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One of our failures of under successive governments has been to curb the bad behaviour seen in the PSV sector for over 40 years. There is a sub culture that has contributed to rising lawlessness in the society.

  • Do we care about our children who travel on private transportation vehicles?
  • Are we blind to how this unruly sector has added to deviant behaviour in the country?
  • Do we care about our children?
  • Do we have the capacity to hold officials responsible for managing the PSV sector accountable?

The inability of the duopoly to solve this problem is an ugly reflection in the mirror image. It is problem that could have been solved by actors operating with integrity BUT it is generally known there is a web of collusion and corruption attached to the sector. These private buses are owned by prominent players in society and are therefore ‘protected’ by various oversight players.

As long as the sector is allowed to operate with lawless abandon this blogmaster will disregard the daily rhetoric we have to listen to from political and NGO talking heads – including the prime minister – about Barbados achieving some grandiose goal.

If we cannot solve solvable problems, if we cannot sit at a table over a bowl of soup to resolve internal conflicts – how will we be able to solve national problems?

The following video is another example of what is known. How long is too long when it is bad?

A video of a ZR adding to the bad reputation of the transportation sector.

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145 responses to “Out of control”

  1. NorthernObserver Avatar
    NorthernObserver

    Artax
    You are a special kind.
    I posed what is really the difference between the NIS and the CF? One an individual makes direct contributions, the other contributions are via VAT and other levies/taxes.
    The political class use both as piggy banks.
    When Big Sink redirected public employees NIS contributions to the GoB coffers where did they end up?
    If it makes sense to you that certain social benefits be paid from the CF, so be it. They’ve already found numerous other ways to reduce the NIS asset base. And because they don’t report, neither of us know the full extent of what occurred. What we know for certain, is they don’t wish contributors and tax payers to know about it.

  2. Artax Avatar
    Artax

    1/1

    NorthernObserver

    RE: “You are a special kind.”

    John A and I shared the SAME OPINION, yet, I am the ONLY ONE being singled out for the DEROGATORY remark, “you are a special kind.”

    I AM “a special kind,” but apparently, he is NOT?

    Hmmmmm……

    I will not engage you any further in this discussion.

  3. NorthernObserver Avatar
    NorthernObserver

    You are special because you drag-on non-issues. JohnA didn’t make the post you did.
    I already said the idea to take from CF is logical. Take from the CF or NIS is all the same to me based on how the elected grab money.
    But certain social commitments are important IMO.

  4. Cuhdear Bajan Avatar
    Cuhdear Bajan

    @NorthernObserver July 29, 2024 at 6:02 pm “But certain social commitments are important IMO.”

    Indeed.

    Counting money is not the only important thing, nor is it the most important thing.

    Unless people/mothers/housewives/non-wives. even fathers, lol! produce and raise children [that is workers/tax payers] there is no tax money nor NIS money to count.

    Without people there is no need for accountants.

    Accountants exists because ‘housewives’ and non-wives too have borne and raised children.

    People have to be at the center of everything we do.

    Note that Barbados is scrambling to find people to shore up the working population and the NIS, and BRA.

    The labour of housewives’ adult children produces money. That’s where the money comes from, so that the accountants have something to count.

    It is foolish to denigrate [or to use a Bajan term ‘lowrate’] the unpaid labour of mothers, whether they were housewives or no-wives.

  5. Cuhdear Bajan Avatar
    Cuhdear Bajan

    Many years ago, I asked an economist friend of mine, a senior follow, one ‘o dem who went Cawmere, how come the unpaid labour of [mostly women] in reproducing the population is not counted in the GDP.

    I was told that a they did not know how. Maybe things have changed.

    But in my opinion work is work, and all work should be counted.

    Suppose for example I looked after a grandchild for 2 years without asking for, needing, or expecting pay that is not counted in the GDP. But if it is done by a “stranger” for pay then it is counted as a part of a country’s productivity. What??? When is work not work?

    No wonder then so many people cannot see the need for reparations. After all the enslaved were not paid, so in the opinion of such people what the enslaved did could not have been real work, could not have been productivity, was without value.

    I do not hold such views.

    Work is work, whether paid or not.

    So most countries are likely grossly under counting their GDP.

