Two new senators were yesterday sworn in at Government House.

They are Delisle Bradshaw and John Williams who took the Oath of Office before Governor General, Dame Sandra Mason.

The two former Ministers of Government will temporarily sit in the Senate as replacements for Senators-designate Rawdon Adams and Kay McConney, who were absent from the May 31 swearing-in ceremony.

Mr. Adams’ and Ms. McConney’s absence, as earlier pointed out by Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs, Dale Marshall, related to the Barbados’ 1966 Constitution which stipulates that a Senator must be an ordinary resident in the country for 12 consecutive months before being appointed.

Mr. Adams is the son of late Prime Minister, Tom Adams, and has been resident in Barbados after relocating here almost 12 months ago, while Ms. McConney currently lives in Canada, and would have to resume residence in Barbados.

On Tuesday, June 5, following the official opening of Parliament, Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley took the necessary step towards amending the island’s Constitution to provide for the appointment of both to the Senate.

The Senate is expected to meet for the first time on the Constitutional Amendment today, Friday, June 8.
(JG/BGIS)

Coming out of the first segment of the Youth Entrepreneurship Scheme (YES), Refresh Beverages was awarded Most Outstanding business lab team.

In fact, had the group Bajan Tings not won ‘Most Innovative Product’, Refresh Beverages would have won all the awards. They also won Most Financially Beneficial and the Most Outstanding CEO. Their CEO was Shakeira Best.

The 22 participants, who were split into three teams, Refresh Beverages, Bajan Tings and Upcycle, were challenged to come up with a business product to market and sell in two weeks.

After three business lab presentations, the judges deliberated and awarded Most Outstanding to Refresh Beverages, whose product ‘Sip and Smile’, healthy drinks, won the judges and audience over.

Speaking with the media following the announcement and awards, Best, CEO of Refresh Barbados expressed that the feeling was incredibly overwhelming and accredited winning the award to the hard work that her team would have put into developing the product.

“When we were presenting we would have mentioned that we did not further analyse going into business because of the many challenges we faced but as one of my team members mentioned, we get enthusiastic about doing the brand and working together but facing the challenges kind of stopped us so I felt like ‘no’ at the beginning of the night,” she said.

“However, after hearing the judges’ responses and fine tuning the details and hearing the members considering the need to finetune the concept, I think that you will be hearing more about Refresh Beverages in the future.”

Selma Green, Manager of YES expressed that the next generation will be job creators and not job seekers; and as a result, she encouraged the participants to take what they learnt today and use it to expand their economic playing field.

She congratulated them for coming to the end of the basic training session and urged them to prepare for the upcoming advanced and intermediate training courses.

“You are a key part of the economic chain that cannot be broken, your business is not only about you, the contributions that you make starting today can expand the economic playing field for your enterprises to grow and for you to create sustainable livelihoods, not only for yourself but your families and communities,” she said.

Encouraged by the interest shown by students to its 2018 Schools’ Culinary and Garden Competitions, the Barbados Agricultural Society (BAS) will be working with local schools ahead of next year’s edition of Agrofest, to spark more interest in agriculture.

CEO of the BAS, James Paul acknowledged the above, as he delivered remarks at the BAS’ Prize Giving Function for schools, which successfully took part in the Agrofest 2018 Schools’ Culinary and Garden Competitions. The Prize Giving Function was held yesterday at BAS Headquarters, “The Grotto”, Beckles Road, St. Michael.

“Before Agrofest, we visit no less than about 30 primary and secondary schools on an annual basis. What we try to do is go around and talk to [students at] the schools and encourage them. The
enthusiasm that I see among the kids – I am one of those people that continue to feel that young people are very interested in agriculture. When we talk to the younger people, they are very interested and they want to get involved,” Paul remarked.

“We think that if we can encourage more young people to be involved in agriculture, it helps the nation as a whole. So as an off-shoot of what is happening this year, one of the things that we are going to do, is that in the lead up to Agrofest next year, we are going to try to reach out to the teachers in the schools who we visited last year. We are going to have some follow-up with them, to see if we can get them to do a seminar prior to the whole competition, to actually give them assistance in helping them to come up with ideas as to how they can actually participate more, when we get to Agrofest next year,” Paul revealed.

Paul also noted that the schools who have been successful in the competition will be encouraged to mentor other schools with an interest and more private sector partners will be invited to come on board, to further expand and expand the two competitions.

