Democratic Labour Party leader Ralph Thorne has denounced the government’s decision to grant land to the African Export Import Bank (Afreximbank), calling for an investigation into the 30-year-old multilateral bank’s operations.
Thorne, speaking at a press conference surrounded by his party’s candidates, first welcomed the bank’s presence in Barbados but vehemently opposed the terms of the agreement, arguing that the land at Jemmotts Lane, on the site of the old general hospital, could have been better utilised for public facilities like hospitals or schools.
He declared he knew very little about the institution which has been granted the land without charge to develop the bank’s only branch outside of the African continent as a headquarters for its CARICOM operations, a trade centre and a hotel.
“Let us undertake, on behalf of the people of Barbados, to do what the Government of Barbados has not done. Let us undertake to do our own investigation as to the credibility and worth of this bank. Let us undertake to do that,” Thorne suggested.
“Personally, I wish them (the bank) well. It is just that I don’t think they should have gotten this thing free. I wish them well; have nothing against them. I know very little about them; but on principle, we in this party cannot support this transaction. As I said earlier, a hospital, school…oh, that would have been noble. We would have loved that. We would have loved an extension to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital; and with the clinics on the other side of the road, this whole area could have become a nice domain and a beachfront for therapeutic rehabilitation; and we have given it away to a company that intends to make money,” Thorne complained.
Commonly known as Afreximbank, the African Export-Import Bank is a for-profit, pan-African multilateral financial institution established in 1993. Its primary mission is to stimulate the expansion, diversification, and development of African trade. Thorne said he could not support the administration giving the land at Jemmotts Lane free to a private bank whose core aim is profit. Leading the bank’s four classes of shareholders are African governments, African continental, regional, and sub-regional institutions, and economic zones.
He also said he is not surprised at reports that the groundbreaking for the construction of the trade centre is in a few days.
The Christ Church South MP argued that the government’s modus operandi is to seal deals and then go to Parliament or the public only afterward.
As an example, he referred to the government’s vesting of land at Bullens Agricultural Station for housing development through Parliament when, as he claimed, the houses were already constructed.
“This is something that the government is doing. The government is going ahead and doing its thing and then coming to Parliament after for approval. So, based on the way in which the government is now conducting itself, the government is doing a lot of things in secret and coming to Parliament only because it must…the thing must come to Parliament and therefore it must come to light. But before the light, there is a lot of dark dealing.”
As of last September, the latest period for which records are publicly available, the export-import bank’s assets stood at US$32.2 billion ($64.4b). Net loans and advances totalled US$27.08b ($54.16b). (EJ)
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