On behalf of the blogmaster and BU household our heartfelt sympathy is extended to the family and friends of the late former prime minister Owen Seymour Arthur.
Former Prime Minister of Barbados, The Right Honourable Owen Arthur, passed away earlier today at 12.26 a.m.Starting today, Monday, July 27, due to the passing of the former Prime Minister, there will be a period of national mourning for three days. In addition, all flags will be flown at half mast.Minister of Labour and Social Partnership Relations, Colin Jordan, will be the coordinating Minister for the funeral arrangements.The Government of Barbados extends sincerest condolences to his wife, Julie, his daughters, Leah and Sabrina and his extended family.
@David
How soon we forget, why didn’t you place Joseph’s article under “Mia reshuffles her cabinet”?
@Sargeant
Thanks, that was an error.
This is the first real attempt in any Barbados publication to assess the real reasons for the removal of Trevor Prescod from the government.
As usual, the president does not see the need to explain or apologise for her actions, so those of us who are concerned must draw our own conclusions.
It is clear that Prescod was sacrificed on the altar of the Social Partnership. The author mentions the showdown between Mottley and Arthur for control of the BLP.
Some of us may remember when Arthur was scheduled to give a speech at the UWI and Prescod and a number of his associates walked in and sat in the front row, putting Arthur off.
Prescod gave Mottley undying support while in opposition, and many of his neighbours talk about her visits to his home at all hours of the day and night to discuss matters with him.
That does not mean anything if he was underperforming in his job. But, was he? Many young members of the Cabinet saw Prescod as someone they could turn to for advice and this was encouraged by the president; he was a reliable elder statesman. I understand on the |Monday night before his dismissal at the Cabinet meeting she could barely contain her anger and when challenged about her behaviour garbled some nonsense..
Further, that the president was in tears when she sacked him, according to some of his supporters, tells us that the decision was not hers. She was clearly under pressure and I believe that that pressure came from the Social Partnership and its supporters.
In the build up, over the last few months, the president made it clear, at every opportunity, that Mr Prescod did not have her full confidence. Why not? If it was a matter of a difference of style or conviction, as the author suggests, then why not give him the opportunity to resign and walk away with dignity? It is called management.
However, that was never the intention. After years of service, to dismiss a senior minister within fifteen minutes is unforgiveable. Then to add insult to injury, as the author suggests, to offer him other positions such as, according to rumour, an ambassadorship to Africa, working from her office as a bag man with a title, is meant to be humiliating. He is not John King.
What is also significant is the part played by some of the so-called Pan-Africanists and radicals in and out of the Cabinet. Not a single one has expressed public support for Prescod, or even more principled, walked out in support.
When I talk about the bullying and autocracy of the president I am often condemned. The removal of Mr Prescod in a symbolic execution says a lot about the style of the Mottley government.
The curious and concerned should look more closely at some of the policies and incidents that Mr Prescod was involved in as a minister, but with local business people and with other state bodies.
I guess we are now to be excused from being disrespectful on this blog of inane tributes.
So… before we move on I have a few more nuggets.
One, it is not my responsibility to abstain from speaking the truth about a dead person out of respect for his family’s feelings. It was the responsibility of the deceased to have lived the life that allows me to speak the truth without hurting HIS family’s feelings
Two, contrary to what DPD said, it is not at all practical to attempt to bury any wrongs done by a person at his death because “the evil that men do lives after them”.
Three, a gangster with a gun usually kills a few people and affects a few families. A corrupt politician with a pen can indirectly cause the deaths of many more people and many more families by creating the circumstances that lead to premature death.
White collar office criminals often pave the way for street criminals, stealing the resources that were meant to create opportunities for the masses. Yet somehow you guys see their crimes as forgivable and forgetable. You lambast the street criminal and pay tribute to the other kind.
PS. This is meant to be thought provoking. I have no evidence, unlike some of you if your pre-death comments are to be believed, that the deceased was a criminal. I did not like him and I did not agree with most of his policies nor politics but I did not call them or him corrupt. THAT is what I call being decent and respectful and that was my takeaway from my broughtupsy.
Not damn twist mout hypocrisy!
This seems to us to be a misguided criticism of the government.
