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Judy Lorne: Taking her Barbadian products to the world

Nationnews Desk
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Judy Lorne: Taking her Barbadian products to the world

Judy Lorne has no official title, but in her own way she has been representing Barbados at food festivals and agricultural fairs in Martinique over the past six years. She is simply proud to do so because of her love for her country.

A private chef and culinary cultural practitioner who once thought of becoming an archaeologist because of her love for archaeology and ancient history, Judy may be known for the array of products and traditional confectioneries that she makes under the brand name Salena’s. But putting aside her own products, she has determined that she will continue to showcase Barbadian products in Martinique despite the huge travel cost and the personal sacrifices she makes.

Judy has won numerous National Independence Festival of Creative Arts (NIFCA) awards for her products, which include a variety of sugar cakes, tamarind balls, stewed gooseberries, along with flavoured hot sauces and mango chutney.

She has been participating in NIFCA’s culinary arts competitions since 2009 and amassed one silver and nine gold culinary arts awards in 2012, when she also copped the prize for the Most Outstanding Work in Preserves. During NIFCA 2019, she won the Vision 2020 Award for her tomato hot sauce.

Innate love for cooking

Judy has accomplished much, not from attending a culinary arts school, but through her innate love for cooking and her unofficial role as a food critic.

“It’s all self-taught,” the mother of five adult daughters told Easy. “It’s a gift.”

Along with her awards and accomplishments, this St Michael resident is proud of her five daughters, who range in age from 25 to 38.

“My two oldest daughters live in France, one lives in Martinique, another works at a leading west coast hotel and the other is completing her Master’s degree in graphic design in Berlin, Germany,” the proud 65-year-old said.

Notwithstanding, it is Judy’s love for showcasing Barbadian products that she enjoys the most.

She explained how it all started: “My oldest daughter’s godfather is a sitting member in the local agricultural society in Martinique’s southern district. He called me in 2019 and extended an invitation to me to showcase Barbadian products at that year’s event. The rest is history.

“Ironically, when I was living in Martinique between 1985 and 1995, I used to hear a lot about agricultural fairs but I never participated in any of them.”

Fluent in French

After speaking with officials at the Barbados Investment Development Corporation (BIDC) and the Barbados Agricultural Development and Marketing Corporation (BADMC), Judy went ahead and made her own preparations to attend the fair in 2019.

“I realised through my participation that Barbados was so well perceived in Martinique,” the entrepreneur said.

“As a result of my participation, I was invited to attend a food fair, where I showcased foods such as rotis, lentil peas and rice and salt fish gravy, and Bajan mauby.

“I have always made fishcakes, souse, and sold Bajan sno-cones. I discovered through my participation that we in the Caribbean have similar produce and foods at our disposal, but we prepare different dishes with the same produce.”

When she attended the agricultural fair in Martinique in April this year, she took “a whole set of stuff”, including a range of products from the West India Biscuit Company (WIBISCO), Pine

Hill Dairy (PHD), Roberts Manufacturing Company Limited, as well as Amanda’s seasoning and Country Kitchen essence. When the Barbados Tourism Marketing Inc. (BTMI) staged a travel fair in Martinique, Judy, who is fluent in French, was also there, and BTMI representatives donated tourism promotional materials.

“I funded my own airfare and ground transportation. It is always costly, but I do this because I have a firm belief in the talent that exists in Barbados. I am always happy to represent Barbados. We have the edge on so many other countries.

“When I was promoting Shirley biscuits and products from other manufacturers, I started by giving a history on each company, and people bought into this.”

Since there are no cargo ships trading between Martinique and Barbados, Judy believes the inroads she continues to make are important.

“I want to see how we can develop a way for our products to go to Martinique because the people in Martinique truly love Bajan products. They test everything to European standards. BADMC flour was well received and since I have a good rapport with the mayor of the local parish where the food fairs are held, I have become the face of Barbados in Martinique. I am simply trying to promote Barbados the best way that I can.

“The main criteria is that the items which are displayed must be 100 per cent Barbadian, and everything on display from Martinique must be 100 per cent local as well.”

Judy is again making preparations to visit Martinique soon and will once again take Barbadian products for display. Indeed, she wants to go even further.

More merchandise

“I want to take Barbadian products to the Paris Fair in May 2026. The fair in Martinique will be in April 2026. I do not know how I will do this financially speaking, and to do this I have to make it bigger and better, so I will need more merchandise. I just want to make a name for Barbados and I want more Barbadian manufacturers to get on board. I want to take something new to the table. We make good products in Barbados and we should be willing to showcase them.”

