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Prime Minister Mottley talks and talks

The beleaguered Kay McConney and Santia Bradshaw unsurprisingly retained the support of Prime Minister Mottley.

Minister Marsha Caddle, notable return to the Cabinet
Davidson Ismael, BOOTED
Sonia Browne, OUT

Prime Minister Mia Mottley spoke to the nation yesterday on a number of matters and of interest were a few changes to the Cabinet. Marsha Caddle was returned to the Cabinet on her own terms, she is the Minister of Industry, Science and Technology. Although her predecessor was fired he landed in the pime minister’s office and will retain a minister’s salary. Dr. Sonia Browne was operating in a role that created too many sleepless nights and decided to make way. The other changes may have merit but did not resonate with the blogmaster. The beleaguered Kay McConney and Santia Bradshaw unsurprisingly retained the support of Prime Minister Mottley. The next general election will be an accurate pulse check how the public will appraise the performance of these two.

Changes at a glance

• Marsha Caddle will become Minister of Industry, Innovation, Science and Technology.

• Chad Blackman will become Minister in the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Investment.

• Dr Sonia Browne will now chair the National Wellness Programme.

• Davidson Ishmael will assume the role of Minister of State in the Ministry of Health and Wellness.

• Sandra Husbands switches to Minister of State in the Ministry of Education with responsibility for higher education and technical and vocational training. Kay McConney will remain as Minister of Education and focus on education transformation.

Portfolios

• The Water Resources portfolio will move from Ministry of Transport, Works and Water Resources to the Prime Minister’s Office.

• The Urban Development Commission and Rural Development Commission will fall under the portfolio of Senior Minister Dr William Duguid.

• The Building Standards Authority will go back to the Ministry of Public Works.

Senate

• Chad Blackman will replace Senator Lorenzo Harewood.

• Reverend Charles Morris will replace Senator Shanika Roberts-Odle.

Diplomatic corps

• Ambassador Noel Lynch will now take lead on the coordination of the 2024 ICC T20 World Cup.

• Vic Fernandes will assume the role of Ambassador to the United States.

• Sharon Marshall will assume the role of Ambassador to Cuba.

• Cleviston Haynes, former Governor of the Central Bank, will be our first Ambassador to Ireland.

• Senator Lorenzo Harewood will become the new Consul General in New York.

• Senator Ambassador Elizabeth Thompson will assume the responsibility of sherpa as Barbados takes on the chairmanship of the V20.

Nation newspaper 06 January 2024

Maybe the blogmaster is being harsh because after 10 minutes of listening to Mottley yesterday there was a temptation to tune out. Is Mottley’s ability to command her audience fading? Yesterday’s delivery to the nation will predictably suck some of the air out of the cheque story.

In August of last year Mottley promised the nation if her two senior ministers Duguid and Marshall were unable to resolve the Savvy of the Bay matter she would be forced to intervene. To quote on the matter:-

But what I will say to you now is that I have said to the two gentlemen, ‘you have a timeline on these negotiations, and if these negotiations don’t finish within the next few weeks, there must be a ministerial statement to the Parliament and all of the facts laid bare, including how this matter started under the last government; why there was a need to go to court under the last government; how, therefore, the sale was proceeded with as a result of an act of specific performance; and why we would not have been able to act before when we said from the very beginning, those two lots in the middle were always car parks’. 

Prime minister mia mottley

Both sides on this matter have fallen silent. This is how we do the public’s business in Barbados. All the talk about transparency is just that, talk!

76 responses to “Prime Minister Mottley talks and talks”

  1. Miller Avatar
    Miller

    @ Grantley Dobayan on January 7, 2024 at 12:56 PM said:
    “Ultimately, or ominously, the biggest move is the Water Resources portfolio. Bigworks will oversee personally the privatization of water.”
    ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

    Well spotted, G D! The only piece of information emanating from OSA’s despot worthy of serious examination.

    All the rest is just another ‘repeat’ of political blather which will end up in the same Big Red Bag already full of DLP incriminating evidence.

    How could MAM have made an electoral promise to “lock up” past DLP grandees (including her very close ‘Garrison’ buddy sharing a similar birthdate) when there were No effective legal mechanisms in place to fulfil such a grandiose promise?

