Baby steps – Giant Undertaking

Submitted by The Mahogany Coconut Group

As the Caribbean region diligently turns to what is hopefully the “new norm” or the post COVID-19 era, we note the tentative baby steps, in what will be a giant undertaking. Caribbean social and political culture is steeped in the “creep before you can walk” philosophy, and from all indications, this gradualism or “old norm”, will continue, as we confront the “new norm”. It seems almost like a cautionary tale affliction.

The MCG understands this approach because the indelible scars of a people still caught in defeating the psychological remnants of brutal slavery and now persistent post slave and post-colonial eras , cannot be expected , to be exceptionally capable or aggressively confident of understanding or even capturing and developing their true worth. We therefore always seem to be taking baby steps in socio economic development.

From the Federation experiment to the present post-independence period, we seem to be creeping forever. This almost pathetic reality has frustrated progressive forces since the mid-sixties. The failure of the Grenada Revolution was almost the final nail in the coffin of radicalism, but we persevere.

The COVID-19 has exposed this frightening and self-defeating reality. When will we, the mighty people we are, RISE as was instructed by Marcus Garvey, so many decades ago?

William Skinner
Communications Officer MCG
5/6/2020

Altruistic China?

The following article is reproduced from the Canadian press at the request of Money Brain. Is China as altruistic as some would have us believe?

Across the globe, especially in the great motherland Africa, there are horror stories being recorded about this new marauding. What insights are there to be learned by impoverished states of the Caribbean? Besides fueling our greed for ‘things’ what other factors determine regional foreign policy with China?

-David, blogmaster


When it comes to defending Canada from the menace posed by the People’s Republic of China, it is now a matter of public record, and should be a matter of some embarrassment to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, if not shame, that the course his government embarked upon almost four years ago was dangerously naive, if not recklessly thoughtless.

It’s a tragedy that it took the Chinese Ministry of State Security’s kidnapping of former Canadian diplomat Michael Kovrig and cultural entrepreneur Michael Spavor to prove that the Beijing regime was not the “win-win, golden decade” friend and trade partner Trudeau had incessantly harped about. Robert Schellenberg, dubiously convicted on drug-smuggling charges in the first place, had his 15-year jail sentence upgraded to a cell on death row. Canada’s canola exporters are stuck with $2.7 billion in export contracts that Beijing has ripped up. Threats of further punishment hang in the air.

It’s all because Canada detained Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. chief financial officer Meng Wanzhou last December on a U.S. Justice Department extradition warrant. Meng is sought by the U.S. to face charges of fraud and dodging sanctions on Iran. Beijing needed to throw somebody up against a wall and slap him around, so President Xi Jinping chose Justin Trudeau.

Beijing’s complex campaigns of subversion, threats, influence-buying, bullying and espionage in Canada stretch back much farther than last December, of course. So does the sleazy tendency of Canadian politicians to look the other way, or rush to Beijing’s defence whenever anyone in the intelligence community publicly notices the obvious, or throw the director of the Canadian Security and Intelligence Service under the bus for pointing it out.

Beijing needed to throw somebody up against a wall and slap him around, so President Xi Jinping chose Justin Trudeau.

When CSIS director Richard Fadden had the temerity to point out nearly a decade ago that there were provincial cabinet ministers and other elected officials in Canada who had fallen under Beijing’s general influence, several Liberal and NDP MPs demanded his resignation.

hen-CSIS director Richard Fadden testifying at the House Public Safety committee in 2010. ANDRE FORGET / QMI

So it was refreshing to see that Tuesday’s first-ever annual report from the National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians (NSICOP) made no bones about it. China is a threat to Canada’s national security, the committee found.

Terrorism, espionage and foreign influence, cyber threats, major organized crime and weapons of mass destruction were all listed in the NSICOP report among the top threats to Canada. China figures in the report’s findings under espionage and foreign influence, and under cyber threats as well.

Russia is right up there, too, and although the report is redacted in several places, other unnamed governments were reported to be busy with the same dirty work. But it was the novelty of China being singled out for once, in a high-level federal government intelligence report, that’s worth noticing. Usually, Ottawa lets China get away with anything.

“China is known globally for its efforts to influence Chinese communities and the politics of other countries. The Chinese government has a number of official organizations that try to influence Chinese communities and politicians to adopt pro-China positions, most prominently the United Front Work Department,” the report states, referring directly to Fadden’s whistleblowing in 2010.

The report also notes a 2017 warning from David Mulroney, a former ambassador to China, about Beijing’s influence-peddling efforts in Canada. To get what it wants, Beijing mobilizes student groups, diaspora groups, “and people who have an economic stake in China, to work behind the scenes.” The report also notes the unsavoury business of lavish political donations on offer from Chinese businessmen with close links to China’s Communist Party leadership.

China is known globally for its efforts to influence Chinese communities and the politics of other countries

Report by the National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians

Two years ago, the Financial Times obtained the United Front Work Department’s training manual, which boasts about the electoral successes of 10 pro-Beijing politicians in Ontario. “We should aim to work with those individuals and groups that are at a relatively high level, operate within the mainstream of society and have prospects for advancement,” the manual states.

t was all smiles back then: Prime Minister Justin Trudeau meets Chinese President Xi Jinping at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing, China on Dec. 5, 2017. SEAN KILPATRICK / THE CANADIAN PRESS

The reason for the public’s relative inattention to influence-and-espionage threats posed by such foreign powers as China and Russia is that the federal government tends to avoid addressing the issue publicly. “As it stands now, an interested Canadian would have to search a number of government websites to understand the most significant threats to Canada,” the committee found.

“For some threats, such as terrorism, information is readily available and regularly updated . … For other threats, such as organized crime or interference in Canadian politics, information is often limited, scattered among different sources or incomplete. The committee believes that Canadians would be equally well served if more information about threats were readily available.”

That information is available, of course. It just hasn’t been coming from the federal government. In his just-published book, Claws of the Panda: Beijing’s Campaign of Influence and Intimidation in Canada, veteran foreign-affairs reporter Jonathan Manthorpe painstakingly enumerates the breadth and scope of the United Front Work Department’s organizations in Canada, and Beijing’s intimate links throughout Canada’s business class. Manthorpe relied solely on the public record, showing that Beijing’s strong-arming, its inducements and its subtle and not-so-subtle intimidation have been carried out in plain sight for years.

Last year, a coalition of diaspora groups led by Amnesty International provided CSIS with an exhaustive account of Beijing’s intensive campaign of bullying, threats and harassment targeting Canadian diaspora organizations devoted to Chinese democracy, the Falun Gong spiritual movement, Tibetan sovereignty, and the Uighurs. A Muslim ethnic minority in Xinjiang, the Uighur people are currently being subjected to an overwhelming tyranny of concentration camps, religious persecution, “re-education,” family separation and round-the-clock, pervasive surveillance. “Canada has become a battleground on which the Chinese Communist Party seeks to terrorize, humiliate and neuter its opponents,” says Manthorpe.

Canada has become a battleground on which the Chinese Communist Party seeks to terrorize, humiliate and neuter its opponents

Authur Jonathan Manthorpe

That kind of subversion usually occurs behind the scenes. But for years, Confucius Institutes have operated openly in dozens of Canadian universities, colleges and high schools. “In most cases,” Manthorpe contends, “they are espionage outstations for Chinese embassies and consulates through which they control Chinese students, gather information on perceived enemies and intimidate dissidents.”

Because its mandate covers more than a dozen institutions and agencies, NSICOP — first proposed 15 years ago, but only now getting off the ground — had a lot of ground to cover. More than half of the report’s 121 pages are devoted to a review of the intelligence functions of the Department of National Defence and the Canadian Armed Forces. But it’s subversion by foreign governments that seems to have caught the Parliamentary committee’s attention — CSIS told NSICOP the foreign-influence threat is becoming more acute, and countering it will call for “a more significant response” in the coming years.

