DLP not in favour of national fund
Asking Barbadians to contribute to a national fund to help purchase additional COVID-19 vaccines, is not sitting well with the Democratic Labour Party (DLP).
President of the DLP, speaking during the party’s Sunday Roast Panel Discussion on the topic ‘The Two Sides of COVID in Barbados’, expressed serious concern about such a fund coming into existence. She contended that “a significant percentage of Barbadians have suffered a terrible hit in their pocket because of COVID”, and either are not earning an income or have had their income reduced, and therefore they would not be able to contribute.
“Many have not worked since March of last year, others have worked, but with reduced hours and the knock-on effect of reduced earnings in their pockets. They still have their families to supply, they have children who have to meet requirements in terms of online schooling, so now is not the time to be introducing anything new,” De Peiza told the online audience.
Instead of a fund, the political leader is suggesting that the Government has alternatives that can be pursued to raise the necessary money needed to finance the purchase of more vaccines. She said there are at least six options that the DLP has come up with, that the Government should consider taking up.
De Peiza, who is the DLP’s spokesperson on finance, indicated that the foreign reserves, although they are borrowed funds, provides the country with a gap of about $80 million, to still meet the one per cent surplus that the Government is seeking to achieve under the revised International Monetary Fund programme. Also, she said, it has been reported that the reserves amount to about 35 weeks of import cover, which she maintained is “way ahead” of the international standard for reserves, and thus De Peiza said, this too creates some “wiggle room” for the Government to use that money to help purchase vaccines.
She went further, suggesting that the “significantly undersubscribed” $300 million Barbados Employment and Sustainable Transformation (BEST) Programme, which was formed to assist tourism-related businesses to help them re-engage employees, is another opportunity. The DLP head is adamant that some of those funds could be repurposed to pay for the vaccines.
Touching then on the Garbage and Sewage Contribution (GSC), she said perhaps some of those funds could also be utilised. She noted that the Barbados Water Authority as the collection agency for the GSC, which was introduced in 2018, has yet to provide financial statements on it.
“But if we had an accounting of the levy, maybe just maybe, we will find that there are some funds in that levy that could also be put towards the new vaccine. It would call for some legislative change, but let’s face it, they have the majority in Parliament that they can make that legislative change and effect the transfer of funds, which are not in the Consolidated Fund, but are funds that belong to people of Barbados and can be put to use for the people of Barbados,” she maintained.
“And then of course, we heard last year about the COVID-19 Relief and Recovery Barbados Inc., a company that was set up to source funding from out of the diaspora. We have never had a reporting in relation to that company either. So we need to know what funds are in there, whether any are available for vaccines. And then of course, the bloated Cabinet, and all of the consultants,” she indicated.
De Peiza, referring to the latter, contended that rationalisation of the numbers relative to the Cabinet and the numerous consultants, can result in savings, and those monies diverted to other causes like the purchase of vaccines.
“We haven’t just said we don’t think now is the right thing for taxing, we’ve thought about where else we can get the money from to pay for the vaccines, because we recognise that the sourcing of vaccines is a critical limb in our COVID fight. We have to do that, but we have to do that smartly as well and we have to keep our people in our consideration as we make these decisions,” De Peiza declared. (JRT)