BARBADOS-Opposition leader dismisses Budget as the start of a “political apocalypse.”

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, CMC—Opposition Leader Ralph Thorne dismissed the Budget the Barbados government presented on Monday as a “report card” on an emerging ‘tyranny.’ He accused the ruling Barbados Labour Party (BLP) administration of presiding over a “political apocalypse” marked by crime, economic hardship, and corruption.

Thorne identified crime as “the most dangerous and omnipresent of those horsemen that are marauding across what used to be this fair democracy, now a tyranny in the making.”

He said the cost of living, a culture of moral decay, constitutional malaise, a crisis of competence in the Mia Mottley government, and corruption were among the other “scourges” facing Barbados.

Thorne, a former BLP member who now leads the main opposition Democratic Labour Party (DLP), said the Budget is a bad report presented by a good economist whose government must take responsibility for the “scourges” adversely affecting ordinary Barbadians’ lives.

“These scourges all conspire to distort our concepts and precepts of what is good government and what is good governance. Those scourges are conspiring to ruin this society. There is a disquiet across this country, there is a groundswell of discontent across this country, and if the government made itself familiar with this groundswell, with that discontent across this country, this government might realize that all is not well.”

Thorne said there are individual lives that are being destroyed and that these may be the worst of times.

“I heard a lot about this lost decade, but this is feeling like the last decade. It has never been like this, where men and women are afraid to leave home at night.

“This Budget comes at a time in our history at what appears to be tyrannical rule, and therefore, the Budget must reflect that tyrannical rule. Often, we create myths when we cannot understand the events around us. And we create that myth to ward off the fear and uncertainty that we feel when we do not understand the events around us, even the political events around us,” Thorne said.

He told legislators that Barbados is on a path towards economic suicide because agriculture accounts for only three percent of the gross domestic product (GDP) and that food security is under threat, noting the intermittent shortages of essential food items.

Thorne said that while the cost of living continues to impoverish many in this country, “this government’s high cost of living is marginalizing the people who are already impoverished.”.”

Regarding education, the Opposition Leader said that the government must stop “the arbitrary practice of dislocating principals like if they are draughtsmen on a board.”

Thorne said adequate collection and use of data was missing from education, adding that there was over-politicizing of schools and urging the restoration of spiritual engagement, the absence of which may be one reason for violence in these institutions.

Thorne said the government was misleading Barbadians by presenting inflation-driven price rises as genuine economic growth, alleging that the administration was distorting economic data and failing the working class.

“Now it is conceded that some economic growth has come out of COVID-19, obviously and quite naturally.

“You had a closed economy, like all other economies, so when it reopens, it naturally grows. Growth is natural. But we continue to confront this government with the assertion that much of the stated growth is inflation.”

Thorne said the government’s method of calculating GDP in dollar terms masked the reality that rising prices were inflating economic performance statistics rather than indicating actual expansion.

“What the government is doing is calling inflation growth. If prices increase, the same number of goods valued at BDS$100 today might be valued at BDS$120 tomorrow, but that does not mean there has been real growth. That is why economists argue that this growth is not real—it is inflationary.”

He said that the authorities’ inflation figures were wrong and challenged the government’s figure of 1.4 pepercentnflation as unrealistic g, given that the country’s primary trading partners, Canada and the United States, were experiencing inflation rates of around seven percent
“The government has been telling the people of this country, who go to the supermarkets in terror, that inflation is 1.4 percent. Now, we know that this is not likely the case.

If the majority of our goods come from the United States and Canada, and they are experiencing seven percent inflation, it means we are paying seven percent more as well.

Unless vendors engage in charity, these imported goods can’t be sold at less than that increase.”

Thorne also dismissed the government’s claims that the Budget represented economic prosperity for the people, arguing there was no evidence to support such a declaration. He was also critical of the touted increase in the minimum wage, which he described as negligible and insulting to low-income earners.

“The increase to the minimum wage is contemptuous. When you say you have a bountiful Budget, but workers are seeing wage increases of just 17 cents sometimes, that insults people’s intelligence.”

Thorne said Barbadians were facing an unhappy future, saying, “This is not a happy country; many people are going to bed unhappy and waking up hungry.”

Thorne was also critical of the government’s plan to seize up to half of unclaimed and dormant bank accounts, saying this move could set a dangerous precedent by violating property rights and overstepping constitutional boundaries.

“My interpretation is that this government intends to reach into unclaimed accounts, dormant accounts even, of the living and the dead, and say, ‘I want 50 percent of that,'” he said, raising serious concerns about the implications of the policy, questioning whether the government had now assumed the role of a “bank robber.”

“Has this government now declared itself to be a bank robber? Is this government proposing to traverse the banking system looking at dormant accounts, unclaimed accounts, and saying, ‘I want half of that’?”.

In his madien budget presentation on Monday, the Minister in the Ministry of Finance, Ryan Straughn said that funds from long-unclaimed accounts would be redirected to the Resilience and Regeneration Fund to support climate resilience efforts.

Straughn had defended the move, noting that the “government is not going into anybody’s account and taking any money” but that it is “utilizing idle resources to help mobilize the response to help Barbados build climate resilience.”.”

But Thorne challenged the plan’s legality, warning that such an act may violate property rights enshrined in the Constitution.

“The Government of Barbados is now robbing banks. Today, it is dormant accounts. What will it be tomorrow?” he said, urging the public to take the issue seriously and demand clear answers from the administration on its justification for using these funds.

“The government must explain to the people of Barbados whether it is prepared to set this dangerous precedent of taking private property. This is an issue that cannot be ignored,” he said.