Dear Residents of St Andrew:

My name is Cherie Pounder and I am honoured that you would consider me to represent you in Parliament.

My younger sister and I spent lots of days during the summer in St Andrew, being raised by relatives, while my parents worked the shift system at the QEH.  I grew to love Barbados’ rural districts, village life and discipline, and St Andrew became my second home.

Over the years, I became intrigued with nature and appreciated the balance and diversity that the constituency offered. This led to my career as a Water Resources Scientist and Project Manager.

I have watched the infrastructure of the parish degrade and the population dwindle, as persons moved out because of lack of attention to major issues. I have seen and experienced the turmoil that St Andrew communities have endured from: land slippage, limited garbage collection, water shortages, limited transportation, and scarce job opportunities. There appeared to be a general lack of political will to redevelop jobs in multiple sectors like eco-tourism and agribusiness.

There also seemed to be a general dismissive attitude to local knowledge.  Many St Andrew residents have complained tirelessly as their houses have slipped because of questionable road designs.  Examples include the newly paved road in King Street in St Simons, which has broken away months after it was repaved.

I have strong family ties to the parish. My grandfather and mother were born in Lakes village. My grandfather, Mr William Bailey was a former teacher and headmaster of the All Saints Primary School and St Joseph Boys School during the 1940s until the 1970s before he retired from the profession. My maternal grandparent ties are based in Belleplaine. My predecessors have worked as teachers, nurses, farmers and merchants serving the parish of St Andrew.  It is with this background that I humbly seek to represent the people of St Andrew.

We have delivered a flyer and mini-manifesto to each house in this constituency.    It may be downloaded below.

A4 Flyer CP R3

Kind regards,

Cherie

Dear Residents of St James North:

My name is Andre Griffith and I am honoured that you would consider me to be your representative in Parliament.

Let me say that help is on the way. This is not just another cliché, but an important promise that I am making to you as a fellow Bajan.  If there was ever a time when most families needed help, it is now.

I am a product of Barbados.  I have been privileged and blessed to have a God-fearing heritage in this beautiful country of ours. I have benefitted from the taxes of others to enjoy: free education up to tertiary level, world class telecommunications, clean water, highly skilled medical care, and an enviable infrastructure of services, including the tourism industry.  However, we are now so deep in debt that we are in danger of losing it all.

Fortunately help is truly on the way in the persons of candidates who care more about the well-being of Barbados than their turn at the trough.  Persons with over a decade of management experience to assist in the management of national affairs.  Persons who put God first and acknowledge His guidance in their lives.

I have been very successful in my 16-year career in computer technology, and I want every Barbadian to have the same opportunities to succeed.  I want St James North to be one of the safest places to live and work in Barbados, I pledge to the people of St James North that I will faithfully represent you and your interests.

Best regards,

Andre

Dear Residents of St John:

My name is Cherone Martindale and I am honoured that you would consider me to represent you in Parliament.

I have spent the past 19 years as an administrator, and I also manage a small business.  Being a volunteer teacher who cares deeply about our nation’s children, I plan to improve the education and welfare of our children.

As I travel around this beautiful parish and meet with families, it seems that most of St John is being neglected.  It also seems that the Christian values of sharing are being replaced with selfishness.  I am concerned that the youth do not feel that they can participate in our national economy, and that agriculture is in decline.  I am also concerned that your vote seems to be taken for granted every 5 years.  I am committed to St John, its people, and its development, and, I pledge to you that I will represent you and your interests faithfully.

We have delivered a flyer and mini-manifesto to each house in this constituency.    It may be downloaded below.

A4 Flyer CM R3

Kind regards,

Cherone

Dear Residents of St Michael West-Central:

My name is Angela Edey. I am deeply honoured to be considered by you to be your representative in Parliament.

I have been a cosmetologist for the past 33 years, and a boutique owner, which allows me to interact with people and to hear their concerns.  Many are having a difficult time paying their bills and taking care of their families. As a wife and mother, I am deeply touched when parents speak to me of the hardship that they are experiencing because of the high cost of living.

As I visit communities within St Michael West-Central, people are also concerned about the lack of job opportunities and increasing crime levels.  These things also concern me.  Unfortunately, they are normally brought up every five years during election time, but no effective solutions are implemented.  I pledge to you that I will faithfully represent you and your concerns.

