est. 2007

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The Fool’s Mate

This week a strange development unravelled in the glare of the public. One minister stayed home and one minister went to… The eagerly anticipated Integrity in Public Life Act 2020 failed to pass the Upper House again. If it did we understand it would have died this week with the prorogation of parliament. If the…

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This week a strange development unravelled in the glare of the public. One minister stayed home and one minister went to…

The eagerly anticipated Integrity in Public Life Act 2020 failed to pass the Upper House again. If it did we understand it would have died this week with the prorogation of parliament. If the government is serious about enacting and operationalizing the failed Bill, we HOPE to see it listed on the Order Paper in September 2020 when the House of Assembly resumes after the break. Are we gluttons for receiving punishment from the political class.

What led us to this point civic minded Barbadians want to know? Was the debate designed and orchestrated to fail by hoodwinking independent and opposition Senators or were they willing participants in the show?

It is incomprehensible the government side – led by the experienced Senator Jerome Walcott and member of the kitchen cabinet – was not able to win the support of three Senators. The assumption is that Senator Lucille Moe is onboard with the Bill and not off sulking some where shirking the people’s business. Do we need to remind the political class and so called independents this Bill was recorded in the Chamber for three years before it died in the last session of parliament?

… is that if you have a good bill, then that means it will have support and opposition because the bill will actually do something. Because of this, the bill will require some negotiating and compromise. This means that you should start with the biggest, broadest bill possible because as your bill moves through both houses of the Legislature, you will inevitably have to remove or change some parts of the bill…

CAP.impact

To this blogmaster’s simple way of thinking, enacting integrity legislation is expected to be a contentious undertaking in any place. It follows the citizenry of Barbados expect elected officials in a mature setting to negotiate a final position in the interest of who they were elected to (Rh) serve. We have been trying to pass this type of law since the mid 70s . Our failure to accomplish the task exposes the political class – read Barbados Labour Party (BLP) and Democratic Labour Party (DLP) – as a disingenuous cabal.

How in heavens name can the Minister of Health Jefferey Bostic make a decision out of caution to remain isolated after receiving a negative COVID 19 test AND the Chief Medical Officer (ag) issue a medical clearance to rookie Minister Lisa Cummins to attend the Upper Chamber where the Integrity in Public Life Act 2020 was about to be voted. The minister is the the de facto boss of the CMO for crissakes.

What was the point?

How is it connected?

Minister Lisa Cummins’ apology

Minster Lisa Cummins was instructed to apologize to public criticism. Not the way she wanted to start her tenure as a new minister of government but she appears to be a smart lady and will have to wrestle her conscience if being a politician allows her to the individualist she appears to be.

The blogmaster continues to reflect … if this pandemic does not disrupt what will?

226 responses to “The Fool’s Mate”

  1. 555dubstreet Avatar
    555dubstreet

    WURA-War-on-U August 11, 2020 4:38 AM
    Marcus Mosiah Garvey was another Moses a Black Prophet who said :
    “Look to Africa, when a black king shall be crowned, for the day of deliverance is at hand”
    “Live outside the shitty city of iniquity”

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

    The blighted plight of the government yardfowl slave when they voluntarily take taxpayers money to do dirty work for politicians. Heard about this couple days ago.

    “Patrick King charged
    Four criminal charges under the Computer Misuse Act have been leveled against a 52-year-old man. One of them involves veteran broadcaster David Ellis, Station Manager of the Starcom Network.”

  3. Donna Avatar
    Donna

    Sista WURA,

    So… you are saying that your being older means that you have nothing to learn from me.

    I have always found teaching and learning to be a two way street. I bet there is no-one with whom I have spent a signigicant amount of time conversing that hasn’t taught me something. I pick up some gems from the most unexpected places. Those are the ones I treasure most.

    Whatever!

    Changing channels…..

  4. David Avatar
    David

    @Hants

    Why?

    The article is long but is a rehash. He named no names. He said nothing we have not discussed on BU.

  5. WURA-War-on-U Avatar
    WURA-War-on-U

    “So… you are saying that your being older means that you have nothing to learn from me.”

    never said that…saying that we are random people on an anonymous blog and will not know what each other need or what each other should be doing or saying…..we can be talking to half AI or bots…it’s an anonymous blog..

