The Government’s youngest senator says he is relishing the opportunity to serve in the Upper House.

This morning 28-year-old Damien Sands was one of nine Senators to receive the oath of office administered by Governor General Dame Sandra Mason at Government House.

Following the short ceremony during which Dame Mason urged all Senators to execute their duties diligently, Sands told reporters that the honour was both unexpected and awe-inspiring.

“This is a historic moment for me, I am the youngest person in the Senate [so far] and this was definitely not anything I was anticipating. So when I was asked to be part of the team, I believe that I was privileged and honoured to put my good intentions and hard work in,” Sands said.

The young attorney who is the son of Desmond Sands, Barbados Labour Party candidate for Christ Church East Central in 2013, explained that while he may have some butterflies in his stomach as he steps into the major government office, he believes that the experience of the stalwarts would make the process easier for him.

“It is a little daunting because while I have watched some of the debates in the House of Assembly, looking at the calibre of persons, I do believe that it would be a hard task trying to emulate [them]. I believe that once I have a good team with me and persons like Senator Jerome Walcott to guide me as well as Sir Richard Cheltenham, I am sure that with the wealth of knowledge they have, I will be able to gain some experience,” he said.

Sands was sworn in along with Sir Richard Cheltenham, Rudolph Greenidge, Dr Jerome Walcott, Lucille Moe, Lisa Cummins, Romel Springer, Rudy Grant, Lynette Holder and Crystal Haynes.

Missing from the list today was senator designates Kay McConney and Rawdon Adams, who could not be sworn in because they did not meet the requirement of being ordinary residents within the last 12 months. It was later explained that an amendment to the Constitution would be made on Tuesday that would now require that persons only be a citizen of Barbados in order to be appointed to the Senate. (CM)

The post Ready to serve appeared first on Barbados Today.

Chaos erupted in the River Terminal this morning, as private public service vehicle operators without a conductor’s licence and badge were ordered by licensing officials to offload their passengers and return to base.

[caption id="attachment_269980" align="aligncenter" width="600"] A failure to comply to the Road Traffic Act caused a number of PSVs to be pulled off the road.[/caption]

The impromptu inspection by officers of the Barbados Licensing Authority infuriated drivers and conductors who bitterly complained about the situation.

“They are claiming you must have a conductor’s badge to work the van. You can’t work the van by yourself unless you have a conductor badge, which I find is nonsense.

“This is a public service vehicle just like the Transport Board. They carry the same badge as us and they work the bus and they don’t have to get any conductor’s badge,” a frustrated Ophneal Kellman told Barbados TODAY.

[caption id="attachment_269981" align="aligncenter" width="400"] ZR driver Ophneal Wells[/caption]

He was critical of the sudden inspection, which disrupted the early morning commute in the bustling River Road terminal. Some commuters were forced to wait for approximately three hours as the licensing officials carried out their checks.

“It is foolishness! You can’t just come and stop people from working just so because they don’t have a conductor’s badge.

“If anything . . . you should notify people before but don’t just come and stop people from working just so,” the PSV driver of 23 years stressed.

Jerome Coulthrust pointed out that the identification card, which was given to both PSV drivers and Transport Board drivers, specifically states that “this badge is property of the Barbados Licensing Authority. Barbados public service conductor or driver identification badge. This bearer is therefore licensed to act as a PS conductor/driver”.

[caption id="attachment_269982" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Jerome Coulthrust shows the back of his driver identification card which says, ‘this bearer is therefore licensed to act as a PSV conductor/driver’.[/caption]

Therefore, he argued that there was no need for a separate badge as a driver.

“The conductor badge says you are only a conductor but the driver badge says you are a driver as well as a conductor so I think [this morning’s incident] is unfair,” the Route 6 PSV driver contended.

However, Coulthrust was one of the many operators who rushed to the Licensing Authority’s Pine, St Michael headquarters this morning amid the inspection to acquire a conductor’s licence.

Nonetheless, one PSV driver, who requested anonymity, contended that the Minister of Transport and the Licensing Authority needed to “make up their minds on what they are doing” while complaining that the legislation was not properly enacted by the authorities.

“This topic came up annually for the past two or three years but it was never followed up. If they insist it is in the law that we should pay for our conductor’s badge, the simple thing to do is have it placed in . . .  the public domain and give us a deadline . . . and let us go from there, but not to turn up in the morning and just start [ordering us around],” the Route 9 driver said.

“Either get this [the identification card] clarified or remove [the licence to act as a PSV conductor/driver] from here and if you want them to pay separately say it or have a badge designed specifically for drivers/conductors, one for drivers, and one for conductors so if I had to pay for a driver/conductor badge I would pay for it one time and that is the end of that,” he emphasized.

Chairman of the Alliance Owners of Public Transport Roy Raphael told Barbados TODAY that the issue on drivers needing to have conductor licences was raised with the former Minister of Transport and Works Michael Lashley. However, they had failed to reach agreement with the last Government.

“I believe what is fit for the goose must be fit for the gander,” said Raphael, who noted that Transport Board bus drivers did not carry conductor’s licences.

“If the Transport Board . . . does not carry a conductor, I feel we should be able sit down collectively as a body until we figure this out,” Raphael said, adding that he was prepared to discuss the matter with the new Minister of Transport, Works and Maintenance Dr William Duguid and the Licensing Authority.

Efforts to reach Acting Chief Acting Licensing Officer Virgil Knight for a comment were unsuccessful.

However, inspecting officer at the Licensing Authority Eugene Brewster contended today that the PSV operators were not in compliance with the Road Traffic Act. He stated that the conditions of many vehicles were below par and that a number of the drivers were not following the regulations.

“A lot of them don’t have the required badges in order to work because conductors must have a badge, drivers must have a badge and if you don’t have a conductor the driver should have both badges in order to work,” he said, adding that on “a lot of the vehicles the Route Taxi sign just says ‘Taxi’.

The inspector also complained that some of the vehicles’ plates were defaced and some were not properly painted.

“In terms of the tyres, they are carrying normal passenger vehicle tyres rather than what is required for vehicles that carry a maximum load of 14 passengers.

“[The] seats are in poor condition [and]  they are not carrying the fire extinguishers. A number of things are wrong with the vehicles,” Brewster explained.

katrinaking@barbadostoday.bb

The post River chaos appeared first on Barbados Today.

Newly elected St Michael West MP Joseph Atherley has severed ties with the ruling Barbados Labour Party.

In  a brief statement issued tonight, Prime Minister Mia Mottley said she was informed by letter from Atherley of his intention to serve in Opposition to the Barbados Labour Party Government.

This was further confirmed by letter from her Excellency the Governor General Dame Sandra Mason.

The post Joe Atherley leaves Barbados Labour Party appeared first on Barbados Today.

Despite ongoing division within its ranks over the issue, Attorney General Dale Marshall says he is quite confident that following its humiliating 30-nil defeat in last Thursday’s general election, the Democratic Labour Party (DLP) will take up Prime Minister Mia Mottley’s offer of two Senate seats.