    Because they don’t know how?

  6. Cuhdear Bajan Avatar
    Cuhdear Bajan

    Artax July 29, 2024 at 9:02 am “Rather than admonish people for leaving the bodies of their deceased relatives unclaimed.”

    Dear Artax: Here is a fact of life. If you don’t have the money, you don’t have the money. If I had to make the choice of paying thousands for a funeral and buying food to feed my children, I will feed my children.

    Here is another fact of life: Some people are poor, some people are very, very poor. “The poor you will always have with you” (Mk 14:7). Some people can’t afford to pay for a funeral for their relatives, so what is the point of admonishing them?

    And it is extremely foolish of the authorities to keep at least one body for 5 years, and to be paying funeral homes $70,000 per month for only God knows how many months to keep such bodies until when? When the last Trump sounds and they rise from the dead? And I will not be beguiled that new legislation is required. From time immemorial there have been “paupers” funerals where the state buried/disposed of the unclaimed dead. Some person or persons unknown [to us] or unmentioned screwed up.

    And all like now the state owes me $1,200 since 2022and I could do with my money like yesterday and people writing cheques to funeral homes for tens of thousands of dollars every month for what?

    And another declaration: I have a close relative in the funeral business, But foolishness is foolishness regardless of who is doing the foolishness, or who is benefiting.

  7. Cuhdear Bajan Avatar
    Cuhdear Bajan

    @NorthernObserver July 28, 2024 at 10:21 pm “RHCJ”

    I googled the acronym RHCJ and Google wasn’t able to help me.

    Lol!

  8. NorthernObserver Avatar
    NorthernObserver

    That’s because it was RH CJ.
    Google produced Rastajan High Court Justice
    😀

  9. Artax Avatar
    Artax

    What non-issue did I dragged on?

    John A was the first person who suggested payment should be made from the consolidated fund and I agreed.

    If I drag on “non-issues” and you DECIDE to READ and PROLONG them, rather than IGNORE, then YOU’RE EVEN MORE “special” than I am.

  10. Artax Avatar
    Artax

    Cuhdear Bajan

    There you go again…. accusing me of denigrating housewives.

    I noticed you’re talking about the 1950s and 60s. You even went as far back as the 1930s.
    In this modern era, women have gone pass the ‘housewives days’ and raising several children.
    They are more focused on their independence, furthering their education, pursuing a career, owning a home and a vehicle.
    This is evidenced by the fact many women are in executive positions in companies and there is a decline in the birth rate.
    Please note, I’m not suggesting there aren’t any housewives nowadays, but I’m sure not as many as ‘back in the day.’

    But, let me ask you, have you ever worked for any social services agency, such as Welfare Department, Disabilities Unit, Child Care Board, NAB, RDC or UDC?

    Have you ever had any reason to talk or interact with any social worker from any one of the above social services agencies or investigate any matter concerning the abuse of children, elderly or homeless persons?

    Do you know there is a ward at the QEH occupied by babies who were abandoned by their mothers, simply because some of them were born with a disability?

    Do you know that cases of mental health issue among children has been steadily increasing?

    Yes, I agree “some people are very, very poor.”

    However, there are SERVERAL REASONS other than “poverty,” why people abandon their relatives at the QEH, district hospitals, senior citizens’ homes or leave them unclaimed at the morgue.
    Or why some people choose to be homeless.

    Most people who abandoned their relatives, more often than not, can afford to take of them.

    Your outlook on life seems to be confined to what occurred in your household, which you use as ‘a one size fits all’ scenario for every issue. It is a rather simplistic view.

    What you, you mother, father, sisters or brothers did is insignificant ‘in the scope of things.’
    In other words, it’s a small part of a broad overview of this particular situation.

    This is the 21st century, not the 19th.

  11. NorthernObserver Avatar
    NorthernObserver

    Artax
    I never disagreed with either you or JohnA
    NorthernObserver
    July 27, 2024 at 10:51 am

    @Artax
    Your logic is fair.

    Then you pen
    John A and I offered an opinion on non-contributory pension, and we were told, “Mothers, and Grandmothers were the backbone of many households whether they worked part time, full time or not at all. And as is said, it takes a whole village to raise a child, were there for many who were not their remit, and that “society does need to help those who cannot help themselves,” which was described as “the essence of community centric thinking.”

