On A Point Of Order Regarding The 3S Barbados ABC Highway Matter Mr. Speaker

From left: President of 3S Barbados SRL, Jonathan Danos, Former Minister of Public Works and Transport Gline Clarke, Minister of State in the Ministry of Finance Clyde Mascoll, Businessman Hallam Nichols

Last week the House of Assembly met to debate a resolution to approve the borrowing of $165 million by the Government of Barbados from the Barbados National Bank to finance the ABC Highway project. It should come as no surprise BU continues to follow the issue of the ABC Highway Project with a keen interest. BU was the first in the blogosphere with the help of our reliable source to suggest that there was a fishy smell which had developed around the ABC Highway /3S Barbados Project.

It is unfortunate former Minister of Public Works Gline Clarke was thrown to the wolves in parliament last week when the debate in the House centred on the ABC Highway Project. Neither former Prime Minister Owen Arthur or current leader of the Barbados Labour Party Mia Mottley were present to support Member of Parliament Gline Clarke as he passionately defended decisions taken during his tenure under the former Barbados Labour Party government.

Former Junior Minister Clyde Mascoll who had the enviable job of defending GEMS after attacking the government while in Opposition on the same matter was not present either.  He was unsuccessful in regaining his St. Michael North East seat. We all remember Mascoll as Arthur’s pit bull who was unleashed to defend the former government’s decision-making on the ABC Highway/3S project.

Where Is The New Building Code?

Submitted by Wright B. Astard

How quickly we forget. When the Arch Cot tragedy struck a relatively short while ago many were abhorred by how easily the home collapses, as if there were no steel or badly placed steel in the supposedly reinforce concrete, not to mention the actual location of the site. The buzz word at that time was Building Code, Building Code, Building Code.

Just a few yard up from Reservoir Road on the way to Bonnets in Britons Hill, there used to be a semi-derelict Mini Mart/Supermarket that was a stone throw from being demolished by vandals. This structure was basically four walls of 6″ concrete blocks, with no internal supporting wall, and covered by a simple galvanise/pine roof.

Quite surprisingly I noticed a couple of years ago some restoration work being carried out on this structure, include a new concrete roof. No additional supporting foundation columns were utilised to support this heavy concrete roof. Lo and behold , an upper wall structure, a residential storey has been constructed on top of the existing structure, again with no supporting column from the foundation.

New York Caribbean Institute Calls On Guyana’s President and Health Minister To Resign

Submitted by the Caribbean Guyana Institute for Democracy (CGID)

Dr. Leslie Ramsammy

President Bharrat Jagdeo

NEW YORK: The New York based Caribbean Guyana Institute for Democracy (CGID) announced Sunday that

its legal committee has analyzed transcripts of testimony and evidence presented by the United States (US) Justice Department in the trial of Robert Simels in Federal Court in New York. “The evidence establishes that Guyana’s President, Bharrat Jagdeo and Health Minister, Dr. Leslie Ramsammy, “Are crooks who are alleged accessories to murder, and who allegedly countenanced the killing of hundreds of Guyanese citizens,” the organization said.

“The evidence has proven both Mr. Jagdeo and Dr. Ramsammy to be chronic liars who have breached the public trust. We call on them both to resign forthwith,” the Institute declared. CGID also called on Guyana’s Police Commissioner Henry Green to resign, saying  “Commissioner Green has blatantly mislead the public and intentionally overlooked hundreds of murders by a network of “Phantom” hit-men, some government Ministers and members of the security forces. He must resign so that the Guyana Police Force can be reformed and its integrity rehabilitated.”

The Institute noted that since Guyana’s Police, Military and Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), appear to be irredeemably corrupt, they cannot be trusted to conduct a professional or credible investigation of these matters. Hence, it called for Jagdeo, Ramsammy and other accomplices to be hauled to the International Criminal Court in The Hague and prosecuted for ‘crimes against humanity.’ “They deserve to be thrown in jail like other international criminals such as Slobodan Milosevic, Manuel Noriega and Charles Taylor, Jr.,” the CGID statement said.

Lindsay Holder Continues His Pursuit…

Submitted by Lindsay Holder, Economist

The following articles were submitted to the local press for publication.

