Established October 1895 Monday March 29, 2021 $1 VAT Inclusive Rescuing ‘GETTING WORSE Barbados Public Sector from rising performance must fuel import bill be addressed AND WORSE’ BARBADOS is pushing ahead to achieve its 2030 target to become a 100 per cent “WE have not yet turned the corner Caribbean, is hopelessly outdated; our and universities, the public service is green and carbon neutral island state. on Public Sector performance.” legal systems, once reputed to be the staffed by persons who possess the With a fuel import bill still rising, This is according to former Governor best in the Caribbean, is now among required training and experience in all Minister of Energy, Small Business and of the Central Bank of Barbados the region’s most inefficient. The many aspects of the design, implementation Entrepreneurship, Kerrie Symmonds, (CBB), Dr. DeLisle Worrell, in his initiatives in recent years to modernise and assessment of public sector insists that the country must be rescued April Economic Letter. He has many technologies used by the public sector performance. The service is headed by from its reliance on imported fossil fuels questions pertaining to the public have too often resulted in worse skilled managers of no known political to supply its energy needs. sector of Barbados and asks, “Why is performance,” said Worrell. allegiance, whose job it is to implement He was at the time addressing the it that despite the many talented, He contended that there can be no efficiently the policies that are decided National Petroleum Corporation’s 40th knowledgeable, committed and forward- denying that public sector performance upon by the Parliament. anniversary church service at Sanctuary thinking Barbadians they employ, our has been getting worse and worse, and “The Prime Minister and the Empowerment Centre, Country Road, public services stumble from crisis to that Barbados has not yet reversed this members of Parliament cannot be St. Michael, yesterday. crisis?” trend. The economist acknowledged expected to know how to manage “My Ministry is piloting an effort to “Old systems fail, and attempts to that the management of any modern something as complex as a modern make Barbados 100 per cent fossil fuel modernise them actually make things economy is a difficult and complex government. Their job is to propose free and carbon neutral by the year 2030. worse. We are unable to devise and matter, requiring many specialised policies that will contribute most to In other words, by 2030 we do not want implement permanent solutions to skills from several disciplines, covering improve the livelihoods and well-being to be importing any oil, and those types inadequacies of water supply, waste the whole gamut of economic activity. of the people they represent,” he said. of petroleum products from anywhere. management and road maintenance. Worrell explained that in the models We want the island to be powered by The QEH, once the envy of the Eastern of government that are taught in schools PUBLIC SECTOR on Page 3 generating electricity and operating our vehicles from the natural resources that we have,” he told the congregation. “In a good year, we may spend $450 million to $500 million on importing fuel in Barbados. If there is a war in the Persian Gulf like in Iraq, or some ‘noise’ between the United States and Saudi Arabia or elsewhere, the oil prices will go up, as they are doing now. And the fact of the matter is that we have gone as high as $800 million importing fuel for Barbados. So that your well-being, and mine, depends on a ‘noise’ somewhere overseas. Your success in life in many ways is impacted by something you have no control over, but we depend on that… And we want to rescue Barbados from that reliance. “It is important for us to understand that it is about independence in energy. And that as you come to rely more on the natural things like the sunlight to generate energy, you create independence at the level of the household. So that if you have the photovoltaic panels on your roof, you don’t have to worry about anybody’s cost of energy because you are generating enough to keep your household going. And similarly, for industry and commercial purposes, we make things more competitive because it is cheaper,” he further pointed out. Minister Symmonds also took the opportunity to salute the staff, management, and Board of Directors at NPC, both present and past, for the hard work and distinguished stewardship that they have done to bring the corporation to the point “where it has literally and PALM SUNDAY BLESSINGS: Apostolic Administrator of the Roman Catholic Diocese of figuratively been the fuel of the engine Bridgetown, Fr. Neil Scantlebury, administering greetings and blessings to members of the congregation, during the Palm for Barbados”. Sunday service yesterday at the Roman Catholic Cathedral on Bay Street. With the