Author Archives: David

About David

Blogmaster, Barbados Underground

Alternate Views -Unfortunate Demise of LIAT

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Submitted by Kemar J.D Stuart, Economist and Director Business Development , Finance and Investment Stuart & Perkins Caribbean

Barbados being a 49% shareholder in LIAT 1974 has a story to be told in regards to its actions or inaction which led to the unfortunate demise of the airline. It has been estimated that former Barbadian workers are owed in the region of $13 million EC dollars ($9.7 million) by LIAT.

On his recent visit to Barbados St.Lucia PM Phillip Pierre spoke to an “unfortunate demise” of LIAT. Although St. Lucia is not a shareholder in LIAT 1974, PM Phillip J Pierre during his 2022 budget presentation to Parliament promised that severance payments due to former St Lucian
LIAT workers will be settled.Those workers were paid 100 per cent of their severance in a compensation package exceeding EC$6 million. The former LIAT staff got a one-off gift of $2,000 from the Mottley-led administration and were awaiting an additional $2,000-per-month loan from the government which will be recovered whenever Antigua decides to make good on the owed severance.

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Barbados’ future handicapped by a One Leg Economy

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Indar Weir, Minister of Agriculture and Food Security

At least one minister in the Cabinet of Barbados gets it. Barbados will not or cannot support our standard of living given the traditional heavy reliance on tourism. 

Listen to Minister of Agriculture Indar Weir’s 2-minute side-burst from 1hr:12min of his presentation on the floor of the House (24/01/2023). As a member of Cabinet in a parliamentary system that is bound by the convention of collective responsibility, the cadence of Weir’s delivery suggests there is disagreement with his government’s approach.

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Doyen of the Political Class Attorney at Law Sir Richard Cheltenham Ignores the Court

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Submitted by 4Justice
SIR Richard Cheltenham, senior legal officer of the Barbados Court and Barbados Labour Party (BLP) Elder

Has Sir Richard Lionel Cheltenham KA., KC, Ph.D been called by the Disciplinary Committee of the Barbados Bar Association for grave professional misconduct and is in breach of 22 of the clauses of the Legal Profession Act?

The Barbados legal eagle was ordered by the disciplinary Committee to submit a sworn affidavit to the complaint #31 0f 2020 and appear for the hearing of the complaint. How could such a case escape the media when other attorneys in breach with the same professional misconduct are being prosecuted and imprisoned?

Scott informed the committee that the Sir Richard, summoned called by this court, with status and authority of the High Court, will not be attending the second hearing in March.

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Errol Barrow’s Visionary Approach to Agriculture: How Aquaponics Can Help Barbados Today

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Submitted by Damian Hinkson
The Right Excellent Errol Barrow

Errol Barrow, the first Prime Minister of Barbados, was a visionary leader who understood the importance of adapting the country’s economy to the changing times. His forward-thinking approach to agriculture serves as an inspiration for today’s leaders, especially when it comes to addressing the challenges of food security and dependence on imported food in small island developing states (SIDS) like Barbados.

Barrow’s leadership in the 1960s was marked by policies that aimed to boost the agricultural sector, such as encouraging land reform and providing support to small farmers. He also recognized the need to diversify the agricultural sector and encouraged farmers to grow a variety of crops, such as sugarcane, cotton, and fruits and vegetables. This helped to increase the resilience of the agricultural sector and made it less vulnerable to market fluctuations.

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Pfizer CEO Unable to Answer Questions about Vaccine preventing COVID 19 transmission

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Submitted by Green Monkey

CAUGHT HIM! Rebel News pummels Pfizer CEO with questions at World Economic Forum

It was the moment we were waiting for: one of the most hated men in the world going for a leisurely stroll because he assumed he was amongst friends. After all, in the three years since the pandemic began, have you ever seen a journalist ask him a tough question?

Well, he didn’t count on Rebel News and our accountability style of citizen journalism.

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Bequia, Island in the Clouds, and Bitcoin

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Submitted by Nathan J Green

Hello and Happy New Year to all my followers and friends. I am currently researching a book on
cryptocurrencies.

If any of you have information on scams regarding any form of cryptocurrency, would you be kind enough to drop me a line and tell me about your experience? I will, of course, not use your name or identify you unless you expressly wish me to; you will remain anonymous.

Have any of you been scammed on or in any matter regarding Bitcoin or any other cryptocurrency? And in particular, on the island of Bequia?

News stories have said that Bitcoin is accepted on Bequia as payment for everyday essentials and at restaurants, cinemas, and cafes. The cinemas are listed as plural, but to my knowledge, there is not even one cinema on Bequia; please correct me if I am wrong. Also, please tell me about your experiences.

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An Opportunity for GREED

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Submitted by Steven Kaszab

The softwood industry is continuing to cut back production, while the prices of those products it produces domestically continue to rise to levels not seen in many years. The Pandemic has stopped production of soft wood products, then started up again only to shrink a once massive industry. Multiple producers are limiting production while the demand for soft wood products continue to grow throughout the world.