Those present to accept prizes for the African Heritage Month Schools Culinary Competition were: Jada Bynoe and Allissa Hurdle of the Springer Memorial Secondary School who won 1st prize for Preserves/Confectionery and 1st in Savoury Dishes respectively; Desiree Hampden of the Derrick Smith Secondary School who won 3rd place for Preserves/Confectionery and 2nd in Beverages; Jephan Yard of the Lodge School who earned 3rd place in Bread & Cakes and 1st place in Beverages. Prize winners for Harrison College, Coleridge and Parry and St. George Secondary were not present.

In the Schools Garden Competition, Gordon Walters took first place and students Shadayne Greenidge-Callender and Janea Callender collected the prize whilst 3rd place went to Ellerton Primary, represented by Sherrol Warner, Lead Teacher for the 4H group. 2nd place winners Coleridge and Parry were not present.

A Home Garden prize was also issued that morning to Mr. Harley Pollard. (RSM)

Esther Selman, Director of the Caribbean Institute of Nutrition and Dietetics believes what we get from our own gardens can heal us.

While speaking to The Barbados Advocate at the third Caribbean Nutrition Conference

2018 at Hilton Barbados, Selman indicated that the three day conference gives a holistic view about Nutrition under the theme “The Science of Garden to Plate, Cancer Prevention and Survival”.
She explained, “It is a three-day conference that draws people from Barbados but also throughout the region and we have presenters from the United States who are attending the event too. We have a prevalence of Non Communicable Diseases (NCDs) in Barbados and throughout the Caribbean, therefore we are parallel with the United States. In Barbados and the region we have high incidents of cancer, diabetes, hypertension etc. but it is just more to do with lifestyle, that is the reason why I decided to even have a nutrition conference because I realised we need to educate our Barbadian population as well as the region. NCDs have a severe impact on quality of life, it also goes into the workplace and it reduces productivity. If we have a healthy nation we will have a healthy workplace and then a healthy home and church.”

According to her, “The main thrust of the conference is not only to look at nutrition but to look at nutrition holistically. We have made a shift, let us look back at what happened with our grandparents and our great grandparents, they worked land, they ate anything but they were physically active in the land and children played outside, but we don’t have that now – we have a society that is sedentary. People walked a lot before, now we have cars, the entire environment has made a shift. We didn’t have any problems because we ate from the land which did not have any pesticides and persons kept active. It is time that we look at Nutrition seriously because the health of our people depends on taking what we put into our bodies seriously; and the importance of educating the youth of the country about better nutrition.

This conference is a health and wellness Tourism conference and I believe that we need to develop health tourism in Barbados, this conference has people who came in from throughout the region and we have the environment that can facilitate health tourism.” (NB)

Class Four students of the Hillaby-Turner Primary School got the opportunity to communicate with students from the United States-based Ketcham Elementary School yesterday morning to exchange ideas on how they could reduce their carbon footprint.

Speaking via Skype yesterday morning, Ambassador Selwin Hart, Ambassador of Barbados to the United States of America and Permanent Representative of Barbados to the Organisation of American States, expressed that they were delighted to be taking part in the 2018 Embassy Adoption Programme.

Hart revealed that this was the second year that they are taking part in this programme. This would be the first time for Hillaby-Turner Primary as they would have launched the programme with Gordon Greenidge Primary School.

“We will continue to do this programme here at the embassy where we will link Barbadian students with students in the United States, have cultural exchanges and discussions on topical and important issues such as climate change,” he said.

“I really want you to think of yourselves as not only being the future of Barbados but also making a fabulous contribution to making our country even better.”

Students, from both schools, were invited to make presentations on the climate change topic, “How does climate change affect my community and my county, and what can I do to reduce my carbo footprint.”

Christian Williams, from Hillaby-Turner, noted various ways in which Barbados contributed to the rising levels of global warming.

However, his classmate, Rajanni Devonish-Cummins, proudly reported that Barbados was currently working on reducing its carbon footprint through various projects.

“We are reducing the carbon footprint in Barbados through the use of solar water heating. Approximately 30, 000 households in the island have solar water heaters. We are the leaders in the Caribbean in terms of water heaters. Barbados Light and Power has constructed a solar farm in the north of the island to reduce consumption of fossil fuels and this saves the country $10 million a year,” she said.

“Several companies are also offering photovoltaic systems however they are still very expensive and only few can afford it.”

Principal of the primary school, Angela Edwards believed that this was a wonderful opportunity for students in Barbados as they were able to do some research and come up with ways and means to combat climate change in the island.

A herbal sanctuary containing numerous plants used for medicinal purposes as well as in recipes has been established at the Ministry of Agriculture in Graeme Hall, Christ Church.

