The legacy of the Right Excellent Errol Walton Barrow, is not just to be revered but used as “mood music” but not the “main tune” guiding Barbados’ future through the rest of the 21st century, a UWI academic has declared.
But he urged Barbadians to set a tune to fix deepening inequality.
Dr Ronnie Yearwood, Lecturer at the UWI Cave Hill law faculty, made the comment as he delivered the Errol Barrow Memorial lecture on Thursday. The lecture – Barrow’s Legacy – A New Vision.
The annual lecture is organized to give Barbadians a deeper understanding into why the nation’s first Prime Minister continues to receive much acclaim, decades after his passing.
Dr Yearwood emphasized, that though Barrow’s legacy could never be overstated, it should not be used as the only rule book that current and future politicians have to follow.
He said: “What I can say is that even if we assess change as a continuation or stages of development, any new vision for Barbados does not need to be trapped by the legacy of any person or political party, because over time the challenges and the solutions are simply not the same.
“The late Harold Hoyte, former editor of the Nation newspaper, perhaps sets out the best approach to engaging in political legacy and in particular, Barrow’s legacy.
“He stated: ‘The DLP [and Barbados] should not hang on to [Barrow’s] coat tail indefinitely, for as a political party [and a country] gets older it must rely less on its past [for future success], [and] adopt an appropriate strategy for the times we are in today as [Barrow] did then for his times.’ In today’s context, Barrow can be mood music, but not necessarily the main tune.”
Dr Yearwood suggested that income inequality should be one of the biggest concerns on the minds of Barbadians, with much of the wealth from the biggest money earner, tourism, going to a small few, instead of profits being shared openly with workers.
He said: “The Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) estimated that slightly above a third of Barbadians (33.7 per cent) are multi-dimensionally deprived.
“Barbados does not only have issues with inequality as to wealth but also in our education system. For example, research shows that the majority of prison inmates come from eight of the lowest ranked secondary schools in Barbados.
“These children from the same multi-dimensionally deprived households are not only failed by the education system but the legal system that incarcerates them, essentially, for the household they were born into.
“On income concentration, for example, in tourism, our main industry, 47 per cent of all the rooms available in traditional hotels are owned by eight people. This means that the key economic driver in our society is controlled by a small group of people, who may be able to extract concessions and promote their interest.”
Dr Yearwood urged the present and future administrations, to use the qualities Barrow instilled as a leader, in order to help the island develop a robust, and fairer economy, well suited for the 21st century.
He declared: “Change, even of the Barbados type, quiet and resolute, requires something that committees and reports do not create or capture; leadership, courage and hard work, which were the qualities that marked Barrow out from other leaders. His brazen, we-can-do attitude is what we require in these times.” (SB)
