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Where are the good politicians? Where are the civic minded citizens?

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Minister Charles Griffith, Youth Affairs

One has to conclude that in Barbados a big part of our problem is about poor governance and lack of civic responsibility. As a society we have become indisciplined and holding others accountable.

What is governance?

The system by which entities are directed and controlled.  It is concerned with structure and processes for decision making, accountability, control and behaviour at the top of an entity…

Governance Today

What is civic responsibility?

Civic responsibility means active participation in the public life of a community in an informed, committed, and constructive manner, with a focus on the common good… 

Tennessee State University

The blogmaster is aware a subject matter of this nature will not attract the interest it deserves from an educated Bajan public, however, it is a task some must undertake. The upside is the blogmaster will desist from being prolix.

More and more we find ourselves in a situation as a country with the tail wagging the dog – politicians being revered by citizens, refusing to see them as servants of the people.

Last week the blogmaster listened to a representative of the Barbados Fire Service (BFS) who shared a concern about the number of old people, young children and disadvantaged groups who have lost their lives to house fires. The BFS officer admitted there is no remedy in the works to address the problem that he is aware.

What does this example have to do with governance and civic engagement you are wondering?

Minister Kirk Humphrey is Minister of People Empowerment and Elder Affairs and from all reports highly regarded by members of the public and political talking heads. Why has he not implemented initiatives to address the threat to the elderly community mentioned by the BFS officer? The same criticism can be directed at Minister Charles Griffith who has responsibility for Youth Affairs. Why have citizens not reacted with fury to the officer’s revelation by doing all that is possible to hold the two ministers to account? This is the kind of issue we should be using to assess the performance of the minister.

Why does Prime Minister. Mia Mottley have 27 ministers to satisfy a political objective of creating a toothless backbench at a time there is too much suffering in the country?

Why are our best citizens happy to be passive with civil engagement?

Why have successive governments renege on promise after promise to enact, proclaim, operationalize transparency legislation?

If the political directorate is not receptive to discharging duties in a patriotic manner, what will it take?

All roads lead to maintaining a robust governance framewoork.

#riotsintheland

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58 responses to “Where are the good politicians? Where are the civic minded citizens?”

  1. TheOGazerts Avatar
    TheOGazerts

    “Men” like John A, the blogmaster, Donna, the A guy, even Jeff Cumberbatch are what keep the ship Barbados afloat. It may be sinking and their heads may be just above the water but these guys are pulling hard on the oars and trying to head towards the shore.

    It does not matter that the ship has gone nowhere in the 57 years, they are fighting to get to get the ship shore. Hey, for this period they have good company, with (not) enuff. :orenzo and J2 aboard they should head nowhere fast,

    If these guys ever catch the Holy Ghost, with how strong their beliefs can be, they would be worse than GP.

    Moi? I am already in the a lifeboat, watching and praying for them. Bushie praying also, but he is still on the ship.

    ————-
    Sorry guys. I am all dressed to shovel snow ( the word shovel is a teaser) and my brain cells are not yet up to speed. That was my best stuff.

    Enjoy the beautiful sunshine, sea and sand, no one can take that away. They might buy out all of the land on the coast, but as long as Fisherman Pub is in Speigtstown, you have beach access. Just pretend you are buying a drink and jump into the sea

  2. Observing Avatar
    Observing

    Good morning read David.

    Will the real leaders please stand up???

    Just Observing

  3. I'm a rambling man ... Avatar
    I’m a rambling man …

    A bit of free flow rambling …

    the stereotypical racist apartheid trope was inferior black people were lazy and stupid and did not have the discipline to lead like superior white folks.

    I do not subscribe to that lie that became part of the global order and this cannot be the reason why Barbados is not reaching.

    It is probably due to limited options, when life gives you lemons, make Limoncello Mojito cocktails..

    In 1966 when Barbados gained Independence, new players changed the face of politics but maintained the existing power structures and business industries in the system which worked well when there was world growth.