Colin Maynard of the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security gave an overview of the Graeme Hall Herbal Sanctuary yesterday, during the Caribbean Nutrition Conference which was held at that Ministry. He later gave conference attendees a tour of the facility.

“We in the Ministry, we are developing what we call a Herbal Sanctuary. It is basically a sanctuary to preserve and conserve many of the flora that exist in Barbados, some indigenous and some that would have come from other nations,” Maynard explained.

“It is basically in its infancy. We started sometime over the last quarter of last year and we have various species of herbs growing in our green house. That will be Unit One of the Herbal Sanctuary. We then have to replicate that into the normal environment where all the vagaries of the weather system would impact on the herbs, and we will compare those two growing systems,” he added.

“There are also a lot of useful plants in terms of trees, the larger species of plant that are not suited to the greenhouse. There is a third area, where we will be having those plants established. We have some already that we will be growing day by day,” he also stated.

Maynard meanwhile noted that there are between 40 or 50 different varieties of herbs in the greenhouse which serves as the Herbal Sanctuary at the Ministry of Agriculture.

He acknowledged that a lot of these herbs would have been used by older Barbadians to treat various ailments and a lot are still used for that purpose, as well as for cooling teas and in recipes.

Those visiting the sanctuary were able to view firsthand the various herbs which were well labelled and flourishing. Some of the herbs seen included periwinkle, basil, peppermint, wintergreen, catnip, aloe and vervain, amongst others.

Barbados’ new Minister of Agriculture will be working swiftly to strengthen the linkages between agriculture and health and wellness.

Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Indar Weir, made the announcement as he delivered the feature address at the Caribbean Nutrition Conference, held yesterday at the Ministry’s headquarters in Graeme Hall, Christ Church.

“As Minister of Agriculture, it is my intention to intensify efforts to strengthen the linkages between agriculture and health and wellness. To this end, I support the thrust by the Ministry to encourage householders to grow their own food. This effort is focused on providing householders with fresh fruits and vegetables, devoid of excessive amounts of pesticides and chemical fertilisers, as well as providing them with a measure of physical activity, which is also an important facet of maintaining good health,” Weir remarked.

Having noted the evident link between agriculture and health via the increased intake of fresh and nutritious foods, Weir however pointed out that one of the challenges faced is having food available in vast quantities and at affordable prices for Barbadians.

As such, he suggested that Government will be moving to put idle arable land back into agriculture.

“As I drive around the island, I note the large tracts of idle arable land which must be returned to production if we are to supply our citizens with healthy foods at affordable prices. It is therefore the intention of the government to put measures in place that will encourage the return of these lands to production and discourage the tendency to leave lands idle for protracted periods, and then endeavour to have the usage changed from agriculture to other areas of activity” he said.

Weir also stated that Government will seek to provide incentives to farmers in relevant areas – such as the use of renewable forms of energy, which can demonstrate a direct link with agriculture – as well as reduce prices to customers.
(RSM)
쇓

All operations of the Constituency Councils have been suspended with immediate effect until further notice.

In a circular dated June 6, 2018, Acting Director of the Constituency Empowerment Department Sandra Greenidge outlined that all Chairmen and other constituency council members were to notify the People Empowerment and Elder Affairs Minister Cynthia Forde in writing that they were placing their previous appointments in the councils at the disposal of the new administration with immediate effect.

In addition, she requested all council chairpersons to submit all cheque books and other documents pertaining to the council’s operations to the Constituency Empowerment Department immediately, along with: all outstanding financial reports and documents; all outstanding minutes of meetings; all Chairmen’s end of term reports; detailed summaries of all incomplete financial transactions; and any outstanding reports on projects and programmes implemented.

“Councillors who are signatories to bank accounts of constituency councils are kindly being asked to provide the necessary correspondence to the respective banks informing of your withdrawal as signatories to those bank accounts with immediate effect,” Greenidge said.

The Department outlined that the deadline for handing in of the documents stated above and the implementation of measures was no later than next Monday, June 11.

Extending thanks to each of the council members for their commitment, she stated, “We deeply appreciate your often sacrificial efforts for the improvement of our constituencies and look forward to continuing to work with you again along with and all other citizens for our nation’s development.”

Six councils were launched in July 2009 under the Democratic Labour Party administration, with 12 more being added in both March 2010 and March 2011.

Although persons would have speculated that them not being able to reach a decision means that the Synod is ‘in confusion’, Diocesan Administrator, Canon Wayne Issacs pointed out that they were simply following protocol.

