At this most crucial time in the life of public servants in Barbados, it is extremely disappointing, to say the least, to hear supposedly intelligent people trying desperately to defend the Government’s decision to send over 3 000 public workers home between January 15 and March 1.
The frustrating aspect of this sad tale is that I can see clearly many lines of similarities between what is happening now and what transpired in 1991 when thousands of workers from the same public sector were given their marching orders and those who remained had to endure the mortification of an eight per cent cut in their wages and salaries.
As a serious people, we in Barbados must stand up for what is right and should never allow political operatives to dictate to us and influence us in ways that are definitely unbecoming of an educated population. I say this because Barbados is now facing extraordinary economic challenges that have been brought upon itself by a Government that is stubborn and has continuously displayed significant amounts of arrogance in responding to critics of its economic policies like your humble servant.
Tell me, where was the government when Professor Michael Howard recommended that the then David Thompson-led Administration adopt some of the tax measures proposed in the Barbados Labour Party (BLP) 2008 manifesto and what was the prime minister’s response?
What was the response of the current Finance Minister to Professor Howard’s suggestion that Barbados should approach the International Monetary Fund (IMF) sooner rather than later for much needed financial support and policy guidance? What have been the Government’s responses to countless policy suggestions by former prime minister Owen Arthur and Leader of the Opposition Mia Mottley? How has the Government handled all of the economic advice provided to it by economist Clyde Mascoll? And finally, how did the Government respond to the statements made by your humble servant in relation to the 2011 Budget?
Now, let us turn back the hands of time and return to 1991. When the then BLP Opposition Members claimed that the Government was about to engage the IMF for a structural adjustment programme, what was the reaction of the then Prime Minister and Minister of Finance? Have we forgotten those famous words? “Three blind mice,” “prophets of doom and gloom”, “they should all resign” and “you wanted me to commit political suicide.”
Hopefully, by now, you would have gotten the moral of the story. The Democratic Labour Party is famous for ignoring warnings and advice about the state of the local economy but is often first to start pointing fingers and invoking the blame game. When in power, nothing that goes wrong in the economy is a reflection of Government’s poor, ill-conceived, and failed policies.
The responsibility for the economic hardships plaguing the country always rests with others or something else – either the fault of the BLP or deteriorating conditions in the global economy – irrespective of whether these issues are only figments of the Government’s own fraught imagination.
In the prevailing economic environment in Barbados, I say candidly to the Government: take full responsibility for the current state of the local economy and use all of the resources available to you to carefully conceptualize and implement sound measures to resolve the country’s economic woes. Nothing else will suffice.
• Brian M. Francis, PhD, is a lecturer in the Department of Economics at the University of the West Indies Cave Hill Campus.
