PORT OF SPAIN – LEADER of the United National Congress (UNC), Kamla Persad-Bissessar, was Sunday touted as a long standing advocate of female liberation and equality by two of the country’s foremost social activists and speakers on gender equality.Speaking at the launch of a book about Persad-Bissessar’s career in the public service, entitled Through the Political Glass Ceiling, head of the Network of NGOs of Trinidad and Tobago for the Advancement of Women, Hazel Brown, said, “As far as women in Trinidad and Tobago are concerned, Kamla is not a Jenny come lately.” The book, which is subtitled Race To Prime Ministership By Trinidad And Tobago’s First Female, is a compilation of Persad-Bissessar’s public speeches over the last two decades. It is the brainchild of author, former journalist and cultural activist, Dr Kris Rampersad, who also serves as the international relations director of the network.Rampersad said all proceeds from the sale of the 500 page book, which was published locally and will be sold at local stores, will go to the formation of a publishing foundation to support local books and publishers.The launch took place at the MovieTowne Banquet And Conference Centre at Invaders Bay, Mucurapo. (Express)
Fines against West Indies players unfair
ON THE day that the West Indies cricket team would face the invincible Aussies in a crucial match of the International Cricket Council (ICC) World Twenty20, the home side was greeted with the news that the captain had been fined 40 per cent and each of the rest of the team 20 per cent of their fees for a match which they won, because the referee ruled that the home side (fielding last) were two overs behind schedule!
Did the umpires ever warn them that they were wasting time? What schedule? The match started half-an-hour late because the ground was wet. Was the ground staff docked any part of their day’s pay for the delay?
In a limited overs match when the Duckworth Lewis formula is not invoked and the allotted overs have been bowled by both sides, time cannot be an essential factor in justifying fines for slow over rate.
The iniquity of this penalty is reminiscent of the glory days of West Indies cricket, when the West Indies were fined for slow over rate despite regularly beating England hollow in three days of a scheduled five-day Test match.
If this recent travesty is protested by WIPA it would probably start another spat between the WIPA and the WICB official who will say “Is not me is ICC”. But who indeed is ICC?
LEONARD ST. HILL
Praise for Ministry of Tourism and BTA
I WOULD like to commend the Barbados Tourism Authority and Ministry of Tourism (BTA) for the excellent and professional way in which they carried out their duties in making sure that the recently concluded Caribbean Conference on Sustainable Tourism Development (STC 11) went as smoothly as possible.
I was part of a team of international journalists, which gave me an opportunity to observe the hard work and dedication the staff of these agencies performed, especially when one takes into consideration that a high concentration of security measures had to be in place to ensure the safety of such large numbers (delegates) who attended the conference.
I cannot overstate credit to Richard Sealy, Minister of Tourism, Averil Byer, marketing director, Hugh Foster, tourism consultant, and Linda Christine-Clarke of the BTA. Also, it would be remiss of me if I did not make mention of the Royal Barbados Police Force (motorcycle unit).
They provided escort for the international media getting from points “A” to “B” ensuring that they performed their duties in a timely manner.
I would also like to say thanks to Johnson Johnrose, media consultant for the Caribbean Tourism Authority. His assistance to the media is most appreciated.
CLYDE JONES
Missionary freed
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti – A Haitian court has convicted American missionary Laura Silsby of arranging to transport 33 children out of the country following the January 12 earthquake. But the judge has sentenced her to time served in jail and she is free to leave the country. The Idaho woman got the good news during a court hearing Monday.(AP)
Is Govt slacking off on the environment?
I WOULD like to offer my congratulations to The Future Centre Trust, volunteers and businesses that helped make “No Plastic Bag Day” on May 8 the success it needed to be. Not forgetting the people who bought the reusable bags.
The same good wishes cannot however be aimed at the Government for not helping in any way. I read an article stating that the Environment Ministry failed to attend planning meetings claiming “more important commitments”.
Reports are that Government did not waive import duty on the environmentally friendly reuseable shopping bags. The outcome of which meant the bags had to be sold at a greater than desired price. Once again the Government reneging on an election promise – to keep the cost of living down.