Issacs made this comment to the media following the conclusion of the third meeting of the Elective Synod of the Anglican Church where they were unable to clearly elect a winner to replace former Anglican Bishop Dr. John Holder.

“I don’t see us not being able to choose a bishop as yet as us having a problem. There is a process to be followed and the process says that we must receive two thirds in the two houses. And there is nothing that we can do to shorten it, so it might appear as though we are in confusion but we are just allowing the process to run its course,” he said.

“It’s best to say that we have a situation where by one body received two thirds in the house of Laity but nobody received two thirds in the house of Clergy.”

The Synod met at the Ivan Harewood Centre of the Christ Church Parish just after 6pm Thursday night and after nearly six hours of voting, there was no clear decision made between Rev. John Rogers, Rector of the St. George Parish Church or Dr. Jeffrey Gibson, Dean of the Cathedral Church of St. Michael and All Angels.

Following what appeared to be a fairly stressful session, Issacs told the media that no one had gotten two thirds in the two houses, The House of Laity and the House of Clergy. He revealed that they have decided to adjourn and meet for a fourth meeting at a date which is to be set.

Issacs noted that they can go up to the 28th of August to host meetings to elect a new bishop on their own. If this fails, he revealed that the House of Bishops would then have to elect a new Bishop for Barbados.

Issacs highlighted that until a Bishop is “enthroned”, he will continue in his role of administrator.

SEVERAL government Ministers are encouraging Barbadians to go to the beach and collect the Sargassum seaweed to use in their gardens.

Minister of Maritime Affairs and Blue Economy, Kirk Humphrey, was the first to make the call when he visited Bath, St. John, along with Minister of Environment and National Beautification, Trevor Prescod; Minister of Transport, Works and Maintenance, Dr. William Duguid; Minister of Agriculture, Indar Weir; and Minister in the Ministry of Transport, Works and Maintenance, Peter Phillips, to oversee the removal of an influx of the seaweed which has returned to the island.

Humphrey said he has been informed that once thoroughly washed off, the microalgae has been proven to be quite useful for plants.

“I am actually taking some home myself to use in my own garden. As we said when we were campaigning, this is our Barbados and all Barbadians have to play their part. So we look forward to the support from Barbadians in assisting us to get the seaweed off of the beaches,” Minister Humphrey said.

Meanwhile, Minister Prescod reaffirmed that once captured while golden, the seaweed can be used as a fertiliser.

“We can also use it for the farmers across Barbados because the results indicate that the produce are of a higher quality when they use the Sargassum,” Minister Prescod informed.

The Minister of Maritime Affairs and Blue Economy said thankfully the University of the West Indies has already done a lot of work in converting the Sargassum seaweed into energy.

“In fact, they have been able to convert what we consider to be waste grass into energy. And they say that the seaweed is actually producing a very good deal of energy and would be very useful. But as Minister Prescod said, we have to harvest it at a time when it is golden…,” Minister Humphrey said, adding that in the future Government intends to in-vest in a plant to utilise the seaweed. (AH)

GOVERNMENT is treating the return of the Sargassum seaweed to the island’s shores as a national emergency.

Minister of Maritime Affairs and Blue Economy, Kirk Humphrey, told the media yesterday during a press conference at Bath, St. John, where the seaweed was being removed, that all resources have been pulled from various government depart-ments and the private sector, to get the vegetable matter which has been having a negative impact on the fishing industry, under control.

As was done in 2015, when an influx of the seaweed invaded the island’s shores, creating a headache for the tourism industry, the Barbados Defence Force (BDF) has been roped into the national effort, spearheading the clean-up effort not only at Bath, but also at a number of other beaches across the island.

“We have to, as a matter of priority for Barbadians, remove the seaweed. It is our understanding that most of the seaweed comes in on the east and the north coast, and then it makes its way towards the south coast. Even if we can cut it off from its source point, where it comes in on the east coast, we would be able to prevent it from going onto the south coast beaches, which as you know is part of our tourism belt.

“In any event, by the time it reaches the south coast it is already at a point at which it has deteriorated, to a point where it is no longer able to be used for anything of value. What we are getting here now is something that is of some value, we consider it harvesting the seaweed that it can be used for something else,” the Minister said.

Chief of Staff of the BDF, Colonel Glyne Grannum, said the Force is proud to be a part of the joint inter-agency effort to deal with the removal of the seaweed from the shores. He said that yesterday soldiers were deployed to seven beaches including Bath, Skeetes Bay, Foul Bay, Crane, Silver Sands and the Enterprise area, Barclays Park, the East Coast and Long Beach.

