THREE WEEKS AGO, in what was meant to be an update on the political situation of Barbados, I noted that the prevailing mood was one of uncertain silence. Today, there are increasing signs that the pendulum is moving from its earlier point of muted public acceptance of an unidentifiable anticipated future dread to one of growing disquiet over recent governmental pronouncements and decisions, which seem to be pushing an already jittery public towards more overt stances of complaint.
Whilst the earlier uncertainty was due largely to economic circumstances, which the public has been largely accepting as beyond local control, the current emerging disquiet is due largely to the fact that the Government is now being perceived as guilty of errors of commission, as opposed to the more forgivable errors of omission or inaction. Thus, a previous nervous silence is now yielding to more open complaint.
Relatedly, emerging out of a narrow electoral victory, the Government’s humble silent approach has given way to an aggressive bullying by word and deed that negates any potential post-election honeymoon.
Thus, after the much criticized threat by the Minister of Education to use the police to shoot people and crack skulls, the Government has followed with an unprecedented “forced retirement” of the Commissioner of Police, and has thus far ignored the quite reasonable public calls for an official address on the matter. Further adding to the atmosphere of governmental belligerence and heavy handedness was a decision to discontinue public coverage of the deliberations of the Public Accounts Committee.
In addition, in recent weeks there has been a growing tendency by Government spokespersons to engage in unnecessary “quarrels” with civil society. A typical example of this was the statement by the Parliamentary Secretary in the Ministry of Tourism in response to concerns by the president of the Barbados Hotel & Tourism Association, Patricia Affonso-Daas, about the challenges facing the industry.
Far from responding positively to the concerns, the Parliamentary Secretary sought instead to chide the president for going public with her complaints, when it was felt that such concerns could have been privately aired in the president’s regular meetings with the Minister. In short, the Parliamentary Secretary accused the president of acting in bad faith.
All of these point to a growing tendency on the part of the Government to silence alternative views. What is interesting is that while in its first term the Government might have won public sympathy when perceived as remaining meek and stoic in the face of criticism, in its second term, the Government now appears to be losing public sympathy where it is now seen as bully rather than as hapless victim.
These developments cannot be divorced from the recent election. Having won unexpectedly, perhaps it has decided to take no prisoners and deal roughly with perceived detractors. Signs of descent are clear.
• Tennyson Joseph is a political scientist at the University of the West Indies, Cave Hill Campus, specializing in regional affairs. Email tjoe2008@live.com