Speaking to reporters today following the swearing in of ten of the 12 Government members of the Upper Chamber, Marshall disclosed that the necessary amendments to the Constitution that would allow for Governor General Dame Sandra Mason to legitimately extend the offer to the DLP, in the absence of a Leader of the Opposition, would be made by Parliament on Tuesday.

“The only stance I am seeing from the Democratic Labour Party is what has been reported in the Press and by all accounts the party appears divided on the subject. We will see if there is any less confusion after we are actually able to [officially] present to them the opportunity, but I rather suspect that they would accept,” Marshall said following the brief ceremony at Government House, the official residence of the Governor General.

Since the offer was made last week there has been a lack of consensus within the DLP on the issue with the party’s campaign manager for its recent disastrous outing at the polls, Robert Bobby Morris, telling Barbados TODAY this week that there was no need to accept the seats as the party would regain its rightful place in Parliament soon.

However, George Connolly, who lost overwhelmingly to the BLP’s Kerrie Symmonds in St James Central, took an opposing view.

“I’ve heard the comments of Bobby Morris and I have a lot of respect for him, but I disagree vehemently with the position that he took on that. I think we need a voice, and a senatorial voice is as good a voice as any. You can’t effect any major changes, but certainly you can have a voice. So I am in total agreement if the offer is made that it should be accepted,” he said.

DLP advisor Hamilton Lashley, who previously served on both sides of the political divide, also urged the DLP to accept the offer from Mottley while newcomer Rodney Grant, who was defeated in St Michael South East, was also in favour of taking up the senatorial seats.

“I still believe that if we have an opportunity to go into any aspect of the houses, Upper House or Lower House, and speak on behalf of the people, I think it is good for democracy,” Grant said, while suggesting that to do otherwise
would be an insult to the close to 34,000 people who voted for the incumbent party in the May 24 poll.

Without giving a definitive timeline, Marshall today warned the DLP that time was of the essence, pointing out that the first sitting of the Senate will be on Wednesday.

“We want it done with dispatch. That’s why we are moving to make the amendments to the Constitution on Tuesday, then the Senate would meet on Wednesday. We will have to see how it works out, but we expect that Governor General would be in a position to do what we are hoping she will very shorty,” the Attorney General added.

He also revealed that constitutional amendments had to be made to accommodate in the Senate former Consul General to Canada Kay McConney, who has already been sworn in as Minister of Innovation, Science and Smart Technology in Mottley’s new 30-member Cabinet, and Rawdon Adams, son of late Prime Minister Tom Adams. They could not be sworn in today because they did not meet the requirement of being ordinary residents within the last 12 months.

Marshall explained that amendment would now mean that a person only has to be a citizen in order to be appointed to the Senate.

Following last week’s resounding BLP victory, the Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs also announced that three new judges are to be appointed to ease the backlog of cases in the domestic court system.

“While we would need to make long term provisions, there is a provision in Constitution which would allow the Governor General in circumstances where the business of the court requires it, to make an appointment of acting judges. So those appointments can be made without amending the legislation immediately,” he said. (CM)

The post Marshall confident DLP will accept Senate seats appeared first on Barbados Today.

Prominent economist Avinash Persaud has joined Prime Minister Mia Mottley’s economic team as the new administration seeks to come up with measures to stimulate the economy.

While confirming the news to Barbados TODAY this afternoon, Persaud did not provide details about his new role, but said the team had already been selected and work had already begun.

Careful not to give any hints as to what was in store, the published economist would only say “the team is in place, sleeves rolled up and burning the midnight oil.

“The task is big, but we have an equally big plan.”

While it is still not clear how large the team is, it is faced with the task of turning around an economy bedeviled by falling reserves, which stood at only $423 million or 6.9 weeks of import cover at the end of March, as well as negative growth of 0.7 per cent, a high fiscal deficit of 4.2 per cent; and a massive overall debt of 151 per cent of gross domestic product.

To make way for his new role in Government, Persaud today resigned from his directorship with RBC Royal Bank.

Confirmation of this came from the bank’s Managing Director for Barbados and Regional Operating Officer for the Southern Caribbean Robert de Silva who said in a statement that Persaud’s resignation from all RBC entities and board responsibilities took immediate effect.

In his release, de Silva said it was with bittersweet emotion that the bank accepted the resignation.

“Our loss is a gain for Prime Minister Mia Mottley and the people of Barbados. The new Government will have tough decisions to make in the coming months to help build a better economy for all Barbadians.

“We are pleased to see that experts like Professor Persaud will be playing a key role in this process. On behalf of RBC, I wish Avi, and Prime Minister Mottley all the best in their service to this country,” he added.

Approximately eight months ago, after Persaud was seen accompanying Dominica’s Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit at a United Nations meeting in New York. He later confirmed to Barbados TODAY that he was “Prime Minister Skerrit’s senior advisor, tasked with helping the economic recovery and rebuilding”.

Asked today whether he would be relinquishing that role also, Persaud said no.

“I will continue to support Dominica. We have established a new agency – Climate Resilience Agency of Dominica (CREAD) - and raised 80 per cent of its funding,” he said, adding, “I am putting finishing touches to a draft Climate Resilient Nation Plan that the agency will be following. Work there is on track.”

However, while his work has found favour with Mottley and Skerrit, former Prime Minister Owen Arthur had earlier cautioned Skerrit to think twice about putting his country’s future in the hands of the ex-Paradise development executive chairman, given his role in the “mangled” Four Seasons project between 2010 and 2012.

“Any basic due diligence would tell you that . . . Paradise is mangled and the job of construction of Dominica is massive. It is urgent and will be complex and priority should be given to people who have experience and skill sets to manage complex reconstruction,” Arthur had said at time his Dominica appointment was announced.

However, in a national address in Roseau, Skerrit was full of praise for Persaud, listing the economist’s many accomplishments and the various positions he held internationally.

And while not naming Arthur, Skerrit had taken a jab at those he said “would rather pontificate from a safe distance”. marlonmadden@barbadostoday.bb

The post Count Persaud in appeared first on Barbados Today.

Member of Parliament for St George North Gline Clarke has rejected outright allegations that he plans to cross the floor of Parliament in light of the Barbados Labour Party’s (BLP) unprecedented 30-nil sweep in last week’s general election.

Following the historic poll in which the Democratic Labour Party (DLP) was routed from office, Mia Mottley also emerged as the island’s first female Prime Minister.

Since then, a new 30-member Cabinet with two ambassador-level members - Dame Billie Miller and Dr Clyde Mascoll - has been announced.

Though left out of the Mottley Cabinet, which is much larger than the previous 20-member DLP team led by Freundel Stuart, Clarke was appointed Deputy Speaker of the House of Assembly.

However, while suggesting that he was comfortable with the Prime Minister’s decision, Clarke said today, Mottley’s decision did not sit well with a number of his constituents.