    After the 2007/8 Global Financial Crises I made a point on the web that the White Boys in racist finance industry F–ked Up with their greed and gambling.

    What I meant was that colour of skin was not a qualification.

    .. Government Spies stole this idea but twisted it saying that “Women” should be employed for critical top jobs and the West promoted White Women as CEOs.

    Mia probably rode the Women in Power bandwagon at the right time.

    Reality-Check
    Sometimes you have to demolish everything to rebuild from the ground up

    #riotsintheland

  4. Bush Tea Avatar
    Bush Tea

    Boss..
    Perhaps the problem is that we have been looking for ‘politicians’ rather that seeking ‘leaders’.

    These are completely different animals.

    Leaders are characterized by commitment to community, selfless service, excellent character, and a history of success.

    Politicians are EXPECTED to be lying manipulators, who are EXPECTED to place their selfish desires ahead of the public interests, and whose word we all KNOW ain’t worth shaving cream..

    …so we have excellent politicians…..

  5. Bush Tea Avatar
    Bush Tea

    “…bushie still on the Titanic?”
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    @ TheO
    You probably got the wrong ‘bushie’ skippa…

    The real Bushie was one of the first on the lifeboat.. this is why the whacker was taken away. LOL

    No whacking allowed on the lifeboat… so bushie has to work with a ‘collins’….

    LOL ha ha

  6. Donna Avatar
    Donna

    Just this morning I was telling my son how annoyed I have long been when people give these politicians such undeserved status. Watching Bajans kiss political ass has always irritated me no end.

    These are supposed to be our servants! Who kisses their servant’s ass? WHO?

    Recently, while watching a Chris Hedge lecture on Youtube, I was struck by the words that came out of his Christian mouth.

    He said that governments should always be made to feel afraid of the people!

    Now, I used to feel proud that ours could walk about without security.

    Should I be feeling silly?

  7. TheOGazerts Avatar
    TheOGazerts

    Sniff, sniff
    It looks as if 000 got his hand on some good stuff.
    Can you imagine living next to that guy? You would have to use an oxygen tank. Even the bees and mosquitos in the neighborhood must be high …

  8. Pachamama Avatar
    Pachamama

    Their fathers are all dead!

    And their mothers ain’t born yet!

    Memes by the late but famous American writer, poet, thinker, about ‘weeeeee being the ones awaited’ represent a gaping philosophical contradiction with currently lived realities.

    But given the recent history of mankind, about the last 6,000 years.

    The unwillingness of all to recall the epochs preceding.

    The unstinting determination to unearth social systems now considered ‘nostalgic’, by the ignorant.

    The present human condition was alway as predictable as the rise of Asar this morn.

    That the people in charge and worshipped by most as if this is some divinely inspired ethos, across the board of every human environment, must lead to much worse than we anticipate.

    Let’s continue to ignore all that we see, to hold on to lies, fables, ignorance and the backwardness of a future better than the recent past.

  9. Pachamama Avatar
    Pachamama

    Not to unearth……

  10. Re: original creativity of thought Avatar
    Re: original creativity of thought

    In Theo’s small and limited mind he imagines that any original creativity of thought is about the quality of alleged herb and not moving their root grounding energy to the vitality of the sacral sexual energy of the second chakra through the spine to the 3rd 4th and 5th chakras and then up to their third eye for intuitive power of higher reasoning revitalising their brain. He should give up the alcohol that makes him stupid and stupefied like a bitch which is the epitome of the foreign bajan mind.
    Bob Marley — ‘Herb is the healing of a nation, alcohol is the destruction.’

  11. Enuff Avatar
    Enuff

    “Why does Prime Minister. Mia Mottley have 27 ministers to satisfy a political objective of creating a toothless backbench at a time there is too much suffering in the country?”

    Maybe I can’t count.

  12. David Avatar
    David

    @Bush Tea

    Seems to be a chicken and egg scenario. Do we have leaders if they are afraid to come forward (emerge) and offer themselves for public service?

