A Desperate Lot

 The Dems are a desperate lot indeed and it is showing.  They are extremely disappointed that their recent efforts at gaining public trust and acceptance have fallen flat.  They thought that elections were near and set about to heat up the country in their quest to get an early start.   Their meetings started on a low note and got progressively worse.  Such was the fall-out that they have now abandoned them, citing Crop Over as a convenient excuse. This was a massive let down after all the hype that surrounded their efforts and the news coverage from all sources.  The plain truth is that they have precious little to tell the electorate and their meetings have degenerated into pure mudslinging and character assassination. The political social and economic content was shallow and the meetings only served as comic relief.  Such was the let-down that people not known to be hostile to the Dems were openly questioning their planning.For the past two weeks they have bombarded the air waves with empty rhetoric in regards to the Prime Minister calling those running the affairs of the DLP as “wild boys”.  All sorts of tears were shed. Their false protestations only show that they are totally without a clue as to their role in the public affairs of this country.  The plea is very much “fair comment” as the actions of Thompson and his advisers has demonstrated.

The Dems strongly believe that they can win the elections on the fact that the present administration is now deep into an unprecedented third term.  This is a highly sophisticated and vulnerable economy and it takes economic skill and political commitment to run it.  The past thirteen years have shown what we can achieve as a nation and compares sharply with what happened when the Dems were last in power.  It also demonstrates the dangers in having a fractured ruling party and the attendant risks involved.  We have to be careful to whom we can entrust this nation.

It is therefore no accident that the BLP is surging ahead of the DLP and that the spirit of contentment is very much alive in the island.  The people know that this BLP administration is doing all in its power to steer us into greater prosperity.  Barbadians understand the difficulties of the international economy and would have read of the high marks given by all of the international agencies who roundly applaud our efforts for the sound economic and social policies pursued.

The people of Barbados are wary of the Dems and their unworkable policies.  In this economic climate, with extremely high oil prices, any talk of massive giveaways is just not on, it would be economic madness and will send us back into the dark days of the 1990’s under an unrepentant David Thompson as Minister of Finance.  To give public servant duty free cars and subsidise land prices would wreck the treasury and send us well into the hands of the IMF.  Barbadians are not fools, neither have they forgotten the past.

Barbadians would be well advised to guard themselves against the stupid political tactics of the Dems.  Those few in charge of the Dems have their own agenda and have forgotten that of their party.

What Barbadians now have is a very credible party to govern their affairs.  The Barbados Labour Party will not leave them to those who have demonstrated that they are nothing more than “Wild Boys”.

OH Desperate Dems

Hartley, politics BLP style is about fair play. Our decision not to take you up on your asset declaration issue was not without reason. You must not feel that you can engage us in the issues that only you deem appropriate. In April this year one of our prolific writers had to apply for a loan to settle the bets he waged when he accepted wagers from the public under the assumption that you would have responded to his letter in the press entitled “Answer the charge Hartley” in which he tried to engage you in public discourse on the charges leveled against you by Ms. Jennifer Lazlo. Her charges against you were of a serious ethical and moral nature that required your strongest repudiation but after months and thousands of dollars paid out the deafening silence prevails.

It is strange that a man who could not answer the moral charges leveled against him, would now seek to lead the same for an entire party for whom he has but passing relationship. This highly suspected act poses some serious doubts in the minds of all Barbadians.

This BLP Government will not be sidetracked by Hartley or anyone in the DLP. We have the lives of 265,000 people to plan and build a future for and we will not pause in this quest to assist desperate Dems in the construction of straw men. The premise upon which the call for asset declaration is based is in itself weak and does not explain how such a law would prevent Parliamentarians from transferring those assets or from anyone else holding those assets while the owner enjoys the luxury. How far down the family line and how wide across the friendship circle will this law be permitted to investigate/audit? In a world where asset accumulation and management are now carried out by individuals and companies far removed from or unknown by the owners of those assets is an indication of the complexity of the issue.

It should not be a surprise to Barbadians that to date the DLP has not brought one shred of evidence to justify their call for asset disclosure. They are contented to spout from their platforms the empty rhetoric of corruption while deliberately ignoring the avenue available to them that would uncover the facts. The DLP has failed to attend the meetings of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) where they have been given full authority to investigate and report on any irregularity in the use of state funds.

That Hartley Henry now leads the public debate on morality for the DLP is testimony to the depth to which Thompson’s DLP has slipped down the canal of political desperation. We understand that in the land of the blind the one-eyed man is king and since Hartley is King of George Street he can answer some questions for us.

What happened to the property that was owned by the former maid at George Street, now deceased? During the 2003 election campaign a very wealthy Lawyer and supporter of the DLP gave a highly placed member of the party some funds. He instructed that each candidate should receive a sum of $5,000.00. None of the candidates received or even heard about the donation. Can you shed any light on the whereabouts of those funds? This last question should help you to understand why you are unable to locate the assets of DLP members. The teenage daughter of a well placed DLP member now has a sizable property vested in her name. How did she acquire it?

