MOTTLEY ASKS FOR PARRIS TO RESIGN.

RESIGN!

The Opposition Barbados Labour Party (BLP) made this appeal last night to chairman of the state-owned Caribbean Broadcasting Corporation (CBC), Leroy Parris.

In a statement released just ahead of the party's public meeting in Spooner's Hill, St Michael, Leader of the Opposition Mia Mottley urged Parris to step down.

This was because of the BLP's accusation against CBC of failing to give the public key information about the local and Trinidad operation of CLICO, the big insurance company, whose Barbados operation he heads.

Parris, chairman of CLICO Holdings Barbados, maintains that the company is not in any financial trouble, but Mottley says CBC, under his chairmanship, is short-changing Barbadians by not giving all the relevant information about the Barbados and Trinidad operations.

Mottley complained that CBC failed to carry on television, not just her comments relating to CLICO Barbados, but remarks made by the governor of the Trinidad Central Bank, Ewart Williams, on Friday.

Williams had said the financial state of CLICO Insurance was far more precarious than originally thought.


'Right to know'


"I call for Parris' resignation because persons who may be legitimately raising queries about CLICO, given the 38 000 policyholders, thousands of pension fund holders in Barbados, and the public at large have a legitimate expectation that those stories would be carried by CBC as they have been carried by other sections of the Press," Mottley added.

"CBC cannot only carry his [Parris'] Press conference and that of the Prime Minister, stating that all is well with CLICO, while ignoring everyone else.

"This is an abuse affecting freedom of information and the public's right to be informed. Above all else, we want Mr Parris to understand that CBC does not stand for CLICO Broadcasting Corporation."

Last Friday, Prime Minister Thompson told the House of Assembly that CBC had carried a number of stories from the Opposition Leader on the CLICO issue.

Last night Mottley also called on the David Thompson administration "to provide total disclosure to the country on the financial health of CLICO Barbados".

"In particular, the Barbados Labour Party is calling on the Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, who has overall responsibility for the regulation of insurance companies, and thus the protection of policy holders, to state specifically whether or not CLICO's Statutory Fund is in deficit, and if so, to what extent," she said.(TY)

*Attributed to the Nation Newspaper, 16th February,2009*

I personally agree with Mottley on this.
There are none so blind who will not see.