On what planet is the DLP government on that it cannot see the need for an effective and coherent environment policy? This is not necessarily just this administration’s fault.
However, only last week Sue Springer, vice president of the Barbados Hotel and Tourism Association was asking both the Democratic Labour Party and the Barbados Labour Party, where was the Environment Act that had been promised for the last 15-20 years?
The world’s climate is changing and we all need to do what we can to reduce our own damage to the environment, even here in Barbados. Everyone must play their part in combating climate change, however big or small.
It all makes a difference! The Government must act and take the environment and climate change issue seriously and not pay its usual lip service.
JASON STEPHENS
OCG concerned about gov’t deal
KINGSTON – THE Office of the Contractor General (OCG) says it has grave concerns regarding Government’s proposed multi-billion dollar deal to sell its 45 per cent stake in the jointly owned Government/Alcoa JAMALCO alumina refinery to the Chinese entity, Zhuhai Hongfan Non-ferrous Metals And Chemical Engineering Limited (Hongfan). “Hongfan’s exclusive agent for the deal is a company called Port Reliant Limited (Port Reliant), about which the OCG has suspicions,” the OCG said in a release today. “The deal is also subject to Alcoa’s right of first/last refusal.” At the root of the OCG’s concerns are at least five major considerations which, when taken together, have raised serious questions for the OCG regarding the public interest, transparency, value for money, competition, conflicts of interest, propriety and the merit and impartiality of the prospective contract award to Hongfan. The five considerations, the OCG said, include that the proposed equity divestment was not put to public competitive tender by the Government but was, instead, directly negotiated with Port Reliant and/or Hongfan; and that Port Reliant has refused to make a full due-diligence disclosure to the Government regarding itself, its agency agreements with Hongfan, its historical business activities and its beneficial ownership, in keeping with certain OCG requests which were directed to the Mining and Energy Ministry. The OCG has reiterated its concerns regarding the proposed deal with Hongfan, it said, “particularly in light of the continuing lack of clarity about Port Reliant’s involvement in the matter and its curious and inexplicable refusal, to date, to provide certified documentary evidence about itself and its beneficial ownership”. The contractor general Greg Christie says he has adopted a resolute position on the matter. “The OCG has cautioned the Government that if the requested information is not fully forthcoming from Port Reliant, it, the Government, in the public’s interest, should shelve the deal. If the Government fails to heed the OCG’s recommendation, the OCG will forthwith launch a major investigation into the matter and will use the full force of its quasi-judicial powers to secure all pertinent facts and bring them within the public domain,” the OCG said.(Jamaica Observer)
‘Caribbean a special area’
Minister of Agriculture Senator Haynesley Benn, wants the General Assembly of the United Nations to designate the Caribbean Sea as a special area within the context of sustainable development.Benn, speaking at the opening of the International Ocean Institute’s Training Module: Law of the Sea and Principled Ocean Governance at the UWI Shell Suite, said such designation recognised that the Caribbean Sea was difficult to manage as a single large marine ecosystem, mainly because it was impacted by many diverse stakeholders from within and outside the region.“It is my fervent hope that the UN will take swift and decisive action on this matter. The Caribbean needs and deserves this recognition,” he told stakeholders in the industry from around the region.The minister, in stating reasons why he believed the Caribbean deserved the status, said that it comprised 45 states, several ethnic groups and had the highest number of maritime boundaries of any large marine ecosystem in the world.He noted, too, the Caribbean was one of the busiest shipping routes in the world, home to some 63 000 annual ship calls, which carried an estimated 82 000 tonnes of garbage.“Land-based sources of pollution, intensified tourism development and large oil shipments also have negative environmental impacts and risks,” the minister said.Touching on some of the obligations undertaken by Barbados and other CARICOM states, Benn said that sometimes implementation had been hampered, since servicing those agreements placed significant burdens on the countries in terms of technical, financial and human resource requirements. (CT)
Court clerks not helping situation
Dear Christine, I hope that you are fine as this letter leaves me. I am a bit annoyed at some of the clerks at the Courts.
