Barbados Gov't Denies It Had Received Millions To Vaccinate Citizens

31st October 2021

By News 784

Barbados Minister of Finance Ryan Straughn has denied accusations that the island Government was paid millions of dollars to vaccinate citizens, the Barbados Today is reporting.

According to the publication, Straughn’s rebuttal was in response to a recent interview by Senator Caswell Franklyn posted on social media which charged that Barbadians were being used as “case studies” and Government had received millions which it did not have to repay as a result of administering the vaccine.

“Government has been promised money to get Barbados vaccinated so people can study us because we are a closed society, we don’t go across the border and come back. We are here and they want to use us as a case study so Barbados will get some money for it. We already get $461 million already that we do not have to pay back so we are case studies,” Franklyn said on a recent episode of Catcha Fyah.

The Barbados Today stated that Franklyn offered no evidence to substantiate his claim.

In a scathing rebuttal in Parliament during debate on the Debt Settlement (Arrears) Bill, 2021, Straughn described Senator Franklyn’s allegations as “nonsense” and “insulting”.

“I don’t typically allow my emotions to show on my sleeve but this Government has worked too hard and I certainly have worked too hard over the course of the last 20 months or so to try to give Barbadians a sense of calm assurance with respect to the nature of the conduct of the affairs of this country by this Government on their behalf to allow persons who I say, quite frankly, should know better, ought to know better and that it is disappointing to see things being said in the way they are being said as to suggest that this Government is somehow complicit in some grand, nefarious conspiracy to expose Barbadians.

“As far as I am concerned, seeking to go out and mislead the public that this Government was promised money, received money and if I heard correctly there was an assertion that the Government through the Ministry of Finance received $261 million that we don’t have to pay back. To my certain knowledge and I say so categorically today, I can say to the Leader of the Opposition, to all the members of this place, to all the members of the other place and certainly to every, single Barbadian…that to assert that this Government has received $261 million that it does not have to repay, I do not know of any monies that we have received,” said the minister.

The Publication said Straughn maintained that all financing required by Government had been sought through the correct channels and had been brought to Parliament for approval.

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