est. 2007

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Time to CUT Salaries Prime Minister!

In her recent address to the nation Prime Minister Mia Mottley indicated a real discussion will take place next week between the government and social partnership as it pertains to how the country will have to support workers displaced in a post COVID period. The idea of pandemic bonds has been floated. Commonsense Barbadians understand…

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In her recent address to the nation Prime Minister Mia Mottley indicated a real discussion will take place next week between the government and social partnership as it pertains to how the country will have to support workers displaced in a post COVID period. The idea of pandemic bonds has been floated.

Commonsense Barbadians understand the pandemic will force a change to the way WE have to do business today, tomorrow and in the future. It is important to define WE – it means all actors operating in civil society INCLUDING the government.

Leadership is about leading by example. There is no better time than to illustrate the idea of leading from the front than for the Prime Minister and her very large Cabinet to take a salary cut.

The blogmaster joins with many looking forward to participate in a sensible national discussion about the best way forward in a COVID world. It makes no sense ordinary people asked to make a sacrifice and OTHERS are allowed to operate business as usual.

Cutting salaries will not result in a significant savings in the context of the national budget BUT it is not about that is it.

 

Forced savings discussion could help save jobs

In an effort to keep job losses to a minimum, Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley will next week start a dialogue with her financial advisors regarding the possibility of introducing forced savings for public officers.

The Prime Minister said the new measure, through which some public officers would have part of their salary kept in the form of bonds, would play a significant role in helping provide Government with more fiscal space as it continued to deal with the debilitating economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Speaking on Thursday night after consultations with the Social Partnership at the Lloyd Erskine Sandiford Centre, Mottley said forced savings could lead to hundreds of public servants keeping their jobs, even though there was no plan to start sending home any.
“If we have to look to avoid forced layoffs in Government, then we can look at a form of forced savings. We will have that conversation next week, as we want to give everyone an opportunity. We have to cut expenditure, even in spite of the fiscal space we have. We are in a comfortable position, but we want to ensure we have safe work for safe people.”
Mottley said the International Monetary Fund had recommended to its board in early June that Barbados be allowed to move from a six per cent primary surplus to one per cent.

“It will give us at least $550 million in elbow room,” she told the media.
She said Government’s main aim was to slowly get the country back to a state of normalcy. (BA)

180 responses to “Time to CUT Salaries Prime Minister!”

  1. WURA-War-on-U Avatar
    WURA-War-on-U

    So what that gotta do with SHUTTING DOWN these greedy ass thieving minority employers and BLACK PEOPLE OPENING THEIR OWN BUSINESSES ON THE ISLAND and keeping the money in their OWN communities…ya sell out idiot…

  2. WURA-War-on-U Avatar
    WURA-War-on-U

    On a very serious note, will the police arrest that piece of shit minister that had a gathering in a church and now there is an OUTBREAK that they are trying hard to cover up and fool the people that it’s not that serious..

    ….they can arrest young hardheaded people, give them big heavy fines and 6 month prison sentences…arrest that useless public nuisance for a minister…

  3. Miller Avatar
    Miller

    @ WURA-War-on-U May 19, 2020 6:26 AM

    You should go into a state of catatonic shock if you witness those obeah practitioners arrested for breaking the curfew.

    All they have to do a threaten to put a hex on those who dare to practice justice in the two “Barbadoes”

  4. Jonathan Wood Avatar
    Jonathan Wood

    To be fair, the claim is that due to lack of revenue and the slowdown, they cannot pay the employees the full wage.

    Likewise, with business down, they clearly do not need the employees full time and so hours can be cut commensurate with the wages.

    Fair? There really can be no argument against. A contract works both ways and an argument too.

    Then employees can use their own time to plant crops and so on.

  5. Jonathan Wood Avatar
    Jonathan Wood

    WARU,

    Tron would like to see everyone working for one dollar and hour while the select few wine and dine in luxury. That is his mindset.

