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Beware the Trojan Horse @Ministry of Education

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One of the many observations made about the “useless” Auditor General reports is that the obvious corruption exposed private sector players to have been involved in questionable government contracts. Regrettably malfeasance in public office is endemic to how many governments govern in the region. Some will say it is the lure that attracts members to the political class.

In 2019 there was a debated issue in Antigua around a flawed procedure followed in the acquisition of 6000 e-books for $9 million used in secondary schools. The supplier in the matter was an Indian firm, FortunaPix. At issue was a license fee per user in the amount of $5 million not brought to the attention of the Cabinet of Antigua when the matter was considered for approval. This issue reminded the blogmaster about an issue raised by the Auditor General of Barbados regarding the inability of the Barbados Water Authority (BWA) to have meters read wirelessly – 2019 Auditor General Report Provokes a Yawn.

It was reported in Barbados this week 5th formers and teachers preparing for CXC CSEC exams next month will be able to access an application known as LernPrep for free up to July 31, 2020. The supplier of the App, FortunaPIX.

Fifth-form students preparing for CXC CSEC final exams in July, now have some help thanks to a collaboration between the Ministry of Education and US-based digital education company, FortunaPIX.

Students and teachers may now access the CSEC Exam App, known as LernPrep, free of cost until July 31. The test preparatory app is a product of OneLern, a brand owned by FortunaPIX.

See CBC Barbados report – Free CXC CSEC Exam App Launched In Barbados

Here are a few questions that spring to mind to what looks like a ‘sweet’ deal.

  1. The free partnership expires on July 31, 2020. What happens next?
  2. The partnership was consummated by Radleigh Consulting…a company responsible for “business and investment” NOT education. Can Barbadians expect an explanation about the “fit for purpose” capability of Radleigh Consulting?
  3. As for FortunaPix, will they be looking to send the Government of Barbados an invoice like they did Antigua and Barbuda recently? See – https://gemreportunesco.wordpress.com/2019/02/08/an-e-textbook-scandal-rocks-antigua/

With a revenue of $21M and “island connections” it cannot be that hard for outside investors to get a foothold in the Caribbean market at this time of need. Especially with the reluctance by government to operationalize Integrity Legislation. Is this another case of all that glitters is not gold?

 

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123 responses to “Beware the Trojan Horse @Ministry of Education”

  1. Hal Austin Avatar
    Hal Austin

    @ William

    Trevor Prescod is rooted in sound politics. He is fully aware that much of what passes for government policy in terms of tax breaks, waivers, etc is in fact the transfer of wealth from the poor to the wealthy. I will be disappointed otherwise.
    He is fully aware that our ordinary primary and secondary schools are under-resourced, while the wealthy can afford private tutorials for their children.
    Many of our protestors can fully understand when whites inherit privilege and social and career advantages, what they do not fully understand is when the immediate benefactors of these advantages are black, they get confused.
    They mix up race, colourism and social status. They seem to think if a white police officer shoots George Floyd that is lynching; but if a black police officer in Barbados comes out and shoots his neighbour, that is unfortunate; or if the son or daughter of a brown-skinned Bajan get a pick as a consultant that is the price of a good education. They also like titles, Drs and PhDs, and MAs in something called political sociology from the LSE, or being lawyers.
    @Wiliam this will continue until the people say enough is enough.

  2. Greene Avatar
    Greene

    @Hal

    when you say the privately educated receiving Barbados scholarships, what do you mean? as far as i am aware, you are only eligible for a Bim scholarship if you attend a public secondary school or BCC, and they are very few private secondary schools in Bim.

    if you mean privately educated primary school students who then go onto public secondary schools, i dont see an issue.

    yes, some send their children to uni overseas but as far as i can tell except for socialisation and the option to seek citizenship, at least in the case of Canada, i dont see any advantage in that. in fact i think it is a waste of money.