 “ My constituents are not happy. The people who I represent are upset, not me. A lot of my constituents have been meeting with me and have expressed their dissatisfaction,” he told Barbados TODAY, while making it clear that “I was elected a Member of Parliament. I was never elected a minister.”

 “It is the Prime Minister who has to make the choices. If I did not meet her eyes, there are other things that can be done. The Prime Minister can appoint and disappoint and the truth of the matter is that I was elected as Member of Parliament. You have to give the  Prime Minister the benefit of the doubt all of the time,” Clarke stressed.

However, not hiding his own disappointment, the six time Member of Parliament for St George North and former Minister of Public Works in a previous Owen Arthur-led BLP government, said: “Having a ministry is important. I won’t mind having one but if I don’t there is nothing I can do.

“One does not appoint himself as a minister. You are appointed by the Prime Minister and she may want me to do something else. It is true that it would have been lovely if I was a minister but I can’t tie the hands of the Prime Minister, it is not  fair. She may want my expertise in another field.”

 Clarke therefore made it abundantly clear to Barbados TODAY that he had no intentions of going against his party, despite rampant rumours to that effect over the past few days.

 “I am not crossing no floor, I have never thought of that. To cross the floor because I was not made a minister is nonsense. I don’t believe in it. Everybody would love to be a minister, but it is not possible. I am opposed to just crossing the floor because I have a personal agenda. What will crossing the floor do? It will only be for personal gain and I do not subscribe to that. I was elected a BLP MP. If I cross the floor now I should go back to the people, but I will not do that. There is no benefit in it,” he maintained.

The St George North representative said in the absence of a Cabinet post, he still intended to do his best for the people of his constituency.

 “I can’t tell you that I won’t be disappointed because I would be lying. You have to work with what you are given. There are always disappointments in life but I can’t tie the hands of the Prime Minister. I can’t sit down home and cry all the time.

“I did not come to public life to be a minister, I came to public life to help people, not myself. I think I can at least discuss with my parliamentary colleagues who are ministers and put forward programmes for my constituency. I will try my best to help my constituents as best as I can. I will work to provide the needs of the people at all times, given the limited scope that I have,” he said.

anmargboyce@barbadostoday.bb

The post ‘I am not crossing no floor,’ assures Clarke appeared first on Barbados Today.

Concerned about the current incidence of child abuse in Barbados, Queen’s Counsel Beverley Walrond today called for stiffer penalties for those who violate the country’s child protection laws.

Addressing an Ethical Guidelines for Reporting on Children workshop at the Accra Beach Resort, Walrond pointed out that under the Prevention of Cruelty to Children Act, the current penalty was $120 or one-year imprisonment, which she said was simply not prohibitive.

“That law needs some amending in the sense that it needs to be updated because the penalty for breaking that law ends up being $120. So we need to upgrade some of our laws,” she said with child protection authorities reporting an average of 1,000 child abuse cases over the past five years.

While stating that the Act was still useful as it allows for a child who is affected by cruelty to be removed from the home by a police officer and taken to the Child Care Board, she emphasized that “$120 or some short period of time [in prison] is quite inadequate and needs to be looked at”.

Walrond said another area of concern was that often when a child was removed from an abusive environment, a determination was made that prosecuting the parent was “not the way to go”.

“Sometimes it is that the parent is mental, sometimes the parent happens to be wandering, sometimes they are on drugs. The truth of the matter is what do you do with the parent? That is the other side,” she  explained.

While stating that the CCB had a responsibility to determine what was in the child’s best interest, Walrond pointed out that the Act also provides for a child under the age of 16 to voluntarily leave the abuse home and seek refuge at the CCB.

“I don’t think most people know that,” she said, while recalling that some years ago she had interacted with some girls at the Government Industrial School who were there because they were “simply trying to get away from a situation in which the mother’s boyfriend wanted sexual favours and, telling the mother, the mother did nothing about it”.

“They need to know that they can go into the Child Care Board and seek refuge and they will be taken into care by the Board as long as you are under 16,” the senior attorney advised.

She also pointed out that there were other pieces of legislation protecting children in various circumstances, including the Offences Against the Persons Act, the Sexual Offences Act and the Protection of Children Act which specifically deals with child pornography and makes it an offence to have or publish an indecent photograph of a child.

Given those provisions, Walrond said she was surprised that many people were still sharing inappropriate videos and pictures of children without reprimand.

“This Act really needs to be given greater attention than it now receives because we cannot be oblivious to the fact that school children are photographing other children in sexual acts and that those photographs taken by these cellphones have gone viral,” she said.

“The point is I am not sure the public has enough information on this particular law. This is the law under which the Nation newspaper or some persons working at the Nation newspaper were prosecuted and put before the courts because of a particular story,” she said, in reference to an October 2013 back page article, which showed a still shot of a video of two students from a rural secondary school apparently engaging in sexual activity.

This resulted in the then Publisher Vivian-Anne Gittens, Editor-In-Chief Roy Morris and Saturday Sun editor Sanka Price being hauled before the courts. However, the case was eventually dismissed.

The post Senior attorney wants tougher stance against child abuse appeared first on Barbados Today.

A regional development specialist is concerned that the playing field is still not level when it comes to entrepreneurs having access to credit.

Addressing a Women Empowered through Export Access to Finance Workshop this morning at the Radisson Aquatica Resort, Executive Director of the Caribbean Export Development Agency Pamela Coke-Hamilton argued that there were fewer financing opportunities available for women than men who were seeking to branch out on their own in business.

“It is generally accepted that women entrepreneurs face a harder time than their male counterparts in accessing credit.

“At the inception stage, while both [males and females] draw on personal finances or support from family and friends, the truth is that at the expansion phase, this barrier is reduced for men, but remains for women,” she said.

Quoting a 2014 report by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), Coke-Hamilton revealed that females occupied, “low-technology, highly competitive sectors”, which had limited opportunities for wealth generation and were viewed as “less attractive” to finance providers.

“We must . . . ask ourselves whether our educational systems should not be doing more to educate our young girls and women in new sectors such as the Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) fields which continue to attract males, but this is where opportunities for growth lies,” Coke-Hamilton added.

She further suggested that female entrepreneurs in the Caribbean should seek to move away from the informal economy, which prevents them from acquiring credit from financial providers and stilts the growth of their businesses in the process.

“The failure to graduate out of the informal economy … excludes them from benefitting from the support that could help them to move past the micro stage of development; and of course a very common reason for women’s inability to access credit is due to the lack of collateral required,” Coke-Hamilton said.

Also addressing today’s workshop, Lisa Harding, the Caribbean Development Bank’s coordinator for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise Development, reiterated Coke-Hamilton’s sentiments. She contended that “the disproportionate access to finance which women face, limits their ability to participate in and contribute to the economy and hinders the improvement of their lives”.

Harding also argued that the “under representation of women in entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial space represents a missed economic opportunity for the region”.