    But, he has a point, wages are too high, just as the prices in the retail and groceries, which are multiples of what one pays in New York, a major city.

    But Tron does not have an issue with that, he said so. Tron just misses his cork hat.

  6. WURA-War-on-U Avatar
    WURA-War-on-U

    Miller….let’s see if they arrest that fraud for a church minister or play their usual games.

    Most of those tiefing employers who love nothing better than to violate the rights of Black employees even in the best of times….WANT SHUTTING DOWN….let them haul their greedy asses and go WORK TGE LAND and stop for once in their lazy, useless lives living off the backs of the Black majority….time for the people to rid themselves of the useless parasites…nothing else would change the island for the better…THAN GETTING RID OF ALL OF THEM….as well as the useless shite in the parliament….posing as leaders but who are of absolutely no use to their own people..

    Black people need to open THEIR OWN BUSINESSES…grow them and BUY BLACK keeping the MONEY IN THEIR COMMUNITY….as well as plant their kitchen gardens and grow their own food….get rid of the minority parasites out of their lives.

  7. Tron Avatar
    Tron

    @ Jonathan Wood May 19, 2020 10:20 AM

    NO, NO, NO.

    I’m just trying to make my voice heard through rhetoric and slight exaggeration.

    We don’t want starving wages, we want decent wages. Between 1995 and 2008, wage development was totally decoupled from productivity growth. Barbados is no longer competitive internationally, so we have had ZERO growth for 12 years. With the current very poor labour cost/profit ratio, we will soon be trailing behind in the Caribbean.

    In return for lower wages, we must of course reduce the cost of living. A first step would be to abolish import duties, which are the main reason for the high prices. We have these tariffs only to protect the totally overvalued Barbados dollar. So we also need to reform the value of the Barbados dollar, for example by introducing a basket of currencies or adjusting it to the XCD.

  8. WURA-War-on-U Avatar
    WURA-War-on-U

    The government is bringing up all types of distractions instead of cutting the bloated salaries of them and their ministers,, they want everyone except for them to make sacrifices…

    29-0 in 2023…how is that for a neat sacrifice…

  9. Tron Avatar
    Tron

    @ WURA-War-on-U May 19, 2020 12:59 PM

    The reduction in ministerial salaries is pure populism that saves very little money. We must reach out to the lethargic masses. Only sharp cuts in the people’s salaries will bring the desired savings.

  10. Miller Avatar
    Miller

    @ Tron May 19, 2020 10:32 AM
    “In return for lower wages, we must of course reduce the cost of living. A first step would be to abolish import duties, which are the main reason for the high prices. We have these tariffs only to protect the totally overvalued Barbados dollar. So we also need to reform the value of the Barbados dollar, for example by introducing a basket of currencies or adjusting it to the XCD.”
    +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

    Are you also going to propose to the bondholders to write off the useless monopoly play-play paper they recently renegotiated with White Oak?

    How about telling White Oak to return 50% of the fees paid to help the country in its darkest hour of dire need?

    With tourism in the ICU, the future forex earnings would not be enough to pay for imported processed foods, refined oil, dividends and management fees for the many foreign-owned corporations, Chinese-made trinkets and luxury vehicles and still meet the country’s foreign loan commitments (including the IMF loan-shark obligations).

  11. Tron Avatar
    Tron

    @ Miller May 19, 2020 3:29 PM

    We can only perform a new debt cut with local citizens. If we make another cut against commercial banks operating in Barbados, we will soon have no more banks in the country. For foreign investors with bonds in foreign currency, this is impossible anyway, as long as the papers are issued beyond local law.

    There is no legal claim to demand a discount from White Oak. Renegotiation could work, however.

    I may possibly point out that the first round of debt cutting in 2018 was mainly at the expense of banks and investors. With a new debt cut in 2020/21, it is time to unpack the knives and finally go after the assets of local savers. Since 1966, not the commercial banks and investors, but the citizens have elected governments that have proved to be financially illiterate. In accordance with the costs-by-cause principle, the person responsible must now finally suffer the blood-letting. The voter at the ballot box is responsible for the whole mess, not the banks or the investors. When a small child burns himself on the iron, he learns to avoid this mistake. When voters finally suffer financial losses, they will vote more carefully in the future.