  13. David Avatar
    David

    The blogmaster’s bad, 30 because if not holding a substantive ministry it is probably some fabricated position e.g. Trevor Prescod, Sonia Browne, John King and others.

    #steuspe

  14. Bush Tea Avatar
    Bush Tea

    “…afraid to come forward and offer themselves for public service”
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    LOL @ David
    …are you not mixed up?!!

    Did you think that true leaders NEEDED brass bowls to lead? … or is it that brass bowls NEED true leaders for their own salvation?

    THEREFORE, … is it for these GEMS to come forward and offer themselves to idiots who worship crooks and con-artists?

    …of should clearly the DOOMED brass bowls scramble to unearth, and to BEG such true leaders to PLEASE come forward and save their brass bowl donkeys..?

    Your bifocals may be on up-sided-down Boss LOL

  15. Enuff Avatar
    Enuff

    Oh dear, you’re struggling. I can see you’re laying your wicket but it will get dig up. Stick to it.

  16. John A Avatar
    John A

    Well at least let me say the PM was true to her word when she said she would simplify the NIS payment system. From January no more yellow copy and blue copy for quarters. One slip fill in de year and put down what you got to spare. You want to pay in a year and hope you dont dead you could do that too!

    Madam PM you think you could help us now with The License Authority and Customs next? Cause the time I saving at the NIS I spending with them 2 places. Sorry dont want to be pushy but let me pelt corporate affairs in there too!

  17. TheOGAzerts Avatar
    TheOGAzerts

    @000
    “.not moving their root grounding energy to the vitality of the sacral sexual energy of the second chakra through the spine to the 3rd 4th and 5th chakras and then up to their third eye for intuitive power of higher reasoning revitalising their brain..

    That stuff strong as hell and you seem to like it.

    I am not a smoker, but the ‘sacral sexual energy’ caught my attention. The Guinness, milk and egg thing stop working for me years ago, so I am looking for something new… Does it also have a ‘viagraphic’ effect? Holler at me.

  18. Terence M Blackett Avatar
    Terence M Blackett

    @David

    WHERE ARE THE GOOD POLIETICIANS?

    IS THE CRUX OF THE MESSAGE EMPHASIZING THE INDETERMINABLE CONCEPT OF “good”?

    We know that there is “NO ONE GOOD” but “THE MOST HIGH”!!!

    Well, it seems like a simple village boy from “GHANA” who left China after completing his degree (who speaks fluent Chinese) and came back to his home country in 2016 – with no visibly profound attributes and began a “YOUTUBE Channel travelling around AFRIKA* showing the best of those nations – finally came to BARBADOS* to meet MIA AMOUR MOTTLEY and he is singing her praises!!!

    The “VILLAGE BOY” with a “ONE & HALF MILLION YOUTUBE FOLLOWERS” -who is also a “MILLIONAIRE” since 2018 (earnings from YouTube) and some say he is the premier “INFLUENCER” on the “AFRICAN CONTINENT” – able to meet & interview Prime Ministers across the national boundaries has now been welcome to Ilaro Court to meet MAM!!!

    Anyone can take from this encounter whatever they so choose – however, I chose “NO COMMENT” given that “WODE MAYA” may have been surprised that I did not have something say even about the trip to BIM!!!

    There are times when “SILENCE” can be the “Golden Fleece”…

  19. David Avatar
    David

    @enuff

    Listening to callers labeling your hovels arrogant.

    #deja vu

  20. David Avatar
    David

    @TB

    He is a social influencer.

  21. Clicks Followers Avatar
    Clicks Followers

    De old folks have no clue how social media operates. It occurs right in front of them, but their cluelessness leaves them in awe.
    Who do followers follow?

  22. Pachamama Avatar
    Pachamama

    Civic responsibility, as general understood, is a fool’s errand.

    What is needed is a democratization of the work place, since most people spend their best years in a work place.

    Certainly, if democracy has any value the workplace should be a heaven.

