I wish to express my deep consternation at the manner in which the current
Government is dismantling key pillars of WASA’s transformation—with little regard for merit, process, or the public interest. Today, the country has seen the dismantling of the Authority not in the public’s interest but for narrow partisan and corrupt interests.

1. Character assassination of Mr. Keithroy Halliday
   On June 24, 2025, Minister Barry Padarath, cowardly hiding under the cover of
   parliamentary privilege, branded the now fired CEO of WASA, a proven and well-respected professional who was recruited through a transparent process, as a “failed CEO from Barbados”. Such language is not only reckless, it is misinformed, disrespectful and deeply unbecoming of the Office of a senior Minister of Government.
   

• he ranked highest among a regional field of candidates, following a rigorous and
  transparent recruitment process; and
• he received his appointment on December 1, 2024.

2. Proven track record at the Barbados Water Authority (BWA) During his seven-year tenure as Chief Executive/General Manager of the BWA, Mr. Halliday transformed this institution into a zero-budget entity covering all operational costs without
   recourse to recurrent funding across a four-year period. He successfully guided the Authority through crises, secured Green Climate Fund grants for climate resilience, and instilled financial discipline and operational excellence. These are precisely the qualities required to rescue WASA from decades of under-performance.

3. Politicized reassignments, rewarding cronies—not competence It is now a matter of public record that the Government through its Board of Commissioners at WASA has abolished the executive leadership, recruited under an extensive transparent
   process, now replacing them with hand-picked individuals. These include Jeevan Joseph and Krishna Persadsingh, neither of whom went through any transparent recruitment process, and others with questionable credentials, some alleged to have engaged in corrupt practices for securing contracts in the past. Many are retirees, brought back without demonstrable capacity to drive digital transformation, sound governance or proven experience in executive leadership of a water utility company.
4. I have been reliably informed by WASA sources that persons previously suspended for shady dealings are returning. Mr. Joseph and Mr. Persadsingh, former junior staffers, are now being elevated overqualified, experienced executives. The UNC Government and its Board of Commissioners should hold their heads in collective shame as they have embarrassed this country regionally and internationally, and damaged the reputation that the last government painstakingly endured to rebrand WASA and the local water sector.
5. The danger of dismantling a smart-water agenda Under my tenure as Minister, WASA was on the cusp of becoming a smart-water utility, a data-driven operator with real-time leak detection, digital job management systems, remote dashboards, and human-centric reform that improved efficiency without layoffs. All of this is
   now being scrapped by this Government with no replacement plan, putting completed infrastructure projects, and hundreds of technical jobs, at risk.
6. Victimization of competent professionals not aligned with the UNC; this is not about merit; it is about partisan loyalties. Technocrats are being targeted because
   of their democratic right to support a political party of their choice, while the UNC installs friends and allies with little regard for qualifications and competence. Such actions threaten to return WASA to a politicized, inefficient state entity where procurement is based on political connections, without value-for-money, transparency, or improved service delivery to citizens.

In conclusion, WASA and the public deserve better than this political purge. A utility cannot thrive under cronyism, especially one with such national importance. We must preserve the integrity of public service, defend meritocratic processes, and safeguard national investments in water infrastructure and digital modernisation.

This Government has now done irreversible damage to the reputation of WASA, and the
local water sector, by this most egregious act of terror on executives duly hired to steer a much-needed transformation. This country’s interests have once again been sacrificed on the altar of wicked and malicious politics in true UNC fashion. Taxpayers will now have to foot the millions in legal bills that will certainly follow due to this capricious behaviour of the Board of Commissioners.

When UNC wins, Only UNC wins!

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