Barbados’s Democratic Labour Party president is calling on the country’s government to implement freedom of information legislation, prompted by a Cayman Compass FOI request that revealed Barbados is guaranteeing minimum revenues to Cayman Airways for its Grand Cayman-Bridgetown route.
The Compass reported last week that, under a deal signed between Barbados Tourism Marketing Inc. – which represents the Barbados government in tourism matters – and Cayman Airways, the airline is guaranteed not to make a loss on the route in its first year of service, as Barbados will make up any revenue shortfall that is experienced.
In a statement issued on Monday, Democratic Labour Party president Ronnie Yearwood, said, “This situation highlights the urgent need for Freedom of Information legislation in Barbados, similar to the Cayman Islands Freedom of Information Act, which grants the public the general right to access the records held by public authorities in the Cayman Islands.”
His party holds no seats in the Barbados Parliament, as all 30 members of the House are from the Barbados Labour Party.
Yearwood said his party is committed to the introduction of freedom of information legislation, using the Cayman Islands as a model.
He added, “Freedom of Information is vital to the proper functioning of democracy, especially where the Barbados Labour Party regime has all the seats in Parliament.”
Following a freedom of information request from the Cayman Compass, Cayman Airways revealed that Barbados Tourism Marketing Inc. had agreed, for a period of one year, to cover any revenue shortfall the airline may experience on the Cayman-Barbados route. The minimum revenue guarantee agreement also took into account a pro-rated percentage of a Los Angeles-Cayman flight, scheduled to connect with the new Barbados flight.
Both the percentage and the minimum revenue amount were blacked out in the documentation released to the Compass by Cayman Airways, which cited commercial interests as the reason for the redactions.
The deal was revealed under the requirements of the Freedom of Information Act, which was introduced to Cayman in 2009.
Barbados does not have freedom of information legislation, although it is a subject that has been discussed by successive governments over the years. A draft freedom of information bill was circulated for public consultation in Barbados in 2008, but final legislation has never been implemented for the island.
In his statement, Yearwood also took aim at the deal struck between Cayman Airways and Barbados Tourism Marketing Inc., describing the new air route as an unprofitable “glamour project”.
He said, under the Cayman-Bridgetown agreement, “Barbados will pay for empty seats in and out of Barbados”, and he questioned whether Cayman could generate a sufficient number of passengers to fill seats due to its population size.
Cayman Airways launched its twice-weekly route to and from Barbados last month.
Announcing the new flight at a press conference in July this year, tourism officials from Cayman and Barbados said the route would help passengers in both countries link to regional and international gateways, and attract visitors from the US and Europe.
Barbados Tourism Minister Ian Gooding-Edghill said at the time that the deal between his government and Cayman to establish the route opened up new opportunities for travel for Barbadians, and for people throughout the region to travel to Barbados.
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