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Submitted by Observing

“In her address explaining the decision to hold the election, Mottley called on the people of Barbados to “unite around a common cause, unite behind a single government, unite behind a single leader.” She added that she did not want Barbados to be a “divided nation.”

But what divides us?

  1. Calling a snap election 18 months before time, knowing for sure that a Covid wave was starting and that thousands would contract it.
  2. Laying in a king sized bed with all Unions to blunt their voices, link hands with Capital and disadvantage workers at will
  3. Not consulting with the professionals at BAMP on travel protocols, election protocols or any other recent protocols
  4. Staging a puppet show called a Social Partnership meeting to pillory, criticise and condemn ordinary hard working nurses AND THEN docking their salaries despite recent precedent.
  5. Paying late salaries, no severance, and arrears to the average man and pensioners in bonds…while Mark Maloney gets a 10 million blank check, Abeds gets all of his stock bought and all Ministers, consultants, special advisors, Parliamentary Secretaries, “Ministers in the Ministries of” and Permanent Secretaries in the largest Cabinet ever get paid on time with perks and allowances
  6. Introducing medical marijuana for Herbert’s Redland Farms and Canadians, but leaving out the rasta and the Afro-Barbadians who suffered, were fined and locked up most for it
  7. Giving no-tender contracts to “a certain Mark” and then claiming “special circumstances”
  8. Silencing opposing or critical voices by appointing them as advisors through the politics of inclusion and delusion
  9. Talking down to the average man because he can’t spell “remdesivir”
  10. Rushing to a Republic without a referendum, without a revised constitution and with “a Creator” instead of “God”
  11. Blaming “Brandy and Punany” for Covid when it was the unnamed Platinum Coast that deserved the blame
  12. Telling 6 year olds to tell their parents if they don’t vaccinate them then they don’t care about them
  13. Refusing to give a budget statement to explain to the average man where we are and where we are going given everything that is going on
  14. Disenfranchising the constitutional right of 2000-4000 people who now cannot vote, because they have Covid through no fault of theirs.

There are many more general and personal examples but time is short. It is abundantly clear that with a 30-0 / 29-1 government any tough decisions that need to be made can be made. It is also clear that the apathy, frustration, mistrust and disillusionment among enough of the electorate is very real. It is even more clear that we are where we are on January 6 with 1000+ new cases and climbing out of political expediency and individual concern, rather than the same national concern that was stated. We get the government (and opposition) that we deserve.

Will the real leaders please stand up?


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108 responses to “What Divides Us?”


  1. Well written article and certainly food for thought. Will we heed?


  2. Observing is a “D”?


  3. Great article Observing

    May I add to you list

    PM Mottley paying $ millions of tax payers funds to police officers – who prior to her clandestine action – lost their case TWICE in the Law Courts of Barbados !

    So not even the court decisions does PM Mottley ….
    RESPECT !

    So what can the striking nurses expect ?

    Sad


  4. Observing is a “D”?

    Xxxxxxxxxx

    DOES THE TRUTH HAVE TO BE EITHER A DLP OR BLP?

    RESPONSE SHOWS TYPICAL 2 2X3 ISLAND MENTALITY.

    THAT IS WHY POLITICAL NEW BLOOD IS LONG PAST OVERDUE UNLESS THE ISLAND WANTS TO REMAIN IN PERPETUAL MENTAL SLAVERY AND CONTINUE NOT DEALING WITH TRUTH INSTEAD OF DEFLECTING FROM TRUTH AND REALITY ON THE GROUND.


  5. @BAJE January 6, 2022 6:48 PM “DOES THE TRUTH HAVE TO BE EITHER A DLP OR BLP?”

    No. The truth does not have to be either B nor D.

    It can be: Neither.
    It can be: Both.
    It can be None.

    Happy now?


  6. Cuhdear

    The truth is. YES


  7. Nobody has given a plausible reason for calling an election 18 months before it is due when you have a 29 to 1 Cabinet and a bariffle of highly educated professional consultants.


  8. @ Fractured BLP January 6, 2022 6:16 PM

    There is some merit in your criticism.

    That politically-orchestrated out-of-court settlement only contributes to the further undermining of the integrity of the judicial system.

