Barbados Today

It will take nothing short of a revolution to make the changes necessary to move Barbados forward and reposition the country.

In fact, Attorney General Adriel Brathwaite said what was really needed was a “complete overhaul” of how business was done over recent years.

He made those comments today as he addressed the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Barbados’ 2014 conference at the Lloyd Erskine Sandiford Centre yesterday under the theme, Celebrating our Past, Securing our Future.

At the same time, he lamented that there were far too many naysayers rather than doers. He said while there could be immediate change in the speed of registering or incorporating a company, the challenge was how it could be done on a consistent basis.

“It has called for a cultural shift but not just for the workers in the departments that deliver services, but from . . . workers at every level, whether blue or white collar. It will fall on every Barbadian to commit to changing how we do business in this country,” the Attorney General said.

However, Brathwaite, who is also Minister of Home Affairs, noted that while the level of bureaucracy that existed in Government was frustrating and responsible for delays, Barbados still remained one of the least corrupt countries in the world.

He added that part of the change required a system of good governance, where strong commitment to integrity, ethical values and the rule of law must take root.

“Good governance is critical to the new Barbados that we intend to build, a country with a stronger, more sustainable economy and a modern society grounded in solid, wholesome values that we took for granted and are seemingly becoming more and more fleeting,” he said.

Brathwaite stressed that in order to have the Barbados we all wanted, “old habits and behaviours” would have to die.