St. John Breadbasket Abandoned

The parish of St. John is blessed with an abundance of rainfall and a fertility of soil that makes it one of the most productive agricultural areas of Barbados. For centuries it has produced an abundance of food crops and sugar cane to feed us and produce wealth for the island through the export of sugar and molasses. It is a parish that I have come to love with its rolling hills and lush valleys on the high plateau where I went to school and where I have lived for the past four decades. Its people are hard working and have a sense of community that is uplifting.

As the seasons come and go, it is a delight to observe the planting and growth of sugar cane and the rotation of crops as farmers adjust to the changing weather patterns, crop infestations and consumer demand to maximize their return from the soil. The owners of small farms and large landholdings all wrestle with crop theft and crop disease as well as the theft of livestock. They deal with drought and flood and in the crop time with the threat of cane fires.

Through all this they remain undaunted, toiling to make a living for themselves and their families. As they do so they bring to bear a remarkable set of skills and ingenuity to improve the husbandry of the land. Water conservations systems and irrigation mitigate the periods of drought, specially designed enclosed areas prevent infestations of bungee top for paw paws and white fly for tomatoes and as each problem is encountered their indomitable spirit devises a solution.

This year however, it seems as though things in St. John are different. Large tracts of land are lying fallow and the vines are strangling the new shoots of sugar cane that were emerging from the ground. The is much evidence of a lack of fertilizer and a proliferation of weeds as cultivated lands from Clifton Hall to Pool, Henley and Todds become overgrown. Hothersal, Wakefield, Bowmanston and Lemon Arbor show similar signs of distress as thousands of acres of prime agricultural land seem to lie abandoned and unproductive as weeds and vines run riot.

All of these once beautiful plantations are owned by Clico or its subsidiaries. One can only assume that their abandonment is a direct result of the collapse of Clico. In the best of times it would be unconscionable to allow this prime area of farm land to remain unproductive. Given our present economic straights and the growing unemployment on the island we should make every effort to return the Clico plantations to their former level of productivity.

Given the rate of their decline and the rapid march of reforestation that is taking place quick action needs to be taken as the cost of cultivating the land is rapidly growing with each passing day. The collapse of Clico should not be allowed to wreck such a large part of our national heritage that is so important to our sustainable development.

phillip.goddard@braggadax.com

Economic Crisis is a Real and Present Danger

The recent evaluations of the Barbadian economy by Moody’s and Standard & Poor’s, has focused our minds on the economic outlook for all of us. While I am an optimist by nature I have long thought that the global economy was not as resilient as some have claimed and that the excesses of social spending in the United States and Europe were coming home to roost with a vengeance.

Consequently, the outlook for Barbados was much more dire than was predicted by Government ministers as well as many in the business community who saw the global recession as a passing cloud. The cloud has proved to be depression with the potential to develop into and economic hurricane. Unfortunately, government’s policies seem to have seeded the darkening clouds and intensified the crisis. 

To add fuel to the raging storm, the rapid expansion of the deficit in Barbados over the past two years, places us in an increasingly precarious position. With minor variations, our deficit spending has been remarkably consistent for the past three and a half decades. The past two years has seen a dramatic shift however, with the deficit widening at an alarming rate. A rate that exceeds the deficit expansion that took place in the last years of the Sandiford administration in the early 1990’s or as a result of the attack on the United States by Al Qaeda in 2001.

To compound matters, the increased deficit spending has resulted in an unwarranted expansion of government and other activities that add little to our capacity to expand production and increase foreign exchange earnings. In other words it seems as though expenditure has been driven by politically expedient objectives that have little to do with strengthening the economy and everything about hopes for a reelection.

A prime example is the introduction of the constituency councils that are designed to raise the barrier to entry for any new comers seeking to represent their constituencies in Parliament. They add no value and use scarce financial resources.

It is time for the government to get serious about cutting expenditure and waste. We can no longer afford to pay high level civil servants to do nothing at their desks but eat lunch and chat on the phone with friends or play computer games. This does not mean that there are not highly skilled and dedicated individuals in the public service that are self motivated and work inordinately long hours serving our country. Unfortunately they are very much in the minority and it has become a classic case of 20 percent of the people doing 80 percent of the work. That is an unsustainable state of affairs.

The evidence that we are in a serious financial crisis is before our eyes each and every day and the general public understands this very well. Many did not need the rating agencies to tell us what we knew even though it came as a surprise to the Minister of Finance. 

Construction projects are shelved and delayed; companies are taking longer and longer to pay their bills; corporate receivables are mounting and ageing; inventories are being depleted as evidenced by the growing unavailability of products on a regular basis and employees are being laid off or working short hours in the private sector.

The housewives of this country could teach the minister of finance a thing or two about cutting and contriving as the twin pincers of punitive tax measures and escalating prices adversely impact their family’s disposable income to support a bloated government.

