est. 2007

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Mystery @National Insurance

Mia Mottley exerted her prerogative as prime minister in the system of government we practice by making a few changes to her Cabinet last month. Two of the changes included the promotion of two chairmen of statutory boards Senator Lisa Cummins and Ian Gooding-Edghill. Both individuals have distinguished themselves as competent, hard workers with a…

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Mia Mottley exerted her prerogative as prime minister in the system of government we practice by making a few changes to her Cabinet last month. Two of the changes included the promotion of two chairmen of statutory boards Senator Lisa Cummins and Ian Gooding-Edghill.

Both individuals have distinguished themselves as competent, hard workers with a capacity and resolve to get the job done. I have been impressed with their stewardship in their respective roles as chairman of the National Insurance Scheme and the Transport Board, in the case of Gooding-Edghill… Mottley said.

Nation Newspaper

The promotion of Ian Gooding-Edghill piqued the interest of some including the blogmaster. On paper he is/was responsible for the influential NIS and problem riddled Transport Board. We cannot be sure of the performance metric used to determine how he has “distinguished” himself in the dual role. However, as a concerned citizen the blogmaster must evaluate from an armchair distance. In a simple summary the blogmaster has not observed any gargantuan shift in the performance of the National Insurance Scheme if a most important metric is applied- the production of current audited financial statements. Audited financial statements are important because it provides a comfort level to the public through the eyes of a qualified external agency about the financial health of the Fund. The failing of successive governments to remedy the situation points to a systemic problem that should concern an ageing society.

The raging pandemic has serve to make a bad situation worse given the stress currently being exerted on the NIS and will for some time to come. Although Ian Gooding-Edghill has uttered mouthings in an attempt to assure the public the NIS is solvent. His voice cannot replace the independent assurance of the external auditor.

http://www.nis.gov.bb/we-are-working-for-you/

Two observations continue to puzzle the blogmaster. The avoidance of the normally loquacious prime minister Mottley when it comes to discussing any and everything under the sun. The recognition of Gooding-Edgehill given the current state of the NIS. Until we are told what measures have been implemented at the NIS under his tenure a sensible public must assume was business as usual.

Mottley and government may miss the irony that despite its focus on the economy – supported by an army of ministers and consultants – it has been the other ‘issues’ that have been clipping at the political heels.

96 responses to “Mystery @National Insurance”

  1. Artax Avatar
    Artax

    @ NorthernObserver

    Perhaps its Hopefield.

    Hahahahahahaha!!!

    https://rum.cz/data/labels/bb/img/bb1.jpg

  2. NorthernObserver Avatar
    NorthernObserver

    Artax
    you and Skinner must be neighbours?

  3. Mariposa Avatar
    Mariposa

    Once again sad news an eleven year old stab his sister and she is in critical condition at the QEH
    The stress and burdens of this economy placed on the shoulders of people would not even escape the young
    However we have a PM in pretentious gladiator style prancing up and down on TV singing the praises of Barbados
    Hopefully her eyes would soon wake up to the realities that are on the ground

  4. NorthernObserver Avatar
    NorthernObserver

    on a more serious note….”that despite its focus on the economy – supported by an army of ministers and consultants”
    I will argue the focus has never been the economy. They did what was needed to stay afloat. After that, it is all politics. The army of Ministers is political, not economic. Most of their implemented efforts have been band aids, targeted at not rocking the political boat. It has been political business as usual. Now the hiatus. And I ‘believe’ the next IMF report is due shortly before Parliament resumes? We haven’t seen much recently from the IMF to suggest how they are handling Covid, but we know they are at the helm.

  5. Artax Avatar
    Artax

    @ NO

    No, Mr. Skinner and I are not neighbours…… but, it would be good if he were, I would be able to learn a ‘thing or two’ from him.

    And, unlike him, I prefer single malt Scotch ‘on the rocks’……. Glenfiddich, Glenmorangie 12 or Glenlivet 18.
    ++++++++++++++++++++++

    “The stress and burdens of this economy placed on the shoulders of people would not even escape the young…”

    So, the stress and burdens of the economy caused an 11 year old boy to stab his sister???