    We already have examples which, if expanded, would build on the cooperative movement, the dying social welfare state, workers’ cooperatives like even Cow Williams made a feeble attempt at.

    Of course, the mostly rabid neoliberals here would see these ideas as approaching communism. However, that response is never conjured when those same people fight for their NIS pensions or top quality comunal health care at the QEH, or even decent roads on which to drive.

    But even socialism, Communism or economic participatory democracy at the work place are unlikely to succeed without being imbued with spirit.

    These discourses are central to the Afrocentric critiques of modern governance.

    Of the three varieties of recent socialist structures – the Chinese Model, the Soviet Model and the Norwegian Model, of which the Chinese effort is a hybrid, has left Western capitalism in its wake as far as social development is concerned. In fact, it has grown 2 or 3 times as fast, every year, over three decades.

    This does not mean that China has no problems. Indeed, President Xi must every morning awake worrying about how to continue feeding one and a half billion mouths.

    Enter the existential question of our times. Where the neocons in this White House, and the next, are preoccupied with war against China as the only means by which socialism, with Chinese characteristics, can be defeated.

    That socialist mix includes the biggest Chinese company, Huawei, a workers’ owned company, and many others which are the reasons for the creation of an economy for China which has no peer in the entire history of economy.

    Huawei has just made a phone which has the IPhone sucking dust. Thereby dispelling the Western canard that only socalled “unfree” and “unfair” markets could best have delivered.

  23. APESHIT Avatar
    APESHIT

    @ TheOGazerts
    FYI
    I responded to your query but the powers-that-be tek it down
    you could do a bit of deep dive research to get your groove back

  24. Donna Avatar
    Donna

    Tell John all about it! He still thinks that capitalism is the only way to go.

    Pure capitalism in its current form is in its end stage.

    I have been listening to lectures by many who are qualified to expound on what a blind man or woman could see. And can see what I cannot – the way forward.

    This current system is unsustainable. There is a better way coming, hopefully sooner rather than later.

  25. L'esprit de l'écoute (Leave a message) Avatar
    L’esprit de l’écoute (Leave a message)

    Mémoire du présent (Memory of present)

  26. John Avatar
    John

    Matthew 7:6 KJV
    Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you.

    Real leaders have placed within them that which is holy.

    They seek it.

    It is easy to recognise its presence, and far easier, its absence.

  27. Pachamama Avatar
    Pachamama

    ‘Civic minded?’

    How stupid can weeee be?

    Last Thursday and Friday we had maybe the most important court hearing since the so-called enlightenment.

    With 90 percent of the peoples of the world, peoples who for thousands of years have been subjected to what the Palestinians have long been and currently are. Genocide!

    Even when Bushie continues to argue, wrongly, that this has something to do with what he calls karma. Bushie need these kinds of hot or cold arguments. Mannequien!

    An argument by Bushie untethered from a scintilla of proof that the Arabs in Palestine were the first slavers, had anything to do with it.

    Alternatively, even Barbados provides incontrovertible evidence of the slave trading, civic mindedness, of these so-called Jews.

    Indeed, this writer is maybe the first to draw attention to the fact that the Arabs were the initiators of the enslavement of the Slavic peoples. That chattel slavery was a byproduct therefrom. Of course, there were other forms of servitude. These are scientific term.

    But this does not necessarily extend to the Palestinians who are almost universally disliked by other Arabs just like how the so-called Jews were so hated by all the Europeans that, up until recently, almost universally, they themselves were subjected to pogroms. Even by the Russians. Being a set of people nobody wanted to live around. A reasoning central to this debacle in the Mediterranean today.

    Therefore, civic responsibility requires Bushie to square this karmic circle. LOL

    We therefore pose the question about this civic mindedness some here when, in the protection of the Zionists crimes and from populations knowing the truth, almost every Western media house refused to cover the live magisterial adumbration of the case for genocide by the South Afrikan lawyers on Thursday last.

