The Most Honourable Jeffrey Bostic was officially installed as Barbados’ second President this morning at Kensington Oval, during the annual Independence Day Parade and National Awards. Scenes from the mornings proceedings.
Pictures by Reco Moore.
Bostic takes over today as President
Barbados will continue its republican march today when The Most Honourable Jeffrey Bostic is installed as President during the Independence Day Parade at the world renowned Kensington Oval.
Outgoing President The Most Honourable Dame Sandra Mason, beloved by Barbadians, is expected to make one last official public appearance in this setting, waving goodbye to the loyal sons and daughters of Barbados whose hearts she touched eight years ago when she was first appointed Governor General.
Dame Sandra has created history as the last Governor General from 2018-2021 under the monarchical system and the first President in the parliamentary republic.
This year’s parade promises to be especially memorable as in addition to the customary pomp and pageantry, the installation of the second President will also form part of the marking of the 59th anniversary of Independence and the fourth as a republic.
A former Minister of Health and a highly decorated military officer in the Barbados Defence Force (BDF), Bostic played a pivotal role in guiding Barbados through the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 with the trademark rallying cry: “No Retreat, No Surrender” that earned him widespread acclaim for his leadership during one of the country’s most challenging periods.
Dignitaries
Along with the local dignitaries, the ceremony will be attended by Prime Minister of Guyana, Brigadier Mark Phillips, and other high-ranking overseas officials.
Commander Derrick Brathwaite of the BDF will direct 1 000 parading participants, representing armed and unarmed units.
Detachment units will include the BDF and Barbados Police Service along with their bands, the Barbados Cadet Corps and its band, Barbados Fire Service and Fire Cadets, and the Barbados YouthADVANCE Corps.
The Barbados Coast Guard, St John Ambulance Association of Barbados, Barbados Landship Association, the Seventh-Day Adventist Pathfinders and its band, and the Barbados Legion will also form part of the procession.
The ceremony will feature the National Awards Ceremony, the presentation of Leadership Badges to students and a special performance by the Barbados Police Service Band, in recognition of its 190th anniversary.
Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley, who has led the country since 2018, will then give the customary address to Barbadians to bring an end to the formal proceedings.
From there the troops will carry on their march through The City, where members of Cabinet will take the salute outside the historic Parliament Buildings.
To accommodate the parade, a number of traffic changes will be in effect from 5 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Fontabelle Road, from its junction with Lakes Folly and Redman Drive, to its junction with President Kennedy Drive and Holborn Circle; and President Kennedy Drive, from its junction with Westbury Road to its junction with Holborn Circle, will be closed to all vehicular traffic, except public service vehicles.
As the parade progresses, there will be traffic delays along Fontabelle Road, Cheapside Road, Chapel Street, Prince Alfred Street, Broad Street, Trafalgar Street, Bridge Street, Charles Duncan O’Neal Bridge, Probyn Street, Bay Street, Lower Fairchild Street, Marhill Street, James Street, Magazine Lane, Coleridge Street and Independence Square.
Traffic changes
Police officers will be deployed to assist with traffic management and drivers will not be allowed to remain stationary on Westbury Road, President Kennedy Drive, Cheapside Road, Redman Drive, Prescod Boulevard, the road leading to Hanschell Inniss, Pickwick Gap, University Row, Mighty Grynner Highway and Kensington New Road.
Parking will be provided at the following locations for designated people with shuttle services: Kensington Oval – VVIPs; Parliament and Rickett Street – parliamentarians; Cube Blue Barbados Port Inc. – award recipients; Government Headquarters – honourees; Supreme Court and Helipad – participants (parents and children); State House – President’s guests (Toast To The Nation); Government Procurement – diplomats, judiciary, emergency services; University of the West Indies car park – invitees; and Kensington Mall – staff or designated people. ( AC)
Barbados Pride secure superb victory to win Super50 crown and US$100,000
Kyle Mayers played a superb captain’s knock to help Barbados Pride win the regional Super50 title in a one-sided final on Saturday night.
