CEO of the Barbados Hotel and Tourism Association (BHTA), Rudy Grant, believes that the other entities that provide accommodation facilities to tourists, such as Airbnb, should be made to pay taxes in order to level the playing field.

His comments came during a press conference that took place at the BHTA headquarters yesterday morning. He noted that there were a number of other entities providing accommodation that are not registered and expressed that the BHTA believes quite strongly that there needs to be regulation in the accommodation sector in all of the entities providing accommodation for visitors.

“We do believe that in order to be fair and ensure that we all function on that levelled playing field, that we have all of the accommodation entities be regulated and pay their fair share of taxes,” he said.

He lamented that there is a concern in relation to brand “Barbados” and urged that they have to ensure that there are regulations in place to protect it and ensure that the persons who are providing accommodation services are adhering to certain minimum standards.

“Let me also make this point that it is not simply smaller operators; there are some significant luxury operators facilitating accommodations and we think that it is important that in the same manner in which our hotels are regulated and required to meet certain minimum standards, that other entities providing accommodation on a consistent basis are also required to do that,” he said.

Grant went on to point out that the ‘sharing economy’ was a lot broader than the accommodations and noted that persons would have to critically assess it as it impacted how the visitors enjoyed their time on the island. He said that visitors required good value for money and noted that it was up to providers to ensure that it is available to them.

Minister of Labour, Social Security and Human Resource Development, Senator Dr. Esther Byer-Suckoo says managing the National Insurance Scheme is not a simple task.

She told the Senate yesterday that the local social security system faces many challenges, including a drop in the contributions being paid into the scheme which she explained has also resulted in a decline in the surplus available for the National Insurance to invest both locally and abroad.

“What we invest at National Insurance is the surplus and when contributions are down it means obviously that your surplus would be less as well, so there has been less money to invest. One of the reasons for that is of course the fact that employment has been down for a period. The Unemployment Fund has actually dipped quite a bit because of the level of unemployment, and persons taking money out of that Fund. But what that also meant is that because unemployment was high, contributions were actually lower; fewer people working means less money coming in. So in the long-run we had less money to invest,” she told fellow senators.
Given the challenges, she said the National Insurance Department has been prudent in the management of the money within its care, and has had to invest more locally than it would normally do. But, she is confident that will not always be the case and will change “when these circumstances that we find ourselves in change”.

“What the National Insurance has decided it would do during this period is not just focus on the investments, which has been a big thing at National Insurance all these years… [They are] focusing on other very important things like cash flow management, where managing the contributions and arrears come in; as well as focusing on customer service, very important; and as more and more people look to National Insurance for support that customer service becomes very important,” she said.

Moreover, she stated that efforts are being made to improve the processing of claims coming into the Department. She admitted that there is quite a backlog in the processing of claims, especially the sickness benefit claims. Additionally, the Department is also working assiduously to reduce the backlog with respect to its financial statements.

In that regard, she revealed that officials of the Scheme are working with the Auditor General and an external firm to sort out the issues with the audited financials. She explained there were some issues with the financials dating back more than a decade which had to be addressed so as to deal with the ensuing years.
“Because 2004 took some time, then that of course had a domino effect on the other years. We gradually got through 2004, so we are now playing catch-up. I do believe we have statements in for 14, and 15 but we are still working to get everything completed so one day very soon we can come to the House and say here all of these are the statements you have been waiting on so long,” she stated. (JRT)

The Barbados Workers’ Union strongly denounces the senseless and barbaric killing of Colleen Payne, 58, an employee of the Child Care Board.

The murder of Ms. Payne, which has drawn howls of anger and abhorrence by the Barbadian workforce and the public in general, is indicative of a number of issues which every right-thinking Barbadian and every institution in Barbados, including the Government, the Political Opposition, the Church and other members of the established Social Partnership, must place, as an urgent agenda matter, for discussion. These matters include (a) the apparent ease by which some elements of the Barbadian society can access guns and ammunition, and the resultant gun crimes, (b) the seemingly growing lack of sensitivity and respect for human life, and (c) the spread of the abhorrent sub culture in which drugs and guns predominate.

Murder, in itself is repulsive, but when as it is alleged that young men can cowardly “gun down” a defenceless woman, that is clearly indicative of the lowest and darkest depths to which the human mind can sink.

The safety, health and security of Barbados are the responsibility of the state, but every Barbadian has a distinct role to play in maintaining the cultural integrity of this country. To renege on our duty is to create social chaos. Therefore, while the apparent easy access to guns in Barbados is an issue which must be tackled at the highest level of governance – not only in Barbados but Caribbean-wise, it is also a discussion which every Barbadian citizen at every level of our society and every institution must urgently discuss and seek to apply effective remedy.

The Executive Council of the Barbados Workers’ Union takes this opportunity to caution our citizens to take more caution in their everyday life, particularly as it relates to dealing with money and other valuables. The BWU family also uses this opportunity to commiserate with the family and of the late sister and our members at the Child Care Board who would be feeling the pain of her loss.

Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics, more popularly known as STEM, is the catalyst that will drive the economies of the Caribbean forward and generate the type of foreign exchange and create job opportunities for its citizens.

This was one of the points that was brought forth by Professor of Electrical Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Interim Executive Director of SPISE, Cardinal Warde, in an interview with The Barbados Advocate recently.

He stated that there is a vast set of careers in this sector that students can look to get into, but unfortunately, these career paths are not explored as frequently as they should by some young and bright Caribbean minds because they do not know of these careers and as a result, the majority of persons who do study Science subjects in secondary school and college, then go on to pursue medicine at university.

However, STEM is not just about medicine and if persons are serious about building the economies of the region, then they must look into some of the other careers in these areas because these are the persons that would pave the way for companies to start and thrive in the future.

“One of the reasons to focus on science and engineering is that these are disciplines – well, STEM in general, Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics – these disciplines are areas where our students have great capacity, but that capacity is never developed. A lot of the students of course who can do STEM disciplines go into medicine because that is where the jobs are, but to build the economies of the Caribbean, you have to start embracing science and technology and building companies and organisations in science and technology; and engineering is of course a discipline that is perhaps the most important because engineers tend to start more companies and create more products than even scientists. This is not to say that scientists do not create companies, the whole biotech industry is (created) by scientists.”

The MIT professor stated that while some of these career paths are being pursued by Caribbean citizens, it tends to be restricted to certain disciplines. He highlighted an example of engineering where persons in the region do pursue studies in this area at the university level, but it is centred on civil engineering while there are a host of other disciplines in engineering that can and need to be followed.

“But in the Caribbean, especially here in Barbados, an engineer is probably a civil engineer and there are about 15 different disciplines of engineering that our students do not get into that they need to and create products that can be sold on the global market to bring in foreign exchange to help us get out of debt. I think that to me is the solution for the future of the Caribbean in terms of economic development. Science and technology must be harnessed for economic development.”

Former Commissioner of Police, Darwin Dottin, had his request for special leave to appeal denied by the CCJ. The CCJ, in written reasons issued yesterday, denied the refusal of interim relief that Dottin sought following his removal from the ‘top cop’ post four years ago.

Since his claimed relief was to enable him to continue in office and he had retired before his appeal to the CCJ, his appeal was without practical merit. His substantive case concerning his dismissal remains to be heard by the Barbados High Court. He asked the Court to determine that there is no such concept as “administrative leave” and that he could not have been compulsorily retired in the public interest under Barbados’ Pensions Act of Barbados.

In June 2013, the former Commissioner was sent on “administrative leave” by the Governor General of Barbados, after the Police Service Commission had recommended his retirement in the public interest. Dottin promptly filed for judicial review of their actions. He also sought a number of injunctions or orders, pending determination of his judicial review claim. This included an injunction restraining steps from being taken to force him to retire and to appoint a new permanent Commissioner, and an order that the status quo be maintained so that he could return to work as Commissioner of Police.

Mme Justice Reifer, Judge of the High Court in Barbados, heard the interim matter in July 2013 and handed down her decision in September 2013. She substantially granted the interim relief sought by the Commissioner, though only against the Police Service Commission, but refused to make an order enabling the Commissioner to return to work. Mr. Dottin later appealed the refusal.

That appeal was heard in February and March 2016 and the judgment handed down in March 2017. The Court of Appeal agreed with the decision of Mme Justice Reifer and dismissed the appeal. By that time reinstatement was not possible as the Commissioner had retired, having commenced his pre-retirement leave in November 2016. Despite this, Mr. Dottin sought leave from the CCJ to appeal the decision of the Court of Appeal, arguing that the High Court and the Court of Appeal had erred in not considering whether there was no concept of administrative leave and no possibility of compulsorily retiring Mr. Dottin in the public interest, hoping thereby to have the CCJ determine those issues. The Court noted that Mr. Dottin “cannot avoid due process under the Barbados judicial system and come directly to this Court, by-passing the views of the High Court and Court of Appeal, and having this Court usurp the role of those courts”.

The Court also encouraged Counsel to proceed with the substantive hearing of matters unless a stay had been granted by a court order. The CCJ dismissed the application for special leave and ordered costs of Bds$6 667 in favour of the Police Service Commission. The Court heard the application on July 14, 2017 and gave reasons for the official ruling four days later. The reasons of the Court are available on the CCJ’s website at www.ccj.org.

$11.7 million of outstanding money owed to the National Insurance Department was collected during the five-month waiver on interest which ran from October 1st last year to March 1st this year and the Department is seeking to run a similar programme again soon.

That’s according to the Minister of Labour, Social Security and Human Resource Development, Senator Dr. Esther Byer Suckoo, who said under the programme some 147 employers submitted arrears payments, and interest totalling $7.8 million was waived. She made the disclosure in the Upper House yesterday as senators considered the National Insurance and Social Security (Amendment) Bill to give effect to the five-month 100 per cent waiver of interest.

