#BTSpeakingOut – Between a rock and a hard place

The views and opinions expressed by the author(s) do not represent the official position of Barbados TODAY.

by Hyacinth Greenidge

I want to examine the latest Government fiasco [and counting] from a different angle. I do not know if
Mr. Mark Maloney has gone to court in the United States to recoup his money, taxpayers’ money or a mixture
of the two.

I have complete faith and belief in the integrity and honesty of Health Minister Jeffrey Bostic and if he says he knows nothing about Maloney’s quest to access vaccines on behalf of the Barbados Government, and others, I truly believe him. But this is not to say that someone else in the Barbados Government doesn’t know. Someone would have had to give him the go-ahead to source vaccines for Barbados.

The question is who? And why didn’t he, she or they tell Mr Bostic anything? He is a disciplined man and perhaps this is the time to distance himself completely from his political colleagues. He has always come over as a man whose integrity means the world to him.

But someone in Government needs to tell the people of Barbados if it is only Maloney’s money or some of theirs that has been scammed. We already know that the St Lucian taxpayers have been taken to the cleaners for EC$7.3 million.

But there is a silver lining. Silver lining, you ask? Most definitely.

And this is my position on this sordid scenario.

Perhaps it is a wonderful thing that Mr Maloney was unsuccessful in the attempt to access the vaccines. If these persons with whom he did business are accused of conning him for BDS$20 million, would you trust any vaccine that was shipped to Barbados from them?

For all intents and purposes, to complete their scam, they could have shipped thousands of vials to the Caribbean with anything other than vaccine – perhaps from Clorox to Codeine.

To my knowledge, I have not heard our professional health persons and public relations spin masters indicate that the vaccines are “tasted” or “tested” to verify they are what they are purported to be, before injection into the arms of trusting, scared Barbadians.

But if the authorities wanted to engender trust among the populace and convince people to take the vaccine, this situation is the mother of all blunders.

Acting Prime Minister Santia Bradshaw attempted but failed to address the issue during a broadcast Wednesday. The fact remains that we only know of this deal which the legal document says occurred around April 27, via international media and because it is now before the law court.

So even after Santia’s feeble attempt, I wouldn’t be surprise if the Prime Minister convenes a Saturday press conference where she will address her Barbadian children and apart from letting us know all is well because she says so, the spin might be that we must not be alarmed by what happened because “this is not who we are”, yadda, yadda, yadda, yadda.

Hopefully, Barbadians will be told why a reputable pharmaceutical company was not engaged to access the vaccines rather than an individual whom she has previously publicly vilified for being availed of every possible money-making venture in Barbados.

What this situation has also revealed is that Barbados is now home to its own Amazon. I will not be going through the other Amazon to import items ever again, I will be dealing strictly with Mr Maloney and giving him my business, even if the PM reverts to what she used to say about him before winning the General Election in 2018.

Housing, roads, hotels, legal Cannabis industry, and now importation of vaccines, you name it, our Amazon can accommodate it. It appears as though all roads lead to Mark Maloney.

I have an interest in stem cells research especially genetic engineering. Perhaps, I can join with St Lucia
and the Barbados Government in having cadavers brought in through our homegrown Amazon for the purpose of research.

It is not as radical an idea as one may think.

Meantime, good luck to you in the days ahead, Mr Bostic. You will need it.