Let’s Get Real, Prime Minister Arthur!
By Godfrey Eneas


One wonders whether or not Mr. Owen Arthur, Prime Minister of Barbados believes his own propaganda. The Barbadian Prime Minister blurted out the following remarks at the recent CARICOM Heads of Government Meeting in St. Lucia:


"There is a country in the Caribbean that has a higher standard than The Bahamas. My country ranks higher on the index of human development than The Bahamas. The Bahamas must not feel that they are coming to participate with a group of poverty-stricken countries…

"There are some of us which have sophisticated societies."

Based on the good Prime Minister’s remarks, one has to wonder why there are more CARICOM people in The Bahamas than in Barbados. Also, why have Barbadians over the years trekked to The Bahamas for employment rather than staying at home?

Maybe there are some facts which the good prime Minister is not fully cognizant:

The Bahamas comprises 13,940 sq. km. or 5,380 sq. miles. Barbados is merely 431 sq. km. or 166 sq. miles and slightly larger than New Providence (144 sq. miles).

In 1983, the population of The Bahamas was 240,000; today it is some 325,000 and growing. The Barbadian population on the other hand has been static for almost two decades fluctuating between 250 – 270,000. Today, the population of Barbados is 279,000 and in 1983 it was 253,000.

The Bahamas has a GDP between $5 to 5.5 billion, attracting some 5 million visitors who spend about $2 billion annually, in comparison to the Barbadian GDP of $4.5 billion. Former Barbadian Prime Ministers Adams and Barrow modeled their economy after The Bahamas.

The Bahamas has 21 administrative districts in our archipelago, Barbados has 11 on one landmass.

The Bahamas has a per-capita income of $17,700; Barbadian per capita income is $16,400.

The Bahamas has 63 airports, of which 29 have paved runways; Barbados has one airport.

With reference to the Prime Minister’s remark about the Human Development Index (HDI), the Human Development Index is simply a composite index that measures the average achievements in a country’s three basic dimensions of human development:

Life expectancy – measured by life expectancy at birth

Knowledge – measured by the adult literacy rate and combined gross enrolment ratio for primary, secondary and tertiary schools.

Decent standard of living – measured by GDP per capita.

On the basis of the above, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the CIA World Factbook rated Barbados at 29th in the world and The Bahamas at 51st in terms of human development based on the composite index.

Fine. However Mr. Prime Minister, The Bahamas accommodates some 40,000 Haitians, the vast majority of whom are here illegally, illiterate and carriers of contagious diseases like tuberculosis, HIV/AIDS etc. In addition to the Haitians, there are probably more than 10,000 CARICOM illegal and legal immigrants living in The Bahamas most of whom are Jamaicans mixed with Chinese, Hondurans, Dominican Republicans etc. All of these groupings have impacted The Bahamas’ Human Development Assessment in a negative way hence The Bahamas falling to the 51st status.

For your information Mr. Prime Minister, there are Haitian children in our primary schools with the inability to speak English. There are Haitian mothers who compete with Bahamian mothers for bed space on our maternity wards. These are some of the reasons for the Bahamian’s reluctance to sign on to the Caribbean Single Market and Economy (CSME) as we Bahamians are fighting on a daily basis to avoid the erosion of our quality of life and standard of living from the influx of illegal immigrants from the Southern Caribbean.

Developmentally, Barbados has not attracted the level and diversity of foreign investment like the Bahamas. When one surveys Grand Bahama and the role of the Grand Bahama Port Authority in the economic development process of that Island and the Northern Bahamas this has been a model of cooperation between the private sector and government eventually leading to the construction of a modem second city by private capital.

The tourism product of the Bahamas is world class comparable to that of Disney World. This has been come about because of entities like Kerzner Group with its multi-billion dollar investments on Paradise Island, creating the world famous Atlantis, the leading tourism destination in the region and the Bahmar Group on Cable Beach.

As an enclave for the rich and famous, no second home community in the region surpasses Lyford Cay.

These are some of the features which distinguished the Bahamas from any other CARICOM state, particularly Barbados.

Sir, please don’t compare The Bahamas with Barbados, an island nation with a stagnant population, and a society which is essentially ethnically homogeneous. There is no comparison, Prime Minister, let’s get real!

yea but isnt Barbados one little island .... while we are 700 with at least 2 major cities..? They seem to be doing pretty well for the size they are ... our economy is in the hole.. but....

Either way there is no comparison, its 2 totally different types of countries, in totally different areas of the world.

And regardless, I totally dont see a reason to sign on to a caribbean single market when we are not even in the caribbean. If we need help no Caribbean country can help us, they have their own problems, we need to sign up with the USSM if that exits :-) We dont need another 3rd world country to hold us down by the balls. .. we are already 3rd to 2nd world struggling to become a first world country.

Rory

Well written piece, Mr. Eneas. It is wonderful to have an intellectual defend and to explain social issues of the Bahamas without relying on racial division, but rather just facts.

I have travelled to Barbadoes, and I have found that their tourism product is far inferior to ours. In fact, I do not think that, that island nation understand the concept of tourism.

Moreover, I have visited the great University of the West Indies in order to pay homage, and was utterly disappointed with the structure and sophistication. As for a tertiary establishement it truly lack luster. in fact the structure was so simple, I thought it was a summer camp establishment or the sort. Whats more, I have concluded that Barbadoes is too simple of a society to be compared to the Bahamas.

Nevertheless, what I am concern about is the rapid economic growth that Barbadoes has had over the years. 10 years ago, the leaders Barbadoes would have never dreamt to compare themselves to the Bahamas, as it was collectively agreed by the Caribbean that the Bahamas is a phenomenon, a country to envy, yet now due to recent conscious improvement by that state, their money has grown, their sophiscation has blossomed, they have diversified their society and for a country so far south, they have leaped bounds to have the audacity to taunt us in the Bahamas, and in fact question our reasons and standard of living. Certainly, there is a need for our intellectuals to investigate exactly what is happening on that island state, for possibly in another 10 years, we too will be questioning what happened.

Nevertheless, again wonderful piece Mr. Eneas, and I do hope the likes of Mr. Arthur reads it, as I think they believe we are too simple a people to understand what exactly they are trying to propose: the destruction of our society.

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Amen Amen Preach It

Why is that some people have to find a country to pick on to make them selves look good. When there facts out there that prove others wise. The power of literacy is key. A mind is a terrible things to waste. So why doesn't the Prime Minister of Barbados use his.