    i must admit that my children were privately educated for secondary school and got first at uni in the UK and the equivalent of first in Canada. nevertheless to me they are no more educated than anyone who went to uni in the WI.

    from my personal point of view, when i left Cawmere having completed 6th form and went to the UK i knew more than many comparable UK students. it is my considered opinion that we dont know what a sound education we get in Bim. that notwithstanding we need to veer our academics toward the technical and vocational more.

    i am v proud of my education i received at Cawmere especially in 6th form where i did liberal arts subjects. even though i have degrees and other professional qualifications it prepared me for the world.

    like every human i made a lot of mistakes professionally and personally but through it all my 6th form education and the argumentation we involved ourselves in with our teachers and among ourselves are what i remember most and what have underpinned my personality and how i view the world. thank you Bim and Cawmere.

  3. Hal Austin Avatar
    Hal Austin

    @ Greene

    As any experienced educator will tell you, early years education set the foundation for later progress. The white community and the black middle class professionals nearly all pay for private tuition for their children, even though they may formally be going to public schools.
    It sets them up to pass the 11+, and with continuing tutorials, they outperform their other class mates, therefore putting them in an advantageous position for life.
    Hardworking working class boys have to struggle to keep up. I remember a few years ago the chairman of BU, in reference to Tom Adams’ son, said he had heard politics being discussed at the family dinner table.
    I benefited from Mr Greenidge’s private lessons like many of my contemporaries, and we did not have dinner table conversation in my home, but rum shop ones – more interesting and informative.
    I will never forget that intervention by the BU chairman, since it set the tone, it told us of a mindset, of how ordinary people see the middle classes and accept their bogus status.
    @Greene, much of what we are discussing now as a nation should have been discussed fifty years ago. That we are doing it now is further proof of the failure of our political leaders.
    You talk about the quality of education we GET in Barbados. I would say the quality of education we USED to get in Barbados. There is a difference.
    You may recall I mention St Giles quite often in this blog; I am sure I do not get over the full impact of that education to readers. Just thinking of J.O. Morris, the old headmaster, brings tears to the eyes. His dedication, his commitment, his empathy, to rich and poor, can only be seen now from decades later. It was at St Giles that I firsts thought I liked this education lark.
    But, sadly, I have seen younger men than myself coming on BU and rubbishing with apparent confidence, what I call old Barbados. Those old values and customs gave me enormous bragging rights with my white colleagues in the UK (including, funnily enough, the Transport Board).
    It was that education that earned us our reputation down the islands. But our bad historians do not know, or care, about our actual social history.
    I will end on this: for over 100 years we have been spending taxpayers’ money on Barbados Scholarships, but in that time has never done an audit of cost/benefit. Think about it.

  4. Greene Avatar
    Greene

    @ Hal,

    we may all be guilty of looking back at our school days thru rosy tinted lens. i went to a rural primary school and when the common entrance came up we received lessons from the school itself. we went to lessons during the Easter break for an hour or two. those days the teachers and the village awaited the results with baited breath and successful students were celebrated.

    wrt the Barbados Scholarships nowadays v few students from traditional poor background win those. yes we will find that those who could afford extra lessons and whose families are affluent enough to afford that win scholarships. sometimes the winners’ parents and or siblings were previous winners too

    whilst that is so i dont know whether i would stop it. there is a need, i believe, to recognise and celebrate outstanding results. whether that has to be in the form of fully paid for govt scholarships and mostly paid for exhibitions is another matter. at one point i was in favour of means testing for Bim scholarships and for uni education but i have since witnessed the erosion of middle class earning power to the extent that some of them are working poor.

    i have a friend whose son struck her car. when she came on the scene she cried. he had no licence and she had let his friend drive him to an appointment but on the way back he begged the friend to drive. she was crying because the insurance would not cover him and breaking down she admitted that she only had a $1000 in her account and was still paying the car loan and a mortgage. on top of that she had sent him away to college where he had partied hard and was failing.