Judy has recognised the help she has gotten over the years, and thanks WIBISCO’s marketing team, Export Barbados’ chief executive officer Mark Hill, Minister of Agriculture Indar Weir, and Joy-Ann Haigh of Haigh Communications for their support during her last trip.

For her, she is simply Barbados’ unofficial ambassador doing what she can for the good of her nation wherever she goes.

Judy Lorne has won numerous National Independence Festival of Creative Arts (NIFCA) awards for her products, which include a variety of sugar cakes, tamarind balls, stewed gooseberries, along with flavoured hot sauces and mango chutney. (CH)

‘Room for tourism boost’

Shawn Cumberbatch
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‘Room for tourism boost’

Barbadian tourism expert Alvin Jemmott believes the sector is “in a relatively good position” but has significant room for improvement.

The former chairman of the Barbados Tourism Marketing Inc. warned that there could come a time when no amount of public relations would be enough to quell crime-related concerns for the country’s tourism product.

While supporting ongoing source market diversification, he recommended an increased focus on domestic tourism, a deeper dive into tourism data to inform strategic decisions for the industry, more support for the small hotel sector, and a cohesive regional approach for intra-Caribbean travel.

Jemmott, who was Barbados Hotel and Tourism Association president and, more recently, deputy chairman of Intimate Hotels of Barbados, shared these views in an interview with Barbados Business Authority ahead of the 2025-2026 winter tourist season, which starts next month.

Still desirable destination

Asked for his assessment of Barbados’ tourism sector, the chairman and chief executive officer of Jemmott Hotel Management Inc. said: “Currently, I believe that Barbados’ tourism industry is in a relatively good position. Despite all of the turmoil that is taking place worldwide, people are still travelling and Barbados is still a desirable destination.

“Are there concerns about the crime wave? Absolutely, but for the most part we seem to be staying ahead of the communication and the crime has been mostly local-on-local crime and not directly impacting visitors to the island.

“My warning about the crime, however, is that there is a limit to the amount of public relations before we reach a breaking point.”

He added: “Are there questions about hurricanes? Yes! But there has been a historical mis-representation about our geographical position in relation to severe weather systems, but again we continue to stay ahead of the information.”

Diversify source markets

Jemmott welcomed efforts to diversify Barbados’ tourism source markets,

stressing that “tourism is too important to our survival and economic growth to be at the mercy of one or two source markets”.

“We recently saw the arrival of direct flights from Africa. To me this is a good thing. I do not know everything that is happening behind the gateways, but success for this venture will take more than the efforts of the Government and the tourism officials,” he suggested.

“We have to engage more at the operational and local levels and reinforce the messaging of the Government and the tourism officials. I have long been a supporter of market diversification and I’m glad to see that it’s happening.”

With visitor arrivals from the United States (US) now surpassing those from the traditional number one market, the United Kingdom (UK), the former hotel general manager said this was “a big elephant in the room”.

Barbados Statistical Service data reported by the Central Bank showed that Barbados welcomed 191 024 visitors from the US between January and September, compared with 160 749 from the UK in the same period.

For the US market, this was an increase of 20 429 visitor arrivals (12 per cent), while it was a 4 240 decline in arrivals from the UK (2.6 per cent).

Issues of spend

“Not enough discussion takes place about the satellite system of accounting within the tourism industry. For the most part we have focused on head counts and bed counts as the key performance indicators of success,” he asserted.

“I have long been an advocate of taking a deeper dive into issues of spend, the cost of generating a booking and looking at it by source markets and the impact of the longer stay customer, versus the shorter stays and the quick turnover.

“Unless something has shifted drastically, the UK visitor still has a longer length of stay on island than the US visitor. We need the deeper dive into the stats in order to make more strategic decisions,” he said.

Intra-regional travel was another issue Jemmott deemed worthy of more focus at a Caribbean level.

There were 75 068 visitors from CARICOM countries in the first three quarters of the year, an 8.2 per cent increase over the 70 309 who visited the island in those nine months in 2024.

While this January to September figure is the highest since the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, official statistics show it remains below the 78 017 average CARICOM visitorship recorded between 2017 and 2019.