    Those are mostly my words? Bushie replied and for reasons unknown you seemed to get out of sorts.

    My point wasn’t they should not be an ‘ex gratia’ from the CF, which seems your interpretation. Rather they have societal value, and given the multiplicity of ways the elected ‘find monies’, your average Joe hasn’t a clue whether they come from the Consolidated Fund (CF), one of the numerous Funds under the NIS(SS), the current account, a Grant etc etc. Nor do they care.

    I further asked, given the semantics between all these public “funds”, do we really have a clue where the monies come from?

    And specifically gave the example of redirection of public employees NIS contributions. Which account did they end up in? Did recipients from that account know?

    Overall, and this is not directed at you, I am amused, and also heartened, at the relatively recent ownership citizens have w.r.t. NISSS. It is THEIR MONEY and the mismanagement and abuse has cost them dearly.

    IF the battle of the NIS is lit, by what payments it is/is not responsible for, then Hallelujah. For that is merely the tip of the iceberg.

  12. David Avatar
    David

    Reset TAP!

    Operators say problems fixable but they want ease from Govt

    by SHERRYLYN A. TOPPIN sherrylynclarke@nationnews.com

    A FEW COMPLAINTS COMING OUT of a town hall meeting should not be used to judge the success of the Transportation Augmentation Programme (TAP).

    Rather, says vice-chairman of the TAP Operators Association, Rodney Bellamy, it is time for them to meet with the Minister of Transport and Works and the Transport Board to look at the overall programme and chart a way forward.

    In 2019, TAP was conceptualised to help meet the needs of the Transport Board by adding public service vehicles to the fleet and branding them with the board’s tag.

    During the St Philip Speaks town hall meeting last Thursday, there were complaints that some TAP drivers were leaving senior citizens – who travel free – at the bus stops and at least one driver was not completing the route to Sargeant Street, St John, forcing some commuters to get off and walk.

    Bellamy condemned both actions, but said drivers had to make decisions every day and queried whether they were compelled to tell a commuter why they were not stopping.

    “You cannot judge the success of TAP or its functionality by the complaints of a few drivers or commuters. You can’t do that; that’s not fair. You’ve got to look at how the programme has satisfied what it was set out to do from the beginning . . . . So a few people complaining does not mean that it is across the board and everybody is doing it; that will have to be investigated,” he told the DAILY NATION yesterday.

    He said he believed the Transport Board, which oversees the programme, could take action to correct deviant behaviour on the routes.

    “So if you have a driver that is not following protocol or not following what the terms and conditions are, the driver is in breach of it, not the TAP programme. Investigate it and deal with the driver.”

    Bellamy said since the beginning of the year they had been “crying out and pleading” for a meeting with the Minister of Transport and that was close to fruition, based on communication.

    “We have people who are struggling. We have people who put all their investment and time and energy into TAP during the difficult time of COVID, and today they have nothing,” he revealed, stressing that they bear all the costs.

    “We have to do all our maintenance ourselves. We have to do all of our fixing ourselves. We have to deal with all the taxes ourselves. We have no ease from changing vehicle taxes. We’ve got to pay $1 000 to change a vehicle. We asked for an ease, and the Government takes ten per cent of our gross earnings even before we account for diesel. You’re taking, taking, taking. We need a conversation.

    “I know that we’ve experienced it for four years or five years. Let’s look at it now and see how we can now modify it to become something that is more viable for both the commuters and owners who are small business people in Barbados that need to progress.”

    Both Bellamy and chairman of the Alliance Owners of Public Transport, Roy Raphael, identified training as necessary for drivers. Raphael said the Transport Board should rotate drivers among the different routes every few months and when complaints were made, there should be a full investigation.

    In the last SUNDAY SUN, chief operations officer of the Transport Board, Lynda Holder, said the complaints will be investigated.

    “Anytime a complaint comes to us, we seek to address it. Coming out of Thursday’s meeting there is going to be some further investigations, and if deemed necessary, more corrective measures will be put in place,” she said, adding that some of the logistics in the TAP programme would have to be re-assessed to see if it was meeting the needs for which it was developed.

