There is a call for the local credit union movement to pay greater attention to things happening on the ground and its members. These are the sentiments of social activist Hamilton Lashley as he declared that credit unions should be playing a more important role in the current and post COVID-19 climate in Barbados.
Speaking to the Barbados Advocate during a telephone interview earlier this week, the former parliamentarian revealed that he thought that the movement needed to have a more positive involvement in the wellbeing and success of its members. “The credit unions across Barbados should take on a far more intrusive role in the lives of its members and the poor and marginalisedand disenfranchised members of our society. I believe that collectively, the unions, under its umbrella body, could provide that necessary protective social environment towards the members.”
Adding that he believed that they should be creating an enabling environment of investment at his time rather than keeping funds stored on commercial banking system, Lashley said that their current interests should be in investing in cooperative supermarkets, transportation services and offering more attractive incentives to members similar to the the bonds currently being proposed by the Barbados Optional Savings Scheme.
As it relates to the ongoing moratorium systems being offered by financial institutions, Lashley believes that they need to be longer to accommodate those who are still feeling the pinch of the virus. “I believe too that the credit unions should really be offering a longer moratorium as it relates to its members in this COVID-19 time who would have taken out loans and who are struggling to pay it back, particularly those members that are in the hotel sector across Barbados. I believe that rather than putting them before the bailiff and harassing them and hassling them, that they should be given extensions to their loans,” he said before addressing the ongoing issue surrounding Executive Member Henderson Williams. “In addition to that I also believe that the credit union should look at serious investment into housing to create that low-income housing towards its members instead of being embroiled, in my view, in trivial matters of witch-hunting. Particularly in the case of the City of Bridgetown Credit Union.”
Stating that he believed that at this time the credit union had to focus on more positive investments to provide opportunities and protect their members in times like these as stated in their motto, Lashley said that he saw no issue with his appointment. “In Henderson William’s case, if he is qualified for a position that is available in the credit union, then why not? He did not appoint himself. There is a sub-committee that deals with those issues, but if the sub-committee selects him and he is a member of the credit union, why not? I don’t see it as an issue.”
Harkening back to his original call for a higher level of positive involvement in the lives of members, Lashley explained that he saw it as the best way forward for the movement. “If within the scheme of things within the credit union and they are offering these kinds of protective and enhancing services towards members, then therefore the credit union in this COVID time would be playing a very positive role in the lives of its members rather than bringing the strife that I am witnessing at having matters like these played out in the press,” he said. (MP)
