IF THERE IS any event that can raise the temperature of political debate in Barbados it is the Appropriation Bill, known as the Estimates of Expenditure.
This annual exercise, which is essential to the functioning of Government, is discussed over a period of up to five consecutive days by the 30 sitting members of the House of Assembly who pore over not just the statistics which tell the story of the Government’s spending priorities for the next 12 months, but take the opportunity to score political points.
Last year, for instance, the debate brought to the fore two vastly different matters of concern surrounding printing: Finger-printing and money-printing.
The issue of Government’s proposed finger-printing of Barbadians as they depart from and arrive at the Grantley Adams International Airport was hotly discussed.
Prime Minister Freundel Stuart, while stating that he did not discuss national security issues in the House of Assembly, made a case for the implementation of finger-printing of citizens, stating that people can change their names as often as they like, but not their fingerprints.
But Opposition Leader Mia Mottley, calling it “a folly”, threatened that if it were implemented, she would undertake to have the courts of Barbados make a decision on its legality.
The other issue that got much attention, led by an intervention by former Prime Minister Owen Arthur, was the extent to which printing of money was being done by the Central Bank of Barbados, calling it “vandalism”.
While the Immigration Department shortly thereafter announced that the finger-printing exercise was no longer to be implemented, the issue of the printing of money has not only lingered, but was at the centre of debate as recently as two weeks ago in relation to the dismissal of the Central Bank Governor Dr DeLisle Worrell.
So the debate is a time when politically interesting matters come and go and others come and last.
It is therefore a time for the parties represented in Parliament to relentlessly defend and attack.
This year’s debate next week, coming as it does at a time of heightened political activity, is likely to be of intense interest.
It comes immediately after the ministers of the ruling Democratic Labour Party Government met its members to spell out the details of their accomplishments, a way of defining their case for re-election.
It also follows tomorrow’s march and rally being held by the Opposition Barbados Labour Party to heighten public expression and disgust over issues identified as ruining the quality of life here.
Both sides are likely to take the opportunity of the debate to sharpen battle lines.
In 2006, with the prospect of elections being called as early as 2007 (they were eventually held in 2008), the then Opposition DLP leader David Thompson reshuffled his shadow cabinet following the exit of former leader Clyde Mascoll. He said it was his way of sharpening his MPs for the Estimates debate and obviously showcasing to voters his colleagues in new roles.
Thompson and his team went on to win the general election.
We suspect that we will learn much about what the Government intends to do in these last 12 months of its term before it goes to the polls; and hopefully we will also get a glimpse of what the government-in-waiting, the Opposition, proposes to do to change the fortunes of the country. Let the debate begin.
