IT IS SAID THAT the key to solving any problem is to first accept and admit that you have one. Notwithstanding previous announcements, it gives me great pride to see that some of our leaders have finally admitted that their policies have either failed or that they did not achieve the intended results.
This acceptance suggests that we now recognise that with the best crafted plans, circumstances which are either self-inflicted, unforeseen or simply out of our control have the capacity to alter our course.
Accordingly, I believe it is reasonable to expect that if we did not achieve the desired results, our leaders would have at least provided an explanation.
For some time now, we have been told that our economy had turned the corner.
We have been told that growth had been restored. To come like a thief in the night, as the election draws near, and admit that we are still wandering at the edge of the woods is, in my view, scandalous and utterly distasteful, at best.
I humbly suggest to all our leaders that before making any further pronouncements, they need to seek forgiveness from all Barbadians for misleading us and betraying our trust.
Having fed us with alternative facts for so long, who can declare it unreasonable if, from now on, we choose to take whatever is said to us with a pinch of salt. How do we decipher what is truth and what is cloaked?
From where I sit, Barbados is now overcast with a type of “cry-wolf” precipitation.
We don’t know what to believe anymore.
Bring us the real facts, even if they are painful and let us use our collective imagination to get out of the woods.
As a Barbadian, I am proud to know that we are a forgiving people, but in this instance, earning our trust again comes with conditions:
(1) Admittance,
(2) Seek our forgiveness,
(3) Bring us the facts,
(4) Initiate broad-based discussions with all of us,
(5) Establish buy-in,
(6) Implement corrective actions.
We are hovering at number one at the moment with five
more steps to go.
– SEAN ST CLAIR FIELDS