    Why wasn’t a similar ‘reconciliatory’ approach taken with regard to the long list of overdue grievances held by the striking nurses?

    Didn’t Bostic and his school and army buddy Franklyn reach some kind of entente cordiale which was not pursued in any productive manner for a meaningful resolution but dismissed in a most dictatorial fashion by the Frau Fuhrer?

    Instead of downright bullying of employees is ‘motivation in the workplace’ no longer a guiding management practice and IR principle?

    What you, ‘Fractured’, should be highlighting is the dud of evidence of corruption contained in the Big Red Bag designed in May 2018 but which has turned out to be a mere balloon of hot air ripe for the bursting.

    No wonder the likes of Sharmout Lashes, Bulldog Eastwick and the down-lowe Dennis can waltz right back on to the electoral stage as if MAM’s May 2018 performance was a mere pantomime put on by the Bajan duopoly of political monkeys!


  9. Observing is a “D”?
    Tell me it en so. Well den NTSH


  10. “Calling a snap election 18 months before time, knowing for sure that a Covid wave was starting and that thousands would contract it.”

    I’ve been hearing this discussion, which some people described as political rhetoric, when examined objectively.

    I’ve also read that, even if an effective vaccine is found, COVID-19 will be with us for the foreseeable future, at least for the next five years and we are going to have to learn to live with it.
    The resident BU COVID-19 ‘experts and conspiracy theorists’ have also been articulating a similar opinion.

    If we believe this to be true, then, doesn’t the possibility exists that calling the general election in 2023 when it is constitutionally due, would be likewise calling it during the pandemic?

    Another thing, I find interesting is that, during the lockdowns, people were advocating for retail outlets to be opened to everyone, which saw customers forming extremely long queues at supermarkets on a DAILY BASIS. The lines at Popular Kendal Hill, for example, extended pass RUBIS gas station and almost to the highway.
    A few weeks ago I went to a polyclinic to collect medication for a relative. Upon my arrival, I was given ticket # 384, when #339 was being serviced.

    Additionally, during the curfew months, people were not only ignoring the curfew hours, but the COVID-19 protocols as well. For example, the private PSV operators continue to overload their ‘ZRs’ and mini buses with passengers, many of which are not equipped with sanitizers; people still continue to engage in ‘social gathering’ on the block, under trees or at shops, bars and various ‘speak easys’ for extended periods of time.

    Isn’t the voting process much quicker than purchasing items at supermarkets, collecting medication, standing in a SurePay line to pay bills or drinking beers at a bar for several hours?

    Just observing as well.

  11. NorthernObserver Avatar
    NorthernObserver

    Hants c’mon. Plausible? The PM needs to enact “structural reforms” (doan axe me wha dat is) The ‘belief’ is the people, might not like these tummuch. So in 18 mumphs from now, the B’s popularity may not be as high as it is now. So strike while the iron is hot, take the lead from UWU, and seek to secure a term extension now. Not only plausible, but also probable.
    But doan mine me, listen to Dr Eswick and crew, they have Solutions which do not require Structural Reform.


  12. @NO

    What does D Estwick mean using the central bank printing press again?


  13. The author obviously hates independent, self-confident, dynamic women. I will comment on this with selected examples. Personally, I am glad that we finally have a female prime minister. Male prime ministers have done enough damage since 1966. They have fathered children out of wedlock, just as their white masters taught them on the plantation. No more of that now. Our Prime Minister is married to Barbados alone and needs no men. She has finally emancipated Barbadian women.

    “Laying in a king sized bed with all Unions to blunt their voices, link hands with Capital and disadvantage workers at will”
    The first government that does not kiss the ass of the union leaders and their lazy members.

    “Not consulting with the professionals at BAMP on travel protocols, election protocols or any other recent protocols.”
    Why should our government consult xenophobic quacks? The black BAMP bureaucrats only aim to discriminate against white tourists.

    “Paying late salaries, no severance, and arrears to the average man and pensioners in bonds…while Mark Maloney gets a 10 million blank check, Abeds gets all of his stock bought and all Ministers, consultants, special advisors, Parliamentary Secretaries, “Ministers in the Ministries of” and Permanent Secretaries in the largest Cabinet ever get paid on time with perks and allowances.”
    Our government rewards the high performers in society and punishes the non-performers.

