2013 General Election Media Campaign

The 2013 General Election is behind us and the analysis is  being processed by those interested to determine the factors which led to the final result. There is surprise that the Democratic Labour Party (DLP) ran a media campaign which was more effective in persuading voters. One DLP TV Ad capitalized on the Barbados Labour Party (BLP) blunder of introducing the privatization issue to the campaign. BLP supporters have accused the DLP that the Ad misrepresented their position.

Campaign Finance Reform Needed

Submitted by the Mahogany Coconut Think Tank and Watchdog Group

How did two poor political parties raised millions to fund a three week political campaign?

The Mahogany Coconut Group submits that the real vote buying is in the upper echelons of our society. What we witnessed on Election Day was some voters getting cash, cell phones, IPods and a bill paid here and there. The real votes were bought by those shadows- black and white, – who Dr. Don Blackman referred to a few decades ago! Of course Dr. Blackman talked only about white shadows but the corporate landscape has dramatically changed over the years – we now have shadows of all colors and ethnicities.

While we shout from the roof tops about what took place on elections day, we bury our heads in the proverbial sand, by refusing to ask one simple question: How did the two political parties, both claiming to be rather financially impoverished, raise a conservative estimate of over twenty million dollars to pour into a three week campaign? We ask Dale Marshall (BLP) to tell us about the successful “cake sales and car washes” that raised their money. We ask Ronald Jones (DLP) to tell us more about the “$500 here and there” that was given to his party by well wishers. Let’s face it; elections are now big business and the corporate shadows are well entrenched in both the Barbados Labour Party and the Democratic Labour Party.

Anybody who believes that car washes, cake sales and a five hundred dollar donation here and there, can raise this large amount of money, needs to seriously wake up from his/her slumber!

Post General Election 2013: A Time to Decompose the Rhetoric

Building a brighter future

After what has been described as one of the most bruising political campaigns in history of Barbados, the commonsense approach is for all Barbadians to quickly put our shoulders to the plough in the interest of country. There is no time for the traditional honeymoon period. Prime Minister Fruendel Stuart needs to quickly get his human and other resources in position. The current state of the local economy is well documented and should not become loss in the euphoria of an election victory.  The prospect of a challenging winter season does not bode will for the country in the short term. Restructuring the economy will take time.

The dust has not settled after 2013 General Elections but the BU household continues to be concerned about the relatively low voter turnout. The data for the 2013 General Election are (not datum) still being crunched but  according to CADRES we had about a 60% turnout in 2013. The question which Barbadians need to ask is whether this situation should continue to go unaddressed. It was interesting to listen to Mia Mottley in an interview after the general election result was known. Her focus on the need to address governance issues should align well with Prime Minister Stuart on this issue who is seen by many as a man of integrity.

Notes From a Native Son: Before Voting, think with your heads and not your hearts

Hal Austin

Introduction:
When the voters of Barbados enter the polling booths on Thursday, it will be an enormous challenge for them to abandon old political tribal loyalties and objectively put the nation, future generations and their own futures before irrationally supporting a party or candidate they have always supported, while suspending reason. The harsh truth is that this is the most testing general election, not only since November 30, 1966, but since the early 1950s and the introduction of internal self-government.

In the new globalised world, there is no turning back for small nation states such as Barbados. New global organisations, such as the World Trade Organisation and the newly re-energised International Monetary Fund, now have power over small states, mostly wrapped up in international treaties, that they have never had before. At the same time, rich and powerful nations are subsidising their farmers and industrialists, such as car manufacturing and farming in the US, farming in the EU, and a long list of state-owned or controlled industries in China, which put further pressure on small states. But we are not just economic people, as a nation we are rounded with equal value given to our social relations, our civic and moral responsibilities and our cultural and creative environment.

Increasing Government Productivity:
One of the biggest drags on growth in Barbados is public sector efficiency, from improvements in technology, competent management to output per person. One only has to read the annual report of the auditor-general to see the extent of public sector incompetence. Take a simple, but important example, uncollected VAT. Value added tax is a sales tax paid by consumers and collected by trades and service people. For convenience, that money is paid to the government at pre-set dates – monthly, quarterly etc. However, in Barbados, there is a huge backlog of payments, of business people failing to handover to government monies collected on its behalf.

Good Luck at the Polls Barbadians and Remember the ‘One Lesson’

Submitted by Peter Brathwaite

Good luck Barbadians

Fellow Barbadians,

We go to the polls this Thursday. Emotion, anticipation and excitement fill the air (along with the ‘noise’ of the various political parties canvassing late into the night). Posters and flyers (and big as shite billboards) blanket our landscape (yet no one dared put their respective flyers/posters on the fancy pedestrian over-pass out by CBC last time I saw).

