Ellis asks Bajans if being silent on issues is working for them Loop Barbados

Black Immigrant Daily News

Popular, veteran moderator and broadcast journalist David Ellis is chastising Barbadians for sitting quietly by instead of voicing their concerns to the powers that be in an attempt to bring about positive changes.

This kind of information is not available to the public. My question is, shouldn’t it?

“You all sit down in this country and go through all sorts of stuff and say ab-so-lute-ly nothing. You don’t question these things. Behave as though it is business as usual and therefore, does it get better? No! Keeping quiet doesn’t make it any better. It gets worse.

“So is it worth it to just remain silent when you paying all of these taxes and you expect that these systems are going to work for you? And if they’re failing, you have to draw them to the attention of those who have responsibility for them,” he urged.

Ellis made the comment after complimenting the organisers behind an Eye Clinic, being held at Sandals until August 11. He said that he received reports that over 300 people were in attendance for the free Eye Clinic. And he purported that someone told him the government should see this overwhelming response as proof that Barbados needs more eye clinics; at least four, were proposed.

This led him to say, “This is an area where, you hear Barbados is a place where you can get this and get that, but try to get it sometimes. The kind of stress that some people have to go through just to get that kind of public attention is immense. Because the system does not work as efficiently as it ought to. So, therefore, if there is this rush to see these ophthalmologists the question that we should be asking is, why this is happening? And what can be done to address it?

“But there is another question we need to ask, how many people can’t see because they can’t get to the ophthalmologist that would normally be available in the polyclinic and the public health system? Of course, we don’t get these details. This kind of information is not available to the public. My question is, shouldn’t it?”

He added that in today’s Barbados the predominant issues, not peculiar to Barbados, are the rise in fuel and cost of living, and most Bajans will say, “They expect that the government of Barbados to find the solutions because they elected the government of Barbados to find the solutions.”

But he challenged, “I don’t believe that that is the only way we should look at it because we are all in this together, and we have to be mindful of the fact that Barbados has limited resources and it requires more heads, more people putting their heads together to try to find the solutions to the problems. Do not buy into that narrative that comes from some that only the government has good ideas.

“The government promised you its Covenant of Hope, that there would be greater democracy, and that people should be able to participate, this is the time to put them to the test!”

NewsAmericasNow.com