DEMS SUBVERTION OF THE TRUTH

One of the sad spectacles of Thompson’ s political career has been his enormous propensity to subvert the truth even when that truth is in its most glaring form. It is this disposition for which he has become renowned and for which Barbadians have continued to reject him as a future leader. There must be some point in a man= s life when truth becomes the centre of gravity of everything he does – an ideal for which we are yet to see Thompson emulate.

For Thompson and the DLP to walk around Barbados trying to convince Barbadians that under this BLP administration homes and lots are not being purchased — in other words that our people are not owning piece of the rock is to indulged in blatant untruths simply for the sake of political expediency. Rather than find a sound political oasis upon which to rebuild the charred remains of the DLP’ s political relevance, Thompson chooses the road of ignoble ease.

The fact that we can today boast of having the largest middleclass per sq. mile in the region is testimony of the current level of state sponsored policies and programmes being offered to all our citizens to help them rise from the ravages of the early 1990= s under Thompson when he was Minister of Finance. All around Barbados there is evidence that our people are prospering rather than suffering as they did under the last DLP government.

A return of a DLP government at this time in our development would be a retrograde step for our public servants, small businesses, investment opportunities and the rest. Of one thing we are certain investor, s confidence in the economic future of the country would plummet resulting in a contraction in the construction industry and the subsequent layoff of hundreds of workers in construction and other related fields. This would be compounded by the DLP’ s promised layoff public servants in attempt to reduce government’ s deficit which they claim is too high. To make a long story short a DLP government at this time would not be capable of maintaining this country’ s current rate of development especially in light of the fact that they do not now have a single trained economist among their candidates or advocated a common cohesive economic policy for Barbados — even after more than a decade in opposition.

In the area of housing the lie that Barbadians are not being given the chance to own their own homes is confounded by the fact that at September 1994 the long-term residential mortgages amounted to $586.3 million whilst at December 2006 these mortgages increased by over $1 billion to over $1.6 billion — an increase of approximately 200%. Clearly Barbadians are purchasing their own homes thereby owning a piece of the rock. All across Barbados including the tenantry lands lovely homes are going up for both lower and middle income earners.

Two points of significance must be made in understanding how Barbadians are managing this accomplishment. The first point is that in order for Barbadians to service this level of debt they must be earning commensurate salaries and secondly the commercial banks must be receiving the volume of deposits to sustain that level of borrowings. However the statistics are stacked, Barbadians are managing to save, build homes and at the same time enjoy an increasingly higher standard of living. This is as a direct of the economic policies of this BLP government on expanding the economy to provide greater opportunities for all our people.

 

Thompson’s Rampage

A number of incidence arising out of some very heated discussions at George Street and public statements by Thompson have over the last week conspired to reduced Thompson and the DLP to a state of political irrelevance in Barbados. Of the incidence at George Street all we can say is that it is a bad thing when your sell-by date is imposed upon you, as Thompson will soon discover. That he is now being aggressively pursued to go back to the drawing board to find a political strategy that can excite the electorate, is testimony that not only has his current strategy failed but also that his sell-by date is quickly approaching.

Comments attributed to Thompson in the Nation Newspaper of Sunday, June 24, 2007 can only be described as an unfortunate and unwarranted attack on our churches, trade unions, private sector and civil society. His attack is a direct result of the anger he feels arising out of the failure of the DLP’s strategy, through their public meetings, to make any positive impact on their flagging image.

Thompson severely criticized trade unionists, the church, the private sector and all Barbados for what he called their “deafening silence” on the corruption in public life and the absence of laws to protect labour. His charge begs the question what is it that Thompson sees that nobody else is seeing? Where is this apparent corruption that Thompson is seeing that Transparency International has not seen? Furthermore why does Thompson behaves so powerless to do something about this apparent corruption in spite of that fact that he now has all the legislative powers at his disposal as Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee? Clearly Thompson now believes his own lies. The DLP’s political strategy to accuse the government of corruption is simply a strategy that is intended primarily to tarnish the government’s reputation. Thankfully the public has not bought it.

Every year government sits down with the Unions, Private Sector and NGO’s bodies in a national consultation on the economy and other aspects of our development. The DLP, though invited, never attends. Only last October, Church leaders and government assembled at the Hilton Hotel to discuss the way forward for Barbados and again the DLP was absent. It is therefore both unfair and unjustified for Thompson to now perch himself on the political fence to castigate those who have demonstrated beyond doubt that they are genuinely interested in this country’s development.

Thompson is now appealing to these interest groups to join him in his rampage against the government. His charge against them is nothing more than a desperate appeal to save him from his own political demise. That Thompson is now on a political rampage against every interest group in Barbadians in spite of the fact that he enjoyed the full support of the NUPW, the moderators on the call-in programmes, the Barbados Free Press, the Nation Newspaper and some business entities to put his case, is evident that he has lost the political battle for the support of the electorate.

To date neither Thompson nor the DLP have provided one thread of evidence to prove any of their charges of corruption in Barbados. Yet it remains the plank of their election campaign. The lie which this strategy is trying to convey is no different from that of the “IMF secret deal”. Both were hatched in the same camp by the same person and we are certain Barbadians will give it its desired treatment.