Before Anthony Headley
Barbados’ First Freedom Village Now Ruble – And No One Will Be Held Accountable
What idiocy! At the same time that the government and citizens are putting more emphasis on our roots and bringing clarity to some of the misconceptions of our history, the Environmental Protection Department (EPD) demolished that last bit of original history at Rock Hall Freedom Village.
EPD deputy director Anthony Headley was told personally by Member of Parliament Cynthia Forde that the mistake was about to be made. She saw a EPD demolition sign on the hut and called him up – for all the good it did.
Somebody Should Be Sacked
Anthony Headley would be a good place to start, seeing as he has proven himself to be an idiot and incapable of intelligent thought. Under Freedom of Information, it would also be good to examine the entire process – starting with the last government’s spending $1.3 million dollars for the Rock Hall Freedom Village project and accomplishing exactly nothing. Remember all that business about marking the slave route and promoting our heritage? Money is gone, where is the product?
But back to the issue at hand: Anthony Headley was told about the historical significance of the slave hut, and that a mistake was about to be made regarding demolition. He was told by a Member of Parliament that the government had acquired the land and that his records were wrong. He was told to stop the demolition. When that information was passed to him, Headley became a responsible person.
So, SACK HIM.
Then find out who else screwed up and issued the original order and SACK THEM TOO.
We’ll stop short of firing the workers who demolished a historical landmark – but they are unthinking stupid idiots at the very least.
And as far as Cynthia Forde goes, she was a big part of the Rock Hall preservation project and spending $1.3 million, so why wasn’t a sign and a fence put up to protect the hut? Why didn’t she follow up on such an important issue after her uneasy phone call with Mr. Anthony “poop-for-brains” Headley?
After Anthony Headley
Don’t Hold Your Breath Waiting For Someone To Be Held Accountable
This is Barbados folks. We don’t do accountability. We don’t even sack people when they steal or misuse their government position. Nope, we make them Senators.
And here is the best part: this is the second time that this has happened. In 2003 government workers knocked down the second-last slave hut “by accident”.
Will somebody please assign some accountability around this place? This slave hut travesty is a micro-example of what keeps Barbados from achieving greatness. Things “just happen” with no one being responsible or being held responsible. We tear down historical buildings, build a wall of condos on the west coast so we can’t even see the water and mismanage the last mangrove forest so badly that even philanthropists who want to give us millions are driven away.
… But no government official is ever held to account for their actions and mismanagement.
From The Nation…
Licks Over Slave Hut
BARBADOS’ FIRST FREE VILLAGE has lost a significant part of its history.
On Wednesday morning, workmen from the Environmental Protection Department (EPD) demolished the only slave hut which was still standing at the Rock Hall Freedom Village in Rock Hall, St Thomas.
A distraught Cynthia Forde, parliamentary representative for St Thomas, who was behind the development of the $1.37 million project last year, said she was shocked and heartbroken when she passed by the village on Wednesday morning and saw only a shell of the slave hut remaining.
She told the WEEKEND NATION that on Tuesday she noticed a demolition sign had been placed on the building and she immediately contacted the EPD and spoke to deputy director Anthony Headley.
“I explained to him that the structure was part of the Rock Hall Freedom Village and that it was going to be renovated and used as an Interpretation Centre. I told him that the hut was integral to the history of the project and I asked him for a stay of demolition so that I could speak to the authorities in the various ministries who were involved in the project.
“He told me that the sign was put there to communicate to the landowner, but I indicated to him that Government was the landowner and that the property had been acquired. He went on to tell me that it was legally entitled to be demolished but at the end of our conversation, I was satisfied that some time would be given to investigate the situation.”
… read the entire article at The Nation (link here)