With that in mind, the committee is already working on a followup review of the mandate, priority and resources Ottawa provides Canada’s intelligence community to monitor and counter the foreign-influence threat. The committee’s report is expected to be released before the October federal election, but it won’t be focused on the foreign cyber threats Ottawa is already preparing to monitor and expose during the election campaign.

“We’re going to outline the primary-threat actors, we’re going to be examining the threat those actors pose to our institutions and, to a certain extent, our ethno-cultural communities,” NSICOP chair David McGuinty told reporters in Ottawa on Tuesday. “We’re working feverishly to get it done.”

About time, too.

Terry Glavin is an author and journalist

 

Barbados’ Environmental Double Standards

Submitted by Mohammed Degia (Originally posted to Extranewsfeed)

Photo credit: barbadostoday.bb

Senator Maxine McClean, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, addressed the UN earlier tonight at its annual General Assembly (UNGA) in New York. This was her 8th time speaking at the UNGA and tonight’s speech was the standard repetitive language one has come to expect from the Minister. It therefore came as no surprise, particularly with the destruction caused by Hurricanes Irma and Maria, that she would mention climate change and the environment.

Ms. McClean delved straight into it, referring to UNGA speeches by Prime Ministers Thompson and Stuart, in 2008 and 2015 respectively, where they warned about the seriousness of the climate change threat and the pressing need for strong action. She noted similar admonitions from other leaders of small island nations and lamented that what we were seeing happening in the region was because “this clarion call from the Caribbean was ignored.” Ms. McClean reaffirmed Barbados’ commitment “to ambitious action on climate change and contended that its “support for global climate change action is a component of its overall policy of promoting and protecting the environment.”

The Minister also spoke about Barbados’ people-centred and inclusive development and the need for the international community to take action to implement the commitments made by all countries in the SAMOA Pathway, the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and Paris Agreement on Climate Change.

A few weeks ago, I read a GIS press release which informed that Mr. Denis Kellman, Minister of Housing, Lands and Rural Development, had attended a UN High Level Meeting on The Effective Implementation of the New Urban Agenda in New York and delivered a speech. According to the press release, Mr. Kellman told the meeting that Barbados had put measures in place “including amendments to the Physical Development Plan to ensure that development on the island continued to be progressive, orderly and sustainable”. He also said that “Government encouraged developers to locate housing for seniors close to amenities and services to meet daily needs, promoted the development of new housing which was fully accessible to people with disabilities, and continued to require that new developments and significant renovations in public spaces be accessible to all.” Finally, he threw in the usual jargon about green economy, renewable energy and environmentally-sound waste management and all of their concomitant socio-economic benefits.

The drastic difference between the claims of Ministers McClean and Kellman and the reality in Barbados is such that one wonders if they are speaking of the same country. They both convey the impression of an island in which development benefits everyone and safeguards the environment. I wonder then how do they explain the wilful lack of a comprehensive set of environmental laws in Barbados and the almost non-existent implementation of the few laws that are there. How do they account for the long list of environmental desecration under both political parties that are manifestations of the total opposite of what he told the UN?

Environmental destruction caused by Sandals

How do they rationalise the decision to build a Hyatt right next to one of Barbados’ most beautiful beaches, Browne’s Beach, and the absolute lack of transparency in the entire approval process? What about the chaotic monstrosity that is now Warrens? Are Coverly, Grotto and the South Coast sewage fiasco examples of this progressive, orderly sustainable development? What about Sandals and their decimation of the environment in the area of their resort? The same Sandals that their government has with much secrecy provided massive incentives to at the expense of Barbadian taxpayers. What about Four Seasons and the overnight destruction of trees some years ago? What about Greenland and Cahill? What about the relentless concretisation of much of Barbados at the behest of both parties? Or the fact that much of the coast has been decimated by tourism based infrastructure and one can drive on large parts of the South and West coast of the island without knowing that one is next to the water. That much of the flooding in Barbados is as a result of our insistence on building in a way that destroys natural water courses and a fragile ecosystem. That this is further exacerbated by the Bajan addiction to littering and dumping, especially in gullies. Or that successive government have barely attempted to tackle the dumping problem despite repeated statements every few years about some type of strong action that will supposedly be taken. What about the elephant in the room? The fact that the entire maritime delimitation exercise with Trinidad and Tobago had nothing to do with fishing. That both administrations are dedicated to offshore drilling in the hope that Barbados can “diversify” its economy with oil. The two obstacles to realising this have been finding a willing partner and their own inefficiency, one of the only times government ineptitude can be said to be something positive. The environment doesn’t factor in when there is a thirst for oil! And I could go on listing for pages.

Environmental destruction caused by Four Seasons. Photo from http://www.barbadostoday.com

The two Ministers though are not alone in what they communicate to the international community contradicting what actually occurs at home. Over the years, different Ministers, irrespective of party, as well as government officials have ventured on the international stage and waxed lyrical about sustainable development, climate change and the environment. I used to be one of these government officials, both speaking myself and writing some of the speeches for Ministers. We have talked about our commitment to sustainable development, our vulnerability and the need for the international community to do more to help us including financially. We have championed ourselves as the grandfather of Small Island Developing States (SIDS) and a voice for climate action. Yet, at home, we engage perversely in destructive environmental practices. The assertions about Barbados’ devotion to environmental protection are therefore far-fetched. This may be discomforting to hear for those who have bought the story of Barbados and SIDS but it is the truth.

Prime Gaston Browne Adopts Hands Off Approach to Guyana Government’s Decision to Prorogue Parliament

New York Caribbean Democracy Body Slams Caricom Chairman, Prime Minister Gaston Brown of Antigua & Barbuda, for “uninformed and vacuous” Comments On Political Crisis In Guyana

(L-to-R) Prime Minister Gaston Browne, CGID-President Rickford-Burke & Guyana's President Donald Ramotar

(L-to-R) Prime Minister Gaston Browne, CGID-President Rickford-Burke & Guyana’s President Donald Ramotar

NEW YORK: The New York based Caribbean Guyana Institute for Democracy (CGID) has said the assertion by Caricom Chairman, Prime Minister Gaston Browne of Antigua & Barbuda, that Caricom “respects the right of Guyana’s President Donald Ramotar to prorogue Parliament and is not “too concerned,” are “repugnant to the constitution and people of Guyana, and incongruous with democratic values.”

CGID President Rickord Burke in a statement Saturday slammed Brown’s comments as “uninformed and vacuous.” He accused Caricom of demonstrating partiality towards the ruling People’s Progressive Party (PPP). “Mr. Brown’s comments evince tacit support for the PPP’s repression of the elected representatives of the people,” the statement added.

Ramotar on November 10th abruptly suspended the nation’s Parliament to prevent the passage of a no-confidence motion against his government.  The edict came as Members of Parliament (MP) assembled to debate the motion by the opposition Alliance for Change (AFC).

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Notes From a Native Son: United we Stand, Divided We Fall – a Case for Greater Caricom Unity (In Memory of Norman Girvan)

Hal Austin

Hal Austin

Introduction:
The premature death of Professor Norman Girvan has robbed the Caribbean of one of its genuine intellectuals and, in particular, of the leading theorist of the regional union, Caricom. I had the misfortune of not knowing Professor Girvan personally, but feel as if I did: we have a regular email correspondence and have been guests together on a couple radio phone-in programmes. What makes this virtual friendship more real is that a very good friend and mentor, the woman I can thank for most of my political education, Selma James, the widow of the late CLR James, would often remind me that I should make contact with ‘Norman’, as she addressed him.