“If women represent such a large proportion of our population and are not represented as they should that is a significant missed opportunity,” she stressed.

The post Women entrepreneurs still at a disadvantage appeared first on Barbados Today.

Neglect continues to be the number one form of child abuse in Barbados.

However, officials of the Child Care Board (CCB) today expressed worry over a creeping trend of cyber bullying, as well as of minors having sex with each other.

Speaking during a media sensitization workshop at the Accra Beach Hotel on the topic Ethical Guidelines for Reporting on Children, Senior Child Care Officer Delvina Waithe explained that with the advent of the Internet and the proliferation of smart phones and other technological devices, the CCB had been receiving reports of cyber bullying.

This form of abuse, she said, was resulting in children becoming “depressed [and] isolated with threats of self-harm including suicide, among other variables”.

“The issue of minor-on-minor inappropriate sexual conduct is also of some concern to the Board, especially at the primary school level. And as we noted that much of these behaviours stem from poor examples in the immediate families or other sexual behaviours which they are exposed to in the community, including the various forms of media,” she added.

Giving an overview of child abuse in Barbados on Thursday, Waithe told reporters that on average over 1,000 cases of child abuse were reported each year for the past five years, with half of these being cases of neglect, occurring mostly in the five to 11 age category.

While explaining that the major form of neglect was lack of supervision, Waithe said there were also instances of deprivation of food, clothing and shelter, and denial of medical, financial and emotional attention.

“All this however, does not diminish the more serious reality of the physical and sexual abuse of our children. It must be understood, moreover, that all forms of abuse carry with it the immediate and longer-term effect of emotional and psychological stress on the child,” she warned, while pointing out that sexual abuse was highest among the 12-16 age group, with girls being the main victims.

Abandonment was the lowest form of child abuse reported. However, Waithe said the CCB was being proactive in its approach to the scourge and was placing emphasis on community education and training, given the need for a change in domestic mindsets.

For instance, she said there were still many people who subscribed to the view that “harsh physical and emotional punishment must be used as a means of instilling discipline in the child”.

It was also suggested that the poor were “more susceptible to be abusive to their children because of the additional stresses that they face”.
marlonmadden@barbadostoday.bb

The post Abusive signs appeared first on Barbados Today.

A woeful state of affairs and the financial equivalent to the south coast sewage mess!

That’s how Prime Minister Mia Mottley today summed up all that members of her one-week-old Barbados Labour Party-led administration have found since assuming office following last Thursday’s general election.

And while stating that the situation was far worse than she had expected, Mottley accused the former Freundel Stuart administration of “picking the duck’s back bare”, while revealing a number of dubious deals approved by the last Government mere days before the May 24 general election and even after Parliament had automatically dissolved on March 6

[caption id="attachment_270013" align="aligncenter" width="700"] Prime Minister Mia Mottley (centre) is joined by (from left) BWA General Manager Keithroy Halliday, Chief Economic Counsellor in the Ministry of Finance, Economic Affairs and Investment Clyde Mascoll, Attorney General Dale Marshall, economist Ryan Straughn and economic advisor Avinash Persaud.[/caption]

“A contract and a letter was signed with a company called Global Ports Holding PLC, that will see them receiving a 30-year concession to operate the Barbados Cruise Pier for a paltry sum of US$34 million and in exchange they would have the Barbados Port Inc, pursuant to a concession agreement, assign its right to collect certain charges from cruise lines directly and the Government would receive instead a service fee pursuant to the service agreement [for] which we have not yet seen what that fee is,” the Prime Minister disclosed, adding that she had asked the Attorney General Dale Marshall and the lawyers for the Bridgetown Port to look into the issue as a matter of urgency, “particularly since this contract seems to be tied to a Berth Six contract” at the Port.

Mottley also revealed that a range of tax concessions were given by the Ministry of Finance to Berth Five Projects Limited “in the middle of the [election] campaign” as well as to Vision Developments Inc., the company behind the proposed US$100 million Hyatt Centric Resort project.

“Perhaps the most egregious part of it was one [concession] that was for a 2018 Mercedes Coupe, while Parliament no longer existed, to be used for the Director of Sales involved in the Hyatt hotel,” Mottley said, adding that “there is this attempt, and it is coming across from every ministry, to be able to tie any new Government’s hands with the appointment of personnel or the renewal or appointment or development of contracts and leases.”

However, while assuring that her Government was not daunted, the Prime Minister said a full account would be made to the country and to the Parliament of the “egregious” contracts that have been signed and which have emerged even with the country having a critical deadline to meet in the coming days.

“Our date with destiny starts from Tuesday with foreign debt payment between June 5th and 18th, which represents a high point of foreign debt payment for us over the course of the month of June to the tune of $100 million.

“Our foreign reserves are at a tenuous stage . . . . We have a state of a affairs where our deficit is unacceptably high. Indeed our debt represents the third highest in the world after Japan and Greece,” she cautioned.

Addressing her first post Cabinet press briefing today Mottley, who came to power promising to immediately repeal the dreaded National Social Responsibility Levy among a series of givebacks, was noncommittal today on the matter, as her new Government scratches its head over what to do about over $1.7 billion in current arrears.

“As of the 30th of September last year, outstanding wire transfers as per the Accountant General’s records were $621. 4 million. University of the West Indies, as per the last audit confirmation, was owed $229. 7 million and state owned enterprises $467.7 million, bringing to a total of $1.315 billion.

“And when we add to that approximately $345 million owed by the Barbados Revenue Authority [to taxpayers] you see that we are on or about approximately $1.7 billion,” she told reporters at Government headquarters this afternoon.

Accompanied by the Attorney General, Ambassador Dr Clyde Mascoll, Minister in the Ministry of Finance Ryan Straughn and economics professor Avinash Persaud, Mottley further explained that “large and huge” amounts were owed by statutory corporations.

“As of September to now, the Barbados Water Authority has had literally an increase of over $15 million, which represents about a 27 per cent increase in what it owes out.

“I need not tell you therefore what I am likely to find at the Transport Board, the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, the National Housing Corporation, the National Conservation Commission, the Caribbean Broadcasting Corporation – the figure that we have here is a paltry $10.2 million, . . . but the actual debt of the CBC is in excess of $125 million. So that these figures do not appropriately capture that.

While shaking her head in apparent dismay, Mottley also highlighted the Sanitation Services Authority and the Barbados Tourism Marketing Inc. saying overall, “it is a woeful state of affairs and really and truly anybody who presided over this really needs to answer to the country for what, in my view, is a dereliction of duty that is unparalleled since independence”.

To make matters worse, she said there was still the sewage mess on the south coast to attend to and “I am now being advised that there are issues with the Bridgetown sewage project . . . with respect to failing equipment as well as the same woeful state of affairs with respect to garbage and the absence of garbage trucks [and] the Transport Board, in spite of the $86 million that it owes, there are no buses on the road.