Of course we cannot be convinced that Trevor Prescod is any worse than most other Cabinet members but to associate this level of political seniority to him, to us, appears undeserved. Seniority beyond mere years.
To believe that there could have been a conspiracy to remove him, one would first have to concede that Prescod was a political heavyweight and threatening to the corporate class. This seems hardly likely given the unprecedented power of the government, known proclivities and the lipservice which is expected to place on African issues. Issues, it is alleged, Prescod supposedly has some interest.
That such approaches could threaten local corporate interests would first require a cold day in hell given the predominant political mindset
We are unsatisfied that the removal of Nelson, in and of itself, could have created, or could ever create, such a perceived fissure within the ruling one-party regime.
More fundamentally, this Prescod must have had some sort of Damascus road conversion from those material charateristics longed associated with and has become some sort of a local polical doyen. We possess no such evidence.
Of course, theere is also a fair possibility this writer is misreading events, but we think not.
https://youtu.be/-_Jw37AOnF4
It was very good to see the 8/8 post by the blogmaster. Care to prevent covid-19 spread 👍is being taken as they honor the decease.
@Donna, on this day of his funeral ceremony let me briefly address your remark and say again let’s put politics to the side and recognize that a great Bajan is being laid to rest today … a man who truly built on the awesome legacies of Grantley Adams, Barrow, and the many others. We do not anoint him a saint, nor we do herald him a man without the blemishes of over-arching ambition which led him to unnecessarily defile others…yes… he was a quite formidable political animal but he was not by all accounts an inherently evil or corrupt person.
Dislike him all you want … that’s your prerogative. Simply give him his due on the merits of his entire life achievements as a man and as the the leader of this nation.
Now… re your remark: …contrary to what DPD said, it is not at all practical to attempt to bury any wrongs done by a person at his death because “the evil that men do lives after them”.
I did not last week nor do not now suggest we bury the wrongs of men at their death… I simply offered then as now that: “Why prolong anxieties and anger beyond his mortal realm…to what avail!…We all know Arthur was not a saint…But his soul has left this earthly realm….Let the anger and distress about and for him…be released…as we did for multiple others…we revere none of them as a saint but speak kindly of their achievements even as we note their political sins.”
At death we release the anger…or allow it to be transferred to a place of refection and introspection for future improvement and guidance … we do NOT bury or dismiss the sins. That would be a very tragic case of not being guided by history.
Deceased
EXCELLENT TRIBUTE BY E.O. DOUGLIN!
A CLASS ACT
Yes it was.
WITH RESPECT TO THE CHOIR: IT SEEMS THAT THE ALTOS AND BASSES WERE ABSENT
THE MEN MADE A MESS OF RUTTER’S “THE LORD BLESS YOU AND KEEP YOU”
INTERESTING CHOICE OF HYMNS & MUSIC
THEY OUGHT TO HAVE SUNG THE REQUIESCAT IN PACE AFTER THE NUMC DIMITTIS INSTEAD OF THE GLORIA, IN THIS CASE
A solemn and a sad day for me personally to see in my view one of our greatest Prime Ministers laid to resMr Arthur was a politician i had great respect for, especially for his ability to make things happen for the benefit of bajans.Once again condolences to his family and may he rest in peace and rise in glory.
Once a member of the BLP party for almost thirty years
Today he took his final resting place to be remembered as a professor a PM and a person who.once tongued lashed his once beloved party the blp telling them the party had lost its way
With those words he committed himself to be an independent man free from being tied to the coat tails of any party
It is very nice that our government still has the money to let so many Mercedes drive up at the state funeral.
Even if many citizens in Barbados will soon have no roof over their heads, the purchase of the Mercees at least ensures the continued employment of Mercedes workers in Stuttgart, Germany. I call this globalization, that is, redistribution from the naive masses of the South to the rich North.
Should the gratitude that Barbados owes the former Prime minister be expressed on its own merit at this time? Absolutely. And on behalf of a grateful nation the Governmenti and people of Barbados have done exactly that in conveying our thanks to Mrs. Arthur and the other family members. Requiescat in pacem.
cant be “Requiescat in pacem” please!.
“in” is still always followed by the ablative
it must therefore be “Requiescat in pace” thank you!
