How it Happened

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Submitted by Nathan J Green

An Answer to “How did we get here?” by Heide Badenock Posted in annsvg.com 30/06/21

You can put the fall of overall standards in Saint Vincent of every kind down to one person; the decline has taken overall about twenty years.

The problem is it continues to decline with a massively flawed education system producing hundreds of badly educated people every year. Those that succeed regardless are but a few lovely flowers in a sea of underachievers. Please do not mistake me; I am not blaming the children; I blame the leadership and the fraudulent cry of an Education Revolution. Many children simply drop out of education prematurely. Education over, they are either unemployable, or no employment is available.

Usually, investors refuse to invest in a communist influenced country for fear of losing their investment. They have seen what happened in Venezuela, and know we are followers of theirs

There are more poor people in SVG than ever before. There was even a better standard at the end of slavery. There was a better medical system and hospital facilities then than today.

There are more people on poor relief than ever before.

We have seen the purposeful destruction of agriculture. Prime farmlands have been built on. Land at Buccament and Belle Isle a prime example. Farmers are only left with difficult hill lands.

Agriculture was supplied with a beautiful irrigation system; a system destroyed by the failures of one man. It no longer exists.

Banana export destroyed by failure to follow crop spraying norms during the black Sigatoka era. Everything that has taken place has furthered the ruin of agriculture and promoted the switch of people and systems to be reliant on tourism.

Opposition political leaders were beaten up and thrown out of parliament. Causing serious injury to one parliamentarian’s back as he was thrown down the stairs.

Wages have not followed inflation; dollar on dollar, people earn half as much as twenty years ago. I am not talking about amounts of money; I am talking about buying power; their dollar buys far, far less than twenty years ago. People are far worse off than they should be under a right-thinking regime of real Vincentian lovers. Instead of the false love of left-wing tyrants that we have currently been landed with.

Embracement of Marxism, Stalinism, Chavesism, Castroism, all the people who the world would have been a much better place without. One man’s warped ideals imposed on an unsuspecting nation.

The people are unknowingly paying tax on tax on tax. It all starts at the import shed, where the customs charge importers huge duties and taxes on behalf of the government. Then, of course, the importer passes that on to the next buyer. After that, the people pay VAT on what they buy, and eventually, the public buys something that has risen in cost three times. Remember they even put VAT on salt, never heard of anywhere else in the modern world.

Who must we blame for all this? The answer is. One man must bear full responsibility. I do not even need to call his name. Everyone knows who I am writing about without any clue from me.

Middle-class people can never be made into peasant class communists. But in SVG they had the formula for doing just that. It took twenty years to destroy much of SVG’s middle class. Many eventually joined the unemployed, others melted away and moved abroad. It took twenty years to make many people reliant on the government for handouts and not to do anything for themselves. Now there are many young people who have never had a job, and unless they strike lucky, will never work in their lifetime.

It took twenty years to turn fierce Vincentians into cowardly pussycats. It had to happen that way for this regime to stay in power; they hope forever. But there must be a continuity of top family leadership for forever to happen, so a dynasty has been created; it is already in place and operating.

The result of creeping pauperism has been in building a two-tier society. The people at the top protected by the regime from prosecution can literally get away with murder; they can do just about anything illegal with little consequence. As has recently been demonstrated, they can trespass on the property of others and shoot people with little or no consequences. In contrast, the new peasant society with no rights are just punching and shooting fodder for the police, and for anyone in the proletariat of this contemporary society to regard as open season game to hunt and abuse, a time to have fun without consequence. Even rape charges in leadership dismissed by the DPP.

We have seen businesspeople destroyed, multiple raids by police with illegally gotten search warrants issued by tame Justices of the Peace. Young women abused, and raped, young women used as a plaything, a sex toy, and eventually sent to the mental home to be pumped up with sedatives and mind-altering drugs. Many of the peasant class appearing in courts after police interviews with faces battered and bruised.
The police take the view it is their duty to beat confessions from the accused in the interview room. They shoot first and ask questions afterwards, so if people run, they use the gun. They are also known to take people they have picked up into the mountains, to dump them, making them walk many miles home.

The whole system is affected; the magistery, the police, the DPP’s office, the judicial system has become answerable to just one man.

Many of the countries lawyers and barristers frightened to speak out less they get a 4 am knock on their door from the Tax Department and the Black Squad goons, an arm of the political police. They were warned about being tax cheats, some paying no tax at all. So, you can understand why they stand by and say or do nothing. There are a handful who do not fall into the category of being able to be blackmailed into being frightened.