We have delivered a flyer and mini-manifesto to each house in this constituency.    It may be downloaded below.

A4 Flyer AE R3

Kind regards,

Angela

Dear Residents of St George South:

My name is Andrew Banfield and I am honoured that you would consider me to be your representative in Parliament.

Over the past 25, I years I have been in the business of creating Computer Software that is used in Barbados, Trinidad, Jamaica and further afield.  During this time, I have lived in St George South and have seen how our community has changed over time. In many cases, these changes have been negative and have resulted in the declining values that many of our fore-parents loved, treasured and lived by. This worries me.

We have lost our way by neglecting the simple Christian-based truth of being our brother’s keeper. I am also convinced that a major contributing factor to our challenges has been the failure to adequately address the needs of our people. For example, many of our youth have lost further educational opportunity simply because of systemic failure to increase the number of post-secondary (Polytechnic, Pome Marine, etc.) places in spite of the increasing demand for such. Consequently, many of our youth have lost hope and have resorted to block-culture.

These issues are not peculiar to us in St George South, but to Barbados. However, we are simply reminded of them every five years, but no solutions are implemented. Your vote demands better, and I pledge to faithfully represent your concerns.

We have delivered a flyer and mini-manifesto to each house in this constituency.    It may be downloaded below.

A4 Flyer AB R3

Best regards,

Andrew

Dear Residents of Christ Church South:

My Name is Julie Chalbaud and I am honoured that you would consider me to represent you in Parliament.

I am a qualified professional photographer who has successfully practiced in my field for twenty years, contributing to numerous publications on a regular basis. I have also worked as an Interior Designer over a three year period, lending my skills to the transformation of several homes on the Island. I have been privileged to work in the film industry and on many commercials within the Caribbean. I am passionate about the arts and culture and wish to invest my time into highlighting local artistes and promoting Barbados as a World-Class Destination.

I was raised in a Christian home by stable and loving parents who are still happily married after forty-eight years. During that period, my father has served selflessly and with the upmost integrity in the medical field as a General Practitioner and family doctor. I was taught, and embrace the values of serving others, respecting authority and doing my best in whatever responsibilities I am given.

I believe that we all have a destiny and purpose to fulfill, and that involves giving of ourselves to a greater cause to the benefit of many.  I am convinced that my training, professional practice and life experience has prepared me to listen to what is holding you back, and to implement effective solutions for your benefit.  I pledge to faithfully represent you and your concerns.

We have delivered a flyer and mini-manifesto to each house in this constituency.    It may be downloaded below.

A4 Flyer JC R3

My best regards to you,

Julie

Dear Residents of St Thomas:

My name is Susan Corbin and I am honoured that you would consider me to represent you in Parliament.

After spending 16 years working, mostly in the electronics industry, I then spent the next 17 years as a supervisor in almost every department of a highly successful international business company. I believe that my management experience has prepared me to both understand your concerns and meaningfully address the needs of St Thomas.

I am concerned about our youth and the type of Barbados that we are leaving them.  I am also concerned about our elderly, and the general lack of respect and concern for their dignity.  However, I am most concerned about keeping families together.

My sincere pledge to you, the people of St Thomas, is to faithfully represent your concerns in Parliament, and to implement solutions to permanently address those concerns.

We have delivered a flyer and mini-manifesto to each house in this constituency.    It may be downloaded below.

A4 Flyer PSC R2

Kindest regards,

Susan.

Dear Readers:

Our system of Government requires politicians to compete for our votes every general election, for the responsibility of managing Barbados’ economy.  However, rather than it being mainly a competition of management proposals, our politicians tended to compete by trying to out-promise their opponents.  In the past, we seemed not to realise that their promises would be paid by them burdening us with higher taxes and our children with greater national debt.

It has taken 50 years for Barbadians to finally interpret what our politicians have been promising.  When they promised to give us more than what their opponents promised, what they were actually telling us was that they promised to sink us deeper in debt than the debt level promised by their opponents.

