UNC say sorry to Barbadians for Young Insensitive Statement
Naparima MP is today apologizing to the Government and People of Barbados for the unwarranted and insensitive public criticism by Stuart Young of their principled, humanitarian, ethical – even Christian – kindness shown recently to our citizens stranded at their airport.
The MP, a former UN Ambassador in the Kamla Persad Bissessar led PP government, is the party’s shadow Foreign Minister in the present parliament.
Instead of thanking Barbadians profusely for their kind heartedness and humanitarianism, Young in a very crass, uncalled for, and highly undiplomatic manner chided Barbadians for allegedly subverting our border policies.
Young’s comments were unwarranted, undiplomatic, crude, insensitive, “dotish” and unreflective of the gratitude which most TT citizens have for the kindness displayed by the Barbados government.
Barbados could have rendered our elderly citizens stateless but instead did the right thing in the circumstances.
But in a thinly disguised criticism of Barbados, Young publicly condemned countries “which have failed to respect TTs border policy and who have permitted their good offices to be used by persons intent on compromising TTs current border measures.”
What Minister Young fails to recognize is that TT is the laughing stock of the region and the global community for the way both he and Rowley have treated our citizens.
Young is totally incapable of seeing the irony of him opening our borders for EU citizens to leave while simultaneously closing our borders to our own kith and kin. The EU’s praise of our government’s Covid policies must be seen in its “diplomatic” context. After all who would not profusely praise a country if did for others – what it would not do for its own.
Why is Minister Young so insensitive to the plight of ordinary citizens in Surinam, Margarita, and Barbados? Even cash strapped Surinam chartered a flight to bring home its citizens.
Why is he going out of his way to make it extremely difficult for citizens to return to the country where their navel strings are buried?
Being a child of privilege, does Young not understand what it means to be stranded in a strange land with few friends and little money?
Why is he using the bogeyman of fear when there are standard quarantine arrangements available to protect us from becoming infected by our returning citizens?
Minister Young must be forgiven for his youth, his lack of knowledge of the world of diplomacy, his “never see come see” sense of self importance, and his inability to empathize with the plight of ordinary citizens in distress.
These shortcomings he may get away with (even be praised) in this PNM country; but he must endeavor to conceal them from those more knowledgeable in the global arena.
Barbados accept our sincerest apologies.
Rodney Charles
MP for Naparima