Former parliamentary representative for St Michael East, Trevor Prescod, believes the present period is a “dark time” for Barbadians.
Prescod expressed this view on Sunday night while addressing a Barbados Labour Party meeting at Haggatt Hall, St Michael.
Speaking against the backdrop of the Emancipation Statue, Prescod identified outstanding black Barbadians who once lived in the area and had made significant contributions to the development of the country.
Among those he identified were educator and designer of Barbados’ national flag, Grantley Prescod; Sir Grantley Adams; Errol Barrow; journalist Clennell Wickham; Israel Lovell; Dr Charles Duncan O’Neal and Dr Rameses Caddle.
He lamented that at this juncture of the island’s political history, the son of a fisherman who was unmistakably negroid, had rolled back the social and economic gains fought for by such outstanding Barbadians.
“These men understood what led to the riots of 1937. Yes, the Barbados Labour Party made mistakes during its three terms in office, but we will not accept people like Minister of Housing and Lands Michael Lashley rolling back the gains achieved over the past 50 years. We wished we could have sung his praises but that is not the case.
“Tonight, we are hearing that Trimart is in trouble. Businessman Muhammad Nassar cannot get one house to build, but an individual with a strange Northern European name can get over 1 000 houses to build . . . . Such behaviour is embarrassing to General Bussa, Errol Barrow and Sir Grantley Adams.” (WG)
