The role of government in Barbados needs to be reassessed in light of our economic growth and social progress over the past 60 years and in light of the growing demands on shrinking resources in a time of global recession. Over time, this role has expanded to embrace a growing range of economic activities and services as political representatives seek solutions to our social problems by spreading the wealth instead of focusing on wealth creation.
Perhaps we should learn from one of the Chinese proverbs. “Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.” This particular proverb has oft been quoted but little internalized for it is much more difficult thing to achieve than to provide the fish with money that is extracted from others.
It is time to restructure government and bolster the productive sectors of our economy that create wealth for individuals and the nation as a whole. In so doing we should level with the public about the reality of our economic predicament and stop trying to paper over the degree of current unemployment and under employment in the country.
Using government institutions as welfare agencies by employing people without having work for them to perform, we create cohorts of unemployables who learn to draw a salary while avoiding work and responsibility. The stories are legion of new government employees taken on to perform a particular function and find that their daily work allocation can be accomplished within the first hour or two of the day.
Under the direction of supervisors, they quickly learn to expand a one hour job to four hours and then learn the art of kabuki by simulating activity for the rest of the day in an effort to look busy. The Ministry of Housing is a classic example of this with a reported 23 maids being employed to clean the building at Country Road when 3 or 4 would do.
The world over, it is recognized that Government does not excel at operating economic enterprises. Well meaning or self serving political interference in the operation of business activities like the omnibus operations in Barbados is a prime example. Government should divest itself of the Transport Board and at the same time strengthen its regulation of the operations of all omnibus or minibus operators to ensure that the public is afforded a safe and economical mode of public transportation.
It must be patently obvious to all that the government cannot act as an impartial regulator for a fleet that it owns and operates. Accommodations are bound to be made in the exercise of regulatory discipline and conflicts of interest arise between regulator and operator. At the same time political expediency will always be seen to play a part even in circumstances when it does not. The transport board cannot continue to operate at the level of losses that it has accumulated over the decades and should be run as a business generating a profit to allow a reasonable return and appropriate investment in replacing its fleet.
If Government determines that certain sections of the society should receive discounted or free travel, provisions should be made to pay all operators to be reimbursed for the discounts provided as a result of government policy.
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