“The waiver was part of the measures put in place to assist businesses and self employed persons with their cash flow. We have seen over the years, certainly since I have been responsible for this Ministry, that a number of companies and businesses, and not just small businesses, but some very large ones as well have had some problems when it came to keeping up with their national insurance payments. Unfortunately I also am aware that very often the payments were deducted from the employees and was not actually remitted to National Insurance,” she said.

Minister Byer Suckoo noted that based on the success of the waiver, and calls from employers to do it again, they are making plans to extend it for another six months, which she said would require additional amendments to the legislation. She said while no dates have been set as yet for that waiver period, the proposal has found favour with the Cabinet and the Ministry of Finance and she is encouraging those who owe arrears to the department to “keep their ears to the ground” to hear when it will be done so they can take advantage of it.

“Too often I get calls at the 11th hour, sometimes even well past that, after the time has expired saying I didn’t know about this… And if you are hearing about this and you know somebody who has a similar challenge pass it on,” she said.

Byer Suckoo made the comments as she noted that the Department has been working over the years with defaulters to ensure that they make the required payments. She explained that where persons seek the assistance of the Department in that regard, the National Insurance has been willing to work out a package for payment with the defaulters that they can afford.

“[But] we do have some defaulters who default no matter what programme we put them on and there is very little we can do for them,” she said.

The Labour and Social Security Minister’s comments came as she contended that the National Insurance is doing its best to be responsive to the needs of the Barbadian society. With that in mind, she indicated that they have also ensured that those seeking to meet their debt obligations to the Department do not have to have all their arrears cleared to get the necessary tax clearance certificates to be able to bid on work, recognising that this could prevent them for getting necessary cash flow.

“You can see the catch 22 – if you have arrears, because of the arrears you can’t a clear certificate, and because you can’t get a clearance certificate you can’t bid on work, you are never going to be in a position; it is like debtors jail. You put someone in debtors’ jail, they are never able to pay that debt so we have been looking at the requirements for the tax clearance certificate,” she said. (JRT)

Reports are that some public sector workers heeded calls by a coalition of four workers’ unions, to escalate industrial action across the country yesterday.
The protest action took the form of a sick-out as well as a go-slow amongst some workers in certain sections of the public sector. Reports are that there was also a full-blown strike at the Bridgetown Port, as workers came off the job, though it was noted that there were two matters being addressed all at once at that facility in relation to the industrial action. It was also noted that some workers of the Transport Board had also called in sick, though that entity was still up and running throughout the day. In other areas of the public sector, personnel were being reallocated, to meet staff shortages.

Earlier this week, The Barbados Workers’ Union (BWU), Barbados Union of Teachers (BUT), National Union of Public Workers (NUPW) and Barbados Secondary Teachers Union (BSTU), jointly called on “all union members and other Barbadians who care about the direction in which this country is going”, to join with them in protest action, given that the Unions were apparently successful in obtaining a hearing with Prime Minister of Barbados, The Rt. Hon. Freundel Stuart, within the stipulated time frame given by them following their Walk For Relief initiative held last week.

The Unions are demanding a reprieve from the austerity measures announced in this year’s Budget, namely the National Social Responsibility Levy (NSRL), which was increased from two per cent to ten per cent, commencing from July 1st. They have promised that they will “Up de Ting” (step up protect action) on a phased basis, if government does not give consideration to their demands.

The top four trade unions, headed by Toni Moore (BWU), Akanni McDowall (NUPW), Mary Redman (BSTU) and Pedro Shepherd (BUT) have been keeping details about the industrial action close to their chests, but their members have been notified via social media of the call for sick out action, which was planned for yesterday and today as well, in another bid to send a message to government, of the need to meet with the Unions, to grant relief from the NSRL and heavy austerity measures.

Toni Moore, General Secretary of the Barbados Workers’ Union (BWU), the island’s largest workers’ representative body, has meanwhile expressed her hope that the Unions and government would be able to “just sit down and talk through matters”, so as to bring a positive outcome to the matter.

After Moore and BWU reps met with Port officials, workers were back on the job as of yesterday afternoon, as those matters were seemingly resolved. However, a wait and see approach will be needed today, to see how any further industrial action plays out, across the country.

Millicent Yearwood became Barbados’ third supercentenarian as she celebrated her 110th birthday yesterday.

Speaking during the birthday celebrations of Yearwood, which took place at her residence in St. James yesterday morning, the President of the National Ageing Committee, Sylvester Niles, expressed that the committee planned to do everything in its power to ensure that Yearwood’s name would be recorded in the Department of Gerontology in Los Angeles, California. He explained that they will have to send the necessary information through the Ministry of Social Care, but assured that they will definitely get the birthday girl’s name recorded. Yearwood’s house was filled with friends and family who all gathered to wish her a happy birthday and celebrate this milestone in life with her.

“I know that the Barbados Museum and Historical Society today placed her image and name on the World Wide Web, so we thank them very much for that,” Niles said.