IT IS INSTRUCTIVE TO COMPARE THE SIMPLE STRAIGHTFORWARD SUBLIME SENTENCES RELAYED BY E. O DOUGLIN TO THE HIGHFALUTIN DIATRIBE USED BY HILARY BECKLES AT SIR EVERTON’S FUNERAL
E.O INJECTS HUMOUR INTO HIS SIMPLE SCINTILLATING SPEECH, AS HE HAS NO NEED TO IMPRESS, FOR HE KNOWS WHO HE IS, WHENCE HE CAME, AND HOW HE ASCENDED
BECKLES HAS A NEED ALWAYS TO STRUT LIKE A PEACOCK.
What if I don’t see him as a great man, DPD? What then? It was not that much of a personal dislike. If I don’t agree with his politics then how on earth would I see him as great? What are his great achievements?
Steupse.
I did not even know when the funeral was and had no intention of commenting until you addressed me.
I just do not understand you people! Lorenzo is consistent. You guys are not. A man does not become great simply by dying. One cannot decry our duopoly for corruption, lack of vision and implementation deficit and then depict its longest serving leader as great. If these people were that great so would our country be.
I remain consistent. Just another day of no particular consequence until somebody can list me a list of great acts.
SMH
@ Dr. GP at 9:53 AM
Ouch !! That hurts.!! Is it not a matter of different styles and orientation?
But yes. I do prefer Dr. Douglin’s tribute.
Some people get a chance to serve- they get a job and seek to do it. If they do it well, some say they are “great”.
Others are brighter, better, more effective, but they are denied opportunities because they are seen as threats—consequently they never get a chance to be “great”– in fact they never get a chance.
Mr Codrington, I have said what I wanted to say, and without apology.
It is not a matter of different styles and orientation, here. EO Douglin is simple sincere and humble. He ever was, and continues thus still. He is one of our best and brightest, and ever was. He puts on no ears and graces. He is just naturally a nice person. He has always been thus. and continues thus. He does not have to put on anything, because he is genuine.
Beckles is synthetic!
Perhaps the overbearance Beckles exudes comes from his preoccupation with using post-grad lexicon. This would contrast starkly with the downtoearth delivery of Douglin.
Beckles is not in Douglin’s class as an academic.Even as an undergrad in Med school “Dougla”is said to confound his teachers on the ward rounds! Ask any of his peers from HC or Mona, and they will tell you that “Dougla” was simply sincere supreme and stellar!
Sir Harry Anamunthoda and most of our teachers at Mona, spoke simple English. They were not preoccuied “with using post-grad lexicon.”
Beckles is a synthetic snob!
One uses flowery language for fun, not to impress!
I have refrained from saying anything about the late prime minister. After hearing non-stop the platitudes to his greatness, one could be forgiven for arriving at the conclusion that he was on par with Jesus Christ, such was the adulation being displayed. My position on his achievements or lack thereof are well known. I give him kudos for the infrastructural improvements ( for example widening of roads, putting in place sidewalks and making provisions for easy mobility of the handicapped). I found him wanting in his lack of foresight in forging a pathway in changing the developmental map of Barbados. Remember, he as a trained economist talked about selling land to achieve the greatest financial return. He even went so far as to say that the only survival path forward for Barbados was the selling of land. I came to the conclusion that he had to be bereft of ideas to arrive at such a conclusion. You have a leader with a paucity of ideas ( he apparently was not very keen on the sciences: he seemed to have the impression that scientist thought of themselves as Gods- for those who are wondering how I can make such a statement, the answer comes from my scientific associates who inter-acted with him at the estimate meetings).The so-called economic windfall under his tutelage was actually a mirage all centered on borrowed money which was used to fund an expanded civil service and pander to an illusion of financial and economic well being. Having realized eventually that his developmental path was one of profligacy, he borrowed a billion or so dollars to shore up the foreign reserves. He accelerated the mess that Barbados is in today. As Dr. Neville Duncan said of him, he had a golden opportunity to reshape Barbados’ economical development pathway and he flunked it. Some will be offended, they can feel free to do so.
@ Robert Lucas,
was simply playing to the gallery. Barbados underperformed the regional and global economies not only between 1994 and 2008, from 1966 to 2020.