After the failure of the West Indies Federation in 1962, the most practicable attempt at regional unity since then has been Caricom. But, as I have said on a number of occasions here and elsewhere, although the intention is laudable, the reality has been sadly flawed. Ignoring for the time being the ill-thought out idea of a free movement of people – in a public debate in London some time ago I raised the issue of the Barbados legislation being specific about free movement for those who have graduated from the University of the West Indies and the University of Guyana, but other graduates enjoying the same benefit with the minister’s ‘discretion’. Someone once tried to persuade me that this ‘discretion’ will only be a formality, but can you imagine some small-minded minister having this weapon in his/her hands and not using it, especially if it is someone they have political objections to?

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CL Financial bailout – Really learning from the past

It seems Barbadians have forgotten about CLICO and all the promises but what have we learned from the collapse? How have we sought to strengthen institutional capacity as a response? Is the Financial Services Commission (FSC) doing a job? Should Barbadians be privy to the sealed judicial report? What about those who were involved with CLICO Barbados and continue business as usual?

Afra Raymond’s journey in Trinidad covering CL Financial matters should serve to inspire others. This piece is recommended reading.

Complaint Letter To LIAT Airline

Submitted by Corey and Karen Burns
Julia Reifer-Jones, CEO of LIAT(Ag)

Julia Reifer-Jones, CEO of LIAT(Ag)

It is with great disappointment that I have to express my disapproval with Liat and how Liat conducts business. Most other airlines I have travelled on would simply wish to take me from A to B quickly as possible. I find it preposterous that Liat can just change a flight plan while customers have already boarded the aircraft (on a direct flight I might add).

My wife and I were departing from our honeymoon in Antigua on Monday, October 28th, 2013 and were on Liat flight # 362 from Antigua to Puerto Rico which was a direct flight to San Juan. The flight was delayed of course (“island time”) however once on the aircraft an announcement was made that we were stopping in St. Kitts on our way to San Juan, but not five minutes later we were told that we were now going south to Dominica (total opposite way than San Juan).  We arrived in Dominica at which time a grand total of 8 passengers boarded the plane.  We were then told that we had to wait for a fuel truck, which was not ready when we arrived in Dominica.  We ended up waiting on the tarmac for over an hour with no water, no food, and no air conditioning. I used to work in the airline industry and had that happened in Canada, PEOPLE WOULD BE FIRED!!! Numerous passengers asked for information about when we would be taking off and when we would be landing in San Juan as every passenger on the plane had a connecting flight to catch.  None of Liat’s customer service agents would give us a straight answer. We finally left Dominica sometime after 1:30 pm, over an hour after we should have LANDED in San Juan.

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Government MUST be Transparent About the Waste to Energy Plant

Minister of the Environment, Denis Lowe,

Minister of the Environment, Denis Lowe,

Where is the transparency? Two letters to the Minister of Environment Denis Lowe and a full page in September have not even garnered a response from the government. Is this government serious about open government?

Thus can you post the above article from Dr David Suzuki who the Future Centre Trust is hoping along with Nature Conservancy and Greenpeace to  ask for support? Thanks in advance on behalf of the other Environmental NGO’s

Kammie Holder, Advocacy Director, Future Centre Trust

Many urban areas have built or are considering building waste-incineration facilities to generate energy. At first glance, it seems like a win-win. You get rid of “garbage” and acquire a new energy source with fuel that’s almost free. But it’s a problematic solution, and a complicated issue.

Metro Vancouver has a facility in Burnaby and is planning to build another, and Toronto is also looking at the technology, which has been used elsewhere in the region, with a plant in Brampton and another under construction in Clarington. The practice is especially popular in the European Union, where countries including Sweden and Germany now have to import waste to fuel their generators.

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DLP: Bajans Not Good Enough – Neither Can They Reach Jamaicans High Standards – Work Permits Therefore Necessary

Henderson Bovell

Henderson Bovell

You can excuse the DLP if it did not care to read the ‘National Strategic Plan 2005-2025. But Goal #6 of that document speaks, in part, to: “Branding Barbados Globally.” When you read it, you begin to understand why the demise of a Barbadian brand like Almond, is a national scandal. I suppose the same can be said about the DLP’ reluctance to spend a puny US$500,000 to save a $80m Rum Industry, which will result in “a-310-year-old-company” leaving Barbadian hands for the first time in its history.

Of all people, the BLP, which is responsible for the “National Strategic Plan Document,” should understand that the issue of “Sandals” – is more than the quantum of concessions or what is contained in some MOU, especially since the same National Strategic Plan sought “to continue consolidating the country’s international image, particularly on account of political stability, educational quality, democratic governance and good leadership.”

I do not know that the present Barbados Cabinet and Government – are showing good leadership on tourism right now” because “Almond” is a Barbadian-home-grown-international-families-brand,” which was on par (in the view of many) with Sandals, which is nothing more than a Jamaican home-grown-international-families-brand. That makes Ralph Taylor, the equivalent of the Jamaican Butch Stewart.

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Unanswered Questions About the ROI on Tourism Initiatives

Adrian Loveridge - Hotelier

Adrian Loveridge – Hotelier

As we have now passed the latest ‘book-by’ date for the several times re-launched Barbados Island Inclusive promotion, is it time to analyse how cost effective the initiative has been? Especially as it was one of the very few, national marketing initiatives for this year that has either not been postponed, cancelled or simply just not implemented in the first place.

Just to remind readers, the stated objective was to generate an ‘additional’ 15,000 long stay visitors between the end of May and the 21st December 2013 who would spend BDS$30 million at a quoted cost of BDS$11 million to cover the promotional costs. Minister of Tourism (MOT), Mr. Sealy is on record as stating ‘all but $4 million will actually be spent on advertising’. On 22nd July 2013 the Barbados Government Information Service reported the MOT ‘had revealed that more than 5,000 tourists had taken advantage of the vouchers being offered under the programme’.

We know that even before the October figures are published, that ‘we’ are already experiencing an unprecedented 18 consecutive months of long stay visitor decline. So the word ‘additional’ is critical to evaluate because if the initiative had in fact generated any incremental numbers then it has been at a huge cost.

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The Hilary Beckles Deception

Submitted by Pachamama
Sir Hilary Beckles, pro-vice-chancellor, University of the West Indies

Sir Hilary Beckles, pro-vice-chancellor, University of the West Indies

In the national waste paper, otherwise called ‘The Nation’, we see Hilary Beckles praising that ‘organization’ and more importantly reverting to a language from his previous life in an effort to achieve two competing and contradictory goals. First, Beckles is seeking to promote a reparations agenda which he feels will bring resources to institutions that pretend to act in the interest of the country/region. Secondly and on the down side, in his mind, by appearing to resort to a language of confrontation, Beckles may be seeking to somehow insulate himself from the collapse of the neo-liberal project which, with the aid of buddy Owen Arthur, he has greatly benefitted from, now that what he sees as his legacy is in great and mortal danger.

To put this artificial and renewed interest in Black empowerment, which Beckles now feels confident to mouth, it is necessary to locate his circular and convenient logic within its proper historical context. Beckles came back to the region some decades ago and located himself within a bureaucratic apparatus which was to give him certain protections. It was, and still is, an institution which suborns narratives about Black disenfranchisement, by people like Keith Hunte, as a lever for their personal advancement. So like Hunte, Beckles, in this most recent reincarnation in using the same idiom for personal advancement. This is a brazen initiative for self. Not even his mentor, Keith Hunte, came back to that narrative more than once.

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Is the Ministry of Tourism Underachieving?