The left-hander made 89 not out off 79 balls with seven massive sixes — a performance which knocked the stuffing out of the home town bowlers. It piloted Barbados to 169-1 off 29.3 overs in reply to Trinidad’s 168 all out at the Brian Lara Cricket Academy.
Mayers added 122 for the first wicket with Leniko Boucher who scored a run-a-ball 50 with nine boundaries and a six.
Earlier the bowlers did a demolition job — left-arm spinner Joshua Bishop had 4-29 and left-arm seamer Dominic Drakes bagged 4-34 including a magnificent one-handed caught and bowled.
The Barbados team won the top purse of US$100,000 (BDS$200,000) and also dedicated the title to their fellow Barbadians as a tribute to the country’s 59th anniversary of independence. (PS)
Friends of Democracy names 12 candidates
Friends of Democracy (FOD) political party has announced the names of the first 12 candidates who will be contesting the next General Election in Barbados, when it is constitutionally due.
President Karina Goodridge, who will be in the St Philip West riding, said their candidates – a mix of old and new faces – comprised people from “diverse walks of life, each shaped by different experiences”.
Among the familiar faces are attorney Ricardo Harrison and Ricky “Laker” Williams, who previously contested seats as members of the Democratic Labour Party.
The party also welcomed Steffanie Williams, who was an independent candidate in the St James North by-election last May. She has remained vocal on social media and will be the spokesperson on issues relating to the Ministry of Transport and Works.
During the media conference this morning at Sugar Cane Mall, The City, Goodridge addressed several issues, including crime, governance and economic enfranchisement.
“For too long, power and capital have circulated only within the same circles – those with access to commercial banks, pension funds, shares, dividends, investments and generations of inherited wealth. We want to ensure that these things are available for the mass and not just a few,” Goodridge said.
The full list of candidates and portfolios:
President Karina Goodridge – National Security, Healthcare, Criminal Justice, Social Services and Economic Affairs (St Philip West)
B. Ricardo Harrison – Housing and Home Affairs, Legal Affairs and Criminal Justice (St Michael North)
Andwele Ricky Williams – Culture, Youth and Sports (St Michael North West)
Matthew Thorne – Tourism, Foreign Affairs and International Business (St James South)
Raymond Wiggins – Education, Training, Tertiary and Transformation (St Michael Central)
Anya Lorde – Family and Child Welfare and Gender Affairs (St Philip North)
Omar Smith – Agriculture and Food Security (St Philip South)
Kerry Thomas – Cultural Industries and Orange Economy and Community Development (St James Central)
Steffanie Williams – Ministry of Transport and Works (St James North)
Katrina Ramsey – Cyber Security and Technological Innovation (St Michael West Central)
Dominique Yorke – People Empowerment and Elder Affairs, Disability and Mental Health Services (Christ Church East Central)
Orlando Davis – Labour, Small Business, Environment and National Development (St Lucy)
Bishop on the ball as Barbados bowl out T&T for 168
Barbados Pride need to make 169 runs off their 50 overs to win the title in the regional Super 50 championship.
The impressive Bajans bowled out Trinidad and Tobago for just 168 off 43.2 overs in the ongoing final at Brian Lara Cricket Academy.
Barbados won the toss and fielded. The best bowler was left arm spinner Joshua Bishop (pictured at right) who used the new ball. He had the remarkable figures of 10-1-27-4.
He was well supported by Dominic Drakes, the left-arm seamer who picked up four wickets for 34 runs.
Barbados are now favored to win the title and take home the top purse of US$100,000. If they do so they would have completed an unbeaten run during the rain-affected tournament. (PS)
“Labour is very much alive” – Gonsalves
Former prime minister Dr. Ralph Gonsalves, whose Unity Labour Party (ULP) was defeated in Thursday’s general election after 25 years in office, say the party is very much alive and he will return to Parliament as Leader of the Opposition.
