Opposition Leader Ralph Thorne on Tuesday rubbished the government’s Budget declaration of a country abuzz with activity, confidence and positive economic indicators, as he warned that “extreme hardship and poverty portend” instead.
In an angry denunciation on the floor of the House of Assembly lasting close to five hours, Thorne’s reply to Prime Minister Mia Mottley’s Financial Statement and Budgetary Proposals delivered on Monday indicted the government’s handling of the economy, its spending practices, debt, foreign reserves, corruption, education, housing and its filling of top posts in state-owned enterprises.
“We are in an environment where this government is now employing the largest number of consultants ever in the history of political administration…and that may be a vain glorious government, but it causes the suffering of thousands of Barbadians who could have been employed with the same monies that support those few who live luxurious and opulent lives, at the expense of the people this government sent home last year; and many of them have not recovered without National Insurance.
“They wanted the money, they needed the money, but they wanted some respect as well. Is it too much for them?” Thorne said.
The opposition leader, who on multiple occasions apologised to House Speaker Arthur Holder for shouting in his direction while stridently attacking government policies and actions, painted a picture of doom and gloom in various productive sectors.
He spent a significant amount of time defending the right of the poor and marginalised to be elevated and better cared for by the government; he invoked a mantra that the reality is not what the government thinks about the state of the economy and the people’s well-being but rather what is being experienced.
An emotional Democratic Labour Party (DLP) political leader tore into the Mottley administration for last year sending home the 3 000 workers who were paid $500 per week to clean up the island in the aftermath of the freak storm and the ashfall from the La Soufriere Volcano in neighbouring St Vincent.
Thorne, a senior legal counsel, was particularly aggrieved at the act in light of the prime minister’s boasting in the Budget that this country had recorded 11 consecutive quarters of economic growth and was on the verge of a 12th.
He argued that those weekly-paid employees could have been rehired without necessarily troubling the state coffers.
The opposition leader contended that a government which insists it cares for poor people paid “a little-known” company – public debt management consultants White Oak – some $54 million to undertake a “simple” restructuring of the economy in 2019, and is giving $30 000 per month to the newest Chief Executive Officer of the Home Ownership Providing Energy (HOPE), and $14 000 to the new finance consultant of the HOPE Housing Project at a time when she has a full-time job in St Lucia.
But what he termed the “squandermania” of taxpayers’ money which could have put the former general workers back in a job, is “for the first time in the history of Barbados”, the allocation in this year’s Estimates of $188 million for the Prime Minister’s Office to travel on expensive overseas trips and return with little to show.
He appealed to Mottley to cut the allocation to her office in half and help the retrenched employees to be rehired.
Addressing the HOPE housing project, Thorne expressed fears that employees of the National Housing Corporation will be sent home, claiming that the government was in the process of dismantling the NHC and handing its more than 50 years of outstanding service to Barbadians over to a private entity “masquerading” as a public enterprise.
The opposition leader told House that with the $60 million already paid to the project, only 131 homes have so far been built after two-and-a-half years when by now, about 5 000 ought to have been completed based on the government’s annual goal.
Thorne also lamented that the Ministry of People Empowerment and Elder Affairs, which deals with welfare cheques for the most vulnerable, has been allocated only $104 million. He queried whether the Barbados Labour Party had left its social democratic moorings.
Thorne’s speech also reported declines in non-sugar agricultural production, investment, real economic growth, and international business while cautioning the government to urgently push for diversification and stop its dependence on tourism.
He also outlined 15 features that act as disincentives to local and foreign investment including excess debt, high inflation, corruption and rampant crime.
The DLP spokesman also listed nine weaknesses in the economy, among them being a high trade deficit, an overtaxed economy, high levels of unearned foreign reserves received through borrowing, and a low labour force participation, particularly by women.
He contended that the government’s touted economic growth was really inflationary growth.
“Growth does not exist in Barbados,” he declared.
emmanueljoseph@barbadostoday.bb