    But on Friday, it was wall to wall coverage of the reply by the lawyers responding for the Zionists. How civic minded was that? How are we to make civic judgement when the media whores, in the pay of the Jews, almost universally, decided that we were not to know the facts in the court case of many melennia.

    Civic mindedness has always been a way to busy people with trivia while the devils running the world are freed up to be. And not a boy here has even seemed to notice this most un-civic crime.

    In any event, the South Afrikan lawyers wiped the floor with the Zionists, their American and European supporters in laying out an ironclad case against them all.

    Absent the go to trick about procedural grounds to be found for dismissal, the whole world now expects a preliminary finding for South Afrika and the Palestinians, against the genocidaires.

    But even so and given the ICJ lack of enforcement powers; the expected American, as coconspirator in genocide, Security Council’s veto of active measures against Israel; we are most likely to be left at the tender mercies of the moral suasion by un-civic minded countries to establish biting sanctions on the Zionists.

  28. Bush Tea Avatar
    Bush Tea

    @ Pacha
    Looka!!
    Don’t make Bushie sharpen BOTH side of the collins fuh your tail now…

    Full respect is due to you for your obvious gift of intellectual superiority.
    But in comparison to the WAYS, and the THINKING of the beings that CREATED life on Earth as we know it… your ‘knowledge and wisdom’ aint worth wuh Paddy shot at…

    You obviously think that Karma works according to YOUR guidelines.
    …that YOUR intellectual ‘moral rules’ trump all else, and that those whom YOU forgive are handed clean slates….

    Many brass bowls will be similarly shocked to find the extent to which they had deluded themselves that THEIR puny narratives trumped the clear prescriptions of the CREATOR of it all…

    Just like those architects of the Trans Sahara Slave trade condemned their generations of UNREPENTANT offspring to REAP what their fore-parents had sown, So too will the barbaric albino sponsored suffer – AFTER they have completed their grim reparations assignment.

    A similar, and arguably even worse, fate awaits the perpetrators of the Trans ATLANTIC trade.

    Karma DOES NOT make that kinda sport Boss..
    NOT with self righteous brass bowls who mistreat the ACTUAL people of God- those brass bowls who are characterized by their dark skins and their forgiving nature…

    In the final analysis, even at the INDIVIDUAL level, “what a man sows, his donkey WILL reap” .. unless there is GENUINE repentance, and COVERAGE is gained under the symbolic blood of the Lamb….
    This is the ONLY exception skippa… no matter how many academic theses you can write… 🙂

  29. Never Stop Fighting Lyrics Avatar
    Never Stop Fighting Lyrics

    Pachyman is on point

    Hypocrisy of USA and UK’s worthless Politicians has now been exposed by their support for Israel perpetrating ethnocide crimes against Humanity

    Can you hear the Palestinian Children singing
    You can hear the angels voices

    [Intro]
    When will we ever stop our fighting?
    Can’t you see it’s time enough that we should all just start uniting

    [Verse 1]
    They’re asking for peace yet dem never stop fighting
    Will there ever come a time when mankind be united?
    I’m a just a passerby, singing and rejoicing
    And if you listen with your heart you can hear angel voices
    They’re always singing

    [Chorus]
    Do you hear the angel voices?
    Do you hear the angel singing in harmony?
    You hear dem singing in the morning so early
    But only Jah Jah gonna help us
    Yes, only Jah Jah gonna help us now

    [Verse 2]
    Time just keep on slippin’ right into the future
    Brother, tell me what you gonna do for di nowadays youth, sir?
    You see, I’m a just a passerby, I’m still singing and rejoicing
    But if you listen listen with your heart I know you really gonna hear children voices (They’re already singing)

    [Chorus]
    But can’t you hear little children singing? (Tra-la-la-la-la-la-la)
    A can’t you hear little children voices? (La-la-la)
    A can’t you hear a little children singing? (Tra-la-la-la-la-la)
    Only Jah Jah gon’ now, help us now

  30. Biggest Crimes to Humanity Avatar
    Biggest Crimes to Humanity

    Egyptian and Roman slavery preceded Arab slavery by 7-10 centuries

    but Atlantic Slave Trade with Breeding Farms at Industrial Levels were the Biggest Crimes to Humanity in History of Hue-Mankind

    So don’t ever ever ever parrot White People’s specious narratives like a chump

  31. David Avatar
    David

    @Bush Tea

    However you twist the essence of a good leader is one who gets the job done through people in their orbit.

