THE DODDS SCANDAL - "WE TOLD YOU SO - THREE YEARS AGO!"

The recent revelation by the Governor of the Central Bank that Dodds Prison will cost the people of Barbados a total of $749 million, payable over a 25 year period, further convinces the ‘Peoples Empowerment Party’ that Barbados is well on its way to a status of ‘debt slavery’, compliments of a class of venal, spendthrift and irresponsible politicians who have taken control of both the Democratic Labour Party and the Barbados Labour Party over the past 25 years!
The Dodds issue is nothing short of a scandal, and both the Barbados Labour Party and the Democratic Labour Party must be indicted!
The Barbados Labour Party must be condemned for the shenanigans they perpetrated on the Barbadian people when, in 2005, they initially gave a price of "around $100 million" for Dodds, only to increase it to "$288 million" two years later, and then subjected Barbadians to having to wait a full two years after they left office before details of the full price were publicly revealed for the very first time!
Similarly, the ‘Democratic Labour Party’ must also be condemned for failing in their duties as a Parliamentary Opposition during the period of BLP rule, and for accepting and accommodating the scandalous contractual arrangements entered into for the construction of Dodds. Indeed, it is noteworthy that the new DLP government paid the Dodds debt in 2008 and 2009 without once protesting or even bringing the matter to the attention of the Barbadian people. In fact, Barbadians should take careful note of the fact that it was the Governor of the Central Bank who brought this matter to their attention and shared the relevant information with them - not the Minister of Finance or any other DLP policitican!

The clear conclusion to be drawn from all of this is that the DLP tacitly approved of and went along with what we now choose to call "The Dodds Scandal".
The PEP on the other hand, has been publicly protesting about this matter since 2006! Indeed, in a Press Release dated 4th June 2007, and issued to all the media houses of Barbados, inclusive of the CMC, our party stated at follows:-
"The Peoples Empowerment Party (PEP) is demanding that Prime Minister Owen Arthur explain to the Barbadian people why the cost of the contract to construct the new prison at Dodds in St Philip has escalated from $100 million to $288 million................. The PEP is extremely concerned about this phenomenal increase in the contract price of the new prison........... Indeed, as early as 8th March 2006 our Party signalled our concerns about the prison contract to Attorney General Dale Marshall, when we wrote to him requesting that we be given copies of the construction plans for the new prison and be permitted to visit the construction site at Dodds, St Philip..........................
The Pep demands to know why a foreign firm was selected at a price of $228 million over a local consortium of firms, whose price was much lower at $120 million.............. The PEP denounces the practice that has been routinely engaged in by both the Barbados Labour Party and the Democratic Labour Party of awarding contracts at a particular figure, and then agreeing to phenomenal increases in the cost of such contracts..................................
The PEP also deplores the trend that has emerged of favoring foreign companies over their local competitors, even in circumstances where the local company is offering a lower and more reasonable price."
The recent revelations of the Governor of the Central Bank have confirmed the relevance and correctness of the concerns that we raised back in June 2007.
Ideally, Barbadians should be calling upon their Government to institute a Commission of Inquiry into the Dodds scandal, but in the prevailing circumstances that would be tantamount to calling upon the pot to investigate the blackness of the kettle!
The real issue is that this narrow, incestuous two party system of governance is leading our country to ruin, and the citizens need to bestir themselves and engineer a broadening and a concomitant democratisation of the system, thereby facilitating greater accountability. Until that happens, the people of Barbados will continue to be taken for granted and taken for a ride by two political parties that think the same and exhibit the same callous and facile approach to the issue of accountability.