Deputy Prime Minister Santia Bradshaw has ordered an investigation into the contents of a video making the rounds on social media which showed a four-year-old allegedly working on a public service vehicle, opening and closing the door and collecting bus fare.
Bradshaw, in her capacity as Minister of Transport, Works and Water Resources, and under whose portfolio this sector falls, said she asked the Director of the Transport Authority to “have this matter investigated and to report to me by midday tomorrow”.
The Minister said her initial reaction was to dismiss what she was seeing as “fake news” because “such behaviour is neither appropriate for a child nor indeed is it the Barbados way”, and promised to handle the matter quickly.
“Furthermore, in the event that the legitimacy of the video is established, I would like to be the first to publicly thank and applaud the person who recorded this and made it public,” she said in a statement.
“This is what citizenship of the republic of Barbados is all about. This is what we need for positive change to come about. We need to call out those who introduce and perpetrate behaviours foreign to our culture and upbringing.”
In the text accompanying the video, the driver was identified and it was alleged the child was his four year-old son. As the van plied the route, an expletive-laden DJ narrative could be heard playing in the background. (SAT)