Was Lieutenant-Colonel John Nurse Responsible For The Glendairy Riot And Burn-out~Why Was He Protected By Mia Mottley?

 

PRISON OFFICERS were asked to sign a petition seven years ago, aimed at urging authorities to rescind the appointment of Lieutenant-Colonel John Nurse as Glendairy Prisons’ acting superintendent. This claim was made yesterday by a temporary prison officer who joined the service after Nurse had taken up his position, but had heard about the petition in 2001. In fact, Arleigh Stoute said he knew a colleague who had actually signed the petition.

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Many Barbadians continue to ask why has Lieutenant-Colonel John Nurse remained the prison boss for seven long years in the face of strenuous opposition from the warders in his command. After witnessing the unprecedented burning down of the island’s only prison, the publics outcry has risen. BU is forced to ask the question, can a manager who does not have the confidence of subordinates effectively manage to achieve the goals of the job? If the answer to the question is no, the next question is what should management do about it? Relying on feedback, observation and discussions with people close to the prison, BU know that Nurse uses outdated autocratic, dictatorial and sometimes rude qualities which we can write; generously describes his management style. Many say that it would have contributed a lot to why hell broke lose at Glendairy Prisons on the 29 March 2005.

 

In February 2007 a Commission of Inquiry started its work to determine what caused the riot at Glendairy Prison, it seems to BU that it was done because it just happened to be the politically correct thing to do. We say this because Barbados has a long history of the politicians spending our tax dollars to provide golden handshakes to party “faithfuls”. What else can we say if we are all aware of the many reports which gather dust on the shelves in our Ministers of Government offices, the outcome of “Commission of Inquiries”. A good example is the dusty St. Joseph Hospital Report which in the opinion of BU was used to neutralize Brandford Taitt who was aspiring at the time to make the big comeback to politics. Believe it or not BU thinks that Brandford Taitt returning to politics to fill the void left by David Thompson would have been a 100% better choice than Clyde Mascoll.

 

Back to the issue.

 

The public of Barbados is currently witnessing the farcical situation, some would say that it rivals what transpired in the final minutes of CWC 2007, of the prison boss being subjected to public scrutiny and sometimes ridicule by his subordinates while still in office. Which well run organization do you know about where the CEO would have to participate in a 360 Inquiry held in the full view of the public glare. AT BU we are not surprise at some of the evidence we have been hearing. Despite BU’s view on the irrelevant leadership style of Nurse, we place full blame on a system (government) which would allow this to happen. How effective can Nurse now be when he has to go back to Harrison Point prison to govern a prison which operates in less than ideal physical conditions and a hostile and untrained workforce to boot.

 

Barbadians watched their televisions in horror at the daily press briefings which were DOMINATED by the then Attorney General Minister Mia Mottley. During that period the man in charge Lieutenant-Colonel John Nurse was not allowed to speak. It is worth mentioning that the convenient transfer of the Hon Mia Mottley to another ministry has provided an escape from any embarrassment which will inevitably develop out of the ongoing Commission of Inquiry into the burning down of Glendairy Prison. Again the comparison has to be made that any well run company in a time of crisis it is the CEO who must speak to any issues on the operations and not the Chairman. It this case the Chairman was Hon Mia Mottley and the CEO was John Nurse.

 

So the big question is why was Lieutenant-Colonel John Nurse not allowed to speak. To answer this question we have to factor that Nurse may have had a big chip on his shoulder which grew when he did not get the Chief of Staff position at the Barbados Defence Force, remember that Brigadier Rudyard Lewis retired. Do you believe that the two Cawmere boys were beaten to the position by Alvin Quintyne, a Parkinson boy? Seems that Jeffrey Bostic is trying his hand at politics nowadays, but this story is not about him.

 

At BU we have concluded that the truth to this tale is simply, John Nurse and Mia Mottley are good buddies and the Mia Mottley strategy of bombarding proceedings at the press briefings was to protect Dear John. She does not want her good friend to be the fall guy. The fact that the current Attorney General is a Cawmerian like Nurse must be comforting. At the end of the day Barbadians did not need a Commission of Inquiry, which will waste tax payers dollars, to know that the tension created by John Nurse’s leadership style would have been the spark Glendairy needed to explode.

Related Story:

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And Provides Insight About Glendairy Prison Before The Meltdown