    i say all that to say that the so called middle class in Bim is a farce. they are living on borrowed money. so i have reservations about paying for uni education and stopping the Barbados scholarship awards at least the monetary portion of it.

    to answer your question, an audit will reveal that many of them dont return to Bim but i am not sure that is a bad thing. Many, like me and i am not a scholarship winner, support family, have property, direct tourists to Bim or generally remit money to Bim

  5. TheOGazerts Avatar
    TheOGazerts

    I believe the Passaic Valley Water Commission is like our BWA. Note that these contracts are for non-competitive bidding, but they are published.

    https://www.pvwc.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/notice-of-contract-award_06_10_2020.pdf

  6. TheOGazerts Avatar
    TheOGazerts

    I believe the Passaic Valley Water Commission serve a similar purpose as our BWA. Note that these contracts are for non-competitive bidding, but they are published. Here is the link. Explore at leisure

    https://www.pvwc.com/notice-of-contract-award-6-10-2020/

  7. TheOGazerts Avatar
    TheOGazerts

    How it should be done…

    Here is New Jersey District Service Water Commission with links for Requests for Bids and Requests for Proposals

    https://www.njdwsc.com/public-info/pages/request-proposals

  8. TheOGazerts Avatar
    TheOGazerts

    I hope you noticed the transparency.

    The worst contract is probability a no-bid contract with the terms hidden from the public.

    They act as if it is their money and we are too stupid to understand how the money was spent. That is a fertile ground for corruption.

  9. David Avatar
    David

    So far from the info deposited in the public no money was passed because the App is free for a limited period.

  10. TheOGazerts Avatar
    TheOGazerts

    Thanks.
    But how does it end?
    Time will tell.
    With the absence of information we must wait snd see.

  11. David Avatar
    David

    Here is what we know, both governments have been found wanting when it comes to transparency in public office and good governance. We citizens have a right to be cynical and distrustful of decisions taken by the political class.

    >

  12. Enuff Avatar
    Enuff

    David
    I glad you have come around to realising how an app for CSEC prep is advantageous to a developer in the business of online exam prep after July 31st.

  13. Enuff Avatar
    Enuff

    Theogaz

    “Looks like the same old pattern. First he/she rushes out with a weak defense and appears to indicate a sound knowledge pf the process or lack of process of selecting a company.”

    I never have insider info, I use my lil brain. Now I repeated what David said and you talking a pile ah shite. Just when I thought you were starting to make sense. Stupse.

  14. TheOGazerts Avatar
    TheOGazerts

    Let’s agree that there are several interests with the national interest being one of them.

    If it is in the national interest then I will gladly link hands with the MDF and pursue the cause.

    If it is in the duopoly interest, we will part ways. Therefore, more piles will be headed your way.

  15. groslyn Avatar
    groslyn

    Remember reading on the US Embassy website some years ago that AmericanS should allow their children to attend primary school here but send them to attend High School in US because the school curriculum here was limited.
    Remember studying with college students at UWI and realizing unlike us they liked being spoon fed, was good at memorizing but had challenges analyzing.
    Realized that scholarship winners still focus on the traditional professions and few opt for technical fields
    Realized that SJPIT was now for students with 5 CXCs and not like before for those with a technical bent and few CXCs
    Know that the leading student lending body parameters supported students from the lower economic income level but there was always a battle adhering to this
    Recognized the perception that a degree gave mobility caused too many to study Social Work; a degree that provides little or no work mobility.
    Accept that education in Barbados does not teach the soft skills or basic financing or focus on analysis.
    Accepted this society does not like change but cliquing, bullying and mocking. Sadly the engines on our economic machine are worn and though they can no longer sustain our past lifestyle, nothing is being done to fix them.
    Scholarship & exhibition winners have strategists supporting their aspirations. Study hard with additional lessons if necessary & without having to perform a task at home to win these prizes. Meanwhile those from the lower economic income must access Cuba or Chinese scholarships. Thank God life is a journey & not a destination

  16. David Avatar
    David

    The more things change the more they remain the same?

    https://barbadosunderground.files.wordpress.com/2020/06/ruth-holder.png

  17. Hants Avatar
    Hants

    If Ruth A Holder is the wife of a BLP politician, It is completely reasonable to expect that she could feed at the trough and on the IMF fattened calf.

