A GUY'S VIEW - Time, magic and elections

“If you wanna be with me
Baby, there's a price to pay
I'm a genie in a bottle
You gotta ask me the right way
If you wanna be with me
I can make your wish come true
Just come and set me free
Baby and I'll be with you
I'm a genie in a bottle, baby
Gotta catch me the right way honey
I'm a genie in a bottle, baby
Come, come, come in and let me out”
Dove Cameron – Genie in a bottle

If a fellow traveller asks what time is it, you would look instantly to your watch or clock. Ordinarily, we think of time in terms of seconds, minutes and hours. We may even expand it to days, years, etcetera. But what really is time?

Time speaks to progression through past, present and future. But the past is past and never will be again and there is no time in the past. And the future is not yet, and, never will be, for it will always be future. The only relevant certainty is the present. All we have is now.

Of late there have been calls from those who oppose the incumbent Government to set the date for the pending elections. It is about time, they say. This is an interesting call, especially since there is no doubt that there will soon be elections.

It is challenging to see the importance of this issue. Section 62 (1) states that, “After every dissolution of Parliament the Governor-General shall issue writs for a general election of members of the House of Assembly returnable within ninety days from that dissolution.” It is known by all that if Parliament was dissolved on March 6, there is an outer date of June 6, 2018 for elections to be held.

So what is the issue of time? Every person in Barbados knows the date by which elections must be held.

Yes, it is true that the posters erected on January 1, 2018 have faded or have been otherwise beaten by the elements. It is also true that the manifesto borrowed from Solutions Barbados has been exposed as evidence of a lack of ideas. It is further true that there is now apparently no new information of interest to be presented to Barbadians. But these facts do no more than evidence the uninformed strategy of the opponents of the Government and no one else should be held responsible for this immaturity and excessive zeal. It
is impossible to run an election campaign for five years and still be relevant to impartial persons at the end of that time.

There are several issues which may engage the attention of all Barbadians, and especially those among us who purport to have the interest of others as their main concern. We are pursuing a new electoral policy that could cause our Government to be determined by persons who are not Barbadian and who have no stake in Barbados and no interest in its future; we have businesses advertising that they can find no Barbadian who is suitable to do basic jobs, like managing a branch of a bank; we have persons who think that the former Minister of Finance of a failed economic system like Greece should be advising us on how we should manage our economy. In the face of all of these cancers, persons who say that they are capable of leading this country are preoccupied with an election date which outer limit has already been set, cast in stone, and is as certain as the sun will come up tomorrow.

Has our education system failed when there is no person on the island who can manage a branch of a bank? What would prevent us from being able to produce someone who can manage the Hilton hotel? Are we wasting money on education when the persons who pass through our system – primary, secondary and tertiary – cannot manage one of our last major hotels with some local interest? This is an issue of real importance which deserves public discussion, not just to provide another opportunity to blow hot air, but to cause self-examination and correction if necessary.

The Minister of Finance has been lambasted for his economic policies. Yet, when the Barbados Labour Party is asked what they would do differently, there is either silence or distracting noise. The one occasion when an attempt was made to speak honestly to their position, their spokesman on the economy disclosed that they will privatise the Transport Board, and maybe, other Government interests as well. This disclosure explains why the Opposition and its satellites in the private sector who are waiting to be given the state’s assets keep calling on the Government to cut expenditure without saying what should be cut. And there are many other serious issues that are crying out for proper attention.

It seems obvious that these calls for elections expose a vacancy of purpose and content of thought. Want-to-be leaders should be focused on demonstrating that they are capable of finding solutions to the many real problems that confront us rather than engaging in trivia. It seems that having already ran their election campaign, there are now no useful matters for the opposition elements, in and out of Parliament, to discuss. We are now at the point of the creation of bogus issues; like the elections date.

Over the last few weeks, there has been an attempt to work magic. A genie has escaped and an attempt is on the way to place her back in the bottle. As a consequence of this employment of magical spells and portions, all Opposition operatives have been ordered to remain silent. But it may be a bit late.

This order of silence is quite revealing. Is it mere coincidence that the uncouth slanderers of men, and women, have also fallen silent during the sabbatical of the official Opposition? It seems hard not to see this common approach as co-ordinated collusion. If it is, is it possible to separate the nasty work of the assassins of character from their apparent bosses?

Someone showed me a WhatsApp message of a usually loud opposition protagonist in a voice that belied his earlier vicious tones saying that he was out of money as it was an expensive venture to record himself and send his recordings out to his friends for onward distribution. Interestingly, his destitution comes at the same time of the imposed silence of those whose interests he sought to promote. Coincidence?

Political posturing is common and while different supporters will take conflicting stances on issues, or non-issues, what should be of concern is what will happen when elections are held and the ruling party is returned to office. Once the issues expired, opposition voices were raised in calls for an election, although that election could not be withheld. The impression was given that they were sure of victory and could not wait for the provisions of the Constitution and supporting laws to be satisfied. So what if they lose? Will the call then turn to revolution? Will blood run in the streets in pursuit of illegitimate power? When you have done all that you can do, what you were selling was not bought and you are not prepared to stand with legitimacy, then what?

There may be some interesting times ahead.