Given the fact that her mother gave her a little scare earlier this year, Yearwood’s only daughter, and caregiver, Mavis Small-Raper, expressed that she was extremely thankful that her mother was able to reach this milestone in life. Small-Raper noted that despite having to force her mother to drink water and having to shout a little to communicate with her, she was generally in good health with perfect eyesight.

She revealed that her mother used to spend her early days in the plantation and then later on as a hawker, and noted that now she spent her days sleeping and her nights talking and singing.

Niles went on to reveal that Barbados currently had 120 centenarians alive and added that they were planning to have a Hall of Fame to honour all past and present centenarians. He explained that this was going to be an ongoing event as they currently had around 600 centenarians to honour. Noting that the first registered number of centenarians was recorded in 1911, Niles mentioned that they were going to begin their acknowledgement of the centenarians from that year.

A newly launched political party is promising to bring a plan to forge a better Barbados and to make life better for its citizens.

This campaign promise was made by Senior Apostle of the World Harvest Ministries International and the leader of the new political party, New Barbados Kingdom Alliance (NBKA), Lynroy C Scantlebury. The religious leader spoke to The Barbados Advocate after the press conference which was held at the church, located in Suite #3, The Omni Corporate Centre, Queens Street, Speightstown yesterday.

During the interview, Scantlebury said that he is open to dialogue between his party and the other political entities to “find a common thread to make Barbados better”. Presently, the party is currently seeking to recruit candidates who will represent the respective constituencies and these individuals will be
revealed in the next four months. Noting the similarities in the current political parties, Scantlebury was asked how his party would differentiate itself from the rest of the political groups. For his party, the Apostle said that he looking for innovators who can bring a new dimension of thought to their respective ministries.

“We are looking for individuals with, number one – specific skills sets, and we are also looking for individuals who care about Barbados getting better, so what we are doing is creating the right blend of individuals, whether it is older individuals or young persons,” said Scantlebury.

Earlier in his speech, Scantlebury outlined some of the objectives of the new party and this include settling the national debt in two years and enhancing and reformatting small businesses, while encouraging entrepreneurship. Other objectives of their strategic plan is to improve society and the environment for one of the island’s biggest GDP generators.

“The NBKA also has a strategic plan to assist each constituency to maximise and utilise their surroundings to generate employment, to foster a cleaner Barbados and the attraction for tourism,” said Scantlebury.

The Senior Apostle who was raised in the parish of St. Peter has also made a commitment to the main town – Speightstown. He mentioned that the party’s carefully thought out plan is tailored for St. Peter and the revitalisation of the town. Additionally, if they are given an opportunity to serve, they will offer the level of representation the parish deserves.

Despite his strong ties to St. Peter and its constituents, NBKA is seeking to unite the country regardless of each others’ differences.

“Our aim should be to fight for the new and better Barbados, for our own success and prosperity and for our children and their children,” said Scantlebury.

Later yesterday, Scantlebury was expected to host a public forum, “How I Promise to Keep Speightstown Alive”, which extended an invitation to all of the business owners and residents in the area.

A newly launched political party is promising to bring a plan to forge a better Barbados and to make life better for its citizens.

This campaign promise was made by Senior Apostle of the World Harvest Ministries International and the leader of the new political party, New Barbados Kingdom Alliance (NBKA), Lynroy C Scantlebury. The religious leader spoke to The Barbados Advocate after the press conference which was held at the church, located in Suite #3, The Omni Corporate Centre, Queens Street, Speightstown yesterday.

During the interview, Scantlebury said that he is open to dialogue between his party and the other political entities to “find a common thread to make Barbados better”. Presently, the party is currently seeking to recruit candidates who will represent the respective constituencies and these individuals will be
revealed in the next four months. Noting the similarities in the current political parties, Scantlebury was asked how his party would differentiate itself from the rest of the political groups. For his party, the Apostle said that he looking for innovators who can bring a new dimension of thought to their respective ministries.

“We are looking for individuals with, number one – specific skills sets, and we are also looking for individuals who care about Barbados getting better, so what we are doing is creating the right blend of individuals, whether it is older individuals or young persons,” said Scantlebury.

Earlier in his speech, Scantlebury outlined some of the objectives of the new party and this include settling the national debt in two years and enhancing and reformatting small businesses, while encouraging entrepreneurship. Other objectives of their strategic plan is to improve society and the environment for one of the island’s biggest GDP generators.

“The NBKA also has a strategic plan to assist each constituency to maximise and utilise their surroundings to generate employment, to foster a cleaner Barbados and the attraction for tourism,” said Scantlebury.

The Senior Apostle who was raised in the parish of St. Peter has also made a commitment to the main town – Speightstown. He mentioned that the party’s carefully thought out plan is tailored for St. Peter and the revitalisation of the town. Additionally, if they are given an opportunity to serve, they will offer the level of representation the parish deserves.