    MAM knows full well that the commitment made to the IMF to privatize the BWA must be undertaken w.e.f. 2024 before any ‘new’ balance of payments bailouts are processed.

    Now that the ‘affected’ Avinash is gone should the other politically-damaged consultant Mascoll be promoted as the Chief Water Boy to bear the cup of bitterness which will arise from the coming political flood of tears?

  2. Enuff Avatar
    Enuff

    Bdos Underground Comedyfest.🤣🤣

  3. Miller Avatar
    Miller

    @ Enuff on January 7, 2024 at 7:04 PM.

    And it (the Comedyfest 🤣🤣) all started with that Big red bag of tricks!

    How come you are not asking the Hyatt Hotel owners to pay the taxes due on the Mercedes Benz still being driven by a ghost on the pot-holes-ridden roads of fiscally crippled Barbados?

    Or have you, Mr. Big Enuff, taken up the job as the first black Sales Director at the Pink mausoleum on Bay Street after being fired from your Big Lying P(r)ick in New York?

  4. David Avatar
    David

    @enuff

    You read comments in other online channels while the PM was addressing the nation. A word to the wise should be sufficient.

  5. Bush Tea Avatar
    Bush Tea

    ‘ A word to the wise should be sufficient’.
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    Actually, wisdom is not even required in order to distill the general sentiment of apathy and disgust that dominated the comments which accompanied the PM session….

    Even a clown would be worried…
    A normal BB would take heed…
    ..and the ‘wise’ would change direction post-haste..

  6. Stand By Me Avatar
    Stand By Me

    “Rate This
    The PM can be an intimidating woman if you allow her to be.”

    Mia promised she was not going to run again,
    (but still reserves the right to run again)
    at least she didn’t announce another surprise election while the opposition was still sleeping

  7. John Avatar
    John

    I hear from some Trinis not long ago that the NIS is missing payment of pensions.

  8. David Avatar
    David

    @John A

    From what is being said the cheque was not cashed.

    Call for independent probe

    PRIME MINISTER MIA AMOR MOTTLEY should have set up an independent probe into the controversy over a personal cheque for $7 500 payable to Deputy Prime Minister Santia Bradshaw, rather than declaring the matter was closed.

    The suggestion has come from third vice-president of the Democratic Labour Party (DLP) Felicia Dujon.

    In her address to the nation on Saturday, Mottley, in response to the row which surfaced late last month, said that after having spoken to Bradshaw, it was a matter of “case closed”.

    The cheque was made out to Bradshaw, who is Minister of Transport, Works and Water Resources and Member of Parliament for St Michael South East, by order of Errol Clarke Associates Ltd. It was subsequently stolen from her constituency office and is now the subject of a court case.

    Bradshaw shortly after issued a statement saying the cheque was a charitable contribution to her annual

    Christmas hamper and food voucher programme, while Errol Clarke, of Errol Clarke Associates, explained that the donation to Bradshaw was just another way of giving back to the country’s less fortunate.

    DLP president Dr Ronnie Yearwood called on Bradshaw to resign or for Mottley to remove her from the Cabinet.

    Not cashed

    Mottley told Barbadians on Saturday that Bradshaw said she did not solicit the cheque, nor did she any have prior notice of its delivery, and the cheque was also not cashed.

    However, Dujon told the DAILY NATION yesterday said the Prime Minister’s defence has done little to ease questions about the situation.

    “Something happened and people were concerned about it. And for you to tell us, the electorate, the citizens, don’t worry about it, go ahead on your business, it’s still concerning because it has not been resolved, because the cheque is still out there.

    “We still don’t know what has happened to it. We know that it wasn’t cashed. Was it returned to the owner? We don’t know, and I think these are the kind of questions we need to ask,” Dujon said, adding that it set a dangerous precedent for potential future infractions by a Cabinet member.

    She said the Prime Minister should have separated herself from the matter and have an independent investigation.

    “As the taxpayers, we want to ensure an independent voice comes in and an independent voice leads the investigation. If an independent investigation turns out that nothing unethical was done, then we can understand that . . . . This is not a personal issue, this is a state matter and I think an independent body has to investigate [such] allegations,” she said.

    As for the Prime Minister’s overall presentation, Dujon charged that it failed to address critical matters affecting different sectors, such as health care, infrastructure as well as problems in education.

