PROCRASTINATION IS THE NAME of the game, and public servants are masters at it. Accountability in Barbados is a one-sided affair, with the public expected to observe regulations and face penalties for breaches, but when the shoe is on Government’s foot, there are no deadlines, no penalties – anything goes.
Meanwhile, Government’s procrastination can lead to frustration and seemingly rash decisions. It’s not only the Town Planning Department at fault. Have you ever written to any Government department and got a timely reply, if you received one at all?
Of course, I can’t comment on the Rock Hard issue at Spring Garden. That matter is before the court, and as things go in our justice system, it could remain there for the next 20 years. So, bearing in mind my advanced age, I may never be able to comment on it.
However, while I hold no brief for Mark Maloney, I think demolishing the attractive structure promoting his products on the Lears roundabout was absolutely petty and the reason supposedly given for its unacceptability totally illogical. How many roundabouts are there where it’s possible to see across them? Most have tall plants, and then there’s Bussa. More importantly, why must you see across the roundabout? You need only be concerned about vehicles on your right and give way to them.
Furthermore, it seems beyond strange that this matter would’ve been allowed to continue for five years before any action was taken. Seeing that the excuse for not demolishing the multitude of derelict eyesores across this country is apparently lack of funds, why then use scarce resources to demolish a perfectly attractive structure which was doing no harm? And I suppose the roundabout will remain in its untidy post-demolition condition.
Now there are reports of demolition threats at the Maloney-connected race track. Doesn’t it seem to smack of “witch-hunting”? Of course, that issue is as usual tied up in a number of legal knots. One must ask: if Government didn’t pay the original landowners for the site, is it authorised to lease it? Bushy Park is one of the few remaining geese-laying golden eggs, so let’s hope that in all this, it isn’t a casualty.
Procrastination is of course why our justice system is in the mess it is. When last was there a case that wasn’t adjourned several times – the most recent being the Rock Hard case for the ludicrous reason of failure of the accused to be served a summons? If the relevant people on either side are absent, I say bring the case to a conclusion one way or another. Adjournments, which can last ten years or more, have implications for sentences and can also lead to litigation, as we’ve seen in a recently publicised case. There again, Government has limited resources, but seems to spend a large proportion on lawsuits rather than on maintaining and developing the country.
To revisit the chicken wing issue. Minister Donville Inniss, you seem to have taken lessons from Minister Denis Lowe in “bobbing and weaving”. Your reported comments in Barbados Today and the SUNDAY SUN read like a parable, and I have to say I’m totally confused. Unless Barbados has gone even more haywire than I thought, shipments arrive with documents which indicate who the exporter and the importer are, so there should be no mystery. In the case of the wings, they should also include an import permit. So we simply want to know who the importer is and if the shipment was accompanied by an import permit.
Furthermore, it’s likely that the wings reportedly burnt by authorities are only a fraction of the total imported. Surely, the matter is serious enough to warrant an audit of all retailers to ascertain how much they purchased and where from. It seems at least some cartons stated the United States as the origin. Can it be verified that the wings originated from an avian flu-free area?
Minister, I’m sometimes impressed by your apparent passion about the ills which need correcting, but unfortunately your words never seem to result in any improvement.
Barbados needs to return to discipline and order, not only its citizens, but Government as well. On that topic, I must congratulate this year’s Common Entrance top student Zachary Gill, whose success was attributed to discipline and the ability to focus. We could learn a lot from him.
• Dr Frances Chandler is a former Independent senator. Email: [email protected]