“Intra-regional travel is much more than a Barbadian issue. I believe that this requires a whole of Caribbean effort. From where I sit, I’m not seeing a cohesive regional approach to this very important subject,” he said.

“The recent initiative between Barbados and Dominica is good, but my question is; what happens when the new airport in Dominica becomes operational and they are able to attract more direct flights from our same source markets? Will the partnership still have the same focus or will focus shift?”

Domestic tourism, including staycations, was another issue engaging his attention, calling this niche “big business worldwide but it requires a consistent focus”.

“Let’s not lose focus, part of the original intentions surrounding the development of the staycations were to education the locals more about the Barbados tourism product and place them in a much better position to offer suggestion to their families, friends and the diaspora as we interact with them,” he recalled.

Maintaining foreign exchange

Secondly, Jemmott said, staycations were also an effort to “maintain more of the foreign exchange earning instead of just earning at one end and spending it at the other end through the same source as we earned”.

He suggested, thirdly, that this initiative was intended to provide economic opportunity “for anyone desirous of making a living from the industry. In my mind the efforts have to be consistent and not built only around the big events”.

The small hotel sector was an important part of the discussion around Barbados’ future tourism prospects.

Jemmott reminded that “the small hotels have always had a very important role to play in the Barbados tourism ecosystem”.

“Not everyone coming to the island wants to stay in the bigger or more high-end properties and that’s what makes the small hotel sector so very important,” he noted.

“There are three things that I believe that we need to pay more attention to. One, product quality, two, price points and, three, the sense of presence in relation to marketing and public relations.

“In my opinion, the sector is far too quiet and when there is noise it’s almost always made by the same 20 per cent of this sector. We simply have to be more present and social media definitely provide part of that answer,” added Jemmott, who has been in the tourism sector since starting as a waiter in 1981 at Sam Lord’s Castle, St Philip. (SC)

Dialogue with US ‘critical’

Shawn Greene
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Dialogue with US ‘critical’

Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade Kerrie Symmonds wants to see reinforced dialogue on climate change with regional and global partners.

A guest on yesterday’s Starcom Network radio call-in programme Sunday Brass Tacks, the senior minister admitted that one of his major recent concerns was the view of the United States on the Blue Green Bank initiative.

“Sometimes I think there is a need for us to sit and again reinforce dialogue as a means of communication to some of the concerns that we have, so that policy initiatives do not collide with genuine ambition,” he said.

“An example of one which has bothered me deeply in recent times is that which has been called a rescission coming out of the White House.

“[It] basically says our effort to create a Blue Green Bank, which effectively is about helping countries like ours with a similar threat towards the vulnerability of the changing climate, to be able to access, at low-cost financing, the type of money that is necessary to build the boardwalks, to reinforce our beaches and to protect them from coastal erosion . . . is something almost akin to a swindle. The term they use is grift. They say that this is not a core priority of the Americafirst ambition and therefore partnership through USAID (United States Agency for International Development) is something which cannot happen for us.”

Symmonds said Government was looking towards $400 million in partnership on this particular initiative.

“We don’t exclusively rely on the US. We are not asking the US for charity, but what we are seeking is a level of partnership, but if the perspectives do not gel on these matters, then we have to proceed alone.

“That is the diplomatic challenge that we have and what we cannot do is to imperil the lives and wellbeing of those people in our community who must see a Government taking sensible and responsible responses to these challenges.”

The senior minister cited the devastation in Jamaica from Hurricane Melissa last month.

“What happened in Jamaica is a clear example. That north-western part of Jamaica got wiped out and the rebuild process now comes at great cost.

“ Another aspect, of course, is to be able to have the kind of catastrophe drawdown option in advance, so that there’s a threshold that must be met . . . . You’re able then to get an agreed sum of money so that you can immediately start the rebuild process, rather than just having to sit and rest on your laurels for three to six months while you go through the process of trying to work through the finances of coming to the assistance of people whose lives have been compromised.

“That sense of urgency and immediacy is also a diplomatic issue and these are the things that we know [we need to] engage with the wider world on.”

The minister defended the high level of overseas travel by members of Government, saying it is to facilitate discussions to advance the country.

“(For) those who criticise the Government, saying that we travel too much, we travel in large measure to deal with those kind of conversations and to build alliances.

“We cannot by ourselves be so influential in the eyes of the United States and others that we can overwhelm them, but what we must do is to have them be aware of numbers, so that people come around to the understanding that there are some small countries which are facing absolute annihilation . . . .

