Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed by this author are their own and do not represent the official position of the Barbados Today.
by Dr Derek Alleyne
As primary school boys at Wesley Hall my brother and I were instructed NEVER to join other boys in the queue in Queen’s Park at lunch time. We disobeyed our mother and after the flogging she administered, we never took that venture again.
Queen’s Park along with serving of food was one of the tools utilized by the late Deighton Mottley, the grandfather of this Prime Minister, to relieve poverty.
In addition to the “free meals” the Mayor would dispense fifty cent pieces from his office in the Town Hall, give out khaki for the boys and navy blue for the girls through the Wards (Carlisle and St. Michael).
Stories abounded about turning up at the Mayor’s office to “get a little help”. It was a system devised to provide the poor with pittance and out of that poverty amelioration model, a sea of dependency and mendicancy emerged.
That model was never intended to end poverty or improve lives. It reinforced a mentality of helplessness among the people. It would end with the Premiership of his Excellency The Right Honourable Errol Walton Barrow.
While the system slowly disappeared, every now and again those of us who grew up near the city are reminded of those days: those days of Mottleyism.
As I watched the ad hoc nature of decision-making under this administration and the haste to throw the people’s money at every problem, those days of Mottleyism are refreshed and they bear ample comparison with this new brand of Mottleyism.
A pattern of “Ad hocism” reflects decisions taken without forethought and often serves only short term interests. Take for example the decision to provide shops with assistance.
It was clear that the Minister of Energy, Small business and Entrepreneurship, Kerrie Symmonds, was in a struggle to explain the anticipated cost to the treasury of the initiative.
The Minister estimates that there are 1444 liquor licences and 1500 vendors affiliated to the Barbados Association of Retailers and Vendors (BARVAN).
He further reported that some may be registered with the National Conservation Commission, the Ministry of Agriculture and that a plan was in the works for those suffering and not registered.
Taking those numbers alone we can say approximately 3000 and then one can expect the liquor licence estimate to include hotel bars and large restaurants and when these are taken out the number could be less.
The Minister went on: “It is a very imperfect system but what we are trying to do is meet people part of the way.
Where there is failure on the part of government to respond in a manner that you deem adequate, then a call centre has been set up for persons to make their case.”
How this call centre will work, the Minister had not a single clue! Further, should the “pause” last longer than two weeks, will the assistance continue? But why is all of this necessary? It is necessary because the shop owners and the villagers raised hell about the decision to close small shops.
Mottley triggers her instinct and one can imagine her, “let us give them some money and that should end the talk.” This means more giving of “fifty cents” and more indoctrination in dependency.
No thought was given about the service the small shops provide and their ability to reduce social contact. No thought was given to the domino effect that can materialize when other displaced service providers make their claims.
If assistance had been contemplated why have the water sports operators’ calls been ignored? We can expect more fifty cent pieces because it is not Mottley’s money.
The more things change the more they remain the same. God help us.
Dr Derek Alleyne is a trade unionist, social commentator and member of the Democratic Labour Party.