Welcome back. You are right. It is right and proper in the days following the death of someone to be polite to their memory, and be gracious to the dead person’s family.
But people have gone over the top with Arthur. The president’s speech, in particular, was, to be polite, not very honest. For about 40myears we have had very low inflation, in fact the global economy has been deflationary, mostly imported from China.
Since 1990, the Chinese working population has increased by 240m, and since 1989, the collapse of the Soviet empire, Eastern Europe has added a further 200m workers. Now we are importing workers from Africa.
None of this have our governments been prepared for, DLP and BLP. Arthur was prime minister during the greatest global economic growth in human history, so any improvements in Barbados were just the slip-stream of this development.
We need to seriously analyse the period of Arthur’s rule. But that is not the same as being rude and brutal about him even before he was buried.
@ Robert, here is a test: take the 14 years of Arthur (year zero), ten years of Stuart and two years of Mottley, 26 years. Look at Singapore from 1965 (year zero), when it got independence, to 1991, 26 years. Look at the economic progress Singapore made in that time.
Robert LUCAS ,
Its nice to see you, although I think you are wise to stay away from political confrontation with the BU “KNOW IT ALLS” .
iF YOU DONT AGREE WITH THEM YOU ARE NOT ONLY WRONG BUT EVIL. THERE IS MUCH MERIT IN WHAT YOU HAVE SAID. YOU WILL NO DOUBT STIR UP A HORNET’S NEST, FOR. WHO THE DOG LIKES HE LICKS.
SINCE THE DOGS LICKED AND LIKED OSA, ONE IS NOT PERMITTED TO SAY THAT HE WAS NOT REALLY A GENIUS. BUT IN THE LAND OF THE BLIND, ONE EYE MAN IS KING.
GREENLAND
APES HILL
GEMS
CLICO
CSME
MONEY LAUNDERING
FBI REPORT
WORLD CUP CRICKET
These were a few of the events that occurred during his watch.
Then there was the blatantly overt political appointment of a Chief Justice.
Court’s not been doing too well now for a while!!
Gracious my foot! Polite my foot!
I have no respect for fakeness of any kind at any time.
Death is a fact of life. We all have to do it.
Wuhnuh could tell the truth about me the minute I am dead!
My son wouldn’t even be listening.
The only way I would see as improper is if I called the family up or wrote them a letter or sent an e-mail or walked up to them on the street.
Or wrote my opinion in the book of condolences.
Not exactly the great list I requested. What about the Dodds prison affair? And it wasn’t just the land he sold off for quick cash, was it?
Dr. Lucas tells it as I remember it!
As I recall my mother was driven almost to distraction by the deterioration of the QEH under his watch. The patients took it all out on the nurses. Every day I had to listen to the litany of woes. She took early retirement from a job in which she took great pride. She could not take the stress she felt in not being able to provide the standard of care she was used to providing.
You guys make me laugh! You really do.
From what I am reading, it appears that we have two version of Barbados and an OSA for each.
I do not know the man, so I cannot comment.
RE One uses flowery language for fun, not to impress!
One OFTEN uses language for fun.
I HAD A FRIEND WHO DID JUST THAT
I MET HIM IN 1979 AT THE BACK OF THE GEORGE CHALLENOR STAND DURING THE SUPER TEST AGAINST THE AUSSIES, A FEW HOURS AFTER THE NEW JEWEL MOVEMENT OUSTED GAIRY
HE GAVE THIS SIMPLE PUN WHEN HE SAID THAT THE SLUMBERING POLICEMEN “WERE CAUGHT UNDERWEARS”
SOME YEARS LETTER HE BROUGHT HIS SON TO ME FOR THE PRE-UNIVERSITY MEDICAL.
I SAID TO THE LAD “NOW DONT FORGET, YOU ARE GOING A WAY TO STUDY.
MY FRIEND RESPONDED IMMEDIATELY “NOT TO STUD”
I SAW HIM LAST AT CRICKET IN 2003 BEFORE I MIGRATED, AGAIN IN THE GEORGE CHALLENOR STAND. AT THIS TIME HE INFORMED ME THAT ONE OF MY FEMALE PATIENTS HAD TOLD HIM THAT I HAD ORDERED HER TO GIVE THE BUBBY TO THE HUBBY!”