“Over the weekend the effort is going to encompass River Bay up in the north. As was already mentioned, there is a high risk of the seaweed coming around the south coast in a clockwise direction and impacting on the west coast. So our effort today is to deal with the areas which are likely to cause an impact and to stop it from coming around to the west coast,” Colonel Grannum said.

The army leader explained that a co-ordination centre has been set up at St. Ann’s Fort, designed to assist with the co-ordination of a wide range of governmental and non-governmental agencies involved in the clean-up effort, as well as to deal with information management.

As for the long-term plan for the seaweed, Minister Humphrey said the focus is on transporting the microalgae to the Sustainable Barbados Recycling Centre (SBRC), while the private sector is being urged to look into the use of the seaweed to create energy, noting that there is evidence that it can be converted to real energy to be used in Barbadian households.

“We believe that the Sargassum is not only a problem, but that it is a resource, and that we have to use it as a resource,” Minister Humphrey said.

“I know there are some people who were concerned about the fact that we were bringing machinery to the beaches. But we have been speaking to the persons who are environmentalists and one of the things we did is to make sure that we are not trampling on any of the Turtle nesting areas as we sought to remove the Sargassum seaweed from the beach,” he added. (AH)

THE availability of drugs in Barbados has increased overtime.

This, according to Inspector (Ag.) Roland Cobbler, facilitator of the Drug Abuse Resistance Education (D.A.R.E) Programme, has resulted in today’s children being more exposed to illicit drugs such as marijuana.

“This must be viewed as distributing, since the increasing prevalence of drug use by children will have a negative impact on their development, and will result in adverse consequences for family members, the community and our society.”

Inspector Cobbler was at the time addressing the D.A.R.E Graduation Ceremony for students of Belmont Primary and Grantley Prescod Primary Schools at the Barbados Community College (BCC) Auditorium, yesterday.

He believes that the programme provides the requisite knowledge and skills to assist children in making safe and responsible choices.

“In today’s society, where drugs and violence are having a significant influence in the lives of some children, it is important that every effort be made to provide children with the necessary knowledge, skills and resources that would assist them in becoming productive members of our society,” he stressed.

“This is especially important since overtime; drug use and violence seemingly are becoming the norm for some. In this regard, substantial effort must be made to assist children in recognising that positive alternatives exist.”

To the parents and guardians, Cobbler urged them to understand that they have a pivotal and supportive role to play in the process.

“It is important that you set good examples and reinforce the importance of positive values.

“In this fight against drugs, there must be a holistic approach. In addition to education and detection by law enforcement officers, you the parents have a responsibility to ensure that you effectively monitor your children. It is critical that you know of their friends, the places they go and the company they keep. Visit the schools they attend and have dialogue with their teachers in relation to their behaviour and performance,” he insisted.

The D.A.R.E Programme, which is being facilitated in both the primary and secondary schools, is one of the strategic plans of the Royal Barbados Police Force (RBPF) in the continued fight against drugs and violence. (TL)

THE amendment to the Constitution, which was debated in the Upper House yesterday, is intended to help bring it into the modern era.

So says Leader of Government Business in the Senate, Senator Dr. Jerome Walcott, who made the comments while leading off the debate on the Constitution (Amendment) Bill 2018 in the Upper House yesterday morning. The Bill, which was passed in the House of Assembly on Tuesday during its first sitting of the 2018-2023 term of Parliament, is intended to revise the qualifications for membership of the Senate; the provisions relating to disqualification for membership of the Senate and the Assembly; and the provision relating to vacancies in the office of the Leader of the Opposition. The amendment will allow three senators-designate Rawdon Adams, Kay McConney and Althea Wiggins – who, based on the current provisions of the Constitution, cannot serve in the Senate given that they have not resided in Barbados for 12 consecutive months – to be able to do so.

“Two senators proposed by the Honourable Prime Minister and one by Her Excellency the Governor General would be disqualified from sitting in this Honourable Chamber if the situation persisted without the necessary amendments to the Constitution. Mr. President three persons, three individuals who were born in Barbados; three individuals who grew up in Barbados [and] three individuals who attended primary and sec-ondary in Barbados. Three Barbadians who were socialised in Barbados, who speak the dialect, who have lifelong friends in Barbados and who indeed have family members in Barbados,” said Walcott, who is also Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade.

