Objective analysis required, says Lashley
A Cabinet minister has expressed some concern about how the intellectual resources of the University of the West Indies are being used to assist with economic planning and development of the countries across the region, including Barbados.
Minister of Culture, Youth and Sports, Stephen Lashley, raised the issue as he delivered last week’s Astor B. Watts Lunchtime Lecture, on the topic “Achievements of the DLP in Office and the Way Forward”, at the Democratic Labour Party’s George Street Headquarters.
Lashley suggested that rather than staying true to their discipline, many academics have become “politicians” and their commentary has been lacking objectivity. To that end, Lashley said that going forward, particularly as it relates to economic analysis, he believes an appeal is going to have to be made to the University to have some “objective thinkers” coming forward to assist not only the Government in Barbados, but governments across the region, who he said invest heavily in the intellectual capacity of that institution.
He added, “I expect that those persons who occupy high academic acclaim would at least give us something to go by beyond how they feel personally. What their personal agenda is, to my mind, has nothing to do with the realities, and the need for academics and persons who know what is going on, to have discourse with the public of Barbados. So unfortunately or fortunately I have no choice but to reject them, even if they are coming with something that may seem intelligent.”
Lashley added, “I am not denying that the Barbados economy faces challenges; I am not denying that as a Government we have a critical responsibility in repositioning the Barbados economy. What I am saying is that given international trends and given local trends, there is need for a focused, objective analysis of the economy, particularly by those persons trained in the art of economics,” he said.
Reflecting on the challenges being experienced in Barbados over the last ten years, he maintained the Barbados Labour Party’s failure to restructure the economy when it was in office had a negative impact on Barbados.
He said the DLP Government has made numerous efforts to grapple with the “moving target” of the global economy meltdown on the country. He was referring to such things as the Medium Term Development Strategy of 2010-2014 and the most recent Barbados Sustainable Recovery Plan which was created with the input of the Social Partners. (JRT)