OF COURSE I HAD SAID NO SUCH THING
I am sorry to hear of his death and offer my condolences to his family and friends.
https://www.msn.com/en-xl/northamerica/top-stories/donald-trump-s-brother-robert-trump-dies-of-undisclosed-illness/ar-BB180rwu?ocid=msedgdhp
Looks like we will have a genuine wet season.
The ONI index has finally gone negative after the first 6 months of the year.
0.5 0.6 0.5 0.3 0.0 -0.2
BWA will be breathing a sigh of relief.
Similar to 2016 when we had the “flood” that washed out the 50th anniversary of Independence celebrations.
https://origin.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/products/analysis_monitoring/ensostuff/ONI_v5.php
Could get some storms/hurricanes also.
Down to the J’s (Josephine) already.
Janet in 1955 didn’t appear till 22 September so we are more than a month ahead this time around.
Last month was bad.
Levels in the cave at Bowmanston were extremely low.
https://www.nationnews.com/nationnews/news/246451/low-blow
https://www.facebook.com/bwa.bb/videos/bowmanston-cave/2521361861523939/
Well I lived here for the fourteen years of his tenure and so I can comment.
And not a boy or a old man, especially those who did not live here, can tell me when I should!
And it wasn’t just the land he sold off for quick cash, was it? {Quote}
@ Donna
As far as I could remember, Arthur said land should reach its highest economic value.
Wuh part of that means that you was suppose to sell land?
Wuh part all this land I hear people say Arthur sell was? In St. Peter, St. Peter or Christ Church?
And who the land that wunnuh say he sell did belong to? The government or he compulsorily acquired people land and sell it?
Suppose a man had a plot of land worth, leh we say, $50,000, and he decide to grow some crops or build 2 houses and rent them out, or he lease to somebody for commercial purposes and that body build something and employ a few people. You don’t think that is letting the land reach its highest economic value?
@Donna, let me say thanks for the opportunity to slip back to this debate of ‘political and life greatness’!… And let me repeat these base levels so that we can be clear:1) It’s definitely your prerogative to disagree “with his politics”, 2) My description of the man as a “great Bajan” is a simple assessment based on his life achievements and 3) what the man achieved as our longest serving PM MUST of necessity be comprised of successful projects/programs and too failures.
1.If you determine that your dislike of a politician’s main ideological/policy positions is enough to render him or her lacking of any solid merit then so be it.
2.We all attended school and then graduated to forge a life … and there must be one from among us who becomes “preeminent”, show “markedly superior” quality or greater “skill” than peers. By all accounts this man was such a person… circumstances elevated him to be the leader of his party and then the nation and allowed him to ‘bamboozle’ us to reelect him three times in that role… so either that’s a testament of his ‘preeminent greater skill’, the marked incompetence of his opposition or the crazed fanaticism of a majority of Bajans. Whatever the reason he superseded many peers to reach that pinnacle… thus in very, very simple terms the ‘man himself’ displayed peer equated greatness.
3.Scholars will validate or invalidate dispassionately one expects what @Austin and others speak about re the economic legacy of the Arthur years… thus whether he can be described as a “great leader” is open to opinion based on the political ledger of great policies vrs ineffectively poor programs ….. That the QEH deteriorated, according to your assessment, so badly under would be an ineffectively poor program, no doubt… I do not know the details of the evolution of health matters then to render any sold opinion.
All that said I therefore find it hard to square your assessment that bloggers here are being “inconsistent” re Arthur… to refer to @Austin again…“It is right and proper in the days following the death of someone to be polite to their memory, and be gracious to the dead person’s family.”…. Gracious simply means allow the family to grieve at their personal level and put aside momentarily any displeasure towards the deceased.
I missed the Douglin tribute but did hear the interview of Arthur’s close friend and cousin who then became his political adversary, H. Benn. Those remarks was also sincerely said…. Surely folks will be over the top as that is a very natural occurrence when big name politicians die… so we listen to the friends like a Doughlin and get a glimpse of the person we may not have known and put aside the ‘over the top’ platitudes.
