No election ploy – Jordan

The decision by Government to appoint workers within the next two days is not an election gimmick.

This was made clear today by Minister of Labour and Social Partnership Colin Jordan, as he responded to suggestions by Opposition Leader Joseph Atherley that the move was tied to the soon to be held by-elections in St George North.

Atherley claimed that having been in office for over two years, Government had more than enough time to go through the normal channels of appointing workers and described the timing as “coincidental”.

However, in his contribution to the Public Service Appointment Bill 2020 in Parliament this morning, Jordan said Government’s priority during that time was rescuing the economy.

He also pointed to the COVID-19 pandemic, which had garnered the full attention of Government.

“Just to speak to the question of why not in the first two and a half years, I want to remind the people of Barbados because I think the member for St Michael West wants to forget and I get the impression he wants to cause people to forget that we’ve spent the first year and a half stabilizing this country and the people in this country who I interact with recognize that we have spent the first year and a half stabilizing the situation that we came into office and found,” Jordan said.

“Because almost without fail, people say to me, ‘man we know we really would have been on the way up but COVID came’. Because after a year and half, we then had to address our minds to deal with a real situation, a situation that has caused the death of one million persons globally.

“So we’ve spent a year and a half stabilizing the economy because we recognized like all democratic socialists that in order to create a better life for our people we need to make sure that we can pay and support that better life, so we have to ensure that the economy is put in a position that allows us then to take off and move,” Jordan explained. (RB)