James Paul was elected to Parliament on January 15th, 2008 in the last General Elections, this being his first effort at the polls. He is the Chief Executive Officer of the BAS since May 1, 2000 and he has held the post for the past seven years. Prior to this he was the Finance Officer of the BAS and has been with the organisation for a period of ten years. James Paul is also an active member of the City of Bridgetown Credit Union and is drawn to the credit union and wider cooperative movement because it places people at the centre of development. He is a graduate of the University of the West Indies and he is currently pursuing an MSc in Agricultural Development. His other interests include sports such as chess, basketball and cricket.
He describes himself as a mature, confident and self motivated university graduate with considerable experience in the development of organisations and possessing skills in negotiation of and the representation of issues before the competent authorities. He possesses a mature understanding of the issues pertaining to Barbados’ productive sectors in the emerging global trading environment.
He has a keen interest in agriculture and by extension the environment. He feels that it is important that both are not sacrificed on the altar of expediency in order to pursue short term objectives and impact negatively on the maintenance of a food security regime. James Paul supports the view that economic development is achieved from a balanced perspective and that all sectors and people in the society benefit. Such a perspective seeks to ensure that improvements in the standard of living are not achieved at the expense of long term economic interests and disadvantaged or resource challenged individuals in society. All Barbadians must be provided with the opportunities to benefit from the development initiatives which we pursue as a nation.
City of Bridgetown Co-operative Credit Union Limited
James Paul is an active member of the Credit Union movement and currently serves on the Credit Committee of the City Of Bridgetown Credit Union Limited. In the past I have held positions of Vice-President and Treasurer to the Board of Directors. The Credit Union has demonstrated tremendous growth over the years and continues to show strong growth potential in the prevailing environment. James Paul believes in the cooperative movement because he feels that it offers poor people the opportunity to be responsible for their own destiny.
Sports
James has been involved as a coach of a basketball team winning the BABA’s third division championship. He enjoys watching team oriented sports and getting involved in their organisation, mainly because of their community impact.
James Paul is essentially a person who is concerned about people and development and providing persons with the opportunity to develop themselves. This can be achieved by working with people to develop their talents and skills.