Despite his strong ties to St. Peter and its constituents, NBKA is seeking to unite the country regardless of each others’ differences.

“Our aim should be to fight for the new and better Barbados, for our own success and prosperity and for our children and their children,” said Scantlebury.

Later yesterday, Scantlebury was expected to host a public forum, “How I Promise to Keep Speightstown Alive”, which extended an invitation to all of the business owners and residents in the area.

BARBADIANS have been put on notice to look out for more stop and search exercises being carried out by members of the Royal Barbados Police Force (RBPF).
With the major events for the 2017 Crop Over season approaching, and an evident increase in crime across the island, the RBPF will be stepping up security checks on the streets.

Speaking during a press conference, held at the RBPF’s Roebuck Street, The City, headquarters, yesterday, Commissioner of Police, Tyrone Griffith, said the Force will be putting more officers on the streets.

Furthermore, the Force’s intelligence sources will also be put to use “to ensure that we are aware of what is likely to happen out there”.

“We are going to be asking members of the public to co-operate more fully with the law enforcement as more officers will be conducting operations at this time, along with the regular event planning.

“You might find yourself being detained at some points, but it is all for your good. So, we are asking Barbadians to support us at this time, given the difficulties that one can expect,” Griffith said.

The Commissioner, along with Attorney General, Adriel Brathwaite, hosted the press conference to speak to the public about the crime situation across the island, particularly those that are gun-related.

Griffith said, while 19 murders had been committed for the year thus far, the reality stands that illegal firearms were the weapons to carry out the unlawful acts.
He once again stressed the need for authorities working at the ports of entry to assist in the fight to stop illegal firearms from coming into the country, but noted that the Force is wasting no time, in regards to carrying out regular checks on the streets.

“As I suggested, there will be more stop and searches exercises being done. More planned operations which will be given by intelligence.

“Generally, we are asking all officers to be on the alert as they are on duty and to look out for possible suspects in relation to those moving around with firearms,” Griffith said.

Meanwhile, the Attorney General maintained that Barbados, notwithstanding the fact that officials are concerned about the level of gun related violence, “remains a very safe country to live, work and play”.

“During the next couple of weeks, because we know that we are going to have an influx of visitors, we are going to ensure that in the next few weeks, that we ‘up de ting’ in terms of our security apparatus so that the country will be even safer at this time.

“As the Commissioner correctly said, if it means, more inconvenience for the general public, then that’s the cost of us all being safe. So we need everyone’s co-operation here,” the Attorney General said.

Commissioner Griffith also urged members of the public to be vigilant when moving around the island, especially when conducting transactions at any Automated Teller Machine (ATM).

Next year is the date the Ministry of Health has set to achieve a reduction in childhood obesity with a target of five per cent.

This was revealed by the Acting Senior Medical Officer, Dr. Ingrid Cumberbatch who delivered a presentation on ‘Barbados – Childhood Obesity Prevention Programme’ at the Ministry of Social Care recently.

She said that in order to achieve this target there are a number of objectives that they would be focusing on, including that mothers are only breastfeeding their children up to six months.

Echoing comments made by Paediatrician, Professor Anne St. John, she stated that some mothers tend to feed their children other foods, and unhealthy ones at that and this is a practice that they would like to see end.

“So what was the aim of this? We wanted to reverse the trends in obesity by 2019 and the target would be to reverse the upwards trends in obesity by five per cent by 2019. The objectives were to increase exclusive breastfeeding at six months by 20 per cent by 2019. And I think that this breastfeeding objective should stress that up to six months, you should be breastfeeding only,” she pointed out.

The Acting Senior Medical Officer said that more mature ladies should advise younger ones that this is the way that you should go and mothers should not engage in feeding babies younger than six months any other food. It was further noted that, for those mothers who have questions, there is hotline they can call.

She stated that another objective is to make sure that these youngsters are engaging in physical activity, which currently is an issue as many of them are not getting enough exercise. In fact, many of them would rather sit in front of the computer or television and this practice seems to be more common among the young ladies than the young men.

“We would like to reduce prevalence of low physical activity in adolescents by 30 per cent. Again, Professor St. John would have told you about the schools, you would have seen the statistics, the children are not getting physical activity, they are more into the computers, the electronics, where they are sitting and it is worse in the girls than in the boys,” she further lamented.

With respect to this, Dr. Cumberbatch said that she would like to send out advice to educators and schools that they need to encourage more physical activity in their respective schools by not only including it as a part of their regular curriculum, but also as an extracurricular activity.

“So we need to put more emphasis on physical activity – mandatory physical activity in the schools. So you need to encourage children to exercise (and) as educators, you need to put more emphasis on physical activity, both in the main curriculum of the school, but also the extracurricular activity should be more sustainable,” it was further noted.

“A success” is how General Manager for Sandals Barbados, Fernand Zievinger, described the recently concluded United States radio station promotion hosted by the hotel and Visit Barbados.

