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Fairness And Truth
Friday, 27 Aug 2010
Fairness and truth were a formidable tag team at the Barbados Labour Party’s well-attended meeting in Heroes Square last Sunday night.

Mia Mottley invited them to the platform as she delivered a surgical prosecution of Michael Lashley’s response to his sacked Chairman, Marilyn Rice-Bowen and to his performance as Minister of Housing.

Truth discovered that Lashley never answered the charge laid by Rice-Bowen that there was no contract in place with the contractor CLICO Property Management for the building of houses at Constant in St. George.

Truth was not fooled by Lashley’s attempt to hoodwink the Members of Parliament and Bajans into believing that ‘a term sheet for a loan’ with CLICO International General Insurance - was any sort of contract, finance or otherwise.

Truth was found in the Minutes of the NHC, presented by Mia, that expressed both the General Manager and the Board’s alarm that despite repeated efforts the contractor had not signed a contract.

Truth and the crowd concluded that Michael Lashley has been grossly economical with the truth.

Fairness determined that it was unjust to acquire a man’s land for development when he had applied to develop the same land for the same purpose for which the Government then gave it to Clico without telling him how much they will pay.

Fairness ruled that there was no equity in the award of NHC building contracts with one large contractor getting seventy-five percent of the work.

Fairness considered it a backward step in the empowerment of small contractors that they had now been reduced to the role of sub-contractors and not given the opportunity to grow their businesses.

Fairness was flabbergasted that 220,000 square feet of our land should be gifted to a big contractor for 99 years at the peppercorn rent of $100 a year!

Fairness questioned why the NHC had not insisted on a rent sharing agreement for the commercial buildings to be built on the gifted land.

Fairness took a dim view of the haste with which the planning permission had been granted for Coverley when other developers just down the road at Searles had been waiting for six years on their permissions.

Truth and fairness both agreed that Michael Lashley should resign his Cabinet appointment and if he failed to do so that Acting Prime Minister Freundel Stuart should fire him.

After all this blue-eyed boy had come to office on the lofty ideals of transparency, accountability and good governance. Bruised and battered, black and blue by fairness and truth, he is being defended by some of his Cabinet colleagues as a paragon of virtue.

He was systematically disrobed by speaker after speaker on the BLP’s platform. When all the layers of public relations had been stripped away we saw a man who had overstepped the boundaries of his authority with the NHC Board; a man who failed to admit to the truth of the charges laid against him by his former Chairman; a man who had misled the Parliament of Barbados; a man who practically gave away the Government’s land to a wealthy contractor; a man who had not lived up to the promise of his Party’s Manifesto to give work to the small man; a man who is not suited to hold Ministerial office.

The Dems defense for such behaviour is that he is getting the job done. We disagree. He has fallen far short of their promise to provide two thousand houses a year. And even so we cannot condone his behaviour for the sake of expediency. If his Cabinet colleagues are so blinded by the light of this forty-watt bulb that they cannot rein him in then they deserve to fall with him.

Errol Barrow backed Fairness and Truth when he dismissed a popular Housing Minister, Joy Edwards. What will it take for Freundel to follow the example of Errol Barrow?

Past Weekly Columns

Laryngitis and Credibility
Friday, 20 Aug 2010
Michael Lashley’s credibility on the issue of a construction contract between Clico Holdings Ltd and the NHC has been seriously damaged.

He is yet to say whether there is a contract with Clico Holdings Ltd as the contractor.


More>>

Making Sport at Bajans
Friday, 13 Aug 2010
Is this Government really serious about the way it interfaces with the public at such a critical time?

Are they really serious about their Manifesto promise to take the public into their confidence?

The evidence points to the contrary and Barbadians are not pleased.

They feel disrespected, let down and ignored by the Dems self-imposed gag order.


More>>

Why is Stuart Hiding?
Friday, 06 Aug 2010
Where else in the world but Barbados would a Minster of State - Finance, freely admit that you can borrow for capital or you can borrow for current expenditure? For three consecutive financial years Darcy?


More>>

A Nation Adrift
Friday, 30 Jul 2010
At a time when saving foreign exchange is critical and local businesses are struggling to keep their doors open and people employed, why is the NCF spending our money in Trinidad?

Are Barbadian video companies who have produced the advertisements for the NCF over the years now not good enough to receive their support?
More>>

Dems Economic Policy A Failure
Friday, 23 Jul 2010
The media is saying it. The private sector is saying it. Men in rum shops are saying it.

Women buying their weekly groceries are saying it. DLP supporters are saying it. BLP supporters are saying it.

Even the Central Bank is saying it.

The DLP’s economic policies are a failure!

They have succeeded in sucking the life out of the economy. Worse still they are terrible money managers.

