Celebrate World Environment Day by asking: Where is the promised Environmental Protection Act?

Why worry about chemical spills when you have champagne and pate?

Dear Current and Past Environment Ministers: Why didn’t you pass an Environmental Protection Act in the last 20 years?

After four and a half years of Democratic Labour Party government, Barbados still lacks an Environmental Protection Act. Of course the DLP has a ways to go to equal the record of Owen Arthur and the Barbados Labour Party – who couldn’t pass an Environmental Protection Act in 14 years in power.

Our Environment Ministers are pretty good at champagne and pate parties, but not so good at passing and enforcing laws that would regulate the use and disposal of toxic chemicals. Heck, Liz Thompson took the champagne and pate thing all the way to a position with the United Nations – and she never passed an Environmental Protection Act either.

Why not take advantage of the invitation from the Bellairs Research Institute and the Government to Celebrate World Environment Day with some of the very politicians who couldn’t pass Environmental Protection Legislation in a combined 20 years of DLP and BLP governments? You can ask Dr. Lowe and other government people when they will be bringing in the promised legislation.

So-Called “Clean-Up” By Shell Oil In Barbados. We have no Environmental Protection Act so why should Shell care?

Perhaps some SOL or Shell representatives will be there too and you can ask them when Bajans can expect to stop pulling up buckets of jet fuel from water wells on the southern coast.

Here’s your invitation to the party, ‘refreshments’ (YES!) and a movie!

You are Invited to Celebrate World Environment Day!

Join us Tuesday, 5th June 2012
at Bellairs Research Institute, Folkestone, St. James
5:00 – 7:00pm

World Environment Day – 2012  is being hosted by Bellairs Research Institute and the Ministry of Environment and Drainage, Government of Barbados.  We have scheduled some intriguing and entertaining activities for the evening – as well as some refreshments for your delight.

You are invited to:

“Paint Your Pledge, Plant Your Pledge or Purchase Your Pledge”.

Afterwards the Future Centre Trust will be screening a free film at Bellairs called, “One Day on Earth”.  You can find-out more about this interesting film by checking http://www.onedayonearth.org on the internet.

As a celebrant of World Environment Day, you affirm your commitment to the community and our planet. For further details please contact Kashia Whitehead, Coordinator, at enquiries@bellairs-mcgill.org or telephone 422-2087.

We look forward to seeing you!
Sincerely,

Jill Parlee
&
Susan Mahon
Academic and Managing Director
Bellairs Research Institute of McGill University

Barbados removes assets from CLICO victims: Sam Lord’s Castle to be expropriated by government

CLICO policy holders will never see a dollar for this ‘fire sale’ of assets

submitted by Parris Pauper

The Barbados Government is moving to ‘compulsorily acquire’ the Sam Lord’s Castle ruins and lands. As Minister of Housing and Lands Michael Lashley stated, Sam Lord’s is being acquired “for housing purposes, tourism development and beach access.”

Sam Lord’s Castle has been owned by CLICO for almost ten years (memory fails – if someone has the exact date CLICO purchased Sam Lord’s, speak up please) and is an incredibly valuable piece of property if developed. The hold-up to development approval was always the historic Sam Lord’s Castle building, but just as Barbados Free Press predicted in April 2009 – a fire took care of that little impediment.

If anything, the burning of Sam Lord’s Castle raised the end value of the land because the historic building was totally destroyed and ceased to be a major political obstacle in new development. Only the facia remains and this could be incorporated into any new structure if it doesn’t totally fall down first.

With the collapse of CLICO, the DLP government moved to grab the asset. They didn’t move to protect the public interest in the historic building before the CLICO collapse because Leroy Parris, David Thompson and the DLP were tight as thieves and the idea was to allow Parris to let the building fall to ruin, then maximize the profit from the lands.

And there was also that one little sticking point about the DLP never acting responsibly at the time to protect the interests of Bajans: Prime Minister Thompson and Leroy Parris were godfather to each other’s children. Thompson was also CLICO’s lawyer for over a decade when the company failed to file financial statements and broke the law, and CLICO Parris et al were major financial contributors to the DLP.

CLICO was a very messy conflict of interest indeed for Thompson and the DLP.

Fortunately for the DLP though, David Thompson is now conveniently dead and revered instead of being subject to what would have been a tsunami of Opposition attacks over the CLICO cover-up and conflicts of interest.

Now the DLP government is going to take Sam Lord’s and sell it to make some good profits. Or… perhaps sell it to friends at a low price so the friends can make the profits and kickback some contributions to the DLP. That’s how things work around here, you know.

Here is the one truth in my article that you should remember above all else if you are a CLICO policy holder or other victim…

The Barbados Government will never pay CLICO for Sam Lord’s Castle. No matter whether the asset is fairly valued or under-valued, not one dollar of government money will be transferred to the assets of CLICO where the money could benefit the victims.

Instead there will be some finagling with the books and some credit or swap against CLICO’s real or contrived debt to the government coffers.

The pillaging of the good CLICO assets continues to the ultimate detriment of the poor suckers who believed that the Barbados Superintendent of Insurance and the Barbados Government were looking after policyholders’ interests.

Parris and his gang were able to do what they did only because they had the cooperation and friendship of Caribbean governments. Indeed, it could truly be said that in the case of Barbados, CLICO, Parris and Thompson owned the DLP government.

Policyholders: kiss your assets goodbye.

Further Reading

BFP, October 21, 2010: Sam Lord’s Castle burns to the ground thanks to Barbados DLP, BLP, CLICO, Leroy Parris

BFP, April 11, 2009: How CLICO Ruined A Barbados Heritage Site: Sam Lord’s Castle