Open Letter to Compton Bourne

Barbados – A Cost Benefit Analysis of Immigration

Response to Peter Wickham Feebles Response

Recent Alerts In Barbados

Submitted by George Brathwaite, PhD Candidate (International Politics)

The ‘jump and wave’ season in Barbados has forced us to do more than merely ‘put our hands in the air’ and ‘wuk up’ to the rhythms of sweet soca. The people are ‘pooching back’ on several fronts knowing that although the beat to ‘home drums’ are still within the remit of the populace, other international occurrences do impact on what happens in Barbados.

With talk of the IMF and global recession denting earlier public perceptions of Barbados’ growth patterns throughout the late 1990s and up to about a year or so ago, a number of familiar cries are caught amidst the sobering effects of the ‘Crop-Over’ music. Is Barbados on alert? If so, what kind of alert? And, how is it possible to overcome the shock of waking up next morning to the sounds of RPB or TC knowing that you have joined a growing number of persons categorised as the unemployed?

I am convinced that there is little comfort when the Governor of the Central Bank of Barbados says that we are in recession. Dr. Williams asserts that “we have seen the performance of the American and European economies” yet she goes on to wonder “why should people be any more afraid by hearing the word recession than they would have before?” Clearly the Governor is attempting to bring some reassurance to Barbadians; but does this sentiment not amount to an alert? I stress on this especially since the vulnerability of Barbados to exogenous shocks and economic volatility are more debilitating due primarily to our economic size and dependence on the need to earn substantial foreign exchange than obtains in America or Europe.

Open Letter To Sir Shridath Ramphal

Lincoln Lewis, General Secretary (on leave) Guyana Trades Union Congress

30/07/09

Dear Sir Shridath,

Fraternal Greetings,

This is an open letter with a copy forwarded to Barbadian and Guyanese media. I  have chosen to communicate with you both privately and publicly since the issue that prompted this engagement emanated from public statements attributed to you. I could not help but take notice about your references to “ethnic cleansing” first reported in Stabroek  News (Guyana) June 26, 2009 in relation to the case of Barbados exercising its sovereign right and legal means to regularize undocumented workers and illegal Guyanese immigrants.

One notes that without compelling evidence there was an almost indecent haste to publicly accuse and castigate a sovereign nation and label the regime of Mr. David Thompson as one guilty of intimations of the most heinous crime against humanity.

The denotation and connotations of “ethnic cleansing”, the gruesome images it conjures up, and the international concerns that such claims are capable of evoking are not made less impacting by the qualification of “ intimations”, particularly when made by a distinguished knight of the British throne for whom credibility comes with little question, particularly in our hemisphere and Third World. This makes your statement even more troublesome and dangerous for a developing nation like Barbados.  Based on your stature and intellect, recognized and respected throughout the world as shrewd, many would find it difficult to appreciate that such apparent thoughtless mis-speak was not driven by emotionally driven racial considerations.

Smacking Children In A Democracy

Credit: nzherald.co.nz

One example of how the PEOPLE can be encouraged to participate in a democratic system of government is to follow what is currently unfolding in New Zealand. Starting today a referendum which asks the question “Should a smack as part of good parental correction be a criminal offence in New Zealand?” will run until August 21, 2009. The laws of New Zealand permits New Zealanders under the The Citizens Initiated Referenda Act 1993 to propose a referendum albeit the outcome is non-binding on the government.

The reluctance of successive Barbados governments to use referenda to feel the pulse of the people before making very important decisions should be questioned. The day maybe coming to an end soon when the people allow a small band of politicians to make all the critical decisions which are likely to impact the lifes of current and future generations in a far reaching way.

In Barbados we can cite several policy positions taken or left hanging regarding LIAT, CARICOM and CSME, Republican System and others where the involvement of the people may have yielded a different result. BU suspects the act of spanking a child is an one which many parents in Barbados believe is their right to exercise as part of imposing discipline. Countries in the developed world which have intervened between parent and child by establishing laws which stop parents smacking THEIR children have not to our best observation yielded any noticeable positive result compared to other countries continuing to utilize corporal punishment methods.