“This country is in need of serious, urgent action with respect to its economy and its Government,” the Prime Minister warned, adding that the situation was worse at the National Insurance Scheme, which is owed $459.1million.

“That represents the absence of contributions from the Government of Barbados. It represents a failure to pay rent since 2016 for all of the buildings of which the Government of Barbados either occupies or has an obligation to pay for like the CXC building and it represents a failure to account for the reimbursement of non-contributory pensions for that period of time as well. This situation cannot be allowed to continue,” Mottley maintained.

Her comments were strongly backed up by Mascoll, who sought to warn that “we have found ourselves now in a position where we have to think in terms of even greater adjustment going forward”.

fernellawedderburn@barbadostoday.bb

The post Mia’s hands tied appeared first on Barbados Today.

The Barbados Government will have another sewage mess on its hands if “immediate action” is not taken to address issues at the Bridgetown Sewage Treatment Plant.

General Manager of the Barbados Water Authority (BWA), Keithroy Halliday sounded the warning today during a post Cabinet press briefing at Government Headquarters.

“We are quite concerned with the Bridgetown Sewage treatment plant. It’s been hopping along for sometime and we are at the point that if we don’t take immediate action, if we do not apply immediate resources, we will have a significant problem in two to four weeks time,” Halliday, who has been under pressure to have the south coast project rectified, said.

Previously the BWA had reactivated one of its lift stations for Bay Street as part of mitigation measures at that Bridgetown plant. However, Halliday said that measure put “more pressure on our Bridgetown sewage system and we have seen the reality of that coming to bear”  as the equipment was now “taxed”.

He said the BWA would need some $12 million to get the system back to a “secondary state” so it would not “collapse around us”.

“The equipment there is beginning to fail and is beginning to fail significantly. One of our tanks is not working at the moment and the other one, which contains the divesture, and other equipment is beginning to fail. While we have not yet placed it before the Cabinet of ministers we are looking at at least $12 million to try to rehabilitate the Bridgetown Sewage Plant in its most basic sense. This does not yet allow us to address some of the other issues where we had a fire at the staffroom that needs rehabilitating and some of the other ancillary works that need to be done. This must not allow us to carry the system fully back into what we call a secondary state this is just to make sure that the system doesn’t collapse around us,” he warned.

He further explained that there was need to look at some of the trunk lines, some of the contact plants, some of the ancillary equipment that goes with it and “that’s just to enable us to make sure we maintain the Bridgetown sewage plant as best as we can”.

Just yesterday the week-old Barbados Labour Party administration got a first hand look at the ongoing situation on the south coast which Prime Minister Mia Mottley said was “worse that we thought”.

“What we find is a dire situation. I am lost for words at how one Government could have presided over the utter destruction of Barbados’ infrastructure and systems, as this last Government did for the most part of the last five, six years . . . because that’s when it really intensified,” Mottley said as she described the south coast situation as nothing “short of criminal”.

“This is what we inherited and I don’t intend for the situation to continue. In fact what I saw yesterday is nothing short of criminal because there is no way Barbados should have been allowed to come to that without action . . . . I am not casting blame on anybody other than the provision of resources. You can’t expect entities to function especially in crisis situations if you don’t provided the resources for it and that’s what’s happened with the Barbados Water Authority with the sewage project,” the Prime Minister said about the mess she inherited.

“What we have now is the cumulative impact of a Government that went missing in action, that was lost, and that was more concerned with the issuance of tax concessions and contracts than it was in maintaining systems for ordinary Barabdians to be able to function,” she added.

The post Urgent fix needed for Bridgetown sewage system appeared first on Barbados Today.

One week after it was elected to office, the Mia Mottley-led Barbados Labour Party (BLP) has suffered its first casualty.

In a press release tonight, Prime Minister Mia Mottley said she was informed by way of letter by Bishop Joseph Atherley, Member of Parliament for St Michael West, of his intention to serve in Opposition to the BLP Government.

“This was further confirmed by letter from her Excellency the Governor General Dame Sandra Mason,” the brief statement said.

The development follows the naming by Mottley of her 30-member Cabinet last weekend with Atherley, who is head of the Evangelical Holiness Christian Community Church, being a glaring omission.

Today, St George North MP Gline Clarke also expressed disappointment over being left out of the Cabinet but said he would not be crossing the floor.

The post 30 minus one appeared first on Barbados Today.

A 24-year-old man is nursing a gunshot wound to his upper left arm after five armed bandits allegedly broke into his Brittons Hill, St Michael home in the wee hours of this morning.

Police say the victim, Roscae Chandler, who lives at Apt 1, was rudely awakened from his sleep around 2:50 a.m. and was shot during a brief struggle with one of the bandits, who were armed with various weapons, including a gun, two knives and two hammers.

The victim was also allegedly robbed of jewellery, clothing, cell phones and money before the unidentified thieves, who were wearing masks, fled the scene on foot.

The ambulance was summoned and Chandler was treated and discharged at the scene.

As investigations continue into the matter, police are urging anyone who can provide any information to assist them to contact the Hastings Police Station at 430-7612/7608; Police Emergency at telephone number 211; Crime Stoppers at 1-800 –TIPS (8477), or the nearest police station.

They say all information received will be treated as strictly confidential.

The post Five armed bandits strike in Brittons Hill appeared first on Barbados Today.

Police are investigating the assault and robbery of a couple, which occurred around 2 a.m. Friday at Brighton, St Michael, in the area known as the Hot Pot.

The names of the victims have not yet been released.

However, lawmen say they were parked out, when four masked men, armed with guns, attacked and robbed them of a number of personal items.

During the attack, the male was struck in the face with a gun and then a stone.

No details were given on the injuries suffered by the female, but police say she was also forced to seek medical attention.

The post Couple attacked by four masked men at ‘Hot Pot’ appeared first on Barbados Today.

The post Barbados announces emergency plan to fix the ailing economy appeared first on Barbados Today.

One week after taking over the reins of Government, Prime Minister Mia Mottley has been forced to make a much-dreaded call.

She confirmed during a 4 p.m. press briefing, which followed talks with the island’s Social Partners, that she had telephoned Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Christine Lagarde overnight.

Mottley, whose Barbados Labour Party (BLP) said at the launch of its election manifesto it was not afraid of turning to the IMF as a last resort, has been forced to do so just one week after taking office.

Flanked by trade union and private sector officials today, she reported that the island’s economic situation was currently so dire that her Government was really left with no choice in the matter.

In fact, she said a major economic restructuring was now necessary in the face of an out-of-control debt of 175 per cent of gross domestic product, an estimated $15 billion which is said to be $9 billion more than what the previous Democratic Labour Party administration inherited in 2008 when it took office.

Also, taking into account the island’s critically low foreign reserves, which, as of May 31, 2018 stood at only US$220 million, or the equivalent to seven weeks’ worth of import cover, and the Central Bank of Barbados’ projections for further declines as the year progresses, the Prime Minister announced the immediate suspension of payments due on debts owed to external commercial creditors. She also said her Government would endeavour to make scheduled domestic interest payments, but domestic creditors would be asked to roll over principal maturities until restructuring agreements were concluded.