“We are trying to build relationships with the wider world, and particularly the multilateral financial institutions worldwide, to try to ensure that there is a better understanding of the threat that we are under and the need for us to have a response mechanism that enables us to do the things we must ordinarily do.”

Symmonds added: “We have to run schools or hospitals, develop our public transport infrastructure, but at the same time, in the space of two or three hours, you can have untold damage being done and your country set back by five or ten years and you have to begin that process of rebuilding all over again.”

(SG)

Fifty children escape after mass school abduction in Nigeria

Nationnews Desk
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Fifty children escape after mass school abduction in Nigeria

Fifty of the 315 children kidnapped by gunmen from a Catholic school in Nigeria’s Niger State on Friday have escaped.

The Christian Association of Nigeria says they have been reunited with their families. A major military-led search and rescue operation is under way for the remaining 265 children and 12 teachers who were taken with them.

Authorities in several Nigerian states ordered schools to shut following the mass abduction in Niger and another smaller hostage-taking in Kebbi state on Monday when 25 pupils were kidnapped from a boarding school.

In response to the spate of abductions, Nigerian President Bola Tinubu has ordered the recruitment of an additional 30,000 police officers.

In another development, 38 people abducted from a church service in Kwara state last week were freed on Sunday, the state governor said.

Two people were killed in the attack on Christ Apostolic Church in Eruku.

Orders were given for many schools to close in the states of Kebbi, Niger, Katsina, Yobe and Kwara.

News of the children’s escape brought welcome relief for families and for a country that has been agonising over the fate of hundreds of abducted schoolchildren.

However, there is still a lot of confusion and uncertainty in Papiri, the village in Niger state where the children were taken from.

Parents whose children are still missing told the BBC they feel abandoned. While they expected security officers to be deployed in the village in the wake of the attack on St Mary’s School, this has not yet happened.

President Tinubu’s office said on Sunday that all police in Very Important Persons (VIP) protection services had been redeployed to focus on core duties, especially in remote areas prone to attacks.

A report published earlier this month by the European Union Agency for Asylum (EUAA) said more than a quarter of Nigeria’s estimated 371,000-strong police force – 100,000 – were “assigned to the protection of politicians and VIPs, rather than to tasks serving the general population”.

VIPs in need of protection will now be able to request armed personnel from the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC).

According to a Christian group involved in the case, the pupils managed to escape between Friday and Saturday in what is being described as a brave and risky attempt to flee their captors.

The kidnapping of more than 300 schoolchildren surpasses the 276 abducted during the infamous Chibok mass abduction of 2014.

Local police say armed men stormed St Mary’s at around 02:00 (01:00 GMT) on Friday.

Niger state governor Mohammed Umaru Bongo announced on Saturday that all schools in the area would close, warning that was “not a time for blame game”.

Calling for the release of the abductees, Pope Leo XIV expressed “immense sadness” and urged the authorities to act swiftly.

Dominic Adamu, whose daughters attend the school but were not taken, told the BBC: “Everybody is weak… It took everybody by surprise.”

One distressed woman tearfully told the BBC that her nieces, aged six and 13, had been kidnapped, adding: “I just want them to come home.”

The military, police and local vigilantes are conducting a search for the children, combing nearby forests and remote routes believed to have been used by the gunmen.

Authorities in Niger state said St Mary’s School had disregarded an order to close all boarding facilities following intelligence warnings of a heightened risk of attacks. The school has not commented on that allegation.

The kidnapping of people for ransom by criminal gangs, known locally as bandits, has become a major problem in many parts of Nigeria.

The payment of ransoms has been outlawed in an attempt to cut the supply of money to the criminal gangs, but it has had little effect.

On Monday, more than 20 schoolgirls, who the BBC has been told are Muslim, were kidnapped from a boarding school in Kebbi state.

And on Saturday, 14 young farmers in the mainly Muslim Borno state were abducted. One of the women has been rescued by the police.

The Nigerian president postponed foreign trips – including to last weekend’s G20 summit in South Africa – in order to address the security concerns.

Last week’s attacks follows claims by right-wing figures in the US, including President Donald Trump, that Christians are being persecuted in Nigeria.

For months, campaigners and politicians in Washington have been alleging that Islamist militants are systematically targeting Christians. The Nigerian government has dismissed this claim.

Earlier this month, Trump said he would send troops into Nigeria “guns a-blazing” if the African nation’s government “continues to allow the killing of Christians”.

