Opposition Leader rebuffs IMF meeting invite

Opposition Leader Bishop Joseph Atherley today refused to attend a meeting hosted by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) over what he considered discourteous behaviour by the international financial agency towards him over the past three years.

During Parliament this morning, Speaker of the House Arthur Holder indicated the IMF would be holding a Zoom meeting in the afternoon for members of the Standing Finance Committee.

He informed them that the Standing Finance Committee comprises “all members” of the Chamber with the exception of the Speaker.

It was at this time Bishop Atherley rose to his feet and made his intentions clear.

He pointed out that prior to today’s meeting he had received no previous correspondence from the IMF inviting him to any of the previous meetings which it held with Government.

“The Opposition will not participate in this meeting with the IMF. I got notice of this yesterday morning, that is not my complaint. My complaint lies herein; the Government of Barbados has been in an arrangement with the IMF for the past three years plus months. Several engagements with IMF teams have taken place both physically and virtually. On no occasion up until this point, has the Leader of the Opposition been given the courtesy of a call, a letter, a briefing, a conversation, a dialogue, with any representative members of the IMF teams that have been to Barbados.

“I find this to be grossly out of order. I do not know how this particular initiative proposed for this afternoon has originated, if it comes under the bosom of the Government or the bosom of the IMF. It doesn’t matter. My beef today is not with the Government, let me make that clear. My beef today is with the IMF and I will not today participate and sit down in any meeting with them after three and a half years of not hearing one word,” Bishop Atherley maintained.

Leader of Government Business Santia Bradshaw then sought to clear the air.

She said the meeting had been arranged by the IMF and not Government and that it would not include any negotiation details between the two parties.

“I understand your sentiments but I would wish to state very clearly that the request is that of the IMF and is not the Government of Barbados. I know he’s not taking issue with the Government of Barbados but I am just indicating for clarity that yes, negotiations have been ongoing, discussions have been ongoing but this is very specific to Parliament and what we will be discussing in terms of the agenda,” Bradshaw said.

“We are looking at the role of Parliament in discussing and approving the preparation of the Budget, which committees or the plenary are involved. We will also be discussing the role in discussing the supplementary Budgets, the role in fiscal responsibility frameworks, the role of the Public Accounts Committee in scrutinizing reports of the Auditor General and challenging accounting officers and Government on the execution of their budgets as well. We are also looking at the level of discussion around the audit reports and following up on the Attorney General’s findings and recommendations.

“That is really essentially the summary of what is the proposed agenda. It is nothing that is untoward. It is nothing that is getting into the details of any negotiations by the wider Government, but really more procedural,” she added.

In response Atherley reiterated his position that he would not be attending the meeting.

(randybennett@barbadostoday.bb)