    Source: Nation

  13. Donna Avatar
    Donna

    Artax,

    Not everyone who gives birth is a mother. Not every one who sires a child is a father.

    Also, dead bodies need no care. I prefer to spend the money on a decent burial in a timely manner. The savings would then be available to care for the living.

    For once, I don’t see your point.

  14. David Avatar
    David

    @Donna

    How different societies treat with dead bodies is bound up in cultural norms and customs. A very sensitive issue which shouldn’t be unpacked in a binary way.

  15. Cuhdear Bajan Avatar
    Cuhdear Bajan

    “Women as “traditional” carers in the home now dominate the full-time workforce and cannot be asked to be superwomen and take on a full-time caring role at home as well. Men have not been culturally schooled for the caring role as “homemaker””
    Source: Nation, July 30th, 2024, page 9

    Not me, nor Donna mere simpletons both, but a real-real authority, Sir Erroll “Mickey” Waldron, Harrison College old boy, Barbados scholar, physician and all dat.

    Maybe the blog master can post the full article for the enlightenment of Artax and others.

  16. The OG Avatar
    The OG

    Why do we automatically rule out some possibilities.

    I am convince that many of the issues that we encounter do not occur by accident. Just spend the money cannot be a solution.

    Lumping wasteful and necessary items together cannot be a solution.

    The island is not rolling in money We have seen questionable spends are always occurring. All costs should be examined and those that can be trimmed/reduced or help no one should be should eliminated.

  17. Cuhdear Bajan Avatar
    Cuhdear Bajan

    @Artax “have you ever worked for any social services agency, such as Welfare Department, Disabilities Unit, Child Care Board, NAB, RDC or UDC? Have you ever had any reason to talk or interact with any social worker from any one of the above social services agencies or investigate any matter concerning the abuse of children, elderly or homeless persons? Do you know there is a ward at the QEH occupied by babies who were abandoned by their mothers, simply because some of them were born with a disability? Do you know that cases of mental health issue among children has been steadily increasing?”

    Just like you I live in the real-real world. A first cousin who is like a sister worked in the [then called] almshouses and for the child care board for a total of 48 years. Can’t walk the street of Barbados without being hugged up middle aged and young people, most doing seriously valuable work. My long time next door neighbour is a retired social worker. A very close relative is currently a physician at the QEH, and 2 cousins are physician and lab personell. Three sisters worked as nurses at the QEH and in 3 other countries. Another sister was a decades long foster mother in another country [because children in rich-rich countries, what I call the great white north, yes including white children come into care too] even while sis worked full time as a nurse AND raised her own children. I worked as a [unpaid] foster mother in Barbados for 18+ years, even while raising my children, working full time, and contributing both time and money to the more than decade long care of my elderly parents. I didn’t take the money because I didn’t need the money. I have never been motivated by money. A niece is currently a nurse in the great USA. All but one of these people are female. Every one of the females raised their own children as well or are currently raising them.

    So what have you and yours done?

    Any other questions?

  18. Artax Avatar
    Artax

    Donna
    Cuhdear Bajan
    NorthernObserver

    🤐🤐🤐

  19. Cuhdear Bajan Avatar
    Cuhdear Bajan

    @David July 30, 2024 at 7:22 am “How different societies treat with dead bodies is bound up in cultural norms and customs.:

    My dear David: Please enlighten the blog about what are the cultural norms and customs in Barbados regarding the dead.

    And do such cultural norms and customs traditionally involve keeping the dead on the ice until the last trumpet sounds and they rise in glory? In the meanwwile burning serious holes in the taxpayers pockets?

    Tell we nuh!

    Artax may “kill” me for this. My grandmother died early a morning in 1969. She was 90 and had been ailing for about 3 months. My father, the only one of her children then resident in Barbados called [using a neighbour’s phone as we had no phone then] the doctor to declare death, the priest to conduct the service and the undertaker to arrange the burial and had her buried that same afternoon, after a visitation conducted at our home. One of her sons, resident abroad and who hadn’t visited in decades cussed out my father by mail. My father responded to tell him that he had decades to visit the living “ma” so why is he complaining about not seeing the dead “ma” Brother did not speak to my dad again. Lol!

