The backbencher (backbench) in the parliamentary system of governance practiced in Barbados has an important role to play. Backbenchers are available to sit on the important working committees of parliament or add to the bench strength of the government if the prime minister is dissatisfied with the performance of members of Cabinet. In an ideal situation backbenchers are free to speak unencumbered by the convention of collective ministerial responsibility.
The quality of the backbench under a Mottley tenure has raised its head again during the just concluded Estimates Debate. The lack of elected members of parliament to form an opposition has created a farcical situation of the government having to manufacturer opportunities to question and probe policies.
There is a reality that cannot be refuted. The role of an effective opposition in our parliament is an important one. The impact of the Three Blind Mice comprised of Messrs Owen Arthur, David Simmons and Henry Ford to debates in the Lower Chamber immediately springs to mind. The vacuum of a legitimate opposition in parliament was reinforced recently when the public was made aware of the uneventful passing of the Barbados Identity Management Act. Under normal circumstances a legitimate opposition in parliament would have been well placed to amplify concerns during the ‘readings’ of the legislation on behalf of the citizenry.
The late prime minister Owen Arthur was derogatory in his description of the House of Assembly as being poorakey while a sitting member. The blogmaster recalls during this poorakey era more Barbadians have been followig debates in the Upper Chamber, especially when former senators Caswell Franklyn, Joseph Atherley, Crystal Drakes et al led the charge.
The inability of members of other political parties to find favour with the electorate for two consecutive general elections has created a dysfunctional system of governance. In the relatively short period before the next general election, the blogmaster’s prayer is that good talent presents to challenge members of the sitting Barbados Labour Party to correct the obvious dysfunction as a good first step to transform the business of governance in Barbados. Frankly it has become an embarrassment to follow current debates in the Lower House compared to the not too recent past the likes of Tom Adams, Richie Haynes, Branford Taitt, Henry Forde, Billie Miller, Bree St. John and others. It should come as no surprise the decline of Barbados coincided with the rise of a poorakey parliament.
How can Barbadians reverse the trend of twenty or thirty diehard supporters of the two main political parties on a Sunday afternoon being responsible for the quality of talent being rotated through our parliament? Some blame the politicians, others blame the electorate- it is your classic chicken and the egg argument.
Is that Jeffrey Bostic?
Dr William Duguid. (RT)
@David, not sure the context of your query re Bostic, but my very non-important take away from the pic is that the brother looks very well as a man now over 60 (I would imagine).
In fact Mrs Hinkson who is next to her husband – the other former minister – would have been (as memory serves) his contemporary briefly when she explored cadetting during her A-level stint at his alma mater (well hers too indeed, but different 😎) … so they all look quite ‘young’ and ready to enjoy this next stage of life.
I wish them all good health and longevity.
@Dee Word
The Blogmaster’s point is simple to understand. We have a minister who resigned from a ministry one presumes because it was a bit too hectic for him and there is is now sucking at the nipples of the public purse. A win win?
Well @David, I don’t know why the minister resigned so maybe you are correct. But regardless of why he resigned tho, his appointment as a chair would ALWAYS have been a political decision that would have allowed him to be “now sucking at the nipples of the public purse.”
Thus, I am unsure why his situation is any different to the scores of other chairs around the nation now and since Adam was a lad!🤷
As noted, I see the brother and Bostic etc as quite talented competent folks who have successfully completed professional/academic/life hurdles already … so I’ll reserve judgement on the remark that his post was a “bit too hectic for him” as that does not ‘fit’ !
Gone again. Peace.
@Dee Word
You may have the last word on this matter. Your fuzzy argument continues to elude the Blogmaster.
LOL … one thing I do NOT do brother David … is present “fuzzy” arguments!
Agree or not … you can absolutely follow the clear 1,2, 3 step process!😎
So pray tell why is THIS former minister sucking nipples and the many others aren’t???
Do you know 100% that his post was too hectic for him? And why would that be so … The man knows how to delegate as he has led other processes successfully before??
And would being a chair of a cause that he has championed his entire life and thus have ‘expert’ and impassioned interest not be perfectly non-hectic for him – assuming your presumption was accurate!