Claims that market uncertainty is the driver of this curtailing of production in Canada and the USA. In British Columbia this decline in production amounts to over $100 million. Further reasons this decline is happening maybe the high cost of fiber (raw tree’s). What once cost $125.00 has doubled and tripled in cost. The forests these raw materials are found in have become grounds of displaced uncertainty. Weather patterns and events have become more pronounced due to the effects of climate change. Labor hour losses in the harvesting of said product, have increased to unrealistic levels making some harvesting unprofitable. So the industry claims.

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Rush to implement fare increase

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Chairperson of BHTA
Minister Santia Bradshaw

Last week the government legislated an increase in taxi fares with immediate effect. The increase came 15 years since the last was given – see Road Traffic (Amendment) Regulations, 2023.

The Chairperson of the Barbados Hotel and Tourism Association (BHTA) Renee Coppin reacted to the announcement by given support to the increase, BUT, criticized the process. She opined there was a lack of proper consultation with key stakeholders by not giving sufficient time to factor the increase in business planning by those who will be most effected. There was a suggestion the increase could have been implemented after a 90 day disclosure period.

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Fair Trading Commission Clarification unclear

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In the Friday 13 January edition of Barbados Today (pg 7), the FTC has sought to clarify an ‘alleged suggestion made earlier’, that the new tariff rates will be ‘across the board’. This FTC clarification needs some clarification as outlined in the attached –Trevor Browne (BAPE)
Letter-BarbadosToday-Jan15Download

I Forgive You

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Submitted by Grenville Phillips II

I normally take my best advice. Therefore, I wish to publicly forgive those whom I have publicly criticised for doing me harm.

I forgive the Barbados Labour Party (BLP) administration for confiscating part of my retirement savings and pension, changing the laws of Barbados to make that theft legal, and not allowing me to access all the remainder of my retirement savings until the year 2033.

POLITICAL PARTIES.

I forgive the Democratic Labour Party (DLP) administration for what the BLP called “the lost decade”. During seven years of that decade, I was not allowed to tender on construction projects in Barbados because of their corrupting procurement policy.

PARTISAN PROFESSIONALS.

I forgive our politically partisan professionals. They include: economists, accountants, lawyers, journalists, and political scientists who criticised behaviour when it was done by the political party they did not support, and praised the same behaviour when it was done by their preferred political party.

I forgive our established media, who work with their political party to suppress the voices of credible Barbadians, so that the media’s audience is mainly informed about the views of the media’s political party.

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Electricity Tariff Rates Cut by Fair Trading Commission

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Submitted by the Barbados Association of Professional Engineers (BAPE)
Trevor Browne – BAPE

Press release from Barbados Association of Professional Engineers

The Barbados Fair Trading Commission (FTC) in late 2022, granted an ‘interim’ rate increase to the Barbados Light & Power Company (BLPC) based only on that Company’s assertion that they were facing a ‘cash crisis’.

On November 28, 2022, the BLPC issued a letter to the public indicating that they would no longer be entertaining photovoltaic (PV) connections to their Grid, unless appropriate ‘mitigating measures’ were addressed.

These measures apparently require the provision of commensurate battery storage by the applicants themselves, or the granting of licenses to BLPC to install their own battery storage – to be 100% paid for by electricity consumers along with handsome guaranteed profits to Emera.

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Barbados Secures Another $100 Million

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Minister in the Ministry of Finance, Ryan Straughn
Dr. Clyde Mascoll, BLP Consultant
Avinash Persaud, BLP Consultant

The borrowing continues with the general Barbados population non the wiser about the economic strategy – Blogmaster

World Bank Approves US$100 Million for Barbados’ Green and Resilient Recovery 

Bnamericas

Published: Wednesday, January 11, 2023 

ESG Climate change Clean Energy Transition Financing Multilaterals 

World Bank release

Bridgetown, Barbados, January 11, 2023 — The World Bank approved yesterday $100 million in financing to support Barbados’ low carbon economic development and resilience to climate change.

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Why Barbados Public Workers is in the News Again

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Barbados Public Workers Cooperative Credit Union Ltd (BPWCUUL)

In recent weeks there has been noise in the traditional and social media space triggered by concerns coming out of the largest credit union in Barbados. It is no secret the blogmaster in the not too recent past registered concerns about how some matters were being managed at Barbados Public Workers Cooperative Credit Union (BPWCCUL) and subsidiaries, specifically CAPITA Financial. 

It says a lot about the current state of member relations at BPWCCUL a few vocal members felt driven to share concerns in the public space. The blogmaster must admit a lot of the concerns are steeped in ignorance. Several of the few voicing concerns readily admitted to not having attended AGMs or having read relevant laws and rules governing how members should interact with the credit union it owns. For the purpose of this intervention the blogmaster will ignore those prominent persons from other credit unions seeking to ‘exploit’.

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