    This screed is to say that if in 1969 a man with a class 3 education could arrange a quick, lawful and decent burial for his sweet mother, why can’t our well educated officials do the same in 2024?

    Have we regressed, that we can’t get things done quickly, legally and decently?

    Somebody or somebodies screwed up big time.

    Paying $70,000 per month to keep duppies even while the living suffer.

  20. The OG Avatar
    The OG

    I know that i monotonously beat a corruption drum. To me, corruption is the only explanation for the many many missteps that are continuously made.

    Refusing to see corruption or admit the possibility of corruption will not make it go away. ‘Case closed’ and other sweet sounding phrases do not rule out the possibility of corruption.

    We have moved from steal houses to HOPE houses.
    Do you think we are just stumbling into these issues?
    Do you think it is just incompetence and ignorance that bring us to this state?
    Do you realize that whilst some are crying other are making their way to the bank?

    Incompetence cannot explain the continuous misfortune of some and the perpetual good fortune of others. …

  21. Cuhdear Bajan Avatar
    Cuhdear Bajan

    @Artax “Do you know there is a ward at the QEH occupied by babies who were abandoned by their mothers, simply because some of them were born with a disability?:

    I ask abandoned by their fathers too? Or are these children the result of a virgin conception?

    No. I did not know about such a ward, but I am not surprised.

    Because with a disabled child there is no such thing as “simply”

    Many disabilities are complex, lifelong, time consuming, exhausting and very expensive, so not simple at all.

    Some acquaintances of mine are still caring for a relative who suffered an accidental neurological injury as a child. The “child” is now past 65 and still requires daily care. Guess who has provided decades of care? The mother until she died and then the sisters of the disabled person, this of course limited the sisters’ job opportunities and income.

  22. Artax Avatar
    Artax

    @ David

    Don’t know if it’s true or not, but I’ve been hearing there are plans to ‘scrap’ TAP.

    One of the reasons why some drivers leave senior citizens at bus stops or complain about being assigned to service certain routes, is the delay they experience receiving funds from the relevant ministry.

    St. Patrick’s is an example of a route where there are several senior citizens. And, to be fair to TAP operators, when a Transport Board bus ply such a route and collects $35 00 in bus fare, for example, the bus can go to Weymouth for diesel, maintenance or minor repairs, at the expense of taxpayers.

    Unfortunately, TAP operators have to look for money to cover their expenses, because they cannot rely on the taxpayer or apply to the ministry of transport for a supplementary vote.

    I’ve filed income taxes for a few of those guys, and you would be surprised to see the type of expenses they incur, especially as it relates to maintenance and repairs…… and the length of time they have to wait before being paid.

    You can’t, in all fairness, expect the guys to transport school children, police officers, disabled and senior citizens, who don’t pay bus fare, and then have to wait months before they are paid.

    On the other hand, many of the TAP operators were former Transport Board drivers.

    Guess who duz get de best routes?

  23. Cuhdear Bajan Avatar
    Cuhdear Bajan

    @The OG July 30, 2024 at 9:15 am “Do you think it is just incompetence and ignorance that bring us to this state?”

    If that is the case it would mean that our senior political and civil servant officials are more incompetent and more ignorant that my dad, a person whose formal education finished at class 3. Tell me it ain’t so. Tell me that we haven’t wasted billions of dollars on nursery, primary, secondary and college/university education.

    If our officialdom is so ignorant and incompetent explain to me why we should not shut down all educational institutions beyond elementary school?

  24. Cuhdear Bajan Avatar
    Cuhdear Bajan

    @Artax “Unfortunately, TAP operators have to look for money to cover their expenses.”

    My response: If they can’t take the heat then they should get out of the kitchen. Perhaps they should have consulted you BEFORE they got into the private transportation business.

    I would not be at all surprised if the best routes go to members of the political class, their relatives, friends and associates. Barbados a country born in the wickedness, inequity and corruption of slavery. The wickedness continues.