The initiative saw 20 stations from across the US on location at the resort, spreading the word about the new Sandals Royal hotel set to open by year-end and about the island of Barbados through a number of live broadcasts between July 12-14 and July 17-19.

Speaking to the media yesterday, Zievinger stated that the last broadcast had been completed on Thursday, and in total the radio audience reached was approximately 10.5 million listeners.

He highlighted that throughout the process, several experts were interviewed, including the Minister of Tourism, several tourism stakeholders and locals shared their knowledge about the island in a bid to attract persons to the island.

During the promotion, Barbados Tourism Marketing Inc, (BTMI) Director for the United States, Petra Roach, expressed her expectations that this tourism season would be a good one for the island in terms of visitors from America.

“This is a massive initiative and a brilliant opportunity to showcase Barbados to the US in a way that is unique and, quite frankly, hard to ignore,” she said.

“We are always working to stimulate demand for the destination and the statistics show that Barbados is becoming increasingly more appealing to Americans.

“Business from the United States has grown from 118 000 in 2014 to 169 000 in 2016. So far for this year, US visitor numbers are already up by 20 per cent over the same period last year with 2017 projected to exceed 1987, which has the highest visitation to Barbados from the USA ever,” she had stressed at that time. (JMB)

Senior Education Officer from the Ministry of Education, Science, Technology and Innovation, Christina Morris, expressed that she believed all teachers should be engaged in professional development during the Easter and summer vacations.

Her comment came during the closing ceremony of the Creation of Wood and Manipulatives workshop, which was held at the St. Leonard’s Boys’ Secondary School yesterday evening.

“If I had my way, all of our teachers would be engaged in professional development during the Easter holiday as well as during the summer,” she said.

Morris explained that she believed that professional development was critical to ensuring that all teachers: one, remain on the cutting edge; two, refresh; and three, keep up to date with what is current internationally, so that they could in turn return to the classroom and use that knowledge for the benefit of their students.

“So for me, professional development is critical,” she noted.

She reminded teachers of the cognitive benefits of engaging children in the use of manipulatives. She expressed that children learn at different stages in their development and encouraged the teachers to continue to ensure that they expose their charges to the use of materials like the ones they built during the workshop to help them understand the concepts that would be taught.

“Sometimes I think that we rush them into abstract thinking too soon and therefore I want to encourage you to be aware of that and ensure that regardless of whether it is a concept in Mathematics or Language Arts, that you make sure that they are actively engaged and that you’re utilising all of their skills and abilities to help them understand the concepts,” she stated.

Morris went on to commend all the participants for responding to their advertisement and giving up part of their holiday to come and participate. She encouraged them to share what they learnt during the five days with their colleagues upon return to their respective schools and urged them to put their pieces on display.

THE island’s trade unions and the Barbados Private Sector Association (BPSA) are calling on Barbadians to march with them on Monday, July 24.

The joint march is being staged to allow the wider public to demonstrate its support of the unions’ fight to get Government to review the controversial National Social Responsibility Levy.

Barbadians are being encouraged to assemble at Queen’s Park at 10 a.m. to participate in the united march.

Speaking during a press conference at the Barbados Secondary Teachers’ Union (BSTU), Belleville, St. Michael headquarters yesterday, General Secretary of the Barbados Workers’ Union (BWU) Toni Moore, assured that the exercise would not cause any disruption of the operation at the ports of entry, hotels, or the Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH).

The General Secretary noted that the objective is to achieve dialogue with Government.

Nevertheless, President of the BPSA Charles Herbert, who was also present at the press conference, admitted that “there will be some disruption” as the private sector will be asking members, where possible, to close their businesses, to make their employees available to participate in the march.

“We are trying to give a sense of priority to the fact that it is Kadooment and we do not want to interrupt tourist arrivals and the tourist experience for Kadooment,” Herbert said.

“Nobody knows who is going to march until they show up to march. We are expecting full and massive support. We hope that if there is massive support that the Government will find it desirable to meet with us urgently,” the President added.

However, Moore said she believes there will be a sufficient show of support from the public on Monday, “to have the kind of response that Barbadians need at this time”.

“It is not about the private sector or trade unions as organisations. The show on Monday is really for people who care about their country, who care about our future viability, who care about themselves and that is what we are calling for,” Moore said.

Moore said additional information regarding the march will be made available to the public as plans are put in place. (AH)

The thirty congregations of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Barbados have embarked on an island wide campaign to spread the message about their ongoing annual Convention, now being held for the first time over two weekends, at the Lloyd Erskine Sandiford Centre (LESC).

The first segment of the Convention got underway yesterday, Friday July 21, at the LESC and will run over three days, until Sunday July 23.

Media Services representatives Leroy Worrell and Roger Holford, indicated to The Barbados Advocate, that due to the unavailability of the Gymnasium and Kensington Oval, a decision was taken to have
the annual Convention spread over two weekends, to accommodate the thirty congregations of Jehovah’s Witnesses on the island. As such, following this weekend’s Convention which began yesterday and finishes tomorrow, another session of the Convention will be held next Friday, July 28 through Sunday, July 30th, to accommodate those who were not part of the first session and for the benefit of the wider public as well.