    8 years, i learned quite a lot of BU despite the unwillingness of some to share information..

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

    i learned quite a lot on BU despite…

    even from the fowls…..on how not to be one…lol

    we never stop learning..

  7. Donna Avatar
    Donna

    Robert,

    You have had your fun and “provided me with much mirth”. Unfortunately our sista did not get the joke.

    Nothing more to be gained. My giggles have finally stopped.

    P.S. Funny how we borrow the GP isms to make our points.

    BU has developed its own little language.

  8. Hants Avatar
    Hants

    @ David,

    You own BU.

    I withdraw my request re DONVILLE.

  9. WURA-WAR-on-U Avatar
    WURA-WAR-on-U

    Donna…it’s not about not getting a joke, i really don’t have the time to indulge…i am not only on BU and have several things going at the same time, the energy is better used for something constructive…there is not a lot of time left…

    i stopped spelling out things at least 3 years ago…

  10. WURA-WAR-on-U Avatar
    WURA-WAR-on-U

    555……it’s on.

  11. WURA-War-on-U Avatar
    WURA-War-on-U

    Donville is living the good life and don’t know it, he better don’t complain too much or he can really find out what shit is……it’s time for some to stop wanting to be politicians so they can just be world class pricks to their own people….time to settle…..

  12. Tron Avatar
    Tron

    I don’t understand the uprising of the BU opposition at all. Everything is fine here in Barbados. No waiting lists with the workmen, just spare parts are a bit scarce…

    Nevertheless, I noticed the dilapidated condition of downtown Bridgetown. Looks almost like an american “inner city”. LOL. The best thing we can do is to relocate the remaining inhabitants, blow up the entire downtown area (except for the parliament) and build a nice marina for our foreign guests.

  13. Cuhdear Bajan Avatar
    Cuhdear Bajan

    @Tron August 11, 2020 3:55 PM “…blow up the entire downtown area (except for the parliament) and build a nice marina for our foreign guests.”

    There may be people in Lebanon looking for you.

  14. Cuhdear Bajan Avatar
    Cuhdear Bajan

    Donville may well be as innocent as a newborn babe, the U.S. may well have the most corrupt justice system in the world, but I don’t believe one word of Donville’s as reported in Barbados today.

    I am not obliged to believe the words of a convict am I?

  15. Cuhdear Bajan Avatar
    Cuhdear Bajan

    @Barbados Today “The former minister said HE HAD ONLY HEARD FROM THREE MEMBERS OF THE DEMOCRATIC LABOUR PARTY WHO CONTESTED THE 20`8 GENERAL ELECTIONS WITH HIM. He declined to name them but said he understood that when one was not in politics one had few friends. “I have been treated like I had COVID-19 even before it left Wuhan Province [China]. I have spent enough years in party politics to know that when you are in office you have all the friends in the world, but when you are out, you have a plague, and my situation only makes it worse for myself and my family in particular,” he said, adding that no one from the Barbados Embassy in the United States had checked on him or reached out to him as a Barbadian. Inniss also has American citizenship.”

    I feel bad for Donville that of the 30 DLP candidates in the 2018 election only 3 have been in touch with him. S-A-D, very, very sad. But my old man, who was NOT a rum drinker always used to talk about “rum friends” that is friends who are with you only as long as the rum is flowing. Are we to believe that political friends are similar, only with you as long as the political going is good. Are we to in fact to believe that politics is a blood sport, and there are only predators and prey?

    I am here reading Owen Arthur’s obit, which he probably did not write himself, but of all the people in the DLP and the BLP and of all the people he served with in Parliament and in Cabinet only these few are mentioned by name as dear friends: Rudolph Gibson, Anthony Pickering, Tyrone Barker, Hallam Nicholls, Desmond Crichlow, Lynda Goodridge, Juliette Hall and Glyne Murray

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

    Are we to in fact to believe that politics is a blood sport, and there are only predators and prey?

    yes, with the politicians/lawyers/ministers and minority business people being the PREDATORS and the majority Black population the PREY, between them and their new found minority friends once the people elect them, they all agree on one thing only, even though they hate each others guts….ROB THE PEOPLE each and every generation and enrich themselves, no matter what.

