#BTColumn – Just call a spade a spade

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

by Steve Rogers

I quote the Barbados Prime Minister: “I believe that we thrived and succeeded in 2018 and 2019 because an election was behind us and we united as a force against first, the fiscal and economic threats…”.

“Were it not for the emergence of the silly season, persons in Barbados in my view would therefore be calling a spade a spade. They would be saying what is right and what is wrong.”
I believe it’s cards on the table time!

Calling an election now is a clever political strategy, but it is beyond doubt, nothing but self-serving. Why? Because the political landscape has not changed since 2018. Let’s be clear about the 30-nil whitewash.

The BLP didn’t win because the whole country believed in her. They won because there was no credible alternative. The electorate, in the absence of pure drinking water in a desert, will drink anything else if it stands a chance of meeting their needs – even on just one policy issue.

With a fledgling unelected Opposition in the House, made up of no new blood, the DLP not yet able to gain real political traction and still might not be able to present a full slate of candidates, and smaller parties that have been silent over the last three years, the BLP knows their odds of winning are pretty good.

But, I think the PM may be misunderstanding or underestimating the feeling at the grassroots level. I’m sure the electorate can help her with that. They can draw their own conclusions from her handling of key issues such as:

1. Creating jobs so that young people don’t need to live in the UK, US, Canada or elsewhere when youth unemployment is over 30 per cent.
2. Developing a plan to rebuild Foreign Reserves, and Foreign Exchange.
3. Repairing roads and dealing with water problems.
4. The debt crisis which has gone back up to 2018 levels.
5. Tax relief for families versus corporations.
6. Improving general living conditions across the nation,
7. Garbage trucks and buses.
8. Enforcing the national minimum wage.
9. Creating sustainable jobs.
10. Shoring up labour laws and enforcing safety & health in Barbados and, of course, the age-old elephant in the room–
11. Corruption!

I’m trying to keep things simple and avoid conflating speculation with facts. So I’m not going to over analyse her performance because I want to see this through the prism of moral identity.
Personal moral identity enshrines conduct in leadership.

Correct? And in an election cycle, we start off relying on OUR view of a politician’s moral identity. We ask ourselves – can we trust them? We think we’ve marked their card correctly, so we vote for them. Most often, we are only able to rely on the politician’s own (oft-times hidden?) view of their moral identity.

Most Bajans have a better view now of the last DLP administration. With three years of premiership conduct to inform us, compare that view with the one you have about the current administration.

There is much to say about the Covenant of Hope articulated upfront and centre in the so-called People’s Manifesto, but – “The Barbados Labour Party stands for strengthening the spiritual and cultural psyche of Barbadians in a way that enhances honesty and integrity…”

So, I wrap up the PM’s tenure so far with this simple thought – how does someone seemingly fast forward a nation to Republican status in 2021 two years after her father receive a knighthood in the 2019 New Year’s Honours List? If you owned a belief in becoming a Republic at the time you were campaigning for office, where’s the integrity in approving a process that recommends citizens for knighthood by the very symbol you want to separate from? Wouldn’t it be thoroughly incompatible with that belief? The build-up to becoming a Republic has annoyed me, not because I believe it’s wrong in principle (I don’t). It’s annoyed me because of the rhetoric, exploitative language and opportunistic manner in which it was handled.

It is known the BLP never campaigned on becoming a republic. The word doesn’t feature once in their manifesto.

Moreover, to use statements from revered past PMs to justify the fast-food way in which this was brought about, in my view, is unconscionable.

Equally important, to convince themselves, the general public and any observer that the idea was proven to be accepted by the electorate is misleading at best. In fact, a Barbados TODAY report on the UWI collaboration with the University of London and the Institute of the Americas revealed that only 500 people were selected from every parish and background to take part in consultations. It’s hard to conceive how, on any view, that is representative of the electorate.

Nonetheless, now taking this administration at their word, the first pillar of the so-called People’s Manifesto was what? “Every Bajan Matters”. One example of that would be: “In upgrading Barbados’ health care system, nurses will have improved conditions and play an enhanced role….”, quoted on page 24. Well, we know their current stance on that, but, hey, let’s move on!

We, the people, can answer this question – have Bajan lives been improved to any significant extent as a result of this administration’s conduct in office? So, I come to this believing that the political and governmental landscape in Barbados is palpably unhealthy and dangerous. I’ve written in these terms before. When, as the Executive, you command the House, have the ability to pass any law in Parliament what do you get? A one-party state, one leader with no effective checks and balances, and no separation of powers. That, ladies and gentlemen of the Republic of Barbados, in the absence of integrity, is how you produce dictators.

For the love of Barbados, don’t let that happen. Call a spade a spade, vote your conscience and don’t stay silent. Just because they were gifted 30-nil doesn’t mean they should abuse that gift.
Correct me if I’m wrong.

Steve Prescott LLB (Hons), Employment Law Consultant, can be contacted at steve@bajanpride.org