The Nigerian government has called claims that Christians are being persecuted “a gross misrepresentation of reality”.

An official said that “terrorists attack all who reject their murderous ideology – Muslims, Christians and those of no faith alike”.

In the north-east, jihadist groups have been battling the state for more than a decade.

Organisations monitoring violence say most of the victims of these groups are Muslim because most attacks happen in the majority-Muslim north of the country.

In the centre of Nigeria, there are also frequently deadly attacks between herders – who are mostly Muslim – on farmers, who are largely Christian.

However, analysts say these are often motivated by competition for resources, such as water or land, rather than religion.

The militant Islamist group Boko Haram took 276 girls from their school in the town of Chibok in 2014.

The incident drew international attention and sparked a global campaign seeking their return, which included an intervention from then-US First Lady Michelle Obama.

Many have since either escaped or been freed, but as many as 100 remain missing. (BBC News)

Reggae legend Jimmy Cliff passes away at age 81

Nationnews Desk
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Reggae legend Jimmy Cliff passes away at age 81

Jimmy Cliff, one of the most prominent and beloved proponents of reggae music, has died at the age of 81.

A star since the 1960s, he helped to bring the sound of Jamaica to a global audience through hits such as Wonderful World, Beautiful People and You Can Get It If You Really Want.

His lead role as a gun-toting rebel in the 1972 crime drama The Harder They Come is a cornerstone of Jamaican cinema, and was attributed as the movie that brought reggae to America.

Cliff’s wife, Latifa Chambers, announced his death via a statement on Instagram.

“It’s with profound sadness that I share that my husband, Jimmy Cliff, has crossed over due to a seizure followed by pneumonia,” she wrote.

“I am thankful for his family, friends, fellow artists and coworkers who have shared his journey with him.

“To all his fans around the world, please know that your support was his strength throughout his whole career.

“Jimmy, my darling, may you rest in peace. I will follow your wishes.”

Her message was also signed by their children, Lilty and Aken.

Born James Chambers in 1944, Cliff grew up as the eighth of nine children in abject poverty in the parish of St. James, Jamaica.

Blessed with a sweet, mellifluous voice, he began singing at his local church at the age of six.

By the time he was 14, he’d moved to Kingston and adopted the surname Cliff to express the heights he intended on reaching.

He recorded several singles before topping the Jamaican charts with his own composition, Hurricane Hattie.

In 1965, he relocated to London to work with Island Records – later the home of Bob Marley – but the label’s attempts to make his sound palatable to rock audiences weren’t entirely successful at first.

He eventually struck gold with the 1969 single Wonderful World, Beautiful People – an upbeat, feelgood anthem; and the more politically-charged Vietnam, which Bob Dylan called “the best protest song ever written”.

Its lyric tells the story of a young soldier who writes from the war, promising his mother he’ll be home soon; only for her to receive a telegram the next day, informing her of his death.

Cliff reflected on the song in 1986, telling reggae archivist Roger Steffens: “The essence of my music is struggle. What gives it the icing is the hope of love.”

Cliff became an international star with The Harder They Come, expressly written for the movie of the same name, in which he played Ivan Martin, a young man trying to break into Jamaica’s corrupt music industry.

“The film opened the door for Jamaica,” Cliff recalled. “It said, ‘This is where this music comes from.'”

Cliff contributed four songs to the soundtrack, including the gospel hymn Many Rivers To Cross, which reflected his early days as a struggling artist in the UK.

“I was still in my teens,” he later recalled. “I came full of vigour: I’m going to make it, I’m going to be up there with the Beatles and the Stones.”

“And it wasn’t really going like that, I was touring clubs, not breaking through. I was struggling, with work, life, my identity. I couldn’t find my place. Frustration fuelled the song.”

Instead, the film and its soundtrack won him international acclaim. Rolling Stone magazine even named it one of their top 500 albums of all time.

During the 1980s, he collaborated with the Rolling Stones on their Dirty Work album, and he returned to the US charts in 1993 with his cover of I Can See Clearly Now, from the soundtrack for Cool Runnings, which followed the escapades of Jamaica’s bobsled team.

His other recordings included the Grammy Award-winning albums Cliff Hanger (1985) and Rebirth (2012), a nostalgic return to form.

Cliff entered the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2010, calling it “a great thrill and an honour”.

Inducting him, Fugees star Wyclef Jean said he’d been inspired by Cliff’s success as a young boy growing up in Haiti.