Both parties have published their manifestos. Of particular interest to some, if not most of us, will be the proposed economic policies of both parties. During the analysis of same, I ask that each and every one of you stop, hold strain and consider the words of Henry Hazlitt. Journalist, economist, philosopher, critic and author of the easy to read: Economics In One Lesson.

The “One Lesson” is stated in Part One of the book:

A DEM View Of the Recent CADRES Poll

Submitted by Stephen Williams

Prime Minister Fruendel Stuart eases pass Opposition Owen Arthur in recent poll – photo credit: Nation newspaper

According to the latest Cadres Poll, Freundel is out front. Wow!!! With that said, the DEMS must, therefore, press home the advantage as a result of our favourable showing.

However, I am somewhat sceptical about Wickham’s findings, that despite the fact that Freundel is ahead of Arthur, the DLP is still marginally trailing the Bees. I wonder if it is a case of who pays the piper, calls the tune! We all know the obvious bias of the Nation Group of companies. But, however you analyse the poll, it’s a body-blow for the Bees.

I am no political scientist, but I believe I have more than a modicum of common sense. It stands to reason, and rightly so, that if Freundel has surged ahead (in my humble opinion, he was ahead for some time) he would consequently bring along the DLP.

So, it must have been heart-wrenching for the Nation and the know-it-all Wickham, the avowed nemeses of the Prime Minister, to admit that Freundel Stuart is ahead of ‘Owing Arthur’ in their latest poll. Only last month, they were arguing it will be a landslide for their side. This must be a bitter pill for them to swallow.

Stuart Winning the Leadership Race as E-Day Looms

Click image to read Nation newspaper report – photo credit: Nation Newspaper

Based on the most recent CADRES poll Prime Minister Fruendel Stuart is winning the leadership race. What must be of concern is that the Wickham poll was conducted before Minister of Agriculture David Estwick delivered one of the most powerful presentations of the campaign so far at the NCF on Friday night.

How will this translate in the individual constituencies with a 3.4% swing in play makes it a very interesting general election.

Fix the Blasted Sluice Gate!

Images submitted by Nostradamus

Garbage in the canal at Graeme Hall wetland and Ramsar site

More garbage in the canal at Graeme Hall wetland and Ramsar site

The posters of DLP candidate John Boyce and BLP Jerome candidate guard the area

The problem which Barbados faces in 2013 is vividly illustrated in the images above. We have a medical doctor and a mechanical engineer seeking election to the House of Assembly on the 21 February 2013 to represent Christ Church South. Smack dab in the constituency they aspire to represent and in the heart of the tourist belt – a stones throw from St. Lawrence Gap and the gold coast – is the canal which leads to the sea from the Graeme Hall wetland and Ramsar site.

A sweet irony many will agree!

Related Links:

• The Sluice Gate at Graeme Hall, a National Disgrace

• Are Messrs Donville Inniss and Denis Lowe Aware the Inoperability of the Sluice Gate Adds to the Dengue Worry?

Manifesto WARNING!

2013 BLP Manifesto

The manifestos of the DLP and BLP have been released about ONE week before the E-Day of February 21, 2013. Generally people pay very little attention to manifestos in most countries. A manifesto may be described as a political tool to get political parties elected. Although we know they are usually littered with pie in the sky promises, BU had hoped this one time around, given the unprecedented challenges which confront service-oriented economies like Barbados, the electorate would have been wooed and teased by a vision articulated by both political parties (espoused in the manifestos).  How do they plan to navigate the economic and social milestones currently strewn in our path? Why is it this one time our people could not have been convinced to turn-down the political rhetoric, and instead, engage in a level of collaboration hitherto never experienced in democratic Barbados? As a highly regarded small predominantly Black country here was an opportunity created by the prevailing economic challenge for us to lead; a role which is not unfamiliar in the post-Independence period.

Kudos  to the Barbados Labour Party (BLP) for being ‘first’ out of the blocks with their Manifesto launch – a sarcastic comment you ask?. Although a trivial point, it has not escaped the notice of BU that apart from the first page which features an aggressive air-brushed image of Owen Arthur reflected on The Team for A Better Tomorrow, Mia Mottley’s photo appears in the most prominent position. To those with an ‘eye’ for these things it is called subliminal advertising and it is designed to draw the eye and create an impression in the minds of the electorate.

During the stewardship of the DLP government (2008-2013) a few issues have always occupied the attention of the BU family. Heading the list is GOVERNACE! On Thursday an increasingly cynical electorate will have to decide which party leads (by a nose) on the issue of Freedom of Information (FOI) and Integrity Legislation (IL) among others.