“My Government and all parts of the Social Partnership agree that there is no avoidance in delay in treating the economic and financial irresponsibility of the recent past. Our national reconstruction starts today. We set course, not on the easy or quick path but the right path. We will protect the most vulnerable, but we will all have to make sacrifices for our country.

“Today we move forward together in a new spirit of openness and with a new covenant of hope and opportunity. I ask our domestic and external creditors to accompany us on this journey of rescue, rebuilding and transformation,” the Prime Minister said, reading from a prepared text.

Mottley, who also did not entertain any questions from the press, explained that as part of the comprehensive economic reform programme aimed at stabilizing the public finances and creating conditions for the return of sustained economic growth to Barbados, balance of payments support would be sought from the IMF.

“We are members of the International Monetary Fund, and last night I called Madame Lagarde, its managing director. I briefed her on the present state of the public finances, the current debt and reserve positions, and assured her that we are committed to taking decisive action to rebuild Barbados.

“In turn, Madame Lagarde assured me that the IMF stands ready to lend Barbados the necessary assistance and support to these actions,” the Prime Minister said, adding that “the hour is late, the path ahead is not easy, but dawn is on its way”.

In the same breath, Mottley is sticking to her party’s manifesto promises of raising the contributory and non-contributory pensions, as well as invalidity and survivor’s benefits; eliminating tuition fee payments for Barbadians attending the University of the West Indies, scrapping the National Social Responsibility Levy, providing trust loans for Barbadians and eliminating pit toilets.

However, no timeline was given for implementation of any of these promises, even though she had previously suggested that they would be fully in place within six months of assuming office.

The last time Barbados entered a formal programme with the IMF was back in the early 1990s when the then Erskine Sandiford-led DLP Government opted for a stabilization and adjustment programme that led to job losses and an across-the-board eight per cent cut in public sector wages.

The bitter medicine proved too much for ordinary Barbadians to bear and resulted in massive streets protests and the eventual demise of the Government.

Since then, there has been a general reluctance to go that route again, with the just ousted Freundel Stuart administration stubbornly refusing in recent months to ask the Fund for help even though the IMF has clearly said it stands ready to assist.

In a brief statement today, Lagarde revealed that an IMF team, led by Bert van Selm, would be visiting Bridgetown to start discussions on how the Fund can support the authorities’ economic plan.

“Our ultimate goal is to help Barbados achieve higher living standards and more inclusive growth for the years ahead,” the IMF managing director said in response to Mottley’s call.

The IMF team is due here on Tuesday.

emmanueljoseph@barbadostoday.bb

The post IMF answer appeared first on Barbados Today.

Newly installed Opposition Leader Bishop Joseph Atherley has responded to critics who have sought to liken his decision to break ranks with the Mia Mottley-led Barbados Labour Party (BLP) and cross the floor of Parliament to the biblical story of Jesus’ betrayal by one of his former disciples - Judas Iscariot.

“When they call me Judas I think I escape lightly,” Atherley told reporters today shortly after he took the oath of office before Governor General Dame Sandra Mason.

“You know what they call Jesus? They called him a devil. So if they are only calling me Judas because they do not understand where I am coming from at this stage, I think I’m escaping lightly,” he added.

However, Atherley, who now stands alone as the only independent in the House of Assembly, but was accompanied today by his wife Esther and other family members as well as the President of the BLP’s St Michael West branch John Bancroft, made it clear that his decision to leave the Government following its emphatic victory at the polls last week in which it claimed all 30 seats at stake, did not have anything to do with the fact that he was not given a Cabinet post in the Mottley administration.

In fact, the bishop sought to make it clear that he was guided by only one ministry, that being a religious one.

He also said that sometime subsequent to the outcome of the election – “election night or election morning” - in sober reflection, he had questioned whether Barbadians truly wanted a situation in which there was no physical opposition presence in parliament, adding, “I think not.”

And though acknowledging that his decision to cross the floor may have come as a shock to some, he made it clear it was “not a reaction to any ministerial appointments made by the Right Honourable Prime Minister over the last week and the omission of myself.

“It is definitely not a reaction to that.

“I have indicated that to the Prime Minister and to some of my other parliamentary colleagues. It is definitely not a repudiation of the Barbados Labour Party platform, its policies, especially as contained in its recent manifesto . . . so I don’t repudiate those, I support those,” he stressed, while stating that his move was made in the interest of democracy.

“We had a result in the election of 30 to one party, none on the other side, representing an absence of a physical presence on the Opposition benches. I want to constitute that physical presence on the Opposition benches and to give critical support to the party in office and the Government; to applaud them when they get it right, which I believe they will often; to put pertinent and pointed questions to them when necessary, to help to keep them on their toes.

“This is not about Joseph Atherley. This is about the people of Barbados and this is about our traditions of democracy. It is about our parliamentary processes and that is why I am doing what I am doing,” he added.

Even with his switch to the Opposition side, Atherley, who was dressed today in a black suit and a bright red shirt synonymous with the BLP, made it clear he had no quarrel with the ruling party.

He also said he had seen nothing to indicate that the BLP had a quarrel with him, although he acknowledged that some of his former BLP colleagues were disappointed at this moment with him in light of his decision to quit the party.

Nonetheless, he said: “I come to this with an honest heart, I come to this moment as I have come to several moments in my life with a very serious reflection, with a sense of the leaning of God, and with a sense of purpose and destiny and sometimes somebody has to make the step, sometimes it entails being the sacrifice, but the truth of the matter is that I am not in this for any personal motivation.

“This is about the people. The people of St Michael West elected me to serve their interests. I will continue to do so manfully. I did so for ten years, practically totally out of my own pocket when I was in Opposition. I didn’t walk away like some others did. I continued to serve their interests and on this side of the Parliament, the Chamber, I will continue to speak to the interests of the people of St Michael West.

“This platform gives me an opportunity to speak a bit more broadly to the interests of the national community of Barbados, but that is where Joe Atherley is, it is not about self, it is about people and that has been my adult life.”

At the same time, Atherley, who came to Parliament on a BLP ticket and was one of the main speakers on the party’s 2018 campaign platform, acknowledged that “during the course of the campaign I wore Barbados Labour Party colours. In fact I’m still wearing Barbados Labour Party colour [red] if you observe,” he said with a chuckle, even as he assured that his heart “is in the right place”.

“It is with the people of Barbados. It is with the people of St Michael West and that is where my energies will be devoted.”

Asked if others within the BLP were likely to follow suit, the new Opposition Leader said he was not aware of such and was not involved in any such discussions.

He also made it clear that he was neither forming a new political party at this stage, nor looking to join the recently ousted Democratic Labour Party.

“The people of Barbados just rejected, wholesale, the 30 representatives of the Democratic Labour Party. I am not joining them,” said Atherley, who promised to name two Opposition Senators soon.

