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Why are Regional Prime Ministers silent over their creation of CDB’s leadership crisis?

Name withheld – Blogmaster I firmly believe that the highly respected and soundly run Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) is heading into serious leadership trouble. What I’ve heard is very troubling. I am a very seasoned banker who has worked across our region. I know a thing or two about banking in the region. I’ve tried…

Name withheld – Blogmaster

I firmly believe that the highly respected and soundly run Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) is heading into serious leadership trouble. What I’ve heard is very troubling.

I am a very seasoned banker who has worked across our region. I know a thing or two about banking in the region. I’ve tried to get information directly from CDB but they have not been forthcoming at all, so please publish this letter as I have a few questions to ask.

Is it true that with the generous helping hand from our Prime Minister Keith Rowley and  the other regional Prime Ministers, the newly appointed CDB chairman, Prime Minister Mia Mottley from Barbados, has instructed that the bank appoint her advisor, a British national, as the new president of CDB? Wouldn’t this selection and appointment stink of blatant nepotism and cronyism and taint Barbados? Can a chairman of CDB select the President of CDB from his/her own previous clients and own pool of personal advisers? And no other Prime Minister can stop it?

What about qualifications of the individual being imposed on CDB? Is the British advisor more qualified than any other Caribbean professional to run the Bank? The President of CDB is always a person from the Caribbean of high stature, regional intellect and integrity. Does this British advisor even have a Caribbean identity? Does he know and understand what it takes to achieve successful regional development? Does he have a record of successful projects in the Caribbean? Has Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados and the region not learned anything from the many hotel debacles and the many other failed development projects that die and only leave the lawyers and advisers rich. There are many other highly qualified bankers and economists with good track records of integrity and success in the region who can run CDB.

There are many options. Why has Rowley failed to nominate any experienced banker, economist, or academic from Trinidad and Tobago? Trinidad and Tobago has majority stocks and votes in the bank. Where is Prime Minister Rowley’s voice and why would all the region’s Prime Ministers Gonsalves, Browne, Holness who are so usually loud about regional issues suddenly stay silent and surrender so meekly to Prime Minister Mia Mottley’s moves to capture CDB for her adviser? What is really going on with this coming ugly affair? Something looks very rotten in the region.

Will our Caribbean leaders find the good sense and fortitude to avoid the stench of cronyism and do the right thing to keep the Caribbean in the leadership of the CDB and to maintain its development focus? The dodging must stop. The Prime Ministers and CDB must start talking. We deserve to know.

197 responses to “Why are Regional Prime Ministers silent over their creation of CDB’s leadership crisis?”

  1. David Avatar
    David

    @Peter

    At clause 63 of this court matter where the BBA was 2nd Apellant is instructive.

    https://www.khanlaw.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/CVA-No.-20-of-2018-Norman-MacDonald-Nurse-and-The-Attorney-General-et-al-v-Florence-Nurse-.pdf

    >

  2. peterlawrencethompson Avatar
    peterlawrencethompson

    @David October 18, 2020 8:48 AM
    “You need an insurance plan to cover some of the risk and an enforcement of the laws not the compensation fund.”
    +++++++++++
    EXACTLY!! And a Bar Association that was not complicit would have established such insurance coverage generations ago and made premiums and coverage mandatory upon being called to the Bar. It’s not rocket science.

  3. Hants Avatar
    Hants

    @ TheoGazerts,

    It is possible that the majority of lawyers in Barbados do not engage in using client funds for personal gain but they could consider that their inaction in correcting this ” client account problem ” could be seen as complicity.

  4. WURA-War-on-U Avatar
    WURA-War-on-U

    “Victims are known. The thievery is known and documented.
    In a corrupt society that is built on secrecy, the request for details is part of the cover-up”

    That’s the level at where the pretentious, fraudulent cabal of crooks and thieves operate while continue to delude themselves that their little colonial slave titles makes them more intelligent than everyone else and IMMUNE FROM GOING TO PRISON, so they can successfully dazzle everyone with legal bullshit..That’s what they have always done, go after the victims, revictimize them and literally scared all of the elderly to death…

    but this time in their greed and need to continue pretending they are so special, they BIT OFF MORE THAN THEY CAN EVER CHEW…

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

    Going forward Bajans have to take better care of their elderly and as a collective, PROTECT THEM from the SELF-IMPORTANT thieves in the Bar Association, the Parliament and in the Judiciary or they will never stop, this is what they live for, this has always been their source of income from the 1940s when the bar association was formed, research and see who actually created this ENTITY OF THIEVES.