    Being an overly melodramatic political ‘spin doctor’ is your method of bringing balance (and sophistication) to BU?

    You must be vying to be the female version of Tron.

  6. Mariposa Avatar
    Mariposa

    Dont worry about what i am vying for
    Look at the statistics and data of crime and violence in the past months then wheel and come again.
    If you think that the pain and suffering of the economy of barbados exempt children from stress
    You are making a terrible mistake
    The poor poverty levels rise
    The more crime increases and children become part of the free fall

  7. Artax Avatar
    Artax

    “The statistics and data of crime and violence in the past months’ gave you a clear indication “that the pain and suffering of the economy of barbados (has not) exempt children from stress,” which you’re essentially suggesting is responsible for an 11 year old boy stabbing his sister?

    Rather than spewing your usual broad, generalized statements, perhaps you may want to provide BU with your stats for our perusal, so we could see if poverty is the main factor that causes people to commit violent crimes.

    Otherwise, we will have to conclude you’re presenting alarmist, political hogwash.

  8. Greene Avatar
    Greene

    @Artax

    i asked a question and you getting huffy. you have to learn to relax, banna.

  9. Hal Austin Avatar
    Hal Austin

    @Mariposa

    Empirical evidence does not tell us very much about crime causation. It says more about the people collecting the so-called evidence. Where are the Barbadian criminologists? What we do know is that poverty is the main cause of some forms of crime.
    You may not recall, but a few years ago a young white man was arrested on suspicion of arson. Whatever happened to that case? And a father and son, a lawyer, were questioned for beating a young black man fora walking in their neighbourhood. Whatever happened to that case? These, are just two statistic of alleged violence. What about the savage goons who walked in tot the boutique owned by the black woman in Speightstown?
    Some experts, such as neuroscientists, have given other explanations, especially for teenage crime. If there was any easy answer there will be very little crime.

  10. Greene Avatar
    Greene

    @Hal,

    the balkanisation has started already. Husbands by Queens College is highly prized by Indians. when zoning starts it might become known as Indira Ghandi College.

    the whites too have their enclaves. the black middle class theirs and of the course the muslims opposite the said QC compliment of my DLP.

    i am on record as saying that all racial groups should all get involved in politics. why not?

    if we give the initiative someone will take it up.

    just the other some people were calling for a black day of shopping and they were roundly criticised by blacks. tell dat to Indians and Syrians

    so we must endure whatever comes our way from these developments.

    we know the problem but we bury our heads in the sand whilst certain entrepreneurs facilitate the guns with which we kill ourselves and MAM chastises the public for speaking out about Ghanaian nurses but is MUM about murders.

    we deserve it.

  11. Mariposa Avatar
    Mariposa

    So far 28 murders
    Not to mention decomposing bodies found in strategic areas
    Btw how is it that almost three months after a soldier was shot no criminal arrest has been made

  12. Hal Austin Avatar
    Hal Austin

    @ Greene

    I have no desire to change Barbadian society. The people must make that decision. My role is to make them aware of the reality of how society is drifting and the likely consequences. That is the only reason I tolerate nonsense on BU. There is a bigger picture.
    I think some people on BU forget that I am a Barbadian too. I know how Barbadians stubbornly respond, it is learned behaviour, a collective psychological condition.. I hope that future generations will see that at least some of us tried to make a difference.
    I agree with you on political change. Traditional black and white Barbadians have to reach a settlement; we may not be best friends or invite each other to dinner, but for the sake of Barbados, and ourselves, we much have a rapprochement. The alternative is too horrifying to think about. Ask those black domestics trapped in Lebanon.

  13. Greene Avatar
    Greene

    @Hal,

    i suspect the bajan whites dont give a shiite. they have the buffer between themselves and us that Tom promised when he said that he wanted Bim to be more cosmopolitan.

    as usual we are too deaf to see

  14. Tron Avatar
    Tron

    I really don’t know what kind of race theories you all throw up. In the gated communities in Barbados, native whites, blacks, mulattoes, Indians and expats live peacefully side by side. I suppose this problem of segregation occurs mainly in the “inner cities”, “townships” of our Royal Island.