  17. Cuhdear Bajan Avatar
    Cuhdear Bajan

    @Barbados Today “no one from the Barbados Embassy in the United States had checked on him or reached out to him as a Barbadian. Inniss also has American citizenship.”

    If as Barbados Today says Donville is a U.S. citizen, and if he entered the U.S. on an American passport, then the Barbados Embassy in the United States was under no obligation to reach out to him, because he would have entered the U.S. as an American, not as a Bajan. So if he is indeed an American then he would be within his legal rights to speak with his Congress person.

  18. Lorenzo Avatar
    Lorenzo

    Robert why are you wasting time pn the lying jackass Waru? She has been caught out lying on several occassions and refuse to admit such.Therefore Robert ignore the idiot as she spends all day and night on the blog talking the same shite everyday.

  19. Tron Avatar
    Tron

    @ Cuhdear Bajan August 11, 2020 6:01 PM

    As I said, the Don is first and foremost an American living in the USA. Therefore, he really must not complain about the US legal system. He should have asked about it before he was naturalized.

    In essence, our American ex-minister claims that he used the bribe money for his election campaign “politically” and did not use it “privately”. However, the Don ignores the fact that he would have had to finance his election campaign from his own funds without the subsidy. So the bribe money saved him at least the use of his own assets.

    If the Don was right in his logic, there would never be corruption among politicians.

  20. David Avatar
    David

    Hot on the political front
    LAST WEEK was a busy one in politics.
    From former ministers making their feelings publicly known about their removal from Cabinet during the Prime Minister’s July 22 shake-up, to the walkout by some Opposition and Independent senators triggered by the appearance of colleague Lisa Cummins, to the resignation of President of the Senate Sir Richard Cheltenham at monthend, it was all happening.
    Let me start with the Cummins confusion.
    There is no doubt in my mind that Senator Cummins did the right thing to say sorry over the controversy surrounding her presence in the Senate last Wednesday.
    That said, many were still confused as to who she was apologising to in her video message recording on Friday.
    Walked out
    Was she addressing the other senators in the Upper Chamber, particularly the Opposition and Independent senators, some of whom walked out when she arrived to debate the Integrity In Public Life Bill, 2020? Was she addressing Barbadians?
    Some people went as far as wondering if the apology was genuine.
    I am willing to give Cummins the benefit of the doubt. We don’t know intent, nor can we assume. Many will want to draw their own conclusions based on several things but the fact is, she apologised.
    Cummins faced the music and the public and said she was sorry. That is not something everyone can easily do.
    I believe it takes some heart to publicly apologise, far less for some who have to do it in private.
    That said, I, however, do believe the new Minister of Tourism and International Transport erred in her judgement, turning up at the Senate just hours after her COVID-19 test results were returned.
    While she did receive a negative result, she should have thought through her actions, recognising that even though she was cleared of the coronavirus, the optics certainly would have been at play.
    Video-recorded message
    Cummins, in her video-recorded message, said how important the Integrity In Public Life Bill, 2020 was to her.
    “Long before I even came to Government, integrity in public life was one of the key things I spent a lot of time, effort and resources on because I believe in it. I believe it is important to who we are as a people, I believe it is important to Barbados and I am deeply disappointed that we were unable to get the support of everyone around this important piece of legislation,” she said.
    While many may understand the importance of this bill, to you and others there should have been some cause for pause.
    This is politics. In a chamber with a mix of senators representing different political interests, as well as those who are Independent, good judgement should have been exercised.
    Cummins must have known that the daggers would have been out had she stepped foot back into the Chamber so soon after getting her results.
    We know that she, along with Minister of Health Jeffrey Bostic and others, including members of the media, were asked to self-quarantine

