Barbadian citizens are nothing if not paragons of the virtue of pragmatism. They have already raised questions about the government’s proposed borrowing of $50 million for a 2024 T20 World Cup when the taxpayer is still paying for the poor returns on the investment in the 2007 Cricket World Cup.
If they accept that the state of their public buildings is a reflection of the commitment to education, governance, and the well-being of citizens, then those same ever-pragmatic Barbadians must be left wondering what to make, then, of the latest surge in protests from concerned parents and teachers, shedding light on the deplorable state of public buildings, particularly schools.
This outcry is not a sudden revelation; it is the culmination of successive governments’ longstanding neglect of structures inherited from the colonial era and those built within the past four decades. This demands urgent attention from our policymakers to rectify the issues that have long gone ignored. We would suggest a comprehensive policy and budgetary realignment, not piecemeal, reactionary fixes; try creating a government agency that identifies, funds, and carries out much-needed repairs, maintenance and alterations at public buildings.
The impact of sick buildings and poor maintenance on education is far-reaching. Not only does it compromise the physical health of students and staff, but it also contributes to low productivity and morale. The very spaces designed to nurture the minds of our youth are failing them.
As a republic that is reputedly overseeing “transformation”, the pragmatic Bajan would ask what reform is possible if the nation’s public servants encounter buildings filled with mould, dust, debris and vermin instead of regularly cleaned, functional premises on which to carry out the people’s business?
National treasures like the Barbados Public Library in Coleridge Street – built in 1908 yet abandoned for the last two decades owing to employees’ complaints of a sick building – have been left to slowly melt into the dust of official apathy. Perhaps this answers our question about a commitment to the preservation of a nation’s collective wisdom.
Next door, the colonial-era court buildings that make up the oldest seat of public administration in this country have been dutifully restored and renamed by this administration. Given that the sprawling Supreme Court Complex at Whitepark Road which was built by a previous administration in 2009 was abandoned for a year while plagued by environmental issues, we fear that in the time it takes to find a parking space, the microbes and myopia will return to freeze the wheels of justice.
The stories of neglect and decay (while an administration relentlessly pursues a developer who lovingly restored a 200-plus-year-old building that once housed the Welfare Department) are a dereliction of fiduciary responsibility hidden in plain sight; the fiscal implications of this negligence cannot be overlooked.
The rise in protests is not merely a cry for better conditions; it is a plea for responsible fiscal management. The cost of poor maintenance extends beyond the degradation of state assets; it results in increased rents paid to private property owners for substitute buildings.
Five years ago, this country defaulted on its public borrowing for the first time in history. None but its citizens have borne this burden, from trimmed savings in government instruments to an outsized tax ratio while paying more than 60 cents on every public dollar to serve debt. The 17.5 per cent “temporary” VAT rate of the Stuart administration appears to have been made permanent under the Mottley administration while the pursuit of new loans goes on with shameless rapacity.
Who knows what millions could have been saved by treating our public buildings as the valuable assets that they are? What other uses could be found for the $80 million in rent paid annually to the fortunate owners of office buildings occupied temporarily and permanently by the State? Tertiary education? Universal health care? Public housing? Better roads, bridges, water supply and sanitation?
As it relates to our public schools, it is crucial to involve the community, parents, and teachers in the oversight of campuses. It is their firsthand experiences that have offered valuable insights into the conditions of these buildings and can foster a collaborative effort to create safe and conducive learning environments.
Apart from a national assessment of the state of the people’s properties, individual ministries must have clear maintenance and janitorial policies and budget lines. The procurement and oversight of these services must be beyond reproach, lest an administration finds a new source of political pork for friends and relations in which cleaning firms merely move dirt around.
“Mash up and buy back” must not be left to replace “Pride and Industry”; that way lies madness – or at the very least the unacceptable failure of Project Barbados.
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