  15. Hal Austin Avatar
    Hal Austin

    @Greene

    I think you are right. It is false comfort, backed by small arms. But if there is an outbreak of social unrest that cannot save them. It will take the BDF to come to their rescue – black working class men and women shooting at their brothers and sisters and neighbours.
    We already know the white (creole) Bajan so-called business class are just as incompetent as their black counterparts, that is why the clever Trinis have moved in.
    Young Bajan whites are moving out to Canada, Australia, a few in New Zealand, and as I have said, 10000 in the UK. They will bring the kids to see their grand parents occasionally, otherwise Barbados is a bad memory..
    The Europeans and North Americans are not interested in Barbados apart from laundering money and for offshore bank accounts. On the other hand, the Asians, Lebanese/Syrians and the few coffee-coloured Latinos want to stay and make Barbados their home. That is the future frontline.

  16. Lorenzo Avatar
    Lorenzo

    Mariposa you return with your political rubbish? I do not know why the blogmaster reinstate you on this blog.Nobody except Hal Austin missed your shite talk and far from you coming back Austin should joined you in exile for his lack of respect for David BU.My advice go back in exile.

  17. Mariposa Avatar
    Mariposa

    Lorenzo i must be doing something right that i got u all worked up
    When i wasnt here you guys got a free past to talk about any and everything expect Mia dismantling of the economy and robbing the poor to make the rich richer
    Btw i was hanging out on other social media platforms which are many years ahead in variuos discussions u like BU who is stuck in a time warp of repetitive revolving shop talk discussions
    E.g Gazzert he still belives this is 1960 when there was 1 radio station and no internet
    Hence i chuckle when responds with the words ” no traction”
    See what i mean David had devise a plan for the reader which keeps them heading down the same dam rabbit hole day after day a plan to do with having a hands off approach to Mia
    But not me i dodged that rabbit like a mad hatter

  18. TheOGazerts Avatar
    TheOGazerts

    🙂
    Not bad at all. The ‘one radio station an no internet’ is a clever line.
    You mad hatter
    🙂

  19. Mariposa Avatar
    Mariposa

    Gazzert yuh think so
    Glad to see yuh wakening up cause for a while i thought yuh had gone to sleep
    Btw some one just made me a deal
    Telling me i can make 5000 dollars in 42hrs
    I told them i have to check with u my financial advisor
    So what do yuh think
    Good or bad deal

  20. William Skinner Avatar
    William Skinner

    @ Artax
    “ And, unlike him, I prefer single malt Scotch ‘on the rocks’……. Glenfiddich, Glenmorangie 12 or Glenlivet 18.”
    No problem my son will join you . He drinks that stuff. I’ll stick with any good white rum from any island.

    @ Northern Observer
    I will learn something from you as well. What’s your drink of choice? We are all neighbours .
    👍🏾

  21. TheOgazerts Avatar
    TheOgazerts

    I admire your effort and tenacity.
    However, I could not encourage you to flog a dead horse.
    There are a lot more issues that you can focus on as even the faithful is beginning to falter.
    ————————xx———————————–
    The only financial advice I can give is “Take the money and run”

  22. Mariposa Avatar
    Mariposa

    Any and every horse dead or alive is worth a good a.rsee kicking when wrong is wrong
    If yuh dont like the arsee kicking the horse getting
    Tek out of stable and find anothet paddock to house it
    Cause i aint easy when i kick a rsee

  23. Cuhdear Bajan Avatar
    Cuhdear Bajan

    When I read Hal, I am reminded of Enoch Powell’s “rivers of blood” The savage black men from the West Indies would come and violate British society. And what did those savage black men from the West Indies do? They married the British lasses. There were no “rivers of blood” except when the English lasses went into labour to deliver their half West Indian babies, and once the labour pains and the bleeding was done,they like Hal lived happily after. The END

  24. Cuhdear Bajan Avatar
    Cuhdear Bajan

    @Mariposa August 12, 2020 12:45 PM “Once again sad news an eleven year old stab his sister and she is in critical condition at the QEH. The stress and burdens of this economy placed on the shoulders of people would not even escape the young”

    So Mari, when Cain stabbed it was Mia’s fault too?