“When we saw Jimmy Cliff, we saw ourselves,” he said.

Cliff continued to tour late into his life, playing Glastonbury’s legends slot in 2003; and winning over a new generation of fans at the 2010 Coachella Festival.

His contributions to Jamaican music and culture were recognised in October 2003 when he was awarded the country’s prestigious Order of Merit.

But the singer said his connection to fans was more important than any of the other honours bestowed upon him.

Speaking to US radio station NPR in 2012, he reflected: “When someone comes up to me and says, ‘I was a dropout in school and I heard your song You Can Get It If You Really Want, and that song made me go back to school, and now I am a teacher and I use your song with my students’ – that, for me, is a big success.” (BBC News)

Bajans urged to rethink cancer care

Carlos Atwell
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Bajans urged to rethink cancer care

The Barbados Association of Medical Practitioners (BAMP) is encouraging Barbadians to take a multi-disciplinary, integrated approach to cancer care.

During a break in BAMP’s annual conference yesterday, themed A Holistic Approach to Cancer Care”, being held at Sandals Royal, Maxwell Coast Road, Christ Church, president Dr Lynda Williams said she did not see the fight against cancer as a never-ending one.

“Cancer is not a single disease and that’s something we need to understand. So when you say cancer keeps evolving, there are many different cancers involving all the different systems of the body. It’s not one disease, it’s not one mechanism and so we have to try to target it through many different mechanisms,” she said.

Williams noted that research showed the number of drugs and treatments for the disease had vastly increased over the past five years, which was a great sign.

“There’s so many different modalities, so many different surgeries have evolved. We’ve got robotic surgery, all sorts of laparoscopic techniques and we’re constantly improving what we do. So our way of targeting cancer has to involve this sort of team approach.

“We may not have everything that we need to fight here in Barbados, but we have access now through virtual means to so many different professions, as is evident by our conference today where many of our presenters are presenting from abroad.”

She added: “So we have all the access to this knowledge, but we must use it. We must come together and use it, and if we are short in one aspect in one Caribbean country, we can share resources to build up what is available to patients with cancer across the region.”

Exercise

However, the BAMP president made it clear there was more to cancer treatment than surgery, radiotherapy and chemotherapy, as the conference also explored topics such as the benefits of physiotherapy, exercise and nutrition.

One of the virtual presenters, physiologist and exercise oncology researcher Dr Christina Dieli-Conwright, said a few minutes of exercise a day could make a difference in those who were diagnosed with cancer.

“So, minimally speaking, there is evidence to suggest that even just taking

five minutes an hour during wakeful hours to just get up, whether it be walking up and down a hallway for five minutes, standing up and sitting down for five minutes . . . actually can regulate glucose, which is pretty profound,” she pointed out.

Dieli-Conwright said it was well known how detrimental it was being bed- or chair-ridden for long periods, though the challenge was motivation.

She suggested finding something the patient liked to do and creating an exercise plan around that activity.

Williams said it was important to explore every avenue as the cancer rates and deaths were on the increase in Barbados and the region. She said Dieli-Conwright’s presentation showed the importance of exercise and how it improved cognition, physical strength and muscle mass, and how much exercise was important to cancer survival.

“We can do that, build on that, into things that we like to do, so that we can try to give greater muscle strength and stability to the person who may be struggling to maintain muscle mass. Obviously it helps if you come from a [background] where exercise is integrated in your lifestyle before you got a diagnosis of cancer, but even if you didn’t have that lifestyle beforehand, we are, as physicians, going to integrate that with all of the other modalities.

“That’s the reason for our conference – to help our physicians understand how important it is to integrate exercise, diet, mental health, care, all of these things into patient care. So, all of the traditional things plus the health alternatives.”

She said risk factors such as diabetes, high cholesterol, hypertension and abdominal obesity all increased the likelihood of cancer, and urged men in particular to get regular check-ups as early detection was key. (CA)

BRA and BLA in bind over drivers having duplicate licence plates

Nationnews Desk
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BRA and BLA in bind over drivers having duplicate licence plates

A number of motorists are unsuspectingly driving around without their vehicles being registered and with duplicate licence plates.

DAILY NATION investigations revealed that this problem may have resulted from a system instituted during the COVID-19 pandemic, where insurance companies were advised to submit the information on insured vehicles to the Barbados Revenue Authority (BRA), who would then submit the information to the Barbados Licensing Authority (BLA).