NO POLITICAL leader can reach the TOP without being crass and conniving and this one was no different … he also had that awesome ability called the ‘common touch’ that made paupers feel like princes and the simplest lady like a princess.
Love him or hate him… the fact is that as a son of the soil his story is impressive and inspiring and compares as “preeminent” whether compared to his many peers of very successful and accomplished men and women or to those who went before him!
That’s a simply effective measure of life… if one keeps score … objectively!
@ de Pedantic
Well said.
Steupse! Becoming prime minister etc. for me is not an achievement. Becoming a good prime minister etc. is an achievement. I don’t respect positions or titles. That is how you wind up in the state you lot are in where you currently reside.
Steupse!
And if the family members had time to read what I posted on BU I would question their priorities.
DOUBLE STEUPSE!
Damn Nation News full of Owen shit again this morning. I will salvage some of the money I paid for it by putting the black and white pages in my compost heap.
Donna?
Donna who?
Who the fcuk is Donna, any why should anyone, other than her “great” son, give a fcuk about what she thinks?
Just for Raw Bake
Tough to have a different opinion?
Guess we should all put on a yellow shirt, get in line and start marching.
Raw Bake,
I see you are first out of the gate.
No claims to any national fame. I prefer my little corner. Just a tax paying citizen exercising my right to free speech.
Don’t know why anyone should care what I think. And actually my son’s opinion IS what matters most to me.
BUT… obviously my opinion does matter to you or you would not be here cussing me for expressing it.
I am happy you won’t be here to see me adding the pictures to the compost heap. 😊
Cuss you Donna?
Where did I ever do that?
Surely you of all people on this blog know the difference between cussing someone and just cussing. This is cussing someone; Theo, are you a cnut? Fcuk you.
No Donna, I did not curse you, I just attempted to put certain things in context.
Your opinion on OSA bothers me not. Your continued pissing on a post meant for those wishing to pay respects and offer condolences is in poor taste, imho. Just saying.
Be well. 😉
Theo, thanks for the song. Never heard it before. When I was a boy at school this would have been my anthem.
Yellow shirt?
Theo, you obviously don’t know Raw Bake.
Guess we should all put on a yellow shirt, get in line and start marching. {Quote}
Or get in line and start singing bout something yelluh.
Raw Bake,
I believe these damn lies we tell are a millstone around the neck of our country.
Why should our leaders try to do any better if we are prepared to lionize them for failure and mediocrity?
Unlike you people I am not in love with being in love. You guys just seem to need to create heroes whether they are heroes or not.
Your attempts to shame me into marching to the beat of the conventional drum will fail.
Somebody has to challenge the autoresponse!
IT’S a dirty job but somebody’s got to do it! I have been a lifelong volunteer.
😊😊😊😊😊😊😊
P.S. Years ago my mother quoted the Bible at me.
“HONOUR THY FATHER AND THY MOTHER blah blah blah…”
I too quoted the Bible, “Parents, provoke not your children to wrath.”
“RUDE!” That’s what all the people in Barbados would have screamed, as she did.
My father shielded me and rushed me out of the house.
He KNEW that she had provoked me. He was logical and could always be reasoned with.
He also said that I was logical too and warned that it would cause me much trouble with people.
I NEVER FORGOT THAT. IT PREPARED ME FOR THE IDIOTIC ATTACKS.
THE “GREAT ” OWEN ARTHUR tried to remove my father from a position and failed. The Chairman he sent to do the dirty work chose to resign instead and told my father why.
When my father tried to retire, the minister in Owen’s cabinet kept him hanging on for a year, refusing to hold interviews for a replacement.
Unfortunately, none of the restructuring documents my father presented on request were ever implemented because Owen refused to take the political hit. There was a way to manage it that a little vision would have facilitated.
And by his inaction Owen allowed a state run entity with tremendous potential to serve Barbados’ interests in a crucial sector to languish nearly in the doldrums.
I know a lot more about both BLP and DLP admnistrations than I ever let on.
Something funny just popped into my head.
My favourite mystery writer, Agatha Christie, appealed to me mostly for the characters she wrote into her stories. In one book titled “After the Funeral” there was a character by the name of Cora. This Cora had an inconvenient habit of blurting out uncomfortable statements at the most inappropriate of times.