They spent $182 million dollars more on day-to-day expenses than they earned in the first six months of the year.

Even the lowliest huckster with a tray in the market knows that if she spends more than she sells - trouble will soon come a-calling.

No manager in the private sector would keep his job for long if he ran his company this way.


More>>

Economy Still On The Skids
Friday, 16 Jul 2010
Our Political Leader and Shadow Minister of Finance, Mia Mottley, has been resolute and repetitive in her call to the Government to act and act now.

Week by week business are failing and properties going into foreclosure.
More>>

Hyping The Youth
Friday, 09 Jul 2010
What sort of man would say to a group of young people that he cannot provide jobs for them because the economy was in recession when he came to office?

Young people don’t buy into these half-baked, lame duck excuses.

They expect that when you are in office you need to find answers to the problems confronting them and the country at large.

There is something even more dastardly in this statement – it simply is not true.

The economy was NOT in recession when the Democratic Labour Party came to office.

In case Stephen Lashley does not know it, the economy only went into recession in 2009.
More>>

Solutions Needed At QEH
Friday, 02 Jul 2010
Things have gone from bad to worse at our ailing general hospital.

Very little of what this Government promised either before or after the election two years ago has come to fruition.


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No to NACE Proposal
Friday, 25 Jun 2010
The recently released report of the National Advisory Commission on Education (NACE) contains a recommendation that a Mia Mottley-led Barbados Labour Party cannot support and will never espouse.

If NACE has its way, the scholarship will be restricted to areas of study defined by a National Scholarship Committee.

This is a brutal betrayal of our young people aiming for the summit of academic excellence at the undergraduate level.
More>>

Troubling Signs
Friday, 18 Jun 2010
Both Mia Mottley and the IMF warned the Democratic Labour Party that should CLICO’s $300 million liability fall on the taxpayers it would be a crippling burden on the country.

CLICO hangs around the Government’s neck like the proverbial albatross. After two years of indecision and half-hearted attempts at bailouts, it is growing putrid and threatening to infect the entire economy.
More>>

Job Shearing at QEH
Friday, 11 Jun 2010
The Barbados Labour Party is committed to seeing our hospital once again lead the way in the region as a first rate teaching hospital that serves Barbadians as well as our neighbors from the Eastern Caribbean.

Establishing a Board of Management was only the first step. Building and equipping a new hospital is the second.
More>>

Oh No, Freundel!
Friday, 04 Jun 2010
Freundel Stuart is the Deputy Prime Minister, Attorney General and Minister of Home Affairs of Barbados.

Is he aware or concerned that under his watch, some mothers still cannot get child support?

Where is the system he promised to put in place so that even when fathers do not pay up on time, mothers can still get support for their children?

He is now acting Prime Minister and can therefore put such a system in place easily.


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Get Well Soon
Friday, 28 May 2010
Our Political Leader, Mia Mottley, was among the first Barbadians to offer the Prime Minister her best wishes on the same evening that he took the country into his confidence about his illness.


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Reform For Relevance
Friday, 21 May 2010
Miss Mottley called for a Joint Select Committee of both Houses of Parliament to examine the issue of campaign financing, the financing of political parties and Parliamentary reform.

She demonstrated that her vision is not hamstrung by party politics, but by a deeper passion to see Barbados progress as a leading twenty-first century democracy.

Miss Mottley made it clear that the BLP’s difficulty with the constituency councils continues to be the manner in which people are appointed to serve by a closed circle rather than putting themselves up for election by the people in their own communities.

She said that there is a very thin line between what is community work and political work and that in order to preserve the integrity of the community work without it being infiltrated with a political bias then the manner of the appointment of Barbadians to serve on the councils is critical to the process.


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The Good Society
Friday, 14 May 2010
No matter what problems face a society, our Government and the different branches of civil society must have the tenacity and the wherewithal to provide leadership and speak out.


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Thank You Mia
Friday, 07 May 2010
I am angry that Mr. Parris, as the head of CLICO has been allowed to take out his money when small people like me have to wait for mine.


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“You Can Run, But You Can’t Hide”
Friday, 30 Apr 2010
Once again Opposition Leader Mia Mottley and a strong Opposition team have highlighted the implications for these families and the wider financial sector of the seedier side of CLICO’s corporate personality. And the facts speak for themselves.


More>>

Confusing The Issues
Friday, 23 Apr 2010
What is it about the Leader of the Opposition’s request for a firearms policy to be implemented at the Parliament buildings that is so repugnant that the Speaker would refer to it as a ‘whim or fancy’ and defer its implementation?

The people are watching and waiting.
More>>

Start Fixing
Friday, 16 Apr 2010
For a Party that came to office claiming to have all the answers to the country’s problems they have been a spectacular failure.


