Bureaucracy the hazard

By – Leonard St Hill
| Thu, July 26, 2012 - 12:02 AM

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Disaster Emergency Management should not be short-staffed while the Barbados Defence Force is duly equipped to perform its alloted task of prevention and protection for the civilian population from dangers both natural and man-made that are beyond the capabilities of the Fire Service and Royal Barbados Police Force.

Bureaucracy is an added hazard to any disaster which requires prompt intelligent and instinctive action from preparedness which only special training provides. Delay in bureaucratic administrative deliberation is as dangerous as misdirection of response.

The Barbados Defence Force has no higher priority in its training than to provide in its deployment throughout the country the service for which candidates are recruited at public expense with legitimate expectations. The intervention of a civilian bureaucratic administration is superfluous. Trained “volunteer reserves” accountable to the command of the BDF is acceptable as a supplement.

Central and immediate command of Emergency Management is imperative.

Direct action for which reliance should be placed on the BDF should eliminate the obstruction inherent in the bureaucracy of the DEM and realize greater economy in the efficient deployment of scarce resources.