The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord. – Job 1:21
THIS YEAR’S NATIONAL BUDGET: nothingness? Not by any stretch of the imagination. Truth be told, Opposition Leader Owen Arthur’s acerbic description of Minister of Finance Chris Sinckler’s presentation is the essence of hyperbole.
Now this is not to say that nothing offered by Mr Arthur in his Budget Reply was of worth. Owen, an experienced Minister of Finance himself – of 14 years – and an accomplished Prime Minister, still has much to contribute to our nation by way of insight and acumen, and the dispensing of his wealth of knowledge can be sobering.
Owen’s recommendation that the Democratic Labour Party (DLP) Government take a fresh look at the Venezuela oil facility options with Barbados is not without merit.
No less than his suggestion that the Government consider a restored and rehabilitated Scotland District – sans dump and landfill, of course.
But Owen needs to temper that passionate partisanship that too often rushes through his national utterances.
Like it or not, we are in a debilitating crisis, not particularly of our making. Not of Owen’s, not of David Thompson’s, not of Freundel Stuart’s or of Chris’. And so far as the current world economic nightmare is concerned, we need to stop beating up on one another.
That some Barbadians are suffering, there is no doubt. That people can’t make ends meet, I am sure. I have known some who have been having grave difficulty a long time before the world was in crisis. Some Barbadians will not make ends meet in good times or bad. It’s the Joneses syndrome – what you have I will have too!
Owen, respected and influential as he is, must take care how he paints the picture of Barbados and Barbadians.
“Where there was once optimism,” he says, “there is now despair.”
Is that absolutely true?
“Our sturdy resilient middle class is now becoming the working poor.”
Accurate or exaggerated?
Dr Denis Lowe is right about one thing: too many of the Opposition are asking Barbadians to view their circumstances as hopeless. We have to see our being and sustenance rooted in hope, and our elected representatives – all of them – must see the practicality of working together.
Let the sides quibble over the Constituency Councils and the summer camps, if they must, but there has to be genuine resolve across the divide to ensure we have a sound and solid country that we may fight the traditional general election over. Who in their right minds would want to preside over a mess?
I cannot tell you I was that impressed by the House debate on the Budget. The carping and introducing of irrelevant brouhaha on both sides were nothing short of ridiculous and irritating.
What do I care, in a Budget debate, about whether an MP’s constituency office will be pushed down or not?
And why should I have to endure the painful excuse of an apology by one MP for another accused of making racial slurs?
Why all this trivia by big hardback men on national TV?
I can’t help but allude to Mia Mottley’s increasingly more mature approach to matters of state in the House of Assembly and the tone of her critical support and recommendations for the greater part.
“We in here,” she said to her fellow parliamentarians in her contribution to the Budget debate, “we oppose, but we know in our heart of hearts we can onlyfight down and wrestle down the problems of this country if we work together.”
No more so than now in these very trying times. Most fellow MPs need to tear a leaf from Mia’s book – and keep it.
We need not agree with all sentiments expressed, but arguments and causes put forth publicly should make sense, at the very least, and be better couched in the English language we all learnt at school.
Next Budget then, we can look forward to more pertinent reasoning, with the clearer understanding that the Minister of Finance’s Statement and Budgetary Proposals are essentially a balancing act that gives and takes – and from time to time takes and takes.
To the best of my knowledge, it has always been so.
