Alive and well

Solutions Barbados, the fledgling pro-business party that faced the electorate for the first time in the 2018 general election, is half-way to fielding a full slate of candidates for the next poll, founder Grenville Phillips II has indicated, declaring the party is still very much alive.

“Solutions Barbados is still active in Barbados. We have 15 candidates, the most after the Barbados Labour Party who have 29.

“However, since the General Election, we have been ignored by the TV, radio and newsprint media while others have been promoted,” he said.

“Many of us are in our constituencies every week. We write 52 articles each year, but they are ignored by the print media.

Phillips said some of his former members who have joined the Opposition Leader Joseph Atherley decided to do so because they did not want to be restrained by contracts nor did they want to sign a contract to go bankrupt if they accepted bribes.

He said: “The plan had one vulnerability: it could be frustrated if any of our members received bribes. So, we agreed to sign a contract to essentially go bankrupt if we accepted bribes.

“For all 15 members that remain, that was a very good decision to make. For the few that left to join Atherley, we have others who are willing to take their places. However, we will be more careful with scrutinising new members,

At the party’s annual conference next month, members are to vote on new leadership.

Weighing in on a number of recent political developments, he criticised the new Bail Act as being unjust in depriving accused persons their freedom, suggesting that the accused found not guilty be compensated immediately.

The Solutions Barbados president told Barbados TODAY: “If the authorities are so convinced of a person’s guilt to incarcerate for two years without bail and if they are subsequently found to be innocent then they need to be compensated forthwith not decades in the future.

“The compensation should be at least twice the amount of money that they could have made had they been allowed to work. The amount that they could have made should be based on their maximum earnings over the past decade”

On the issue of public transport, he described the Transport Board’s maintenance costs as a financial burden and said it was unconscionable to increase the fare without properly managing its business.

He suggested that the state-owned bus company board implement theISO 9001 international management standard in a bid to create a well-managed transport system.

Speaking on the plastic ban which goes into effect on July 1st, 2019 he said it was complicated and unfair.

Philips said: “After [holding] discussion with importers and manufacturers of single-use-plastics to understand their ordering commitments, they could have agreed on the day of a ban.

“The ban should have been limited to the importation of such plastics. After the ban, the market should have been allowed to adjust naturally to the scarcity with alternative products.

“It is unfair to persons who still have unsold plastic bags to simply destroy them. Why not use them until the limited supply is exhausted?,” he asked.