Gonsalves conceded defeat in an address on Saturday, but offered no specific congratulations to the new Prime Minister Godwin Friday, or the New Democratic Party (NDP), which won 14 of the 15 seats in the unicameral parliament.
He spoke in ominous terms about the new NDP administration, even as only the prime minister has been sworn in, with the cabinet expected to be sworn in next week.
“Believe me this: at this very height of the NDP is triumphalism, it is the moment of the start of their descent. And descend they will,” Gonsalves said.
“The unravelling usually commences imperceptibly, and then becomes a flood of disarray, as the centre cannot hold and things fall apart. History and experience so teach and in our fast-changing world, the clock of their demise is already ticking,” he said.
“I shall with dignity, duty and love, assume the role of leader of the opposition until propitious circumstances determined otherwise,” said Gonsalves, who was opposition leader from 1998 to 2001.
“I have trod this road before. It is not unfamiliar to me. Please be assured that the menace of the years finds and shall find me unafraid; it is my lot to accept, indeed prefer a strenuous life to one of ignoble ease.
“There remain in me no personal vanities or demons to overcome. I accept, after prayerful consideration that I have been set apart and blessed for a time like this.”
He said he will convene a meeting of the collective leadership of the ULP on Sunday to receive advice on the two individuals to be appointed as senators.
“Clearly, given the lopsided majority of the new regime in the Parliament, we in the opposition will be routinely out-voted, but the people of St. Vincent and the Grenadines will judge us on the basis of the quality of our work, which I assure you will be of the highest standard and across our country, outside of Parliament, by our works, you will know us even better and more assuredly,” Gonsalves said.
“Labour is very much alive. We shall rendezvous with the electorate formally again in 2030 or before, as the circumstances demand or admit.”
He said the line of march provided by the leadership of the NDP is to, first, to help supporters understand “that our political setback is temporary and must be altered into a permanent advance.
“Thus, let us turn this setback into an advance,” Gonsalves said, adding that there must also be renewal.
“Renewal, rebuilding is sweet. Indeed, it is the sweetest of life’s experiences. And within and outside the labour family, there is abundant material, some even hidden or submerged, which is available for renewal.”
Gonsalves echoed poetry stating that in renewing, “we must listen to our parents and grandparents, but also to our daughters and our sons.
“The ultimate purpose of this renewal is to make a whole daughter and a whole son and broken, not necessarily perfect, ones out of the compromises and contradictions that our history and circumstances have made us.”
The third element was that the party must “defend resolutely our gains and advance them further”.
The former prime minister also said Labourites must “resist also resolutely in every material particular, any attempt by the new regime to sell out St Vincent and the Grenadines or its patrimony.
“Everyone knows what I’m talking about. There is thus a clear roadmap for us on the way forward. Details will emerge.”
During the election campaign, the ULP has presented some NDP proposals, including the introduction of a citizenship by investment programme, as plans to sell out the country.
The former prime minister congratulated the people of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, including electoral personnel and state institutions, for their continued commitment to popular democracy.
“We in the Unity Labour Party are not among those who always insist that democracy only works when we win and cry foul when we lose,” he said, adding that the party will always accept the will of the people, whether it wins or loses.
“Indeed, our great party has contributed immensely to the building of the democratic institutions that underpin our electoral democracy.”
Gonsalves was the only ULP candidate to win a seat in the election, with the casualties including his son and East St. George incumbent, Camillo Gonsalves, who had been finance minister since 2017.
Another prominent member who was rejected by the electorate was Saboto Caesar, who was seeking a fourth term as MP for South Central Windward.
Caesar and the younger Gonsalves had been identified as future leaders of the party, but the former finance minister in his concession speech, said that the party would have to select a new candidate for East St. George.
Meanwhile, the former prime minister was returned for an eight successive time since for North Central Windward, a seat he has held since February 1994 – 31 years ago.
“I belong to my constituents. We belong to each other. Their trust and confidence in me have endured through all the changing scenes of life and living. The anchor holds. their God is my God. And wherever we go, we know that we go together with God’s grace in profound solidarity and love,” the former head of government said.
