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Grenville Phillips II, political leader of Solutions Barbados.

Political leader: All of society approach required

The leader of one of the political parties in this country is contending that it needs to be all hands on deck to get the country back on track, and is urging the ruling Barbados Labour Party to give all Barbadians a chance to put forward ideas that can help the country get to that point.

The call is coming from Grenville Phillips II, political leader of Solutions Barbados.

“When the Prime Minister made her initial speech, she said all ideas must contend. We were in a position where the country was going downhill, there was downgrade after downgrade and she acknowledged, in her wisdom, that they did not have all the solutions, and after the elections it was time for us to come together as a nation, to unite, everyone hold their oar and let’s row ourselves out of this... But unfortunately that has not really happened,” Phillips said in an interview with The Barbados Advocate.

He added, “...At least listen to some of the ideas, consider them; even if you reject them, at least consider them, because that is what the Prime Minister said should happen – all ideas must contend.”

He made the point while lamenting that while the country has been meeting its targets under the International Monetary Fund sanctioned Barbados Economy Recovery and Transformation Plan, and the foreign reserves are on the rise, it is continuing to go into debt. This, he said, is of deep concern to his party, which still believes that a non-austerity plan was the better route to go to get Barbados on stable footing again and he still argues it is not too late to take some of their ideas on board.

“We have to pay back this IMF money and the money from the CDB. Our plan was to grow the economy without the austerity, without going into debt. So why not examine it, why not consider it? The election is over, the way the economy seems to be growing right now is through
various developments. Once development is well planned it is good, if it reactionary, usually it doesn’t turn out too well, but I don’t think this is reactionary, I think there is a plan. But why not consider other ways to help grow the economy?” he asked.

The Solution Barbados head, who is an engineer by profession, said he is not concerned about the proposed developments at this time, as the Town Planning Department is competent and there are also enough private sector persons with expertise that could speak out if things seem to be going awry.

Referring to the various development plans for Bridgetown, he said on the surface they seem viable and he hopes that they turn out to be good investments.

“In all these processes, we hope that all contracts will be fairly tendered, so that all Barbadians regardless of what political party they belong to, regardless of their agenda, they are allowed to fairly compete and participate in Barbados’ economy. It seems that this is happening so we are hoping that this continues,” he said.

Phillips said the best way to achieve this is public tendering, rather than inviting select groups to bid for contracts.

“You could also let them qualify first and then tender, so that all contractors bid to be part of the process,” he added.
(JRT)

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