    “Giving no-tender contracts to “a certain Mark” and then claiming “special circumstances”
    Maloney is a white shadow and therefore untouchable.

    “Rushing to a Republic without a referendum, without a revised constitution and with “a Creator” instead of “God”
    Barrow adopted the white oppressor system in 1966. Our Supreme Leader emancipated the masses from British rule.

    “Telling 6 year olds to tell their parents if they don’t vaccinate them then they don’t care about them”
    Unvaccinated fatalities are mere collateral damage.

    “Refusing to give a budget statement to explain to the average man where we are and where we are going given everything that is going on”
    The IMF sets the budget, not the people.


  14. @ Richard*

    “THAT IS WHY POLITICAL NEW BLOOD IS LONG PAST OVERDUE UNLESS THE ISLAND WANTS TO REMAIN IN PERPETUAL MENTAL SLAVERY AND CONTINUE NOT DEALING WITH TRUTH INSTEAD OF DEFLECTING FROM TRUTH AND REALITY ON THE GROUND.”

    ————————————-

    You kept Jerking-off this notion. Are you an escrow candidate????


  15. @Artax
    While the actual voting process on the day of itself will be very safe. The problem will come with the two weeks of activity including, the bundling up of election workers, the intermingling of constituents, the car pooling to and from meetings, the many close discussions among friends, families and co-workers and all other natural behaviours that occur around this time. Since we know Omicron is 2-3 times more transmissible and since the government knew it was here and would spread, ringing the bell unnecessarily was reckless…. unless of course the reason for ringing was much more urgent than minimising Covid risks.

    Finally, if the argument is that hard decisions have to be made, what better an environment to make them in than a 29-1 government which has changed the constitution multiple times, passed laws whenever it wanted to and had no opposition at all.

    My leanings and loyalty come secondary to common sense and logic. The last 30 DESERVED to be ALL voted out. One of the “old guard” that has returned can NEVER get my support. But, that doesn’t erase the nonsense being foisted on right thinking intelligent Barbadians masquerading as concern for unity and blah blah blah. Nor does it wipe away the lack of transparency and good governance which was promised.

    @David
    “What does D Estwick mean using the central bank printing press again”
    That last 125M bond issue. lol. A rose by any other name is still a rose.


  16. @Tron
    You do your job well. Kudos!!!!

    Just observing


  17. I’d call it a bitch list more than an article

    Bajans need to smoke like Jamaicans
    There are 12 spliffs in a day
    and then it is time for bed
    People should be allowed to grow 99 plants without a license
    Not sure what DLP’s position is on this ganja issue

    we know they hate China which is called ignorance

  18. NorthernObserver Avatar
    NorthernObserver

    @David
    I would ‘follow their platform’ as suggested and see. That was my take, but I’d wait until its explained. There was also mention of the private sector. I suspect it may not be packaged under the “home grown financing” banner?


  19. @Miller January 6, 2022 7:05 PM “No wonder the likes of Sharmout Lashes,,,

    … is going to get a good cut-ass.


  20. The Natalie Murray on tonight’s BLP platform is the same person who sponsored former NUPW president?

    Things that may you go hmmmm.


  21. @ Observing January 6, 2022 7:35 PM

    Thank you. It is very exhausting to constantly bend the truth and gloss over everything.

    But you’re also doing a good job.


  22. @David
    “The Natalie Murray on tonight’s BLP platform is the same person who sponsored former NUPW president?

    Come out tings!!!!! He who have ears to ears and eyes to see let them hear and see!

    The title of the blog says “What divides us?” This is a GLARING example of that.


  23. @ Hants January 6, 2022 7:05 PM
    (Quote):
    Nobody has given a plausible reason for calling an election 18 months before it is due when you have a 29 to 1 Cabinet and a bariffle of highly educated professional consultants. (Unquote).
    ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

    Only serves to create further suspicion that there is more in the election-calling mortar than just a big fat ego of a pestle of the bull-pistle brand.

    One might be less suspicious if the elections were ‘Constitutionally’ due some time in 2022.

    But elections are not due until June 2023 with the provision for an additional 3 months to play with, pandemic or no pandemic; and not abused as in Fumble’s losing case.

