Law Lecturer Dr. Ronnie Yearwood.
Barbadians should not be blamed for the island’s current spike in Covid-19 cases.
This position has been outlined by Law Lecturer Dr. Ronnie Yearwood, as he levelled harsh criticism against the current administration for the state of affairs, indicating it must accept responsibility.
“I keep hearing, ‘This is not time for blaming or pointing fingers’, yet we are to believe that we are to blame. Barbadians in large measure do not make policy or set directives and are only responding to the policy set, and if that policy is wrong or provides results intended or otherwise that are wrong, then someone has to be responsible, or in Bajan “tek de blame” for the policy and its roll out.
“A government has to plan and understand its people. The government responds with firm leadership and a sense of humility and above all, treats people with dignity. I am tired of people ‘blaming' Bajans, especially the poorer ones who have no access to power or means,” he said in a social media post yesterday.
Yearwood, an attorney-at-law, argued whether or not persons supported ‘X’ or ‘Y’ government, the administration was misunderstanding the people in terms of policy decision and implementation.
He also took issue with the conditions of the upcoming lockdown.
“I still cannot see how the current lockdown – not a lockdown, a ‘pause’ – was good policy and how it became policy. This is considering last year's proper lockdown when we could not go beyond the ‘curtilage', which Bajans adhered to and sacrificed to make Barbados safe. Perhaps the government was uncomfortable to ask Bajans for that sort of sacrifice again, as experts, and every Sam Poochie and the Duppy warned that the Covid protocols were flawed,” he stressed.
Yearwood noted that it is not possible to have an economy while a large part of the country suffers from Covid, given the small size of the island.
“But if no one is to ‘tek de blame’ for where we are now with community spread, or to explain how we are moving as rapidly as we can to new economic sectors or to feed ourselves, then who is running the country? Surely, governments cannot simply be fair weather governments. Importantly, how do we get accountability for where we are now and what is next? Is accountability that favourite word when in opposition, but not so much when in government?” he asked.