Excerpts related to tourism Budget Speeches 2008 to 2012:

  • There are some critical national concerns and a Tourism Master Plan is currently being designed by a new Unit in the Ministry of Tourism designed to look at our tourism development strategy in a holistic way addressing our product, land use policy, marketing, carrying capacity and linkages to our other sectors and the lives of Barbadians among other matters.
  • The expansion of the luxury tourism market will include the construction and opening every two years of a major internationally branded luxury hotel and associated branded residences catering to the five-star and ultra luxury tourism market.
  • The expansion of the luxury room stock will also assist in the establishment of the Health Tourism market in Barbados.
  • I [the late David Thompson’s first budget] have just returned from a CARICOM Heads of Government meeting at which tourism, regional and international transport were discussed for one full day. Some important decisions were taken including the commitment to a regional brand, the establishment of a Caribbean Tourism Marketing Fund and discussions are taking place between LIAT and Caribbean Airlines Limited on their future together – Budget 2008

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Minister Richard Sealy is a Pedigree JA

Minister of Tourism, Richard Sealy

Minister of Tourism, Richard Sealy

To bloggers who listened to the radio clip (compliments of VOB) today which featured Minister of Tourism Richard Sealy defending governments washpan of concessions to CPH Property Holdings (Barbados) Limited and Grande Cass Management (Barbados) Limited together known as SANDALS – see Government’s Concessions to SANDALS Barbados, they would have been offended. He made reference to the front page of the Nation newspaper which carried a a story highly critical of the concessions given to Butch Stewart’s companies. And here is what some bloggers may deem to be offensive, he stated he expected what the Nation published to be posted on the blogs or discussed under a tamarind tree.

Minister Sealy is free to have his opinion afterall we boast of living in a democracy. However, when he feels bold enough to disparage what we do on the blogs, he invites a response from BU albeit a reluctant one.

Minister Sealy should bear in mind that BU is used prolifically by his colleagues to disseminate information which the traditional media is not geared to facilitate. Have we not had the pleasure of Minister Donville Inniss venturing into this forum to interact with BU bloggers when he sought to defend his choice of Kingsland as a possible location for a new hospital? Senator Irene Sandiford-Garner has posted to BU on several occasions. BU will not mention all the DLP politicos who post to BU using monikers. What does he make of his colleagues who post and read BU? Perhaps one day BU will be persuaded to post some of the comments posted to BU by the late Prime Minister David Thompson.

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Tourism Budget, Doing More With Less

Adrian Loveridge - Hotelier

Adrian Loveridge – Hotelier

Analysis of the first nine months of 2013 in terms of long stay visitor arrivals confirm that while all major markets experienced substantial declines, the most resilient and therefore least impacted, was the United Kingdom with a 2.9 per cent fall when compared with the same period in 2012.

Give that so many discussions have taken place regarding the negative effects of the dreaded APD (Advanced Passenger Duty), some may find this surprising. To be fair credit must be given to the BTA staff in London and the private sector tourism sector on Barbados for stepping up to the plate, despite all the fiscal challenges, to minimise the overall decline in arrivals?

It is often touted that the typical British visitor stays longer and spends more money, and perhaps, these attributes are where we should be spending more of the precious available marketing funds to cultivate at this time. Politically we know that the volume of numbers is often all-important, but should ‘we’ currently be focusing on the bottomline in terms of the overall value contribution our visitors are making?

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Gender Justice Advocate Calls for more Human Rights Laws

Human and Gender Justice Advocate - Felicia Browne

Human and Gender Justice Advocate – 

Felicia Browne

Shakadan Daniel’s death has drawn much concern in relation to modern legislative laws and litigation where we rely upon the professionalism of custodians and that of the penal system. Though many agree that human rights are of key significance in our society, very little has been done to educate the general populace on the Human Rights Conventions. Human Rights are fundamental to human development and shape our modern understandings of what actions are morally permissible when interacting within our own society. Rights structure very nature of governments, the content of our laws, and the shaping of our moral values and our ability to act responsibly to our fellow humankind. Such moralities and universal values are usually geared towards shaping our human and national development- in relation to personhood, collectivism and patriotism.

Felicia Browne, who was recently awarded a Ambassador for Peace, agrees that though our legal and human rights advocates have continued to advocate for justice and peace within our society, not much has been done to educate various sectors on Human Rights. Human Rights have been often seen as a nuisance in many social matters. However, it is imperative that the rights of others, regardless of soci-economic backgrounds, must be upheld by the State and human institution.

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Albert ‘Tank’ Williams the Legend

Albert “Tank” Williams   Photo Credit: Bajan Reporter

Albert “Tank” Williams   Photo Credit: Bajan Reporter

The funeral of Albert “Tank” Williams was today. “Tank” as he was known as, was formerly headmaster of Harrison College for many years, after having been a teacher there for many more years. Tank was also the brother of former chief justice Sir Denys Williams and of former justice of appeal Colin Williams and of former Barbados High Commissioner Monty Williams.

The Williams family, one of the greatest legal families in the Caribbean, was also inextricably linked to the equally legally and scholastically illustrious Marshall family, of which Sir Roy Marshall is a member, along with his sister, Monty Williams’ widow, Dorothy Williams, who Bajans of all walks of life know with deep affection as “Aunt Doro”, a leading lawyer and privy councillor. Also, there was classics scholar and teacher Winston Marshall, who was also a teaching colleague of Tank at Harrison College.

With the passing of Tank, so too an era has passed and BU remembers him with affection through amusing anecdotes. After all, Tank was a man of humour, including about himself. So, it is fitting that through humour we remember him.

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Notes From a Native Son: The End of Dependency Development Has Come

Hal Austin

Hal Austin

Introduction:
Now that the majority of the developed economies, the OECD-member states, are growing, and Barbados has drifted deeper in to recession, we now await political and business leaders to tell us what are their master plans for rescuing, stabilising and growing the local economy. It means that finance minister Chris Sinckler and his adviser can no longer hide behind the crude excuse of the global crisis for their ineptitude. The ruling DLP is trapped between a lust for power and the development of an applied programme for economic change. We have seen that when faced with a serious economic crisis, it has no ideological depth to fall back on, no ideas of the kind of society it will like to see since its political modus operandi has always been the status quo. As a result it has been forced to seek economic ideas from an intellectually exhausted band of elderly academics who, clearly, have lost touch with new developments in their own discipline. So, like a comedian past his best days who depends on the old jokes told in the same way for his laughs, the old economists resort to their own post-war textbooks for the answers to new problems in a world with a new economic architecture.

Managing the Economy:
But, to coin a phrase, this time is different. Whatever the official explanation, walking on the ground in Barbados sends out all the wrong signals: shopping at Supersaver in Oistins, in the fish market, in Fairchild Street, and in other shops, supermarkets and hawker stalls, the story is different. While the middle classes, the majority of whom are public sector employees, those lower down the food chain are telling a different story: postmen and women are not being paid and are given letters to their mortgage lenders begging for a period of grace; the men and women who sweep and weed the side paths are also forced to borrow from friends and relatives because their wages are delayed; and members of some credit unions are begging them for repayment holidays so they can get their children through university. Yet, some banks and retail outlets are offering cheap credit as if partying on the Titanic.

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Investment Landscape Needs a Fillip

Adrian Loveridge - Hotelier

Adrian Loveridge – Hotelier

Up until submitting this column, the Barbados Statistical Service had not yet posted either the August or September 2013 tourism arrival figures, so I suspect it will be sometime before figures for October this year are known, via this important agency. Fortunately, news agencies like Bloomberg extract the information from the Central Bank of Barbados and publish online, albeit some weeks later.

What we do know is that September 2013 recorded the lowest long stay visitor arrivals for any month during the last 11 years. October 2012 welcomed the lowest stay-over visitors for that month during the last decade and unless October 2013 exceeds 36,071 persons, that also will set yet other record, sadly not one we want to boast about. I don’t think a single individual on Barbados is not aware of the current Government’s fiscal challenges, but surely there is no better time to channel all available human resources into areas where a positive difference could be made.