  25. Cuhdear Bajan Avatar
    Cuhdear Bajan

    Numbers may not be my strong point but I know that
    $70,000 x 12 months=$840,000

    And $840,000 x 5 years=$4.2 Million

    And $840,000 X 10 years=$8.4 Million

    This kinda money may be chicken feed to some of the BU posters, but to me it is a whole lotta, lotta money.

    And none of the dead have yet risen, so what is the government keeping them for?

  26. David Avatar
    David

    @Artax

    Not surprises about TAP not being as efficient as it was intended to be. As always too much politics is involved. One would think TAP blended with TB traffic plan translates to a win win.

    What can you say about successive governments being able to disburse payables quickly to small players with small cash flow.

  27. William Skinner Avatar
    William Skinner

    One of the major problems we have is that public discourse has been hijacked by a select group of people who are often not terribly informed about the topics they deal with.
    Example: We heard a big up speaking about the poor writing of some calypsonians. The solution given is to teach them to write proper calypso.
    While we do have extremely talented calypsonians who can do both like the Mighty Gabby, that is not always the case.
    The Mighty Sparrow did not write many of his songs . Some of Plastic Bags best hits were not written by him.
    And it’s so with many artistes who sing in all genres.
    What is really need is to teach the history of Calypso from Primary School right up to university.
    But, we have so many square pegs in round holes……………oh well…….
    And then we have one moderator who does not even have a vague knowledge of our political history prior to 2018 and who apparently delights in spouting a lot of wrong information.

  28. Cuhdear Bajan Avatar
    Cuhdear Bajan

    And we had a politico recently who didn’t seem to know that cow itch is an invasive species and that once an invasive species becomes established it is there for the rest of our lives. Glad that the farmers put him right.

    River tamarind is also an invasive species and yet a previous government was busy propagating it.

    And now we have an estimated 60,000 green monkeys and foolish people think they cute. They too are an invasive species. Before I die we will have many more monkeys than people. And I hope that some idiot does not suggest that we import jaguars [a natural predator of green monkeys] to to deal with them. Because we will then have to import lions and tigers to deal with the jaguars.

    People should really stick to what they know.

  29. The OG Avatar
    The OG

    Lions, tigers and jaguars?
    I thought I had a good imagination, but I see that you can get carried away.

  30. Bush Tea Avatar
    Bush Tea

    People should really stick to what they know.
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    …and make ALL our politicians become unemployed?

    ..and shut down Brass Tacks – where clueless, NON-achievers, DAILY pontificate on the complexities of modern life?

    …and close ALL the shiite churches?

    Cuhdear…
    Be careful what you ask…
    LOL
    hahaha

  31. Donna Avatar
    Donna

    David,

    What the heck are you talking about????? I proposed that we give them a decent burial after a reasonable period. I did not say we should bury them in a cardboard box without fanfare, as I have requested for myself. That is my choice. I prefer my money be used to preserve the life of the living.

    I believe that should be the priority of the government as well. How many hungry children could be fed with the sums being paid to preserve dead bodies nobody seems to care enough about to claim?

    Do you prefer it to be spent preserving the dead for five years or to feed hungry children for five years?

    WTH???????

  32. David Avatar
    David

    @Donna

    Thanks for clarifying. Have no issue with your last comment.

  33. Donna Avatar
    Donna

    I have not ruled out corruption. Some things are too ridiculous to be explained otherwise.

    Perhaps you could help me to write my calypso for next year. 🤣

  34. David Avatar
    David

    Govt has ultimate duty of care

    THE RECENT pronouncement from the Minister of Health should be of concern to our “caring community”. The term “Young for Care” was coined to join the long-standing and demeaning term “Elderly for Care” for those who are said to be abandoned by their relatives in the Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH).

    These “young” and “elderly” human beings who cannot look after themselves without assistance, have been labelled and treated in the same way as we would unwanted items from our homes.

    Such items were thought at one time to have some value, but they are now taking up space, and should be removed from the premises. When they are not removed, our hospital authorities and now the Minister of Health go on their equivalent of Brasstacks and complain that the bins have not been emptied. Not long after the “complainant” added the dead to the complaint about the “uncollected”.