He also thanked the ULP’s “great team of candidates” as well as the party’s activists, organisers and supporters for their “heroic efforts” in the campaign.
“Some of these defeated candidates will no doubt return to the electorate again, but others are unlikely to. Time and circumstances will so determine,” Gonsalves said.
“Even at this difficult time for my country, my party and me, I yet again reaffirm from the depths of my unconquerable soul and the determined spirit of my being, my deep and enduring love for my constituents and All the people of St Vincent and the Grenadines,” he said.
“It is a love that is an ever-fixed mark that looks and tempests and is never shaken. It is a love that brings immense joy, but also occasions pain. The weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning. Hallelujah for the joy.
“I assure each and every one of you that in the fell clutch of the circumstance of my party’s defeat, I have not winced nor cried aloud under the bludgeonings of chance, my head is bloodied, but unbowed.”
Gonsalves said faith, history and circumstance have conspired to accord him another role after the near-25 years as prime minister.
Gonsalves said that he cannot and would not proceed alone.
“Across our lands and seas today, the many thousands of the defeated Labour army are in shock and pain,” he said.
“So, too, are the other thousands who opted wrongly, in my view, to stay at home for this or that reason, rather than embrace Labour’s large and compelling vision of owning our future.”
During the campaign, Gonsalves had oscillated between telling supporters not to grumble after the election to pleading with them 36 hours before the ballot not to return to the Labour family.
“I truly feel your pain. Still, now is not the time for pity or wallowing in the despond of despair,” he said on Saturday.
“It is no more urgent than ever for all of us, including those who deserted the family of labour, to defend the immense gains which our people have come to know and accept over the past near 25 years of ULP governance and to advance them further.” (CMC)
Fogging Schedule: December 2 to 5
The Ministry of Health and Wellness’ Vector Control Unit will visit districts in two parishes – St. John and St. Michael – next week.
The fogging programme will begin on Tuesday, December 2, in St. John. There will be no fogging on Monday, which is a public holiday. The team will go into Ashbury Tenantry Road, Lemon Arbour Village, Knights Village, Lower Four Roads, Spooners, Pool Land Nos.1 and 2, and environs.
The Unit will remain in St. John on Wednesday, December 3, and Thursday, December 4.
On Wednesday, the following communities will be sprayed: 1st Avenue Redland Tenantry, Redland Tenantry, Bailey Alley, Sweet Vale, Brathwaite Road, Butcher Road, Sweet Bottom, Groves, Claybury, Golden Ridge Village, and surrounding areas.
It will be the turn of Eastmont Road, Cheshire, Small Hope Tenantry No.1, and Gall Hill Nos.1 and 2 on Thursday.
The fogging exercise for the week will conclude on Friday, December 5, in St. Michael. The Unit will concentrate its efforts on Bank Hall Main Road from its junction with Mansion Road to the Junction with Bank Hall Cross Road, Barracks Road, Prince of Wales Road, Queen Mary Road, King George Road, King Edward Road, Queen Victoria Road, Buckingham Road, Windsor Road, Sealy Land 1st and 2nd Avenues, Sealy Land No.3, Gilkes Land Nos.1, 2 and 3, Nurse Land, Happy Cot, and Station Hill onto Powder Road.
Fogging takes place from 4:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. daily. Householders are reminded to open their windows and doors to allow the spray to enter. Children should not be allowed to play in the fog.
The public is advised that the completion of scheduled fogging activities may be affected by events beyond the Unit’s control. In such circumstances, the Unit will return to communities affected in the soonest possible time. (BGIS)
Barbados bowl first in Super50 final after Mayers wins toss
Barbados Pride captain Kyle Mayers won the toss and elected to bowl first against Trinidad and Tobago Red Force in the final of the regional Super50 Cup at the Brian Lara Cricket Academy on Saturday.
