I, as Minister of Finance and Economic Affairs, take responsibility for whatever issues and problems this economy may be faced with at this time. – Chris Sinckler, at the Barbados Chamber of Commerce and Industry Luncheon, May 29.
He was, without doubt, and apparently unapologetically so, the face of everything that was wrong with the Barbados economy this year.
And even when he seemingly tried to distance himself from some of the austerity measures inflicted on a long-suffering people, the man whom he would fain supplant as Prime Minister treated him as did David with Uriah the Hittite and insisted he go forward and face the populace, but that punishment was not accompanied by laughter.
From a reluctant admission of three failed consolidation and growth plans through to an error-filled 2013 Budget, a series of downgrades by several regional and international credit rating agencies, down to an arm-twisting by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) that will likely cost up to 3 500 public servants their jobs in 2014, the blame finger was pointed at one individual.
But not only was Minister of Finance Chris Sinckler at the centre of a Government bestilled by inertia, ignoring advice from the most impartial sources, he also found it increasingly difficult to keep his size 12s out of his mouth with derogatory comments about women that riled up everybody except the National Organization of Women (NOW) – headed by a former Democratic Labour Party (DLP) candidate – whose tepid response was that the remarks were “unfortunate”.
Still, it was his management – the official Opposition says mismanagement – of the economy that set him at odds with the rest of Barbados and even some Cabinet colleagues, especially Prime Minister Freundel Stuart, whose mildest rebuke, if not intended repudiation, was that the announced policies were not cast in stone and Government was open to dialogue and alternative ideas.
In an election year, some Barbadians are still bemused at how, despite the waning international recession, an economy that before the February 21 poll was touted by Sinckler, his advisors and the DLP as “stable” could find itself by year-end one step away from a formal arrangement with the dreaded IMF that many fear would itself lead to the unthinkable – devaluation of the Barbados dollar.
As it is, the IMF has been invited in under the cover of a technical assistance programme to look at two areas of Government’s operations: tax administration and fiscal/operational reform in key statutory entities starting from January.
Sinckler said that along with a high-level task force of senior finance, business and accounting experts, the IMF team is expected to finalize a reform agenda for the selected entities to be presented to him by mid-year.
That is the sorry pass to which Sinckler’s leadership has brought the Barbados economy as he demonstrated a remarkable inability to rein in runaway spending by a cash-strapped Government that resorted to having the Central Bank print money in the face of declining revenues along with rapid and significant depletion of the foreign reserves.
To that must be added heavy domestic borrowing – up to $40 million monthly to pay public servants – and a failure to raise loans on the international markets even in the face of almost extortionate interest rates.
Sinckler’s concession of failure is aptly summarized in his Ministerial Statement in the House of Assembly on December 13 as an IMF team looked on: “Over the period of the economic downturn, our efforts at fiscal consolidation have been heavily tilted towards cuts in outlays for goods and services and selected increases in taxation. Little headway has been made in cutting subsidies and transfers, given the deep structural make-up of these.”
But while Sinckler could claim no mastery of the economy, he could proudly claim proficiency in platform invective, having inherited the mantle from his late friend and mentor.
It showed in his reference on April 8 to June Fowler, chairman of the Barbados Investors and Policyholders Alliance (BIPA), who attempted to correct a mistake she perceived he had made in relation to the CLICO situation as a “jack rabbit”, a “moojin” and being as “ignorant as a bald pooch cat”.
Predictably, the remarks set off a firestorm of criticism from virtually every quarter with several calls for his resignation or dismissal from the Cabinet.
However, after some initial resistance and typical bluster, Sinckler issued a public apology to Fowler:
“I have a wife and I got children too, girl children, and so I feel that it is incumbent on me to withdraw my comments and to issue an apology to her sincerely.
“I apologize to her, her husband, her family and the members of her organization. I sincerely apologize. I should not have said it. I got a little upset and I felt justified in my being upset, but you still have to be charitable to people.”
But Sinckler failed to heed his own counsel and in reference to a no-confidence motion tabled against him in the House by Leader of the Opposition Mia Mottley, he was equally as dismissive and coarse: “We’re now only left to see her strip naked and run down Broad Street in her attempt to get attention.”
Amidst all of these troubles, some suggested it was a mere attempt at distraction when Sinckler told the House during debate on the defeated motion (the majority of Government MPs did not speak to support him) that he had been informed of a possible plot to take his life.
The news, he said, was brought by a superintendent from the Royal Barbados Police Force’s Special Services Unit.
“He told me that they had credible information that two people were overheard planning to shoot me.”
As Sinckler looks back on 2013, he will likely refer to it as our Queen Elizabeth II did to the year 1992 – her 40th anniversary of accession – when the royal family was beset by troubles and misfortune, as his annus horribilis, which earns him selection as the Most Controversial Person of the Year.
