SO, THE Democratic Labour Party (DLP) that solemnly promised the Barbadian people that a vote for them in the 2013 general elections was a vote for the preservation of all public sector jobs and a vote against privatisation of state entities, has now made a decisive move to begin the process of privatising the critical garbage collection services performed by the Sanitation Service Authority (SSA).
This is a shameful act of political betrayal, that is all the more offensive in that it was carried out in secrecy, without the Barbadian people, the SSA workers, or the trade unions being consulted in any way.
To make matters worse, we have learnt from the information divulged in the Front Page article published in last Tuesday’s DAILY NATION that this new private sector-based garbage collection arrangement is going to constitute a massive and unjustified drain on our nation’s public finances.
The newspaper article revealed that the private businessmen will be paid $411 per hour per truck, and that each truck will be in operation for eight hours per day and five days per week. Thus, each truck will cost the taxpayers of Barbados $16 440 per week or $854 880 per year.
This yearly payment of $854 880 per truck needs to be juxtaposed against the cost of Government actually purchasing one such refuse collection truck outright – the cost of approximately $250 000.
Why should this Democratic Labour Party administration be saddling us – the citizens and taxpayers of Barbados – with payments to private businessmen of $854 880 per truck per year, or $8.5 million for each truck over a ten-year period, when they could have purchased the said truck for the SSA at a mere one-time cost of some $250 000?
Truly this is a scandal of massive proportions and should lead to strident and decisive calls for the removal of the present DLP administration from office.
– DAVID COMISSIONG