    and have COVID-19 tests done after they were among those welcoming the 95 Ghanaian nurses, 12 of whom later tested positive for the virus. Bostic made the right decision when he zoomed in on a national press conference from home, on that same Wednesday, even though he too, received a negative result. Cummins should have known that her actions would have had negative feedback. The senator acknowledged that while she usually made “proper decisions, measured and sensible choices”, this time around she had erred.
    Under microscope
    The reality for this senator is that in her new position and given this last faux pas, she will now find herself further under the microscope and public scrutiny.
    That said, it was also good to see Caswell Franklyn, the Opposition senator, who was vocal last Wednesday and making good on his promise to leave if she took her seat, accepting the apology from his colleague.
    I am almost a little sorry that Wednesday was the last sitting of the Senate before Parliament was prorogued. It certainly would have been interesting to see how this would have all played out in the Chamber now that the dust has settled and the apology made.
    The other issue that intrigued me this past week was the gall of the United States to issue a Level 3 travel advisory warning its citizens to reconsider travel to Barbados because of the risks associated with COVID-19.
    Imagine that! It hurts that the US got the jump on Barbados which really should have been in a position to issue a travel advisory against that country, given that the US has, to date, recorded about five million COVID-19 cases and 163 000 deaths.
    Minister Bostic gave his own take on the reason behind it, saying the move was “unjustified” and “retaliatory”.
    Could it really be that the big United States of America could be so petty that because some countries have listed this first world country as a “high risk” region, and understandably so, that it would now issue that advisory?
    Again, I am prepared to give that country and its top level leaders the benefit of the doubt.
    The US Embassy issued a statement last Saturday clearing the air, noting that advisories such as the one issued were par for the course in a global health crisis of this nature. It also noted that the objective of advisories like this one was to keep US citizens safe.
    This could be a blessing, especially since Barbados also needs to keep its people safe.

    THE UNITED STATES last week issued a Level 3 travel advisory warning its citizens to reconsider travel to Barbados because of the risks associated with COVID-19.

    Source: Nation News

  21. WURA-War-on-U Avatar
    WURA-War-on-U

    The island put itself in that position…still pimping tourists although that is now a waste of time and an exercise in disaster procurement….always too damn slow and low crawling….backward ministers who never put the health and financial welfare of THEIR PEOPLE FIRST…

    “Barbados because of the risks associated with COVID-19.
    Imagine that! It hurts that the US got the jump on Barbados which really should have been in a position to issue a travel advisory against that country, given that the US has, to date, recorded about five million COVID-19 cases and 163 000 deaths.
    Minister Bostic gave his own take on the reason behind it, saying the move was “unjustified” and “retaliatory”.”

    Lorenza the sheman slave…ya will soon end up like Patrick King…all of you including slave Enuff, you and el perrito ladrando….i must owe you slaves something…wait to collect, keep waiting…i don’t as a rule negotiate with voluntary slaves.

  22. TheOGazerts Avatar
    TheOGazerts

    Do we have some kind of hierarchy for bloggers.

    One man comment on a story and it draws fire.

    Along comes a similar comment from a different blogger and it is the gospel.
    ——-xx—+++

    Barbadians are also overreacting to the COVID-19 cases and a positive malaria test among the Ghanians.

    Hopefully, there are no COVID-19 cases in tourists from source countries like the US and UK.

    Hypocrisy is gonna kill ya.

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

    “Hypocrisy is gonna kill ya.”

    AND impoverish their backward asses..🤣🤣😂😂😂

    only people i feel any sympathy for are the helpless and unaware…who unfortunately will feel the effects of the minister’s incompetence the most, but the electorate knows well what they have to do come 2023.

    I saw Mia chastising people for going off on the nurses from Ghana…but she will never admit that it is a consequence of both black self-hating governments promoting the hatred of all things African, criminalizing Afrspiritualityality and refusing to teach African history in the schools, just because they are all colonial creatures only focused on self-aggrandizement, they deprived their own people of their history and now there is a manifestation of all they have done, she has the goddamn never to complain and feel no shame….

  24. WURA-War-on-U Avatar
    WURA-War-on-U

    criminalizing African spirituality…

    she has the goddamn NERVE..

    and oh yeah, not as important to me as it is to the over 260,000 BLACK BAJANS Mia LIED TO and DECEIVED with her big red bag of LIES, LYING ABOUT locking up the crooked corrupt Maloney and other minorities, LIED about locking up former ministers for corruption…..all in a bid to be elected to the parliament….we are still WAITING FOR HER CONFESSION AND APOLOGIES…

    everyone except the slaves are…

  25. WURA-War-on-U Avatar
    WURA-War-on-U

    So where did my special project and mascotas fly off to….BUs fowl slaves…

    must be somewhere plotting for me, but i am plotting too…

  26. WURA-War-on-U Avatar
    WURA-War-on-U

    Mis mascotas pequenas…las aves esclavas.

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