Article by Dr. Aldon D. Tull
In my previous article, I highly commended Mr. George Payne for speaking out about the involvement of the leadership of his BLP government in the Maloney-Radical Investments debacle.
However, his call for two apologies must be seen, not only as an exercise in ethical exorcism, but the first element of the party’s campaign strategy for the upcoming elections, constitutionally due in 2023. We should not underestimate Payne’s strong commitment to the BLP.
Some observers believe that PM Mottley might call the elections earlier (2022) rather than later. That idea would have been based mainly on any economic recovery made in the wake of the opening the country and any goodwill accruing from the conversion of the country to a republic.
But a damper has been put on the expected increase in economic activity from tourism because of the uptick in corona virus cases and the increased transmission of the delta variant.
Any goodwill accruing from converting to a republic will perhaps be minimal given the general feeling of the populace that it was a rushed matter.
We are told that Barbadians have short memories so time will tell. P.S. Someone forgot to add that a “Sir Grantley” and a T-shirt can go a long way in inducing amnesia at the “point of sale”.
As usual for any administration seeking a second term, we can expect this BLP government to attempt to defend its record and report on its manifesto promises.
That should have been relatively easy since the government could claim that its programmes were shot through by the covid-19 pandemic and hurricane Elsa if not the ash fall from La Soufrière volcano.
Haunted Ground
However, the party now has to contend with several ethical poltergeists, the most powerful of which has been summoned up by the party leader herself.
The PM, unwisely so, has exhumed the ghost of Maloney from the graveyard of the DLP and interred it in the “hallowed grounds” of Payne’s BLP.
Even though some might regard the PM’s act as political sacrilege, she has so far, brushed aside the Maloney ghost as a red herring, in other words, a mere distraction. But Mr. Payne has begged to differ most strenuously, arguing that it is too serious a matter of corruption to be accorded such a status.
Although he has not said as much, one can only guess that Mr. Payne would rather have the PM treat the Radical Investments debacle as a dangerous species of octopus. For this he may have to engage the help of Mr. Kirk Humphrey, Minister of Maritime Affairs and the Blue Economy.
Sticking with the so-called “Blue Economy” for the moment, we should note that the other matter of an apology to Mr. Chris Sinckler is a different kettle of fish altogether and is seen by some as the PM practising the Arthurean politics of inclusion.
In essence, by attempting to exorcise the ethical phantoms now haunting his party, we read Mr. Payne as wanting to kick start the BLP campaign by “doing right” by the party. But could this also mean a not-too-distant challenge for the leadership of the party? Time will tell.
Meanwhile, it is not clear how much any apologies would help. If one has to be forced to make an apology, the apology is already suspect.
Those loyal to the PM will lap up any apology and say, “See, she is also humble!”. Those diametrically opposed will eye it with deep suspicion, at the very least, or give it a long Bajan “Chupse!”
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Apologies Compounded
Altogether, it looks as though Mr. Payne will have to extract a few more apologies from his government to the people of Barbados. The three that come to mind immediately are:
- Saddling Barbados and the treasury with seventeen ministers who have been UNDEREMPLOYED for the best part of three years. At circa $17,000 per minister that amounts to $289,000 per month or just under 3.5 million PER YEAR. You do the math to estimate how much that has cost the treasury up to this point (3.3 years from May 2018)
- Blatant squandering of money on a horde of consultants who have not produced any real tangible change in the economic fortunes of Barbadians to date. What these consultants have given us so far is an extended episode of Sesame Street Economics where Bert (pun intended) and Ernie are still fixated on the letter “B”.
- Increasing our debt obligations to the bullying, human-rights-denying, organ-harvesting government of Xia Jinping in China to the tune of $490 million (circa half a billion dollars!). According to the records, Barbados’ engagement with the CCP government of China dates back to the 1990’s and the DLP.
Under this BLP government, those relations have strengthened considerably to the point where we are accepting their vaccines, importing their houses and tying ourselves to their supply chain although the rest of the world is now coming to realize quite painfully why Donald Trump tried to decouple America from it.
Seeing as how we are all still masked up, it is not advised that we hold our breath for these apologies. What we do recommend is prayerful deliberation as we decide how to cast our “X’ when the roll is called “over there”.
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Dr. Aldon Tull is a retired educator who holds a Master of Science in International Marketing and the Doctor of Education.
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Any apology sought by Mr Payne will be determined by this truism of Mr Basdeo Panday ,a former PM of T and T :”politics has a MORALITY of its own”