I WOULD BET A YEAR’S WAGES…
…that Barbados government officials are paying close attention to the story breaking in Jamaica. The outgoing government of Portia Simpson-Miller has been shredding documents like mad before Bruce Golding and his Jamaica Labour Party take power.
The outgoing Cabinet Secretary, Dr. Carlton Davis, is seeking to “dispel those concerns” of folks who perceive the shredding as a “deliberate attempt to conceal possible evidence of corruption.”
Uh huh.
In our opinion, the outgoing Government of Jamaica could have taken some lessons from the Barbados Government.
Owen Arthur and his crones generally don’t keep any business records, so they really don’t have much to shred. For instance, Barbadians know that our government prefers a “memorandum of understanding” rather than a nasty old contract with terms, prices, delivery dates and a clear description of what is being purchased by the government.
Nope… shredding of documents won’t be a big concern for the Government of Barbados – they don’t keep any documents in the first place.
From the Jamaica Gleaner…
Ministries Shred Documents Ahead Of New Administration
Several Government ministries have begun shredding official, political and personal documents ahead of the impending change in Government.
While the destruction of these documents has been perceived by some as a deliberate attempt to conceal possible evidence of corruption, Dr. Carlton Davis, Cabinet secretary, sought to dispel those concerns.
He told The Sunday Gleaner that the shredding of documents is a long-standing protocol dating back to the 1950s. He explained that the Cabinet papers of ministers demitting office are usually destroyed…
… continue reading this article at the Jamaica Gleaner (link here)
9 Comments
September 9, 2007 at 7:57 pm
.. like Antigua and Lester Bird.
Here I was thinking that Antigua was light years ahead of the rest of islands and had moved to a paperless form of Government where every thing is stored digitally.
Can anyone confirm that Town Planning has been burning files?
I saw a mention first in a comment on BFP after the Brittons Hill disaster and then a few days later happened to hear a land surveyor bemoaning the fact that files had been burnt at Town Planning and it was difficult to reconstruct the history of a piece of land on a job he was doing.
Am I imagining things?
September 9, 2007 at 9:15 pm
Is is not illegal in the Caribbean to destroy government papers? What will be put in the archives for research purposes by academics and future students of government and politics? First world Barbados, eh?
September 10, 2007 at 1:27 am
Please note that it is NOT government documents that are being destroyed. What is being destroyed are personal notes and files….NOT official documents. It is not illegal to do so.
September 10, 2007 at 2:06 pm
[...] Barbados Free Press reports that “the outgoing government of Portia Simpson-Miller has been shredding documents like mad before Bruce Golding and his Jamaica Labour Party take power.” Share This [...]
September 10, 2007 at 3:03 pm
“jamaicangirl2007″
Politicians are servants of the state and paid by it.
Unless the documents are personal and prepared at home they belong to future generations to read, should they so choose.
Anyway, why are they burning them unless they have used their offices improperly or have something to hide?
This political protocol smacks of protecting wrongdoing and should be illegal
September 11, 2007 at 12:44 am
Note that you said it “should” be illegal. Currently it is not so we can fix it for future generations. I have heard that it is personal notes and files…not official documents. Therefore, they have every right to destory it whether they wrote it in their bathroom at the office or in their yard. Both administrations have done it so I don’t know the great significance of doing so. It is a new administration coming in….suppose they try to set them up or frame them? I am only offering one side to the argument. Many laws need to change but right now it is not against the law.
September 11, 2007 at 1:03 am
Why shred documents in such earnest? Only if there is something incriminating on them would these be shredded in this way.
September 11, 2007 at 1:51 am
My personal view is this…if I have personal notes and files…perhaps of contacts I have made over the years…why would I want to share that information? If you say you have game and you know all then make your own contacts and not rely on mine…..
September 11, 2007 at 1:40 pm
Jamaicangirl2007
doing personal work at the office is called conflict of interest—the public pays your salary and deserves 100% of your time.
Any first nation politician with integrity knows this and knows how to seperate these issues. If not they get caught and are held accountable.
Lord Conrad Black who thought he was above the law, ignored a court order to leave files in his corporate office. His jury of peers ( average citizens of Chicago ) thought this act was extremely telling and found him guilty of fraud. The files belonged to the corporation and not to him.
It really doesn’t matter what has happened in the past. The act of shredding documents and files has
an odious smell to it and needs to be cleaned up so that people understand who pays the bills and who the allegiance is owed to ( the citizens of Barbados ).
Using government monies and time to do personal things is just plain dishonest.