  12. Miller Avatar
    Miller

    @ Tron May 19, 2020 3:47 PM
    “There is no legal claim to demand a discount from White Oak. Renegotiation could work, however.”
    +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

    Of course there is NO legal claim.

    What you ought to appeal to is the moral conscience of those behind the W O heist.

    Of course, the next easy target to receive a rude awakening are those sitting on their nest eggs of cash savings stashed away in their low interest-bearing accounts at the commercial banks and credit unions.

    These ‘vulnerable’ patriots can find their financial properties ‘appropriated’ for the good of the survival of the nation state.

    After all, the bloated civil service of parasites along with their top-class living grandees driving around in their big rides have to be kept in mint condition; Covid or no Covid.

    PS: Tron now is the ‘timely’ opportunity for you to get rid of those millions sitting idle in your fixed deposits.

    Why not offer the current owners of the Four Seasons unfinished villas (which must be going for a song) something which they can’t refuse.

    These guys were waiting to make a killing but Covid is now forcing them to offload them at any price.

  13. Tron Avatar
    Tron

    @ Miller May 19, 2020 5:27 PM

    First, I am not naive enough to deposit assets in states that are financially dysfunctional, and second, I do not buy half-finished buildings with termites gnawing at their wooden parts.

    However, your prediction may well be true that there will soon be a “patriotic levy” on bank assets. So one should only accumulate debts in Barbados. If they take something from you here, you will have less debt 😉

    The announcement of “patriotic forced loans” for civil servants was certainly not the last word! I have a list of suggestions for our Most Honourable Prime Minister. Euphemisms included:

    compulsory mortgage on debt-free properties: “patriotic property owners”

    compulsory levy on BBD assets in domestic accounts: “patriotic bank clients”

    compulsory exchange of all foreign currency in domestic accounts into BBD or government bonds: “patriotic money changers”

  14. Dullard Avatar
    Dullard

    @ Tron

    There is recent precedent for a struggling government seizing a portion bank depositors’ funds. Are you suggesting a Cyprus style ‘bail in’?
    You jest but for a govt that has no ideas, no clue and a mandate to do whatever it pleases, nothing can be ruled out.

  15. WURA-War-on-U Avatar
    WURA-War-on-U

    What i want CARICOM to do is to deplore the corruption that is a staple in many caricom member states, that should be addressed, many crimes against the people, the tax paying cittizes are being committed and have for years, where are your voice against that, it’s keeping the islands so affected from progressing, stagnaning economic growth and future development in the majority population generation after generation, yes, the same islands that are all over the place borrowing money because corruption has been DISRUPTING cash flow to the citizens for decades, their own money….deplore that…no matter who is sitting as Chairman.

    https://www.nationnews.com/nationnews/news/245648/caricom-deplores-eu-blacklisting

    “Bridgetown – The Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Tuesday said it “deplores the latest attack by the European Commission on the economic well-being of some of our member states” after they were named on the latest European Union list of countries with strategic Anti-Money Laundering/Combating the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) deficiencies.”

  16. WURA-War-on-U Avatar
    WURA-War-on-U

    “The reduction in ministerial salaries is pure populism that saves very little money. We must reach out to the lethargic masses. Only sharp cuts in the people’s salaries will bring the desired savings”

    they would do better to pick up all the stolen properties from the cows and bizzys and grab all their bank accounts with the multimillions the two dirty governments also helped them steal from the people over the last 40 years….that is more than the majority population has combined..

  17. WURA-War-on-U Avatar
    WURA-War-on-U

    People are asking questions yo…it’s their right.

    I saw this post in an other section of this medium and felt the need to share it.

