SOLUTION TO COUNTRY’S ECONOMIC PROBLEMS
Monday, October 26th, 2009
BARBADOS ADVOCATE
DENIS KELLMAN’S COLUMN - THE DEBATE
JULY 22, 2005
On the 5th March 1991, a Cabinet Note 91 was prepared and presented to members. This explanatory note was done as part of the open policy of the Sandiford Administration to keep the public of Barbados abreast of what was happening within his administration and to reinstate the five per cent cut taken from Ministers and Parliamentary Secretaries by Mr. Barrow in 1986.
This decision by the Sandiford Administration was in keeping with his philosophy. Mr. Sandiford was always consistent with his stance on salaries and wages. He always felt that workers were entitled to proper wages when the country could afford it and in time of need, the said workers should give up some of their earnings to safeguard the interest of the country.
The records would show that Sir Lloyd never opposed increases for Parliamentarians and workers and that he supported the 1977 Nicholls’ Report which was accepted by a select committee of Parliament and became effective on ‘All Fools Day’ 1978 during the reign of the Barbados Labour Party. In addition, one should bear the following points in mind:
The policy of granting Ministers and other Parliamentarians salaries was endorsed by the Sandiford Administration as far back as 1978. The reinstatement of the five per cent cut was only in keeping with the Relativity Concept being pronounced by the present administration.
The Barbados Labour Party members argued that the then administration was only looking after themselves, when in truth and in fact, they were accepting the report done by the committee established to do the regrading at the request of the Unions.
This was given to the Government by the committee on behalf of the Unions who then turned around and opposed it and was subsequently used as a political football by the Social Partnership. We were told by the then Opposition that all workers should have benefited from the regrading exercise even though the country had a cash flow problem as stated by the Right Honourable Owen Arthur on 19th July, 2005.
He told us then that the Net Foreign Assets at September 1991 were $11.9M and by October 1991, $16.5M, clearly showing that the request of the Social Partnership of the day was wrong and that they were misguided by the then Opposition.
Had the DLP not reinstated the five per cent cut opposed by Mr. Sandiford during 1986, the Ministers and parliamentary Secretaries would have taken a 13 per cent cut while the rest of the Public Service would have had an eight per cent cut, which meant that the Opposition Members and Backbenchers would have been five per cent better off than Ministers and Parliamentary Secretaries.
The case of Relativity now being used by the present Government members should have been used in 1991 using the Nicholls’ Commission Report, the Unions would have been apologizing to the DLP today. The present Government has foreign reserves of $1.9 billion and using the same principle employed by them in 1991, all workers in Barbados are entitled to a salary increase since we have $1.9 billion as at June 2005, as stated by the Prime Minister as opposed to $11.9M and $16.5M in 1991 when Government was being pressured.
After hearing the case put by the Prime Minister on Tuesday and the way he used the Cabinet Note (91), I have accepted his apology on behalf of the Sandiford Administration which I defended on the call-in programme. As a result of this defence, a Canon was provoked to ask me whether or not the DLP had anyone else to defend their cause.
On Tuesday, the Prime Minister said that we mismanaged the Foreign Debt of Barbados. The evidence shows that in 1986, when we took over the administration of Government, the Net Foreign Debt was $588.5M. By the time the Social Partnership, based on the evidence given by the BLP, dealt with the DLP resulting in their defeat at the polls, the Net Foreign Debt was only $718.7M.
This translates to an average net amount yearly of $16.3M as opposed to the BLP who took over in 1994, when the Net Foreign Debt was $718.8M and during the following years, they increased it to $1 345.3M. this is 66 per cent higher than it was for over 370 years and equates to a net borrowing rate to $78.3M as opposed to$16.3M by the DLP.
The present Administration had four options from which to choose:
(1) A regrading for a select few, leaving out the rest of workers.
(2) An across the board increase for all workers based on foreign reserves of $1.9 billion and high liquidity.
(3) Wage restraints as requested by the Governor of the Central Bank.
(4) Kellmanomics - a theory that allows you to compensate workers, increase production, look after the workers at the bottom and increase disposable income for all without increasing production costs. This theory also allows you to have a mechanism in place to dampen imports whilst supporting local vendors, manufacturers, farmers and fishermen.
Is the Minister of Energy and Public Utilities aware that inflation has impacted severely on the disposable income of workers? I cannot tell the Government what to do, but I have spent the last 11 years searching for a solution to this country’s problems and I am happy that I have been able to find that urgent solution.
My deepest sympathy goes out to the Commissioner of Police and his nephew, who were busy attending a 2:00 p.m. funeral of a family when an inconsiderate person saw it fit to interfere by creating a bomb scare. Politicians did not take this scare seriously hence an hour after Parliament was adjourned, persons were still going in and out of Parliament at leisure.
It is with profound regret that I will not be here next Tuesday. As was known to all Politicians, the opportunity to speak first last Tuesday was intended to facilitate my trip to a conference. It is regrettable that an alleged bomb deprived me from having the opportunity to make a contribution to such an important debate.
(Denis Kellman is the Member of Parliament for St. Lucy, Barbados)