The match will signal the end of the premier 50-over tournament and the winners will take home the Clive Lloyd trophy as well as US$100 000.
Teams:
BARBADOS PRIDE: Kyle Mayers (captain), Leniko Boucher, Zachary McCaskie, Kraigg Brathwaite, Kevin Wickham, Jonathan Drakes, Joshua Bishop, Kemar Smith, Dominic Drakes, Akeem Jordan, Matthew Jones.
T&T RED FORCE: Joshua Da Silva (captain), Tion Webster, Cephas Cooper, Amir Jangoo, Jason Mohammed, Jyd Goolie, Yannic Cariah, Navin Bidaisee, Terrance Hinds, Joshua James, Ricky Jaipaul.
Umpires: Deighton Butler, Christopher Taylor
TV Umpire: Zahid Bassarath
Match Referee: Denavon Hayles
New licensing framework coming for Barbados’ energy grid
The way is clear for further investment opportunities in Barbados’ energy grid.
During a signing ceremony yesterday between Government and the Barbados Light & Power Co. Ltd (BL&P), approving new operating licences, Minister of Energy Senator Lisa Cummins said the arrangement will benefit Barbadians.
“I think that all of Barbados knows that the grid in the country has had what we have been describing as gridlock. We have a number of projects that have been awaiting connection to the grid [but] it is important for projects to not just have connections to the grid, but to have signed power purchase agreements that establish the relationship between independent power producers as part of the democratisation of the energy process and the off-taker, namely [BL&P].
“We have completed negotiation of the licences for the operations of [BL&P] in Barbados. It allows for those power purchase agreements to be signed because there is clarity and there’s predictability in the relationship between the utility and the Government of Barbados,” she said.
Cummins, speaking at the Warrens Office Complex, St Michael, where the signing took place, said this was great news for the banking sector, renewable energy sector and private investors, adding the negotiation paved the way for more than $500 million in renewable energy investments.
Managing director of BL&P, Roger Blackman, said new licences represented a modern framework to support their work regulating stakeholders in advancing the island’s national energy policy.
“They cover all aspects of our operations, from generation and storage to transmission, distribution, sale and dispatch of electricity. That’s important because it sets a framework for us to be able to operate and create certainty for us and investments that are being made in the sector, not just by us, but by independent power producers and the bankers who are financing them and so on.
“So this really is an important milestone, and it also sets up a strong partnership
between the utility and the several stakeholders in the sector as we move forward to achieve the island’s energy policy goals,” he added.
Blackman said the existing licensing franchise expires in 2028, but shortterm licensing frameworks were not suitable for long-term investment strategies.
“We are among the largest, if not the largest, private sector entity to invest in the island on a consistent annual basis. Significant investments are made not just in new assets, but in maintaining the existing assets that we have.
Long-life assets “These are significant investments with long lives, typically 20 to 30 years. Similarly, persons entering the market to provide electricity will be investing in similar long-life assets, 20 to 30 years. And so, having a franchise that expires in three years when you’re making investments makes it complicated, difficult and uncertain for investors,” he said.
Cummins said renewing the licences with a new framework removed the challenge of failing infrastructure and blackouts occurring due to a lack of new investment.
“What we’ve done is we’ve removed that 2028 hurdle, having already intended to do so since 2021, 2018, and even before then, and now made sure that we have finalised once and for all the new licences for the [BL&P] to allow for that financing to take place, and to allow for the investment in infrastructure and new investment in infrastructure that we, as Barbadians, all want to be able to see and benefit from,” she said.
However, the minister said the new framework will not come into fruition until the old one expired in 2028.
Blackman said the new framework consisted of two licences: one which covered generation and storage, and the other which covered “everything else”, such as transmission, distribution, sales and dispatch. (CA)
Judge rules against ex-candidate
Defeated candidate in the 2022 General Election, Philip Catlyn, was not disenfranchised by any delay in the hearing and adjudication of his election matter by the Court of Appeal.