Now that our national debt has grown too large for our generation to pay off, Barbadians have finally woken up to the reality that our children will be forced to pay for the promises that our politicians have made.  We have finally reached the point where both voter and politician know that we cannot afford any more unfunded promises.  Thankfully, the Barbadian voter can no longer be fooled by any politician trying to recklessly out-promise another.  Therefore, the next general election should finally be a competition of how best to manage Barbados’ economy, instead of how many “free” things a politician can recklessly promise.

This is an entirely new experience for Barbadians.  We have grown so accustomed to general election candidates being paraded early, while the policies are kept secret until after the general election has been called.  This gives the voters very little time to critically read and challenge the politicians’ intentions for us, and the cost of their promises to our children.  Given the crucial importance of the next general election to Barbados’ future, we published our proposed solutions to Barbados’ problems over 18 months ago for voters’ critical review.  Thank you to all who commented and helped us to improve the ideas.  Our published solutions generally do not require additional taxes or debt.  They typically require better management of Government services.

We now have 15 responsible employers (not merchants) experienced in good management practises to contest the next general election.  If the remaining 15 responsible employers do not respond to our public invitation to be candidates by the end of this month, then we will widen our candidate selection criteria to include any responsible persons with any type of management experience.

Hold on Barbados.  Help is still on the way.

Celebrating 50 years of our political independence was an important national event that the Government should have been allowed to manage, without being distracted by constant criticism.  Given the foreseen economic challenges this year, it was also important that Barbadians be allowed to enjoy the Christmas and New Year celebrations.  With these events now behind us, we all need to consider the future of Barbados.

Barbados has never been in so much debt.  The BLP has been responsible for accumulating approximately $8B and the DLP approximately $5B of our $13B national debt.  The international rating agencies continue to warn potential investors about our challenges to repay our debt.  If we continue to manage Barbados’ economy as we have in the past 40 years, then we will not own a country to pass on to the next generation of Barbadians.

The solutions to Barbados’ economic problems should be well known by both of our established political parties.  However, for the past 50 years they have both played this game of criticising the party in power for mismanaging the national economy, and then proceeding to mismanage it far worse when they attained power, leaving the criticising to the other party until their roles are reversed.

Since they have taken us so far beyond any responsible debt limit, to the point where we have no choice but to be badly taken advantage of by investors, then the next general election is crucial to the future of Barbados.

Solutions Barbados has already published workable solutions to the principal problems hindering Barbados’ development at SolutionsBarbados.com.  Regrettably, the games continue to be played while the problems are getting worse.  Therefore, we have assembled 14 employers who have never contested a general election, but who are willing to stand as candidates in the next general election in order to give Barbadians a competent alternative.  We are looking for 16 more candidates.

If you agree with our published solutions, have been a responsible employer at any time in your career (the type and size of business does not matter), and are willing to be a candidate in the next general election, then please contact us at NextParty246@gmail.com

We are gravely concerned about the employment prospects for many of our secondary school graduates who soon appear destined to join the ranks of the unemployed.  However, we are aware that simply expressing our concern does not help any of our graduates.  Neither does it help any of those currently unemployed, under-employed, or frustrated with their employment.

The foreseen problem is an increase in illegal acts by desperate persons who think that they are out of options.  One obvious preventative solution is to train individuals to start and grow profitable businesses, thus providing them with a viable option – and a tangible hope.  Ideally, this training should commence after the secondary school examinations and finish before the end of this school term.

We have identified and published workable solutions to the major problems hindering Barbados’ development at SolutionsBarbados.com.  All of the solutions require Government to manage the implementation of the solution, except this one.  To implement this solution, the public, especially graduating students and those currently unemployed, are invited to a free workshop where they will be trained to start home-based businesses, with little to no start-up money.  The training is scheduled to start on Monday 20^th  June at 6:00 pm sharp in the Combermere School Hall, and run for 3 weeks.

No business experience or academic qualifications are required.  However, participants should bring a pen and paper to take notes and write their ideas.  It should be clarified that participants will be trained to start and grow profitable businesses that they can operate from their homes.  The workshop is not an academic exercise about writing business plans.  Rather, participants are expected to start operating their new businesses during the workshop.

If you know anyone who is: unemployed, under-employed, engaging in illegal activity because they feel that they have no other options, wasting time on the block, or a former prison inmate who cannot find employment, then please encourage them not to squander this opportunity.

Workshop – Home Based Business – Public