Corruption puts society at risk

Opposition Senator Crystal Drakes wants the level of corruption in Barbados to be identified.

Then, she wants those persons identified to have engaged in the illegal practices brought to justice.

Those were her suggestions as she spoke during debate on the Public Finance Management Bill 2019 in the Senate this afternoon.

“What I’m asking us to do as we move forward is to identify the level of corruption that we have, because if we sit here and say there is possibly corruption, or there maybe is corruption, it is to deny that we are unaware of any of these wrongdoings.

“It’s only when we acknowledge it…you can then only start to solve it. In acknowledging we have to then start to report it,” Drakes said.

The senator also partly blamed the country’s current economic situation on those persons who engaged in corrupt practices.

“So when we here in Barbados have these cases where we hear either outright in public or in whispers of unscrupulous deals being made and large unexplainable contracts being given to persons, that is what has contributed to us coming to this point in time.

“I want to say that anyone who has ever benefited from such deals, or fat contracts as people would call them, you have in your small or large way contributed to why Barbados is now at the place it is at,” Haynes said.

“Yes we have issues with our economic structures, as far as the drivers are concerned, but when you compound low growth with elements of wastage and mismanagement, you make the situation even more dire.”

She said the actions of those corrupt individuals had left Government’s hands tied and meant tough measures now had to be implemented.

“What you do as an individual then leaves the Government to have to cut expenditure, you leave a Government to now have to send home workers, you leave a Government to raise taxes to the point where it feels almost burdensome to the others in society.

“Sometimes we talk about these things as if they are abstract concepts. It is corruption by persons, by individuals. You are the ones who are placing your society at risk, this is where it leads us. So when there is poor mismanagement and a disregard for integrity you lead a country to the brink of economic turmoil where no one is left untouched by harsh measures,” Haynes said.