    “[Today] schools are opening [and] a lot of parents don’t know what is their situation in terms of school. How are they going to send their children to schools where there are still serious problems in the school? So these are some of the critical situations that the Prime Minister should address rather than go and nitpick at the Democratic Labour Party.

    “We were waiting almost an hour to hear a press statement from the Prime Minister, only to be told that the Cabinet has been expanded again. Again every Barbadian understands that we have to pay more because the Cabinet has been expanded, and so all of those kinds of concerns are very serious because the taxpayers are the ones that will be paying for them,” she added. (JRN)

    Source: Nation

  9. David Avatar
    David

    @Enuff

    This is today’s Editorial in the Nation. Take careful note it is NOT the blogmaster or BU intelligentsia..

    Building public trust key

    THERE SHOULD BE NO AMBIGUITY surrounding the recent “cheque for charity” issue involving Deputy Prime Minister Santia Bradshaw.

    This situation touches on the fundamental principles of transparency, openness and accountability, the foundation for good governance which we cherish in Barbados.

    The theft of the cheque from her constituency office and its subsequent exposure in the magistrates’ court brought the issue to the fore.

    PM’s address

    The matter has understandably become a hot button issue given the emphasis placed by Bradshaw and her Barbados Labour Party (BLP) colleagues on integrity in public life, before, during and since the 2018 General Election. The party, since assuming office, has passed legislation on the issue, even though it has not been proclaimed as the law.

    Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley addressed the issue on Saturday during an address to the nation.

    The raging cheque saga raises many questions regarding standards in public life and cannot be passed off as part of an established and engrained political culture in Barbados. Such an argument must not be upheld since it circumvents holding people to account.

    It is generally understood that politicians and political parties in Barbados get help from business people, individuals and corporations to fund their campaigns and other ventures in their constituencies and at the national level.

    What is never disclosed is the level and kind of such contributions, those making donations, whether in the form of cheques, cash, payment for goods and services or gifts that may be distributed to constituents at Christmas or during an election campaign.

    Politicians, regardless of which side of the fence they sit, should appreciate that accepting gifts, even for a charity to do work for the less fortunate in a constituency, can create conflicts of interest.

    Guarded secrets

    What makes such situations murky is that Barbadians have no avenues to know who is lobbying whom, how, for what purpose and with what funds. The reality is, donations to individuals and political parties are guarded secrets.

    The country must reject some viewpoints that this is an issue that should not be addressed. The public’s outrage and feedback on Starcom’s radio call-in show Down To Brasstacks and on social media are generally both unflattering and cynical.

    Hoping the negative reactions blow over is no solution in this instance that highlights weaknesses in the system.

    What is paramount is building public confidence in politicians, political parties and the policy decision-making process.

    The raging cheque saga raises many questions regarding standards in public life and cannot be passed off as part of an established and engrained political culture in Barbados.

    Source: Nation

  10. Fairnessandtruth Avatar
    Fairnessandtruth

    Sometimes one must rest. The truth is this has taken a lot out of me mentally, emotionally and physically. Perhaps one day I will write a book about the journey.

    What I will say is that my hope and my desire remains that the government would resolve this in a way that is fair to ALL and does not cost Barbadians tens of millions of dollars. That is my hope but ask me if I have the confidence that this will not happen and I will not like the answer myself.

    The truth is the errors on this started long long ago and started under the BLP administration ministers and government departments. Then under the DLP. The PMs words are not accurate for many reasons and her administration could have gotten out of the sale… I wish they had.

    I came into the picture after the agreement was already done and deposit paid. The government has tried to hide much but we have dug and found much and some they have handed over as they had to but even that has reveled more errors by government.

    It’s quite terrifying when you realize how many large mistakes a government can carelessly and recklessness make.

    So yes silent for now resting and hopefully regaining strength for what approaches and praying that the Government does the right thing for all its citizens.

  11. Donna Avatar
    Donna

    I stopped playing “Here we go ’round the mulberry bush” a while ago when I realised that not even the garbage and bus problems were fixed.

    All the wrong people go into politics, it seems. Those are the people who impress us.

    I myself haven’t been impressed since Errol Barrow, and that gloss wore off also a while back, and Tom Adams, whose flaws I despised but whose abilities I never doubted.

    I did have hopes for this administration, based not on any notions of superior abilities on its part, but rather on a belief that the arrival of “sink or swim” time, had been duly recognised and acknowledged.

