WE ALL KNOW that our Prime Minister chooses his words very carefully, and that he seldom, if ever, speaks out of turn.
It is a quality which, at times, we feel is most worthy of emulation, particularly by some other politicians we are equally as familiar with, whose brains appear to be in an endless struggle to catch up with their tongues.
But surely there are times when a leader is duty-bound to speak!
And if he is not naturally inclined, then it befalls his trusted cohorts to encourage him so to do – particularly, when things in the country have diminished to the point of junk.
It has been three days now since the international rating agency Standard & Poor’s downgraded Barbados’ credit rating from investment grade to junk bond status. Since then, we have heard from both the Governor of the Central Bank and the Minister of Finance who, with limited success to date, have sought to achieve a sense of calm in the face of the damning report highlighting serious structural problems in our economy.
And the Opposition was quick to pounce on this “catastrophic” situation.
But nary a reassuring word from the lips of our national leader during this high point of financial uncertainty and low point of public confidence.
With the situation as it is, we think it is reasonable to expect the Prime Minister to break his silence on the matter, even if it is just to implore us all to do better. The expectation is not that he can provide all the answers, but certainly he could at least attempt to do as Winston Churchhill when the British Empire was under threat in the 1940s.
With nothing to offer but blood, tears, toil and sweat, he laid claim to the aid of all to “come then, let us go forward together with our united strength”.
