It is possible to win the next general election without discussing the issue of divestment/privatization but it is impossible to govern Barbados without addressing the fiscal crisis, which is being more graphically described in the United States as a fiscal cliff. The Government has already exhausted the route of taxation and has agreed to cut expenditure by $150 million. But the weak leadership of the Democratic Labour Party (DLP)?Government refuses to share the specifics with the public.
Quite frankly, the debate on the statutory boards is an attempt by the Government to avoid an International Monetary Fund (IMF) programme. It is therefore childish to reduce this very critical period in our history to The Big Lie.
Having called upon the Opposition to join the debate, the Government is now suggesting that the Barbados Labour Party (BLP), with an enviable record of responsible fiscal management and job creation in both the private and public sectors, intends to divest/privatize education and health services. What rubbish!
The discussion of privatization of statutory boards was introduced in to the public domain by the late Prime Minister David Thompson at a Press Conference at Ilaro Court in late 2009, where he first put the issue of divestment of assets as one of the options available to the Government to deal with the growing fiscal crisis.
The Government’s position was made clearer by the Minister of Finance Chris Sinckler in his speech delivered to the Barbados Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BCCI) on May 25, 2011.
Sinckler emphasized the Government’s position in his 2012 Budget speech, having received the support of Prime Minister Freundel Stuart, his friend Minister of Agriculture DR David Estwick and the entire Cabinet, all of whom are “ad idem” on the issue of privatization/divestment of Government assets. As usual, the erratic Estwick seems not to understand the concept of collective responsibility of the Cabinet.
In the 2011 speech, Sinckler identified the need to divest/privatize, of which there are several models, the operations of “the Barbados Port Authority Inc., the Transport Board, the Barbados Water Authority, the Sanitation Services Authority, CBC and the National Housing Corporation”.
He justified the call for privatization by indicating that “they have become wholly inefficient in service delivery, extremely costly to maintain and weak in some managerial and operational systems as well”.
Sinckler further indicated that they “have all now become in one fashion or the other increasing burdens on the taxpayers of Barbados, who are called upon in one way or another to support their varying levels of inefficiencies and the cost of such continues to rise on a yearly basis and frankly must be addressed by the entire nation sooner rather later”.
In the same speech, Sinckler affirmed: “But this is a change that will require the strongest of will and character as it must truly be a project of national reformation of the structure of Government. It must involve the labour movement, wider civil society including the opposition and of course you the private sector.”
In calling for a national consensus on privatization of some of the Government agencies, the Minister of Finance insisted that “even a blind man on a trotting horse, sitting down backward, would be able to see that too many of these organizations [statutory boards]” have become too burdensome for the taxpayers to carry.
Now that the Opposition has joined the debate put before it by the Government, the silly season is accompanied by a level of deceit, to suggest that the Opposition wants to divest everything in sight.
Barbadians are once again expected to fall for deception. This was understandable, when the ruling party was led by a man, who openly declared that politics is not an intellectual pursuit. But to call for a national debate on privatization, and then run from it, is hypocritical.
It is clear that the private sector, civil society and the media want an informed discussion on the way forward. The most partisan among us must recognize that Barbados is at a crossroads. It is unlike any other in the past.
The task before this country is to put the truth to the people and engage them in the choices. This is no time to see the truth sitting down backwards on a trotting horse and still ignore it.
Failure to deal with this matter in a mature and frontal way will lead this country in the hands of the International Monetary Fund. Mark my words! • Clyde Mascoll is an economist and Opposition Barbados Labour Party spokesman on the economy. Email [email protected].