It is time for government to set the example, clean the Aegean Stables and to cut the nonproductive activities of the public service starting with a reduction in the size of the Cabinet. The growing deficit is the greatest danger to our economy and to the quality of life of all Barbadians. I hope that the forthcoming budget will indicate that the minister of finance has come to recognize this and is prepared to do something about it.

phillip.goddard@braggadax.com

The 900 Pound Gorilla

Nearly two and a half years ago CL Financial collapsed and had to be bailed out by the Central Bank of Trinidad & Tobago. This came as no great surprise to many in the regional commercial community who had anticipated this event for several years as the swashbuckling management style of the company was ill suited to that of an insurance company. Persistent shortfalls in statutory requirements and speculative investments were coupled with double counting assets and flouted insurance company regulations.

We in Barbados were assured by Prime Minister David Thompson that there was nothing to worry about and that the Barbados operations of the company were being soundly managed. Ms. Mia Mottley, then leader of the Opposition, was not convinced and in early 2009 called for the Barbados operations to be placed under judicial management to protect the clients of CLICO. The Government thought otherwise and continued to act as though there was nothing wrong as country after country in the region from the Bahamas to Guyana placed their local CLICO operation under judicial management.

Finally, two years later, the Barbados government had no other option but to place the company under judicial management. But even this act had no sense of urgency, and Prime Minister Stuart declared that Mr. Leroy Parris, the former CEO of the Barbadian CLICO’s operations, was one of his great friends.

In the interim, from May 2009 to June 2010, CLICO operated under the constraints of a memorandum of understanding with the government of Barbados. This MOU was strangely allowed to lapse thus exposing the customers of CLICO to further loss.

During this period of looming insolvency, and under a ban from the Supervisor of Insurance to issue any further insurance policies, it came to light that CLICO had continued to sell more than a thousand new policies until the ban was strictly enforced.

Now we see that the Central Bank of Trinidad & Tobago and CLICO have enough information to bring a civil action against Mr. Lawrence Duprey, the former chairman of  CL Financial and Mr. Andre Monteil the former chairman of CLICO Investment Bank. The claims in the suit include “allegations of mismanagement of CLICO and misapplication and misappropriation of its income and assets to the detriment of its policy holders and mutual fund investors.” They also state that the forensic investigation is continuing and that further actions may be brought in light of any new evidence that maybe uncovered.

In Barbados, an interim report has been submitted to the court, and a final report is expected delivered to the court by the judicial manager within 60 days of the interim report. None of the information contained in the interim report is in the public domain but the several comments made by Mr. William Layne, the former Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Finance and chairman of the oversight committee for CLICO during the period that it operated under the MOU, gives us little confidence for a positive outcome.

It is now clear that there is a need for a wider investigation on the nature of CL Financial’s operations and activities on a regional basis and its development of agents of influence at high levels in the society and the possible manipulation of the political process. Certainly the actions of the Government of Barbados in the CLICO affair do not meet the test of transparency.

This is not your run of the mill financial scandal but one with much wider implications on the quality of governance, the rule of law and the preservation of our democratic institutions in the region. The direct economic liabilities are enormous and are estimated to be between $300 million to $500 million but the cost to the fabric of our society may even be greater.

phillip.goddard@braggadax.com

Health and Wellness

As the town hall meetings, newspapers and airwaves heat up with criticisms of the latest changes to the dispensing of pharmaceuticals through the Government Drug Service programme, we once again focus on the mechanisms of health care while drowning out the need for wellness programmes that will bring much greater benefits to us all. The Drug service provides a critical and vital service to the community, but it is fraught with problems of inefficiency and accountability as well as mission creep. For years the waste in the system has been legendary while bureaucratic resistance to change has been remarkable.

There is no doubt that the system was in need of overhaul but the recent changes did not address some fundamental issues and resulted in chaos and myriad unintended consequences. This was the result of a lack of consultation, poor planning and worse implementation. The changes were all about cutting cost and nothing about improving customer service or streamlining the system.

Once again we see the ill effects of implementing changes that are organization centric rather than customer centric. It seems to be a national pastime.

The periodic crisis events in health care solutions continue to override the more fundamental and important issues of wellness and healthy living to improve the quality of life of all Barbadians. There is a need for a greater emphasis on preventative care and quality of life issues that would result in lower health care cost and greater national productivity.

There needs to be a transformation of our health care systems that truly involves both the public sector and the business community in a way that treats people with compassion and as valuable contributors to society. We well understand that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure but we seldom put it into practice. It is time to walk the talk.

With an increasingly sophisticated society and as information becomes more readily available we need to constantly adapt and change the medical services and advice to meet the demands of the population. Certainly there needs to be much greater transparency. Individuals should be encouraged to take more responsibility for their own health and wellness and not rely on the state to meet all their needs. Indeed, that is not a sustainable economic model nor does it encourage responsible behavior.

The public health care services should be designed to meet the needs of the truly poor in society. As we continue to develop over the long term and economic conditions improve, individuals should be encouraged to invest in their own health through healthy living and exercise and seek protection through private insurance in the event of a catastrophic illness or debilitating disease. Corporate Barbados should expand their health insurance programmes as a matter of self interest, not benevolence, as a healthy workforce is a productive one. More importantly the health programmes should not just be all about health insurance but should be coupled with wellness education programmes; robust industrial safety programmes and exercise opportunities for the more sedentary workers.

Having had my say on the subject, I think that I will now cut the lawn, take the dogs for a walk and pick some good Bajan cherries for my fresh fruit of the day.

phillip.goddard@braggadax.com