Related Link: Manifesto WATCH

I Will Not Lie, Cheat, or Steal…Pinocchio is Back!

Submitted by Old Onions Bag

To Privatize or NOT!

Whoever said vices were easy to break Lenten season or not? More recently, DLP clones who seems to want to out-do their once ‘royal conferment’ and his infallible record, have taken to the challenge. Talk about strangers to the truth. Bold faced cold and stark. It is as if whether Hansard’s records exist or not.., “if DEM say it is so  is so“. We are talking about these privatization ads that we are hearing on the radio and now seeing on TV. Was it not he, the late Great David who started this thing about privatization in the first place? If in doubt, just check the Parliament’s records. Of more concrete, Chris Sinckler, in his last Budget speech, informed Cabinet of his intentions to put up for privatization 30 % interest in three statutory owned governmental organizations, Grantley Adams International Airport being among the first.

So how could they now come and say different, and like ‘true jackass’ , making this Numero Uno in their  campaign broadcast program? Could this be another blundering short sight? Or do they really think that the Barbadian voting populace is that ignorant? Oh what a farinaceous string of follies, like wilting daffodils to the end. Will there be no close to their follies? What sayeth you now, All hail King Molasses, you fractious minions to the end……. Where there is no vision, the people will perish. This your advertising program will confirm to us, soon and well.

Notes From a Native Son: Politicians Must Come Clean about Their Programmes for Change

Hal Austin

Introduction:
In our democracy, politicians have the simple task of collectively being rainmakers, they simply bring talent together and, from that collection of outstanding individual instrumentalists, create a harmonic sound. Times of crisis call for innovative thinking, experimenting with new ideas, adopting what we in Britain call the Dunkirk spirit.

It is at historic points in the development of capitalism such as this that we see the best of what we have to offer, when the creators of new and imaginative ideas come to the fore, when those who have the future of Barbados at heart rise up.

With the sudden announcement of the general election, which gave off a smell of panic, we as a nation have had to sit and watch the humiliating nonsense of our leading politicians and the two rival parties, launching in to a campaign without manifestos, the roadmaps to their policies, for the first week or so. They were travelling up and down the country, talking themselves silly, without a detailed, or even outline, of the policies they hoped to introduce if the people of Barbados returned them to power. In other words, we have had a government which, after five years in power, could not come to voters with the simple message that they should be returned to finish off what they had started. Maybe, there were five wasted years and they could not ask people to vote for a non-existent unfinished programme.

Barbados DLP is Nothing Like Obama’s Democratic Party: Sell Foolish Somewhere Else

Austin

In light of last night U.S State of the Union speech given by President Obama, the DLP again today attempted to draw parallels between the U.S Democratic Party and the failed Barbados DLP administration, which as I have said before on BU is “COMPLETELY LAUGHABLE” and here are (3) more key reasons why:

(1) On Deficit Reduction:
-       The U.S Democratic Party has made sure that deficit reduction measures did NOT fall unfairly on poor and middle class Americans.
In comparison.
-       The Barbados DLP has “COMPLETELY” placed deficit reduction measures on poor and middle class Bajans … raising the overall cost of living to new levels of “pain and sufferation” for poor and middle class Bajans.
(2)  Leadership
-       PRES. Obama has “FACED” a wide range of national challenges and has effectively harnessed best of breed public and private sector talent and innovative thinkers, to meet each challenge which has worked in large part and is a testimony to effective leadership in tough times.
In comparison:

Seems To Me That The BLP are about to BITE one Another in a most Vicious Way

Submitted by DLPite

A rejuvenated Arthur?

The BLP have been play political hop scotch with the truth ( if they know what is truth) and with the Barbadian public they have failed to come clean with you, they believe that photoshop corrections to an aged and tired today Arthur and photographs of Mottley and Arthur looking at each other is evidence that all is good in the BLP, well if you need any more proof that nothing is good in the BLP look at the reports in the press made by their main speakers committing Mottley to the political dump heap, and the all out fight with them on Monday spilling over to more bacchanal on Tuesday.

They believe that making idle and empty airy fairy promises like giving the hoteliers half a billion dollars and a vast array of giveaways is real, it complete and utter nonsense, Arthur style, nor is it possible or is it real.

The fact that the BLP is like a 6 cylinder car spluttering and working on one cylinder because they only have one featured speaker per night and that is the same one who you rejected for corruption in 2008 Arthur, Mottley can’t raise her voice because Lynch, Marshall, Payne, Toppin and Arthur have her sitting on the political gallows.