  6. Pachamama Avatar
    Pachamama

    Waru

    Nothing less than proscribing all lawyers, or lawyer-politicians, from handling any funds, or being in any position of power over original legal documents at all, except their own as based on a publicly issued scale.

    Anytime lawyers are given power over citizens there’s bound to be officials corruption.

    This should be relatively easy to do. Some countries have agencies where closings are done, for example, and parties turn up with drafts, even personal cheques. This business of entrusting large amounts of personal or corporate property into the hands of lawyers is crazy.

  7. Dullard Avatar
    Dullard

    Imagine it is almost 2021 and Bajans are still wondering how to keep lawyers from using client funds as their personal kitty !!!???

    Backward and embarrassing. Since the crooked legal profession does not want this then surely someone from one of the financial regulatory bodies can pressure government to rectify the situation.

    Does the government not see that this is rudimentary matter of good governance and financial practice? Does the govt see the connection between issues like this and the level of investor confidence and spending?

    Then the same clowns in government and the regulators keep wondering why we keep getting flagged for lax regulation and money laundering.

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

    “This business of entrusting large amounts of personal or corporate property into the hands of lawyers is crazy.”

    they will FIGHT everybody on that, it is how they earn their extra income by tiefing from the public no amount is enuff for them, they protect each other on that front.

    …..they already took away the means for LAWYERS TO ROB personal injury claimants their compensation…..by having insurance companies cut two checks, one for the client and one for attorney’s fees, what happens now, they found a way around that, remember a badly injured man went to his grave without a dime of his compensation, it was around about 13 million dollars, the thieves of the bar association made sure to divvy it up between themselves and their fellow crooks in the minority community, by involving them in the man’s case without his knowledge and consent talking about their fronting him money, just like the lady whose case is ongoing nearly 40 years later and the slimy lawyer is acting as though she is a beggar while claiming government has no money, she slipped and got hurt while working at the QEH, and there he is pretending he’s doing her a favor…by dragging out her case until either he dies or she does….she is already crippled because of the decades of contrived delays and it’s only getting worse, but they are waiting her out until she dies..

    the latest scam from them//..they start to compromise and sabotage the case from early in the proceedings….insurance companies are more than happy to pay dirty plaintiffs attorney handsomely to do just that….or they refuse to tell the claimaint what their fees are, so instead of getting a 200,000 compensation, the claimaint ends up with a measly 80,000 if that much and there is always some entity ready to take half or more of that….one way or the other they make sure the injured person is victimized…again…and lose the compensation….but they are playing with the right people this time.

    ..if they start doing that with land issues, take away the attorneys opportunities to steal the land or money, they will circumvent that too, it’s where they put all their energies, they are all evil and dangerous to the public….and believe themselve entitled to rob the people, the elderly, dead, young, dying and unborn…no one is safe from bar scum.

  9. Critical Analyzer Avatar
    Critical Analyzer

    @Dullard October 18, 2020 10:23 AM

    Does the government not see that this is rudimentary matter of good governance and financial practice? Does the govt see the connection between issues like this and the level of investor confidence and spending?

    The government is a bunch of lawyers.

  10. WURA-War-on-U Avatar
    WURA-War-on-U

    “Does the govt see the connection between issues like this and the level of investor confidence and spending?”

    with the government made up of the same lawyers whose names are ALWAYS CALLED in the same thievery of clients’ funds, robbery of the estates of the elderly and their beneficiaries, robbery of money from personal injury claimants, money laundering etc…..i seriously doubt it..

  11. Pachamama Avatar
    Pachamama

    Waru

    Everything you said is correct. This writer has suffered three times from the lawyers-criminals of Barbados.

    Last time we had to do a transaction it was largely done by self. And if that cannot be possible then we will never do business in Barbados again.

  12. TheOGazerts Avatar
    TheOGazerts

    The end goal should be to make victims whole.

    This fund is a bad idea, as it will do nothing more than encourage crooked lawyers to steal their client money. It is a cover-up for fraud.

    Crooked lawyers will have the last laugh as the fund managers gives victims a pittance ( a fraction of what is your due) and tell them to get lost. I can imagine a crooked lawyer ensuring that his contribution to the fund comes from his spoils.

    I would encourage honest lawyers to keep their money separate from that of the thieves.