    However she is probably the most qualified Barbadian available so we should wish her success in her endeavours.

  18. Enuff Avatar
    Enuff

    David
    This job was advertised. Again I ask, should a Barbadian be barred from a government job because he/she is related to or married to an MP?

  19. David Avatar
    David

    @enuff

    Not at all. She must eat. All we are doing here is spotting a light on the appointment on the wife of a prominent government MP.

  20. Enuff Avatar
    Enuff

    To a job that was advertised. The husband is not a member of Cabinet far less the Minister of Transport and the woman is qualified. You realise how slippery a slope this is if we start to go down the road of degrees of separation? We always lacking context.

  21. David Avatar
    David

    @enuff

    He is the Speaker. Have no issue with if she is qualified BUT it does perpetuate the belief in the public place that it is a boys AND girls club re political class.

  22. Greene Avatar
    Greene

    lets flip this. i wonder what the commentary would have been like if this was the wife of the speaker under a DLP govt?

  23. Hal Austin Avatar
    Hal Austin

    @ Greene

    A big party of the problem is that people who may be perceived as having an improper connection with these positions must control themselves and not apply for certain positions.
    But trouble is, in a small community with limited opportunities, most senior and middle manager positions are in the public sector. It is a wider issue of ethics in public life and trust. Once the public loses trust in our leaders then everything they do, however innocent, will be suspect.

  24. Enuff Avatar
    Enuff

    Greene
    You should go flip through the latest AG Report or the news story about Mr.Parris being in custody for $3.3M Gate. Then re-think your query. Read the expert’s point in the 2nd para about smallness.

  25. Greene Avatar
    Greene

    you should flip thru the AG reports for the 14 years the BLP was in power and the issues connected with the building at the top of Kendal Hill, the GEMS project, Harwood, the half million dollar public bathroom etc.

    Parris was also close to OSA, was he not?

  26. Greene Avatar
    Greene

    @Hal,

    the BLP campaigned to fix all the so called graft, nepotism, jobs for friends and family that they said were ubiquitous in the DLP’s 10 years. MAM and the Bees promised transparency and regulations to fix all this.

  27. Robert Avatar
    Robert

    lets flip this. i wonder what the commentary would have been like if this was the wife of the speaker under a DLP govt? {Quote}

    @ Greene

    For uh intelligent man, you does always come with these simple foolish yard fowlish comments.

    You mean the same like when your Speaker khah way that old man money and refuse to answer when the man call he?

  28. NorthernObserver Avatar
    NorthernObserver

    @enuff
    “and the woman is qualified”
    for what? apart from the names of past employers, and education, what experience does the candidate have as a Director (leader) of anything, or experience in the field of transportation.
    I must say, the continuance of the GoB to locate candidates for public posts from ‘within the family’ is quite astounding.

  29. Enuff Avatar
    Enuff

    Greene
    OSA din write a false invoice implicating a QC wrongfully though. The job was advertised and the lady seems adequately qualified based on the job description in the ad. I thought nepotism is about unfairness? You want the interview panel scores?

  30. Dullard Avatar
    Dullard

    Let them eat cake.
    President Mugabe dispenses yet more largesse to the Inner Circle.
    Yet more square pegs in round holes.
    And yet yard fowls trying to defend the indefensible.

    To a job that was advertised. The husband is not a member of Cabinet far less the Minister of Transport
    Nothing to see here folks. Corruption and nepotism can only happen if a job is not ‘advertised’ or if a job falls under the direct ministry of a family connection.

