Prime Minister David Thompson To Meet The Press, AGAIN!

Prime Minister of Barbados Hon David Thompson

A feature of the current David Thompson administration after just over one year in office has been the frequency with which the Prime Minister has made himself available to the Barbados media to answer questions. Compared to the number of press conferences which former Prime Minister Owen Arthur held during his 14 year tenure, Thompson must be on course for some kind of record.

Based on the report posted on the Caribbean Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) website Barbadians can look forward to a press conference with a twist. Members of the general public have been invited to participate. We are not sure what is the criteria for participation but we can only hope that it was random and or political and NGOs were fairly invited to participate.

Although we are forced to give kudos to the Prime Minister for winning the prize for being very accessible to the media, and he has delivered himself well, it has been done against a predictable performance from our media practitioners. We are hopeful that tomorrow we will see an improved performance from them. The honeymoon period is over and although the prevailing tough economic times may still generate some goodwill for the Prime Minister the people want to hear concrete proposals on how the government intends to confront the challenges facing our small country. Issues to deal with the economy and employment – maintaining competitiveness in tourism, protection in the offshore services, food security and IMMIGRATION policies among others.

Montreal City Councillor To Visit Barbados

One of Montreal’s most flamboyant City Councilors Mr. Marvin Rotrand will be visiting Barbados 03rd to 08th March 2009.

This first time visit by Mr. Rotrand is a real (great) opportunity for Barbados government officials to meet the councilor and dialogue on (discuss) matters related to Public Transportation and the work carried out by the Montreal base not-for profit organizations Access Barbados group and the Barbados House Montreal Inc.

Sharing knowledge with the City Councillor could be an important key to overcoming some of the economic climate in Barbados especially in the Public Transportation Sector, and matters related to developing a vibrant Jewish Tourism program originating from Montreal.

Councillor Rotrand is the Deputy leader of the Majority Council, the Vice President of the Speakers Committee and the Vice President of the Montreal Transport Commission (MTC). He is also President of the Financial Committee managing a budget of $1.038 Billon, and President of the Customer Service Committee. The MTC operates nearly 1600 buses and 750 subway cars.

BAPE And The Highway…Part 2

Submitted by BU Family Member

Having written before on the role of the Barbados Association of Professional Engineers (BAPE) and their criticisms of the ABC highway project in the run up to the last elections, what has been puzzling is its complete silence on the highway since then.

My primary concern is the “Wildey Merge Mania” where traffic coming from St. David’s that wants to go to Wildey must come to a junction which is structured that you must look OVER your shoulder to see oncoming traffic (which is coming at speed down a hill) to race forwards, to cross not one but THREE lanes of traffic in less than 100 meters. While at the same time contending with traffic coming from Collymore Rock that is doing the same thing (looking over the shoulder to avoid mainstream traffic and merging across three lanes) in the other direction! It is a miracle that no one has been killed in this madness.

To put the above into perspective, the distance available to merge across three lanes of traffic is LESS than what is available to people joining the highway in the Belle who only have to merge into the next lane and don’t have to deal with crossing traffic. BAPE raised a stink about the Belle junction, but they have been silent about the Wildey situation.

To quote from the BAPE’s position paper:

What Buy What BNB What?!?

Submitted by Bush Tea

OK, I admit that Bush Tea is a freak that suffers from strange brain waves and, like some living at a certain place in Black Rock, cannot be relied on to have rational opinions. But cud dear, even in such a state Bush Tea is challenged to understand why we would want to buy back the BNB.

Admittedly, we should never have sold it in the first place. But having sold the thing – and it seems like the buyers were happy, we were happy, everybody was happy – now I am hearing all sorts of big-up bright people talking about finding hundreds of millions of dollars to buy it back?!?

WHAT THE  ????!!!

A fool and his money are soon parted. Here we have a small country that produces NOTHING. Have no natural resources. Facing difficulties ahead – and from the Prime Minister back talking about spending precious money buying something like BNB???

These people really ‘outside’ the fence at Black Rock?

Jane The Housewife

Hartley Henry - DLP Political Strategist

While Sarah Palin was seeking the support of Joe, the plumber, Barack Obama was consulting and receiving wise counsel from Jane, the housewife. Jane, the housewife, was ‘bang on’ in her observations and analyses. She saw from early how Obama could have secured the nomination from Hillary Clinton and ultimately defeat John McCain for the Presidency. She predicted the demise of Tony Blair in Great Britain. She saw the strategic errors that Portia Simpson made in Jamaica as well as the likely impact of the return of John Compton on the politics of St. Lucia.

Jane, the housewife, is very perceptive and analytical. She warned back in 2003 that Erskine Sandiford would not have survived the no-confidence motion. She argued then that the battle was lost, not in Parliament but in the trenches.

Jane, the housewife, was equally straightforward when it came to the no-confidence motion brought by Clyde Mascoll, as Leader of the Opposition, against Liz Thompson and the BLP. She argued back then that the move smacked of desperation on the part of Mascoll and that it would have served only to unite a then disintegrating and il-focused BLP administration.