With that in mind, he said they should not be penalised because they went away, as he noted that Barbadians’ ability to migrate has been something this country has been proud of from before the war days and has been seen ever moreso with the era of globalization. As such, he said the amendment would allow any Barbadian, 21 years and older, to qualify to be appointed to the Senate.

While calling it a straightforward amendment, but a significant one, Senator Walcott said the amendment will give all Barbadians who have a contribution to make, to be eligible to serve in the Senate. His comments came as he said he does not believe that those who wrote the Constitution expected it was carved in stone and would remain unchanged for eternity.

“I do not believe that it was their wish that Barbadians who have lived and studied and have done well overseas should be excluded from participating at the highest level in the development of this country,” he stated.

Walcott’s comments came as he noted that previous governments have been encouraging Barbadians living abroad to return and give of their experience, knowledge and economic resources to the country to assist in its development. Senator Walcott made reference to the recent manifesto of the Barbados Labour Party (BLP), ‘Building the Best Barbados Together’, in which he said it was noted that the BLP wants to deepen the involvement of the Barbadian Diaspora, stating that the Diaspora is an “untapped and underused asset” and as such, added that the BLP intends to make space for them to feel welcome and to facilitate their contribution to local society and economy, and to advance the country’s interest abroad through their networks, skills and resources.

“If we are saying at this point in this country’s development that persons are to be excluded from serving at the highest level to assist in the further development of this country, then Mr. President I think we are making a sad mistake,” he maintained.

Walcott therefore implored all senators to support the amendment. (JRT)

Leader of Opposition Business in the Senate, Senator Caswell Franklyn, has vehemently opposed the Constitution (Amendment) Bill, contending that it was unconscionable and a recipe for disaster.

Franklyn, currently the lone Opposition voice in the Upper House, spoke out against the amendment yesterday morning when the Senate meeting started, even before the Bill was put up for debate. Then, as he offered the Opposition’s reply once the debate began, Senator Franklyn, a well-known trade unionist and credit unionist, maintained that the Bill should not have seen the light of day. He made the point while lamenting that the haste with which the Government sought to put the Bill on the Order Paper to have it debated, prevented it being published in the Official Gazette. As a result, he said it was not widely circulated prior to Tuesday’s sitting of the Lower House, which would have allowed Barbadians the ability to examine the proposal, so as to understand it and comment on it if they so chose.

“You are treating the people with disrespect, with contempt… That type of attitude gets you one term,” he warned.

The Opposition Senator also condemned the Barbados Labour Party (BLP) Government for trying to amend the Constitution to suit its needs, contending that it was no different to the act by the former Democratic Labour Party Government, when it took steps to amend the Supreme Court of Judicature Act to facilitate the appointment of a Chief Justice, who was not at the time qualified in accordance with the Act. Franklyn said it was hard to believe that the BLP, which “cried foul” at that time, would now want to amend the Constitution for similar purposes. His comments came as he noted that he too spoke out against that amendment, and so in order to stay true to himself and his beliefs, it is only right that he speak out against the amendment currently in question as well.

“The last administration amended the Supreme Court of Judicature Act and the Barbados Labour Party thought that was the worst thing that could happen, now you are amending the Constitution and haven’t given the people as much notice as they had given; they gave a lot more notice,” he said.

Describing the amendment as fatally flawed in several respects, Senator Franklyn went further and maintained that the new Government, with its 29 to 1 majority must be careful not to abuse the power it now has.

“You don’t pass laws for your friends; that is what we are attempting to do, we want to pass laws for our friends. You trying to tell me that out of 275 000 people in Barbados, the majority of whom are BLP supporters as we’ve seen, you don’t think that you could find two other people that qualify to sit in this Senate who meet the requirements of the Constitution? I could have found some for you,” he insisted.

He also raised concern about a person who has dual citizenship being allowed to serve in the Senate, contending that it puts that person in a precarious situation, as it makes it right for a person to serve two masters. Quoting Matthew 6:24 in the Bible, which says no one can serve two masters, he contended at that level of the Senate, anyone who is a Senator should have total loyalty only to Barbados, and should not be compromised by any other country for which they hold citizenship. (JRT)

Plastic is still a major issue in Barbados and hopefully with the training and education received at the second annual Dive Fest Kiddies’ Swim Awareness Programme, children can understand the importance of not littering, and even reduce the use of plastic.
This comment was made by Andre Miller, instructor at Barbados Blue and Co-ordinator of the event, as he spoke with The Barbados Advocate on the sidelines of yesterday’s event.

