Take a cut

Reduce THE Cabinet or ask Government ministers to take a deep salary cut to show an understanding of the plight of Bajans suffering the pain caused by steep economic decline.
That’s what Anglican cleric, the Rev Dr Marcus Lashley, wants Prime Minister Freundel Stuart to do, as his Government grapples with a severe economic “crisis” characterized by relatively high unemployment, a mountain of debt, wide Government deficit, private firms going out of business every week, a tourist industry performing at its lowest level, and a manufacturing sector that may be on its last legs.
The priest, a former chairman of the Barbados National Mental Health Commission, didn’t hide his concerns about the country’s economic plight and the size of Cabinet.
 “For a population of 280 000 living on 170 square miles, we have too many persons holding ministerial portfolios,” complained Lashley, a psychologist, while delivering the sermon at the official Barbados Independence service in Brooklyn attended by about 600 Bajans on Sunday afternoon.