Come now brother David … am I fuzzy or you mean fizzy 😂… Lata, lata, lata!
Yin Yang Black and White
Is Mia’s (or should that be BLP’s) strength her (or their) weakness
will that be the criticism geared towards them
The only problem with Parliament is that it has ceased to exist since 2018!!
Quite easy to remedy!!
The Electorate in each constituency elected them. We must respect their choice. They voted for the best who offered themselves for election. Respect their choices.
Parliament is not the place for ineffectual debates. It is the place to pass legislation for implementing policies that improve the situation of the citizens.
@Vincent
Not sure what your point is about ‘ineffectual debate’.
@The Blogmaster, I am trying to follow the thrust of your comments and I am flailing badly (as usual, you may say… but …)!
Seriously tho … yes there is “a dysfunctional system of governance” in PARLIAMENT due to the lack an elected opposition but that is NOT a valid reason for the lack of a “challenge [to] members of the sitting Barbados Labour Party”.
You spoke recently that David Ellis bemoaned the ‘same ole, same ole’ ‘traditional’ way the DLP and other pols were conducting the people’s business of politics and THIS surely is a perfect example of that…. Yes, clearly a first step is to find talented Bajan but if they are simply aiming to follow that TRADITIONAL model then NOTHING will change.
Let’s be clear brother: you do NOT need a seat in parliament in this modern era to develop significant and powerful support for your cause (that seat, however, does give you a guarantied stipend – particularly if you are the oppo leader or designated senator).
In what modern context is it difficult for the DLP or whomever to have quite serious press conferences in the courtyard of parliament; online presentations with the press and also with us Bajans; and other such ‘influencing’ public activities on an ongoing business!🤷🤦
Politics is about generating enthusiastic support about your message and policies; the DLP’s problem is a big deficit of support/trust because of their failures and the alleged ABJECT corruption!
They have talented folks but until they can get that monkey off their back they are doomed (mentally) and with a majority of Bajans.
Oh, I also suggest to you that back in the “not too recent past [of] the likes of Tom Adams, Richie Haynes, Branford Taitt, Henry Forde, Billie Miller, Bree St. John and others” there also was “the trend of twenty or thirty diehard supporters of the two main political parties on a Sunday afternoon being responsible for the quality of talent being rotated through our parliament”. “Poorakey” is relative brother!
Lots of talent around now as surely the folks above like Bostic or Hinkson or Marshall et al are “talented” individuals and Dr. Yearwood surely is too.
Converting ‘talent’ into real success is as difficult now as it was for Richie or Branford and Bree … so let’s be clear and realistic about that “classic chicken and the egg argument.”
I gone.
@Dee Word
“Let’s be clear brother: you do NOT need a seat in parliament in this modern era to develop significant and powerful support for your cause (that seat, however, does give you a guarantied stipend – particularly if you are the oppo leader or designated senator)”
If the above is a position you seriously hold then we must agree to disagree. The role of an opposition is our system of government requires a formal role of an opposition. Further, there is an expectation by the public that a government in waiting should hone its skills in parliament. It accrues a ‘legitimacy’ if it may be loosely described.
The not-so reported move
“Credit Suisse said 16 billion Swiss francs ($17.24 billion) of its Additional Tier 1 debt will be written down to zero on the orders of the Swiss regulator as part of its rescue merger with UBS, angering bondholders on Sunday.”
Fair warning to all those who “think” Boss+ paper is safe. It maybe so as long as this party is in power, but otherwise, just hollow rocks.
@NO
You should elaborate that this Tier 1 debt is written off at the discretion of management should there be balance sheet pressure? Should be known to investors with eyes wide open. Not condoning the bad situation.
https://www.reuters.com/business/finance/credit-suisse-rescue-presents-buyer-beware-moment-bank-bondholders-2023-03-20/
It is the discretion of regulators. And NEW mgmt refusing to honour prior mgmt’s decisions.
No different than the new govt in 2016 refusing to honour prior decisions?
Everything has a risk factor.
