Submitted by Ironside
The rhetoric of the Barbados Today 29th October editorial entitled: No time for Party. Not now is as silky and as sanitized as an educated Barbadian can get. I suppose that as an “above-ground” newspaper, the Barbados Today editor has no choice. And to be fair, the editor did as good a job as he /she could…in the circumstances.
But in this country, I doubt that the sanitized rhetoric of the article, replete with biblical parallels, will get the attention of the intoxicated, money hungry faction of this country that calls itself the BLP and the government into whose hands stressed and reactionary Barbadians committed the next five years of its life back in May 2018.
So, dear BT editor, let me help you…let me take a crack at these SOBs here on BU, no holds barred!
Corruption Endemic
One of the critical issues in the last election was the matter of corruption in government. The BLP promised integrity legislation. (See:
https://www.barbadosadvocate.com/news/blp-promises-new-integrity-legislation).
As I expected, the BLP government went through the motions of passing integrity legislation knowing full well that that would not hinder corruption where it mattered most.
Corruption is endemic to Barbadian society. Translated, this means that all of us practice and tacitly support corruption…every day! You beg to differ? OK!
- In general, how many of us ask for favours knowing well we were not qualified to receive them?
- How many of us have asked for exceptions to be made to the entry of our children to schools where they are not qualified to enter?
- How many of us feel no compunction in jumping the queue of people waiting in line for a service?
- How many of us rely on friends “in high places” to bale us out of trouble rather than throw ourselves on the mercy of those in authority?
- How many of our “business people” bribe customs officers to get reduced charges or illegal items out of the port?
- How many of sold our vote to the first bidder during the last election…and the one before?
What do you call those practices? Still beg to differ? Go phart on yourself…in the mirror!
Corruption is so endemic in Barbados that we have a motto that expresses it all; “Boy yuh got to have a grandfarder to get by in Barbados!
We, the so called masses, are as guilty of corruption as the relatively few demagogues that we elect to rule this land from time to time. Therefore, the logical and ethical solution to the problem of corruption in Barbados lies in dealing with our own corruption FIRST.
Time to Repent
My submission is that we ordinary people need to repent of the corruption in ourselves. And I mean REPENT and in the biblical sense. Until we do so, we are in no position to wield any moral power to demand the end of corruption in government.
And make no mistake about it; the politicians know this; they know that we ourselves are as corrupt as they are. That is why the Sutherland Dynasty is laughing all its way to the bank. The Sutherlands know that sooner or later some self-despising, mentally enslaved, “corrupt” Barbadian will knock at their constituency office door and beg for the crumbs that fall from their table while they and their family, close friends and bodyguards continue to dine sumptuously and travel lavishly. On OUR blinking taxes!
BERToldian Betrayal (With Impunity)
Imagine that: we are asked to pay a 2.5% health levy on top of all the other taxes and the first thing that the BERToldian Labour Party – they can’t be Barbadians, right? – spend it on is a $200,000 plus salary a year (over $16,000 per month) for a minister’s wife – IN THE MINISTRY OF HEALTH.
Do you know that this salary is just circa $1,000 shy of a Minister’s salary? An eighteenth minister without a ministry? What a betrayal of trust! What gross disrespect for Barbadians! Did we vote you in with this understanding in mind? Or are you “overstanding” the matter as Rastafari would say?
But I wonder: how many votes is the Sutherland Dynasty worth in the next election? You know, there is a kind of arrogant “pharticidal” idiocy about nepotism and cronyism that really boggles the mind!
But look at it…there are no protestors in the street, far less rioters! Today is indeed a very funny night! And that is because too many of us are full of existential shiite!
So, where are all the new garbage trucks promised? Don’t be surprised if Jose and Jose gets a contract to “do the garbage” in Barbados! If you don’t know who really owns Jose and Jose (We are No1 in the No.2 Business) get off this frigging island!
Proportional Representation Now
Excuse the hell out of me; but this political system that we have needs to be drastically reformed or dismantled! I don’t know that there is a fundamental flaw in the concept of democracy itself but the political system – meaning the number of parties, system of representation, elections rules etc – is a bare joke.
It should never have been possible for one party to win all 30 seats! Under proportional representation this would have been virtually impossible! So there goes your first reform….if we are going that way!
It is time that Barbadians called for a referendum on the matter of the implementation of proportional representation and let’s see what this government will do with it. I think I know how the Bertoldians will react but screw them!
2023 Ah Coming!
In the meantime, let us prepare, come next election, not to forget how the Bertoldians are pharting on us now with the acrid smell of heartless corruption. Let us prepare to help MAM make more history …the first woman PM in Barbados with a one-term government!
P.S. Perhaps, I will speculate on how we can ensure this in the next edition of the Phartford Files.
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