Some of them give out information to persons who are pretending to be the person collecting money from court. There is a gentlemen who pays money for a child who is 18 years of age and is still at school. The child’s stepmother calls up to the court and pretends to be her mother and asks if the money is there.
When she gets the answer, she sends the child to go collect the money and when she gets home, the stepmother calls the mother all sorts of names.
Christine, these things aren’t right. When the stepmother collects the money, she buys nails and weave for her hair. When she does this it is very difficult on the mother. What can the mother do to stop this? – Please give advice.
DEAR PLEASE GIVE ADVICE,
Court clerks should not be giving out that type of information on the phone, although I believe that in doing so they try to help so that mothers don’t waste their time going down to the court if money is not there.
However, if this is a grave problem for the mother, then you can make an official complaint to the Registrar, Ms Marva Clarke. – CHRISTINE
Poor living conditions
Dear Christine, Please can you help us by sending someone to prove what I am writing to you is the truth. I am renting a room at a house.
When I first saw an ad in the paper for the room, I said that it sounded like a nice place to live. The landlord told me to pass by and bring $300 for two weeks rent.
She never told me that I have to pay for light, water or gas when the bills come in. This place has eight rooms (four upstairs and four downstairs). There is only one bath and toilet for the 17 people living in the entire house and it has to be cleaned every three days to avoid it becoming overly dirty.
There are also a lot of rats and African Snails around the place. We need help as we don’t have anywhere else to go for now. -Please send help for us.
DEAR PLEASE SEND HELP FOR US: I will try to see what can be done. I can try to arrange for a social worker to come around or someone else who can see first hand the conditions.
In the meantime, continue looking for somewhere else and I will too. I am sure there are better places for similar rent. CHRISTINE.
Misgivings on today’s EPA meeting
THERE ARE some strong misgivings among senior government officials and regional thinkers of the Caribbean Community over an inaugural meeting scheduled for today in Madrid, Spain of the Joint Council on the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) signed in 2008 between the European Union (EU) and the CARIFORUM states (CARICOM plus Dominican Republic).As first reported in the Weekend Nation over a week ago, this inaugural meeting, initiated by the European Commission (executive arm of the EU), has been hastily arranged to discuss rules of procedures for implementation of the EPA on the margins of the Sixth Summit of EU-Latin America/Caribbean Heads of State and Government.According to the community secretariat, more than 60 leaders of Europe, Latin America, Africa and the Caribbean region, are expected to participate in today’s summit, being convened under the theme Towards A New Phase Of The Bi-regional Association – Innovation And Technology For Sustainable Development And Social Inclusion . . . .While progress previously achieved remains a matter of speculation, in the absence of shared information with the public, it is a matter for hope that this promised “new phase” in cooperation “for sustainable development and social inclusion” will produce practical results – beyond official rhetoric.Of immediate concern, however, is how prepared are the CARIFORUM bloc of countries to fully and seriously participate with the EU representatives in sensitive discussions on procedural approaches for the implementation of provisions of the EPA in a meeting slated to last no more than two hours and possibly 90 minutes?The procedural issues involve trade, services and economic development. There have long been doubts over the readiness of the Caribbean to seriously engage Europe in implementation of the EPA. The pertinent question, therefore, is how much progress could reasonably be achieved, without the Caribbean sacrificing fundamental principles, from a rushed inaugural session of the EPA, in less than two hours, as designed by strategists of the European Commission – ahead of the primary purpose of today’s event in Madrid – namely the EU/LAC Summit? Will capitulation to Europe’s agenda be the order of the day because of some EU “funding” involved?In a recent exchange of views on the value of today’s meeting of the EPA Joint Council, the Caribbean economist Dr Norman Girvan had observed that “anyone with the slightest experience in these matters would know that rules of procedures carry power relations within them, steering the participants into certain directions and foreclosing other opinions…”Consequently, a pertinent question arises: How seriously prepared is the CARIFORUM group in their review and analysis of what the European Commission is proposing as procedural approaches for EPA implementation? We must await the results of today’s Joint Council Meeting and the EU/LAC Summit in Madrid.