People have died in questionable circumstances; people have disappeared too. The common denominator being politics. One of the biggest taboos seem to have been to change party loyalties, to go over to the opposition, that seems to have brought death to several. One of the strangest deaths which was indeed murder was that of Glenn Jackson.

The Religious leaders are cowering in the corner of their churches, not just from the fear of a man, but of a fear of losing their tax-free status, along with the ability to import whatever they want duty free. Thus, the nation has been sold out by the very people in whom they put their trust. These people have sold us all out for a few shekalim.

How will it end? Like during many past such events in the world, we must hope that the pussycats transform into tigers and take back what belongs to them, freedom, employment, and prosperity.

It will be a shame if the people eventually take to violent revolution. Please keep in mind people, peaceful protest and peaceful methods are the best route.

14 thoughts on “How it Happened”


  1. Good government requires public trust
    As with any society, our quality of life as Barbadians is directly and fundamentally impacted by the quality of our Government. In going about our daily lives, even as casual observers, we see what is working well and what is not, we see where progress is being made and where we appear to be going backwards – we see success and we see failure.
    From our own personal observations and from our exposure to public information and opinions expressed in the media, we develop a sense of comfort or discomfort with the Government of the day.
    Opportunity
    When we go to the polls every five years to exercise the power, limited as it may be, of our periodic vote as a citizen of Barbados, we should be revelling in the opportunity to select between political parties and individuals who have thoughtfully laid out for us their different policies to move our country forward on its path to development. Unfortunately, in casting our ballots, it seems that we are more often motivated by an intense desire to rid the country of an administration which we have concluded is incompetent, corrupt or both. If this happens repeatedly and becomes the norm in what is essentially a two-party state, then the resulting cynicism among the voting public represents a fundamental problem which will seriously inhibit our national development – a loss of trust in Government.
    It is generally recognised that, for there to be good, effective government, there must be a high level of public trust in government and its institutions. Only with a high level
    of public trust will individuals be motivated to respond positively to public policies and to comply with regulations.
    Individuals and companies will not be motivated to pay their taxes if they are not confident in the management of public funds. Without public trust in government, there is no foundation for social cohesion, the investments so critical to development will not be made and those investments that are made will attract suspicion.
    Strong predictors
    According to one international body, “evidence shows that government’s values, such as high levels of integrity, fairness and openness of institutions are strong predictors of public trust. Similarly, government’s competence – its responsiveness and reliability in delivering public services and anticipating new needs – are crucial for building trust in institutions.”
    Here in Barbados, the office of the Auditor General has a crucial role to play in building public trust in Government and its institutions. The Auditor General’s annual report has become a yardstick by which the public seeks to assess the quality of management of the country’s financial affairs by our public servants.
    Vital role
    In performing his vital role, the Auditor General is pleading for help in two key areas – (i) the proper resourcing of his office with adequate staff and (ii) the enactment of the legislative tools necessary to allow his office to hold our public servants accountable through meaningful sanctions for a lack of cooperation with his auditors. Integrity Group Barbados absolutely
    agrees – it must become a serious offence for any public servant to withhold information from or mislead the office of the Auditor General in performing their work in the public interest.
    Government needs to urgently respond to M. Trotman’s very reasonable requests. In doing so, our Prime Minister would do well to echo the words of Stephen Harper, the 22nd prime minister of Canada: “There’s going to be a new code on Parliament Hill: bend the rules, you will be punished; break the law, you will be charged; abuse the public trust, you will go to prison.”
    This article was submitted by The Integrity Group of Barbados Inc.
    It is generally recognised that, for there to be good, effective government, there must be a high level of public trust in government and its institutions.

    Source: Nation

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  2. @David…. you nailed it. Was just having same conversation regarding storm Elsa and govt responsiveness.

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  3. I have numerous Vincentian friends and literally visited this beautiful island every weekend in the early to mid eighties. Ralph Gonsalves and his party were in opposition and the older generation of Vincentians made sure that the likes of him and his Socialists policies remained there. What happened in the last twenty years? Corruption!! The rot started under Milton Cato and James Mitchell so Mr. Eustace was easy picking for the Communists. They brought in all their socialists policies thus making the people rely on them for handouts rather than creating opportunities for their people to work and build their own wealth. Result? High unemployment and poverty!! Incidentally, this is exactly what the Democratic Party in the USA is all about; making the masses depend on the government for everything, with the ultimate goal of making them totally government-reliant.
    I could say a lot more but I do not have the evidence to hand to support my allegations.

