GUEST COLUMN – Stop passing economic buck

By Michael Rudder | Tue, August 31, 2010 - 12:00 AM

CAN YOU help mefind answers to my questions?

Did I hear correctly my constituency representative and the Acting Prime Minister say, during the recent DLP annual conference, that he was not the Minister of Finance? If it’s not him then who is? If there are decisions to be made by such a minister or documents to be signed, who is doing that job? “Not I” said the fly.

Which of two statements is correct? Mr Wayne Kirton, CEO of Invest Barbados, is reported in a lengthy PR interview in another section of the Press on Sunday, August 15, as saying: “I am on record as saying that bureaucracy is a serious hindrance to economic recovery and growth; it takes too long to get Cabinet’s plans actioned and to respond to investment proposals.”

Later in the piece he says, in response to the question about foreign direct investment, that there is a plan, first to meet the needs of existing international businesses, and he goes on “with a very targeted and well researched approach, exploring new markets, eliminating the delays and unnecessary bureaucracy affecting investors in the local environment”.

Is there a problem here with so called bureaucracy or not?

Finally, as he puts it, “waxing allegorical” he is speaking about the passengers on the ships on the current economic rough seas.

He notes, inter alia: “There will be passengers who refuse to believe they’re in the storm, passengers who panic, passengers who party on oblivious to the storm, and passengers who chip in and help keep the ship on an even keel. We need more of the latter and less of the former.”

Unclear position

I am lost. For a moment I thought he was on my side, recognising that we have too much partying, but he speaks of “the former (two?)” and “the latter (two?).”

I don’t know about you but I am sick and tired of the West Indies Players’ Association (WIPA) and the West Indies Cricket Board’s (of non-control) (WICB) perpetual confusion.

Get new players

Is there a group of investors in the region that is willing to bite the bullet and appoint two or three well-intentioned former cricket greats to select a completely new team of Caribbean cricketers, leaving WIPA and WICB to continue playing their games before empty stands?

These men will, initially, be contracted only to the consortium, say for three years. They will play top state, provincial and county sides around the world. We expect them to win. Bonuses will only be paid if they win.

Do you agree that we need to bring back to the region pride in our cricketers? The region’s economies are fragile but the continuing squabble between the cricket rock and the cricket hard place can best be described as vulgar. Do you agree?

Yes, I agree with the right to associate but it’s time for change, verbal ping pong is not cricket, is it?

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Posted by zoeyhutch 1 year, 8 months ago: Thanks for enunciating my point exactly. God know that West Indies players needed a Union. What they did not need is a Che Guevarra type of person helming it. I have be hollering across the Caribbean for God knows how long telling people the head of WIPA is too vocal, too powerful, and sets a bad example for a Union boss.

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Posted by zoeyhutch 1 year, 8 months ago: The ruling DLP would not admit they can not run the country. Hence the reason they are preoccupied with frivolity ... a national dress, renaming parks, etc. We want them to declared themselves unfit to govern and call an election. The longer they postpone the inevitable, the longer the bleeding will continue.