“Right now we have an issue of plastic in Barbados, so one of the main things we did was to get them to understand the importance of not littering. Even this morning we caught a few kids littering and we had to make a point of why they cannot do that,” he said.

“So we wanted to make a point of them knowing that even if they’re home and they live in St. Thomas and they throw something out of their window it will find its way in the ocean.”

Miller noted that it was great to know and see that many of the primary schools and other organisations were starting to highlight and teach about environmental issues in Barbados. He revealed that at the event yesterday morning they had quite a few students from Bay Primary School and some members from the Duke of Edinburgh and Girl Guides.

Nikola Simpson, a marine biologist who also helps out with Dive Fest, noted that they also spoke to the children on the issue of sargassum seaweed and taught them that it was not only negative.

“We also have compostable cups, and even though they look like regular plastic cups, they are actually made of plant based material such as corn starch sugar cane. So we are just trying to fit into the whole theme of Dive Fest and moving towards and trying to have an environmentally sustainable country and economy,” she said.

“We are trying to teach them that whatever they do on land ends up in the sea, so we spent some time this morning trying to show them the interlinkages of everything they do and show them how important the ocean is.”

Barbadian youth are hurting and a multifaceted response is needed to address their concerns.

This was revealed by Acting Principal of the Erdiston Teachers’ Training College, Dr. Patricia Saul, who on Friday spoke on the topic, “Hurting Youth – Symptoms, Causes & Solutions”.

She told attendees at the Hildegarde Weekes Annual Memorial Lecture at The Courtney Blackman Grande Salle of the Central Bank, that the causes for the hurt were varied. She additionally said, with reference to video interviews shown, that the major symptoms of hurt that the youth manifested are anger, aggression, defiance, fighting, bullying, drug use and self-harming.

Dr. Saul stated that now is not the time to point fingers or ascribe blame, rather “a collaborative, multifaceted approach” is needed to dealing with the problems.

Offering solutions, she said “the involvement of youth in at least one of the groups – the Brownies, Guides, Scouts, Cadets or Key Club, should be compulsory”, explaining that involvement in such groups helps to build character. “They are taught respect for self and others, responsibility [and} self-discipline. These are values that are not taught in some of our homes,” she opined.

The Acting Principal further said it was time for “schools to have support groups” and for programmes like the Juvenile Liaison Scheme and PAREDOS to be expanded to provide support for parents and develop initiatives to address the needs of young people outside of the justice system. She added that these programmes should be started at the primary school level.

Dr. Saul called on teachers to be a part of the solution. She said educators are “well positioned to help students develop a positive self-image”.

“Teachers need to speak words to our students that motivate and empower them. Many children are not aware of their true potential, so teachers need to help them to be aware of themselves and what they can achieve if they put their mind to it. More often this must be available to troubled youth to build good character and employable skills.”

She also suggested “for schools, communities and the justice system to employ the Restorative Practice Framework to deal with conflict and difficulties…” She said the aim of the Framework is to focus on making connections and building and strengthening relationships and repairs harm. A major goal is also effective reintegration of the individual when addressing situations where harm has been done.

Leader of the Opposition Joseph Atherley has named his nominee for second opposition senator. She is Crystal Drakes, who is set to be sworn in Monday afternoon.

Speaking with the media during a press briefing, which was held in the Opposition’s office yesterday morning, Bishop Atherley introduced Drakes as his proposed second appointee to the Senate of Barbados.

“I have so advised Her Excellency appropriately and I refer to Miss Crystal Drakes as the voice of the fairer sex and the future,” he said.

“Drakes is an economist by profession. She is 30 years old, so she represents the voice of the youth and the future. She will serve as the second appointee as the independent voice of the Opposition. She will also serve as my advisor in some respects on economic matters and trade matters.”

Drakes expressed that she was deeply humbled and honoured to be suggested for this post.

“Professionally, as Bishop Atherley stated, I am a trained economist and foresight strategist and I currently work at the UWI Cave Hill Campus at the Centre for Resource Management and Environmental Studies. Previously and concurrently I worked in development agencies such as the IDB and Commonwealth,” she said.

“I must say that I have worked diligently and tirelessly in a private capacity and I now get to do this in the public eye and I will give nothing less to this position and we have all agreed on the Opposition side that we will be independent voices.”

Given her background, Drakes confidently expressed that she will give an objective and critical eye to the matters and proceedings at hand when they arise.

“I just want to assure the public that anything that I do here on out would be in the best interest of persons in Barbados,” she said.

“And I am happily ready and willing to serve the people of this country.”