What made them uncomfortable was that everybody deep down inside, knew they were true.
Oh dear, dear me! I never thought of that before.
CHRISTIE FOREVER!
INFERIOR SUPERIORS HAVE BEEN DESTROYING , AND CONTINUE TO DESTROY BARBADOS
ONCE A SENIOR MEDICAL OFFICER OF HEALTH CALLED RONALD KNIGHT (AKA GRAVY) TOLD ME THAT DECISIONS WERE MADE IN THE MINISTRY OF HEALTH ON THE BASIS OF WHO SHOUTED THE LOUDEST. AT THE TIME BRANDFORD TAITT WAS THE MINISTER
@Donna August 17, 2020 10:01 AM “When my father tried to retire, the minister in Owen’s cabinet kept him hanging on for a year, refusing to hold interviews for a replacement.”
Your father should have just handed in his papers and left. I don’t understand why he would let a Minister bully him? Mass day dun d’ed ent it?
My last employer’s representative tried to use that trick on me. So one Friday evening I handed in my resignation letter, took up my handbag and left. i figured that they know where I live and if they had anything for me [including if they wanted to cut off my head] they knew where to find me. I know that i had been paying into NIS for many decades so I figured since I could grow much of my own food and only need about a$620 per month for a few groceries and utilities, nobody had the power to make me hold on when I was sick and tired of them and fed up too.
So I was outta there.
Absolutely no regrets.
Cuhdear Bajan,
You misunderstand me. The point was that Owen Arthur tried to dismiss a man based on political affiliation who, if would have worked well for him regardless of HIS own political affiliation. There were BLP people who could have told him that. I am certain that the chairman he sent to do the deed could have told him that. The next chairman tried his best to axe him and failed. By the the time my father wished to retire the minister no longer wanted him to leave. Finally my father told him that if he would be gone by the following Monday whether or not he sent a replacement.
One was then sent.
It was not a case of the minister bullying my father. They were on very good terms as my father is with many on both sides of the fence.
One BLP minister ran into my father’s house one Sunday, hiding from constituents who wanted their bills paid. He helped many but could not help all. He just wanted some peace that Sunday.
“They won’t think to look for me here!” he said.
These people are not monsters. Owen was not a monster. Mia is not a monster. Freundel Stuart is not a monster. They are politicians and flawed human beings.
They just need us to stand up, speak truth to power and hold them accountable because “power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.”
Instead we make angels and demons out of them.
Count me out!
Correction – who would have worked well
And before you think I am hero worshipping my father let me tell you that I am well aware of his flaws.
WOMEN!
MY mother took out her frustration on me.
Time for another pin prick.
I recall that Owen Arthur was eventually voted out because the people perceived he had become too “arrogant”.
So much for retaining the “common touch”. Didn’t quite last the fourteen years, did it?
Anybody else remember that?
Of course, not many people would have done any better. That is why places like the USA limit presidents to eight years.
Imagine “ruling the world” for more than eight years! The most benign leader could become an autocrat!
Of course, some come in that way as we see at present.
But…. they cannot do it without the complicity of the people.
Their failings are our failings.
The people long for a king!
I am waxing Biblical today, it seems.
@Donna August 17, 2020 12:42 PM “And before you think I am hero worshipping my father let me tell you that I am well aware of his flaws. WOMEN! MY mother took out her frustration on me.”
I understand now what you are saying about your father’s job.
But I am not being disrespectful when I assert that “WOMEN” were not your father’s problem.
I am big on asserting that we ALL have to own our sexual desires and our sexual actions. Unless a person is a minor or unless a person is raped, sexual actions are NEVER the other party’s responsibility.
We all have bits of [sometimes unruly] tissue a few inches below the navel. And those bits of tissue are ALWAYS [except for minors and rape] those bits of tissue are ALWAYS, ALWAYS our responsibility.
So it is not the men.
It is not the women.
It is US.
So your dad’s sexual doings were/are entirely HIS desires, HIS doings, HIS responsibility, HIS actions.
I don’t believe in the Adam and Eve thingy that she and the “friendly” serpent made him do it, as though he was somehow victimized.
Cuhdear Bajan,
That is why I called it HIS flaw.
