POLITICAL SCIENTIST Dr George Belle believes that Prime Minister Freundel Stuart’s chairing of Friday’s meeting of the Social Partnership allowed him to avoid not having to tackle or answer the questions of the trade unions.
“One of the biggest problems I saw was why did the prime minister not hand the meeting over to the labour minister [Senator Dr Esther Byer Suckoo] so he would be able to speak more,” Belle said.
While acknowledging Stuart was the chairman of the partnership, Belle said, “What he did was every time a question came from the union, he told [Minister of Finance Chris] Sinckler to answer and again he was asking Sinckler to carry a burden that I think was unfair. Even though we know that Sinckler is the Minister of Finance, he is not the prime minister of Barbados.”
Belle, who said Sinckler was sacrificing himself for the sake of the political party, added that Friday’s format allowed Stuart to hide behind the chair. (LK)
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