In response to rumours that his decision to cross the floor was orchestrated by former Prime Minister Owen Arthur, Atherley said: “Don’t even raise that . . . It is nonsense. It is a nonsense. It is insulting to me. I think it is really insulting to the former Prime Minister who held office here for 14 years and did a fantastic job. It is a nonsense. I have not spoken to Owen Arthur. I have not seen Owen Arthur. I have not heard him; I have not seen him since elections in Barbados. That is a nonsense. I do not know where it is coming from. I dismiss it outright.”

As for personal fallout as a man of the cloth, the bishop said: “I am very clear with respect to my calling as a bishop. I always operate out of a sense of calling. I don’t do anything, especially anything major, unless I believe the Lord is in it. If the Lord opens doors, I will step through it.

“You know, one person said to me, ‘Joe, I know you very well and I know that you will follow God to hell if that is where he leads you’ . . . I am pretty clear to my sense of calling and my primary call in life is to ministry. . . All I’m doing is trying to follow my heart in terms of where I think the practice of democracy in Barbados ought to be going.

“I’ve heard from many of them. Obviously some of them are disappointed but the majority of them are behind me because they know that I don’t do things like this as a matter of self-interest or willy-nilly. They have gotten to know Joseph Atherley and they know that he is about service and I will do the best I can for them from wherever I am. It happens to be here at the moment.”

The post ‘I’m no Judas!,’ Bishop Atherley says appeared first on Barbados Today.

The surprise move by Bishop Joseph Atherley to cross the floor of Parliament to become Opposition Leader following the Barbados Labour Party’s (BLP) resounding 30-nil election victory last week, is proving to be a tough pill to swallow for some of his constituents in St Michael West, while others are seemingly prepared to move in stride with him.

[caption id="attachment_270078" align="aligncenter" width="500"] A poster of the former BLP member Joseph Atherley, now Opposition Leader, next to a garbage can in his St Michael West constituency today.[/caption]

The island was shocked last night when it was announced that Atherley had decided to part ways with the Mia Mottley led-BLP after just one week in Government.

Following her election on May 24 as the island’s first female Prime Minister, Mottley had indicated that she was willing to amend the island’s Constitution to make provision for the appointment of two Opposition senators.

However, in a brief statement last night, she said she had since been informed by letter from Atherley of his intention to serve in Opposition to the BLP Government.

This was further confirmed by letter from Governor General Dame Sandra Mason, ahead of today’s swearing in of the new Leader of the Opposition.

Today when Barbados TODAY visited Atherley’s urban constituency, several residents expressed disappointment over his decision to leave the BLP.

[caption id="attachment_270079" align="aligncenter" width="400"] Timothy Titus[/caption]

“Atherley has me really upset. I don’t know why he would do something like that. It doesn’t make sense, but he would have to know. It is not right.” said a disgruntled Timothy Titus who was of the view that Atherley would not regain his seat in the next general election, due here by 2023.

“I don’t feel that the people of this constituency will ever vote for him again. They will change him. They will bring somebody new out here because we don’t want [Democratic Labour Party candidate Michael] Carrington for sure, so the Bees will bring something new,” he said.

Mark Griffith also expressed concern about the quality of representation they would receive given Atherley’s move to the Opposition benches.

“I feel bad that he gone and switch sides. Down where I live we have a lot of problems and nothing was done. Now that he cross the floor I don’t know how we will be represented down here. It is causing me to ask if we will suffer for another five to ten years because our MP is not in Government,” he said.

Another resident, who requested anonymity, expressed her dissatisfaction with Atherley who now sits as an independent member of the House of Assembly saying, “he couldn‘t get my vote if I know he was going to cross”.

“This has all of us upset. After we put back our confidence in him and vote for him in our numbers and gave him back his seat, he did that to us. I don’t know why he do it.

“We are not pleased. What he did was being deceitful. Last Sunday he got up on the platform and preached like Paul and turn around and betray us and say he is a pastor,” she said.

However, 54-year-old Ruth Clarke, of Skeetes Road was of a different view. In fact, she seemed to fully accept Atherley’s position that having an Opposition voice in Parliament was most necessary at this time.

[caption id="attachment_270080" align="aligncenter" width="400"] Ruth Clarke[/caption]

“Well there was no Opposition and I was quite disappointed with that, so Joe crossing is a good thing,” she said, while stressing that with “a one party Government there is no person to oppose so it is good that someone has crossed over because we need an Opposition.

“We need someone to keep the Government in line and I don’t think it will affect anyone in a bad way. He has done a good thing,” Clarke added.

Also giving the new Opposition Leader two thumbs up was Marcia Leslie who told Barbados TODAY he was hoping that more government MPs would switch allegiance.

“He did a god thing. We need an Opposition and I think he is looking out for us. We need someone to check up on Government for when they start to do nonsense. I am happy with him and when I see him I will congratulate him. He has not betrayed the party. We needed this.

“I am waiting to see who is going to cross next. I am hoping more persons go over. Governments get and do what they feel like and it shouldn’t be like that. I have no problem with the BLP getting in but all 30 seats I have a problem with that.”

anmargboyce@barbadostoday.bb

The post Voters divided appeared first on Barbados Today.

The decision by Bishop Joseph Atherley to cross the floor of Parliament is not unusual, but his timing has definitely taken political scientists by surprise.

The Member of Parliament for St Michael West, who was elected on a Barbados Labour Party (BLP) ticket last week, was officially sworn in as Leader of the Opposition this morning, after he quit the BLP to become an independent parliamentarian.

Noted political scientist Dr George Belle explained that the BLP’s 30-nil victory at the poll meant that there was no opposition for the Mia Mottley Cabinet to contend with and Atherley had simply filled that void.

“The electoral process created a gap in not having the presence of the Leader of the Opposition because they had completely wiped out the other party, but he has stepped in there.

“What is unusual is that we would not have assumed is that with a 30-love victory for the Barbados Labour Party that any of their members would have done so at this time, just one week after that victory. The surprise is essentially in the timing, but at the same time the issue had to be settled now so he did not have much time to make a decision anyway.

“If he didn’t do that, [we] probably would have had to resort to some amendment within the Constitution to accommodate the presence of a leader or the role of the Leader of the Opposition, especially in relation to the selection of senators,” Belle told Barbados TODAY.

And while he did not see Atherley’s decision as having any impact on the new Government, he said it would cause some problems for the electorate in the St Michael West constituency.

It’s a view shared by lecturer in political science at the University of the West Indies Dr Kristina Hinds, who described the development as an “interesting kind of dynamic”.

[caption id="attachment_270081" align="aligncenter" width="400"] Dr George Belle and Dr Kristina Hinds[/caption]

“I know that there are certainly suspicions about his motive, whether. . . it is for the good of the country, for the good of democracy or is it about personal gain and advancement which he says it is not, but I think this will remain in people’s minds. Certainly there are questions that he needs to answer for his constituency because there are a lot of people who would have voted for Mr Atherley because he was a Barbados Labour Party candidate and not just because he has done useful work in the constituency. So I really think there should be a level of accountability to the constituency, especially so soon after the election,” Hinds told Barbados TODAY following the bishop’s swearing in earlier today.