    “With respect to the press release from the Ministry of Health about former Minister of Health and present Barbados Ambassador Henrietta Elizabeth Thompson being tested positive for COVID19, there are several pertinent questions that the authorities MUST answer without delay.

    Who paid for this private jet travel from NYC to Barbados? It costs a minimum of US$30,000.00 to travel direct on a private jet from NYC to BGI. And that is one way travel. An Ambassador is paid approximately US$6,000 per month.
    What is the name of the second passenger on board the said flight and what is the purpose of the person’s travel here?
    What is the status of the crew on that flight?
    According to memo issued by the Director of Civil Aviation on May 17, 2020, the GAIA is closed to all international passenger travel until June 30, 2020. Therefore, who authorized for that private jet to leave NYC and land in BGI?
    What is the status of staff at the Barbados Embassy and Consulate at NYC who may have interacted with Amb Thompson prior to her departure from NYC? Obviously she brought the virus from NYC
    Given the failing and frail health of her 95yr old mother why was Amb Thompson allowed to visit her mother before the COVID19 results on herself were determined?
    Why are all other persons arriving in Barbados subject to a 14 day automatic quarantine and not Amb Liz Thompson?

    Barbados is quickly becoming a land where there is one set of laws for the Medes and one for the Persians. Being a close confidante and political operative for the BLP should not grant special privileges to anyone, and certainly not in this pandemic.

    Like you, I wait the answers. We must not depend on the traditional media to investigate. They too have sold their souls to the highest bidder”.

  18. David Avatar
    David

    ECLAC and the OECS Establish an Enhanced Programme of Action on the Escazú Agreement in the Eastern Caribbean

    The UN Regional Commission and the Eastern Caribbean regional integration organization agreed on a framework for enhanced cooperation and understanding to assist OECS Member States achieve the environmental dimension of sustainable development through the Escazú Agreement.

    (May 19, 2020) The Executive Secretary of United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), Ms. Alicia Bárcena, and the Director-General of the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS), Dr. Didacus Jules, signed today a Memorandum of Understanding establishing an “Enhanced Programme of Action on the Escazú Agreement in the Eastern Caribbean.”

    The programme recognizes the Escazú Agreement as a fundamental contribution to the implementation of international commitments of OECS Member States, such as the UN 2030 Agenda on Sustainable Development, the OECS Revised Treaty of Basseterre, and the Saint George’s Declaration of Principles for Environmental Sustainability. In addition to having been endorsed by the OECS Council of Ministers on Environmental Sustainability in 2018 and 2019, the Escazú Agreement has been signed by five of the six independent States of the OECS and ratified by three of them (Antigua and Barbuda, Saint Kitts and Nevis and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines).

    The Memorandum states that ECLAC and the OECS intend to reinforce the environmental dimension of sustainable development in the Eastern Caribbean though the Escazú Agreement by facilitating policy formulation, technical cooperation, training and capacity-building and strategic advocacy and awareness, among others. In particular, both institutions commit to elaborating joint studies, publications, reports and analytical work, as well as provide technical assistance to Member States and organize joint activities in support of the environmental dimension of the 2030 Agenda, including green recovery.

    “This Enhanced Programme of Action is the first and only of its kind concluded by ECLAC as Secretariat of the Escazú Agreement and reinforces our Caribbean First Strategy. The Escazú Agreement and the environmental dimension of the 2030 Agenda offer a blueprint to strengthen fair, participatory, inclusive and transparent green recovery efforts in the Eastern Caribbean. In that regard, ECLAC is pleased to partner with OECS to support OECS Member States underpin sustainable environmental stewardship in a post COVID-19 world,” said Ms. Bárcena.

    “The OECS has been a consistent proponent that sustainable development in the Eastern Caribbean is based on responsible decision-making, which considers not only the economic benefits of development, but also the importance of pursuing a balance between economic growth, social well-being and the health of the environment. This partnership with ECLAC for promotion and implementation of the Escazú Agreement provides an excellent platform and framework for advancing the aspirations of our Small Island Developing States,” said Dr. Didacus Jules.