  32. David Avatar
    David

    @John A

    We need to get governance infrastructure right. We always have these commissions running to improve how we run the affairs of parliament, improve the Constitution, educational reform and so on. The blogmaster gets the impression it is too big a job to us. We are struggling with the big stuff AND the small stuff as well.

  33. Bush Tea Avatar
    Bush Tea

    There is no ‘Bushie – twist’ Boss..
    We agree on what a good leader is…

    Where we disagree is with your insinuation that such talents has the RESPONSIBILITY to come forward to save brass from themselves…

    Whereas Bushie is contending that it is for the hopeless bowls to recognize their Titanic situation, and to SEEK OUT the kind of talents which we all agree characterizes true leadership…

    How long has the Bushman proposed a KEY ROLE for Caswell?
    You may wish to check your archives, but it was before he even came on BU… far less to national fame.

    Review the BU 10-point plan in retrospect.

    When talents such as Caswell and Grenville and Hammie La are available to be deployed, and brass bowls instead saddle themselves with Dooshiite, Tire-slasher, and Will-nots – IT CANNOT be anyone’s fault but the brass.

  34. David Avatar
    David

    @Bush Tea

    Understand the point you are trying to make, we have to respectfully disagree on the last point. By definition a leader brings to the table those qualities required to get people on board, even the brass.

  35. Pachamama Avatar
    Pachamama

    Bushie
    Yuh old fecker yuh!
    Yuh burning down muh barley field.
    Yuh burning it down!
    Without making contact with the essential point. LOL
    Yuh burning um down with that wicked hand yuh grandmudder use to talk bout.
    Do wha de feck yuh like, Pacha like yuh bad as brassbowl. LoL

  36. John A Avatar
    John A

    @ David

    The truth is we have to examine the issues one by one and focus on them for a solution.

    For example I have a friend who deals in cars and when he tells you what is involved in just getting a car licensed you would dead!

    So first he buys a weight certificate then he goes and gets in a line at the pine and waits hours to get the car weighed. Then he goes into another waiting room for more hours to get it licensed. Did that car not enter the island with a weight both laden and unladen from the manufacturer? Did the documents at entry not have the engine number and chassis number on them? So if this was verified already why the hours wasted to do it again? Then if the buyer of that car sells it, the new owner must weigh it again and go through the same lost of a day.

    That is but one example of how we are wasting time and being inefficient. Customs is another joke too. Why must i go to customs get in a line to pay duty when all they do is stamp the assessment from the broker and take my money? You mean in 2024 i cant pay the duty on line and get a stamped receit to clear the goods wid! Then I got to get a release from the broker and that release goes to the broker and not the importer. So the broker then got to send it to the importer so he can go clear the goods.

    So that is just 2 areas of things we do that place us nearly at the bottom of the ease of doing business scale.

  37. Bush Tea Avatar
    Bush Tea

    Not you are introducing a NEW category altogether..
    Politicians
    Leaders
    …and now..
    Nurse Maids

    Not suitable for Adults Boss….

  38. John A Avatar
    John A

    @ David

    However it is not just the government that needs to get their house in order its also the insurance companies.

    So here they are claiming they may have to pay out over $100 million in claims for the first time in a year, so premiums must go up. No sir what WUNNA got to do Is get up out you fancy offices and go and penalise those that making the claims. That is the ZRS et al that do crap everyday on our roads. Why you coming to me and telling me with a full no claim bonus that my premium must go up? Wunna go do you blasted job and penalise those making the blasted claims first!

