Describing Minister of Finance Chris Sinckler as incompetent, lacking in judgment, breaching the law and leading the country on a collision course, the Barbados Labour Party launched a stinging attack in its defeated motion of no-confidence debated yesterday in the House of Assembly.
Minutes before the start of the sitting with all 30 Members of Parliament present, Leader of the Opposition Mia Mottley gave notice of a private member’s motion which laid an extensive list of charges against Sinckler.
Those 22 charges included: the minister’s admission that the revised Medium Term Fiscal Strategy had failed after it was described as “on track” in March this year; his announcement of the imposition of a temporary consolidation tax on gross income without legal authority being vested in the Commissioner of Inland Revenue to collect that tax; the imposition of a municipal solid waste tax without requisite legal authority to collect it; failure to define “direct tourism services” after announcing a reduction in the Value Added Tax (VAT) rate on tourism accommodation/direct services; creating a climate of uncertainty, confusion and despondency among property owners and taxpayers as a result of the municipal solid waste tax and temporary consolidation tax; and not informing the House that the $500 million bond issues withdrawn recently on the international market were under-subscribed at the original closing date of September 30.
Mottley concluded that the House should condemn Sinckler, repose no confidence in him, and call on Prime Minister Freundel Stuart to relieve him of his finance and economic affairs portfolio.
Leader of Government Business in the House, John Boyce, then suspended eight Standing Orders, giving the green light to the debate.
In her opening salvo of the televised debate, Mottley said the present state of the economy was unparalleled in Barbados’ post-Independence history, since an economic collapse was “upon us” as confirmed in macro-economic indicators and the welfare of households and businesses.
She said Government had been unable to pay its bills for six straight years, while investment was down and every single productive sector in decline.
“Government is facing the largest ever deficit in this financial year of about $1.5 billion and if we net out amortization [it is] about $1 billion . . . And on top of that $700 million in arrears — almost 20 per cent of Government’s annual expenditure owed in arrears to businesses and people not only in Barbados but in the international arena,” she explained.
She also charged him with presiding over a reduction in earnings from tourism of over $300 million between 2010 and now, an increase in the National Insurance debt by using the Scheme as a primary financial instrument to finance the deficit to the tune of $500 million in the last three years, an increase in Barbados’ debt by almost $2 billion, the demise of the sugar industry, arbitrary cuts in the social services, and a lack of funding to major growth sectors.
Mottley also said his failure to take action to put the country “in a position where the bleeding can stop” and where foreign reserves could improve would lead to Barbados’ loss of its way of life, since time was not on the country’s side.
Accusing Sinckler of failing to heed advice from the Opposition and other players locally and internationally, she said the $1.5 billion deficit and $700 million in arrears were “contrary to everything this country has stood for” and had led to a significant increase in debt and loss of confidence among domestic and foreign investors.
Perhaps his greatest failure, noted Mottley, was Sinckler’s admission in the last Budget of a decline of $300 million in foreign reserves in three months. It was, she added, “an indicator that we were dealing with a minister of finance who did not understand his role and responsibility to this country to maintain the stability and confidence necessary . . . That is the equivalent of a man standing in the dock and saying guilty as charged”. (RJ)