    Let us be clear, neither the elderly, the “Young for Care”, nor the dead should be treated by our authorities or the QEH like unwanted household items. Our authorities cannot get rid of the “almshouses” of old, refurbished facilities like the abandoned St Joseph Hospital, or ask the caretakers of former years to be out of the home in the workplace, and then imply that citizens are being irresponsible. It is like when it was said that we did not need more facilities for removing cataracts because our elderly “know their bible by heart”.

    Let us recognise that diabetes and hypertension are not the only chronic health problems facing our society and some of those problems will need custodial care. Surely, such an understanding should be realised in our Ministry of Health and Wellness before it accuses the community of not being more caring. Women as “traditional” carers in the home now dominate the full-time workforce and cannot be asked to be superwomen and take on a full-time caring role at home as well. Men have not been culturally schooled for the caring role as “homemaker”, and despite being tax free organisations the churches no longer appear to have the income stream from “no or low wage” businesses and are unlikely to take on the role of looking after the elderly or the young for care.

    It is therefore unfortunate but true that governments have a responsibility to look after the least among us, and the sooner we make provision for it the better the whole system of care will become.

    – SIR ERROL R. WALROND

    Source: Nation

  35. Artax Avatar
    Artax

    @ David

    An interesting article.

    Cuhdear Bajan, (I mentioned her name with caution, because her responses are usually multiple, irrelevant prologues to her version of Chaucer’s, ‘The Canterbury Tales),’ mentioned poverty as the reason why people leave their relatives’ bodies unclaimed at the QEH morgue.

    I agreed, but ‘said’ there are several reasons, OTHER than poverty, why people leave dead bodies unclaimed or abandon their elderly relatives or children with disabilities at the QEH, district hospitals, senior citizens’ or children’s homes……
    …… and, to emphasise my point, I went on to ask her if she ever had reason to interact with social workers from any of the social services agencies or investigated any matter concerning the people identified above.

    As usual, she evaded my questions to begin her prologue, ‘Heere bigynneth the Cuhdear Bajan her tale,’ which included the usual exploits of her parents, siblings and relatives.

    My mother, who is qualified in gerontology and care of the elderly, was ‘in charge’ of a state-owned senior citizens’ home and had stints at the St. Michael district hospital, before she retired.
    I also had reason to interact with welfare officers/social workers from the QEH and various social service agencies, as well as senior citizens, pertaining to certain matters.

    Let’s discuss senior citizens. As you may be aware, Barbados is ‘an aging society’ and therefore the demand for family caregivers is expected to increase.
    Taking care of an elderly person is a very difficult task, REQUIRING PATIENCE, especially when dealing with persons who are wheelchair bound or suffering from mental health issues, cognitive disorders (e.g. Alzheimer’s disease, dementia).
    Family caregivers are typically UNTRAINED, NON-PROFESSIONAL individuals and therefore, we must understand the challenges confronting them in caring for their elderly relatives at home.
    Some of the challenges confronting them are financial/socioeconomic, physical demands, communication, transportation and the complexities and responsibilities associated with medication management.

    Unfortunately, for some people, these challenges place a strain on social relationships, hence the reason why senior citizens are abandoned.

    Greed and revenge are other common issues.

    Elderly persons do not receive pension when they live in state owned institutions. My mother told me of a female whose son would visit her so she could sign her pension cheques.
    When the cheques ‘stop coming,’ the son ‘stop coming too.’ She would cry everyday, according to Bajan parlance, ‘pining for her son,’ until she eventually died.

    These types of topics are not only sad, but require further discussion, with interventions from trained professionals who are better able to explain the difficulties associated with elderly care…..

    …… and NOT ranting, with monotonous regularity, about what your mother, father, siblings or cousins did in the USA, UK or in Barbados in the 1950s.

  36. Hants Avatar
    Hants

    https://barbadostoday.bb/2024/07/31/pm-calls-for-assault-weapons-ban-amid-violent-crime-surge/

  37. Hants Avatar
    Hants

  38. Hants Avatar
    Hants

  39. Cuhdear Bajan Avatar
    Cuhdear Bajan

    @Artax “Greed and revenge are other common issues.”

    Sometimes it is not revenge, but rather retribution. That is some of those “abandoned” got exactly what they “earned” by their bad behavior to spouses and other family.

