Submitted by Wade Course Mate
Recently, every time I see average Barbadian parents or a family start a Go-fund me advertisement to raise money to get medical care for a sick or dying child, an adult, or themselves, it concerns me. Why? Because I simultaneously see the Hope Housing Project where more than 40 million dollars vanished into fat air and no explanation or accountability from William Duguid or Dwight Sutherland or indeed Mia Mottley. Some of this money could have improved or saved that life.
And when I read that the sick person(s) only wanted about 30 000 dollars, I then remember that this Mottley government in its first term went to Parliament and okayed a supplementary of almost 100 000 for Trinidadian Justin Ram for consultancy work and we have no clue what consultancy he did but can only remember his almost weekly criticisms of Freundel Stuart’s administration as though he was an early example of an influencer with a dormant price. Mind you, this government already had economic consultants at home and abroad dropping out of trees. I have no idea whether Ram was giving newly discovered parang economic theory but he got his money.
And when I saw an old pensioner recently get displaced from his home and added that to government agencies threatening to take up people’s land or threatening Allan Kinch’s Savvy on the Bay property, I then recalled how Elliot Mottley had all his VAT and other taxes owed to the government, immediately written off by his daughter on her assuming office, and this bemused me.
But it doesn’t stop there. While these go-fund me and other requests for help come from poor and struggling families, this Mottley government has taken up more than 8 million dollars of taxpayers’ money and gifted to drug men and gunmen, supposedly to turn them away from crime and into entrepreneurs. But no one has tabled a report anywhere to show how many building, industrial or agricultural equipment was bought, how many projects were started and completed, how many thugs changed their lifestyle and got into something productive with this money.
The least that could have been done was to let the Bajan public know if better, more potent cocaine or marijuana was imported with the money, or whether better functioning weapons were purchased so that unlawful street shootings could be carried out in a more professional and precise manner. But nothing so at all! I have no idea why this government and Barbados’ criminal underworld are so attracted to each other.
But it gets worse. Bajans invested in government paper prior to 2018 and when they were looking to cash in on their investment, the first thing the new government did was to extend the maturation period a few more years. That forced a lot of people who had retired to go and look for work again to meet financial commitments like mortgages. And when one thought it could get no worse the Mottley government took up about one billion dollars of taxpayers’ and pensioners’ money from the NIS to do whatever with. The result is that people’s retirement age got increased and every day the chief harbinger of bad news, hatchet man Ryan Straughan, speaks to the problems faced by the NIS…but nothing is said about putting back Bajans’ money.
And some of the policies are so strange. Government dipped into the IMF pockets and that agency told them how it wanted Barbados’ affairs to be managed. The IMF wanted the Transport Board privatised and government said, “Yes, Massa”. But this government has bought buses and is supposedly buying more. So if you are selling the business, for whom are you buying the buses? Of course, the logical answer that will come is that they are being bought for the people. But which man goes to a drug store, buys a condom and goes and puts it on another man’s penis. . . unless? If and when the transport business is sold, Bajans will find out then whose member government has been fondling willingly.
And what about justice in Barbados?
One former politician was incarcerated in a foreign jurisdiction on the basis of minimal evidence provided by a local witness who could attach no fraudulent mens rea to the transferral of money. A current serving minister is fortuitously exposed in circumstances that with the exception of the transferral, almost mirrors that of the former minister. Whether the head honcho sensed the peril of her chief lieutenant or not, or simply flexed her girth, she momentarily took a role similar to Detective Theo Kojak and closed the case while the Barbados Police Service sat and watched in sheepish awe. That 7 500 dollars could have gone directly from the donor straight to a worthy go-fund me cause and all would have been well. But God works in mysterious ways, even if He does not necessarily have to break into the offices of Cabinet ministers to learn their secrets.
Most persons who come to the public for financial medical assistance are not homeless. Nevertheless, since there seems to be no requirement for any coin by coin accountability for the mountain of money channelled to prospective political candidate and champion of the homeless, Kemar Saffrey, perhaps his organisation could help those with medical needs both on and off the streets. The dilemma, though, is that if he really wants to replace Trevor Prescod in St Michael East, he might have to give up his pet project. Of course, Prescod, a gentleman to the core, might be convinced to take up the mantle of protector of, and provider for the homeless. But one shudders to think how would the incumbent vagrancy czar survive if he succeeded in getting the homeless off the streets permanently.
And what about opportunities for young professionals, university and other tertiary level graduates?
A septuagenarian was recently rewarded with a consultancy at the Ministry of Youth, Sports and Community Development and is being paid quite a handsome sum. What advice could he be giving? No one appears to know! But when last seen this would-be-consultant was happily demeaning himself with cake smeared across his face. The cake almost resembled powder. This followed episodes of pretending to hibernate in a trash can, kissing the paved road at Maxwell, insulting the Asian population with his characterisations, and generally demonstrating that it is indeed possible for a cannon to be loose.
But government ignored the talents of several bright, young unemployed persons and instead foisted Barbados’ Talleyrand on a state department as reward for his public lunacy and allowing the patriot Ralph Thorne to live in his cranium.
Victimisation is rampant in Barbados. Play ball with the Mottley administration and some scraps may come your way. Be a member of the inner circle or have family connections, then significant amounts make their way to your bank accounts monthly, whether you have competence or are brain dead. While teachers Pedro Shepherd and Alwyn Babb got suspended for being associated with the DLP in a general election, this BLP government sent public workers to St. Vincent to meddle in their elections. They will not be suspended.
Sadly, a considerable though gradually dwindling number of Barbadians, still give succour to a government that has given a permanent face to ineptitude. But it has also adroitly provided a pin-up of how to win friends and influence people through revelry, subterfuge, media manipulation and empty rhetoric. Mia Mottley’s administration must be credited significantly with doing little to nothing in seven years in a most spectacularly efficient manner.
Perhaps, the next go-fund me plea might be directed towards extracting the malignant ailment that is the current Mottley government from Barbados’ body politics. Contributions could be forwarded or taken to George Street and the desire to have the cancer removed can be given nationwide impetus when Owen Arthur’s despot and Dr Maria Agard’s white-cladded demon rings the proverbial bell.
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