Over the last few weeks I have been viewing tourism from a different perspective. That of a potential first time investor into Barbados and sadly, if ‘we’ are honest and objective, there are many areas we are sadly lacking. Some may even say, deficient. Bearing in a mind, a non-national considering investment in Barbados, at least initially, may not be familiar with the various agencies and their names mandated to smooth the process. So the first port-of-call is likely to be the website of the Ministry of Tourism (MOT). In a seriously competitive sector with dozens if not hundreds of destinations seeking to attract the all-important foreign venture capital, that introductory impression is critical.

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CMI President Elected as Ambassador for Peace

Ms. Browne was elected as Ambassadors of Peace by Universal Peace Federation

Ms. Browne was elected as Ambassadors of Peace by Universal Peace Federation

The Universal Peace Federation of North America and Caribbean Nations held a conference in Miami over two days, the 1st and 2nd of November. The theme will be “The USA and the Caribbean at a Turning Point: Building a Nation and a World of Peace” with speakers attending from the US and Caribbean.

President of the Caribbean Mentorship Institute, Ms. Felicia Browne, attended and discussed the influenced on Moral Education, Youth Development & Peace. Ms. Browne is also a lecturer in Philosophy of Law, Gender, Metaphysics and Moral Philosophy at the University of the West Indies, Barbados, as well as being a prominent gender and rights advocate from Saint Lucia. Eight Caribbean representatives from various institutions, including Ms. Browne was elected as Ambassadors of Peace by Universal Peace Federation.

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LIAT Update

Click image to sign the PETITION!

Click image to sign the PETITION!

The following was circulated to those who signed the petition by James Lynch, PETITION FROM THE TRAVELLING PUBLIC TO THE OWNERS OF THE CARIBBEAN AIRLINE LIAT.

You need to know that LIAT are about to have another huge meltdown. Yes, it’s probably going to happen again, and maybe even worse.

All the ATR Pilots trained at the beginning before the aircraft were delivered are now due for re-currency training, and many of the senior pilots are going on their usual booked holiday in December. That’s the start of it.

So, unless somebody comes up with a small (large?) miracle, LIAT are going to have to park many of their planes and cancel/reschedule/ delay many of their flights.

LIAT management were warned by both the ECCAA (the Civil Aviation Authority) and the LIAT Pilots Association LIALPA that this was going to happen unless they made alternate plans (LIALPA also warned Brunton before the first meltdown), so the many shortages which came to a head in August are going to be dwarfed by what is about to happen again at LIAT approaching and during the Christmas Season.

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Notes From a Native Son: The Time has Come for all True Barbadians to Put Country Before Party

Hal Austin

Hal Austin

Introduction:
After a few days in Barbados, mostly resting, but spending time with friends and acquaintances alike, I have returned with a feeling of deep sadness for a nation for which I have a very deep affection. But, we have a situation in which the national political discourse has been reduced to a leading minister inviting the leader of the official Opposition to strip naked and run down Broad Street, our main thoroughfare, to grab attention. While, at the same time, the governor of the central bank could announce that the economy is in recession and the minister of finance, the captain of the nation’s economy, did not see fit to respond to, the Opposition did not speak out on, our academic economists kept their opinions to themselves nor did our feeble media see it fit to inform their readers.

As I have said before, the nation is in serious crisis, only this time it is much worse than it previously was. Yet, there is an epidemic of denial: a police force that is imploding and cannot properly guard against organised criminality, medieval religious practices and family abuse. We are a nation that has lost faith in itself, when we could appoint a Canadian – repeat the word, Canadian – as head of our football association and every spare bit of land bought by dubious foreigners because our policymakers are addicted to foreign reserves. The New Barbados has also lost its moral purpose, its sense of decency, as is reflected in the obscenities that desecrate the airwaves as a matter of course; of the total national silence when a toddler can make sexual gestures over an apparently drunken woman at Crop Over, our leading cultural event; when our leading news paper thinks that pornographic pictures of juveniles having sex in a class room is newsworthy. Even more, not a single senior executive or director of the publishing firm has made a public statement about the obscenity. If ever there was a case for ordinary Barbadians to show their power as consumers and ban that publication, it is now. This is a long way from the nation I know as a young man, when, in the 1960s it was exporting people to work on London buses, trains and in the national health service, routinely gave them a printed booklet on how to behave in Britain. Those were days when the nation was concerned about its global reputation as reflected in the behaviour of its citizens.

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Too Little Too LATE – Is it a Generalized Collapse of CAPITALISM?

Submitted by Pachamama
Capitalism has failed Caribbean states.

Capitalism has failed Caribbean states.

For years we have been the canary in the coal mine for misguided Caribbean elites as we shouted to the top of our voices our central refrain that capitalism has failed and that that failure presented Caribbean peoples with equally great opportunities to play a larger role in the world as we determine our common destiny. Despite our best efforts nobody in officialdom in a backward Caribbean took us seriously. The elites in academia, like Hilary Beckles, thought it impossible – impossible for capitalism to collapse. The elites in economy were so busily gorging themselves with the crumbs from massa’s table to think about such a tectonic shift and its implication for Caribbean peoples. The political elites, like Chris Sinckler, Mia Mottley, Owen Arthur and their parties were, and still are, so captured by a faux and dead political-economy model that they found it impossible to raise their heads from the cool aid of a Washington Consensus, neo-liberal, monarchist acili. They have failed to accurately measure the internal contradictions of capitalism and now must be removed as the system continues to fail.

We however welcome the remarks, late as they are, from Saint Lucia’s Prime Minister Kenny Anthony as covered by a nearly useless Barbadian newspaper. We quote below:

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Small Island Satellites on the BRINK

Submitted by Ras Jahaziel
Kenny Anthony, Prime Minister of St. Lucia

Kenny Anthony, Prime Minister of St. Lucia

We knew all along that UNSUSTAINABLE small island satellites would be eventually jettisoned by the Mother Slave Ship. That is why some fought for a Caribbean federation, and now today some point to the Garvey vision of GLOBAL AFRICANS UNITING ON THE PRINCIPLE OF SELF SUFFICIENCY.

Many abandoned the Garvey idea of pooling resources for collective investment, and tried instead to refine the art of begging, and put their efforts into CULTIVATING BETTER RELATONSHIPS WITH THE SLAVE OWNERS for the sake of grants and loans and favoured preferential status.

They did not have the vision to see that the major share of the money from their spectacular AID-DEPENDENT projects would continue to make the rich richer while purporting to be generating employment and progress for the poor.

But CANT SEE still CANT SEE.

IT IS NO WONDER THAT THOSE WHO FORMERLY SCOFFED AT THE IDEA OF REPARATIONS ARE NOW SOLIDLY ON THE BANDWAGON.

See article: Region on the brink

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Sandals Almond Chronology II

Submitted by Due Diligence
Lee Issa, Chairman of the House of Issa

Lee Issa, Chairman of the House of Issa

In July 2012 ARI/N&M sold Almond Beach Club, to Fairweather Holding Co., which operates Elite Island Resorts  for $33 million, the proceeds of which was used to pay down bank debt that had been incurred to keep ARI afloat.

It is not clear who owns/controls Fairweather/Elite, January 4, 2013, the Jamaica Gleaner reports that Couples is finalizing negotiations to purchase Casuarina.