world still fighting against the spread of COVID-19, the size of congregations has been reduced to 75, with protocols in place. NPC on Page 4 2 • Monday March 29, 2021 The Barbados Advocate New agricultural app launched THE Inter-American and the agricultural ex- of achieving economic a better understanding tural systems, the launch the possibility and the Institute for Co-opera- tension organisations in growth and prosperity for of the market needs and of this app supports the of- far-reaching effect that it tion on Agriculture three of the countries, cre- citizens in CARICOM. requirements,” he said. fering and dissemination can have on the region’s (IICA) has introduced ated the app to support “This App is a communi- Cox further stated that of information products on farming systems.” a new app designed to agricultural producers, cation tool that will serve the app – which is avail- agricultural production, The Assistant Secretary improve agricultural key players in the min- to enhance the exchange able in Android,Apple and agronomy, disease and General, as he expressed production in the istries of agriculture and of information and com- Web versions – is expected pest management to our appreciation to IICA for Caribbean, by provid- extension services across munication between farm- to significantly reduce the most important clients – its continued and unwa- ing real-time informa- CARICOM. ers, extension workers and wait time that farmers our CARICOM farmers,” vering support to the peo- tion on such things as In a pre-recorded state- relevant actors in the agri- experience in accessing he indicated. ple of CARICOM, went on crop management. ment shown during the cultural innovation mech- extension services. He continued, “We are to say that the CARICOM The launch of the event,Assistant Secretary anism within CARICOM. Moreover, the Assistant encouraged that various Secretariat is especially AgriExt App took place on General for Trade and The App will allow for Secretary General said it member states, farmers’ grateful for the work done Friday during the virtual Economic Integration farmers in real time, to demonstrates their com- groups, extension person- in respect of the app. The Caribbean Regional at the CARICOM have access to technical mitment to being more nel and agricultural pro- Secretariat sees it as a Accountability Seminar Secretariat, Joseph Cox, information and solutions, responsive to the needs of fessionals ... have been in- major step, as it moves 2021, where it was re- said that CARICOM’s in- which will contribute to the Caribbean community. volved in the development towards the finalisation of vealed that IICA, together volvement in the launch better production plan- “With digitalisation and trials of the App, and its overall e-agricultural with the ministries of agri- of the app fits directly ning, greater yields, im- being the new buzzword have provided positive strategy for CARICOM. culture in the Caribbean into its overall objective proved productivity, and for the regional agricul- feedback to date, as to (JRT) CDB and NCSA committed to youth staying drug free THE Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) has signalled its contin- ued commitment to work with the National Council on Substance Abuse (NCSA) as they strive to deliver drug education messages to the youth across the nation. Director of the Projects Department at CDB, Daniel Best, gave this as- surance while addressing a ceremony last Thursday which saw CDB accepting a poster from NCSA. The poster was part of a “Be Drug Free” Art and Poetry Competition held last year. Production/Sales “For us, the people of the Manager at SignUP Inc., Caribbean Region are at Adrian Headley. the centre of all we do. Youth are the people of the risk factors such as tomorrow on whom this lack of education, and Region will depend, and it unemployment that pre- is therefore in all our in- disposes youth to the use terests to nurture them in of illegal drugs. Those the best possible way as a interventions support means of securing the fu- young people in the From left: Director of the Projects Department at the Caribbean Development Bank, Daniel Best, accepts a ture of Caribbean people. targeted communities poster from National Council on Substance Abuse (NCSA) Deputy, Troy Wickham. We are therefore indebted through literacy and to institutions such as the numeracy training pro- Safeguarding Our Future ity to child-friendly activ- step in the right direction. week,” she said. National Council for grammes, skills develop- Today. ities,” he added. “As you said CDB has She also took the oppor- Substance Abuse that ment training, adaptive “We are happy to con- NCSA Manager, Betty been with us since 2013, tunity to thank SignUP have committed their en- life skills training and ed- tinue the association with Hunte, lauded the CDB and you will be surprised Inc.