    Now I console myself with the American circus and the British Brexities. All indications are pointing to the Royal Wees fall of “empire”.

    So….

    At leas’ we postmastuhs en gettin’ lock up in fake postal thievery scandals, otherwise known as simple “computer program errors”.

    Better that real thieves avoid jail time than we lock up innocent people!

    Unbelievable in a so-called developed country!

    I see all other animals evolving. I see them getting smarter and smarter. If you see my “teenaged” dog mothering her nine month old pups you would be amazed at her “humanness”. She sure grew into that role! If you see my cat brothers getting along you would be amazed at the lack of sibling rivalry. No vet can tell me that they don’t recognise their kinship! (Besides which, one of them tries to sweep the house with its paws and cleans and neatens up after his brother. Hates any mess on the floor.)

    All over the internet is the visual evidence that these animals are no longer “dumb”.

    Only human beings are devolving.

    The lion and thd lamb may soon lie down together.

    After we cursed humans are gone!

  12. John Avatar
    John

    Watch muh now!!!

    Ms. Mockley’s patented method for jump starting the economy!!

    https://www.instagram.com/reel/C1xosf5OSuH/?igsh=YWdydjRoMXVtbXBj

  13. TheOGazerts Avatar
    TheOGazerts

    Not bad!
    Not bad at all.

  14. Enuff Avatar
    Enuff

    David

    You keep missing the point. I am not concerned about comments, especially when they are from folks with an agenda. That is for the political operatives. I am using muh brain. You are asking for the spirit of the not proclaimed law to be followed. Does the law prohibit an MP accepting a gift? I thought (Ronnie(wh)O too?) it says that on receipt of a gift over $2,500 an MP must declare that gift to the IC. The Commission does not exist and the cheque was stolen before it was cashed. In the spirit of the law, who would the cheque be declared to and does the law require an MP to declare an uncashed cheque in a day? What was Errol Clarke’s response? The government has 4 more years and plenty projects to deliver. The delivery of these projects is my concern because they will redound to the benefit of Barbados and will make people like you continue to swallow spit. I’m certainly not focused on comments by naysayers and goalposts movers, including yourself. I noticed your recent piece on agriculture where you argued that “five years is time enough for the man on the street to be able to touch and feel positive change in food production AND behavioural change in the population.” What a vacuous statement without setting out how this could and should have been achieved given human behaviour, the logistical issues experienced post-Covid and the weather etc. In any event, isn’t food crop production up 24%? Or from your read of the Trade in Goods numbers at the CB website, you concluded that there “was no material expansion”?

  15. Enuff Avatar
    Enuff

    “Or have you, Mr. Big Enuff, taken up the job as the first black Sales Director at the Pink mausoleum on Bay Street after being fired from your Big Lying P(r)ick in New York?”

    2024 and you still have no sensible response to my comments. It is clear that I will continue to live rent-free in your head. What makes it so enjoyable is that it’s open plan living–space graanmurrr.

  16. David Avatar
    David

    @enuff

    This space is not a court of law. The opinion of the people in the court of public opinion is that we are being taken for granted regarding this type of matter. For example, it is taking 12 to 24 months to proclaim and operationalize legislation. We are tired Enuff of the rh pappy show.

  17. David Avatar
    David

    Can anyone say what Charles Morris is expected to bring to that Senate?

  18. Enuff Avatar
    Enuff

    David

    Sir have you done a poll? You may have the last RH say.

  19. John Avatar
    John

    Now if Ms. Mockley had been actually practicing law for the past decades she would have been sharper in her language and everybody would have understood that what she meant to say that no crime had actually been committed!!.

    “Two key ideas in criminal law—actus reus and mens rea—are essential for proving criminal responsibility. Mens rea refers to the offender’s mental state at the time of the crime, whereas actus reus relates to the physical act of committing a crime.”

    Clearly Sanita did not do an actus reus in cashing the cheque although she did actus reus in receiving it but probably broke no law in so doing.

    However, a jury should have been given the opportunity to decide on her mens rea.

  20. David Avatar
    David

    The blogmaster is listening to Bob’s Time will tell.

  21. George Avatar
    George

    “That is for political operatives”🍻
    And you are not?
    You just happen to always agree with this administration. And defend them to the nth degree.

