INDIVIDUALS WHO KEEP TRACK of the news would probably have heard one or more finance ministers suggest that as long as a country has people to tax, it cannot go broke. We understand what they seek to convey when they use this colloquial term.
But we are also painfully aware, based on local and foreign experiences, that when an economy is performing at less than optimum level and national financial policies stifle the capacities of workers, what governments are able to collect in taxes can fall way short of what it requires to keep systems and services functioning.
And that has been the case with the Barbados economy for way too long. The only reason Barbadian students of the University of the West Indies have been asked to pay tuition fees is because Government’s revenues can no longer support this cost. The only reason our roads are in the state that has provoked the current public outrage is because limited cash has retarded Government’s ability to keep them in a good state of repair – and we could go on.
In the best of times, even the most dynamic administrations have to make choices about where they will spend money, because regardless of the strength of an economy, a population’s appetite for spending will always be stronger. In tough times, such as what we have been experiencing for the past decade or so, priority setting becomes even more critical.
And that brings us to our central point: How has the Freundel Stuart Government been determining its priorities; and just how close to “broke” – in the colloquial sense – are we?
Government closed the Arch Hall Fire Station in St Thomas in February 2014 for one year to execute a million-dollar makeover. Just two weeks away from February 2017, the newest station in the Barbados Fire Service’s network remains closed, with absolutely no work having been done for more than six months. Tall bush now surrounds the imposing complex on the Ronald Mapp Highway.
According to our investigation, contractor Steve Building Works discontinued work with the job more than 90 per cent completed because Government has not honoured requests for payments based on certified valuations. We are told that while the principal owed was just under $2 million, given interest and penalties, the state could end up paying in excess of $2.5 million to the contractor. We don’t have any evidence to suggest that Government is being obstinate or that it is disputing the figure submitted by the builder. Apparently, the responsible ministry, the Ministry of Home Affairs, is simply unable to pay.
It is on that basis that we asked the question: Just how broke is the Barbados Government?
We find it hard to believe that for more than a year, a country that operates with a $6 billion budget can’t find $2 million to finish a building for an emergency service – $2 million to reactivate a fire station that serves a huge slice of the island, including much of St James, St Peter, St Lucy and St Michael, and all of St Thomas, St Andrew and St Joseph.
We will not accept that Barbados is that broke. The conclusion then would have to be that those responsible just don’t have the creativity to manage the limited resources at their disposal and their capacity for priority setting is grossly inadequate.
Since the start of 2014, the fire service has been responding to calls from St Andrew and St Thomas, for example, with appliances and personnel from Bridgetown or Weston in St James in circumstances where a wooden house can burn flat in 15 minutes. The probability of saving such residences while Arch Hall remains closed is somewhere between slim and zero.
The year and a half time overrun on this project is nothing short of shameful and must be brought to an end immediately.