“Yet in the case of Credit Suisse, however, the AT1 prospectus made clear that hybrid (AT1) holders would not recover any value.”
Yes. But the AT1 holders all thought they were ABOVE equity? As an arguably hybrid instrument.
@NO
Buyer Beware? They scanned the prospectus?
” They voted for the best who offered themselves for election. Respect their choices.”
I am not certain this is true. They voted for one of the few who offered themselves.
-x-
I struggle to understand some of these post. It seems to me as if we are in some way blaming the poorakey discussions to lack of an opposition. It is not necessarily true that having an opposition would improve the quality of the debates, but, you must agree, the quality of any discussion should be judged by what attendees are saying and not what might have been said by absentees.
Secondly, we will soon hear (again) of how great Mia is and of her great performance. After Mia, who? Surely, with her stellar level of performance, there can be nothing poorakey with what happens in our parliament. Is she the Rumpelstiltskin of Bajan politics where she can turn poorakey discussion into pure gold.
Like I said, I cannot fully follow the discussion
I am always amused when these objective pieces take an eeny-teeny bite out of the missing opposition party.
Recall, the extremely low voter turnout that we have been experiencing. It would be safe to assume that those turning out are the diehards, the loyal B or the loyal D. No one in their right mind would think of this loyal minority as the best or worst of Barbados. Does it also follows that the politician that we attract are also from the middle, not the best or worse of Barbados.
What motivates a person to run? Is it always for the national good or (at times) is it for personal advancement? And if it is the latter, then it is possible that we will have poorakey discussions going on between those that are elected or appointed to high offices.
-x-
I think of Barbados as on big ball of twine that is tangled in many places.
How do we fix poorakey parliamentary discussions?
How do we get good judges and lawyers?
Should the fix for the legal issues we have start in parliament (laws) or should it start in law school (UWI) or should it start in the home?
Should we start at UWI or should we start before the screening test?
Are the solutions we often hear of the correct ones?
Can we add 185,000 new people with our roads and water supply? Are we solving a problem or creating a bigger one?
Can we build 10,000 homes in 5 year? We pat ourselves on the back when we manage to build 25 in one year. What happens if we have two or three years of bad hurricane?
We see new legislation and a thousand new initiatives, but issues like the new republic constitution, FTC and BL&P, digital IDS, exposing our children to a mean and harsh justice system and then allow strangers in the classroom to ask the children what they like are ongoing problems.
A missing opposition is the least of our problems.
Someone recently asked “who will bell this cat?”. This cat needs much more than a bell. ——nasia.
USA wants to dominate the whole world
but, in Little Island Local Politics BLP yield absolute power
if, BLP want to implement NWO spying agenda
they can do so without any push back from an impotent opposition
but, the people will remember the Governments self serving action
which was against their wishes and did not serve them
and will hoof them out of power same way DLP were outed
and they will have to face the consequences of their ill conceived bloody minded actions which were deemed wrong by the public
How fanciful!
“Shadows and mirrors, divine opposites.
The history of what is called parliament in Barbados is a culture where marginal people who can win a seat but not seen as having the intelligence, political pedigree, middle class background, coming from generational wealth, not particularly distinguished in a select set of professions or a combination of these, were always relegated to the backbench.
Political featherweights!
Of course, they have been exceptions to the dominant political or cultural narrative.
Peanuts Morrison, for example, comes to mind. Some may contend that the likes of a Ralph Thorne, though clearly working class, is maybe more intelligent than most, even amongst the top three or four figures in this regime. At least he sees himself that way.
However Thorne, might have made a decision, from the backbench, or even as a condition precedent, to mek real money as a senior lawyer of the party, as opposed to a comparatively measly minister’s salary. Yes, he has been deployed to chair or co-chair initiatives thought to be important to the regime, paid work of course.
But that he has shown do interest, as we presume, in being in the cabinet or indeed the leadership of the party, given that the current dictator was heard to have made noises about term limits as self imposed, speaks to a deeper malaise beyond the remit of the above.
If Ralph Thorne is as intelligent as he sees himself and given that he holds the seat of a former prime minister, various other considerations, one may venture that as a backbencher Thorne is unserious about representing anybody but himself.