    The ECLAC-OECS Enhanced Programme of Action on the Escazú Agreement will have a renewable duration of three years.

    More information in https://www.cepal.org/en/escazuagreement.

  19. WURA-War-on-U Avatar
    WURA-War-on-U

    Can anyone answer me, why, why, why…do your halfassed leaders ALWAYS begrudge people who give service to the country their appointments and that is only when they are refusing to pay them their earned salaries on the regular and outright..

    …..WHY…these same clowns do not even want to make a sacrifice of cutting their BLOATED SALARIES….for doing little and hiring consultants with taxpayer’s money to do everything for them, so why must they begrudge those who actually work without hiring consultants to do it……..IT’S THEIR DUE…

    ….wuh i remember as far back as the mid 2000s they would refuse to pay the nurses on time, there was no recession and all of the ministers back then were boasting about being millionaires…..and as recently as last year this was still happening, when they are not refusing to pay them they refuse to appoint them, both governments wear these crimes against workers as a badge of honor..

    “health care workers received their long-awaited appointments yesterday.

    This was revealed after Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley, Minister of Health and Wellness Jeffrey Bostic, other ministry officials and acting general secretary of the National Union of Public Workers (NUPW), Delcia Burke, met at the Lloyd Erskine Sandiford Centre.

    The meeting was held as nurses and other staff walked off the job at the Winston Scott Polyclinic in Jemmotts Lane and the Branford Taitt Polyclinic on Black Rock Main Road, and others staged a sickout at the Geriatric Hospital, Beckles Road, all in St Michael.

    Burke, who outlined the issues, said environmental health officers and environmental health assistants who were finally appointed had in some cases been acting in those roles for up to 15 years. She could not at the time say how many were affected. (TG)”

  20. WURA-War-on-U Avatar
    WURA-War-on-U

    Ah could swear a fowl was asking me about Dale, Payne and Mia’s UK friend just recently. Be careful what ya ask for.

    https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=1330213873854815&id=100005986451739&sfnsn=scwspwa&extid=SLgJZPAStk0JeurW&d=w&vh=i

  21. Tron Avatar
    Tron

    WARU,

    Your friend really needs medical attention.

    First you only notice it yourself, then the others too, then only the others.

    Your Youtuber is in her final stage.

  22. WURA-War-on-U Avatar
    WURA-War-on-U

    Me thinks ya got that one wrong, the final stage is the shite BLP has been doing to the Black populi for decades….and it’s manifesting into their own ruination…reaping what they sowed….check out all the scandals one after the other and never ending, it seems every two days there is another one….scandals are about them and them only, don’t see anyone else being named…

  23. WURA-War-on-U Avatar
    WURA-War-on-U

    Bajans from the 1800s have always funded the water works, so why are they still paying water bills and not getting any water in a lot of parishes…in the 21st century.