  31. Sargeant Avatar
    Sargeant

    Can anyone source the ad? Just want to read the fine print where it read “ A preferred candidate has been identified” 😊

  32. Hal Austin Avatar
    Hal Austin

    @ Greene

    The president has done as she promised. Changed the constitution so that childhood friends can sit in the Senate, and gave her dad a knighthood. She is a lady of her word.

  33. Enuff Avatar
    Enuff

    Northern
    I am tired of your type of thinking. Tired! It is outdated. What are the functions and duties of the Transport Authority? What is the role of the Director and why would experience in the field of transportation be a prerequisite to effectively manage? Based on your reasoning, we should just have a revolving door of directors and managers? But wasn’t the lady a senior manager in the private sector? When it was the Exec Chair at QEH, the argument was it should have been advertised. Now it has been advertised, a different story. We need to stop masquerading as progressive thinkers. All yuh just like saying things because it sounds good. Laughbly, BU gang members are each experts in everything and know everything without an iota of experience in one. But one must have experience in transportation to head a transport authority. 🤣🤣

  34. Miller Avatar
    Miller

    @ Enuff June 23, 2020 11:43 AM
    “Greene
    You should go flip through the latest AG Report or the news story about Mr.Parris being in custody for $3.3M Gate. Then re-think your query. Read the expert’s point in the 2nd para about smallness.”
    ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

    If you think you can assign any kudos to your ‘red’ friends for the arrest of the leper Greenverbs fella you better don’t step into this nest of red ants to open any CLICO Pandora’s box.

    Even your opposite number Green(e) must shitting bricks about what has happened to his DLP friend and former financial backer Green(e)verbs.

    Will the get-rich-quick Hal the Galloping lawyer be also shivering in his tax-dodging boots?

    Thank goodness for the roles the EU and OECD are playing in naming and shaming the GoB for its blatant refusal to allow the sword of Justice to do its job.

    The aggrieved former CLICO policyholders should show a bit of gratitude to the ‘white shadows’ which have let down the gauntlet by telling the local political cabal of corruption that ‘you either make an example of one of your local scam artist and conmen or we will continue to ‘blacklist’ your country by consistently classifying you as an uncooperative tax haven.

    We are left to wonder who is next on that list of sacrificial lambs in order for the current administration to attract the ears of those holding the aces in the offshore banking and financial business poker game.

    Will it be any one connected with the Donville “Gate” affair but still receiving protection from the local political and law enforcement dons?

    We shall be contacting our ‘friends and connections’ in the EU and OECD for the low-down on this scoop.

    ‘Those who seek equity [ in the court of international business] must come with clean hands.

  35. NorthernObserver Avatar
    NorthernObserver

    @enuff
    BE TIRED. Nothing in the release, and we know these things get padded to the max, speaks of “managing” anybody, it speaks of ‘marketing’ and having held ‘senior positions’. The interpretation of “senior” seems to vary widely.
    Her linked in profile says she left MG 10 years ago, as the ‘Caribbean Area Manager’ (was she managing staff or a region?) and since then has been the Office manager at the law offices at Holder Chambers. (I will guess the other employers listed were prior to MG?) How come this most recent extended experience never made the announcement?
    DO YOUR HOMEWORK @enuff. https://www.linkedin.com/in/ruth-holder-7721a615/
    And then you are musing, that consumer packaged goods and office manager at a small law firm is easily transferable as to the head (Director in Bajan speak) of anything? transportation experience not needed.
    https://ta.gov.bb/About/Mandate/
    The Transport Authority’s primary function is to plan, monitor and regulate the public transport system in Barbados.
    Based on the provisions of the Transport Authority Act 2007-28 some of the primary functions are:
    to undertake planning for the public transport system
    to monitor and regulate the public transport system
    to issue, cancel, suspend licenses of drivers and conductors of public service vehicles
    to issue, suspend or revoke permits in respect of public service vehicles
    to restrict the use of motor omnibuses, minibuses and route taxis to specified routes
    to regulate and restrict the number of motor omnibuses minibuses and route taxis on specified routes
    to supervise the conduct of business in the passenger terminals
    to publish current information on public transport services
    to establish timetables to be observed by drivers and conductors of motor omnibuses minibuses and route taxis
    to determine the siting of lay-by and the location of bus stops for the picking up and setting down of passengers using motor omnibuses, minibuses and route taxis

