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Acting Prime Minister Ronald Jones, receiving a health check at the fair.
(G. Brewster/BGIS)
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Those Barbadians who toss garbage from their vehicles and keep their surroundings in a deplorable state, have received a tongue lashing from acting Prime Minister Ronald Jones.

He made this observation last Saturday, while addressing the official opening ceremony of the St. Michael South Constituency Council’s health fair.?? It was held at the National Union of Public Workers’ Headquarters, Dalkeith, St. Michael.?? Mr. Jones argued that in the past, citizens living in districts across Barbados, used their initiative to cut down shrubs and trees that obscured their view.?? However, he lamented that the task was now left to those who were being paid to perform.

"Those of us born in the 1950’s and 60’s would have taken our swords and cut the trees down so that we could get good [visibility] but would sit now and wait for somebody that is paid to do something to cut it down, even though it is blurring our vision and that does not make any sense at all," he contended.??????????????????????

Mr. Jones further stated: "A society cannot wait or strictly depend on those few hundreds who are paid to clean a 166-square mile island …that is an impossible task.?? What is needed in fact is for the 280,000 people who occupy this space, to come out and be fully engaged in nation building and keeping our streets clean.?? We have constantly to speak to the converted and then to invite those who are unconverted, to buy-in so that we can make Barbados truly the paradise that we speak about."

Despite the many blessings the island has enjoyed, the acting Prime Minister was critical of the dirty streets in some parts of the country that had spoilt the island’s beautiful landscape.

"Our streets are not clean and they are not clean because the wind blows paper, plastic bottles and pieces of trash across every space, it is dirty because we, as?? citizens, have not learnt to be clean…that is the problem. We move garbage from one place in our homes and take it to someone else’s place.?? Additionally, we throw papers, snow cone cups and fast food containers out of bus window, or roll our car glasses down and flick something out onto the streets.?? In some instances, we have become so callous when we say somebody is being paid to do that [clean up]."

He continued: "These are truths that we have to confront as citizens of Barbados.?? As we drive or bicycle across Barbados, our streets should be ???spick and span’ as though you can eat from the surface…."

The acting Prime Minister also urged the Council to instill a culture of garbage separation among residents as a means of preserving the environment.?? "What I would like to see as part of the St. Michael South Constituency Council, is that you would mobilise the residents to start to separate their garbage.?? We have some good recyclers here in Barbados … and I am sure that the agencies of state would work with you because they know, just as well as we know, that you have to make Barbados a better place for all of us…," he emphasised.

jwilson@barbados.gov.bb

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