Central Bank of Barbados still hiding from news media

That’s Governor ‘Weasel Words’ Worrell on the right… er, left!

Over a year ago Dr. DeLisle Worrell, the head thug of the Central Bank of Barbados, took issue with a Nation News story about the central bank.

So did Worrell ask the paper for space to present his thoughts to the citizens? Did he demand an apology, retraction or correction? Did he write an article to be published in the media or on the bank’s website?

Nope… Worrell banned Nation journalists from all bank events. Worrell wants to control what the press says about him and banning them was his stupid, thuggish reaction to an article he disagreed with.

This is so typical of the Bajan elites’ contempt for freedom of the press and the right of citizens to hold government officials and institutions accountable.

Journalist Ian Bourne

Then the central bank issued a press release in an attempt to backpedal, but as our friend Ian Bourne of Bajan Reporter points out, the Central Bank of Barbados hasn’t held a quarterly statement media briefing since then.

Bajan Reporter is sticking to its guns and hasn’t published the bank’s quarterly reports, and won’t until the institution resumes press briefings. In return, the bank has cut off advertising revenues to The Bajan Reporter, but as Bourne says, he will not sacrifice his dignity at the alter of CBB’s coffers.

And as Worrell is showing – once a thug, always a thug.

Check out The Bajan Reporter for the whole story on how the Central Bank of Barbados is failing to be accountable and transparent to citizens and government alike: Bajan Reporter will carry CBB’s media statements as soon as Quarterly Press Conferences resume.

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The government we deserve…

Many of our politicians have fallen short of their promises, or have done great injury to their stewardship. In some cases, they have shown to be less than scrupulous in their management of our affairs. Yet we reward them with more time for embarrassment. Our only excuse, perhaps, is that within the context of our democracy there must be a Government –– good, bad or indifferent.

But how can we explain retaining any Government that seizes land compulsorily and breaches the law by refusing to pay for it? How can we contemplate returning the same Government to power that squanders more than $300 million on failed projects? How can we give succour to any leader who fails to discipline a parliamentary colleague brought to public shame by the highest court in the land?

How can we forgive any Government that has ravaged our agriculture sector? How can we forgive politicians who facilitate construction contracts without a bidding process? How can we be satisfied with leadership that doesn’t boast of achievements, but wallows in lofty verbosity, smug claims of not reading newspapers and punishing dissenters with laughter?

How can we not ask for accountability in situations where some politicians possess six high-end cars, obtained on Government salaries that are common knowledge in the Official Gazette? How can millions of dollars be spirited away from an insurance company and our Attorney General not demand a criminal investigation by the police? How can a state-appointed insurance supervisory body fail to carry out its mandate to the detriment of thousands of policyholders and no heads roll? How can an Auditor General annually expose instances of fraud and blatant theft and yet no one is held to account?

… read the entire editorial at Barbados Today – Getting the governance we deserve

Barbados Attorney General Adriel Brathwaite is a LIAR

It’s an old story, an old lie, but it’s still true that Attorney General Adriel Brathwaite and his DLP gang lied to get elected and then lied again to get re-elected.

They said they would put Conflict of Interest rules in place immediately upon election. They lied.

They said they would pass Integrity Legislation within 100 days of election. They lied.

They said they would pass Freedom of Information laws. They lied.

Brathwaite is a liar.

And we’re going to continue telling like it is.

Come and get us Brathwaite. YOU ARE A DAMNED LIAR.

And here’s the proof…

Barbados Attorney General admits Integrity Legislation is dead, dead, dead

Lost your job recently? Tough luck… your first Solid Waste Tax payment is due at the end of June

New tax heaps insult upon injury

About to be unleashed on tens of thousands of Barbados Property owners is a new Tax that over time will cost thousands of dollars per household. Slipped into Parliament, approved and now to be implemented by month end, the first Solid Waste Tax installment is due by the end of June.

Please correct me, but were we not already paying taxes that the government said supported waste collection?

Where are people going to get the money to pay this new onerous tax?

Madness… this is what people in other countries take to the streets for! Help!

BLP Senator Wilfred Abrahams sees the harm coming…

“There are people in Barbados who do not have $215 to pay to keep on the electricity, to keep on the water… I do not believe that legislation aimed at raising revenue should catch people like pensioners. There is a reason they were excluded from Land Tax, there is a reason that concessions are usually being given in respect of pensioners. Why are we dragging them into this catch all?”

Senator Wilfred Abrahams talks to the Barbados Advocate

Meanwhile, Government Senator Maxine McClean says another tax is no problem so shut up.

First Solid Waste Tax Installment Due Month End
Dated June 11, 2014

Property owners are advised that the first installment of the new Municipal Solid Waste Tax should be paid by month-end.

Revenue Commissioner of the Barbados Revenue Authority, Margaret Sivers, said property owners would be allowed to pay the new tax in two equal installments.

Tennyson Joseph: DeLisle Worrell’s folly

Tin-pot dictator, Insecure, drunk on power…

“To issue a ban and to accuse the Nation of “lack of professional integrity” is burning a house to kill an ant. Banning a media house for a misleading headline is the kind of action associated with backward tin-pot dictators, rather than very intelligent, highly placed civil servants.

In a context of authoritarian political leadership, our leading public servants must lift the political culture above the paranoid vindictiveness we associate with insecure politicians, drunk on power…”

Good reading at the Trinidad Express – Tennyson Joseph: DeLisle Worrell’s folly

A new model of Governance for Barbados

by David Comissiong

During the 2013 General Election season the Democratic Labour Party (DLP) spent millions of dollars on a propaganda campaign that was designed to convince you – the people of Barbados  – that the DLP was profoundly committed to maintaining all existing jobs in the public sector of Barbados.

They used the millions of dollars given to them by un-named wealthy “donors” on advertisements and public meetings in which they assured you that a vote for the DLP was a vote to preserve public sector jobs, and that a vote for the opposition Barbados Labour Party (BLP) would be a vote for privatisation of public entities and loss of public sector jobs!

Indeed, they even went beyond this and actually created additional public sector jobs during the year leading up to the General Elections!

Now, a few months later, the leaders of the DLP have callously and unabashedly informed you that there are too many persons employed in the public sector ; that over 5,000 of these jobs are being cut; and that — in the words of Minister Donville Inniss – the decision to cut these jobs was not a tough decision to make!  This, mind you, is the same Donville Inniss that is a member of the largest and highest paid Cabinet in the history of Barbados – the same Donville Inniss who publicly rubbished the proposal that Ministers of Government should take a salary cut!

Well, there you have it!  Once again you have been taken for a ride!    

LPG prices up Sunday midnight, but we’re not supposed to know until 7pm

Barbados Government Information Service: This press release EMBARGOED UNTIL 7:00 P.M Sunday February 20

LPG PRICES UP AGAIN

There has been a slight increase in the price of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG).

Effective midnight, Sunday, February 20, the retail cost of LPG will be increased in keeping with the imported price of petroleum products.  As a consequence, the 100-pound cylinder will now be retailed at $155.02 – an increase of 42 cents.  The 25-pound cylinder will now cost $41.40, up by 11 cents; while the 20-pound cylinder will now be retailed at $33.12 – an increase of 9 cents. (AR/BGIS)