Since Drakes was yet to be officially sworn in she refrained from making any formal statements regarding the Government’s recent meeting with the IMF. However, she believed that with the new Government, they would be able to have healthy debates going forward.

DON’T do it, it is not your right!

Christians are being reminded that they should not pass judgement on others, that is God’s task.

Father John Rogers issued this reminder yesterday, as he delivered the sermon to the congregation of the St George Parish Church.

The Reverend stressed that while it is human nature for people to judge each other, God is against it, since no man knows whether or not another man’s action is genuine.

He challenged those gathered to look at themselves and reflect on what they say about other people, and why they say it.

“Is it because you have empirical evidence? Or do you just do it on perception? Is it because you have unique knowledge of who these people are, and what is driving them? Or are you just doing it because I know where this is going? Not knowing anything about the person, or not knowing anything about what their relationship is with God…” he said.

Father Rogers also said that rather than to embrace the fact that Jesus was sent by God to save souls, according to the scripture, the scribes sought to be opponents of Jesus. He said the experience Jesus had with the scribes is one that all will face at some time in their lives.

“People will judge us; people will stereotype us. But do not hate them. Never let your tongue utter evil about another person, leave that to God… Instead, in all things seek to exalt him. Never find yourself speaking about the transformational work of the Lord in the lives of others, for that would be blasphemy against the Holy Spirit.

“Embrace each other’s gifts and glorify each other, so that we may be found worthy to experience the bliss of that eternal place to which we are journeying, even in this life of imperfections,” Father Rogers urged, pleading with
the congregation to seek repentance and always remember the mission of the Lord.
(AH)

PHARMACISTS in Barbados are not turning a blind eye to the high incidence of Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs), which is a major concern to local health officials.

This is according to President of the Barbados Pharmaceutical Society (BPS), Derek Catlyn, who was addressing the congregation at the St George Parish Church yesterday, where the Society officially marked the beginning of Pharmacy Week 2018.

He said the fact that the Ministry of Health has estimated that by the year 2030, 86.3 per cent of all deaths in Barbados will be caused by NCDs, is a situation that the BPS is monitoring closely.

He said since pharmacists play an important role in improving the life of patients, they hold the responsibility to emerge as the leaders of the health care team in the fight against NCDs.

“I am sure the members of the congregation heard about diabetes and hypertension before. It could be a grandparent, an uncle, an aunt, a niece, a nephew and so on. We all have our part to play. In terms of pharmacists, we have a unique quality to other health professions.

“We are easily accessible, and we have vast knowledge when it comes to healthcare. I could see pharmacists improving the quality of life and reversing this trend basically through education and empowering the average Barbadian citizen,” he said.

According to the BPS President, to his knowledge, his colleagues invest time into teaching their patients about the importance of maintaining a healthy lifestyle, and also about behaviour modification, including regular exercise, avoiding smoking, reducing alcohol consumption, and choosing healthier eating options.

“We are looking at improving health literacy in terms of preventative care. If persons are smoking we encourage them to stop smoking; reduce their alcohol consumption. But, at the end of the day, we are human beings and it is a difficult discipline. So say for instance, if a patient drinks like six beers on a weekly basis, at least they should gradually reduce it to three or two beers.

“I do not expect them to just stop drinking all together. And while it may be a little difficult for some persons to get all the fruits and vegetables they need in their diet, there may be some places they can go to get these foods at a reasonable price. It is the pharmacist’s job to build the relationship with their patients so that they may be able to improve their health literacy,” he said.
(AH)

Effective midnight, Sunday June 10, consumers will be paying more for gasoline, diesel and kerosene.

The retail price of gasoline will rise from Bds $3.40 per litre to Bds $3.60 per litre, reflecting an increase of $0.20. Diesel will cost Bds$2.80 per litre up from $2.61, an increase of $0.19. Kerosene will retail at Bds$1.55 per litre up from Bds $1.46 per litre, an increase of $0.9.

Liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) prices will also be increased. The 100 lb cylinder will retail at Bds$162.81 up from Bds$162.39. While the price of the 25 lb cylinder will move from Bds$45.70 to $45.80. The 22 lb cylinder will now cost Bds$40.47 up from Bds$40.38; and the 20 lb cylinder will retail at Bds$36.79, up from Bds$36.71.These new prices reflect increases of $0.42, $0.10, $0.09, and $0.08 respectively.

The adjustments in the retail prices of these products are in keeping with Government’s policy to allow retail oil prices to be reflective of those on the international market. (NP/BGIS)