    Because it couldn’t have been poverty or over crowding. The world was resource rich, rich enough to satisfy the basic needs of 8 billion people, plenty of room for people to move around, and yet murder?

    Why?

  25. Cuhdear Bajan Avatar
    Cuhdear Bajan

    Abel

  26. Robert Avatar
    Robert

    My role is to make them aware of the reality of how society is drifting and the likely consequences. That is the only reason I tolerate nonsense on BU. There is a bigger picture. I think some people on BU forget that I am a Barbadian too. I know how Barbadians stubbornly respond, it is learned behaviour, a collective psychological condition.. I hope that future generations will see that at least some of us tried to make a difference. {Quote}

    I wonder what the future generation gine say when they read how stubbornly HAL AUSTIN does respond to other BU bloggers that don’t share the same opinion as him, by calling them savages, wild barking dogs, wild beasts that should be in the jungle, billy goats, keyboard warriors, appallingly ignorant brain dead semi literate buffoons that learn by rote?

    Or when yuh come here arguing that Elite was one of the bus companies the government take over in 1955 to form the Transport Board.

  27. NorthernObserver Avatar
    NorthernObserver

    @WS
    Rum with a good splash of coconut water. I prefer amber, but have been know to drink many kinds. The company and the chat are more important

  28. Ironside Avatar
    Ironside

    @David
    re. Phartford Files
    Will the blogmaster be kind enough to explain why neither of the two articles I submitted re. the influence of the Chinese in this region – the first as far back as July 19 – have NOT been posted to date?

  29. David Avatar
    David

    Have not received any articles.

  30. Ironside Avatar
    Ironside

    @ David
    In that case, I just remedied that.

  31. David Avatar
    David

    Found it, went to spam.

  32. Ironside Avatar
    Ironside

    OK. If you find the earlier one on Dominica (July 18/ 19) just ignore it.

  33. David Avatar
    David

    More than three embedded links go to spam.

    >

  34. Mariposa Avatar
    Mariposa

    This should make a good read for bubbleheads like Gazzert

    https://barbadostoday.bb/2020/08/13/bteditorial-what-an-unhealthy-tangled-web-we-weave/

  35. TLSN Avatar
    TLSN

    @ Greene & Hal,
    Your countryman are either blissfully unaware of the demographics that are re-engineering our country; or they are totally apathetic.

    Cudhear Bajan seems sadly detached from the voice of reality. She indulges us with her perceived and high pitched liberal voice. Yet, she remains unconscious as to the harsh realities of the difficulties faced by her fellow African brothers and sisters outside of Barbados.

    At some point there will be a rupture in Barbados between the governed and the so-called political and social elite. It would be a battle that the latter group would lose decisively.

  36. Hal Austin Avatar
    Hal Austin

    @TLSN

    We are the canaries in the mine. They cannot say they have not been warned. Normally, what sensible people do is act cautiously. In Barbados they simply want to party.

  37. Mariposa Avatar
    Mariposa

    Barbados Today seems as if it has enough of the govt incompetence
    The BT editorial hit all the right points in their scathing article
    Kudos to them

  38. William Skinner Avatar
    William Skinner

    @ Northern Observer
    “ August 13, 2020 12:26 AM

    @WS
    Rum with a good splash of coconut water. I prefer amber, but have been know to drink many kinds. The company and the chat are more important”
    Can’t beat coconut water as a chaser .
    Go easy and enjoy!
    Thanks for your response.

  39. TheOGazerts Avatar
    TheOGazerts

    @WS
    @NO
    You can thank me later.
    Nothing beats a rum and coke …

  40. TheOGazerts Avatar
    TheOGazerts

    https://barbadostoday.bb/2020/08/13/all-government-offices-to-close-at-noon-tomorrow/

    Let me be the devil’s advocate and oppose only for the sake of being the opposition.

    This closing of government offices for the sake of attending the funeral of OA is an ill-conceived idea. We should honor the man, but at the same time we should be against any action that is a threat to social distancing. In this COVID-19 era, the general public should be asked to stay away from the funeral.

    Keep up you guard at all times.

  41. Hants Avatar
    Hants

    @ All you imbibers.

    Nothing beats the drink that you prefer.

