As parents will testify, it is never a good idea to disappoint children by promising and then failing to deliver. It can be one of the gravest mistakes that can occur in the parenting process.
It is expected that adults will have greater control of their emotions and not throw juvenile tantrums in response to being disappointed. However, one cannot help but empathise with people who cannot handle being let down.
The subject of promises, expectations, and disappointments has been playing out in the public square as Government seeks to streamline its expenditure and to manage what it can actually deliver to the public as the new financial year begins on April 1.
Just a few weeks ago, Deputy Prime Minister Santia Bradshaw faced a firestorm from about 2 000 temporary workers who were engaged under the “Ashfall Programme” and later added to the Ministry of Public Works roadside clean-up efforts.
Very few Barbadians would complain about the necessity of the activity of these workers. They cleared overgrown roadways, and significantly improved the aesthetics of many districts where overgrown bush provided harbour for rodents and cover for those involved in indiscriminate dumping.
The Ashfall Programme of 2021 which transitioned to a beautification programme, though extremely costly, had some clearly identifiable benefits to the country.
The island had no choice but to move swiftly to clean up after being blanketed by volcanic ash from the La Soufriere eruption in St Vincent and the Grenadines. One cannot, therefore, fault the administration for engaging nearly 2000 unemployed and under-employed people, including mothers to get the job done.
Even more critical was the timing of the “crash programme” because it occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic when unemployment hit record high levels.
No responsible administration could ignore those circumstances. However, as activity on the island returned to some level of normalcy and companies, especially those that are tourism dependent began rehiring, a re-assessment of the programme was required.
Also of importance to understanding the issue is the fact that Government has entered into another International Monetary Fund (IMF) standby arrangement and fiscal restraint is likely to be the watchword if the administration wants to maintain the high approval rating of the IMF.
Frankly, the latitude that the IMF, a significant financier of Government, permitted under the first Barbados Economic Recovery and Transformation (BERT) Programme due to the COVID-19 pandemic, freak storm of 2021, and the ashfall from the volcanic eruption, has now been pulled back.
Minister Bradshaw addressed the temporary workers who served for almost three years during an hours-long and emotional meeting at the Wildey Gymnasium.
“We are not just ending the programme, because we recognise that these are all people who have made a turnaround, in many cases, in their lives. They had the opportunity to work, and they have given significant value to the country in terms of the work and the efforts that they have made,” Bradshaw pointed out.
Provision has been made to retrain hundreds of these workers to have them absorbed in other economic sectors such as construction, which is facing a shortage of skilled workers.
The Ministry of Transport, Works and Water Resources is not the only one dealing with dashed expectations of workers. The Ministry of Health also faced a backlash from temporary workers who were engaged to help fight the onslaught of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Confirmed infections of the disease have dropped dramatically and the infrastructure and apparatus surrounding the national response have, expectedly, been dismantled. As a result, there is further disappointment from another group of workers.
The fact that there is not much for them to do has not prevented those caught in the middle from feeling the Ministry has let them down.
There are many sectors, groups, entities, and vulnerable people who are all demanding the administration’s attention and financial support. Inflation is high and so is the anxiety of those on the breadline.
Unfortunately, the issue for government has been managing what it promised and managing the expectations of those who became comfortable in the belief that the state would continue to engage them, given the contribution they were making and the impact their continued employment has on the country’s economy and social cohesion.
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