    I know of a case now [not here but over and away] he is late 90’s “recovering” from a stroke, she is early 70’s a retired health professional. The hospital is urging her to pick him up and look after him at her home or his. He never wanted to have her share his home. She doesn’t want to share it now, and she will not permit him in her home.

    Retribution, not revenge.

  40. Cuhdear Bajan Avatar
    Cuhdear Bajan

    @Artax

    You speak of the 1930’s as though it is ancient history, There are tens of thousands of Bajans still alive who were born in the 1930’s [my big brother and his wife being two, lol! still driving, shopping, cooking, cleaning etc.] Some still alive born in the 1920’s and even before 1920.

  41. Cuhdear Bajan Avatar
    Cuhdear Bajan

    “Two generations ago, the old Bajan was well known in the rest of the Caribbean for being wellmannered, very well educated, well-spoken, decent and law-abiding. He was maybe a bit aloof, not given to too much hospitality. Somewhat too British, actually. Dependable chap, but sort of boring, to be honest. Definitely not the life of the party.

    At home, the old Bajan knew how to stretch a dollar. Long before bank accounts were commonplace, the old Bajan invented the meeting turn. With no National Insurance to depend on, the old Bajan worked even when sick, pregnant, or in pain. With no easy access to cars, the old Bajan walked from country to town, or rode bicycles like the Rudge, Raleigh or Triumph. Too poor to even think of fast food, he was generally slim, fit and strong. Many had a strong sense of God. Even those who studiously avoided church had a great respect for things divine. Rob a church? No way. Curse a priest or minister? Not a chance…But things changed. There’s a new boy and girl on the block.
    More at:
    Nation, August 1, 2024. Page 9. Old values are dead and gone / Trevor Shepherd

  42. John A Avatar
    John A

    @ Northern

    My point about transferring the non contributory payments to the CF was also based on the birth of the new entity NISS.

    IF I was chairman of that fund I would have to advise central government that for the fund to run like a business, only those who have made contributions can be entitled to receive pensions. Now that would mean one of 2 things. A, The none contributory pensions can be handed over to central government or B, the NISS can continue to pay the non contributory pension, however the ministry of finance will be billed monthly for the total of these pensions along with a processing fee to cover the NISS time and input.

    This and a demand audit would be my first 2 targets for change. That and of course the dipping in the fund by central government, like if the fund is their short fall account would also have to stop. Wunna want money cause you budgeted badly then come and state you case to the public for a supplemental.

    I mean after all em is we pocket it coming out of.

  43. Bush Tea Avatar
    Bush Tea

    @ John A
    Come on Boss. You HAVE to be practical. This is Brassbados we talking bout…

    First thing:
    If YOU were chairman, it would mean that you are a political LACKIE, who would have been chosen SOLELY because the minister felt sure that you will do ONLY EXACTLY AS TOLD.

    Second:
    Even the damn ministers are lackies who follow DIRECT orders like children – whether they like UM or not…. and whether these make sense or not.

    Thirdly
    The difference between NIS funds and the Splurge Fund (sometimes referred as the consolidated Fund) is the same as the difference between your savings account and your checking account….
    Same signatories, same lack of planning, same levels of accountability – BUT you are able to say that they are ‘separate’.

    Fourthly
    Apart from David, Yourself, NO, Bushie and a few others, how many BBs know, understand, care, …or even think about such matters?

    Even when the retirement age is raised to commence on the first anniversary of our Death Certificate, most bowls will still be at a loss as to their predicament…

    Between you and the Bushman, there MUST be lots of laughing, drinking, and ROTFL among our politicians and their white shadows – when they get together to review how easy it has been to empty Bajan Brass Bowls.

    What a place….

  44. Donna Avatar
    Donna

    Many know the problem. Few know what to do about it. That’s why they party like there’s no tomorrow.

    Escapism!

  45. NorthernObserver Avatar
    NorthernObserver

    @JohnA
    Read @BTea response.
    What “you” might do is irrelevant.
    The elected will continue to do as they please.
    When they got caught as they did with Clearwater Bay, the response was an admission the monies were not properly appropriated and correct parliamentary procedure was not followed.
    It is all taxpayer monies whether supposedly in a segregated fund or not. And they will spend as they like without fear of accountability.

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