    There must be much ‘Mo(o)re’ to the calling of such early elections than just a restless cabinet and maverick senator operating as a ‘real’ union leader in place of the co-opted and compromised Toni.

    A riddle a riddle a ree, no one can solve the riddle but the former ‘Sister-in-charge’ the disgruntled Moe by peering into the crystal bowl etched with the hallmark: It’s My Fault (IMF).


  24. Serious pension reform.

    NIS.

    Reform of the unfunded civil service pensions too, especially this.


  25. @ Deceiver

    “I am sad to say our health care institutions are limping along and that pains me, I would like to see the nurses back to work but we have a Prime Minister who thinks she is large and in charge, her way or no way, but she will have to call elections again and again for we are not going to give up,” he said.

    “Franklyn said the issue was not political,”

    ————

    Your timing off de rail. However, de NURSES issue will be resolved sooner rather than later..


  26. @ Miller January 6, 2022 7:55 PM

    Possible. Of course, I hope for a strong devaluation of the BBD.

    But there could also be another reason: Our Supreme Leader wants to make sure she goes down in the history books as the first (female) prime minister of the new republic. Just take the elections as a referendum on the proclamation of the republic.


  27. @ Cuhdear Bajan January 6, 2022 7:39 PM

    But Ms Cuhdear, who is going to give the Sharkmout fella a cut-ass?

    Certainly not the doc who is not a fan of MAM and whose campaign-support for a stethoscope has been withdrawn.

    Or even our Lady MA Donna, your dear sister in play-tonic love!

    SPN is one of the ridings the Fuhrer MAM is prepared to cede as a political peace offering in the name of a dictatorial democracy.

    25 to 5 are not bad odds!


  28. An excellent post.

    Instead of refuting one or more of your solid points and showing where you were wrong, you get the following summary “Observing is a D?”

    The ? was to blunt the finger pointing.


  29. @Miller January 6, 2022 8:10 PM “But Ms Cuhdear, who is going to give the Sharkmout fella a cut-ass?”

    The constituents, the only people who can.


  30. @Slumber

    “The Opposition Leader said serious consideration should be given to changing the election date”

    Atherley was touring New Orleans, The City, with their candidate Marva Lashley-Todd.

    ————

    Earth to Atherley Earth to Atherley, Echo Echo, Echo, Lost in Space 💨


  31. “But elections are not due until June 2023”

    Are you sure about that

    by my calculations there is 12 days to go

    people should stop being in denial


  32. @TheOGazerts January 6, 2022 8:20 PM “The ? was to blunt the finger pointing.”

    Chill Theo.

    You seem to have forgotten that I am neither B nor D.

    I was planning to sit out this election.

    Then I decided, nah Cuhdear. You have to go to the polls.

    Now I am thinking of voting D.

    Will let you know how I have actually voted one all the the ballots are counted and the election result is declared.

    I’ve been voting for more than 50 years. I’ve voted B plenty of times. I’ve voted D plenty of times, and I plan to continue in the same way for the rest of my life. I would have voted N too but they never ran a candidate in any of the places which I have lived. And “no” I don’t lie about my place of residence.

    Doesn’t matter how I vote. No big pick fah me. No big contract fah me. No board chairmanships for me [truthfully would you pick me to chair a board?]

    Because neither party trusts me.

    Because truthfully I am entirely [politically] untrustworthy.

    A good night’s sleep to you.


  33. <3 cuhdear <3
    Chilling.
    Have a great night.


  34. The underlying message seems to be whoever wins will be the loser and it is not going to be a dream job to run Barbados and the incumbent will have many sleepless nights and will need some ASMR.

    ASMR (autonomous sensory meridian response) is a relaxing, often sedative sensation that begins on the scalp and moves down the body. Also known as “brain massage,” it’s triggered by placid sights and sounds such as whispers, accents, and crackles.


  35. Our current civil service pension system “made sense” to those who created it in their own interest when the civil service was composed of a small number of British civil servants who would “come out to the colonies” for a few years then retire home with a nice pension and gratuity, and a lifetime pension for their widows too who may never have had a day’s paid work in their lives. It never made sense for the people whose labor paid for the whole thing, and who got minimal or no pensions themselves,

    Time for serious pension reform. Civil servants won’t like it. It may provide a little ease for the rest of us.


