A HEAVILY INDEBTED Government agency is in uproar due to the changes implemented by the new boy on the block.
Cou Cou has been reliably told that since the new head honcho dropped anchor, he unchained a veteran in the agency who had been kept on a tight leash despite her party holding sway.
Those who worked with this buxom woman know full well that she can become like a bull in a China shop if given the opportunity. And now that she has no one holding her back, it seems she has.
Our source suggested she is behaving as if she’s the person really calling the shots since an executive management team has been carved out from the existing pool of senior staff. This African queen is said to be trying to intervene in every aspect of the day-to-day operations of the corporation and cites her title as giving her the right to do so.
The situation has caused major friction within the corporation, with one individual, who was once its face, threatening to resign if the interference continues. This has not deterred this woman. Indeed, some alleged she was overheard saying, “How long is too long if it is good.”
Meanwhile, the old boss, who acted in the top spot for nearly two years and kept a leash on this woman, is just looking on saying nothing.
Rebuke for bald genie
A GROUP OF unassuming civil servants feel vindicated after it was leaked to them that the bald genie’s attempt to sideline their professionalism has been rejected.
One told Cou Cou that the people who the bald genie loathes indicated on their recent visit here that their way of collecting numbers was sounder than his. So they suggested to the silent one and his team to treat the bald genie’s figures as forecasts, and not the real thing.
The question now is how this matter will play out in the future. After all, the bald genie is a creature of the silent one and has used his magical powers to bolster the fortunes of his master’s regime.
For example, when his master’s team needed cash to pay for all the people they were hiring but didn’t have it, he magically produced the money to support them and has continued to do so even though the outsiders told him how dangerous this policy is.
When another measure was needed to increase the money flow for the silent one team’s ravenous appetite, the bald genie waved his wand again. He wooed people into buying the paper he was selling on behalf of the silent one’s regime by making the alternative to that not much better than hiding their money in their mattress.
It’s now left to see how the silent one’s team and the bald genie will spin this one so they don’t lose face.
Idea gathering dust
For months now, a proposal to generate business while salvaging a poorly maintained building that may soon be abandoned has been put to the authorities. However, Cou Cou was told little has been heard from the decision-makers since.
From what we were told the Government-owned building in central Bridgetown, which was once at the centre of environmental concerns, is nearly empty, so some enterprising businesspeople have suggested it be given to them at a token rental fee. They would renovate it and make it into a high-rise vendors’ mall.
The businesspeople have suggested that given the property’s square footage and its location near public transport, it should generate a lot of activity for vendors and other small businesspeople. They also feel it would help keep activity in The City to late hours, thereby breathing life into a dying Bridgetown.