#BTEditorial – When options are not real choices

According to the Cambridge Dictionary, a dilemma is described as “a situation in which a difficult choice has to be made between two different things you could do”. One can have a dilemma between equally favourable options, or one could have two options for which neither presents an enticing choice.

The current economic and public health crisis with which we are battling has thrown up several dilemmas for our government and citizens. For almost two years, we have battled over what decisions we should make and whether they are sustainable.

Should we mandate the vaccines or make it a personal choice. Some employees have been asked to decide which is more important, their job or your philosophical stand on vaccinations.

At the macro level, the administration, like others in the region, faces the troubling option, should the country be shut down to protect public health or should we make livelihoods the priority at the risk of seriously undermining the economy?

Businesses are putting pressure on the administration to take a more forceful stand and craft a vaccination policy that protects them if they insist on instituting measures that are aimed at protecting the enterprise and the employees.

Heavy is the head that wears the crown, and it is by no means an easy task to be in any leadership position at this juncture, whether it is the head of a household, a school, a business, a healthcare institution, or a government.

We celebrated the arrival this week of Aer Lingus which opened the Manchester gateway of the lucrative British market for Barbados. Hungry for long-stay tourists to get our hotels and accommodation sector back up to capacity after nearly two years of lacklustre arrivals, we are forced to take some strategic chances with our public health situation because of the critical economic situation we face.

Even with the massive loans that Barbados has secured from multilateral and developmental financial institutions such as the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and the Caribbean Development Bank, our economy cannot continue to operate on borrowed money.

A sustainable source of foreign exchange to support our import driven economy must be found. Protection must also be provided for the society and the economy. Such is the dilemma of political leadership in a COVID-19 pandemic world.

Which brings us to the real fears being expressed by the Barbados Association of Medical Practitioners (BAMP). Theirs has been a voice, not blowing in the wind, but one that has reminded us that without some control of the health crisis, the economic pillars to support the economy could collapse.

As the administration tries to execute its high-wire COVID-19 trapeze act, the risks are tremendous. Given the cautions and fears expressed by the local medical fraternity about the Delta variant, we are not surprised by the shock of BAMP to the news that Government would vary the protocols for fully vaccinated visitors to the island.

The adjusted protocols from Sunday will no longer require quarantining for fully vaccinated travellers, who will only have to show a negative PCR test taken within 72 hours of travel.

“We knew nothing about this. I had heard a rumour yesterday about the changes and I reached out to people, but there was no response. There was nothing said to us this time. We weren’t asked anything,” President of the BAMP, Dr Lynda Williams was reported as saying to the development.

Given what has been described as the third Delta wave and with reports also a new “Delta-Plus” variant spreading in Britain, Williams said she was “stunned” by the adjustment, even as BAMP has called for more restrictions on the movement of people to be instituted.

Prime Minister Mottley has offered a lengthy explanation for the amendment, rejecting the idea that imposing more restrictions on a COVID-fatigued population will only drive people underground and worsen the situation.

Furthermore, the Prime Minister has reiterated her rejection of mandatory vaccinations. Her administration is convinced that Barbadians will continue to respond as they have so far with more than 146 000 people taking the jab.

A total of 14, 753 cases of the viral illness have been confirmed here since March 2020, and 124 people have died.

As a leader, one is expected to weigh all the competing considerations and interests and make the best decision.

Orkun Saka, an Assistant Professor of Economics at the University of London, who has been researching the impact of epidemics on people’s confidence in those in power, wrote recently public trust is vital if governments are to effectively lead. And once lost, that trust is hard to win back.