Zane Corbin was the picked of the judges over the weekend when the St. James Parish Independence Committee staged its Talent Show.

Corbin wowed with his steel pan performance of Red Plastic Bag’s “Boat Ride”. It was well-received by the audience present at the Learning Centre on Saturday night.

Securing the second spot was Talibah Davis who played “Bless The Lord O My Soul” on the steel pan. Meanwhile, the Full Hype Dancers came third. The four member, all-male group were the centre of attention from the beginning to the end of their presentation. They brought lots of energy and excitement to stage as they danced to local songs “Hit It”, “Colours” and “Shackle Out”.

In fourth and fifth spots were the Western United Star 4H Band and the Western United Star 4H Group respectively. The former Band performed Mighty Gabby’s “Emmerton” while the latter danced to the song “Mega Monday”.

The top five performers have secured a place at the Zonal Parish Talent Show which is slated for September 22. At this event, only one of the five performers will be selected to represent St. James at the Spirit of the Nation Show in November.

The night’s competitors were not the only acts of the evening. Saturday’s Talent Show additionally comprised guest performances by the St. Silas Sunday School and the Capricorn Line Dancers.

The 2018 St. James Parish Ambassadors, Ryan Herbert and Shae Coulthrust used the occasion to speak to the audience about their Parish Project titled, “St. James We R.E.A.D.Y’ (Reaching Everyone Across Districts Yielding strong resilient communities). This Project focuses on disaster preparedness and some of the work to be done by the Ambassadors includes community clean-ups and the formation of first aid groups within the parish. Members of these groups will be first respondents in cases of emergencies. (MG)

Starting today the Barbados Water Authority is working on a permanent fix to the South Coast Sewage Plant issue.

This was revealed by CEO of the BWA, Keithroy Halliday, as he spoke with the media during a press briefing which took place at Trinity Business Centre yesterday afternoon.

“Excavation will commence starting tomorrow [today]. This excavation will initially target two major points; the first being at the entrance of the Graeme Hall Nature Sanctuary. The next is expected to begin one week later in from of the old Scotia Bank,” he said.

“Parallel to this, an inspection and repair of the sanitary inflow line will also begin. We estimate that with a good push, continuing to work 24 hours a day, we will have repair works completed within the coming weeks.

The CEO expressed that the BWA recognised the importance of resolving this long running sewage problem. He revealed that as they entered the next stage, there will be disruptions on Highway 7 for a relatively short period of time.

“We will need the co-operation of all stakeholders and the public as we come nearer to the solution to the current problem affecting the South Coast. We thank you for your continued patience and understanding as we work towards the permanent fix,” he said.

Halliday noted that since completion of Priority No. 1, where they diverted the filtered waste water into the six injection wells that were recently completed, they were able to see no sewage over flow on the streets. He noted he was satisfied with the temporary solution for the South Coast Sewage Crisis, however, he was looking forward to the more permanent fix.

As a result of this temporary fix, the force main, the outgoing line, is now empty and accessible, which is why they can now work on repairing the line.
Minister of Energy and Water Resources, Wilfred Abrahams expressed that even though this permanent fix is able to be “up and running perfectly”, he stressed that this was not the end of it.

“The fact is we have outgrown this system and we now need to upgrade to a tertiary level plant in keeping with the national policies in respect to water management, waste water management and sewage,” he said.

“So, at the end of the day, the ideal situation for us, when the country is in the position to afford it, is to upgrade the plant entirely.”

Government is being encouraged to pay careful attention to delinquent taxpayers.

The call has come from Leader of the Opposition, Bishop Joseph Atherley, who said that the problem, while not widespread, still needs to be properly addressed if Government is to get what is due to it. The call came as he spoke briefly during the debate on the Barbados Revenue Authority (Amendment) Bill in the House of Assembly yesterday morning.

“The advice I have, the information which has come to me thus far and I am in no position to investigate this with the thoroughness which would be at the disposal of the Government; but certainly my understanding is that when it comes to the avoidance of tax obligations, there are a delinquent few, notoriously delinquent few in the business community of Barbados, who believe that they have a right to conduct themselves in the way they do,” he
said.

