Atherley in the dark

Leader of the Opposition, Bishop Joseph Atherley, has again expressed his frustration with the current administration and their failure to apprise him in a timely manner of what is to be debated in the House of Assembly.

He was speaking in the House of Assembly yesterday afternoon during the discussion on the budget of the Ministry of Energy and Water Resources, as day three of the debate on the Estimates of Revenue and Expenditure continued at the temporary location, at the Worthing Corporate Centre.

Atherley, speaking right after Minister of Energy and Water Resources Wilfred Abrahams gave his opening remarks, insisted that Government must “behave itself better”, explaining that it would have been courteous if the Opposition could have been advised that the Estimates of that ministry were to be discussed yesterday. He said his understanding was that yesterday the debate on the Ministry of Youth and Community Empowerment would have been completed and perhaps the Ministries of Innovation, Science and Smart Technology as well as People Empowerment and Elder Affairs would also be done, and so he had no time to prepare for Energy and Water Resources.

“It is not good that we continue to do this. It may be an Opposition of one against 28 or 29, it may be that there are 41 voices for the Government in the Parliament of Barbados and nine on the part of the Opposition, but I think that when we come to matters of the people’s business of this serious import, we really have to be a bit more professional,” the Opposition Leader contended.

Atherley, indicating that he would not be participating in the debate, said that Government must understand that it cannot continue to do “this nonsense”.

“Numbers do not give you the right to do this,” he maintained.

Before voicing his concern about the tardiness with which he said Government informs him of the people’s business, Atherley said had he known that ministry would have been discussed, among the areas he perhaps would have asked to have addressed include the harsh impact of the increased water rates on individuals and businesses; persistent outages in rural Barbados; the Barbados Water Authority’s arrangements with Innotech; an update on the South Coast Sewage Plant; and the building out of the green energy capacity in this country. (JRT)