    Don’t contribute.

    Don’t let your good name and reputation be a cover for legal fraud and deceptive practices.

  13. WURA-War-on-U Avatar
    WURA-War-on-U

    Pacha…investors WORLDWIDE must be warned of the parasites in the bar association, and ON THE BENCH or this will never end, they will steal any amount to maintain their lifestyles of pretend millionaires…it has already DESTROYED the reputation of the island but they don’t care…it’s as simple as that…they will continue undeterred..

    ..stay tune for the next THEFT OF compensation from a personal injury claimant WITH ALL INVOLVED having their names SPLASHED across the earth…they believe everyone is afraid of them….

  14. TheOGazerts Avatar
    TheOGazerts

    We will be on this topic in 2025.

  15. Pachamama Avatar
    Pachamama

    Waru

    On one occasion this writer had to stop another director of a corporation from killing one lawyer who was a former schoolmate. The orders of magnitude were large.

    But it’s just a matter of time.

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

    “This fund is a bad idea, as it will do nothing more than encourage crooked lawyers to steal their client money. It is a cover-up for fraud.”

    the fraudulent fund has been around from 1984, it’s surviving its purpose of being useless just fine, they will see no reason to get rid of it..

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

    “The orders of magnitude were large.

    But it’s just a matter of time.”

    another instance of somebody wanting to kill one or all of them, am surprised none of them are dead yet, in other jurisdictions none of them would be in existence and still robbing the public and the vulnerable and walking around freely because they control the police and judiciary….but time is longer than twine..

  18. TheOGazerts Avatar
    TheOGazerts

    😂😀😁
    I saw that edit
    “You appreciate the nuances of M̶Y̶ writing style I guess from your long association with journalism.”

  19. David Avatar
    David

    Of the 20 members of parliament how many are lawyers and specifically how many are in Cabinet?

    >

  20. curley16 Avatar
    curley16

    David@ 8:48 October 18 2020
    Only Errors and omissions , not known risk. Hence,fraud is an exclusion from the policy. Professional indemnity usually purchase by a risk retention group or pool.

  21. patenham Avatar
    patenham

    PLT Oct18,2020 8:34am.
    Thanks for the information.
    If 24 Governors nominate individuals and then select a President what is the noise on this blog about?
    What is the leadership crisis at CDB?

  22. David Avatar
    David

    @curley16

    Thanks for the guidance.

    >

  23. TheOGazerts Avatar
    TheOGazerts

    Did you notice that 15 of the 24 are from the Caribbean. If it is a simple majority vote and the Caribbean members stick together then the fix can be in. There is wiggle room for collusion. Let’s not pretend that we live in a world without sin.

    I suspect the no borrowing members would go along with the vote unless the appointment was outrageous

  24. Donna Avatar
    Donna

    Pachamama,

    You want me to teach you the mad woman system?

    I have had only good treatment from one lawyer and problems that I got promptly solved with two others.

    One handed over my file and waited for over two years for payment.

    The other played the ass until I pulled him up. Then he proceeded exactly as I instructed.

    I have friends who have been given the run around in very similar circumstances.

    They are too sane, I suspect.

  25. Pachamama Avatar
    Pachamama

    Donna

    Thanks, we’ll have to engage you as consultant.

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

    Pacha…African Re-Defined blog is the place to check out…lol

  27. WURA-War-on-U Avatar
    WURA-War-on-U

    Not letting a fella suck my energy today;

    https://www.nationnews.com/2020/10/19/still-burning-questions-cxc/

    “ANSWERS WERE GIVEN during the Caribbean Examinations Council’s (CXC)’s press conference yesterday, but some parents and students still have many burning questions they want answered.

    During an online press conference which CXC chairman Sir Hilary Beckles led, registrar and chief executive officer (CEO) Dr Wayne Wesley announced that the review process of the 2020 Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examination (CAPE) and Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) would now include a remark of the exam scripts, and not just an administrative review.”

  28. TheOGazerts Avatar
    TheOGazerts

    @Wura,
    The statement is different from what I expected. However, on reading what is said very closely, I am still in wait and see mode.

    https://barbadostoday.bb/2020/10/18/cxc-to-moderate-all-school-based-assessments/

    “Usually, CXC marks a sample of the SBAs, but this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic almost 100 per cent were moderated from across the Caribbean, a move that uncovered leniency by teachers as opposed to a first mark and there would be a review mark.”

