“Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.” – Colossians 3:14
Let us address our New Year resolutions within the context of a snap Barbados general election, protection and survival in a COVID-19 environment, embracing the end of the pandemic, stabilizing our minds, and rehabilitation in the face of the devastation caused by the pandemic.
In my column of October 11, 2021, I wrote: “My limited knowledge of political science posits that the Barbados Labour Party, with a massive majority in the Barbados parliament, could call a snap election now as the Democratic Labour Party is still in siesta mode, and easily get a further five-year term with a comfortable majority.”
Now that Prime Minister Mottley has done just that, the opposition benches, instead of revealing to the electorate what they would do to take Barbados forward, introduced some attempted rhetoric about a “one party state” and the importance of having a balance among parties in the parliament.
May I remind readers once again that Singapore is a democracy.
Elections have been held every five years since 1959, the same party has won each election by a significant margin, a benevolent dictatorship leadership style has been practised, and opposing views are encouraged to be rationalized within the party in power. Singapore is the leading First World Island state on the planet and among the leading First World countries in the world.
I continued to argue in my column that “… with a large majority in parliament, the Prime Minister could start making firmer decisions in the interest of the people of the country without having to worry about the political risk occasioned by the utterings of small groups.”
This maybe is what PM Mottley has in mind for Barbados.
One of the first things that the Prime Minister should do is to secure a source of vaccines and introduce compulsory vaccination legislation for all residents of Barbados.
Secondly, instead of paying lip service to reducing the food import bill, the Prime Minister should introduce legislation to “grow what we eat and eat what we grow” on the arable land lying fallow, and design a financial system to deliver these foods at affordable prices to all. In this way we will provide fresh nutritious food for the entire population thus boosting our immune system to tackle any virus that is about to invade.
Compulsory vaccination and boosting the immune system will strengthen our protection against viruses.
In his Christmas message “Joy to the World – A Happy Christmas and a Healthy and fulfilling 2022”, Professor Sir Henry Fraser, a Barbadian doctor, observed that “the lockdowns in Barbados … created many health problems, mental issues for some, obesity, or weight gain for all, reduced fitness and even painful syndromes. Hopefully, the high infectiveness of the Omicron variant will create the herd immunity to stop the epidemic.”
I have recently explored in this space the solutions for stabilizing our minds so that we can be the best we can be.
It is now left for us to focus on a final new year resolution – rehabilitation in the face of the devastation caused by the pandemic.
I have just experienced a wonderful week with my immediate and extended family in Barbados, which has stimulated many interesting thoughts.
Let us make 2022 the year of love within the family, one family at a time. The family is the basic building block of society. We shall hopefully be assembling those building blocks as we rehabilitate in the wake of the devastation of the raging COVID-19 pandemic over the past two years.
(Dr. Basil Springer GCM is a Change-Engine Consultant. His email address is basilgf@marketplaceexcellence.com. His columns may be found at www.nothingbeatsbusiness.com)