OVER THE PAST FEW YEARS, a number of serious issues have been affecting the lives of Barbadians. Respective Governments have worked hard to overcome these challenges. Clearly, there is a mismatch between Governments’ efforts and people’s perception of the solutions.
This has led to a tremendous amount of back-and-forth argument between Government and the Opposition on what the right mix of policies is for resolving the country’s problems. Further, disagreements continue to mount over the right strategic approach to solving the problems.
Consequently, several ideas have been put forward to garner cooperation among members on both sides of Parliament in an effort to tackle the major issues facing the country. Unfortunately these ideas have not gained momentum to date – due, in part, to insularity on both sides.
It is clear to me that given the magnitude of the problems facing Barbados today, a spirit of meaningful cooperation must prevail when it comes to tackling our most burning issues. Our Parliament is clearly the best institution to facilitate such cooperation, as members are duly protected by parliamentary privileges.
It is for this reason that the call by opposition leader Owen Arthur for a parliamentary day to deal with the CLICO matter is not only timely but also sensible. The public can comment all day long on the CLICO issue but emotional components must be separated from the facts. Doing otherwise could bring dire consequences.
In a parliamentary debate, members of the House would clearly have guidelines and procedures to follow and those would force them to stick to the real issues and curtail the amount of emotionalism.
But more importantly, the parliamentary day should be seen as a genuine opportunity for members on both sides of the House to work in the spirit of cooperation to find solutions to what is clearly a major talking point and area of concern to thousands of Barbadians desperately awaiting some form of redress to a rather unfortunate situation.
But clearly, the CLICO issue is only one of the major challenges facing the country at the moment. Several other matters immediately come to mind: the Barrack saga, the Alexandra impasse, the Four Seasons debacle, the REDjet fiasco, and the escalating crime situation. And it is amazing that these issues have emerged against the backdrop of a struggling economy.
Any right-thinking Barbadian would have to admit that these issues are too significant to be left to Government alone for solutions because to date, none have been readily available. This is, therefore, a real opportunity for the Opposition to assist in finding these solutions.
Just as there is good reason for a parliamentary day to address the CLICO issue, this country urgently needs more dedicated parliamentary days to address other pressing matters that continue to plague us all.
Will we the people ever see such dedicated parliamentary days? I hope so!
• Brian M. Francis PhD is a lecturer in the Department of Economics at the University of the West Indies, Cave Hill Campus – PO Box 64, Bridgetown, Barbados; email bfrancis@uwichill.edu.bb