Is Government listening? I think not. They don’t speak too often either, and when they do it is the same old thing like the “very good” things recently promised regarding Four Seasons and the CLICO issue. How many times have we heard this?
We claim that Barbados has a stable Government. Former Prime Minister Owen Arthur was recently quoted as saying that Barbados owes much of its stability and international respect to the handiwork of the Barbados Workers’ Union. That may be so, but I contend that the main reason for this so-called stability is the laid-back attitude of most Barbadians. We forget too quickly and the politicians are able to “get away with murder”. As Pat Hoyos said: “We are like lambs awaiting the slaughter. . . . We prefer to receive our fate, whatever it may be, quietly.”
The Social Partnership was a positive step, but how much is window dressing? Is the private sector really heard? If I remember correctly, employers expressed concerns when the Employment Rights Bill first came to the fore in 2001, yet many of the issues they raised then did not seem to be addressed in the final bill.
But I have seen a change. More and more people are making statements publicly. A letter in the Nation and recent columns by Sanka Price immediately come to mind. The Lowdown has been speaking out for years and you certainly can’t accuse BIPA’s June Fowler of not being persistent. But how do we get Government to listen?
Speaking to the younger generation of businessmen who are “walking the walk”, it is obvious that they are tired of politicians only “talking the talk”. Some say that while they don’t see an immediate need to abolish the Westminster style of government, it needs to be modified to allow more private sector participation in the running of the country’s affairs.
They suggest that the Cabinet be extended to include business people from the various sectors who would have some say at the highest level. As Charles de Gaulle, himself a politician, is quoted as saying: “I have come to the conclusion that politics is too serious a matter to be left to the politicians.”
Cabinet can’t continue to be a closed shop (akin to a Masonic Lodge?) where apparently it is an offence to even repeat matters (namely, our business) discussed there. Some attempt to share information was initiated by the late David Thompson, but that apparently died with him.
As Sanka Price noted, the Barbadian public needs to be taken into the confidence of the powers that be. We, the electorate, need to be able to trust those who are supposed to govern us. But how can we trust them when we don’t know what is going on? When we hear conflicting reports on the performance of the economy and when policies condemned today are put forward tomorrow?
We must have confidence that Government knows what it is doing. Nowadays when we are forced to choose the best of the worst, we can’t really be sure.
One day a person is John Public with no track record, the next he is chosen, by whatever means, to contest a seat, then he becomes an MP, then a Cabinet minister, deciding on the future of all of us. What qualifications does he have for these positions?
Then we may see one speaking with authority on health, then suddenly he is an expert on business and one is an expert on transport and all of a sudden he is pontificating on health. Couldn’t ministers benefit from advice from those who have demonstrated success in their fields, rather than just relying on bureaucrats?
Why educate Barbadians and then refuse to benefit from their education? I suggested to a prominent businessman to form a group, representing all sectors to highlight the issues in each sector, with suggested solutions. He said: “We have already done that and no notice was taken.” Are we all fools? Or are the egos of the politicians getting in the way?
In spite of the frustrations, we must continue to air our views and, hopefully, one day the Government will listen and, more important, act. In the meantime, it would seem, they continue to pander to the lowest common denominator.
• Dr Frances Chandler is a former Independent senator. Email fchandler@caribsurf.com
