Declaring that selfishness and dishonesty were not values that Government wanted to encourage in Barbados, Prime Minister Freundel Stuart today urged people who have borrowed from the Student Revolving Loan Fund to pay the money back.
He made the appeal while addressing the 59th annual conference of his Democratic Labour Party. He told the gathering, which included members of his Cabinet, he was advised that about $24 million was owed to the fund by defaulters who were “insensitive to the risks to which they have exposed their guarantors”.
He said this situation would not be allowed to continue and declared: “A word to the wise is enough!”
The Prime Minister also defended his party’s decision to make Barbadians studying at the University of the West Indies (UWI) pay part of the cost of their tuition.
He indicated that this did not mean Government was declaring war on the poor, cutting back on opportunities available for people to access university education, repudiating the legacy of former Prime Minister Errol Barrow or undermining the viability of the UWI. (TY)
