IT WAS quite refreshing to hear the Minister of Agriculture and Water Resource Management speak to his ministry’s short, medium and long-term plans to alleviate our water woes and to hear that sometime in 2018 two new desalination plants should significantly augment our current water supply.
Perhaps we can finally look forward to a Barbados where water will be readily available to all citizens.
It is possible that those who are currently without water may view the minister’s posits with cautious optimism, but I hope that through objective reflection they can see the news as a light at the end of a very dark tunnel.
There can be little doubt for the time being that dry taps will be the norm in the course of our daily activity, but I am hoping that those who continue to be affected by water outages can find the resolve and fortitude to continue to play the difficult hand that they have been dealt.
According to Les Brown: “Just because fate doesn’t deal you the right cards, it doesn’t mean you should give up or do little. It just means you have to play the cards you get to their maximum potential”.
I will take this opportunity to contend that this concept must also be applied to Barbadian leaders and Government ministers alike. And while it may be politically and strategically practical to lay blame at the feet of previous administrations for failed and unimplemented projects, after eight years of executive governance, take note, that it appears that more and more Barbadians on either side of the political divide are no longer prepared to accept excuses for little or no action being taken when it comes to critical issues.
Just as the Barbadians in the northern and eastern corridors have to play the cards that they have been dealt, the same is legitimately expected, foreseeably demanded and representatively applicable to all those who are in charge of our affairs.
If you are prepared to sit at the table, you should also be prepared to play the hand that is dealt. The time for excuses with inaction is gone.
– Sean St Clair Fields
