Category Archives: Barbados News

Commissioner Darwin Dottin Leaves…

Commissioner of Police Darwin Dottin

Commissioner of Police Darwin Dottin

News reaching BU indicates that Commissioner Darwin Dottin has been sent on administrative leave. Given the recent development that a Deputy Commissioner was being selected without the input from Dottin provided a clue that sanction against Dottin was in the offing. A few weeks ago we also learned that Dottin had to return from vacation because his recommendation of the person to act while he was on leave was declined by the Public Service Commission.

Stay tuned!

Premier Event Services to Organize 2013 Cohobblopot: There Is Still Meat On the Fatted Calf!

The minister [Stephen Lashley] said for the much talked about Cohobblopot, there were two tenders for the hosting of the event, which was won by Rihanna’s Loud Concert and Barbados Food, Wine and Rum Festival organisers Premier Event ServicesBarbados Today

The news that the National Cultural Foundation (NCF) has awarded the right to organize Cohobblopot, one of the premier Crop Over events,  to Premier Event Services with just over one month to go  is interesting. Has anyone bothered to ask who are the directors of this company? What is their history of staging cultural shows? Is there enough time for this company to execute one of the biggest shows in Barbados? How much money is tagged to this arrangement? It is all about demonstrating transparency which is (was?) promoted by this government when it assumed office in 2008.

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Our Tourism Product: Let Us Get Cracking!

Andrew Nehaul - Tourism Consultant

Andrew Nehaul

I am a concerned admirer of Barbados who reside abroad. The slowly deteriorating economic situation on the island leaves me in bewilderment because there seems to be a lot of talk and no action. Nearly every day I read in the online press about more layoffs and business closures. Most of the writers on the blogs seem to be more keen on casting political barbs at one another than of providing creative, useful comments that might make Barbados better.

My profession has always been travel to the Caribbean and in Sweden. I see movement in the right direction from Aruba, Curacao, The Dominican Republic, St Lucia & Jamaica. I see nothing from Barbados. Barbados has a lot to offer the visitor. Unfortunately, the BTA does not seem to know their targets nor do they produce relevant information for their partners who sell the destination. Families, singles, honeymooners, wedding couples, seniors – all relevant market groups.

My question is:

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Good Gracious Mr. Jones, Helmets and Vests If I Protest?

Submitted by George Brathwaite
Hon Ronald Jones, Minister of Education, Science, Technology and Innovation

Hon Ronald Jones, Minister of Education, Science, Technology and Innovation

Good Gracious Mr. Jones, Helmets and Vests If I Protest? Barbadians were taken on an excursion that was quite unlike Mia Mottley’s in Swan Street or Harry Husbands at several private schools over the past fortnight.

MP Jones was judge, jury, and executioner. MP Jones classified, castigated, and determined who were interacting with criminal elements and the actions that were divisive, but he failed to speak out against social injustice. MP Jones preferred to inform Barbadians under a veiled threat that the resources of the military would be called upon as a matter of ‘necessity’ since law and order, defined by Jones’ Law would have to be restored. Jones demonstrated a desperation that characterises the despotic regimes that have done more harm to their people far worse than any external forces – listen to Minister Jones.

It was a vain attempt to cut down MP Mottley given her noticeable and appreciated performances thus far since returning to the helm of the Barbados Labour Party (BLP). Since when did things deteriorate or would likely descend into chaos in a modern-day Barbados as to contemplate the dreaded call for the military and paramilitary forces in the restoration of law and order?

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Dishonest and Thieving Contractor

Submitted by (…)
Edward Barrow stated to be a dishonest contractor

Edward Barrow stated to be a dishonest contractor

Edward Barrow, a Contractor is also a thief.

If you ask him about some of the extremely high prices he charges both for labour and materials, he then returns to the site while you are away and dismantles installments like cupboards and cabinets which were already built and paid for, and he takes them away. Under our law that is theft!

He overcharges for everything. He claims labour costs when that labour is working at another site so that. Barrows collects double wages and then he charges 25% contractor’s fee on top of that.

He demands money almost every week and does not place anyone on the site so that the work grinds to a halt while he holds your cash.

Home owners BEWARE!

Is Big Brother Listening to YOU?

Submitted by St George’s Dragon
What happened to the surveillance equipment used by CWC?

What happened to the surveillance equipment used by CWC?

The big news in the USA and UK is about their Governments tapping into the internet service providers and having access to all the emails, Skype calls, photos etc., that go through Microsoft, Apple, Facebook and the other technology companies.

What about Barbados?