However, while the insurers have been sending off the information as well as uploading it onto the BRA’s online portal, sources said many motorists have been discovering that their vehicles were not registered and that their licence numbers were being used by others.

When contacted, Gina Welch, administrator with the General Insurance Association of Barbados (GIAB), confirmed that it was an ongoing issue which insurance companies had been drawing to the attention of the association.

Submitting information

“The GIAB asked the insurance companies to submit the information to the BRA, so they’ve been submitting it annually, but it seems

like something has gone wrong. The issue is a governmental issue and so unfortunately, outside of the fact that we do know that people have had the issue, we have recommended to our members to tell their underwriters to advise clients to take their documentation in – their cover notes and their certificates – to the BLA.”

Welch said when the situation was drawn to their attention, they issued a public notice last year advising people to do such.

However, one insurance executive noted that the issue was compounded when Government did away with the annual registration of road tax. “That is when we started to have several complaints from our clients,” he said.

One woman who has been affected said she recently discovered her vehicle had not been registered for the past five years and that another had her registration number.

“A friend of mine was using my vehicle and he parked next to a vehicle which had my licence number. He took the picture and sent it to me. I was shocked. I contacted my insurance and they told me that they had been sending off my information every year to the BRA, which was supposed to send it to the Licensing Authority. My insurance company gave me a letter to take to the Licensing Authority.”

The woman said she went to the BLA’s office in The Pine, St Michael, but the reception she got left her angry.

“I spoke to a supervisor and the first thing she allowed me to know was that I don’t own my licence number. She refused to look at the letter which the insurance company had given me. She looked into their system and told me that the last time my vehicle was registered was in 2019, and that I would have to pay the $425 to register my vehicle again and get a new registration number.”

The upset woman said she then spoke to family members and friends and advised them to check to see if their vehicles were registered. She said many of them found out they were not.

“One of my friends even found out that her vehicle has not been registered for ten years,” she said.

The DAILY NATION reached out to the BRA and was advised that it would not be responding to our queries.

However, in a statement, the BLA said it knew of the situation.

“The Barbados Licensing Authority is aware of reports from private vehicle owners who have observed their assigned licence plate number appearing on another vehicle. The Authority takes these reports seriously and is actively reviewing each matter.

“Vehicle owners who believe their registration number has been incorrectly associated with another vehicle, despite being in insurance compliance, are asked to submit a written statement to the Chief Licensing Officer as soon as possible. Owners should provide proof of insurance from 2020 to present to allow for proper investigation and, where required, reallocation of the affected number.”

The BLA pointed out that during the COVID-19 period, “both the BLA and the [BRA] implemented a streamlined renewal process that allowed insurance companies to submit insurance compliance information directly to the BRA on behalf of their clients. This temporary measure supported the continuation of essential services at a time when inperson operations were

restricted.” It added: “When a private vehicle owner renews their insurance policy, the insurance company is required to transmit that policy information to the BRA, which is then incorporated into

the BLA’s licensing system. This data is used to verify insurance compliance and maintain accurate motor vehicle records, in keeping with Section 5(4) of the Road Traffic Act, which mandates annual registration.

“To help maintain accuracy and consistency during this period, the BRA had been collaborating with the General Insurance Association of Barbados, all general insurance companies, the BLA and the Barbados Police Service to improve data quality and timeliness.”

The BLA went on to state that in recent weeks, it has confirmed a limited number of duplicate registration plate numbers.

“The BLA continues to work closely with its stakeholders to ensure compliance and strengthen data submission practices.”

It listed the possible causes of duplicate plate numbers:

• Delayed transmission of insurance data during the COVID-19 period, which prevented updates to vehicle registrations and created an inaccurate pool of available numbers for reissue.

• Vehicles being off the road for extended periods (for example, due to mechanical issues) without notification to the BLA, resulting in the number being reallocated in accordance with Section 5(12), (13), and (14) of the Road Traffic Act.

• Individuals engaging in illegal activity, including deliberately duplicating registration numbers to place on uninsured or unregistered vehicles.

• Incomplete or delayed submissions of insurance renewal information from brokers and other agents to the BLA.

• When a persons sells a vehicle without removing the licence plate.