“Couples Resorts is finalising a deal to acquire a hotel in Barbados, making it the first Jamaican resort group to venture into that market. It’s also Couples’ first venture outside of its home market. Couples chief executive officer, Glenn Lawrence, confirmed plans on Wednesday to purchase the 280-room Almond Casuarina Beach (ACB) Club in the eastern Caribbean island. “We are involved in firm negotiations,” said Lawrence, adding that the deal was expected to conclude on or before January 31, at which time more details would be forthcoming.”

For undisclosed reasons, Couples did not purchase the property; but January 29, 2013, announced it had agreed to manage Casuarina (it turns out) under a lease.

In an article in the Trinidad Guardian about N&M dated May 22, 2013, included The group continues to unwind its hotel properties. The Jamaican-based Couples Hotels have leased Almond Casuarina Beach; the lessee has an option either to acquire the hotel by September 30, 2013, or enter into a long-term lease arrangement.

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Taking Trinidad’s Political Temperature

Submitted by Mark T Jones – London-based writer and commentator on International Affairs
MP Herbert Volney resignation from the UNC has triggered a bi-election in St.Joseph

MP Herbert Volney resignation from the UNC has triggered a bi-election in St.Joseph

Those who routinely dismiss politics as boring have evidently never experienced elections in Trinidad & Tobago. With a key bi-election on 4th November 2013 things look certain to become hot, hot, hot.

St Joseph takes considerable pride in the fact that as San José de Oruña from 1592-1783 was the capital of Trinidad. The constituency is racially balanced, with a mixture of the comfortably off as well as those who struggle to make ends meet. St Joseph invariably acts as a bell-weather that enables local psephologists to gain a fair indication of what the mood of the country is. In addition this bi-election has added importance in that it was triggered by former MP Herbert Volney’s decision to resign from the United National Congress (UNC) and join the Independent Liberal Party (ILP). Such an important election has ensured that there has been considerable interest in the candidates and some appear to be far from run of the mill.

Crime and illegal activity has long been a pre-occupation and concern of the islands’ inhabitants and so it came of little surprise that TV6’s show Crime Watch proved to be so popular. The show ensured that its hosts Ian Alleyne and Om Lalla have become household names, a fact that both figures have sought to capitalise upon by entering the political arena. Alleyne, a man with an extremely high sense of his own worth and Lalla, a fiercely bright and ambitious individual forged a powerful partnership on screen and an extraordinary close friendship off screen. In television terms Crime Watch became something of a phenomenon, a show that with the additional credibility of the presence of Police Inspector Roger Alexander, appeared to be on a mission to become the scourge of criminal behaviour. For all their celebrity status, the two hosts as self proclaimed guardians of public safety have at times proved more than fallible. Alleyne has been no stranger to controversy having in the past compared himself with the Messiah. He demonstrated a gross error of judgement and extremely bad taste when the programme he fronted (and has the local rights too) showed footage of a teenage girl being raped with her face and that of the attacker clearly visible. The adverse reaction for TV6 was such that when his contract was up for renewal they chose not to renew it and he moved Crime Watch to CNC3.

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Resolving Crime with Education

All too often, we see our children in the news. Whether rape, theft or murder, we see too many of our future generation making headlines for all the wrong reasons. We have to now look at ways to reverse the growing trend of youth crime and violence. And, peace education is one of the best ways to resolve and reduce these crimes. Informed learning can provide alternatives to resolve social conflicts within our society. Many young persons may not have the ability to know the difference between crime and its effects on the community, the society and the self. But if clearly demonstrated, they can be taught and in turn, encourage a positive message amongst their peers.

President of the Caribbean Mentorship Institute, Felicia Browne notes that “the past few weeks, and in the last 24 hours we have witnessed a rising trend of violence amongst our youths. There are deep fundamental questions that must be investigated to provide the best solutions to their problems. However, crime-prevention education and conflict interventions can alleviate some of these existing problems. The growing concerns of youth advocates are the age groups and genders of these victims. The victims of violence crimes have little or no social assistance to resolve their problems. For instance, we are observing a trend in young males being victims of violent crimes- some of which are or have been done by either a family member, friend within their circle or someone within their communities.”

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Tourism Commentator Adrian Loveridge and Former Tourism Minister Noel Lynch to Appear on Time to Face the Facts Show

Tune in to the show on Sunday 27 October 7:pm to 9:pm on Caribvision or follow the stream on Facebook – click image to watch the promo of the show.

Tune in to the show on Sunday 27 October 7:pm to 9:pm on Caribvision or follow the stream on Facebook – click image to watch the promo of the show.

The Time to Face the Facts Show will host this week our resident tourism commentator Adrian Loveridge. We understand also on the panel will be former minister of tourism Noel ‘Barney’ Lynch to discuss Facts about the Caribbean’s tourism. Respect to Adrian for agreeing to be in the same space as Lynch after the embarrassment he suffered at Voice of Barbados in 2007.

9 – Point Tourism Plan

Adrian Loveridge - Hotelier

Adrian Loveridge – Hotelier

Even though it has not become widespread public knowledge, September 2013 became the 18th consecutive month of long stay visitor decline and recorded the lowest stay-over arrivals of any month in the last 11 years. As someone who has invested their life savings and 25 years in the Barbados tourism industry, it give me no pleasure to state this unpleasant fact but someone has to say it. If only in the interests of survival.

The time for remedial action has long since passed. Once again it is now a case of damage limitation and focusing on what the private sector can do for itself to avoid annihilation of the industry as we know it. This may at first appear dramatic but you only have to look around at other businesses on the island to understand that a sector who has been financially drained for a year and a half cannot be immune from the same challenges others are facing.

Not that our policymakers are listening, but I am going to make a few suggestions:

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Debate on the Cultural Industries Development Bill 2013 BEGINS

Stephen Lashley, Minister of Culture

Stephen Lashley, Minister of Culture

Minister of Culture Stephen Lashley took about 3 hours to introduce the Cultural Industries Development Bill 2013 to parliament today (15/10/2013). BU is happy the government recognizes the opportunity which the cultural industries sector offers. What we are not happy about is that key concerns which were highlighted by the Concerned Creative Citizens Group (CCCG) have not been included in the bill introduced. At the top of the list is the Idi Amin authority which any Minister of culture will have under the proposed bill.  What was downright egregious was the minister’s unwillingness to acknowledge the significant work done by the CCCG providing feedback on the draft bill in his three hour introduction.

Hope springs eternal and we are hopeful that it is not too late to incorporate constructive suggestions. BU takes this opportunity to congratulate Andrea King who has been appointed to the position of Film Commissioner.

See related links:

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International Monetary Fund Gives Barbados Bleak 2014 Forecast

The opinion of IMF is as an influential player cannot be ignored in austere times.

The opinion of IMF as an influential player cannot be ignored in austere times.

We use to hear the objective was to build a society. However it has become all about the economy in recent months. Click on the image above to read the latest International Monetary Fund projection for the Latin America and Caribbean region.

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EMERA's Barbados Light & Power Company To Apply for a Hike in Rate Soon

EMERA Caribbean President Sarah MacDonald

EMERA Caribbean President Sarah MacDonald

EMERA Caribbean President Sarah MacDonald has signalled that the company will be applying to the Fair Trading Commission (FTC) for a rate increase in the near future. The Canadian owner of Barbados’ sole electricity generation and distribution company intends to build a 60 megawatt power generation plant.  We have been told that the current plant is old and inefficient. The bad news is that consumers are likely see their base rate move up BUT with anticipated improvement in operating efficiency the fuel adjustment should move down giving users a net benefit.

And in related news.

The FTC has completed its review of the best method the Barbados Light & Power must calculate the Fuel Adjustment Clause (FAC). The recommendation from the consultant and accepted by the FTC is that the BL&P will have to use its historical cost of fuel and NOT projected cost when administering the FCA.