@ Robert As far as I could remember, Arthur said land should reach its highest economic value. 🙂
Words and deeds differ. For an economist, he embarrassed me with his actions. As you correctly asked, “Where in that does it say to sell?” Leases bring the greatest value to land or property. Its why the RE Industry is so lucrative. It provides income into perpetuity
OSA also sold off much of the BNB’s shares.
What I see is our Politicians pandering to the planter class aks Private Partnership. After all, its where they get funding for their campaigns and employment for the workers and bailouts when needed.
Politicians are not looking for creative ways to govern for the benefit of the masses.
I was very disappointed with his tenure.
Who sold off ICB?
@ Robert Lucas * I found him wanting in his lack of foresight in forging a pathway in changing the developmental map of Barbados. Remember, he as a trained economist talked about selling land to achieve the greatest financial return. He even went so far as to say that the only survival path forward for Barbados was the selling of land. I came to the conclusion that he had to be bereft of ideas to arrive at such a conclusion. You have a leader with a paucity of ideas ( he apparently was not very keen on the sciences: he seemed to have the impression that scientist thought of themselves as Gods- …*
Very tragic. No one-time cash receipt can equal multiple receipts. If anyone asked me to sell a rotten apple to them I’d ask ‘what would you do with it”. It is time we folks wake up. Other folks buy and recover that cost over time and pass on to generations.
OSA’s position on sciences and Scientists is that of Joseph and his coat; why his brothers sold him.
It is a pity. West Indian Politicians do not make use of the most varied of skill sets available to them. If you are not of their elk or party or if you are going to get many accolades and outshine them, they block you.
Hello Mr Lucas missy from BIDC. 🙂
When the land was being sold to expatriates at exorbitant prices, this caused a spike in the value of land in Barbados generally, and put the price of a piece of land out of the reach of a large percentage of the populace. Surely, an economist ought to have seen that this phenomenon would result.
Sssshhh! This is a blog for praising Owen. He was an awesome prime minister. They aĺl are when they are dead. That is the convention. All dead prime ministers are awesome.
We the big people have not outgrown our childish yearning for heroes and fairy tales.
DURING THE TIME WHEN THE EXPENSIVE FAILED EDUTECH WAS IN VOGUE I COULD NOT GET TO SEE THE MINISTER OF HEALTH- NOW PM.
SO I WENT TO SEE FOOLBERT FOOL WHO HAD TAUGHT PRIMARY SCHOOL FOR 25 YEARS.
AT THE TIME I HAD IMPORTED A VERY INEXPENSIVE TOOL TO FACILITATE THE TEACHING OF BASIC ARITHMETIC. I HAD HOPED THAT GOVERNMENT COULD BUY ABOUT 100- I.E AT LEAST 1 FOR EACH PUBLIC PRIMARY SCHOOL
WHEN I JUST HANDED IT TO PRIMARY SCHOOL TEACHERS WHO CAME TO SEE ME, THEY WERE ALL ABLE TO IMMEDIATELY SEE THE BENEFITS THEREOF, BUT CINTY COULD NOT SEE WHAT HER PEERS SAW. SHE SAID SHE WOULD NOT WANT TO BE SEEN AS HELPING ONE OF HER CONSTITUENTS.
should be minister of education
@GP August 17, 2020 8:57 PM “AT THE TIME I HAD IMPORTED A VERY INEXPENSIVE TOOL TO FACILITATE THE TEACHING OF BASIC ARITHMETIC.”
Abacus?
Ball frame?
100 balls of different colors arranged in lines of ten?
none of the above
you seem to think that I am a jackass or something
every time I post you seek to contradict or talk some kind of nonsense
Not true, GP. A couple of weeks ago she thanked you for your intervention in the Ghanaian nurses affair.
As I’ve told you before, you are overly sensitive to the BU negatives.
Cuhdear Bajan, like myself, would agree with a poster who previously called her a whore when the current post merits agreement.
It is all about the current post.
When the land was being sold to expatriates at exorbitant prices {Quote}
@ GP
It was Owen Arthur that sell the land to expatriates?
Did I say that Owen Arthur sold land?
I was very accurate in what I said-as usual.
Did he oversee the selling of shares in the BNB?
WAS THAT A SMART THING TO DO?