This may indeed be the highest level of personal efficiency coming from a long history of backbenchers who were generally both poor and poorakey! That the current maximum leader has allowed this seemingly irrational distribution of intelligence to continue speaks to another level of both poor and poorakey. Maybe, the fish really rots from the head!
If “poorakey” is a real word used by adults it is not recognised on google..
except for an article on a blog called the “Barbados Underground” from 2020..
https://barbadosunderground.net/2020/02/25/two-poorakey-former-prime-ministers/
@DAvid
There is no back bench. Just a throne a few kiddie chairs surrounding it.
just Observing
@Observing
It is embarrassing to have to follow debates in the lower chamber especially. Then again it can only be a reflection of the current state of things.
@ David, Driller, the woman in that picture does not look like Mrs Beverly Hinkson.
@Heather, it is.
https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=218542644175095&id=100010380647605&sfnsn=wa&mibextid=l2pjGR
Oh yesus christos!
Banking crisis still galloping. Or should we say “the economic crisis” for this is far deeper and wider than just banking. It’s speaking to financial capitalism itself.
Poor? Poorakey? Seem to extend far and wide. Backbenchers are all over! All dullards are them all, to have allowed another 2008, 1932, 1971 and on and on again.
Maybe we have all backbenchers in Buhbados toooo, no?
” Banking crisis still galloping. Or should we say “the economic crisis” for this is far deeper and wider than just banking. It’s speaking to financial capitalism itself.”
Been watching it unfold all day, more in the mortar than the pistle…my cue to watch it closely…i may actually learn something useful.
There’s a fatal crisis of capitalism.
There is no requirement. No established order of service, no set timetable, no ability of the West to assuage a moment whose time has come.
When the correlation of forces are considered, a sudden and tectonic collapse of the West, is now odds on favourite.
Check how the Saudis, the Chinese, the Turks, even the Zionists are moving out of the greenback particularly.
How could this be possible while not a single backbencher, not a single academician, not a single businesswoman, not a single activist, not a single yardfowl dares to speak to this train coming to crush this system of things.
Now why are you surprised (tongue in cheek) .
We now get to see who is who in all their pretentious glory, just as the slave minds got separated from the genuinely conscious people, so too will these, then they can be properly identified.
Waru
Been seeing this for decades. Looking forward to it.
But that we’re around to see the end of these criminals, though promised by the Ancients, is indescribable.
Things are certainly coming to a head, the people in metropolis countries and some Caribbean islands are tired of being tired…and letting it be known.
“Macron’s No-Confidence Moment Of Truth After Pension Reform Chaos
French President Emmanuel Macron faces two motions of no confidence Monday after he bypassed the lower house to push through pension reform plans that sparked nationwide riots and protests.
If the vote in the National Assembly backs the no-confidence camp, the government would be felled, and the legislation – designed to raise the retirement age from 62 to 64 – would be killed.”
Waru
There are 100 banks in the US alone around the size of SVB and smaller which are now exposed.
The response, per capitalism, is further consolidation. But that has its problems as well.
None of this addresses the underlying maladies, far less the attacks on the system itself by the mere presence of a rising multipolarity ethos.
He narrowly won the no-confidence vote but that was a serious wakeup call, he is on really shaky ground..
Closer to home…we can only ask, do any of them actually know what they are doing outside their scripts and orders to follow.
Cause the new things am learning tells me they are even more clueless than previously thought, no matter how they pretend otherwise. A real dog and pony show.
“None of this addresses the underlying maladies, far less the attacks on the system itself by the mere presence of a rising multipolarity ethos.”
That coordination and consolidation is having an impact. I did not see that one coming. But it’s real and it’s here. Ya think it’s understood in small parliaments…i doubt it.
@ David
Did you catch the bit of fun in the Senate this afternoon when Senator Drakes threw a big rock into the political sty?
LOL
From the lotta squealing that resulted, it was clear where the rock landed.
Then again no surprise that 333 pounds of blubber would tek de hit…
LOL
@ Pacha
” …not a single yardfowl dares to speak to this train coming to crush this system of things.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Boss, stop misleading the blog!