However, she said Atherley’s decision had not diminished the popularity of Prime Minister Mia Mottley’s Government.

“I think that the Barbados Labour Party Government is still in a very strong position. If we see otherwise over the next few weeks and months that would certainly be an indication that the party is not as unified as it presented itself to be during the electoral campaign, but, at this point in time, for me it would be pure speculation to say that that this is a sign that the BLP has severe weaknesses.

“I don’t think it is necessarily a sign of that. I think this is an individual taking a course of action that he has selected for whatever reason.

“The key people who should be concerned are the constituents, especially those who voted party rather than candidate, so who voted for the BLP rather than Joseph Atherley, and I can understand if any of them feels betrayed.

“On the other hand, personally, I feel that it is good that there is some level of Opposition. I was a little bit uncomfortable with having no Opposition whatsoever, but we have to wait and see if Atherley will actually function as an effective one person Opposition,” the UWI lecturer said, adding that the move should send a strong signal to the electorate.

“We need to come down to earth a little bit in terms of our expectations from the Barbados Labour Party and this perhaps is the first step in bringing us back down to earth from the election high that that is still kind of in the air,” she added.

Meantime, noted political scientist Peter Wickham told Barbados TODAY the boarder political implications were positive for the Prime Minister and her Cabinet as Atherley was no political heavyweight.

“I would identify Atherley as being a political lightweight and once you have the leadership of the Opposition being occupied by a political lightweight it means that there is less temptation for a political heavyweight, and there are quite a few of them in Mia Mottley’s Cabinet, to be tempted to cross the floor because the job is taken.

“If there was a move against her now, it would have to come from a group and it is always harder to organize a group than to have an individual or a sole crusade.

“I think that politically this does help to stabilize her Government in ways that people would not immediately imagine,” he explained.

In the meantime, all three analysts were in agreement that the swearing in of the independent leader of the Opposition had resolved the issue of the appointment of Opposition senators in the Upper House as it was now Atherley’s right to select those representatives.

fernellawedderburn@barbadostoday.bb

The post Analysts express surprise over Atherley’s timing appeared first on Barbados Today.

Leader of the Barbados Integrity Movement Neil Holder today served notice he’s prepared to go as far as the High Court to challenge the decision of Member of Parliament for St Michael West Joseph Atherley to cross the floor and assume the post of Opposition Leader.

In fact, in a strong statement, Holder also suggested that a by election should be held in the constituency which Atherley won on a Barbados Labour Party (BLP) ticket in the May 24 general elections with just under 78 per cent of the votes cast, beating his nearest rival, Michael Carrington of the Democratic Labour Party (DLP), who had held the seat for the past two terms, by 3, 214 votes to 838. The three other parties in the raced polled a combined 132 votes.

[caption id="attachment_270076" align="aligncenter" width="380"] Neil Holder[/caption]

“I am publicly calling for the people of St Michael West to remove from the House of Parliament, the Reverend Joseph Atherley, and I am going to have legal counsel in order that we can present a document to the Governor General which will suggest the way we seek this outcome, and if necessary, we will take it the High Court to be challenged.

“We need to act on this and send a very serious message to Reverend Joseph Atherley,” Holder, who contested the seat and placed last with just 32 votes, said

Atherley, who leads the Evangelical Holiness Christian Community Church, told journalists today he made his decision after coming to the conclusion that Barbadians would be better served with an Opposition in Parliament despite the 30-nil mandate given to the BLP.

However, while labelling the surprise move as “a slap in the face” to Prime Minister Mia Mottley, Holder insisted that “it cannot be fair, honest, prudent or equitable for Reverend Atherley at this point to walk away from that mandate which the people of St Michael West gave to him to say that he is now becoming the Leader of the Opposition, totally disrespecting the trust and commitment from the people of St Michael West to him for the next five years”.

In a more measured response, United Progressive Party (UPP) leader Lynette Eastmond dismissed reports that she had been handpicked as one of two senators to be announced by the newly installed Opposition Leader.

[caption id="attachment_270075" align="aligncenter" width="380"] Lynette Eastmond[/caption]

Eastmond told Barbados TODAY “no one has approached me about anything at all”.

She however did not rule out the possibility, saying she would consider it if she were approached.

“It is something I would consider. Whenever I am asked to serve my country I have done so. I have never refused to do that,” she said.

Eastmond, an attorney-at-law and former BLP colleague of Atherley’s before she quit the party last year and formed the UPP, described the overnight political development as part of the “organic process of politics”.

She also said it was a perfectly legal move, explaining that the Constitution does not recognize political parties but only sitting members of Parliament.

“He has therefore followed the process that is available to any sitting member of the Parliament. Any candidate has the opportunity to put their hand up and say, ‘I want to be the Prime Minister. Whose support do I have?’ By the same token they can put their hand up and say, ‘I want to be Leader of the Opposition.’”

While she stayed clear of commenting on whether it was a positive or negative development, Eastmond argued that “Barbadians were concerned about not having an Opposition, so now the country has one”.

However, defeated DLP candidate for St James Central George Connolly said he was baffled over Atherley’s move.

Connolly, who was beaten soundly by Kerrie Symmonds - now Minister of Tourism and International Transport - believed Atherley’s action was strange, especially coming so soon after such an overwhelming victory by his party.

“It also appears opportunistic. I don’t know which party he is going to join. I don’t know what direction he is going to go. I understand the rationale where people want to assume a leadership role, but the timing of it so quickly after the election is baffling to say the least,” Connolly told Barbados TODAY this afternoon.

He noted that constitutionally Atherley could now name two senators and then take the fight to the ruling BLP.  He however raised another question regarding the implications of the move by the St Michael West MP.

“Some people who are very cynical might very well say that the Barbados Labour Party is both Government and Opposition as well. By doing that you defuse any potency that the Opposition really has. So it’s a strange time for Barbados,” Connolly added.

While sticking to an earlier position that his party should accept the Government’s offer to name two representatives in the Senate, Connolly still wondered if Atherley’s swearing in would now make that offer null and void.

Meanwhile, Leader of Solutions Barbados Grenville Phillip II told Barbados TODAY Atherley’s move was “ a good thing”.

Describing Atherley as a “decent man”, Phillips expressed hope that the new Opposition Leader would take into consideration the economic plan put forward by Solutions Barbados. which he maintained was the only plan that would spare Barbadians from painful austerity, while returning the country to growth.

“He is another voice as Opposition Leader. We can appeal to him to review our plan. We are here to help . . .  and let’s all work together for the good of the country,” Phillips said.

sandydeane@barbadostoday.bb

The post Mixed response from parties to Opposition appointment appeared first on Barbados Today.