    NOW, read the posting, which incidentally appeared several days BEFORE the former occupant’s departure was formally announced
    https://www.facebook.com/JobsBarbadosandtheEC/photos/director-of-transport-transport-authority/2818610458184525/

    And you are still of the opinion that intimate knowledge of the transport sector in Barbados is merely an ‘nice addition’ to management skills? That ad was written for her!!!!

    All I can say, is the general qualifications of applicants must have been ‘below average’. They must have had nuff nuff applicants based on the requirements.
    #timetoshedtheyardfowlcape

  36. NorthernObserver Avatar
    NorthernObserver

    my error, I cannot read dates, the prior holder of the position departed in 2019, not 2020. hence long before the job posting appeared

  37. TheOgazerts Avatar
    TheOgazerts

    Here are two sources for the job. The second link may require a little work on your part.

    https://www.facebook.com/JobsBarbadosandtheEC/photos/director-of-transport-transport-authority/2818610458184525/

    https://www.caribbeanjobs.com/Director-of-Transport-Job-102254.aspx#

  38. Greene Avatar
    Greene

    there is graft and then there is graft. the various assistant ministers, gurus, czars, advisers and other hangers-on can be considered nothing more than sinecures granted by MAM. so much so that it may represent legal thievery for want of a better term. it is right in your face. those who have eyes will see it. those with a bee in their bonnet with defend it.

    BTW isnt it coincidental that ministers’ wives are now the in thing

  39. TheOGazerts Avatar
    TheOGazerts

    The truth is I stopped reading him.
    However, if HA can call for the return of Mariposa, then 🙂 I must call for the return of Koochie Koo”
    @Koochie Koo, we need you more than ever 🙂

  40. Enuff Avatar
    Enuff

    Northern
    Now you’ve done your research what in the list of functions and duties makes experience in transportation necessary to be an effective Director? You are a fossil!

  41. TheOGazerts Avatar
    TheOGazerts

    ‘Now you’ve done your research what in the list of functions and duties makes experience in transportation necessary to be an effective Director? ‘

    BTW: I reached Director level at a former company. \
    Now that I am aware of your square peg to round hole philosophy and minimum qualification of a Director title at some time in life, I hope you will give TheoGazerts the nod for any Director post that I applied for.

    PS: I hope you will accept my friend’s application for DCOP. He was a horner man and claims he has ‘deputy’ experience.

    Yuh gun kill muh.

  42. Sargeant Avatar
    Sargeant

    Wuhlaus! can you spot the difference?

    Sandra Forde: Bank Manager, no experience in transportation, General Manager at TA
    Ruth Holder: Office Manager, no experience in Transportation, Director of Transport at TA

  43. NorthernObserver Avatar
    NorthernObserver

    @enuff

    read
    **Provide ADVICE on ALL aspects of public TRANSPORT policy…..
    Pray tell, how can somebody provide ADVICE, when they don’t know crappo about transportation or transportation policy.

    Tell us, is S.C.Johnson and offshore holding company, and what function did the candidate provide there?

    Imagine the Director of the TA, is only required to have FOUR YEARS of senior (whatever the hell that is) management experience. They didn’t even fabricate the typical line of “increasingly senior positions”.
    This is a sham hiring and you know it.
    All you have latched onto is my line..”OR experience in transportation”. It diverts from nothing. This is a sub-par candidate, who may well meet the low requirements of the job posting.
    keep calling me names, it looks good on you.

  44. TheOGazerts Avatar
    TheOGazerts

    i think he/she is a bright lad/lass, but too lazy to think through to a position and vigorously defend it.
    Believes that if you throw paint at a wall some of it will stick. Paint job done.