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The CLICO Bubble
Friday, 09 Apr 2010
What separates the Madoff and Stanford ponzi schemes from CLICO’s EFPA?

It is now clear that this fund cannot stand on its own.

Who will be held responsible for the potential losses to hundreds of Barbadians who bought into the hype and invested in CLICO’s EFPA if the company cannot repay them?

The bubble is about to burst.
More>>

Teaching By Example
Friday, 02 Apr 2010
There is no greater influence on social change, both good and bad, than example.

As a nation we can all set a better example for our children, but we expect our Government to lead the way.

The performance of the Government has already been found wanting and the example it is setting in several cases is doubtful at best.

Recent events by those who put themselves forward as leaders suggest that sentimentalism and a dogmatic approach have replaced teaching by example.

It is no longer good enough for our leaders to shout and berate our citizens as if they are the font of all morals and values.

They must lead by example.


More>>

Too Little, Too Late?
Friday, 26 Mar 2010
One year after Mia Mottley first alerted Barbadians to the precarious financial situation at CLICO, the Prime Minister of Barbados is being forced to accept what she recommended all those months ago and place the beleaguered company under judicial management.

There are still many more questions than answers in this CLICO mess.
More>>

Going, Going, Gone!
Friday, 19 Mar 2010
Leader of the Opposition, Mia Mottley by accurately predicting the error in your approach in 2008 and the inaccuracy of the figures on which your 2009 budget was predicated - has demonstrated to Barbadians that she has a comprehensive grasp of how this economy works.

The solutions she proffered during her speech on Monday once again showcased her vision for taking the country forward.
More>>

Re-shuffle 2.0
Saturday, 13 Mar 2010
While all Prime Ministers should have oversight and a handle on the big picture, there seems to be an element of micro management in this new approach by Thompson that confers little confidence in the ability of his team to get the job done and done well.

And we have little confidence given the Prime Minister’s own incompetence in his own Ministries that have made this difficult economic situation worse for the country.


More>>

The ‘So What’ IMF Plan
Friday, 05 Mar 2010
There is now no doubt that David Thompson is in the embrace of the IMF.


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Fiscal Fantasies
Friday, 26 Feb 2010
It is clear that the Prime Minister lacks both the confidence and the skill to make the leadership decisions required to turn the economy around.


More>>

And The Oscar Goes To…….
Friday, 19 Feb 2010
Despite promises to reduce the cost of living, the Government has added to the burden of householders and businesses.


More>>

The Great Betrayal
Friday, 12 Feb 2010
Miss Mottley has demonstrated repeatedly that she has a much clearer grasp of the issues and the way that our economy functions.


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Freeze That Talk
Friday, 05 Feb 2010
When the Opposition's lead spokesman on Finance - Mia Mottley - pointed out there would be a shortfall in revenue and the projected 5% deficit would be more in the order of 8-8½%, the Government benches scoffed.

She warned then too about the rapid decline in our foreign reserves.

Again they scoffed. But we now know she was right.

The deficit was recorded at 8.4% and the Prime Minister eventually had to admit he was worried about the falling foreign reserves.


More>>

Knowing The Job
Friday, 29 Jan 2010
The Prime Minster would do well to heed his own advice that success will only be achieved by a change in attitude.

In his case what is clearly required is a change in focus and attention to detail.


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Public Service Betrayal
Friday, 22 Jan 2010
The longer this Government is in office, the clearer it becomes that after all of their grandiose promises prior to January 15, 2008 - their commitment to the people of this country was based on empty words.

They had no plan.

They have no vision.
More>>

Where Are We Now?
Friday, 15 Jan 2010
Our leader, Mia Mottley has tried her best from the floor of Parliament to show the Government the error of its economic policies and the danger in the extraordinary ‘wait-and-see’ strategy adopted by the Thompson.

The old saying that you can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make it drink - was never more aptly applied than to this government.


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Where to Turn
Friday, 08 Jan 2010
The economy is contracting with every quarter and there is no confidence among Bajans that this Prime Minister has any answers to the massive problems facing the country. Having had the experience of the early 1990s, who could blame them?

If the inertia continues it is only a matter of time before the Prime Minister himself will be forced to cut jobs in the public service.

The dangerous thing is that the problems facing us are being felt in every sector of the economy. There is nowhere to turn for a man who has lost his job and has a family to feed.


More>>

New Year Resolutions
Friday, 01 Jan 2010
There is little evidence that the Government has any solutions to the problems that will multiply in the absence of a global recovery.


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Bah, Humbug!
Friday, 18 Dec 2009
We have some questions for the Minister and we hope that eventually the Auditor-General will too.

Will the Minister tell the public what proportion of the annual $6 million budget for camps was spent on catering for the children and who was awarded the contract to supply catering services?

