BY EZRA ALLEYNE SIR RICHARD HAYNES, some time Leader of Her Majesty's Opposition, and a former Minister of Finance in this island, once famously said that impressions matter in politics, and it is principally because Sir Richard was so right that I regard David Thompson's first Press conference on Monday night last as "a qualified unsuccess". The format and setting was wrong; Mr Thompson's dress did not "suit" the occasion, and the image received into the collective discomfort of many thousands of Barbadian homes, lacked the gravitas one usually associates with prime ministers speaking to the country on matters of high national concern. Style or manner of dress is an important messenger, speaking a language of its own. As in the case of a reputation, it can precede the wearer like a fasciculus of bad tidings. An opened-neck tieless blue shirt, covered by a dark jacket, supported by a pair of trousers of a non-matching and lighter colour, creates the infertile ground in which political credibility dies a thousand quick deaths. The image thereby becomes the message. Alas, first impressions are lasting impressions and David Thompson will never have a second chance to make a first impression; not in the cruel business of politics. Indeed, in her very impressive Press conference on Tuesday last, Leader of the Opposition, Mia Mottley, has already shown her capacity to undress Thompson's interview in public with her clear analytical grasp of the relevant economics of the economy. I focus now on two aspects of the interview. The first is the "legality" of the Prime Minister in trying to reduce a "tax" from the studios of the Caribbean Broadcasting Corporation (CBC). It cannot be done. It would be a gross breach of our constitutional framework. Only Parliament has authority to exercise the necessary taxing power, under Section 48 of the Constitution, by virtue of which Parliament "may make laws for the peace, order and good government of the country". The Provisional Collection of Taxes Act Cap 85 of The Laws of Barbados makes one exception to the exercise of the taxing power, to accommodate budgetary proposals "made to the House of Assembly". It provides that the Minister of Finance, in a budgetary proposal, may increase the rate of an existing tax, from any date specified in the budgetary proposal, but the House of Assembly does not meet in the studios of CBC. In any event, the Provisional Collection of Taxes Act gives no power to the Minister of Finance to remove any tax, and one therefore wonders about the legality of reports in the Press that "Thompson stated that Government has removed VAT on kerosene and excise tax on liquefied petroleum gas". If that is a true representation of Mr Thompson's statement at the end of the interview, then the public needs to know under what law these removals of taxes have been effected in the absence of parliamentary approval! Now to the political point. On January 9, 2008 under the headline: Arthur To blame For High Cost Of Living, THE NATION reported the then Leader of the Opposition David Thompson as saying that "commercial interests in Barbados financed the Barbados Labour Party and every time Barbadians groaned and complained in the supermarkets, they did so because Arthur could not do anything about the cost of living other than to tell Barbadians to grow sweet potatoes and herbs in their backyards". The article contained an alleged direct quote from Thompson: "You have to pay exorbitant prices for goods because of this unholy alliance with the top layers of the private sector in Barbados." Six days later the people voted for change. Ninety days later, on the same issue of high prices, Thompson now tells the public that their inability to balance their budgets was not because they were "careless with their money", but because of international pressures on the economy. But this is after the election. Now given the importance of this matter, why was Mia Mottley's Press conference not carried in full on CBC-TV? Was she refused the purchase of TV time? * Ezra Alleyne is an attorney-at-law and former Deputy Speaker of the House of Assembly.
|
