The Gems Scandal                                  
scan·dal  
n.
A publicized incident that brings about disgrace or offends the moral sensibilities of society dictionary.com
 
Sept 15  2002
In a monthly meeting of the Christ Church Branch of the Barbados Labour Party ,the prime minister of Barbados and Minister of Finance Owen Arthur said  "The regional caribbean economy is crumbling.The earliest manifestations of it is to be found in places like Dominica.But all across the caribbean there is an econonmic crisis of the most fearsome proportions."
 
With Virtually all sectors of the Barbados economy in a decline including its only billion dollar industry,fears that the Barbados government may not be up to the task have been surfacing.
 
The Gems Project     gemsbarbados.com
The concept was initiated in the 1980's under the Democratic Labour Party government.It was a project to assist small hotels who were indebted to the Barbados Development Bank(BDB). were involved in the understanding that they would be returned to their owners  once they had returned to profitability.
 
In 1994 with a change in government and which in the caribbean generally means a change in policy,the hotels would be owned by  Hotels and Resorts Ltd. and the owners compensated by deducting the indebtedness from the assessed value of the property.
 
The owners of Silver Rock and Worthing Court were the only two who accepted the offer.The Gems project started then with the Silver Rock and Worthing Court Hotel and the Sea View.Hotel and Resorts Limited then bought Blue Horizon, Andrea-On-Sea and Eastry House.