Barbados Today

by Michael Ray

In an attempt to bring a measure of balance and reality to what has been a refrain of “lost decade” and “last decade”, here is another perspective on what has caused Barbados to travel through such stormy political and economic waters.

Some individuals and groups of individuals believe that the political and economic life of Barbados began with Captain Henry Powell, his 80 settlers and 10 slaves landed at Jamestown circa 1625.

Some believe political and economic life began during the period between 1640 and 1660 when Barbados attracted more British migrants than the Americas; in fact Barbados received two-thirds of migrants to the Americas, yet others pointed to 1639 when the first Parliament was established.

Notwithstanding these happenings, there were persons of a later time who interpreted two other historic events as the start of political life in Barbados:

• The amendment to the Representation of the Peoples Act that introduced Adult Suffrage giving every citizen over the age of 21 years the right to vote as well as removing the prerequisite of property ownership for membership to the House of Assembly.

• The occasion when Barbados was declared an independent nation.

While these seminal events were watershed periods of Barbadian history, no singular one can be credited as solely responsible for where Barbados currently stands politically and economically.

Rather, several significant decisions and events have coalesced and compounded to influence Barbados’ political and economic status.

For this reason I am firmly of the view that events of the last decade are not solely responsible for where we are as a country, but a combination of what has transpired during a period of no less than seven administrations between the years 1966 and 2018.

It is noteworthy that during the above-mentioned period, country Barbados was governed by four Democratic Labour Party administrations and three Barbados Labour Party administrations, and no other political party was ever given the mandate to run the political affairs of the country.

The following is a selected list of decisions and events that have impacted Barbados’ political and economic climate over the past half century:

• Breaches, errors of commission and omission as stated in annual reports of former Auditors General.

• Non-submission of State-owned Enterprises’ financial statements.

• Financial management – GEMS/Hotels and Resorts Limited.

• Financial management – Hardwood.

• Financial management – Carsicot.

• The inability of the sugar industry to be self-sustainable.

• The dissolution of the Barbados Development Bank.

• The sale of assets in the Barbados National Bank.

• The sale of assets in the Insurance Corporation of Barbados Limited.

• The implosion of the Barbados Hilton hotel.

• Financial management – Deficit Financing.

• The implicit permission that allowed local businesses to transform into entities diverting profits in the form of foreign currency away from the coffers of Barbados.

There is certainly no doubt that a number of decisions and events over an extended period of time have been largely responsible for the current political and economic status of Barbados, with events and decisions of the last decade contributing in a less impactful way.

. The article was offered as a Letter to the Editor