#BTColumn – Of the highest order

The views and opinions expressed by the author(s) do not represent the official position of Barbados TODAY.

by Grenville Phillips II

Returning to my parked car, I noticed a broken licence plate on my windshield. It looked oddly familiar. Viewing the front of my car confirmed that it was mine.

Every collision I had with that car was while it was parked in a parking lot. The damage was always minor, so I never called my insurance company.

Actually, in my 30 years of driving, I have never made a claim – so why continue to pay for car insurance?

Unaffordable Risks

I asked that question to provoke you to think. You would be reckless to knowingly be a passenger in an uninsured bus.

You would be depraved to encourage others to join you.

Only an idiot of the highest order would drive one after cancelling the insurance.

You should insure against likely risks that you cannot afford to pay if they occurred. Regardless of how careful a driver you may be, if you drop in a pothole, you can lose control of your vehicle. You may be able to afford the repair costs of your vehicle, but not the medical expenses of your injured passengers.

Cancelling Insurance

An insurance policy is a contract that states what both parties are obligated to do. If you want the insurance, then drivers must agree to the restrictions that are designed to protect passengers.

For example, all new drivers must be approved by the insurance company. Minors will not be approved regardless of how competent they are, or how much you want them added to the policy.

If you think that the insurance company’s conditions are infringing on your rights, then you may cancel the insurance policy at any time. But you must still humble yourself and get insured with another company, that may have more onerous requirements. What is not an option is to drive passengers while your vehicle is uninsured.

Independent Audits

Every five years, we elect drivers to drive our national bus. When our bus needs maintenance, we pay additional taxes to buy the parts, so that all passengers may remain safe. A driver who suggests that we could save money by cancelling our insurance, should not be trusted to drive our bus. One of the insurance conditions that our drivers hate, is the independent audits. Every year, an independent auditor must tell passengers the actual cost of the bus parts, that our drivers claimed were needed. Every year, the auditor tells us that we were overcharged for the bus parts. But we are so politically divided that we no longer care.

Heartless Barbadians
Barbados has changed much since our Independence. We are no longer guardians of our heritage for our children.

Once we can afford to pay the excessive taxes to pay for the overcharged parts, we do not care about the suffering of our neighbours who cannot afford to pay.
We defend and encourage errant drivers, and willingly wear their red and yellow shirts every five years to get them elected.

Once we have taken what we can from this country, we are willing to recklessly damage it for our children. How did we become so heartless?

Barbados Insurance
Barbados is insured against torrential rainfall, hurricanes and earthquakes, through the Caribbean Catastrophe Risk Financing Facility (CCRIF). Despite not being impacted by a major hurricane or earthquake since our Independence, only enemies of Barbados would encourage our leaders to cancel that insurance.

Barbados is also insured against aggressor nations – our enemies. Commercial insurance is paid out in money. Defence insurance is paid out in blood and military equipment, as soldiers, whom we do not know, will be ordered to defend us.

We have taken for granted the deterrent effect of our defence insurance.

We Are Already Free
Our defence insurance costs Barbadians very little. The Queen commands the British Military, so we simply need to maintain a Governor-General.

The Governor-General protects our armed forces from being politicised, and ensures that the annual independent audits are done. Our drivers hate that accountability, and have devised a way to get rid of it.

Our drivers retell the myth that they have told since our Independence – that we need to throw off the remnants of colonialism to be free. We are already Independent and free, but we have chosen to maintain insurance against natural disasters and foreign aggressors. We also want to know when we have overpaid eight times for bus parts.

Cancelling Our Insurance
To get their own way, our drivers plan to cancel our defence insurance, without our consent, on 30 November 2021. On 1 December 2021, we will be forced to be uninsured passengers, and they will become drivers – of the highest order.

The BLP, DLP and other political parties, want uninsured passengers – for their own purposes. Our established media do not allow any balanced discussion on the Republic issue. Our drivers’ actions appear unlawful, but not one of the over 900 lawyers on this bus has challenged it in the Courts. Solutions Barbados stands alone.

General Election
Our drivers have no mandate, from us, to cancel our insurance. The Bs and Ds are out canvassing, so it seems that that will call an early General Election. It seems that they believe that passengers are so politically abused and economically desperate, that they will vote for their own destruction in exchange for a few trinkets.

Solutions Barbados stands alone in advocating for passengers to remain insured, until they choose not to be. We have 15 Candidates, but Barbadians in every constituency should be given a choice. If you love and fear God and feel a burning desire to give the people of Barbados a competent alternative, then you may contact us.

Grenville Phillips II is a Chartered Structural Engineer. He can be reached at NextParty246@gmail.com