First order of business

WE CAN’T SAY we are surprised, but the first order of business of Tuesday’s Throne Speech was to abandon the Government’s much-touted 100-day agenda.

Like a motorcar crashing into a brick wall we went from 100 to 0 at the stroke of a pen. In this case, however, zero means “over time” in relation to the removal of VAT from building materials. So anybody who was about to build a house and was holding on for the removal of VAT had better not hold their breaths.

Gone too is the 100-day promise to require a two-thirds majority of Parliament for a change of use for agricultural land. Perhaps a lightbulb came on in someone’s head that their long awaited applications would take longer than 100 days and hence the delay.

Other promises were made before and during the campaign for implementation in 100 days that are no longer being heralded. Some are now being subjected to feasibility studies.

What the Government did do, while treasuring our seniors in their golden years, is to promise to lower the tax-free exemption on pensions from $40 000 a year, where it presently stands, to $36 000. Surely the six members of Government now who were present in Opposition (including Prime Minister Thompson) when these allowances were raised to $40 000 would know that they would as their first act as a Government be now proposing to tax our pensioners!

They also promised to use at least 40 per cent of Government’s patronage and incentives to allow new players into the distributive sector. While not indicating what level this is now at, they say this policy will increase competition in the sector and keep the cost of food down. Regrettably, DLP Administrations do not have a stellar record in this regard.

Their last attempt to help small and medium-sized businesses resulted in taxpayers having to pay three times the regular price to Neville Rowe for kola syrup meant for the School Meals Department. If past behaviour is an indicator of future performance don’t look for food prices to fall anytime soon as was the case this week with feed prices.

The Government singles out fiscal prudence as a hallmark goal in the management of the country’s economic affairs. Yet there are no clear indicators of how the Government intends to increase revenue. There was no mention in the Throne Speech at all of the island’s all-important financial services sector, second only in revenue generation to tourism.

And while on the subject of tourism, a Tourism Master Plan “which will diversify and enhance the tourism products of Barbados by linking tourism to agriculture, culture, sports, the arts and the environment” does nothing to address the issue of attracting brand name hotel properties, increasing room stock, the value of the cruise ship industry or even at what level we should pitch our tourism product. No wonder the hoteliers are disappointed.

So we have been treated to a Throne Speech that by conservative estimates will cost the country more than $1billion and no mention of how we will pay for it. We are reminded of the refrain of a recent popular calypso: “Bring drinks. Somebody would pay.” Unfortunately, the “somebody” will ultimately be the taxpayers!

Even more miraculous, and we use the word deliberately, is the Government’s promise to maintain a balanced Budget while allowing for small fiscal deficits. While we are well aware of Minister Darcy Boyce’s ability as a technocrat, he would have to surpass the feats of master illusionist David Copperfield to have us believe that it is possible to have a balanced Budget and a deficit at one and the same time.

Business as Usual

WE ARE AMAZED and astonished at the fact that so far there have not been any changes to any of the planned programmes and policies of the Barbados Labour Party (BLP) Government.

It is business as usual. We take this as a silent seal of approval of the job that we did on behalf of the people of Barbados.

Prior to the elections everything was wrong with the Barbadian economy and our social programmes. One thing that cannot be denied is that for the past 13 years much of what the BLP Government did was constantly at the receiving end of stern attacks from the supporters of the Democratic Labour Party (DLP).

Our record in recent times was constantly under the harsh and quite often unfair scrutiny of many a call-in programme moderator, some of whom now sit joyfully in the Cabinet of Barbados.

There was a strong belief by Prime Minister David Thompson and his cohorts that the Edu-Tech programme was a complete waste of taxpayers’ money and that there were no benefits to be derived at all from its existence. Today, we hear Minister of Education, Ronald Jones saying that it is here to stay.

They never gave it the time of day and attempted to frustrate every effort of the BLP Government to reform how we teach and what we teach while decreasing the digital divide.

Suddenly, Minister Jones now remembers how information and communication technology can be integrated into the teaching system and how beneficial it can be. It should be recalled that he was a part of the roll out of Edu-Tech at its inception.

The DLP has accepted the BLP’s manifesto and intend to fully utilise its very progressive and enlightened programmes, including the plans for universal nursery and expanded tertiary education.