What did it cost per head to feed the children daily and what were they fed? Will the Minister tell the public how much the gala event at the end of the summer camps cost?

How much was spent on catering for this single event and who was awarded the contract to supply the catering?


More>>

Tale of Two Hospitals
Friday, 11 Dec 2009
Pardon our cynicism but we have been hearing ‘soon’ for almost two years now.


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No Energy And No Sense
Friday, 04 Dec 2009
Barbadians are paying dearly for the Democratic Labour Party’s failing grade on national energy policy.

The DLP does not have the vision or ability to take the programme forward successfully.


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Do-Nothing Strategy Not Working
Friday, 27 Nov 2009
Unless we are mistaken, the primary functions of the Inland Revenue Department are to assess and collect taxes and issue refunds where appropriate.

The rearrangement of the spending priorities of the Inland Revenue Department cannot include the issuance of tax refunds.

Surely the Prime Minister does not expect right-thinking Barbadians to believe that!!!
More>>

Thompson’s Brain Drain
Friday, 20 Nov 2009
Mia Mottley has a clear vision for the future success of our country and for our people.

She has already shown that she has a clearer understanding of how our economy functions that anyone on the Government side.

Her analysis of the economy and the shortcomings of this Government’s policies have been spot on so far.

In time our Leader will reveal the details of how she will accomplish her vision.
More>>

Use Demerits First!
Friday, 13 Nov 2009
You cannot legislate decorum and good manners.

They have to be taught.

And what of the rest of society?

These are issues that have been raised in several fora by our leader Mia Amor Mottley - the need to re-build the blocks of civility, civic responsibility and self-confidence on which our communities were founded.


More>>

Mediocrity Will Not Suffice
Friday, 06 Nov 2009
Mia Mottley is on record as predicting an overall decline in long stay arrivals of 12% for this year.
More>>

Mia’s Vision: “Re-Imagining Our Future”
Friday, 30 Oct 2009
At our Party’s recently concluded Annual Conference, our Leader Mia Amor Mottley, Q.C., M.P., - laid out her vision for Barbados over the next two decades.


More>>

Confusion Reigns On New Hospital
Friday, 23 Oct 2009
Something is drastically wrong in the Cabinet of Barbados.


More>>

My Kingdom For A Horse
Friday, 16 Oct 2009
As if his faux pas on Sunday was not enough, the Minister proceeded to inform the House that the Road Traffic Validation Act, some fourteen months late, would also be validating increases made by the Barbados Labour Party Government.

Only one problem with this hypothesis. The Act specifically refers to the date 1st August 2008. It therefore could not validate any collections prior to that date.
More>>

Financial Revelations
Friday, 09 Oct 2009
It is one of life’s ironies that the DLP’s principle spokesmen on the ills of the national debt, while in Opposition, should now find himself as the Government’s principle spokesman in justifying an increase in the national of debt of over $500 million on top of the $1 billion it has already borrowed.


More>>

Guarding Your Privacy
Friday, 02 Oct 2009
Even during the staging of the Cricket World Cup, which could have been a potential target for terrorists, did Caricom member states resort to this requirement.

What Ms Mottley as Chair of the Committee charged with regional security for the event did do was set up a system of pre-travel screening, which worked extremely well.


More>>

Where To From Here?
Friday, 25 Sep 2009
Miss Mottley and the Barbados Labour Party will continue to show the government and Barbadians that there are options available to arrest our demise and return us to a safer, surer path.
More>>

One Shock Away
Friday, 18 Sep 2009
As more Bajans lose their jobs, more are beginning to fear for their own.

As church members try to help their fellow congregants from losing their houses they too are fearful of their own prospects.

Confidence in the government and Thompson’s ability to turn things around is being eaten away by his silence on matters of substance.

The aura of gloom is in danger of becoming a volatile and destructive force.

Fear not friends, in a democracy you always have other options.
More>>

Bring Back Barbados
Friday, 11 Sep 2009
The international financial crisis did not cause a 60% increase in water rates – David Thompson’s fiscal policy did.


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Ministry of Social Confusion
Friday, 04 Sep 2009
For a Minister of Government to be accused of union busting tactics is a grave offence that warrants censure.

Can you imagine the howls that would have emanated from George Street if such an accusation had been made of the Barbados Labour Party?

The normally garrulous Minister is on mute.

Not even a murmur denying the charge.


More>>


70 Years
flagCalendar of Events
Calendar of Events
Promise Keepers?
The DLP does not care that it is causing us economic hardship. It also seems disinterested that as Barbadians care about our jobs, income and financial security. We also care about our safety and whether we will be able to pay our mortgage, keep our jobs or be safe in our homes and communities. It is frightening that the level of crime has gone up since February this year.