Prices and politics dominated the Nation’s Facebook and website last week.
And readers didn’t hold back their feelings on these two topics.
The debate was sparked when Minister of Finance Chris Sinckler charged that some supermarket owners were jacking up prices on food items indiscriminately and Barbados Chamber of Commerce president Andy Armstrong called for proof.
Minister of Agriculture Haynesley Benn and Sinckler answered the call, providing examples, and our readers vented.
Fedel said Barbadians needed to boycott business, as it was the only way to send a clear message that enough was enough.
Philip Newman Matthews said it was about time the Government put rules in place to stop customers from being raped by high prices. “Some prices don’t make sense,” he said.
Alan Yearwood said: “This is what you get when there are monopolies. First thing to go is service and efficiency, then you inevitably get price hikes. Consumers have little chance unless they are united.
“What consumer protection group? If there’s one in Barbados it’s a ghost. Individuals are powerless, organized groups have fangs. The time for an effective grass-roots movement is long overdue.”
Rommell Hall was more neutral: “No one has taken into consideration the rise in excise tax on fuel . . . . That could have been a major factor in the increase of prices before the increase in VAT.”
When Opposition Leader Owen Arthur took issue with the fact that Democratic Labour Party candidate in the St John by-election Mara Thompson is St Lucian, it sparked debate not only on the political platforms, but among the people. Barbados Labour Party candidate Hudson Griffith also said Friday he was born in St Vincent.
Ashanti Howard pointed out that Barbados had had several ministers of Government who were not Barbadian, and cited Peter Morgan and Edwy Talma as examples. “. . . Nationality is a non-issue since both candidates are non-Barbadian and can legally run as citizens,” she said.
Matthew Clarke said: “This is a non-issue especially since . . . the chant of the very same Opposition when they were in power was regional integration.”
Keisha said she believed the Opposition leader started wrong by even debating this issue. “How could you be pushing CSME . . . and want to target Mrs Thompson’s nationality. She is not illegal. As she said, she is a ‘proud St Lucian, a proud Barbadian and a proud Caribbean woman’.”
Angela Quintyne simply wrote: “I’m so disappointed with the source of this discussion that this should even be an issue.”
Wayne Taylor said there were other issues and chided Arthur for raising the matter. “A man who had a legacy as a regionalist now finds himself destroying that said legacy, when he took it on himself to attack Mara Thompson because of her nationality. It’s disgraceful.”
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