CHARGING that Government has managed the CLICO?affair “in an incestuous manner”, former Prime Minister Owen Arthur is demanding that the administration start setting aside money for the hundreds of policyholders requesting funds.
Before a packed audience at Ellerslie Secondary School yesterday evening, Arthur said there was a reasonable expectation that when a government makes a pledge, it should honour it; its word should be bankable.
He told the St Michael North West Barbados Labour Party (BLP) constituency branch meeting Government should embark on such a policy to create a climate of confidence in Barbadians, whom he said had been let down at almost every turn.
“You, the people who have invested in CLICO, who have been told by Government that you are going to get back your money, need to see some action by the Government that money is being set aside,” Arthur remarked. “A government should honour that obligation.
“There has to be a bond between the government and the governed. When the government gives its word, it has to honour it.”
To thunderous applause, Arthur said people who have invested and have policies in CLICO should seek to organise themselves as an association.
Before an audience that included former Members of Parliament Clyde Mascoll and Mark Williams, Arthur said that justice must be served and the issue should not be swept under the carpet.
“Let justice be done and be seen to be done,” said Arthur, who called on his party to embark on a great rescue mission for the people of Barbados.
Arthur charged that nothing Government has done since the matter with CLICO?broke could stand the test of reasonableness.
He said Government was dysfunctional and disorderly and this country was in “a mess” that extended beyond the economy.
Arthur said no country in the history of Barbados has done a greater injustice to its citizens than this one in the way it has foisted financial insecurity on all those who have made investments and hold policies with CLICO.