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The Caribbean Advances Claim for Reparations

14 Caribbean states have retained the services of the British law firm Leigh Day tom press reparation claim.

14 Caribbean states have retained the services of the British law firm Leigh Day tom press reparation claim.

Reports circulating in the international media indicate 12 Caricom countries along with Haiti and Suriname have initiated proceedings to sue three former colonisers, Britain, France and the Netherlands. This is good news for many Blacks in the Caribbean who believe (and justly so) that the heinous practice of slavery must be addressed in a material way. Why should it be addressed? The societies of the mentioned colonisers have benefited from untold wealth which has been acquired as a result of sweat,blood  and tears shed our ancestors. It does not matter if slavery was an accepted practice of those times. What matters is that it was a heinous act which has stained history’s page and said page should now reflect those who benefitted most address it!

The region  recently appointed Sir Hilary Beckles to head Caricom’s reparations committee. He has not wasted any time lighting a fire under the issue. The committee has secured the services of British law firm Leigh Day whose reputation was enhanced recently when the it won compensation for hundreds of Kenyans arising from the Mau Mau rebellion.

Although there is no official figure given of the repatriations claim a few regional newspapers have suggested £200 billion, the equivalent to the £20 million paid to slave owners in 1834 when slavery was abolished. Prime Minister Ralph Gonzales, the most vocal of regional leaders, stated in a speech to the UN recently that “The awful legacy of these crimes against humanity ought to be repaired for the developmental benefit of our Caribbean societies and all our peoples.”

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Political Messiah Needed to Infuse Confidence

Fisher, managing director of Institutional Emerging Markets Sales at Oppenheimer & Company

Fisher, managing director of Institutional Emerging Markets Sales at Oppenheimer & Company

“The likes of Aruba, The Bahamas, Bermuda and Trinidad are the most attractive issuers from the Caribbean, he said, while Panama and El Salvador are popular markets in Central America. Barbados, at one time, was among the list of most attractive issuers, but its economy has faltered since the 2008 world financial crisis.”

Read the full article in the  The Gleaner

The quote is attributed to Gregory Fisher, Managing Director of Institutional Emerging Markets Sales at Oppenheimer & Company. Oppenheimer for those who want to be assured of their credentials, is one of the leading investment banks in the world and has been around for 125 years.

And why have we focused on the Fisher comment?

Less than a week after the Caribbean Court of Justice delivered the Shanique Myrie decision which went against Barbados, we have a leading player in the global investment market making a comment which has made another big withdrawal from Barbados’ reputational capital. The fact the comment followed the withdrawal of a Tender Offer by the Barbados government less than two weeks ago because it was undersubscribed gives heavy credence to Fisher’s assessment.

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Trinidadian Ulric Cross Made Us Proud

Reproduced from the UK Telegraph

Ulric Cross

Ulric Cross

Ulric Cross, who has died aged 96, is thought to have been the most decorated Caribbean airman of the Second World War; he went on to enjoy a distinguished career in Trinidad as a judge and diplomat.

Cross was working for Trinidad Railways when the war broke out, and was anxious to play his part. “The world was drowning in Fascism and America was not yet in the war,” he later recalled. “So I decided to do something about it and volunteered to fight in the RAF.”

Philip Louis Ulric Cross was born on May 1 1917 in Port of Spain, Trinidad, and won a government scholarship to St Mary’s College. His first job was with the Trinidad Guardian before he spent four years working in a solicitor’s office. In 1941, after three years working for the railway, he joined the RAF and sailed for England.

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The Myrie Order

Sir Dennis Byron, President of the CCJ

Sir Dennis Byron, President of the CCJ

The Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) decision between Shanique Myrie and Barbados (Jamaica the Intervener) continues to resonate across the region – editorials, talk shows and on the streets. What is evident is that members of Caricom need to better manage how we promote freedom of movement given our obligation under the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramus (RTC).

There is the view that significant weight was given by the CCJ to the 2007 Conference Decision by Heads of Caricom [item 45].  In simple terms: can we say that the decision handed down last week is what Heads of Caricom intended in 2007 i.e. “definite entry of six months …”. The fact that Barbados argued against the efficacy of the 2007 decision without a single intervention from another Caricom member was taken as acquiescence by the CCJ. Barbados therefore has to abide by the decision until such time a similar case in re-argued before a CCJ with justices of a different interpretation or lobby to have Heads modify the decision at the next Heads of Caricom meeting.

Loud by its silence has been the reaction of Barbados to the decision. The DNA of the Barbados government is to be slow in deliberation. One wonders though if the Prime Minister sees a need to demonstrate a departure from the norm given the psychological punch Barbadians have taken since the decision was delivered.  Is there a role for the leader of the country in the prevailing circumstances?

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Property Tax Facts

Property Tax is back and the controversy has naturally returned since the ‘Axe the Tax‘ movement was a signal moment of unity in the anti-PNM campaigns of 2009/2010.

In my opinion, the anti-Property Tax movement was an important measure of the extent to which our national discourse is now irrational and baseless.  The disenchantment with the Manning administration and the thirst to have them removed seemed to occupy more time than any substantial discussion as to the merits of the proposed Property Tax.

Now, as then, I hold the view that our nation’s Property Tax regime is long-overdue for reform and updating.  I support the proposals to do so and we will have to wait for more detail to analyse these proposals further.

Here are a few of the basic facts on Property Tax.

The size of the Property Tax Take – Proportionally

The Estimates of Revenue disclose that in 1995 property tax was 2% of tax revenue and in 2009 it was expected to be a mere .18%.  Property tax, when last collected, contributed a small fraction of the amount it did 15 years ago.  The official projections for the Property Taxes proposed by the PNM were for that revenue to increase to $325M in 2010 – even at that level, the contribution would have barely exceeded 1% of the national tax revenue.

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Caribbean Countries Sitting on a Gold Mine…Legalize Ganja NOW

Submitted by Napolean Bonaparte
Marijuana

Marijuana

Time we unleash our true potential. The United Kingdom  has taxed and barricaded  our other crops like sugar and bananas, even tourism (APB) almost to non existence. Think that was by chance? Think again and while we at it, reconsider the Vincentian Prime Minister Dr. Gonsalves’ position.

We sitting on a gold mine !

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LIAT

Jean Holder resigned two years ago but continues to perform the role as Chairman.

Jean Holder resigned two years ago but continues to perform the role as Chairman.

We were asked to share the following article with the BU family. Although against our policy which is to be original in our postings sometimes we have to concede when there is merit in deviating from policy.

Business: LIAT’s turning point?

9/30/2013

For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven.” – Ecclesiastes 3:1

THE Caribbean is a diverse multi-cultural, multi-ethnic, multi-religious, multi-culinary, multi-genre (musical) and multi-lingual region officially made up of an archipelago of islands and selected mainland emerging territories nested between North and South America, Central America in the West and the Atlantic Ocean in the East, in and bordering on the Caribbean Sea.

The 17 English heritage administrations in the Caribbean are distributed as follows: North (7); South (7) and West (3) with an estimated population of six million, including the mainland territories of Belize and Guyana. The six French heritage administrations in the Caribbean are distributed as follows: North (5) and South (1) with an estimated population of 17.2 million, including the mainland territory of French Guiana. The seven Dutch heritage administrations in the Caribbean are distributed as follows: North (3); South (1) and West (3) with an estimated population of 0.8 million, including the mainland territory of Suriname. The three Spanish heritage administrations in the Caribbean sea are all in the North with an estimated population of 22.5 million, including the US territory of Puerto Rico. There are 33 Caribbean administrations with a total population of 46.5 million, albeit over managed, which is not to be ignored as a geographical market to be explored within the wider Latin American and Caribbean region.