    https://www.facebook.com/groups/269202760462518/permalink/545531806162944/

  24. David Avatar
    David

    Wage cut not a solution

    By Professor Michael Howard

    This article puts the case for increased shortterm central bank lending to Government, or money creation, in the context of the very severe COVID-19 crisis.
    I also want to rebut the argument advanced in some quarters for a large public sector wage cut, which seems to have been supported by a recent Daily Nation editorial.
    Further, my analysis also refutes a view in the
    Weekend Nation editorial that Central Bank lending to Government, or “printing money” in the very short run, is not a “viable option” in a severe crisis.
    Central bank lending to Government, sometimes known pejoratively by most politicians as printing money, can constitute a component of “counter cyclical policy”. This policy is required in very severe economic crises, in order to pump liquidity into the economic system and arrest the economy’s descent into deeper recession. It is therefore an anti-recessionary policy.
    Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley referred briefly, but without much theoretical elaboration in one of her speeches, to “counter cyclical policy”. But I believe the public is not familiar with this term. However, a massive public sector pay cut, or even “Forced Saving” by whatever means, contradicts the concept of counter cyclical policy. A public sector wage cut removes liquidity from an economy in very deep recession, and can be considered a pro-recessionary policy.
    Payment crisis
    A little history is good. I had recommended a public sector wage cut in the Sandiford era in the 1990s. But the economic circumstances then were fundamentally different. Barbados had a balance of payments crisis, and we had almost run out of foreign reserves. I argued then that a large public sector wage cut was a partial alternative
    to a devaluation. This is fundamentally different from our present case, characterized by a collapsed tourism industry, massive unemployment, very large claims on the National Insurance Fund,(NIS), and great suffering among lower income groups and the middle class.
    The economic fallout of the COVID-19 crisis, the worst crisis in post-World War II Barbados, requires “counter cyclical policy”, not a massive public sector wage cut or the nebulous “Forced Saving”. Counter cyclical policy increases the nominal money supply, in the context of depressed aggregate demand. It also increases liquidity and eases constraints on businesses, thereby helping to create conditions for increased sales and employment. “Counter cyclical policy” is therefore expansionary. It is the required policy at this time.
    Contrariwise, a public sector wage cut or “forced saving”, whatever that term means, is recessionary. Furthermore, most of the public sector workers will have to struggle at very short notice to repay mortgages, repay car loans, pay rent, service credit cards, and many of these have reached their maximum loan ceiling.
    Further, cutting these salaries would put additional financial pressure on the banks who would become more restrictive in their lending policies. Non repayment of bank loans would lead to a higher level of bad debts in the banking system, and frequent foreclosures would follow. All of these factors will deepen our present rough recession and push people further below the poverty line.
    I conclude here by saying that a large public sector wage cut or “forced saving” at this time is an inappropriate policy, and will create great human suffering, in addition to what we are experiencing now.
    Professor Michael Howard is an economist and former lecturer at the University of The West Indies, Cave Hill.

    Source: Nation newspaper

  25. David Avatar
    David

    Heads talk ‘forced savings’

    Government’s high-level economic team led by Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley have been locked in negotiations for the past week with members of the Social Partnership, discussing what is being referred to as “forced savings” in the Civil Service.

    A source told the Sunday Sun that heading the salary cut negotiations were Dr Kevin Greenidge, Senior Economic Advisor to the Barbados Government; Dr Clyde Mascoll, Chief Economic Counsellor to the Prime Minister; and Avinash Persaud, Special Advisor to Government.

    Illegal

    They are being assisted by Ian Carrington, Director of Finance and Planning; Ryan Straughn, Minister in the Ministry of Finance, Marsha Caddle, Minister in the Ministry of Economic Affairs and other senior officials from both ministries.

    The term “forced savings”, the source said, was being used by Government since it is illegal to cut the salaries of civil servants.

    The source said the meeting was adjourned on Thursday but would continue in earnest tomorrow.

    However, the source revealed that those involved in the negotiations, including the trade unions and the workers’ bargaining unit, had been sworn to secrecy.

    After a recent meeting of the Social Partnership, Mottley announced the option of forced savings was being explored as an alternative to job cuts in the public sector.

    Opposed option

    Opposition Senator Caswell Franklyn last week and said he was opposed to the option. He said the idea, which in principle, required giving public servants a percentage of their salaries in bonds or some other instrument, would result inworkers carrying a disproportionate share of the economic burden.

    Franklyn said that if this prospect materialised, some civil servants would be left with no disposable income. He also said he believed the pain would not stop at public workers, as he believed the mention of such alternatives to address the economic fallout due to COVID-19, would also green light the slashing of the “already low” salaries in the private sector.

    Last week, a document titled Discussed Salary Cuts For Civil Servants was leaked on social media. It indicated that individuals in the salary range of $36 000 to $50 000 would receive a seven to ten per cent cut; those earning $51 000 to $99 000, a 15 to 20 per cent cut and those getting $100 000 and above 20 to 25 per cent cut. There was a two to three-year limit involved.

