A GUY'S VIEW - Sabotage, sabotage, sabotage
“I got up this morning tried to get off of work
I couldn’t even find not one clean shirt
There was no hot water when I jumped in the shower
I know my boss is gonna dock me an hour
The older I get the more I discover
If it ain’t one thing it’s another.”
– Randy Travis: If It Ain’t One Thing It’s Another.
In recent weeks in Barbados it seems that we are moving from one crisis to another with barely any normalcy in between. This situation gives one a new sense of appreciation for those who manage the affairs of this country.
When all is well and moving smoothly, everyone pushes to the front to take credit for things that they hardly knew anything about, but recent events in Barbados have clearly demonstrated that governing the affairs of a democratic country is not easy.
In a planned economy, Government decisions are made without too much consideration for how they may impact citizens. Not so in a capitalist system where the assets are principally owned by private interests. Every decision has to be weighed in the balance to ensure that it is not found wanting when implemented. Well, at least that is the hope.
Governance becomes doubly difficult when there are deliberate attempts to sabotage every progressive effort. All indications are that sabotage is rife in this country at this time.
Unhappy coincidences have been swift one behind the other, but one tended to put this down to the fact that when it rains it pours at times. The idea of happenstance did not convince a friend who kept pointing out that some of the things she was observing could only be sabotage.
The elephant in the room at this time is the South Coast sewage situation. It should be of major concern to every person in Barbados that the sewage system in the heart of the tourism belt has begun to act up in the winter season. A number of persons have been pointing out that some of the events associated with this occurrence seem contrived.
It has been reported that body parts have been found in that sewage system. Why would human hands and feet be found in a waste system? The Queen Elizabeth Hospital is not on the South Coast and I am not sure of what other facility in Barbados routinely disposes of human body parts.
As far as the public has been informed, body parts amputated at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital are incinerated and should not make their way into our sewage system.
A private conversation revealed that persons working with the sewage system have regular encounters with foetuses. Opinions have been expressed on how these end up in the sewage system, but no one thinks that the system was designed to deal with such matter.
This raises questions of a larger dimension for our health care system, but while the disposal of aborted foetuses into our sewage system may be improper, one would have no reason to think that this was done to deliberately congest the system. But how does one explain bed sheets, bath towels and other items that will not dissolve and can do nothing but block up the system?
The Barbados Water Authority personnel implemented a number of remedial steps to try to resolve the problem, but there have been deliberate attempts to stop these initiatives from achieving their goal. The Water Authority officials disclosed that they were looking at creating a link to see if their Bay Street lift station could assist with relieving the pressure on the South Coast system. In the midst of their efforts, it was reported that some person broke into the Bay Street lift station and turned off the power. And for good measure, defecated on the premises.
The many occurrences of obvious human agency in things going wrong, makes one look more closely at those other events that may otherwise seem purely accidental. Almost every person who spoke to it, expressed the view that the power outage which hit the country on the afternoon of the swearing in of the new Governor General was sabotage. No evidence has been presented to support this, but coming after a string of apparently contrived mishaps, this impression may have been left. The fact that this idea has even entered our contemplation speaks to the unhealthy environment which now hangs over us.
Our road network has fallen into serious disrepair. It is a concern for all road users, pedestrians and motorists alike. But there is at least one person who swears that all of our road problems are not naturally occurring.
She pointed out that there were a number of roads that she regularly used which displayed minor deterioration in quality, consistent with normal wear and tear. However, when she passed back the next morning she often found a “cleanly cut” pot hole. This was sometimes quickly followed by red paint to mark the spot. It is a little farfetched to imagine a person driving around with a peck, creating or widening holes in the roads, but it seems that a decision has been made to undermine everything in this country and no holes are barred.
If our roads are so poorly built that they cannot survive a shower of rain, we need to take a closer look at how our roads are built and or those who build them. We either have poor road builders or they are using either substandard materials or inappropriate techniques.
Cabinet papers find their way to the Opposition at the same time as they reach the Prime Minister, it seems. To what end? Some person or persons are bent on ensuring that the decisions of state are as ineffectual as possible. Although some members of Cabinet may have friends across the aisle, one doubts that they are trying to undermine their own Government. If this assumption is correct, then the persons who are paid to carry out Government policy are trying to sabotage it.
Elections are always periods of heightened activity, but for the first time it seems that we have been subjected to electioneering for five straight years. But that is not a problem. Every person who seeks the leadership of our country has the right to employ the strategy best suited to him or her. And I am sure that Lynette Eastmond, Grenville Phillips II or Mia Mottley are not breaking into Barbados Water Authority facilities to sabotage their operations.
It has not occurred to the saboteurs among us that they are sabotaging their country. When Barbadians decide, they will confirm or change the ruling administration, but this country is bigger than a ruling party. And what goes around comes around. We may have started a dangerous cycle.