Ministry of Social Confusion

When the Prime Minister re-shuffled his Cabinet last November, just ten months after assuming office, there was considerable hoopla over the removal of Chris Sinckler from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The spin of the day turned what in most administrations would be considered a demotion, into a leadership role in rolling out the government’s faltering social programme. 

In the interim, there has been precious little to show for Sinckler’s pay cheques besides bravado, wild goose chases and a contemptuous disregard for accepted industrial practices. In his most recent public debacle, NUPW General Secretary, Dennis Clarke has accused Sinckler of union busting tactics and threatened to report the matter to the Freedom of Association Committee of the ILO.  

For a Minister of Government to be accused of union busting tactics is a grave offence that warrants censure. Can you imagine the howls that would have emanated from George Street if such an accusation had been made of the Barbados Labour Party? The normally garrulous Minister is on mute. Not even a murmur denying the charge.  

For the second time in a week the actions of this government and its agents have been an embarrassment to the country. First it was freedom of the press, now freedom of association. There is a free-for-all going on at the highest levels of government that must be of concern to all Barbadians. Poor judgment is compounded by a wrong and strong attitude that defies any semblance of good governance.  

Amidst all of this, the record of the social care star boy has gone from bad to worse. He landed in his new assignment and promptly scolded his predecessor Dennis Lowe for his poor performance.  This faux pas was followed by his announcement that houses were missing from the UDC – a charge still to be proven.  

Then there was talk of merging the Rural and Urban Commissions – no movement on this either. He then purged the list of contractors at the UDC, but since no construction is going on there, this is of little immediate consequence.

Most recently came the big announcement that the UDC was to be ‘restructured’ – a Democratic Labour Party euphemism for victimization.  

The raising of the alarm by our Political Leader, Mia Mottley and prompt action by the NUPW has in large measure scuttled this plot, but there are still eight UDC employees who, at the time of writing, remain in limbo, with negotiations reaching a stalemate. 

Over at the Welfare Department things are no better. Workers there are out, protesting the government’s failure to relocate them from a building the Environmental Protection Agency has deemed unfit for human habitation. Star boy Sinckler got another dressing down from Dennis Clarke who this time accused him of “playing politics with the workers’ health and with the emotions of the poor.” And then there are also the dismissals at the National Assistance Board! 

Long time DLP member Nigel Harper, himself a former union man, made a surprise return to the national spotlight to criticize his party’s lack of vision in general and the star boy’s constituency councils in particular, echoing the public’s opinion that they ought to have been set up differently. Harper was very clear that no single minister should have the power to appoint the councils and approve their every project.  

Chris Sinckler has lurched from one controversy to the next since his appointment to the Ministry of Social Care. It is time that he meet the needs of the poor and disadvantaged instead of focusing on those things which he thinks will ensure his own success (even if at the expense of his Prime Minister) and his party’s reelection.  

Maybe it is just as well that he was removed from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for, yet again, he has flattered to deceive.