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Minister Richard Sealy Promised Barbadians the Tourism Master Plan Will be Delivered by Midnight Tonight

Richard Sealy, Minister of Tourism

Richard Sealy, Minister of Tourism

The compilation and research for this submission was done by BU family member Due Diligence with minor edits by BU.

The long-awaited Tourism Master Plan for Barbados is expected to be ready by September this year [2013] Saying he recognized the plan had been promised for a long time now, Minister of Tourism Richard Sealy revealed to the annual general meeting Barbados Today

The author joins with Barbadians who want to see a growing, profitable and sustainable tourism industry; I do not want to be negative; but I have to be blunt. As I see it, there is no way to sugar coat the current state of tourism in Barbados. Some time in 2010, the Government of Barbados (Ministry of Tourism) issued an Invitation for Expressions of Interest for the Development of a  Tourism Master Plan for Barbados for the Period 2012-2021. The Expressions of Interest were to be delivered not later than 4:30 pm on June 30, 2010.  Full details of the Invitation can be read here on the Barbados Tourism website. Also here is a Press Release which notified Barbadians and others about what to expect from the Tourism Master Plan.It is September 18, ( 3+ years after Expressions were to be tendered and 3 months after the Plan was to be completed). Unless I have missed it there is still no Barbados Tourism Master Plan which Minister Sealy announced in April would be completed by June (2013).

The Plan may, in fact, have been completed; but if so why has this open, transparent and full disclosure Government not released the completed Plan, if only to invite public discussion.  The Minister is reported to be in London [last month], doing what? at the taxpayers’ expense, while Rome burns. Even by Barbados government standards this is shocking.  If the Plan is not released and deemed to be viable, the IMF will supply a plan.

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Percy Says Tourism is Our Business, Oink Oink!

Adrian Loveridge - Hotelier

Adrian Loveridge – Hotelier

First impressions and attention to detail in tourism, I suspect like most sectors can make all the difference whether you retain a customer, or in this case, a visitor. While flying back into Barbados last week, my thoughts were that despite all the time ‘we’ have been involved in the hospitality industry, have ‘we’ really learnt from our mistakes.

While exiting a Virgin Atlantic plane, the second half-full flight on this route that I was personally experiencing in eight days, I funnelled through with the other passengers to immigration. Looking up, many of the overhead walkway ceilings were dirty, cobwebbed and frankly, badly in need of painting.

Reduced airport earnings may be an issue, but what does it take to use some of the currently wasted space to offer advertising opportunities, that would in turn pay for any increased maintenance costs to keep these areas clean. Next you are confronted with what must have been relatively expensive full colour large decals, promoting not as you would reasonably expect, upcoming events, but a 2013 Crop Over Season that ended weeks ago.

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UWI GUILD Meeting Ends in TURMOIL

Submitted by Guild Watchdog
(L-R) Guild President; Damani Parris, Law Rep; Daniel Davies, Guild Treasurer; Ital Spencer reviewing a student petition against paying tuition fees

(L-R) Guild President; Damani Parris, Law Rep; Daniel Davies, Guild Treasurer; Ital Spencer reviewing a student petition against paying tuition fees

While some University Students are worrying about the Governments new policy forcing them to pay tuition fees at The University of the West Indies. It was chaos and turmoil at The Roy Marshall Teaching Complex at The University of the West Indies Cave Hill Campus on Thursday night; for the convening of a Guild Council Meeting when once-removed Treasurer of the Guild, Ital Spencer was the centre of contention and disruptive behaviour forcing University Security to end the meeting prematurely.

Mr. Spencer, who was also the Guild Treasurer on the previous Guild Council was accused of manipulating his authority to obtain absolute power and threatening other council officers. These accusations, which offend the Constitution of the Guild and the University’s Code of Ethics warranted him a trial of ‘No Confidence for Recall’ at the hands of the student population resulting in his removal last November.

Sources close to the Cave Hill Guild Council have stated Mr. Spencer dod not submit financial reports, has been accused and proven of using the students’ Guild funds for personal benefit, for example, a first class flight to Jamaica last UWI Games among other aggravated offenses. To this end, the President of the Guild, Mr. Damani Parris, has suspended Mr. Spencer pending another Special  Meeting of the Student Body to affect the removal of Mr. Spencer.

On Wednesday, 25th September, 2013 the majority membership of the student executive voted ‘No Confidence’ in Mr. Ital Spencer and have therefore recommended to the student population that he be removed.

UNAIDS Global Report Reveals Gains and Challenges in Caribbean HIV Reponses

Submitted by Martin Cedriann (UNAIDS Caribbean)
About UNAIDS

About UNAIDS

As world leaders prepare to meet at the United Nations General Assembly to review progress towards the Millennium Development Goals, a new report from the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) shows dramatic acceleration towards reaching 2015 global targets on HIV.

The 2013 Report on the global AIDS epidemic highlights progress towards the 2015 HIV targets, notably a 52% reduction in new HIV infections among children and a combined 33% reduction among adults and children since 2001.

The report and supporting materials are available on the UNAIDS website at: www.unaids.org/en/resources/campaigns/globalreport2013/

Attached are the global press release as well as one which shares information and data that are specific to the Caribbean. Please feel free to contact me should you need additional information.

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Managing the Tourism Industry By the Numbers

Adrian Loveridge - Owner of Peach & Quiet Hotel

Adrian Loveridge – Owner of Peach & Quiet Hotel

If I had to make a short list for our tourism policymakers, in an attempt to influence positive change, it probably might end up as quite a long list, but two pleas would be at the top.

Number One is to avoid making heady predictions, when even at the outset, any informed opinion indicated there was very little, if any possibility they would become true. Secondly, please do not use the word success when referring to a promotion or initiative, before there is at least clear evidence that it is, or will become one.

The second booking deadline of the Barbados Island Inclusive (BII) programme has just passed, since it was originally launched on 29th April. To refresh your memory, $11 million was allocated for BII to ‘bring an additional 15,000 tourists to our shores, with a total spend of BDS$30 million’ by issuing free spending vouchers’. The critical word is ‘additional’.

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One Scapegoat Does NOT Fix LIAT or Caribbean Airlines

Robert MacLellan is Managing Director of MacLellan & Associates

Robert MacLellan, Managing Director of MacLellan & Associates

Some might believe that, for the second time in only three years, Captain Ian Brunton has been made a scapegoat by the board of directors of a Caribbean airline company – fired as CEO of Caribbean Airlines Limited in late 2010 and, this week, he resigned as CEO of LIAT. Indisputably, the overall operation of LIAT has continued to be disastrous during the last four months but so has the marketing / P R / communications function and yet the senior management there appears unchanged going forward. More importantly, the chairman, Jean Holder, and the LIAT board – which has authorised the strategy, business plan, operating budget and bank loans underlying the recent chaos and financial uncertainty – also appear unchanged going forward.

While Captain Brunton has resigned, Mr Holder is reportedly on vacation in the midst of the crisis. The chairman has been in position since 2004 and submitted his own resignation two years ago, although this was not accepted by the LIAT government ownership group at that time.

“Plus ca change, plus c’est la meme chose.” When Mark Darby, an undoubted airline industry expert, was fired from the LIAT CEO position in 2009 (and subsequently sued successfully for unfair dismissal) Caribbean 360 News carried excerpts from his interview concerning LIAT in Flight Global, a leading airline industry website. Darby pointed to “the lack of focus of the shareholder governments and the board of management as major stumbling blocks to the regional airline moving to higher heights”. He spoke of the complexity of three governments owning the airline, which involved conflicting agendas. Darby commented that this problem was compounded by weak corporate governance, with a board where few directors had held senior roles in major companies. “Instead, it operated more like a government department”, he said. Darby continued, “Board members got themselves involved in operational areas. This is one of the company’s greatest weaknesses”.

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