  22. Hants Avatar
    Hants

    water problems.

  23. Hants Avatar
    Hants

    Canadians to the rescue.

  24. Terence M Blackett Avatar
    Terence M Blackett

    SHOW ME A POLIE*TICIAN LOVED BY THE MASSES OF ITS PEOPLE!!!

    Look at the historical lesson of how we got here…

    In the 1500’s, European Prince Machiavelli who is considered by many to be the founder of modern political science felt that political thought lies in his freeing political action from moral considerations…

    Machiavelli insisted that “MORALS” have no place in politics…

    Hence deregulation in TODAY’s market!!!

    Machiavelli felt that people are fundamentally bad…

    And the end justifies the means…

    In other words, he “abolished the moral problem” confronting politics…

    For example, consider Machiavelli’s practical advice on how to gain power:

    “You must recognize that there are two ways of fighting: by means of “LAW”, and by means of “FORCE”. The first belongs properly to man, the second to animals; but since the first is often insufficient, it is necessary to resort to the second… Nor did a prince ever lack legitimate reasons by which to color his bad faith…”

    So the tyrannical nature of the Darwinist philosophy which espouses “survival of the fittest” and the “law of the jungle” crept into the ethos of modern-day politics but with a more sinister twist…

    For hundreds of years that tyranny was the source of many unnatural and brutish conflicts. Modern political discourse and narrative has been moving in the other direction where the blurring of the line between Machiavellian thought and postmodern expediency was virtually indistinguishable…

    As we race towards the 3rd decade of the 21st century, we find ourselves in the midst of rapid and “SEISMIC” change…

    We see our workers’ pay checks able to buy fewer and fewer necessities each year. The spiralling cost of food. The disintegration of civil liberties. The systematic exploitation of the poor for the sake of wealth creation; war as population control; and the “TYRANNY OF THE MINORITY” proliferates!!!

    As the pain becomes more & more increasingly intolerable – what we witnessed in Francophone African nations – #BurkinoFaso #Mali et al will become the “NORM” according to Machiavelli and it is not beyond the confines of illogical reasoning to presuppose that the “GHOST” of #MauriceBishop and/or #SydneyBurnettAlleyne still stalk the corridors of poLIEtical theatrics!!!

    By hook or crook or by the “GUN”!!!

  25. Terence M Blackett Avatar
    Terence M Blackett

    WHY DO YOU THINK THAT GUNS ARE SO READIBLY AVAILABLE???

    Instead of feeling richer and happier, we see that traditional economic development has actually made “MOST” poorer and less happier…

    Indeed, contemporary modern history is showing us (quite poignantly) that the pursuit of traditional economic development is actually the pursuit of misery and abject failure…

    So who (or what) actually benefits from the traditional economic development model???

    Have we considered that widespread distrust might be due to faulty economic theory???

    So-called Keynesian theoretical economics!!!

    Could the problem be that happiness is un-economical???

    Or worse, is it possible that unhappiness is good for corporate profits???

    “GET READY” for #ScamDEMIC 2.0 where #PsychopathicUtilitarianists will insist (AGAIN) on #MaskMandates, #GlobalLockdowns & #VaccineVillainy with a “World On The Brink of Global Tyranny”…

    “PHASE 2” of the #GlobalTakedown simmers and if “AIRHEAD” BIDEN does not get his way (better yet – if #OBOMBER) does not get his 4th term – #StayTuned for a more seismic repeat of 2020!!!

    No wonder, so many today are #Packing…

  26. Terence M Blackett Avatar
    Terence M Blackett

    THE DONALD* is on my TV screen tonight talking about “BEDLAM” if the continued “WEAPONIZATION” of #LAWFARE continues against him as “FRONT-RUNNER” for the White House in 2025!!!

    #TuckerCarlson is also suggesting that #Trump could be “ASSASSINATED” if all else fails and just today a major “PUNDIT” said that Biden could be “TAKEN OUT” to stir a nationwide cataclysm pushing the “DEMOCRAPS” back into power as California GOV* – (#GavinNewsom) is being groomed for the top job!!!

    Take from all that what you will – one thing is 4 sure – Machiavelli knew something “MOST” are in patent “DENIAL” given their inert dissonance!!!

    Barbados is NOT* outside the ring of all that “MADNESS”!!!

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