OPPOSITION Leader Bishop Joseph Atherley says he, as Member of Parliament for St. Michael West, was left out of government’s national clean-up programme.
Speaking in the Lower Chamber yesterday on a supplementary to the Ministry of the Environment for $748 000, he made the point that as the Member of Parliament for St. Michael West he was not included, even though the Minister for the Environment Trevor Prescod is his parliamentary representative.
“The Honourable Member for St. Michael East who introduced this resolution before this committee knows that I am the duly elected member for St. Michael West. He did not speak to me about recruitment of persons with respect to this matter, either in this continuing phase or in the previous phase.”
However, he did not hold Minister Prescod accountable for leaving him out of the equation.
“Knowing him, and the good job he does in representing me in this Chamber, knowing him and the level of friendship that we share. Knowing him and the frequency with which we dialogue, I must come to the conclusion that he did not directly or immediately manage this process, and therefore is totally unaware as to who exactly was recruited and from where. Had he known, I am sure I would have been personally informed and would have been given the opportunity to offer some names or suggest some names of people from St. Michael West.”
Atherley stated however that he is “happy” that government has embarking on a clean-up programme because Barbados has become a “messy” place.
“Let us not pat ourselves upon the back too early, it is not a clean place. It is still a messy place. And I would want to applaud the Honourable Member of the Environment for the labour that he exerted in an effort to bring improvement to what was really a bad situation, with mess and garbage all over the place making the country very unsightly.”
He said that the clean-up efforts must not just be for a special occasion. “I would like to think that government is not simply motivated by the thought that we are into the year of We Gatherin’, but that government is motivated by the view that we need to have a clean environment in the interest of the health of our own people, in the interest of the health of those who visit with us or to reside temporarily here and in the interest of having the country remain a jurisdiction that is attractive to potential investors.”
(JH)