“The theme of the Convention is “Don’t Give Up”, which is very timely in view of the many challenges that people are facing. The Convention aims to cover as many aspects of life as possible, showing people that there is hope, that they can cope with the many challenges they are facing,” Worrell noted, stressing that the information provided will benefit families on a whole as well as adults and youth who may be struggling with various challenges.

Holford meanwhile stated, “The Convention theme, Don’t Give Up, really is appropriate, especially for Christian-minded individuals, because as Christians, we all face the challenge of having to exist in a world that is essentially anti-Christian and as a result, it is always going to be difficult. You are more or less moving against the current, but God’s advice and God’s counsel is that He will be with us... don’t give up. Just keep on enduring until the end, because the end will come.”

He stressed that the Witnesses undertook the island-wide campaign over the last three weeks, to ensure that as many households in Barbados would have been able to receive an invitation to the Convention sessions and as such, it is hoped that many Barbadians take up the invitation and attend the Convention, so they can benefit from the counsel which is being given.

“All of us, no matter who we are, no matter what our faith, we have the same fight. We have a fight against wicked spirit forces in Heavenly places as the Bible tells us and we are going to need Jehovah’s help, we are going to need God’s help, to help us get through,” Holford maintained. (RSM)

Government should engage the services of a professional team of independent negotiators to deal with public sector industrial relations matters.

That’s the suggestion coming from veteran trade unionist and Barbados’ Ambassador to CARICOM, Robert ‘Bobby’ Morris, who said that such a measure would go a long way in helping to address the problems that exists in relation to public sector industrial relations in this country. Morris was speaking on Friday afternoon as he delivered the Astor B. Watts Lunchtime Lecture at the Democratic Labour Party’s headquarters. He made the point as he noted that in the present situation, civil servants within the Ministry of Civil Service and the Personnel Administration Division (PAD) are negotiating for civil servants and on the other side of the table are civil servants from the unions who are in most cases their juniors, and he is adamant that this is “recipe for disaster”. With that in mind, he contends that the current process for negotiation needs to be re-evaluated.

“My advice is that Government should hire a professional team of negotiators, civil servants, PAD people, politicians give them their remit, these are what you can do and let them negotiate with the union. They are working on behalf of the government but they are not working in the government. Those people can be found in Barbados; we have economists, we have doctors, all kinds of people. If it breaks down right now you cannot go to the Labour Department for conciliation because that’s Caesar going to Caesar, so the Labour Department has no role,” he said.

To that end, Morris, a former Deputy General Secretary in the Barbados Workers’ Union is suggesting that to deal with that dynamic, conciliation panels should also be established, so that if there is a breakdown in negotiations between the proposed negotiating committee and the trade union, then it would go up to mediation. Where the matter cannot be settled there, Morris is further suggesting that it should go to binding arbitration. All this, he maintained, would help to ensure that this country cannot be held to ransom by striking workers.

“You are not going to get threats of general strikes again, can’t happen; that your country can be held to ransom by bringing out Port workers,” he stated.

He spoke of the role that such a committee could play as he referred to the matter involving then principal of the Alexandra School, Jeff Broomes and the Barbados Secondary Teachers Union, where a commission of inquiry was set up to address that matter.

“We lost a whole lot of time over foolishness, when all we had to do was set up the institutions, go to the law for remedy and then we would all live with it,” he said. (JRT)

Attorney General Adriel Braithwaite has reassured Barbadians that the security of the country has never been compromised.

His comments came during a FACTS mission, which took place in the St. Michael East constituency yesterday afternoon.

“Despite our challenges, crime and security was one of the areas that we would not compromise. The police have gotten what they’ve asked for, for the last three years in this country, in terms of budgetary support,” he said.

The Attorney General also told the Barbados Advocate that it was not an accident that new police stations were being established, noting that a new one was set to open later this year. He expressed that the government recognises that without the sacrifice and positive contribution of police officers, the country would not be the way it is today.

“So when I see comments that say the problem [with crime]… is that the Government needs to put more resources into our Barbados Police Force, I think that they have no real connection with what is really going on. What they’re saying sounds good, but there is no connection there in terms of reality,” he said.

He believes that people should check what the Government said they would do against what they have done and judge for themselves.

George Pilgrim, General Secretary of the Democratic Labour Party, further noted that despite a picture being painted of a country that was broken – a perspective that is bringing brand ‘Barbados’ under threat – the country still ranked high in terms of education, health care and security, in terms of being one of the safest Caribbean destinations.

“I accept that we have a foreign exchange crisis, this is not a secret. We have been losing at least $200 million a year in terms of the offshore sector. A lot of it has to do with a lot of the offshore businesses going back to where they came from and others going to other jurisdictions,” he said.

Despite this loss, Pilgrim revealed that the Government did not compromise the education sector as they still spent BDS$500 million a year on its development. He also added that they did not compromise the health sector as they still spent over BDS$400 million BDS a year on that area.