  42. Cuhdear Bajan Avatar
    Cuhdear Bajan

    @TLSNAugust 13, 2020 7:48 AM “Cudhear Bajan seems sadly detached from the voice of reality. She indulges us with her perceived and high pitched liberal voice. Yet, she remains unconscious as to the harsh realities of the difficulties faced by her fellow African brothers and sisters outside of Barbados.”

    Stupssseee!!!

    Just because i don’t agree with wunna misogyny and racism?

    How you know my voice high pitched?

    How you know I liberal? Aren’t all political parties in Barbados some kinda liberal parties? But which have to exist in a rampantly capitalist world. Sigh!

    @TLSNAugust 13, 2020 7:48 AM “she remains unconscious as to the harsh realities of the difficulties faced by her fellow African brothers and sisters outside of Barbados.”

    And how do you know this? How do you know that I am unaware? You know that I have literal brothers and sisters and friends too who have lived and worked in dozens of countries. You think we don’t talk? You think that I don’t listen? I told Hal that like him our family likes marry out. How you know we haven’t married out to virtually the whole Caribbean and to Africa and Asian too?

    Looka when you int see me here, it is because I am working on behalf of our African brothers inside and outside of Barbados. Sometimes the African brothers are even in my home. Were it not for COVID19 some of the young African brothers would be in my house all like now, and I would just have finished the pot, and we would sit and eat and talk and listen.

    You think that at nearly 70 I waiting pun you and Hal to lead or mislead me? You don’t think that I think, talk, read, travel, and listen?

    But when it comes to referring to other human being as “breeding like rabbits” I am NOT with you, partly because MY OWN MOTHER who had a large family when she was young and frequently pregnant was referred to as “down there breeding like a sow pig”

    So when you start referring to human women as breeding stock ya lost me, because in my time my own mother was referred to as breeding stock. However she was actually an excellent mother. One of the very best. Raised all of her own children in her own home, and raised some not born to her also, some fathered by nasty misogynistic Bajan men who did not even have the decency to tell her thanks.

    So if you think that I have”a high pitched liberal voice” so be it. We are all shaped by our experiences.

    You too.

    Me too.

  43. NorthernObserver Avatar
    NorthernObserver

    @TheoG
    Did you ever notice Coke changed its formula? In your country, at least in the southern part, they sell Coke in glass bottles, known as ‘Mexican Coke’. Coke made with sugar and not fructose syrup. Huge difference in the taste. And price.

  44. The Phartford Files: Aliens Among Us Part I | Barbados Underground

    […] have lost their jobs; over 70 million paid out in unemployment benefits to date (See the article: https://barbadosunderground.net/2020/08/09/mystery-national-insurance/) on this […]

  45. William Skinner Avatar
    William Skinner

    TheOGazerts August 13, 2020 6:06 PM

    @WS
    @NO
    “You can thank me later.
    Nothing beats a rum and coke …“

    Still the number one mix drink . Not my thing. I somehow prefer the good old straight up white like the old timers with a little ice water following as needed. In recent times a splash of cranberry juice.
    We have to agree that rum and coke is still the popular choice. 👍🏾

  46. David Avatar
    David

    No man!

    One of the boys.

    Haynes new NIB chairman
    QUEEN’S COUNSEL Leslie Haynes is the new chairman of the National Insurance Board (NIB).
    Haynes, who previously served as an NIB director, succeeds Minister of Transport, Works and Water Resources Ian Gooding-Edghill, who departed the board after being appointed a minister in July when Prime Minister Mia Mottley reshuffled the Cabinet.
    Government Senator Dr Lynette Holder, who is chief executive officer of the Small Business Association of Barbados, is also now an NIB director.
    Avinash Persaud has retained his position as deputy NIB chairman, a position he held when Gooding-Edghill chaired the board.
    The NIB’s directorship also includes a representative each from the Barbados Workers’ Union, the National Union of Public Workers, Barbados Hotel & Tourism Association, and the Barbados Employers’ Confederation.
    The Chief Labour Officer, the Director of Finance
    and Economic Affairs and the Permanent Secretary (Finance) in the Ministry of Finance, Economic Affairs and Investment, or their nominee, are also on the board. (SC)

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