WHEN, OH WHEN, will the Opposition halt or control its penchant for battering every weak point and perceived vulnerable area of the Government? It’s the stuff of party politics, I suppose, but should it become such a habit that the beating goes on when there’s hardly anything worth hitting at?
One may argue that, as far as this current political term is concerned, the Government itself started the nonsense by using every opportunity to talk about the “mess” the former administration had left behind and its current duty to clean it up. That talk should stop, for while it was okay soon after the last general election, we’re now into the fourth year of Democratic Labour Party rule.
Last Tuesday in the Lower House of Parliament it was the Opposition’s turn to bash when Gline Clarke, in contributing to debate on an energy resolution, stated ad nauseam that the Government had no energy policy and was still to articulate one.
Since the Opposition’s rallying cry for the last three years has been that the Government lacks a comprehensive strategy to deal with anything, anyone listening to the debate would have realized that the Opposition member was hinting at the same old, same old.
Last Tuesday’s debate was supposed to be a non-controversial one that most Members of Parliament would’ve supported by the end of the sitting. It was a resolution seeking $640 000 in the cause of renewable energy.
Its obvious basis was the furtherance of the green economy, which the current administration has not only articulated but has put its money where its mouth was by having the Prime Minister himself attend a climate change conference in Europe this year.
That, too, caused some talk, but in retrospect shows the seriousness and high priority which Barbados attributes to the green economy.
Before that, the late Prime Minister David Thompson had himself addressed a vision for renewable energy; and shortly after the Campus Trendz fire, solar-powered street lighting – a renewable energy pilot project that lacked the merited hype because of the sad circumstances surrounding it – was installed in Tudor Street, The City.
Also, in this year’s Financial Statement & Budgetary Proposals the Minister of Finance clearly spelt out Government’s energy policy, along with plans and incentives.
To top this off, Barbados recently hosted the Caribbean Renewable Energy Forum at Hilton Barbados, addressed by the Prime Minister and drawing innovators in non-fossil fuel generation from across the region and beyond.
But having in three years become so accustomed to harping on the Government’s “lack of vision”, “no strategy”, and the “need to articulate”, Clarke – supporting the resolution, incidentally, confidently repeated that “up to now” Government had not articulated an energy policy to move Barbados forward.
Such potshots may give a boost to the Opposition Leader’s recent $35 million fuel subsidy suggestion, but it was not a fair criticism. And after the former administration almost drove the Barbados National Oil Company into bankruptcy, shouldn’t members of the then Cabinet, now in Opposition, do a little research before repeating the stuck-record charge of “no comprehensive strategy” on energy?
But the member’s attitude of ridicule – sternly rebuffed by subsequent speakers last Tuesday – was not surprising.
Every single apparent weak point, rift or perceived failure within either party has in recent years become a standing joke, making the serious business of running this country nothing more than a spectator sport.
Powerful promotion
LAST FRIDAY’s GARNERED unprecedented prime time exposure for Barbados must be commended. In all the glory of its sea, sand, musical culture and culinary talent, Barbados was given, virtually free, three hours live on the most watched morning show in the United States, the NBC’s Today Show.
With celebrity hosts Matt Lauer and Giada De Laurentiis, the show’s globally popular Where In The World Is Matt Lauer? segment featured an informative interview with Caribbean soca queen Alison Hinds, while nine-time calypso monarch Gabby serenaded the hosts in a relaxing scene on Sandy Lane Beach, followed by a display of the national dish.
The project, starting with NBC and Sandy Lane and then mushrooming with the involvement of the Barbados Tourism Authority, should indeed boost visitor numbers.
Seeing Barbados through the eyes of those millions watching television and the Web made me appreciate more the beauty of my land and its people. Let’s be thankful.
