Any doubts that Barbados is not one of the countries in which to pursue manufacturing for exports have now completely vanished.
Trinidad Cement Limited, the company that took over the Arawak Cement plant has decided not to continue the production of clinker from a local source in favour of the milling of imported clinker. A decision has also been made to make as many as 70 percent of staff redundant.
When this development is placed under the microscope, it is quite clear that it runs counter to what several economists and political scientists have recommended and supported for some time. It is widely believed that foreign entities seeking to invest in Barbados is a sign that Barbados is a fertile and promising environment in which to do business. This is especially manifested in the phenomena of an exponential increase in the number of Barbadian businesses taken over by Trinidadian businesses over the past three to four decades.
The downsizing of the Arawak Cement plant under the management of Trinidad Cement Limited is a literal volte face, signifying an abrupt turnaround of recent trends.
There is a school of thought that the takeover of Barbadian businesses by foreign interests is not in the best interest of Barbadians or the Barbadian economy. Two major factors being the displacement of local businesses unable to compete in the more competitive environment and profit repatriation that can impact negative economic growth.
Significantly, the Arawak Cement Company was originally a joint venture between the Barbados and the Trinidad and Tobago governments. At the buy/sell out of Arawak Cement, could the Barbados government not offer shareholding to the Barbadian public?
We are missing out on opportunities to empower and enfranchise a significant portion of the Barbadian citizenry. We continue to march in the opposite direction to the words of our national anthem – “Strict guardians of our heritage, Firm craftsmen of our fate”.
We seem to still be behaving as in the pre-independence era of the monarchical system when the Colonial Office and the Foreign Secretary determined what we were to do, how we were to do it and when it should be done.
Sadly, the big picture is for displaced workers at the cement plant to receive the best separation packages possible, when matters of higher priority should be keeping an indigenous Barbadian company afloat and keeping Barbadians employed within the cycle of economic activity.
Gladly and hopefully, we can still sing or recite the final words of our anthem: “And greater will our nation grow, In strength and unity”, if we do the right things.
Michael Ray