    Wunna is a bunch of lazy indifferent suit wearing posers ! LOL

  39. David Avatar
    David

    @John A

    All your examples speak to a lack of being able to hold people accountable and those affected (citizens) refusing to accept the brown stuff.
    Again we come back to managing governance issues well and members of civil society playing an active role. It is a twosome required to work together.

  40. David Avatar
    David

    @John A

    Agree to some extent but we need to hear more. A % breakout of claims payout to individuals, commercial, vehicle type etc.

  41. John A Avatar
    John A

    @ David

    The blame also must fall in all these cases on the complacency of us the bajan public. You feel if it took 5 hours to get a car license in the USA the people there would not be pressuring the state for change? We accept too much and say too little and that is why we are treated the way we are, by both state and private sector organisations. We have no real consumer organisations either, nor is there an entity that monitors transactional times etc.

  42. David Avatar
    David

    @John A

    Exactly, civil engagement. We have to be ready to what it takes to push back. We have been seeing a little of it but it is lead by opportunists rather than leaders in the true definition. Barbadians are labeled passive y, we will have to wait and see. Continue to do your part.

  43. David Avatar
    David

    Campaign financing – protecting our democracy

    The following is a submission by Integrity Group Barbados (IGB).

    “Modern elections cannot be contested without money. Staff costs and campaigning expenses are necessary for the political competition on which democracy depends. Yet the financing of political parties often provokes distrust and cynicism – sometimes for good reason – about the motives of both the givers and receivers of political donations.” – Recommendations on political financing, Transparency International, February 2020.

    THE ELECTORAL AND BOUNDARIES COMMISSION (EBC) website provides a report on the 2018 election, including a declaration by each candidate of the expenses which they incurred in the campaign.

    The maximum amount declared by any candidate was $71 864. The total by all Barbados Labour Party (BLP) candidates was $1 334 092 and all Democratic Labour Party (DLP) candidates was $945 331. Hopefully, the report on the January 2022 General Election will soon be posted on the EBC website.

    Any Barbadian looking at these numbers would find it hard to believe that the campaigns for either the BLP or DLP were run on these relatively meagre amounts. The campaigns must have cost significantly more than the figures submitted to the EBC by the individual candidates. Therefore, most of the contributions would have been paid to the political parties and the expenses paid by the said parties.

    Stronger monitoring

    As the law governing elections currently stands, political parties are not required to submit any information to the EBC, nor to declare sources of funds or how those funds were used. There is a limit on the amount of funds that any individual candidate can spend on a campaign, but no similar controls over political parties. IGB considers that Barbados requires a stronger monitoring framework for campaign financing.

    Recent reports in the Press and on social media concerning a cheque stolen from the office of a Government minister, raise the wider issue of all payments to politicians, and not just as part of financing an election campaign. In the absence of established regulations and protocols, it is understandable that lack of transparency creates an environment of “distrust and cynicism about the motives of both the givers and receivers of political donations”, to quote Transparency International.

    IGB, in its submission to the Constitution Reform Commission in February of 2023, raised the issue of campaign financing. IGB shared the view that it is time political parties be required to register with the EBC and that they should be required by law to submit annual returns on sources of funds and details on funds used to finance election campaigns.

    In addition, for full transparency, the source of any donation over a certain minimum amount, whether made as a single contribution or a total contribution during any one year, should be explicitly identified.

    Election advertising

    There is no need to reinvent the wheel. Reference can be made to Canada, where the Elections Act provides a framework designed to make the financing of the political system more transparent. The Canada Election Expenses Act

    of 1974 introduced the registration of political parties and introduced limits on election expenses for both candidates and political parties.

    Transparency measures and limits were also imposed on election advertising by third parties – persons or groups other than candidates, registered parties or electoral district associations of a registered party. Political parties must submit financial reports to the Chief Electoral Officer of Canada by June 30 of each year and in the case of an election, an expense return eight months after the election. The reports must include the name and address of anyone contributing more than CAN$200.

