With the weight of the pandemic pushing citizens into a collective state of near panic, we fear that despite attempts to put on a brave face, the stress of the exploding COVID-19 crisis on the island, is also taking its toll on our political leaders.
Barbadians first discovered from the international media, that our Prime Minister has been scouting Southern Asia, seeking to secure large-scale supplies of the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine from India, which is a key global pharmaceutical manufacturer.
Last night in a national address from Ilaro Court she confirmed the development and pledged to reveal details on the talks and similar discussions with other sources
Although we welcome this initiative by our Prime Minister, it never fails to amuse us when others outside of Barbados, are the first to know of events and circumstances that Barbadians ought to have had the privilege of knowing first.
We understand that in the world of diplomacy, one has to be strategic and seek to achieve one’s goals, while doing as little damage as possible to economic and political interests.
However, we must wonder what harm could have been done, had our Prime Minister shared with Barbadians, the fact that she was on a search for 200 000 doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine from a long-time ally like India.
Even more curious is who would have been responsible for sharing Mottley’s letter to the Indian leader Narendra Modi, with the Indian Press, and to what end?
According to reports from the Indian media, our Prime Minister wrote: “We are in urgent need of your assistance and support at this very difficult time. Barbados is very much in need of access to vaccines to provide the necessary immunization coverage for a large segment of our population of 287, 000.”
It reportedly went on to say: “It is in this regard, that I am urgently soliciting the assistance of your Government to have access to 200,000 doses (for 100,000 citizens) of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine being manufactured in your country. We would appreciate your kind consideration of half of the supply and, if necessary, we would be willing to purchase the other 100, 000 doses should it meet your favourable consideration.”
We are still to assess how citizens really feel about soliciting half and paying for the other half, when it comes to important medication. However, we suspect that “Miss Brathwaite from Black Rock”, may not be too pleased that we could not find the money to pay for the entire amount of vaccines being requested.
But we could be wrong about “Miss Brathwaite”. She may be pleased that our Prime Minister is doing what is necessary to secure the health, and by extension, the financial well-being of this nation, which now stand in a most precarious position.
With the Estimates of Revenue and Expenditure for the 2021-2022 financial year on the front burner, most citizens are bracing for what is expected to be the forerunner to a Budget that will likely impact Government’s efforts to bring debt down to a sustainable level.
But these are unusual times, and one can only imagine the magnitude of the revenue shortfall that Government is expected to be confronted with.
Also, on Prime Minister Mottley’s mind, must be the year-end economic review of Governor of the Central Bank of Barbados, Mr. Cleviston Haynes. He is expected to be quizzed by the media on Wednesday and will be under pressure to finally address the question of the national unemployment numbers. These have been glaringly absent from economic reviews by the bank for almost a year.
Last evening, our fearless leader declared war on the coronavirus. The national shut-down set to take effect February 3 was an inevitable policy response.
The positive result may be the containment of COVID-19 infections, but it will automatically result in real financial pain at the individual and business levels.
Interesting times are no doubt ahead and yes we are all in this together.
We hope that the tough measures ahead receive the support of all Barbadians to help deliver the turnaround we need to get back on the road to recovery.