    However, the source said that was a proposal submitted to the Prime Minister by a senior member of the team but it was rejected with orders to go back to the drawing board.

    The last time civil servants had a salary cut was the controversial eight per cent cut in 1991, under the Erskine Sandiford led Democratic Labour Party administration, as part of its austerity measures.

    This led to much outcry from public workers and the trade unions.

    It then resulted in the largest industrial action ever with a massive march of 20 000 workers through Bridgetown on November, 4, 1991.

    Public Officer, Gladwyn King also legally challenged the reduce salary through a constitutional motion but this was dismissed at the High Court, the Appeal Court and the then Privy Council.

    However, when the Barbados Labour Party took over in 1994, one of its first orders of business was to restore the eight per cent to salaries as well as pass a constitutional motion that would prevent any future Government from cutting the salaries of public servants.

    It is understood that the International Monetary Fund which is involved in a four-year programme with the Government, would be apprised of the outcome of the negotiations.

    (MB)

    Dr Kevin Greenidge (FP)

    Dr Clyde Mascoll (FP)

    Avinash Persaud (FP)

    Source: Nation Newspaper

  26. David Avatar
    David

    This is hogwash!

    Straughn defends size of Cabinet

    [caption id="" align="alignleft" width="227"] Ryan Straughn, Minister in the Finance ministry [/caption]

    A GOVERNMENT MINISTER says the performance of the Mia Amor Mottley administration over the last two years has justified her decision to put together a 26-member Cabinet along with several consultants when she took the reins of power.

    Mottley continues to face criticisms for the size of the Cabinet that some argue is a strain on public coffers during very lean times for Barbados. Late last month, retired University of the West Indies economics lecturer, Professor Michael Howard, called for Mottley to trim it in the wake of stalled economic activities stemming from the coronavirus pandemic.

    However, Minister in the Ministry of Finance Ryan Straughn has argued that the public needs to pay less attention to the numbers and focus more on the deliverables. He was speaking on CBC’s The People’s Business on Sunday night, the anniversary of the Barbados Labour Party’s second year in office following its May 2018 general election victory.

    Results

    “When one examines the results, I think one would understand that the approach we have been adopting has been working and therefore it is on that basis that we have to allow the work to continue. Obviously in a COVID-19 environment people are looking for things to cut, but the reality is that the workload is still there for Barbados and we still have to deploy people effectively in order to ensure that we can respond to the country’s needs.

    “I can tell you as a minister that even during this COVID-19 lockdown, we have all been working, and as a matter of fact, much harder than we were working before,” Straughn said.

    In the April 26 SUNDAY SUN, Howard said Mottley had no choice but to cut the “fat” off what he considered an oversized Cabinet. He had described it as the largest and possibly “most duplicated” in the island’s history.

    “It is bad if you have an oversized Cabinet in normal times where you have a lot of expenditure, but especially in times like these when economic growth is going to be negative – ten per cent drop in output – it means you have to look at that Cabinet and see how you can trim it,” he added.

    Howard suggested some ministries be merged.

    “There is a considerable overlap in the duties of the various people who are working . . . . A lot of the duties and work are not carried out by the minister; he designates work to parliamentary secretaries and other people in the ministry. I think, right now, you have three ministers in finance. Along with that, you have the consultants whose role is . . . to advise Government . . . . And it is arguable that what the consultants do, it might not necessarily need a Minister of Finance as well as a consultant out there advising also on taxation policy. All of that can fall under one minister.”

    Straughn, a first-time minister, said while people had been calling for a trimming of the Cabinet as well as the cohort of consultants as a cost-saving measure during the economically crippling COVID-19 pandemic, such a move would be ill-advised. He argued that the magnitude of the work ahead was greater than ever and therefore the large team was still very much needed.

