‘Confusion rife’

Far too many statutory corporations  in Barbados can’t get the job done because  of the Cabinet reshuffles and frequent changes  of board chairmen since 2008, says Opposition  Leader Mia Mottley. Mottley argued that before state enterprises  could settle down under one minister or chairman,  the Thompson administration changed them. The upshot, Mottley contended, was that the corporations and their professionals were unable  to function effectively,“As if that wasn’t bad enough,” she added, “it was taking the Government too long to make up its mind about filling key posts in the public service.  “It is happening in Foreign Affairs, the judiciary and in other entities,” she told the Daily Nation  in New York where she met with Bajans and other Caribbean immigrants in the city. “And when they do make decisions, there is an unusual number of changes for a Government that is only two-and-a-half years old.“You had three chairmen at the BIDC [Barbados Investment & Development Corporation] in two and  a half years,” she charged. “You had three chairmen  at the SSA [Sanitation Service Authority]  in two-and-a-half years. “You had at least two chairmen at the NCC [National Conservation Commission]. You had changes in personnel. You had a Barbados Tourism Authority board where half of the people were sent home more than a year ago, pending a restructuring; and nothing has happened with the restructuring. “There is a sense that you get that the Government has not yet settled down . . . [and got] into  the governance of the country.” Mottley said the frequent changes were disruptive of the corporations’ work because the professionals and the staff were unable to establish effective working relationships with the ministers or the chairmen.“The staffs have to get to know them, how they work. There is the human element that we are not counting for,” she said. “The only people who are suffering are the wider population and the country.”Mottley held a town hall meeting in Brooklyn over the weekend at St Gabriel’s Episcopal Church on Hawthorne Street. She also met with the BLP’s  New York branch.“It has been a very productive visit,” she said.Mottley, who arrived last Thursday is due to return home today. She was accompanied by Opposition parliamentarian Cynthia Forde, the general  secretary of the BLP and former Minister of State  in the Ministry of Education during the Owen  Arthur administration.