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  4. Veronica Michael
    You were doing well until u expressed that the democratic party in the US A had policies which encourage citizens to be govt reliant
    The USA economy is also driven by private business some of whom have exploited the workers relying on immigrants from poor countries to feather private business nest and private business contributors to low wages
    The latest intervention of COVID has exposed private business failures to be diligent in supporting their workers rather than doing so have sent home many who have now relied on govt for any kind of support

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  7. These comments are old. We want action.

    Fast ferry ‘could cut travel cost’

    Comissiong: Find way to reduce taxes

    A FAST FERRY SYSTEM could help to reduce the cost of intra-regional travel in the Caribbean, says Barbados’ Ambassador to CARICOM David Comissiong.
    However, he added, governments still have to find a way to reduce some of the taxes and fees imposed on people who fly across the region.
    “I think the solution is likely to come in the push to develop a fast ferry system that would transport both passengers and goods within the region, and the thinking is if you have that system, you could use that to complement the regional airlines,” Comissiong told the DAILY NATION.
    “And if you put the two together, you could kind of rationalise the routes because some shorter routes would be more feasible for a fast ferry than for an aircraft.”
    CARICOM Day
    He was speaking after the celebration to mark CARICOM Day (July 4) was held at the Caribbean Wax Museum in Norman Centre, The City, on Saturday.
    He said the COVID-19 pandemic had contributed to further delay in developing the ferry system.
    He added the project would be driven by the private sector with facilitation by regional governments that would have to deal with licensing, customs and immigration, and other necessary policies.
    “A lot of work was being done on the fast ferry system, and COVID has kind of interrupted that, but I know Prime Minister Mia Mottley is very keen to see the fast ferry system in place and she is working on that.”
    In response to complaints from regional citizens, including about 20 000 people who signed the ‘Reduction in Government Taxes and Fees on Intra-Regional Caribbean Travel’ petition on Change.org, Comissiong acknowledged that something had to be done about airfare.
    “The fast ferry however does not get away from the fact that we still do need to find a way to take off some of those taxes from plane passengers within the Caribbean, so some tough decisions need to be made to take them off and find some replacement,” he said.
    He however noted that it would be challenging considering the collapse of LIAT last year, and how much budgets depended on the taxes.
    A problem
    “It is not that the political leaders don’t recognise the problem. They would all tell you now that this business of putting taxes on regional airline passengers is a problem. Because over 50 per cent of the tickets constitute government taxes. Several years ago governments recognised this was a problem and that they probably made a mistake when they initially went the route of imposing taxes on airline passengers within the region.
    “But the problem is that having done it and creating a situation where many of the government budgets became dependent on this source of taxation, it then became a question of how do you rectify that, remove these taxes and find alternative sources of revenue so that the government budget isn’t severely fractured,” he said.
    (TG)

    Source: Nation

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  8. Fast Ferry hummmmm.

    Heard this one several times in the past, what happened, oh YES, USUAL BAJAN GUM FLAPPING FOR A QUOTE IN THE LOCAL “NEWS PRESS”.

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    • Implementing the Ferry System requires regional cooperation. The sales issues that impact air travel apply, common air/sea space regulations, safety issues etc. the systemic issue is the failure of the caricom apparatus.


  9. @Donna

    “The Road Runner escapes again!”

    He’s one crafty elusive bird brain. How’s the generator coming, what you going to use for fuel, diesel, gas, natural gas, supplies of these could be challenging in a disaster situation. Would suggest an appropriately designed and securely built solar system maybe a mire reliable solution. Also this system could be used daily to offset or replace all hydro expense. Bird brain at work.

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  10. If you look on another current blog you will see that the solar panels are also in the works. The generator is a short-term measure for this hurricane season It can be sold second hand at a later date.

    Fuel only becomes a problem in a looong disaster.

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  11. They can’t even maintain baby incubators, farming equipment, after spending multimillions they leave them to rust in the rain, they left an onion harvesting machine gifted to them to rot while they played politics….they don’t have equipment to pull down cow’s illegal barriers…..probably left all of it to rust in the rain too…

    do yall see these clowns running a ferry service, yall must want a good section of the potential. passengers to drown…

    I have seen Trinidad’s ferry service to Tobago and they actually service AND maintain their boats OFTEN…..

    do you see any of the pretenders yall got doing that, not even if there is a bribe in it…that is who they are…lazy and stupid…

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  12. Indeed Barbados gonna need a real fast ferry if another hurricane hits the island
    The infrastructure Highways have been severely battered
    The low rider electric buses gonna have a hell of a hard time maneuvering between the cracks and the pot holes

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