    In its February 2020 report entitled Recommendations On Political Financing,

    Transparency International recommends that governments: Apply comprehensive disclosure regulations to the finances of parties and candidates and ensure that all information is published regularly and in a timely manner via a single online portal, during campaigns and in between elections.

    Introduce limits on sources and the size of donations to political parties and candidates, and encourage a broad base of donors, to strike a healthy balance between public and private funding.

    Open the process for development of new regulations applicable to political financing.

    Give oversight agencies the autonomy, powers and capacity to effectively enforce political finance regulations and receive and investigate public complaints, report on outcomes and sanction those who breach regulations.

    IGB accepts that adequate funding of political parties and candidates is a healthy aspect of our democratic process. However, this must be accompanied by transparency and accountability. It is not uncommon in Barbados to see politicians lambast an individual or commercial entity and allege that there has been “hanky-panky” in their dealings with politicians on the other side.

    Yet, when the same politicians get into power, they are seen to be entering into deals with the same individual and commercial entity whom they castigated from the platform. This creates a high level of suspicion among the public and undermines the trust in the political process.

    Some will say that he who pays the piper calls the tune. As it stands now, there is no way to know who paid how much and to whom in support of any political party. All Barbadians are stakeholders in the political process and should be treated like shareholders in a public company, by having access to campaign spending of all political parties.

    Elections in Barbados are not constitutionally due until early 2027, but under our system of parliamentary democracy, they can be called at any time. There is time to remedy the deficiency in our present laws and implement a framework that will make the financing of political parties transparent. In the absence of positive changes, our democratic system of government is at risk.

    Source: Nation

  44. William Skinner Avatar
    William Skinner

    We are dealing with : cultural penetration , classism, racism, adversarial politics, intellectual dishonesty, food security, energy issues,
    economic injustice, increasing poverty, conundrum in our educational system, infrastructural deterioration, environmental issues, hit and miss economic development, implementation deficit, high cost of living, private and public corruption, and other issues.
    The model of socio economic development is collapsing under its own weight.
    These problems/ issues are not unique to our country.
    The question is: do we honestly feel that successive governments have clearly given us any indication that they can address these issues and concerns beyond the political clap trap ?

  45. John A Avatar
    John A

    @ William

    Yes i hear your concern, but lets ask ourselves have we as a people been vocal enough in making our concerns know? Have we as a people offered alternatives to the current situations?

    Dont get me wrong I am not saying that government does not have to improve its functions, but have we been vocal enough and pinpointed to them the areas of greatest concern?

    So lets go back to licensing authority, have any of the persons who took 5 hours to license a car ever written the minister and outlined the issue with the current system? Has the Chamber Of Commerce even been vocal on this issue or have they ever written the minister?

    Then again their biggest decision for them is what dem going eat at the monthly luncheons!

  46. David Avatar
    David

    @John A

    In our system of governance the role of the public service and central government becomes blurred. This is a big part of the problem. Let us agree the powers that me are aware of the many problems.

  47. John A Avatar
    John A

    @ David

    My biggest concern is that for a government that needs money they sure make it difficult to pay them!

  48. Enuff Avatar
    Enuff

    Bushie v Pacha. I’m here for it.

  49. William Skinner Avatar
    William Skinner

    @ John A
    We understand the difficulties of governance, but why are we still grappling with such minor things in 2024 ?
    What do we expect the citizens to do? Don’t we hear them complain on talk shows and social media ?

  50. Bush Tea Avatar
    Bush Tea

    To demonstrate the depth to which we have sunk, Miss P just called Brass Tacks to complement the government department issuing the new ID cards (designed to track minute details of all brass bowls in order to apply EVEN greater control of our donkeys) for ‘treating citizens in a ‘civil’ manner, …issuing queueing numbers, offering seats ….AND ACTUALLY SPEAKING in a civil manner to citizens….

    What the HELL!!!

    Its like…
    We KNOW that we deserve to be treated like shaving cream.
    So THANK YOU for not flushing….
    Take a bow!

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