joint public/private sector companies where government holds a maximum of 49 percent of the ownership. That way they can’t send party locals for jobs and take up buses for excursions. They will however be entitled to 49% of the profit which they can then deposit to the consolidated fund. Only then will you have a genuine company based on a business plan and not politics. Again I ain t hiding my breath for that to happen.

    SOEs here are like a unicorn. Half horse half myth

  28. Vincent Codrington Avatar
    Vincent Codrington

    @ John at 8:48 AM

    Changing the corporate status does not solve the problem.
    There are gross inefficiencies in the Private Sector. They end in business closures or passing the costs to consumers if they are monopolies.
    We are back to personal and professional competence and integrity. You cannot escape these very human short comings in Barbados 2019.

  29. SirSimpleSimonPresidentForLife Avatar
    SirSimpleSimonPresidentForLife

    @TheOGazerts & Associates (Restructuring & Financial Experts) – ISO 30025 certified June 28, 2019 6:38 AM

    Oh my goodness!!! So you have moved on up?

  30. SirSimpleSimonPresidentForLife Avatar
    SirSimpleSimonPresidentForLife

    @Pachamama June 28, 2019 7:01 AM “An inability to consider that the entire neo-liberal capitalism principles have reached their end point, can go no further.”

    Are you Putin or one of his clones?

    i notice that he is saying the same thing this morning, or afternoon, since he is in Japan.

    We do not share your views nor Putin’s.

    Somebody needs to tell Putin that the killing; and the raping of millions of black women in the Western world were all done by white men like him.

    Putin just needs to look in the mirror if he wants to see what a trouble maker looks like.

  31. SirSimpleSimonPresidentForLife Avatar
    SirSimpleSimonPresidentForLife

    @John A June 28, 2019 7:50 AM “There is one person here that needs firing and it’s the person that approved the payment.”

    Actually the person or company which submitted two invoices for the same work should be fired too.

    Maybe I should be teaching ethics at BCC.

  32. Pachamama Avatar
    Pachamama

    David

    What’s up with those missing Americans?

    What is the talk around town?

  33. Vincent Codrington Avatar
    Vincent Codrington

    Sir Simple Simon at 9:20 AM

    Not only should you be teaching Ethics, you should be teaching Demography and Bayesian Probability at Cave Hill. I love your intervention on another blog on life expectancy of males and the relative costs of adding 5 years there to.

    You are a Boss.

  34. David Avatar
    David

    @John A

    You should recall why SOEs were preferred by the Arthur administration.

  35. Pachamama Avatar
    Pachamama

    SSS

    We are indeed honored that you have found it fit to associate us with the great Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin.

    For as world leader go he is without peer. Should you have had the courage to add the greatest current leader of them all, Ayatollah Sayyid Ali Hosseini Khamenei, your point would then to complete.

    You would generally notice that we seem to like all the people your ilk love to hate.

    Specifically, on the points about the nadir of neo-liberal capitalism. We were not aware that Vlad had made the statement attributed. However, we ourselves have been making such a general narrative for 30 years, ask Sir William Skinner.

    Maybe, just maybe, Putin has been a student of ours, and not the next way around. LOL

  36. David Avatar
    David

    @Pacha

    The speculation spans the gamut, from poorly working machines and defective kill switch to drugs related.

  37. Piece the Legend Avatar
    Piece the Legend

    @ TheOGazerts & Associates (Restructuring & Financial Experts) – ISO 30025 certified

    When the news arrived de ole man immediately wondered

    Where you left the Gatling M134D

    And

    Where they going wire the Money for your services Commander Theophillus

    If it going to be wired to new Jersey then dont take the money cause it going be a sting and you going be held and an ankle bracelet put on you OR WORSE!!

    I wonder if they know that you going use the money to buy a new indestructible whip to beat the Rented jackasses Hee Hee and Hee Haw

  38. John A Avatar
    John A

    @ Vincent.

    Yes private business have failed too but the mere fact that the majority still operate, many after 50 years shows we have skills out here. There is also a wealth of knowledge in alot of young accountants and business minds available to us too compliments of UWI.

    I know you say I am a optimist but if at the very least a private public sector company could get annual financials done on time wouldn’t that at least be a start? Also even of the new company is not profitable would that not be better than losing $60 million dollars a year and replacing the same bus transmission once but paying for it twice?