    “According to Beckles, the review found that students are being given false expectations about their performances and so there would be need for improved communication in the submission of grades, including workshops, with teachers. He also urged Caribbean people to guard against the “culture of predictability” in examinations, even as he noted that the exam system was modified, there was a more robust and comprehensive moderation of the SBAs and the multiple choice structure might not permitted practice and experience. “We can understand how maybe this year more than previous years, how the gap for many people between the predicted outcome and the actual could have been of greater concern to a large number of people,” he said.”

  29. TheOGazerts Avatar
    TheOGazerts

    “The review fee was reduced to US$15 and candidates who request reviews will not receive a ‘downgrade’. Instead, the grade will remain the same, or adjusted upwards, if the remark supports ”

    Waiting to see how this will play out. Hopefully, there will be a final report of the grade changes (if any).

  30. WURA-War-on-U Avatar
    WURA-War-on-U

    THeo…as far as i know, SBAs are done really early these days, so they should have been handed in long before Covid, i would swear they start SBAs in 3-4th form, someone can correct me.

    Kootchie Koos looks all fine and dandy in his uniform, where is SSS.

    no one listens to Professor Shilllary, this is the dude who is salivating for reparations, carting around a big old slave title and don’t know that for reparations to be paid to the descendants of AFRICAN SLAVES, it will have to be STOLEN OUT OF AFRICA, where his ANCESTORS WERE ALSO STOLEN FROM….don’t have the energy to listen to his shite.

    from my experience the teachers who give PREDICTED GRADES know exactly what they are doing, blame the teachers is the new CXC Shillary excuse, they cannot retaliate, they can’t even protest without losing their jobs….Shillary should hide his head in shame..

  31. WURA-War-on-U Avatar
    WURA-War-on-U

    Even i appreciate the genius behind that centuries old colonial scam, am busy trying to dissect it and brush up on my cuss words.

  32. WURA-War-on-U Avatar
    WURA-War-on-U

    Theo…someone sent me some Swahili words yesterday, when am done i’ll be a pro, swahiling all over the place.

    don’t let anything Elizabeth’s little mascotas do surprise you, they all want bagging up and dropping off outside Buckingham Palace gates..

  33. Michael Campbell Avatar
    Michael Campbell

    from my experience the teachers who give PREDICTED GRADES know exactly what they are doing

    Waru, when was the last time teachers gave predicted scores for CXC examinations?

  34. WURA-War-on-U Avatar
    WURA-War-on-U

    Ah yardfowl jumped right in and missed the whole point…but yet, the parents asked CXC to use the teacher predicted grades as a guide, which INCLUDES THE STUDENT’S OVERALL GRADES OVER A PERIOD OF YEAR(S).

    trying to dazzle me with ya TOAL LACK of understanding is a FAIL…the teachers themselves SAID predicted grades DO EXIST..

    ya better off asking Professor Shillary for details..

  35. WURA-War-on-U Avatar
    WURA-War-on-U

    Was wondering when Bajans were going to call out Sky Mall publicly for scanning people’s faces under the guise of taking their temperatures, when the temperature setting does not even register on some people….these repulsive wannbe slave masters in Barbados need to catch themselves.

  36. WURA-War-on-U Avatar
    WURA-War-on-U

    Another accustion of being despotic attributed to Mia. What she and her filthy, no good racist THIEVES AND business partners in the minority community fail to realize is that there is NOT ONE EDUCATED BLACK PERSON, i mean people who understand what ALL OF THEM has done to the black population over decades, will sit back and allow them to continue ROBBING the BLACK population, living OFF THEIR BACKS then acting like the people who really fund the island don’t count, don’t matter and are all SLAVES, that is my problem with Mia and that gang of THIEVES….they have stolen from generations of Bajan youth and are still telling themselves they are invincible and cannot be stopped because they fancy themselves slave masters, well that evil shit by black face JAILERS of the majority black population, ENDS IN THIS DECADES…our grandchildren will no longer be the victims of you cockroaches. Don’t know who they think they are, that’s why Africa must be warned about them, they are too damn arrogant and cocky and believe they are going to be the best slave masters, better than Elizabeth, but watch we nuh.

    https://barbadostoday.bb/2020/10/20/wood-accuses-pm-mottley-of-bad-governance/

    “Declaring that he is not a “yard boy”, former Barbados Labour Party (BLP) minister Anthony Wood has charged that there is “an element of despotic leadership” in the current administration.
    Referring to the use of the word “despot” by the now late former Prime Minister Professor Owen Arthur to describe Mottley back in 2013, Wood said: “I am concerned that Mottley in her head… thinks she is tightening the vice gripes over Barbadians’ minds and our actions. I am concerned that there is a manifestation of despotic leadership that, if we allow it to go unchecked, we are going to be extremely sorry.”