Will our Government tell us what access it has to our private data? No, of course not. Will our press seek out the truth as happened in the USA and UK? I don’t think so. So it is left to us, the public, to piece together the facts about what goes on behind the scenes in Barbados. Here is my starter for ten.

There have been rumours in the past of phone tapping relating to Jeff Broomes, Hal Gollop and a senior officer in the BPF. Although the Hal Gollop case was referred to the police, unsurprisingly I don’t remember seeing any conclusion to this or the other cases.

It is fairly common knowledge that some security systems were put in place at the time of the World Cup Cricket in 2007 although the headline was focused on a “blimp” which apparently no longer works. It is also known that there is a Command and Control centre in the District A Police Station grounds although what it does is not clear. One of the floors was rumoured to have been fitted out by or for an Israeli company. An Israeli company was also linked to the cameras which appeared on the south coast a while ago. Whether that is the same company is not clear, although the odds are that it is likely to be.

So is Big Brother listening in? What other information do you know?

Congrats Mia Mottley: Public Accounts Committee Convenes

Mia Mottley, Leader of the Opposition

Mia Mottley, Leader of the Opposition and Chairman of the PAC

BU will not jump over the moon at the news the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) met yesterday. We will when action is taken against those who flout the financial rules of Barbados. What the PAC meeting has confirmed so far is that  both political parties when in government have ignored the financial rules, the National Housing Corporation although accepting loan (grants?) has been hiring staff (an election stunt no doubt which both political parties are known to engage), a contract was “shifted from Rotherley Construction Inc. to a company associated with Preconco Limited, increasing the budgeted cost from $28 million to $33 million” , government representative on the PAC expressed “concern about the way the NHC representatives were questioned and noted Government supporting the agency predated the Democratic Labour Party Administration”.

We wait!

Related Link: Show proof

Nation Editorial, Classic Example of ‘Pussy Cat Journalism’

Submitted by Douglas
Eric Smith, Editor in Chief of Nation Newspaper

Eric Smith, Editor in Chief of Nation Newspaper

Monday’s Nation Editorial is a classic example of what my Mass Com professor used to call ‘Pussy Cat Journalism’. From the accusing headline to the first few paragraphs and the  general drift and body of the story, a reader is sure to deduce that Government was at fault for the delay in the Bushy Park Development.

But, read on, and you would see who is responsible for the delay. In fact, no application has been submitted to Town Planning as yet.  So, a reasonable person is tempted to ask: why such an editorial? Why even state that “in light of the number of Government Ministries and Departments that would be involved in carrying out an assessment …….. of the application”; and “We are sure that once the application seeking permission has been duly submitted, the Town Planning Department would, as speedily as possible, process the paperwork for a developmental project that would greatly assist our starved economy, while ensuring that the public’s long-term interests are respected and protected.”

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Mum Wants Answers, Mum Got Answers

Submitted by Jay Arthurs
regina_wittaker

The Mother – Nation

Now that it has been proven that the student did steal the boom box:-

  1. Is Ms.Whittaker going to the Nation and having them print a back page for Thursday as an apology to the Principal?
  2. Is the officer at the Ministry who advised Ms.Whittaker going to call her and advise her to go to the Nation and have an apology written?
  3. Who is going to pay for the destruction of the Principal’s reputation?
  4. What is the Ministry saying now that the truth is out that Darron’s witness verified that it was Darron who took the boom-box? Is it going to tie the Principal’s hand behind his back and flog him?

Related Article: Mum Wants Answers

The People Want Caribbean Regimes to Fall

Submitted by Pachamama
WATER BLAST: A demonstrator shelters as Turkish riot police fire a water cannon at protesters occupying a park in central Istanbul, injuring scores - http://www.stuff.co.nz/world

WATER BLAST: A demonstrator shelters as Turkish riot police fire a water cannon at protesters occupying a park in central Istanbul, injuring scores – http://www.stuff.co.nz/world

As we write masses of people are demonstrating in the streets of Istanbul and many other Turkish cities calling Erdogan and Gul dictators, fascists, American puppets and Zionist traitors. They are chanting “we want the regime to fall’’, not the government – the regime, the regime! This call is not unlike what we have been hearing, for more than two years, in Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Egypt, Tunisian, Libya and nearly all the European countries. It represents the latest flashpoint in the seismic changes the peoples of the world are demanding. Demands that world powers would prefer to misdirect into a full-blown world war to serve their corporate masters. The criminals Gul and Erdogan have their Gestapo in the streets cracking skulls, using tear gas that can kill and employing the most powerful water hoses against the people. Even in the United Stated the Obama administration used these extraordinary measures to quell the ‘Occupy Movement’’. These included infiltration by the intelligence agencies, the brute force of storm troopers, a propaganda corporate controlled media and up to that time an apathetic populace that had not felt the full force of a brutish grab for resources that has now left 150 million Americans at or below the poverty line. This is the central issue! The peoples of the world are engaging corporate interests in a popular war for resources everywhere. For them this will be a hot summer (fall) of rage. The lackeys in the Caribbean, through all of this, have no answers for their peoples. They responses are generally within the range of ‘this is a global problem and we are helpless to avoid it’’ and reverting to all the failed recipes of western financial capitalism, a dying political-economy model.