    Now as for the calypso you bringing, I going left the singing to you and stand by you and hum. If I sing place going empty quick! Lol

  39. John A Avatar
    John A

    @ sir simple

    Yes the company that sent in 2 bills for one job was dishonest but let me ask you this. If he didn’t think that he would be paid twice would he of done it? Maybe he was instructed by someone to ” if you want to get pay bill me twice, one for me and one for you”

    So some of weak fortitude might do it to keep their business afloat while others might say carry your tail I ain t doing that.

    The point is if it wasn’t allowed and maybe even encouraged, no one would risk it

  40. Vincent Codrington Avatar
    Vincent Codrington

    @ John A at 10 :03 AM

    Private businesses have departed this landscape over the past four decades at an amazing rate.Tell me how many Private businesses listed in a telephone directory of 1970 exist today. The Transport Board outlived them.. We know what is necessary for it to function . We need to stop the filibustering.

  41. David Avatar
    David

    @Vincent

    Transportation is a public good. This might explain why the TB is still going.

  42. robert lucas Avatar
    robert lucas

    @ Pachamama June 28, 2019 9:51 AM

    Putin has out foxed all of them. What he has said about liberalism and multiculturalism I have endorsed on this blog many times. I hope Hal is paying attention to what Putin has said. To cite an example of how silly the proponents of multiculturalism are: take the case of the black actor Idris who wanted the lead role in James Bond. He wasn’t given the role and he has cited racism as the reason. The best words that I can use to describe him, is that he is being naïve.. Bond ‘s role was earmarked for a white person not a black. The whole ethos and hubris of James Bond wreaks of whiteness. He feels that multiculturalism ,means he should be given the role. Similarly , in this week’s “Daily Mail” another black actress was hollering about more roles for blacks. The UK is a white man’s country and white people are in the majority. Black and brown people are in the minority and stand out. you can’t go into a man’s home and make demands on the home owner: this precisely what political correctness and multiculturalism have being doing.

  43. Vincent Codrington Avatar
    Vincent Codrington

    Public Transport is a public good. And to be effective and efficient ,it has to be managed in a business like fashion. No guess work. No political interference in its daily operations and no jobs for unqualified lazy yard fowls. Those who engage in unlawful activities should be separated from the corporation.

  44. Vincent Codrington Avatar
    Vincent Codrington

    @ John A

    Making a financial profit is no indication that an institution is efficient or viable.

  45. John A Avatar
    John A

    @ Vincent.

    Look at how you walk straight Into my argument. If private business had the privelage to lose 50 and 60 million dollars every year and still have a fairy God mother ( central government) top back up their cheque books every year so they could lose $50 million more next year, you don’t feel them businesses would still be around today too? You feel the transport board outlast many for their economic principal? No they are there becaUse their cheque book is refreshed every year off the backs of taxpayers. Whether you call them OSES or PES ( parasitic entities ) they all only exist today because the feed off you and me. Cut the subsidies and see how long they last based on their current formula for business.

    Can’t therefore agree we can fairly say they lasted since the 70s for any positive reason, other than being good at holding out there hand for a cheque from central government every year for the last 50 years.

  46. Georgie Porgie Avatar
    Georgie Porgie

    re Maybe I should be teaching ethics at BCC.
    in f——–p—–?

  47. SirSimpleSimonPresidentForLife Avatar
    SirSimpleSimonPresidentForLife

    @John A June 28, 2019 11:10 AM “have a fairy God mother.”

    I sick and tired of being fairy godmother. Just now I gine turn into the evil fairy godmother.

  48. John A Avatar
    John A

    @ sir simple

    You and me both tired of being the tax suckers.

  49. Vincent Codrington Avatar
    Vincent Codrington

    @ Jjohn A at 11 :10 AM

    I am not here to defend public corporations nor the Transport Board. I am quite familiar with the economics and operations of publicly provided goods and the reasons for their existence. Historically, education ,health,communications including roads are public goods because they are foundational to building a modern civilized society at low cost to the consumer. Public Transport came into existence in Barbados after the private transport system became inefficient and unreliable. To have allowed the private concessionaires to have an economic bus fare would have undermined the economic development of Barbados given the low wages paid in the new industries. We were quite aware that public transport had to be subsidized. I am not aware that the figure you quote of $60 million per annum was ever reached.
    Obviously you do have inside information. If that is true please check for leaks.

  50. Greene Avatar
    Greene

    @ Robert Lucas

    what nonsense are you talking with respect to multiculturalism and making demands on the landed population. the entire occupation of the so called new world was a demand by whites to occupy land making the natives a minority and in some cases wiping them out all together.

    then again that may not count. too long ago or different eh.

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