We have no problem with this. We are here to serve the people and if it is a case that the DLP agrees that it is in the people’s interest to use the BLP’s manifesto, they are well within their right to do so. However, it does reflect a vindication of our policies.

Barbadians were also privy to hear the present Minister of Agriculture, Senator Haynesley Benn apologising for what will be an inevitable rise in the cost of meat and generally the cost of living.

He, too, has suddenly discovered that since the price of the basic raw materials of animal feed had gone up, there was precious little beyond what has already been put in place by the BLP Government at the end of last year that can be done to shield the Barbadian consumer effectively from increases the price of meat, fresh milk and eggs. Did we not know this already?

What has changed?

When former Prime Minister Owen Arthur asked Barbadians to go back to planting their kitchen gardens, it was deemed as a backward attitude. But we now see that this very idea is now being espoused by the David Thompson led DLP Government through Senator Benn and Mr James Paul.

Even the present Minister of Health, Dr David Estwick is contemplating the use of the redevelopment plan for the Queen Elizabeth Hospital that was commissioned under the past BLP administration.

And we understand that he might just do so since it was a well-conceived plan.

There is no doubt that the electorate was made to feel that the past BLP Government was recklessly spending taxpayers’ money without planning programmes that would redound to the benefit of all people. Now by the very actions of the DLP, we now know differently.

The current Government has been left a superb wicket on which to bat.

Champion in our Midst

“Climate change is the greatest challenge facing humanity at the start of the 21st century. Failure to meet that challenge raises the spectre of unprecedented reversals in human development.” – UNDP Human Development Report 2007/2008.

WARMEST congratulations are in order for Liz Thompson who was named as one of seven Champions of the Earth for 2008 by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). Liz will join HSH Prince Albert of Monaco; the Rt Hon Helen Clarke, Prime Minister of New Zealand; Dr Balgis Osman-Elasha of Sudan; Dr Atiq Rahman from Bangladesh; Timothy E. Wirth of the United States and H.E. Abdul-Qader Ba-Jammal, former prime minister of Yemen; in Singapore in April for the presentation of one of the world’s most prestigious environmental awards.

“One doesn’t dream about international recognition when you are going about your day to day business of implementing policy,” Liz said on learning of her award. “It is a humbling experience to be recognised by your peers. Most of all this award keeps the name of Barbados up there as a nation that recognises its global responsibility to protect the earth and ensure social justice in the process. I am grateful to Owen Arthur for having reposed confidence in me for 11 years and I can only hope that the baton will not be dropped by the incoming administration.”

According to UNEP: “Ms Thompson has become one of the recognised leaders on environmental issues of the Small Island Developing States.

“During her time as Minister of Energy and the Environment of Barbados, she enacted a range of progressive policies for sustainable development and environmental protection. She also became a key voice to raise awareness of global warming in Barbados – a country where the challenges of climate change and conservation are of particular relevance.

“Ms Thompson has also played a role in environmental awareness and protection across the Caribbean region. She has encouraged small island states to diversify their economies, undertake sustainability assessments, and promote community-based programmes that have positive environmental impacts.”

The Barbados Labour Party (BLP), in its quest to move Barbados to full development status, embraced the Green Economy as one of the planks to take us to that higher level. It is a strategy that seeks to marry ecology with the economy to provide a sustainable environment and a better quality of life. It promotes a community-centred way of life that replaces accumulation and waste with regeneration and creativity. And it will be essential in determining Barbados’ viability as a country.

It is as important to our development as micro and macroeconomics. It is for these reasons that we devoted four full pages of our Manifesto to the Green Economy. It is noteworthy that far larger nations than ours are still grappling with implementing strategies in this area. We shall therefore press the Government to continue and expand upon our policy initiatives in this regard so as to secure the future of generations.

We have reason to be concerned that the present Democratic Labour Party (DLP) Government has little interest or understanding of the importance of the environment within the economic framework. Quite apart from marooning the environment within a ministry where there are no natural synergies, the DLP’s pathway to environmental progress is not only far from inadequate but also embarrassingly deficient. In fact, it hinges on a single policy statement: “Give maximum support to all organisations committed to environmental preservation”. We will therefore watch with keen interest how Dr Byer-Suckoo fashions an environmental policy from her party’s Manifesto.