Barrow Warns BTL-SMART Deal Could Backfire on Government

Former Prime Minister Dean Barrow is cautioning the Briceño administration that moving on the proposed acquisition of SMART by BTL could lead to serious consequences.  Barrow’s warning comes as the BTL Board continues consultations with unions and stakeholders, amid growing resistance and a series of firm “no” votes from key groups in recent days.  Speaking with Love News, Barrow, who served as Prime Minister from 2008 to 2020, said the government should tread carefully, noting that decisions of this magnitude must be guided by broad public confidence and sound judgment.  According to Barrow, if the administration chooses to push forward without adequately addressing concerns being raised, it may later regret that decision.

Rt.Hon.Dean Barrow, Former Prime Minister: “I think the decision will come back to haunt them because I am confident that in a couple of years the challenges for BTL from the way things are being shaken up regarding telecommunications will show that it made no sense for BTL to take on a Speednet. But that apart, politically, a government is essentially bound to be considerate of public opinion. And it is clear that public opinion is strongly against this. So for government to be determined to ram this deal down people’s throats, when there is an ask for public consultations and they say “no” , when there is an ask for a pause so that perhaps the legal propriety can be examined and they say “no”. It shows that the government is acting with a kind of impunity, no doubt born of the fact that they have these massive majorities , have had these massive majorities in the last two general elections. But these things will come back to haunt them, I believe. And this may well be the start of an irreversible political decline for the current administration because of the way it is handling or mishandling this entire situation.”