  36. @ 555dubstreetJanuary 6, 2022 8:30 PM

    Let us not split hears over a ‘date’.

    We were speaking hypothetically and within the bounds of the Bajan Constitution.

    What do you think ‘are’ the real pressing reason(s) behind the call for such early elections right in the midst of a fast-spreading pandemic?

    To yank the chains of the non-existent Loyal Opposition or to carry out the demands of the IMF regarding the reality and validity of the upcoming Estimates due for Parliamentary ratification by 31 March 2022?

    Do you really think a country on the verge of insolvency has much say in the matter of its future financial management?

    Kiki, we are sure you are quite au fait with the following.

    ‘He who pays the piper (finances the Bajan love of imported sweet life) will call the tune (the hardships and sacrifices which will follow in order to pay back).’


  37. Attempting to take the name of God out of the Constituion
    Making a promise to the people on allowing a referendum to be taken before Barbados become a Republic
    Spending millions of dollars to build a park that cannot generate revenue or lower the high rate of unemployment
    Writing off debt owed to govt from big business
    Insulting Barbadian craftsman in statement which give an intent that they cannot produce a job in timely fashion


  38. Waittt. Anyone noticed that this is the first xmas In nuffteen year you aint hear about a water problem In St Joseph / St john.

    What a ting doah


  39. Miller
    I think that (Mia thinks) policies needed for 2022 would not have won 2023 reelection 2nd term but may win 2027 double reelection 3rd term if things improve (fingers crossed / touch wood) by fluke and 3 terms is better than one.

    A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush may be apt.


  40. @ 555 dubstreet January 6, 2022 9:48 PM

    Now here is a proposal that is right up your collie weed street.

    Would you follow the miller and back the DLP come January 19th should they include in their soon-to-be-released manifesto a watertight promise to decriminalize the herb in its entirety by June 30th 2022; just in time for Cropover?

    That should be one joint of a spliff big enough to attract the young voters away from the red deceivers who want to free up the Jah blessed spiritual food only if their ‘white’ friends can make a killing by turning the ganga plantations back into slave workplaces.

    “Legalize it

    And don’t criticize it

    Legalize it, yeah, yeah

    And I will advertise it..”

    Your friend
    Peter Tosh.


  41. “Would you follow the miller and back the DLP come January 19th should they include in their soon-to-be-released manifesto a watertight promise to decriminalize the herb in its entirety by June 30th 2022; just in time for Cropover?”

    due to some technical issues I cannot vote in Barbados and I do not know the nitty gritty dirty dirty politics

    but I imagine voting DLP would be like voting Tory or Republican who are not like minded partakers of the chalice and are political animals riding a bandwagon, but that is just guessing

    but I think playing both sides to offer decriminalisation is the way to go

    it will happen one day anyway regardless of politics


  42. @Sargeant

    Curious why Barbados is not on the list.


  43. @David, Canadians own lots of condos and time shares in barbados, me thinks.


  44. Dame you are suggesting the decision by AC is economic and not health related?

  45. NorthernObserver Avatar
    NorthernObserver

    #David
    The staff ‘sick outs’ are making the airlines hoop. At this time, they don’t have the staff to handle the scheduled flight loads

  46. NorthernObserver Avatar
    NorthernObserver

    @SS
    My “guess” is many things are up for Reform.
    Yet remember, reform of programs, WITHOUT reform of accountability, is a waste of time.
    The tools are there, we have just systematically ignored them and/or failed to use them.


  47. @David
    I was told sometime ago that AC has many wealthy and well connected clients who spend time in Bim, maybe that explains it


  48. Making a plant legal does not have to be offered during election to induce a demographic to vote for a party
    it should be done as it is the right thing to do instead of blowing trumpets and making it a big show

    Do you believe in rasta unity
    and rasta can do no wrong
    I do


  49. Everyone’s got a different way
    Everyone’s got a different say
    Which way must I go

    With a natty dread upon I head
    Must I go my own way
    No

    When it comes to I heart
    I vision Rasta Unity
    Rasta Total Livity


    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=no_1wvoCn5I

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