Stimulus Equals More Debt And Dislocation

Submitted by Looking Glass

Political systems function no better than the economy. Politicians the world over will do what is necessary to get elected and to remain in power, which need not be in society’s better interest. We are no different. The biggest sin is warning of impending danger. So it would hardly have been kosher to admit that we have been in a progressive state of social and economic crisis for much of the last twenty years or so and living on borrowed time. During that time we managed to destroy or undo much of what it had taken ages to accomplish almost to the point of social and economic unfettered ‘illiquidity’ and debt.

Today we are not much more than a service-mercantile economy with little or no financial strength and reliant on borrowing which increases the debt load. Deficits in saving, trade, budgets and leadership are now salient characteristics. Total indebtedness is very much more than has been stated and will inevitably increase. Interest payments are perhaps the fastest growing component of the budget. Foreign income (remittances) is on the wane. Economic output and job generation continue to decline. Disposable income and household saving continue to dwindle with capital accumulation close zero (borrowing is not accumulation). Plastic is the name, credit the game. Sooner rather than later this revenue source will likely be restricted to a particular category of people.

Much of the above is tacitly suggested in the IMF report of 2006 which projected debt at 75% of GDP in 2011. The report also endorsed the last PM’s intention to further privatize (including the tourism sector which resulted in the sale of Gems) and urged the identification of those assets that could be divested in the near term. It also alluded to the system’s “macro-imbalances” and noted ‘weaknesses’ in statistical reporting. And the remarkable decline in decorum has been duly noted where it really matters in the outside world. Given the above it is hard to see how Barbados will hold its own in the crisis. It is unlikely that the capital cost of the kind of stimulus being suggested will be redeemed by future yields, but will bring additional cost and greater national debt.

Moving The Earth For Four Season’s Hotel And Cinnamon 88

Submitted by HRW

I returned Barbados for a short visit in Feb,09 and was able walk the beach behind the Proposed Four Seasons Hotel. I was really annoyed to see the type of construction that was taking place. Not only the townhouse/villas being built almost to the high water mark but the Lime Stone almost to the Cave Hill Roundabout had been removed. I could not believe the Powers That Be allowed that type of earth movement to take place especially since the problem with the cave at Britton’s Hill. I immediately thought some day the water coming off the Hill will eventually wash the buildings away.

I discussed the situation with others and told them the project was too big, that in this market the investors will pull out. It has come to pass, unfortunately the the Lime Stone supporting the area/road cannot be replaced.  Paradise Beach Hotel was a nice hotel.

Why was building of such an enormous development in that area approved?

The Promises of God

Submitted as a comment by BU family member Geogie Porgie

I was once challenged to expand on an outline given by Kaiser in Toward An Old Testament Theology, and  read the Bible to discover that the Old Testament Theology is best unified under the theme “The Promises of God” and that the entire Bible could really be seen inter alia, as a catalogue of a large number of promises which God has made, and a record of how he has kept several of these promises.

As I made a deeper search to see where I could find promises that were not immediately as obvious as the major fulfilled promises or of the covenants, and as I extracted and attempted. to co- ordinate the promises that I found, I discovered that it is not unreasonable to conclude that nearly everything of major significance in the Bible depends on a promise of God.

In any argument or discussion with respect to the promises of God in any part of the Old Testament or the Bible as a whole, it is imperative that we ask and answer honestly the following important and relevant questions as the Bible text is carefully perused.

Has God indeed truly made any significant promises?

Final Employee Terminations Scheduled for March 9 at Graeme Hall Nature Sanctuary

Employees and contractors will be permanently terminated at Graeme Hall Nature Sanctuary on March 9 in accordance with the employee severance laws of Barbados. This action follows the closure of the Sanctuary on December 15, 2008 when approximately 85 employees and contractors were notified of the layoff.

Under the law, Sanctuary employees must receive their final severance notice within 13 weeks of the December 15 layoff.

“It will be a sad day indeed,” said Stuart Heaslet, representative for owner Peter Allard. “We hope there will be a last minute reprieve not just for the employees but also for the contractors, subcontractors, taxi drivers and tour operators who have relied on the Sanctuary for revenue.”

Heaslet added that hard-working employees and contractors who put their hearts and souls into the Sanctuary made it a first class environmental education centre.

Political Opportunism, Opposition Politics, Political Vendettas

Leader of the Opposition Mia Mottley

If our ears and eyes are functioning correctly, the opposition Barbados Labour Party has loudly told Barbadians that it intends to file a motion of no-confidence in Prime Minister David Thompson over the handling of the CLICO Affair. The decision has caught most Barbadians by surprise, many who we have spoken to are not sure what to make of the decision. To observers CLICO’s public image has taken a beating, given the nature of its business which relies on public confidence a no-confidence motion at this time is likely to place a dagger firmly in the heart.

We can only assume that the conviction which Mottley has shown by her declared political strategy of tabling a no-confidence motion, she will be able to accept the consequences. CLICO Barbados being placed under the microscope has come about because of action by the regulatory bodies in Trinidad. We can only assume that if no action was taken it would be business as usual on Whitepark Road. The Prime Minister has made the point that the financial state of CLICO Barbados could not have deteriorated so precipitously in one year of DLP rule. The inference is that the former government should have been aware of any financial weakness in the CLICO balance sheet before demitting office.

The CLICO Affair has now become a political football.