Sir Henry: Come clean on Greenland
Publication: Sun on Saturday
Paper Section And Page: 40
Paper Date: Sat, Dec 16, 2000
A SENIOR member of the Barbados Labour Party has urged Government to let the facts "hang out" on the controversial Greenland landfill.
Sir Henry Forde also called on Government to take a leadership role in resolving the garbage problem.
He said during debate in the House of Assembly yesterday that there was a large segment of the population which had doubts about the suitability of placing a landfill at Greenland. He called on Government to make available to the public all the documents and all the facts, and let them speak for themselves. If these facts showed that Government made an error, he said, then they should admit to the error and move on in the interest of the bigger picture of environmental protection of the island.
"We have to get over Greenland. Government has to let the facts hang out, irrespective of what those are . . . and if Government was wrong, move on," he told MPs during debate on a supplementary vote for the Mangrove Pond landfill.
Sir Henry said Government also had to let people understand it acted on advice and recommendations. But if the advice and recommendations accepted turned out to be the wrong choice, Government should come out and say so and move on, he added.
Even if Government accepted Greenland, Sir Henry said, the administration ought to "face up" to the facts of incineration to move quickly as possible with it once a decision was taken to accept this form of disposal.
The veteran MP said the garbage woes at the Mangrove Pond landfill had passed the political realm and it was time to focus on the wider environmental problems.