  37. David Avatar
    David

    CDB presidency vote adjourned

    THERE HAS BEEN no decision on the next president of the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB).
    Professor Avinash Persaud, the Barbados Government’s special advisor on the economy, is one of three candidates in the running for the top post, which was expected to be decided yesterday evening following a special meeting of governors.
    Nominations were received in respect of Persuad, Dr Hyginus “Gene” Leon and Dr Aidan Harrigan within the stipulated period of 90 days after the date of the bank secretary’s notice of July 1. Receipt of three nominations was communicated to all governors and members of the board of directors were also informed.
    Governors were invited to a special meeting yesterday for the vote but it was adjourned and no date was given.
    “The successful candidate must gain the support of at least two-thirds by way of number of the governors representing not less than three-fourths (75 per cent) of the total voting power of the bank’s
    member countries,” a release on the CDB website stated. ( PR/AC)

    Source: Nation

  38. Hal Austin Avatar
    Hal Austin

    The CDB must resist any attempted manipulation by the president of Barbados.

  39. Donna Avatar
    Donna

    What exactly does this Persaud fellow have to recommend him?

  40. David Avatar
    David

    So far he has been nominated and based on the criteria for selection he has to win the support of other governors of the board. We will see if the Mottley lobby with the other Governors is successful.

  41. Hal Austin Avatar
    Hal Austin

    His main qualification is that he is a Guyanese Indian. If one looks at the BU gallery of clever people, just take a look at ethnicity and/or pedigree. Tells you a lot.

  42. David Avatar
    David

    Steuspe

  43. Cuhdear Bajan Avatar
    Cuhdear Bajan

    I thought that only animals, dogs, cows, horses, etc. had pedigree.

    But what do I know? Since I am only a silly woman and all.

  44. David Avatar
    David

    @Simple Simon

    The grammarian you and good student you must be aware pedigree has another meaning as well.

  45. Cuhdear Bajan Avatar
    Cuhdear Bajan

    Lol!

    I don’t agree with you, nor with Hal.

    We are all human, on the very same family tree.

    If you or Hal have doubts, next time you need a blood donation, sit down and wait until you can get one from a person of the same or higher “pedigree” than you.

    Ya will both de’d while ya waiting.

    Wishing you both long, happy and healthy lives.

  46. Cuhdear Bajan Avatar
    Cuhdear Bajan

    When auntie had her surgery earlier this year ya t’ink that she demanded blood from other Prime Ministers only?

    Stupssseee!!!

    How we know that she didn’t get a donation from ninja man?

    Lolll!!!!

    We must stop engaging in this “pedigree” nonsense which came straight out of the period of our ancestor’s enslavement [your enslaved ancestors, my enslaved ancestors, Hal’s enslaved ancestor’s , Mia’s enslaved ancestors].

    The word “pedigree” should NEVER EVER be used in reference to ANY human being.

    Words have meaning you know.

  47. David Avatar
    David

    Leon named new president of the CDB
    DR HYGINUS ‘GENE’ LEON will serve as the new president of the Caribbean Development Bank from May 1.
    He was elected by the board of governors of the multilateral institution.
    Leon succeeds Dr Warren Smith, who has been at the helm of the regional financial institution for the last ten years.
    “I am deeply honoured by the trust that the board of governors has demonstrated in my experience and ability. The CDB remains an instrumental partner in regional development. I look forward to working with all member states and a tremendous staff with zeal and unrelenting commitment,” he said.
    Leon has more than 30 years of experience in economic development and has directed macroeconomic and financial policy support to government authorities in Africa, the Middle East and Central Asia and the Caribbean. He has worked with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for more than 24 years, serving as mission chief for the Gulf States of Oman, Qatar, and United Arab Emirates as well as The Bahamas, Nigeria, and Zimbabwe. He also served as the IMF’s senior resident representative in Jamaica.
    Prior to his engagement with the IMF, he was an associate professor at State University of New York at Old Westbury in the United States. He has also served as director of research at the Central Bank of Barbados and country economist at CDB. (PR)

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