#BTColumn – Incompetence that beguiles

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

The scrutiny of the last government was tough and relentless. The scrutiny of the current government must be tough and relentless. What was good for one, must surely be good for the other. It is about Barbados.

The Barbados Labour Party 2018 election victory can be understood as a total project. The result was the capture of all the seats in Parliament including a group of career politicians with collectively hundreds of years in politics, who managed to package themselves successfully as anti-establishment, new and competent.

There is a reason this Government feels stale, not less because many of the top actors have been around for political eons, but this Government may in tragic comedy style represent a new politics in Barbados.

Not quite the competence we were promised, more of transformative productive disappointment. It is profound, supposedly talented, yet not working and somewhat lacking if you scratch the surface.

Defining Achievements

What is the defining achievement of this Government, which attempted to celebrate the third anniversary of its election victory last week?

At first glance, restructuring the debt, but public debt is rising and now at the astronomical figure of over 12 billion. When many of the new loans become due, none of the current consultants and ministers will be around.

It will be us, our children and grandchildren who will have to clean up the current mess. It will even be worse if the continuing spending habits of the Government cause a second debt default.

Then it seemed like a defining achievement would be increasing the foreign reserves which stood in 2017 at just below a half billion, 2018 at almost a billion, and just over $2.5 billion by 2021. However, how much of that increase is borrowed money from 2018?

The Government borrowed $350 million in 2018, $150 million in 2019, and $968 million in 2020. It calls into question how much of an improvement was the growth in foreign reserves when the borrowing has simply delayed addressing the issue that Barbados spends more than it earns.

Maybe the Mottley Government will be remembered for fixing the south coast sewage issue and moving the sewage from the streets. Sewage no longer flows in the street but the problem does not appear fixed. Instead of flowing in the streets, the sewage appears to be flowing into and destroying our last remaining wetland.

Governments of all shades have a way of kicking the can down the road and trying to claim first prize. It was apparently reported that since 2005, the South Coast Sewage plant had issues and sewage was being occasionally dumped into the Graeme Hall Nature Sanctuary, which obviously increased as the plant deteriorated over the years.

Perhaps, the Government will be remembered for the humanitarian efforts to cruise ships during COVID. But that turned out to be such a colossal policy error which neither the Minister of Tourism or Minister of the Blue Economy has accounted for, or has been held responsible for.

In fact, both are ignoring it. Is this why the Minister of Tourism, our biggest money earner was absent in the BLP celebration of the 2018 victory and report to the nation last weekend? Or could it be the fallout from the poorly designed slogan, “Little Island, Big Barbados” and who should take responsibility?

Normally, the Minister does, but if the policy of two Ministers can result in destroying our coral reefs which it is estimated will take a hundred years or more to repair, do we really think the Minister of Tourism will stand up and take responsibility for what has happened under her ministry for a slogan? The reefs that are part of our tourist attractions and more importantly protect Barbados from storms and help to sustain life in the sea around Barbados and therefore on Barbados.

The two Ministers responsible for the policy will not be around for its effects. Our children and grandchildren are the ones who will be paying the price.

This is why as I have emphasised in these columns, critical thinking and asking questions even if it creates awkward situations is important to policy making.

The Government may be remembered for transforming Barbados to a republic. But if the recent transition advisory commission is anything to go by, it looks like the names could have been randomly chosen from the electoral register.

As a friend said to me, the more he thinks about the commission, the more disrespected and disappointed – that word again – he feels as a citizen of Barbados. Disappointed, that given the importance of the issue, it appears there are no experts in law, political science, or the constitution on a commission to make recommendations to reform the constitution.

Why was not Ralph Thorne QC chosen to chair this important commission rather than wasting time on “local government”?  We already have local government as we are only 166 square miles with a population fewer than 300,000! It seems the sole purpose of the new commission is to try to add some legitimacy to what the Prime Minister has already decided. Is this not a common theme of this Government?

Perhaps this Government will be remembered for using the same Rule 239 (in the Financial Management and Audit (Financial) Rules 2011) which authorizes the Cabinet of Barbados to suspend the tendering process, to award house building contracts to the same company that the now Government heavily criticized when in Opposition.

Will the Government be remembered for taking away land in Lancaster already promised to people who attended the Lancaster housing fair and would have dared to start dreaming of owning their own homes and getting mortgages and building plans approved?

The land was taken away and given to a private company, HOPE Inc. Then for the Minister of Housing to defend the move with what must be recorded as one of the most impotent and flaccid defences in political history.

Perhaps the Government will be remembered for not implementing any of the anti-corruption legislation and for what appeared as self-sabotage in the final hurdle to get updated anti-corruption laws on the book.

Disappointment

There is a certain incompetence about this Government that is almost beguiling, captivating. It seems as if the Prime Minister is singularly responsible for everything.

We are working harder these days for less. We pay more tax for less. The cost of living keeps rising. What is the role of government? People have no jobs, cannot feed families, pay rent, buy school uniforms. Where are the new ideas of what is government for?

Perhaps this Government will be remembered for the first female prime minister in history and winning all of the seats, and creating a brand of politics that feeds party elites. Yet with all the blunders after blunders, the government’s legacy may be disappointment.

No one can disagree that in the continuum that is government, we have more buses and garbage trucks (though the frequency of garbage collection seems to be slipping) and some major road repairs have started (though not properly managed as I addressed in a previous column) but these sorts of basic things are what governments do.

Doing these things does not make any government immune from critique. Are we not supposed to be punching above our weight, the favourite catchphrase of this Government?

Stay safe everyone.

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