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This was the finding of Justice Dr H. Patrick Wells who, however, found that the delay in hearing the matter, which was brought under a certificate of urgency, breached Sections 11(c) and 18(8) of the Constitution.
“In my view, with the General Election having been held, and there is no claim that [Catlyn] himself was disenfranchised from being a voter in the election, I cannot fathom any damage or harm or injury that a delay has caused to [him],” the judge said.
“Considering that [Catlyn] was not included in the persons in quarantine during the COVID-19 pandemic, at the time of the elections, which was the focus of his application for judicial review, and further, that the elections have already passed almost four years now, I hold that there is no damage or injury or harm to [him] that warrants or deserves compensation.”
Catlyn, a former leader of the Barbados Sovereignty Party, through his attorney Lalu Hanuman, had originally challenged Justice Cicely Chase’s decision which paved the way for elections to be held in January 2022.
He filed a constitutional motion against the poll being held at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The unsuccessful civil suit challenged President The Most Honourable Dame Sandra Mason’s dissolution of Parliament on December 27, 2021, and the issuing of election writs, saying the act was unauthorised, contrary to law and illegal; arbitrary, unreasonable, irrational, irregular and an improper exercise of discretion; that it was capricious, erroneous, an excess of jurisdiction, ultra vires and an abuse of power; and that it was in conflict with Section 6 of the Representation of the People Act.
Justice Chase, however, declared that since the main issue related to the action of the President in following the recommendation of the Prime Minister to dissolve Parliament, it represented a controversy as outlined by Section 36.1 of the Election Offences and Controversies Act.
She said, as a result, the matter ought to have been properly presented to the Election Court for determination.
The judge then held that the action had been incorrectly filed and refused to order any injunctive relief.
Catlyn and Hanuman appealed the judge’s decision and attorneys argued their case before the Court of Appeal.
Subsequently, Hanuman filed a constitutional motion in the wake of an alleged delay in the hearing of the “urgent” appeal, as well as a delay in the rendering of a decision in respect of an interim interlocutory application by the respondents in the appeal after a hearing which concluded in April 2023.
He claimed the delay in hearing the “urgent” appeal breached Sections 11(c) and 18(8) of the Constitution, while the delay in rendering a decision on the interlocutory application was a breach of the sixmonth timeline in Article 84(3)(c) of
the Constitution.
Justice Wells found that Catlyn’s declaration under Section 84(3) (c) was “not only a futile prospect as it relates to no right that he can claim as a personal right under the Constitution, but further, and equally important, his action before the court has nothing to do with challenging any conduct on the part of the first defendant (the Chief Justice), relative to the exercise of his discretion within the constitutional framework or scheme set out as a whole in Section 84 of the Constitution”.
The judge said although the Chief Justice was a defendant in this matter, Catlyn’s allegation was not that the Chief Justice had done anything to him, but that he was sued because “[The Chief Justice] is the head of the Judiciary of the Supreme Court”.
The judge further noted the Court of Appeal partly attributed the delay in the matter to the death of Justice of Appeal Jefferson Cumberbatch who had been sitting on the panel.
He added the application was eventually determined on June 16, 2024, but the substantive appeal had not progressed beyond that.
“In light of the reason which was given on the facts for the delay in the rendering of the decision in that interlocutory application, I am not persuaded to include any period between the hearing of the application to strike out, and the delivery of the decision on that application, to be unreasonable,” he said.
“As such, I will not include that portion of the delay which concerned the delivery of the striking out ruling, in my assessment of the section 18(8) delay as a whole,” the judge noted.
However, Justice Wells said considering that the appeal has still not been heard, and a certificate of urgency was filed, he found that there had been a breach of Section 11(c) of the Constitution.
“I also hold that the delay of 17 months on an urgent application is a violation of Section 18(8) of the Constitution,” he said.
Catlyn polled 98 votes to winner Cynthia Forde’s 2 971 in the St Thomas constituency. The Democratic Labour Party’s Roderick Hinds received 625 and Independent Samuel Maynard 88. (HLE)