Asserting that there are no ideological differences between political parties in Barbados, Anglican priest Senator Reverend Dr John Rogers has called for the creation of an apolitical National Strategic Plan to prepare the country for the exogenous shocks it will face.
Pointing to international developments which he said pose a “grave danger” to Barbados, the Independent Senator sounded the alarm as he contributed to debate on the Appropriation Bill, 2023 on Tuesday.
“This is really a call for us to come together as Barbadians, all of us, recognising the challenges that confront us, recognising the situation in the world at this time,” he said, making specific reference to developments in the United States and the “growing destructive ideology” that is spreading in that North American country as seen in the chanting of the Nazi slogan, ‘blood and soil’ during protests in Charlottesville, Virginia a few years ago.
“As beautiful as this Appropriation Bill is, there needs to be an element within our understanding that we need to develop a national ideology, recognising that the world outside does not care about us.
“They do not see us as we want to see ourselves and so we have to build resilience from within. How do we do that? We need to develop an apolitical National Strategic Plan to which all governments will subscribe,” Senator Dr Rogers added.
Contending that Barbados’ greatest strength is also its greatest weakness, Senator Dr Rogers insisted that there is no political divide in this country.
“Let us not fool ourselves. We can posture and get people out in the night dew when the time comes and all that kind of thing, but there’s really no political divide. If you doubt it, just look at the way how political actors move from one side to the other and nestle so comfortably within the other side.
“That is a strength but it becomes a weakness when, just for political points and one-upmanship, we undermine the very things that can strengthen our nation,” he said.
The Independent Senator stressed that the current geopolitical climate dictates that Barbadians come together, regardless of which political party they support.
“This is not about politics and politicians. This is about us as Barbadians realising that we are in grave danger,” he warned.
“I would like us to look at the political culture of our country. It is alright to have our little back-and-forth and so on, but recognise at the end of the day a lot of it is posture because there’s really no ideological divide, none,” Senator Dr Rogers added. “We really need to look at developing a national strategy because [we can’t] continue with the type of back-and-forth, up-and-down, undulating things of the 1991 to 2008 period; this 2023 is a different era.”
During his contribution to the debate, Senator Dr Rogers also raised concern about conditions in the Accident & Emergency Department of the Queen Elizabeth Hospital.
But he had praise for the proposed new Geriatric Hospital in Waterford, saying, “I do not think that anything can be too good for our elderly people.”
(DP)
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