For YEARS now, stinking Bushie, (a registered ‘ BBE yardfowl’) has been highlighting the fact that the US dollar is nothing but a fraud, an illusion – impersonating a representation of value.
Bushie has long advocated that, like a thief in the night, an intruder called ‘BRICS’ would mash up the whole charade – with devastating consequences to those materialistic albino-centric jokers whose very BEING is defined by the illusion called ‘money’.
However, as you correctly suggest, ‘What a time those alive…’!
@Bush Tea
Missed it.
Source: Nation
Today’s Nation Editorial.
Source: Nation
This writer was recently called a hypocrite by One.
A hypocrite presumably for supporting Mia Mottley on the first IMF loan but turing on her when she proved to be a one trick pony, as anticipated.
An empty vessel!
There’s nothing else to this poor, poorakey, regime but borrowing and begging. Nothing!
Of course, the real hypocrisy is with America and capitalism itself, but no sustained critique of those who feed them is ever approached. Hypocrisy indeed!
Now the whole world is seeing the light, the real hypocrisy, except the Bajan typology of slaves. Poor, poorakey and backbenchers.
Bushie
I was doing that before you. Before BU existed. But neither of us is in any official or public position to say the same. Neither one of us has the force of government, public policy, etc. So, at that level, neither one of us exist.
All true Pacha…
BUT you DID include ‘yardfowls’ in your list of ‘defaulters’, and Bushie felt slighted in THAT regard.
“There’s nothing else to this poor, poorakey, regime but borrowing and begging. Nothing!”
A sad state of affairs, but one which they embraced for over half century…in the continuum that is government with nothing else to show..
Cant say a thing else about that, their bed, they gotta lay in it.
Very interesting times ahead.
Your comment is now reenforced on the new thread..
@ David
The best part of Senator Drakes’ presentation was when she was interrupted by ‘one-third of the 1000 pounds of blubber’ and asked to withdraw a remark that ‘seems to suggest that politicians are crooked’. LOL ha ha ..
Bushie is getting to like Senator Drakes yuh!! … you betta watch muh!!
Can you not see why the PM is pushing the Unit Trust scheme?
Never mind the Trinidadian ‘Nation’ editorial…
Credit Unions have accumulated billions of dollars in savings, which they hand over to the banks at ZERO interest rate.
The banks then lend these funds to foreigners at nominal rates, and these foreigners then buy up Bajan assets – WITH OUR OWN MONEY, and then turn around and kill us with prices that generate HUGE profits.
Watch the connections…
Trinidadian banks with Trinidadian directors funding Massy, OCM, and other Trinidadian investors to eat our lunch
Canadian Banks with Canadian dominated directors, funding Emera and other Canadian interest to eat our supper.
…and WHY? you may ask, is this possible…?
Because BARBADIAN politicians have enacted LAWS, (and the Financial Services Commission enforced shiite regulations) that PROHIBIT local credit unions from investing their savings in profitable enterprises.
Can you believe this…??!!
So now Auntie Mia wants to create a ‘Unit Trust’ to which these captive credit union savings can be directed (no doubt by Law) to be available to the consolidated funds as foreign loans dry up…
But if you find a jackass – who can blame you for riding him…?
Or if you find a brass bowl, for using it as a po…?
@Bush Tea
Bail in is starting to look like a norm going forward.
@Bush Tea
You are suggesting Massy, EMERA and others have been busing local dollars to acquire businesses in Barbados?
@Bush Tea
Discussing the Senate, you heard Senator John Rogers calling for an apolitical approach to planning a roadmap for the country? He mentioned the need for policymakers avoid the influence from international financial institutions when crafting policies. It was refreshing to hear independent views from that Chamber. Hopefully it will influence the other place.
You are funny!!
Suggesting? LOL!!
What did you think the billions in savings are being used for? monopoly?
Or did you think that these ‘foreign investors’ actually BROUGHT their own money to invest here (apart from the initial’ show’ funds to entice the political mendicants…) ?
Case in point.
During the two years when the hotels were shut down – you would think that our foreign reserves would have been devastated – having lost our ‘key’ income earner?