“At present, approximately 75 per cent of general insurance companies operating in Barbados are submitting policy data on a regular basis, and the BLA appreciates their cooperation. However, approximately 25 per cent of companies are still not providing timely updates, despite continued engagement. This gap affects the overall accuracy of the registration database,” it added. (MB)

Tourist tax expected to be introduced for London

Nationnews Desk
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Tourist tax expected to be introduced for London

The mayor of London has cautiously welcomed reports that he is to impose a tourist levy on visitors staying overnight in the capital.

Chancellor Rachel Reeves is expected to give Sir Sadiq Khan and other civic chiefs the authority to do so through the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill, which is currently going through Parliament.

Sir Sadiq has been vocal in calling for such powers to be devolved, with estimates suggesting a tourist tax in London could raise up to £240m a year.

In 2024, London saw 89 million overnight stays.

Currently England is the only country among the G7 (Group of Seven) – the world’s seven largest so-called “advanced” economies – where national government prevents local authorities or mayors from implementing tourist levies.

Scotland and Wales have both recently introduced different types of taxes on overnight visitors, with local authorities in the former able to set their own levy as a percentage rate of the daily bill for accommodation.

From 2026, Welsh authorities will be able to collect £1.30 per night from visitors.

The Greater London Authority (GLA) recently asked the Centre for Cities thinktank to probe promising areas for further devolution in the capital.

In a briefing released last week, the authors noted that three types of tourist levy exist across the G7 primary cities – Paris, Munich, Milan, Toronto, New York, and Tokyo.

New York City and Toronto impose percentage rate levies on stays, with the former raising £493m every year with a £14.86 average nightly rate per visitor.

Tokyo has a single flat fee for all bookings, which raises just £35m despite the Japanese capital having the highest number of overnight stays of any primary city.

In France and Italy, the amount paid depends on the location, type of accommodation and official “star rating”.

London would be more suited to either a percentage or flat fee system, the authors suggested, as Britain “lacks a statutory national ‘star’ system for hotels present in France and Italy”.

The GLA previously estimated in 2017 that a £1 a day levy, including international visitors, could raise £91m, and that a 5% levy could raise £240m.

The Centre for Cities briefing also concluded that “London is unlikely to see a significant drop in visitors if it introduces a levy at a rate comparable to peer primary cities”.

This is due to research showing that visitors are less sensitive to levies in more popular destinations.

The Centre for Cities suggests that, if implemented effectively, a tourist levy would boost both economic growth and improve infrastructure and the business environment in London.

The mayor having control over the tax rate and use of revenues would also allow them to reduce or increase rates more swiftly in response to visitor patterns, it reported. It cites Toronto increasing theirs ahead of next year’s World Cup in North America.

Andrew Carter, chief executive of Centre for Cities, said: “The model the government should adopt is already under way in Scotland, where Edinburgh, Glasgow and Aberdeen are introducing levies valued at a percentage rate on overnight stays in hotels, B&Bs and short-let accommodation.”

He said a “key benefit” of that approach was that it was “flexible”, and the rate could rise and fall depending on the demand for overnight stays.

“A tourist levy would benefit the capital’s tourist economy, provided the revenues go to local government – ideally split between City Hall and the boroughs – and are not ring-fenced by central government for specific purposes,” Mr Carter added.

“Hopefully, introducing a tourist levy is the start of a bigger programme of devolving tax and spending powers to the capital. London is the most productive big city in the UK, and devolving more fiscal powers would give the capital more policy tools to accelerate growth in the economy.” (BBC News)

Wanted man in police custody

Nationnews Desk
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Wanted man in police custody

Peter Macfarren Rouse of No. 26 Grazettes New Road, St. Michael, is now in police custody after being the subject of a wanted bulletin issued on Friday, November 21. 

Rouse surrendered to officers at the Black Rock Police Station on Saturday. 

He was accompanied by an attorney-at-law and is currently assisting investigators in connection with serious criminal matters.

The Barbados Police Service (TBPS) has extended its thanks to the public and the media for their cooperation.

Wanted man turns himself in

Nationnews Desk
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1
Wanted man turns himself in

Marc Anderson Francis, alias “Barrz”, of Mount Standfast, St. James, is now in police custody after being the subject of a wanted bulletin issued on Tuesday, November 18, 2025.

Francis surrendered to officers at the District ‘E’ Police Station on Thursday, November 20, 2025. He was accompanied by an attorney-at-law and is currently assisting investigators in connection with serious criminal matters.

The Barbados Police Service (TBPS) has thanked the public and the media for their support.

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