    Boys and girls “Have a great night. It was fun”.
    I demand that we bring back Koochie Koo.

    @Koochie Koo, we need you more than ever 🙂

    Have a great night Barbados.

  45. Enuff Avatar
    Enuff

    I have been on this blog pre-2018 election calling for a different mindset about how we view recruitment in Barbados. My position has not changed. The fact that folks here struggle to grasp the idea of maximising intellectual capacity by understanding that there are roles where competencies rather than experience/degree in the subject matter are key is sad. It is this attitude that fuels the constant refrain that B’dos has too many lawyers. When the issue maybe too many lawyers practising law. But hey I guess when you’re talking to retirees and political aspirants this is expected.

  46. Sargeant Avatar
    Sargeant

    @Enuff

    Spare me the selective outrage, you are just a more literate AC always ready to defend this Gov’t’s actions at every opportunity. One can understand if you stuck to policy issues but you even rise to defend its personnel decisions when someone raises a quizzical eyebrow. I recall the recent cases of the Hospital Administrator and the Deputy Comm. As they say in cricket you don’t have to play every ball and if you had let sleeping dogs lie after NO questioned the propriety of Ms. Holder’s hiring, he probably wouldn’t have dug into her resume to show all and sundry that the hiring looks even more problematic when it was revealed that for the last ten years she was her husbands Office Manager, now it appears as a typical “inside “ hire. (BTW it was “David” who alerted the blog to the hire) For that you resort to name calling, referring to him as a fossil.

    I wish there were more fossils like NO on the blog, I always find him to be informative, inquiring and knowledgeable. Speaking of retirees didn’t the Gov’t hand over the running of the Senate to a retiree? What is that saying about people in glass houses?

  47. NorthernObserver Avatar
    NorthernObserver

    The struggle isn’t to grasp that individual competency is key, the struggle is, WHO determines, WHO is competent to do what?
    What is competent? Acceptable and satisfactory? There is much ‘judgement’ involved. And it becomes a slippery slope, when a Board of Directors, many of whom are appointed by the Minister in charge, get to determine ‘competency’ in lieu of experience or degrees, and the general public sees the most competent candidate, is now for the second time, a spouse/partner of a sitting Minister. Concepts like patronage and nepotism creep into the evaluation of competency. This is not to say they are ‘not competent’, but the optics are blurry. And why governance rules in many organizations prohibit spouses (direct family) to work within the same umbrella organization. It is also highly demoralizing to other employees, when they get passed over, and the most obvious competency is whom the new boss shares a bed with, or is related to.
    Mind you this happens the world over, most however, try to be more discreet. Particularly positions which have few measures of performance.

  48. Miller Avatar
    Miller

    @ Enuff June 23, 2020 9:02 PM
    “It is this attitude that fuels the constant refrain that B’dos has too many lawyers. When the issue maybe too many lawyers practising law.”
    ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

    You come over always, on BU, as a man with his fingers in (too) many political pies.

    So how come you are refusing to tell the BU family which ‘lawyer’ acted as the complainant (as required by the CoP) leading up to the arrest of your friend Greenverbs Parris?

    It certainly can’t be any of the AGs, can it be?

    Was it you then, Enuff the man of many talents by using the Crimestoppers Hotline?

  49. Hal Austin Avatar
    Hal Austin

    @ Sargeant

    It takes a particular person working for a PR and marketing firm in New York which employed only two black people, an Antiguan graphic artist and a Bajan, and felt so proud about this that he boasts about it.
    Ordinarily any decent black person would ask serious questions about such an employment policy. But, no, he felt even more special when he was asked to chair a conference of a large number of people (dozens? Scores? Hundreds?) to be the only black person in the room.
    But, thanks to Google, he (I think he identifies as a he) is informed about everything.

  50. Hants Avatar
    Hants

    @ Sargeant,

The blogmaster invites you to join the discussion.

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