Senator cautions against adding red tape

An Independent senator has cautioned Government against adding layers to the cost and administration of projects, with the new senior ministers’ positions.

Although saying he supported the Resolution to approve Ministers and Parliamentary Secretaries (Remuneration and Allowances) Order, 2022, Senator Lindell Nurse expressed one reservation.

“I think that any government obviously has the right to organise its administration in the best way it sees fit. In this case, if Government is confident, is sure by going this route of adding this other layer of senior ministers, [that it]  will assist in making government more efficient and in creating the environment in which the opportunity to improve doing business in Barbados, then I think that is fine and you can’t argue with that.

“If, on the other hand, you end up just creating other layers of administration, creating additional costs for running the government, then obviously, in my view, it would not be effective,” he said.

Senator Nurse contended that the organs of government are already “cumbersome” and it would make matters worse if additional procedures were added.

“You have these issues, not at the level of minister, but really at the level of the civil service function, where these various . . . professional opinions and so have to be done and have to be fed on to Cabinet in order for the Cabinet to be able to make decisions,” he added.

Senator Nurse questioned how the additional coordination by the four senior ministers –Deputy Prime Minister Santia Bradshaw who has coordinating responsibility as a senior minister for Infrastructure; Attorney General Dale Marshall who is senior Minister coordinating for Governance in Cabinet; Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade Senator Dr The Most Honourable Jerome Walcott who is the senior minister coordinating for all Social and Environmental Policy and Minister of Energy and Business Development Kerrie Symmonds who has responsibility for coordinating the Productive Sectors – would tie into the current process.

“I am not sure that I fully grasp how all of this will work, but, as I said, at the end of the day these senior ministers can end up being in a position to get all these various departments over a number of ministries to function in a much more efficient manner and to be able to understand and to appreciate the importance of various projects and the urgency to have these projects going, then I think it is worth it,” he said. (DP)