    ‘Boost in confidence’

    “This is the reason that we have seen a lot of traction, a boost in confidence at the consumer and investment level over the course of the last two years. This is simply because we have deployed personnel, Barbadians by the way, to be able to ensure that we respond to the myriad of issues that the country would have faced when we took office. By reducing the complement of Cabinet ministers or consultants at this time will do a disservice in the context of being able to effectively carry the workload that the country faces.”

    Straughn added there was a strong likelihood that a smaller team would have been overwhelmed by the magnitude of the task.

    “We have put systems in place to ensure that we can respond to the myriad of needs that this country faces. If I may use the Ministry of Finance as an example, I focus primarily on the finance portfolio while Minister [in the Ministry of Economic Affairs Marsha] Caddle focuses on the economic affairs and investment portfolio. I can say to you that over the last two years, given the workload that I have been under, I don’t see how we could have credibly been able to engage the multilateral agencies and get the type of traction for the economy to turn around with one minister.

    “The Cabinet is structured in the way that it is because it must be able to respond and focus,” he said, noting that it

    was also a case of picking horses for courses.

    “The number of consultants that we have brought on board is to ensure that we have the best possible expertise available because the world has evolved and we need to ensure that we have specialists who know the issues and who know the players, so that we can engage because we are no longer [just] engaging with people in Barbados.” (CLM)

  27. Redman Avatar
    Redman

    Hogwash indeed.
    Self praise is no praise at all.
    Hubristic waffling is not a substitute for good governance.

  28. Sargeant Avatar
    Sargeant

    Straughn defends size of Cabinet
    ++++++++++++++
    So what was anyone expecting him to say?
    In other news , dog bites man and water is wet.

    I would steupse but someone else has the monopoly on that, so lets say I’m kissing my “teet”

  29. Miller Avatar
    Miller

    This hubristic lot are showing their true colours very early in their term of holding office.

    They think that the people can’t see that they are only there to serve their own self-interest and the people must take the devil’s hindmost.

    What a breach of that covenant of hope in which management of the people’s affairs was a promise which will be characterised by leadership by example.

    Where do these overeducated nutters really believe tax revenues- needed to pay their salaries and the fees of the surfeit of consultants and tsars- come from?

    A shaking of a fairy’s wand stored in the back pocket of Peter Pan?

    If the country’s main industry tourism is currently disabled and in the ICU with private sector businesses all under severe stress resulting in a significant drop in GDP (even before the full effects of the pandemic is felt) how can the public sector players -especially those at the top of pyramid of parasites- expect to insulate themselves in a cocoon of privilege?

    The private sector is being forced to reduce manpower numbers and trim the fat especially at the top.

    The government better get with the real programme and amend the Constitution accordingly to ‘force’ the country to start living within its economic and financial means.

    The days of sweet life are over. Karma in the form of Shylock is demanding her pound of flesh to pay the price of the conspicuous consumption and a bloated bureaucracy over the Arthur & Co years.

    According to Sandie: ‘Wunna could like it or lump it’.

  30. Lorenzo Avatar
    Lorenzo

    John 2 i agree with you as usual.This guy John A tries to portray he is heutral but when one looks at his contributions he is always quick to nitpick any decisions made by this government.You pointed out what Ms Mottley said about the ABC topic and you know he still insisting the decision was already made.As you said if the government gpes left he and others will say they should have gone right amd visa versa .As for Mariposa you were shouting to close the bordrrs tell us if the borders close and as a result businesses close and pekople lose their jobs and cannot feefd their families what do you believe will happen next?Obviously crime will spiral or is that what you wsnt? Then pretending ypu care about the poor black man.You ever heard the saying a hungry man is an angry man?How will the hospital receive medicines ete? As Enuff stated you have to balance lives with livelyhoods.It is alright for you and the gloers to run their mouths nobody voted for you to look after their affairs.In closing let me thank all the frontline workers fpr the hard work they are doing most bajans appteciate it and are behind them 100% percent.We will overcome this in the name of the lord.

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