DLP President: More questions than answers on White Oak

In the interest of transparency, the Barbados Labour Party (BLP) government needs to answer a number of questions relating to Barbados’ relationship with the consultancy firm known as White Oak.

President of the Democratic Labour Party (DLP), Verla DePeiza, threw out some questions that she wants answered in the interest of the Barbadian public, even as she pointed to an article printed in the Financial Times concerning the consultancy. Her comments came
ahead of the scheduled Astor B. Watts Lunchtime Lecture, which was held at the Democratic Labour Party headquarters yesterday.

“You would recall that from the time the Estimates were called, the Democratic Labour Party was raising concerns about the level of fees that was being set aside for consultancies. We of course got shouted down – we’re quite used to that – but yesterday the news broke internationally in the Financial Times, a most respected newspaper – questions, queries and concerns about Barbados’ relationship with a consultancy firm called White Oak. It absolutely echoes statements made by George Connolly as far back as August of last year…and comments made by me as the spokesman on economic affairs for the Democratic Labour Party,” the DLP President remarked.

“When this present administration was putting their case to the people of Barbados, there was a constant refrain about transparency, and what we are finding now and what internationally is being noted, is that there are more questions than answers surrounding White Oak,” she added.

Coming out of the article in the Financial Times, DePeiza said, is that established players in the business are querying the fundamentals of the contract, which mirror concerns the DLP has. As such, Depeiza posed the following questions:

“We want to know who recruited White Oak and when? Five days is a short period of time to negotiate a contract of this magnitude. Was there a finder’s fee, one; how much was it; and to whom it was paid? These are critical questions that we need to have answered. Most particularly in the interest of transparency, was there any due diligence done in relation to White Oak? We need to know, because this is a contract that will have a significant stranglehold on this country for generations to come,” DePeiza told those gathered.

She added, “It is almost a year since that contract was put in place. As far as we are aware, the only advice that came from White Oak that was being followed was: don’t pay your debts. That is a significant sum to pay to be told don’t pay your debts. We need to know, especially since we’re being told Barbados has no money, how is White Oak to be paid? How do you play the austerity card with the people of Barbados and pay one firm such a hefty sum of money? And while we are at it and we are investigating one contract with a consultant, I think it is high time that we were told the specifics in relation to all of the consultancies, particularly those in relation to the Finance Ministry,” she concluded.