Lowe speaks out on societal issues
A former parliamentarian and Cabinet minister says Barbadians are deeply concerned about the state of our society today and he is adamant that the current Government must address those concerns as a matter of urgency.
Former Member of Parliament for Christ Church East and Former Minister of Environment and Drainage, Dr. Denis Lowe was referring to such things as garbage collection and the crime situation, contending that there is a “general social decline” in the country, which he said is “eating away at the
fabric of” Barbados. He made the comments while speaking at a joint meeting of the St. Philip Branches of the Democratic Labour Party (DLP), which was held Sunday evening at the Princess Margaret Secondary School.
“The social services are on decline in this country, basic things. How can you go to pensioners and take away their money? Pensioners should be sacred in this country or any other country and when we become the Government again we have to find a way of making pensions sacred,” he stated.
Dr. Lowe contended that unless the societal issues are addressed, no amount of “economic watching” will facilitate the development of a society that is progressive and one which is meeting the needs of the total nation.
“I drive from Christ Church to St. Lucy at least three, four times a week and I am telling you that from Christ Church to St. Lucy there are piles and piles, and piles of garbage all over the country,” he said.
He added, “It does not matter how much a country accumulates, if the people in the country are not happy; if they are worried about their safety and security; if they are worried about food on their tables, the money will not make a difference. It will not make a difference.”
Lowe’s comments came as he maintained that he and his former Cabinet colleagues can stoutly defend their record, and if the current Government feels they have something to bring against them, he challenged them to “bring it on”.
“We are ready, we are ready, because I am not going to be pushed into any hole. I am not going to be driven into oblivion by anybody,” he declared.
Speaking about the work carried out under his previously held portfolio, Lowe said they did work on the Headley Land Drainage Project, bringing problems that had existed for years to an end. Additionally, he said some $5 million was spent on the West Coast to solve the drainage problem in that area.
“The Ministry went to USAID and was given nine million plus dollars to do a Speightstown Drainage Programme which is still going on all like now. We didn’t have to use the taxpayers’ money, we go the money from USAID,” he indicated.
He spoke also to work done at the St. James Cemetery and the Westbury Cemetery, in particular the chapel, which he noted was completely refurbished. He said it is “one of the nicest chapels anywhere, any place”. Lowe added that an electronic plot chart was also done on all the graves in Westbury, so they have an accurate record of who is buried where.
“We also completed the construction of cell four at Mount Stinkeroo, we also completed construction of the new Sanitation building. And by the way it is still empty and there are claims as to why. We have already spoken to that, I am not going over that again… In addition to that, we completed the Green Economic Scoping Study, the first to be completed in the developing countries and the seventh in the world that was completed… we did that,” he charged.
He explained that study was designed to look at specific industries and sectors and how Barbados could groom those sectors as the country moved towards a green economy.
“We had one of the best programmes in the region going on the environment; led regional discussions among small island developing states; was one of 97 countries that worked out agreements on the same Paris Agreement… Barbados was always up front expressing our views in no uncertain terms about what the environment means to small island developing states,” he added. (JRT)