#BTColumn – Fixing problems with PR, excuses

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed by this author are their own and do not represent the official position of the Barbados Today Inc.

by Dr Ronnie Yearwood

Water

In all the columns so far, I have tackled issues surrounding government accountability and management, and I want to continue that in this column, as promised last week, with a look at water. I was born in Boscobel St. Peter and grew up in a house without water or electricity.

To this day, I remember bringing water home in a little brown plastic bucket from a nearby standpipe. It is interesting the memories that stay with you and anchor your perspectives on life and its meaning.

The images of people being forced to collect buckets of water from a distant community tank or intermittent water tanker always strikes a chord with me. It is in every way personal. Unless you have experienced it you really do not understand what it means; the inconvenience, the hardship, the indignity! The people in our country without water are truly suffering.

What I find upsetting and disheartening is that this like many of the problems we seem to face as a country, year after year, report after report, BWA board after board, are problems that are fixable and avoidable with good leadership, good governance, and a clear setting of government’s priorities. If only governments would focus on the country and not just trying to win the next election!

Governance

The 2020 World Bank report, a Benchmark for the Performance of State-Owned Water Utilities in the Caribbean stated there was a relationship between good governance and the performance of the water and sanitation sector.

Water utilities operating well-developed governance frameworks performed better than those operating underdeveloped governance frameworks. Barbados ranked poorly, coming just above the mark of underdeveloped governance frameworks.

The result being that the Barbados Water Authority (BWA) was ranked with low performance. The picture gets worse, as a recent standards of service report on the BWA from the Fair Trading Commission stated that the BWA performance was “subpar” and this had significant implications for Barbados, such as “jeopardising the health of Barbadians, the sustainability of the environment and the viability of the tourism industry.”

These views were supported by a 2008 Road Map Towards Integrated Water, Covering Resources Management Planning for Barbados which highlighted that there was lack of good water governance, fragmented approach to water management, lack of effective integration and coordination, and inadequate institutional resources, all of which existed before the issue of that report.

I know none of this provides immediate relief to residents in need of water and I will get to that. However, fixing the water issue like so many of the issues we raise in this column is about good governance and systems that work for the people, instead of empty campaign promises and no action.

Face it and Fix it

In January 2016, it was reported that the then Opposition Leader now PM, at a public meeting in St. Joseph declared that the water woes of residents in that parish and in Barbados was “…not a Water Authority issue. This is a water issue affecting one in every four Barbadians in this country.”

It was further reported that Ms. Mottley stated there was “no more important a project to the people and Government of Barbados than to find a short and long-term fix for the island’s water crisis,” and the matter should be the “main priority.”

Therefore, it was interesting that while on a tour of St. Joseph recently, a member of the sitting MP’s touring party and BWA board member who previously protested against the last administration about water woes seemed to have difficulty with current protesting residents, stating that, it “is not as easy as we would like it to be”.

However, as I said in a previous column, “we are working hard” the “crisis is global” or the “government is faced with a difficult job” are not policy responses. Governments are elected to do difficult things and fix social problems.

The duty of government is to face the social problems and fix the social problems, not tell the voters with no water that the problems are not as easy as the government would like. The name is in the thing, social problems.

We wonder whether the admission by the member of Mr. [Dale] Marshall’s touring party that the promise of speedy water solutions when the current Government was in Opposition was nothing more than that, an empty promise. If the sales pitch was that the Government would fix social problems as a matter of priority, but fails to do so, it is obvious questions will be asked.

Climate change?

Perhaps this Government will blame climate change for the water issues. Its PR machinery is very good at finding someone or something to blame to avoid accountability.  I am no water expert but I suspect the resources of the BWA have been spent on unnecessary salaries and new buildings rather than on replacing water mains and taking steps to facilitate the recharge of our aquifers.  Many experts suspect that less than 50 per cent of the water pumped by the BWA actually reaches its destination because of leaking mains.

Also, Barbados still gets plenty of rainfall despite climate change. However, rather than maintaining a drainage system and building dams to allow the rain water to recharge our aquifers it all gets directed to storm drains and flows into the sea. Again, it is about governance and we feel poor governance in our wallets, at the gas pump and in dry taps.

Adrian Cashman in the Social and Environmental Accountability Journal (2011) in an article titled, Our Water Supply is being Managed like a Rumshop:

Water Governance in Barbados stated, that “Climate change cannot be ignored… but it is not necessarily the most important challenge” as to water governance, because as noted above, the “current water governance arrangements have serious defects” which if not addressed, will only be made worse by climate change.

More propaganda

This Government has now created a new fully funded Department of Public Affairs. Let us be honest, what is the point of the new public affairs department when so many actual reforms remain outstanding and real issues need to be addressed to let us live in dignity.

What is the new communication department to communicate to the residents of St. Peter, St. Lucy, St. John and St. Joseph, that there is no water, no proper Government management of the water systems, that Barbados is importing water costing millions, or building a community centre costing lots of money in St. Joseph, but no water?

Could some of that money be used to provide the affected households with water tanks? The same households currently paying bills but getting no service. What happened to the community water tanks which were a modern version of the standpipe? What are this Government’s priorities?

Is water a priority? I don’t claim to have all the answers but does this Government think that the best policy is avoiding the questions?

I want to say a big thank you to those who message me to say keep writing. It is encouraging to know that you are reading. Thank you.

Stay safe everyone.

Dr Ronnie Yearwood is a lecturer in law, lawyer and social commentator. Email: yearwood.r.r.f@gmail.com