While commending the Government for swiftly moving to repeal the system of tax clearance certificates, which he said should go a long way in helping to improve business facilitation in this country, Atherley as he urged Government to continue to do more than pay lip service to the issue of business facilitation, equally called on the new Mia Amor Mottley Administration to take seriously its responsibility to deal with those who do not honour their tax obligations. The Opposition Leader therefore called on the Minister in the Ministry of Finance, Ryan Straughn to work together with the Barbados Revenue Authority to clearly identify who the “delinquent few may be and to see what can be done to bring them to heel”.

Responding to his call, Minister in the Ministry of Economic Affairs, Marsha Caddle, said Government is prepared to face head on the issues of tax leakage and non-compliance. Referring to the Barbados Economic Recovery and Transformation Plan, she explained that by phase three, Government intends to have a comprehensive report on tax policy reform, so that they can take informed steps to deal with issues of leakage and non-compliance across various sectors in this country.

“I want to make it clear to those who may be listening, that this Government is not bringing this particular proposed amendment in order to let pass people who should be paying their taxes. We are very serious about making sure that the laws of this land are complied with,” the St. Michael South Central Member of Parliament stated. (JRT)

ONE of the things favourable to Barbados as it contemplates debt reprofiling is that the foreign component of the country’s overall debt accounts for about 21 per cent of total indebtedness.

This point was highlighted recently during an interview with Ian De Souza, of the University of the West Indies, Cave Hill. He said that the majority of the debt outstanding is domestic debt.

De Souza who is also a former head of the Barbados operations of Republic Bank Limited, said that while a low foreign debt would have implications for Barbados’ foreign reserves position, it is true that the country’s position is a little favourable in that it does not have, relative to other countries, as much of a stock on foreign debt.

However, the official who is based at the Faculty of Social Sciences at the UWI, Cave Hill, said that once foreign debts fall due the country would need the reserves to service those payments. “That is a cash flow situation, and if it is a foreign debt the principal and interest rate payments, it could hit the reserves, depending on what your recurrent foreign revenue is,” he remarked.

De Souza noted too that if a foreign debt repayment had come up and it coincided with the sale of an asset then it won’t impact on the reserves.

The new Barbados government, led by Prime Minister, Mia Amor Mottley has revealed plans to reprofile Barbados’ debt which she puts at approaching 175 per cent of GDP. At March this year, the Central Bank of Barbados had put the figure at 151 per cent. De Souza believes that Barbados has no way out but to do some debt reprofiling.

He had said that unlike Grenada, one of the Caribbean islands which went through a debt reprofiling programme, Barbados has a lot of its domestic debt tied up in treasury bills which are short-term debt instruments.

The UWI official noted that if a country borrows by way of a bond the purchaser does not necessarily keep the bond. Rather, that since that bond is a tradeable instrument that has a coupon, the individual would trade it and people depending on their treasury management would take the bond, and sell it at a discount.

“A borrower issuing a bond, cannot come along and tell the lender, look sorry I cannot pay you eight per cent (interest) any more but instead I can only afford five per cent,” he explained.

“So when you cannot pay, you are defaulting on the original terms,” De Souza pointed out.

“Therefore, in any circumstances where you seek to ask for more time or you cannot meet the terms of the repayment, that would be treated as a default,” he added. (JB)

THE Barbados Light & Power (BL&P) is apologising to customers for the power outages they experienced on Monday and over the weekend.

Manager Communi-cations & Government Relations, Jackie Marshall-Clarke is also thanking customers for their patience.

Speaking to the media during a brief interview yesterday, Marshall-Clarke explained that outages happen almost every day due to various reasons.

However, she said that customers are usually patient and understanding.

“We do what we can to restore as safely and as quickly as possible,” she said.

“Over the weekend, and yesterday [Monday], we did have some outages due to equipment failure. But more importantly, is the incident that took place at the Crane, in St Philip yesterday morning.

“We had the first report about two minutes before 8 o’clock, and our crew members, understanding the nature of the situation, responded immediately, and so by 8:18 a.m., they were actually on the scene and working to fix the burning pole,” Marshall-Clarke explained.