THE Big Show calypso tent carried away the lion’s share of the spots for the Pic-O-De-Crop Finals, which this year will have ten finalists and no reserve.

The result of the keenly contested semi-final was announced around 1:30 am yesterday at the Kensington Oval as competitors vied for a brand new fully loaded Nissan X Trail. After announcing the results, emcee Carl “Alff” Padmore explained there was a tie in the judges’ tabulation, hence there will be ten finalists and no reserve in the finals, which will be held on August 5 at the same venue.

At the end of the night, the results in alphabetical order of the tent represented were: All Stars – Colin Spencer and Donella; The Big Show – AC, Crystal, Classic, Edwin, Iweb; Gladiators – Smokey Burke and House of Soca – Observer and Sir Ruel. They will face reigning Queen Aziza, who hails from the All Stars Tent.

The amphitheatre-style set up at the Kensington Oval on Friday night gave kaiso lovers a more intimate feel without the need for large screens to adequately see the performances.

However, whether it was the speaker system, microphones or the performers themselves, there were some issues with diction which made it difficult at times to decipher what was being sung by some performers on stage.

The recurring themes on the night were the state of affairs in the economy, namely taxes, politics and the societal ills. Some of the stand out performances that were well received by the audience included iWeb who, dressed in dreadlocks, unapologetically stated that he isn’t interested in rubbing shoulders, but greasing palms.

Amazing Dre, dressed in a suit and carrying a briefcase with a “Poor People Budget”, addressed the Parliament at the Oval and encouraged politicians to trade places with ordinary Barbadians, be it to catch the bus, or to use the QEH. There were no surprises with Classic’s performance of If Yuh Don’t Know, and Divorce, therefore it was also not surprising that he made it to the finals after he rocked the audience with his performance of the latter.

Observer was also well received with Patriot to the Cause and later returned with Socio Party. For many he was an automatic finalist before the competition started, based on the strength of his songs and his consistency. Edwin returned to the competition and went on bended knee in Beggar. The popular Tax-He, brought the crowd to their feet in support of the up-tempo song in the second half. Sir Ruel, no stranger to the stage, showed greater maturity as a performer as he tackled Not my Vote and Run Fuh Cover to the delight of the audience.

Jamal Slocombe delivered a spirited performance in the first half with Can’t Finish It, showing tremendous energy as he moved across the stage. He showed his trademark vocal range in Voice of the Voiceless, but failed to make the final cut.

Franswaa gave a strong performance in the first half with Master De Bait and encouraged Barbadians to be thankful for all that they have in spite of their challenges with Time to Give Thanks.

The female competitors stamped their authority on the competition, with baby of the pack A.C’s strong vocals reverberating through the Oval. Also commanding the audience’s attention was Sammy G, who shared the story of a sex worker and returned with Naked Departure. She was followed by consummate performer Donella with Virtual and Make a Change and Charisma whose confident performance of Women Moving and Miss Bimsha, which did not win the favour of the judges.

While the night of 36 performances was well produced, members of the audience also paid attention to the back up singers for De Big Show and House of Soca. Boasting seven semi-finalists each, this translated into 14 stage appearances and costume changes, which they somehow seamlessly executed even though they were at times back-to-back performances. (JH)

Prime Minister Freundel Stuart says he has no intention of blocking today’s planned march spearheaded by the Barbados Private Sector Association (BPSA) and four of the major Trade Unions.

He made this clear while addressing the Christ Church West Annual Luncheon, yesterday.

“A few people got onto me, begging me to meet quickly to head it off. I do not want to head it off. I want it to happen,” he stated.

“The People of Barbados have to see what is possible around here and how far people will go in the pursuit of their perverse objectives,” he stated to DLP supporters gathered at Almond Bay Caterers.

He went on to stress that it is not true that there has been no dialogue as stated by the BPSA and the Trade Unions; also, that it is not true that the Government is indifferent to the demands of public officers for increase in salaries, as Government accepted the recommendation of the National Union of Public Workers’ to revisit this issue at the end of September after reviewing the increased National Social Responsibility Levy (NSRL).

However, the Prime Minister said it is true that he was told to meet or schedule a meeting, or else there will be social unrest.

“The phrase ‘social unrest’ can only mean one thing – creating a situation where the society is thrown into chaos. I have said that as Minister of Defence and Security, I can’t deal with that directly; it’s a matter for the Royal Barbados Police Force and any assistance they may need if we get to that stage,” he further stated.

As far as a march to force the government to reduce the tax is concerned, he stressed, “that is not on… If, the government comes to the conclusion that the tax is not achieving the objectives which the government intended it to achieve, the government will have to revisit it”.

“But, the idea of any business entity in Bridgetown deciding that when the government is going to impose taxation of any kind – you have to get their permission before you impose it – that is not on. And I don’t believe quite honestly that the Trade Unions believe that is the way it should be done either,” he added. (TL)