#BTColumn – The Barbadian balance sheet

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed by this author are their own and do not represent the official position of the Barbados Today Inc.

by Ralph Jemmott

Three years on from the May 24, 2018 General Elections may give objective, right-thinking Barbadians some perspective on where our country is and prospects for its future. Objectivity and right-thinking are important, because we inhabit a world in which there is an ostensible retreat from intellect, common sense and moral sensibility.

Any fair assessment of the BLP’s three years in office cannot ignore two facts. The first is that the administration inherit a very bad situation both economically and socially.

The second is the adverse effects of the COVID 19 pandemic on what was already a poor inheritance. That crisis, not of our own making, significantly altered the environment in which Barbados functions.

The main change was the decline in the Barbadian economy particularly the loss of revenue from the island’s prime foreign exchange earner, tourism. The consequent loss of jobs and livelihood affected thousands of people and was a drain on the public purse through welfare and NIS supports.

As a consequence Barbados’ level of indebtedness has increased.In May 2018 Barbados’ debt to GDP stood at 174 percent. After valiant efforts to reduce that ratio, COVID expenditure has brought it back to 154 per cent of GDP.

Unless there is a substantive growth in the economy, the likelihood is that it will rise even more. That situation is on-going as the country struggles to recover.

On the credit side, the BLP administration has handled the COVID-19 pandemic reasonably competently; many more well equipped societies have done less well. The vaccination lay-out has progressed quite efficiently, better so, than in much of the rest of the region and beyond. With the arrival of new trucks and buses, some of the aggravating issues relating to garbage collection and public transportation have been addressed.

I can look forward to collection every Wednesday, if not on Wednesday, early Thursday morning. The long waits in the bus terminal seem to be a thing of the past. In many areas work programmes clearing brush-ridden areas, not only provide jobs but beautify the country.

More recently clinics in St Andrew and St Joseph have been renovated and the fishing depot at Pile Bay in St. Michael has been vastly improved. Road repairs in the rural parishes of St. Joseph, St. Andrew and St. John are underway, promising a major opening up of Barbados’ eastern landscape.

This is not a bad report card for a mere three years in office in the trying conditions in which we have to survive. Peter Wickham gave the Mia Mottley-led administration a B-plus. I myself have little problem with that grading.

In response to a vocal, ostensibly ‘progressive’ element in the society, the Mottley administration has removed the Statue of Lord Nelson from Heroes Square and promised that Barbados will become a Republic by Independence this year.

One has no problem with each proposition, but they are primarily symbolic and would not constitute priorities for the majority of persons in the country faced with other more substantive issues of poverty, crime and water shortages.

There are some long term issues in Barbados which did not spring up overnight and which cannot be solved overnight. Similarly these problems did not start
on 24th May 2018.

One such is the country’s water problem. It is a bit shameful that in 2021 areas such as Boscobel, in St Peter, parts of St. Lucy, St Joseph and St. John should be without running water for as long as has been complained about.

This is an issue that requires not only considerable financial expenditure, but much technical expertise.

It is a problem to which affected Barbadians understandably want a quick solution

There are some contextual issues related to water in this country. Is Barbados, given the contemporary demand, a water scarce country? How much of our rain water flows back into the sea and how can it be dammed or otherwise saved?

What precisely is the state of our underground pipes and how can we quicken repair to burst mains? Is it a question of a lack of manpower or of administrative efficiency?

The question of administrative efficiency in the Civil Service is one that must be addressed in real terms of the publication of another booklet on the subject.

Perhaps the greatest threat to the long term stability of Barbados is crime, violence and a pervasive culture of lawlessness and disorder.

This is an issue which must be solved because ultimately it threatens nearly every sphere of the body politic, including an already fragile economy. Both parties in characteristic fashion have failed to deal with the problem, each blaming the Office of The Attorney-General for the failures of whatever administration is in power.

The recent murder of a law officer has temporarily awakened the public eye to the decay in Barbados’ human ecology.Crime and violence is too complex an issue to be dealt with here, but as Opposition leader Joseph Atherley notes, law and order concerns should not be a partisan issue. Fighting crime and violence ought to be one area where it should be possible for political parties to reach a consensus above and beyond other areas of disagreement.

Historically, the BLP has a particularly bad record on law and order issues. This dates back to its derision of David Thompson’s “Crime and Violence” warnings. Owen Arthur was more concerned with macro-economics and with leading economic indicators.

He appointed a Law and Order Commission, then virtually ignored its recommendation much to the grief of its Chairman, Sir Roy Marshall. The BLP should return to the findings of that Report and make a conscientious effort to turn Barbados around.

Ralph Jemmott is a respected retired educator.