In Barbados, the regime deliberately misinterpreted the electoral expressions of the people for a government of national unity. Such a brazen and dictatorial power grab, under the rubric of an outdated Westminster system, merely serves the ruling clique, ignores the talents of nearly 50% percent of elected representatives, makes it more unlikely that the country will be able to exit the vortex of depression economics in the medium term, strengthens the idea of ‘the maximum leader’ and unduly sustains a false tension within the political system. When Caribbean people get hungry enough they will be in the street, not merely calling for the government to go, they will too be calling for the regime to fall. This will mean the government in the wider sense – BLP, DLP. The call must of necessity extend to the ruling elites as well – the education elites, the economic elites, the professional types, the elites in the clergy. They will be calling for a revolution! Barrow’s hideous Public Order Act will have no effect on ‘them’. The militarized police force will not be as persuasive to orders as the people will be to the hunger pangs they feels or the sight of hunger in their children’s eyes. The American trained special branch of the defense force, on call 24/7, may martyr some people in the streets but calls for the fall of the regime will continue, without ceasing. This call will be properly informed by a history of a lack of proper leadership, multiply betrayals of the people, an absence of land reform, political treachery by all parties and a growing mal-distribution of wealth.

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Temporary Government Workers Being Sent Home

A copy of a dismissal letter received by a government worker dated 30 May 2013.

A copy of a dismissal letter received by a government worker dated 30 May 2013.

It seems our own Caswell Franklyn who heads Unity Workers Union has released the cat amongst the pigeons. Was there a plan to send home a large number of temporary government workers which was foiled when Caswell went public recently? Minister of Finance Chris Sinckler has been forced to deny there was such a plan. Maloney and Clarke from the NUPW have also denied that they were privy to any plan. Caswell has rebutted that after the initial plan was exposed the contingency plan seems to be the orderly release of temporary workers when their contracts expire.

During the just concluded general election campaign a key message from the Democratic Labour Party platform was that government jobs will be protected.

Who is lying? You be the judge.

Time to Act…Transport Board Again

Submitted by Old Onions Bag
Sandra Forde, General Manager of the Transport Board

Sandra Forde, General Manager of the Transport Board

The days of the Transport Board operating as a quasi Governmental institution are numbered. We have tried our best for years now to make it break even, and or make profit but to no avail. One of the reasons, (which there are many) by nature Government institutions operate intending to give social benefits and not to make profit paramount at the expense of societal benefits. Obviously there lies the reoccurring problem with  our Transport Board. Before, the organization was operating with a management whose training and thought was not to maximize the bottom line.

We cannot eat the cake and have it too…either we want to operate profitably or we want to provide solely social benefits? Profitability could mean, leasing to a private concern, whose management will want to make profits for its shareholders.

Transport Board as it stands sucks up good bucks that could help reduce a deficit lending institutions like the IMF see as hazardous to our country’s health. When will a decision be made? We could use the mega bucks as with BNB (now Republic Bank) which has had a complete turn around placing more in our Treasury and employing even more staff?

Letting it Ride on 11% of the Budget

Adrian Loveridge - Owner of Peach & Quiet Hotel

Adrian Loveridge – Owner of Peach & Quiet Hotel

Sometimes timing can be everything and that has left me to question the recent launch of the Barbados Island Inclusive promotion.

On Saturday 20 April 2013, the Minister of Tourism held a local media conference to launch the initiative, which according to reports is expected to cost a staggering 11 per cent of the annual budget of the Barbados Tourism Authority. Without wanting to repeat information already in the public domain, the objective is to drive an ‘additional’ 15,000 long stay visitors this year, who are expected to spend $30 million.

The following week the Minister then travelled to the United Kingdom, where I believe he met with several British travel interests, including both Virgin Atlantic Airways and Virgin Holidays. On his return, the Minister appeared on a 45 minute long CBC News Extra programme, where he was the only speaker. While CBC TV8 clearly had a full hour available, no time whatsoever was allocated to attending journalists so they could pose any questions they may have wished to ask. Personally I think this was a huge mistake. It gives the impression either that there is no accountability and/or, it is not important to keep the public (and industry) fully and accurately informed.

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