It is a myth that the Barbados Sustainable Recovery Plan (BSRP) is the blueprint for Barbados’ economic salvation, as being touted by Government.
Rather, it is “a long list of unprioritised objectives that have to still be prioritised and implementation plans still have to be developed” if Barbados is to recover from the economic malaise it is in.
This from chairman of the Barbados Private Sector Association, Charles Herbert, who signed onto the BSRP on behalf of the private sector.
Herbert said yesterday though his organisation was fully committed to working with the Freundel Stuart administration to help rejuvenate the Barbados economy with the BSRP as a road map, much more needed to be done to say it was the salvation plan.
“It is not a recovery plan if it does not have an implementation plan – that is a key flaw,” Herbert told the MIDWEEK NATION in the wake of statements from Prime Minister Freundel Stuart and Minister of Finance Chris Sinckler, in particular, who boasted during the Estimates debate in Parliament last week that the BSRP was Government’s plan which the social partners had agreed on.
With a chuckle, the private sector head said no members of Parliament from the Government, Opposition or any senators were part of the meetings to develop the plan. It was essentially put together by technocrats.
“The Ministry of Finance wrote the document which we – the trade union movement and private sector – gave limited support to. So the people who are claiming that it is their plan to salvation had no part in it,” he said.
Herbert said one of the good things to come out of the plan was the establishment of an oversight committee, even though it was watered down, when compared with Jamaica’s set-up. But he insisted the BSRP’s priorities had to be identified, and an implementation plan formulated for it to be effective.
“The country [needs to be told] the priorities, how we will achieve them, when and how it will affect the people,” he added.
Herbert’s sentiments were consistent with those he signed in the foreword to the BSRP. There he wrote: “While we acknowledge the broad consensus on the objectives set out in this document, we recognise that implementation plans, which are critical to the success of the objectives, are still to be developed.
“The private sector considers the proposed formation of an Oversight Committee as a sub-committee of the Social Partnership with:
• unfettered access to the information needed to measure implementation progress, so long as such is permissible under the Official Secrecy Act or are not bound by confidentiality clauses in contracts with third parties; and
• the obligation to issue quarterly independent reports on this progress to the public to be a major step towards the transparency needed to restore business confidence in Barbados.”
Attempts to reach Toni Moore, general secretary of the Barbados Workers’ Union, who also wrote a foreword to the BSRP, proved futile yesterday. She, too, endorsed the plan but with conditions, including better dialogue with Government and implementation of measures to reduce the levels of hardship facing some citizens. (SP)