What ACTUALLY happened was that the albino-investors were not able to EXTRACT funds at the usual rate – Bushie would be unsurprised to learn that the foreign reserves may even have GROWN in the period – from the reduced bleeding.
You know of course that much of the income from tourism is transacted OUTSIDE of Barbados – and then only the bare minimum funds are sent to cover the security guards, porters and other UWI graduate workers unavoidably employed there.
If we had leadership who possessed the kind of HONOR and PRIDE that exemplifies some civilizations (like the Japanese for example) Harakiri would be an everyday occurrence near to Heroes Square, given the shameful RESULTS that we have seen in all areas of national governance.
It was refreshing to hear independent views from that Chamber. Hopefully it will influence the other place.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Heard some it.
“Spinning top in mud, while hoping for water to flow uphill.”
That is the bush man’s assessment of the likelihood of Rogers influencing the other place.
Possible scam alert
I leave heavy matters and thinking about such matters such as the Unit Trust to others.
We only heard of the vaccine scam when it was in the courts in the US. This time we ‘have a warning’, but I will wait and se if the Unit Trust moves from being the next big scam to something useful for Barbados.
————x———————
Have great Day Barbados
The only trust you can count on is trust in God.
Have a great day Barbados
This was kept very quiet by our government and the local media. How many Barbados citizens joined ISIS in the Middle East?
https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2023/mar/17/trinidad-and-tobago-children-syrian-camps
This one is also extremely ugly TLSN…Caribbean governments cannot be trusted at anytime when it comes to African lives…everyone is really at risk but the Afrikan more so than anyone else with these bloated egos, gigantic arrogance, ignorance, obsession with and addiction to world stage attention like the wannabes they really are…until they are ready to beg for votes again, then they come around with their snake oil smiles to grovel like the vipers they really are…with no shame that ya havent seen or heard them since the last election…useless swines…not fit for consumption or anything else.
Hopefully they will be all dragged off in handcuffs eventually…with the vaccine cockup…they were all so arrogantly willing to partake.
Re: NWO spying agenda & Barbados Identity Mismanagement Act
Information is harvested and sold on to other parties
Insurers sell your personal information to third parties
Recruitment agencies sell CVs to other agencies around the world
GCHQ collects all internet data upstream and sells it to NSA
Barbados collects data about school children’s sexual orientation for IDB
Mobile Telephones are tracking devices so everyone wants to know your number
David Bu ehy was the debate poor raley?Was it because the MP, took a turn in Obama Yearwood for continuing to mislead bajans? He deserved all he got and more.I heard Mr Wilkinson pushing this nonsense last week friday.Mr Yearwood to use his phrase run hot and sweaty saying there will be increase in taxes and massive lay offs in the budget none of which happened and tje Mp’ s were supposed to let him get awsy.Hell no.I agreed with them for lsmbasting him.Mr Yearwood getting worried in my voew with Mr Inniss immenent arrival as this will leave him in no man, s land.I also heard Ms Thompson giving the dem Ms Drskes and Dr Hindd some tremendous body blows cslling them out for scare mongering tactics.Dr Hinds and the fellow brasdtacks moderators like Mr Ellis, Mr Wilkinsonand Mr Blackman seems to have set themselves up as opposition spokesmen to collude in my view with certain dem callers to be able to get on thst programme everydsy and repest themselves or make a lot of wild statementsFor example i heard Mr Blackman today stsrting with MrP, Rawle, Albin, Mr Bascombr,Ms Decided, the lsdy who always complaining about prices one behind the other.He might ss well have been in George Strert.How the hell can one set of supporters get on a csll in programme one after the other? Umless they are all in one place and being facilitad by the producers and moderators at stsrcom in my opinion.This really is not good enough.Mr Greene needs to address this nonsense as soon as possible in my view even if it means in my view vetting rid of some of them.IThere is no balance on brasstacks anymore.I gone.
@Lorenzo
Barbadians in the main want to have issues addressed especially as it pertains to every day/bread and butter matters.
John…i just saw a disturbing video…
How much more huh??