Legislation by itself cannot address issues of corruption.
Former Prime Minister Freundel Stuart made the point in a wide ranging address to party faithfuls on Sunday evening at the Princess Margaret School, where the St. Philip North branch of the Democratic Labour Party (DLP) held a meeting. His comments came as touched on such matters as CLICO, garbage collection, bus transportation and his party’s alleged mismanagement of the economy, as he vehemently defended his government’s time in office.
“There is a Road Traffic Act in Barbados, road traffic offences are still committed. There is a law against rape, rape still happens. There is a law against murder, murder still happens. There is a law against firearms, firearms are still used. The point I am getting at is this, laws alone can’t deal with issues of corruption,” he contended.
Stuart, an attorney-at-law, told the packed school hall that laws cannot stop people from being corrupt, what is required is a “whole new ethos”. He made the point while reference comments attributed to liberal economist John Kenneth Galbraith, warning that when society elevates on money making to its highest social purpose, one can expect that public officials will sell themselves and their services.
“There is a piece of legislation on the statute books of Barbados, I don’t think the new piece of legislation has replaced it yet – the Prevention of Corruption Act of 1929. I said for all the time I was in office and when I heard all these allegations being made – if you know there are people involved in corrupt practices, legislation is there, the country has a Commissioner of Police, it has a Director of Public Prosecutions – go right ahead,” he said.
Stuart indicated that despite his insistence on that matter, the complaints were that the fines under the legislation were not large enough. But, he said this should not have been the case, contending that corruption is not a revenue earning activity.
Meanwhile, broaching the issue of garbage collection, he said while the DLP is criticised for not buying any garbage trucks, they had devised a plan to get the garbage collected on a regular basis. He explained that while his government knew what kind of trucks were required and where they could be sourced, they did not have the finances to purchase them given the challenges they faced.
Turning his attention to the matter of buses, he said while his administration had not purchased new buses, they had enlisted the help of someone from Trinidad to fix the buses that could be repaired.
“I would say this, at no time during the Democratic Labour Party’s incumbency in office between 2008 and 2018 did any passengers have to disembark from any bus and walk over a hill so the bus could get over the hill – it never happened once. But they say that we ain’t buy a bus and you get the impression again that this is some sin against the Holy Ghost; that as long as you are in government you are supposed to buy buses. It is not that, you aim to maximise efficiencies as far as you can,” he stated.
Stuart also took issue with the size of the current Cabinet and the large number of consultants, as he noted that there was much criticism of the size of his Cabinet which numbered 17.
“How could you say that a 17-member Cabinet was too large and you decide not three years later, but within a few days later, that you going have one of about 26 members? What kind of arithmetic is that? That is subtracting by adding?” he said. (JRT)