The Manager of Communications said before restoring electricity to the Crane, and its environs, workmen had to carry out a pole replacement, a task which, in addition to the rainy weather, contributed to the process taking longer than
usual.

“But they worked, and by 11 o’clock last night all the customers would have been restored with electricity. Thank you to the customers who were patient with us. Thank you to the crew who worked safely to ensure that the customers got back their electricity,” she said. (AH)

WELL done Charlie. Well done!

An emotional refrain from cultural ambassador Dr. Anthony “Gabby” Carter as he captured the sentiment of those who came together yesterday to celebrate the life and times of the late Charles “Romeo” Smith, veteran calypsonian, who died suddenly two weeks ago at his home.

Yesterday his wife Cecile and family were given an outpouring of support from members of the calypso fraternity, including former Battleground tent mates, representatives from other tents, musicians, backup singers and many others who filled the Breath of Life Church on Whitehall yesterday afternoon.

Gabby, while paying a tear-filled tribute to his friend whom he knew for close to six decades, was consoled by Anthony “Admiral” Nelson, the irony of which was not lost on the two or the congregation who knew of their history.

Culture Minister John King, who declared that he was speaking in his capacity as a calypsonian, recalled the lessons learned from Romeo in the early 1980s and the fact that he always gave him encouragement never to give up. King said this piece of encouragement, led him to be where he is today. He described Romeo as one of the best calypsonians not only in Barbados but wherever calypso is played. King urged the state-owned Caribbean Broadcasting Corporation to create a documentary of his work. The Minister also encouraged his wife to be strong; recognising that even though he is gone, his body he is still here in spirit and in our memories.

Chief Executive Officer of the National Cultural Foundation Cranston Browne also recalled his interaction with Romeo whom he said performed “conscious calypso”. He said he was a fierce competitor and a mentor of many. Former Minister of Culture Stephen Lashley said Romeo gave a lot to the art form but always stood out as being a very humble individual. He too echoed calls for his work to be chronicled so that future generations can remember this calypso giant that helped to develop the culture of Barbados and was a true son of the soil.

Several tributes were paid before the funeral service coming from Colin Spencer, Donella, Blood, Keisha Christian, Eleanor Rice and Romancia Murray to name a few. The interment for the late Charles “Romeo” Smith was held at the Westbury Cemetery. (JH)

The Soroptimist International Barbados (SIB) continues to advocate for women and girls just like their counterpart clubs across the globe.

This is coming from a member of SIB, Sister Marguerite Woodstock-Riley who delivered a presentation on their Regional and International Affiliations at their monthly general meeting and the Installation of Her Excellency Dame Sandra Mason, GMG, DA; QC, Governor General of Barbados at the patron of the association on Monday evening at the Accra Beach Hotel and Spa.

She said that the clubs of the Caribbean and of South Africa fall under the federation of Great Britain and Ireland and that the clubs in the Caribbean are something that the members are especially proud of.

“Within the Caribbean there are two networks – the Caribbean and Southern Africa – the first club was in 1958 and then three in 1962 which was when [the club in] Barbados was formed and we have always said that whereas the men failed at forming the federation, the Soroptimists were determined to succeed as a Caribbean union and we have been meeting since 1974. There are several countries in the network now and we are hoping to include more.”

She said that they would be looking to expand their presence in the Caribbean region and are targeting St. Lucia where there are currently no Soroptimist Clubs and they are hoping that the Dame will be able to use her connections in that island to establish them there. The clubs in the region meet every two years and the next meeting is scheduled for 2019.

When it comes to their actual projects, Woodstock-Riley said that one of their projects is targeted at the young residents at the Government Industrial School (GIS), where they teach them valuable skills. They also have a literacy programme at this institution as they recognise that many of the female residents are below the required literacy levels for their particular age group.

“The first is the New Horizons at the Government Industrial School (GIS) and several things are taught there – taking care of your health… art projects, Internet safety – do’s and don’t’s, hair braiding and beading techniques. We have had first aid; we have a literacy programme where we realise that a lot of the female residents are below the literacy age and they are assisted in that. There is a resource centre where we have provided over 300 books, DVDs and kindles, and there is always the opportunity to have more.”

Another project is the equipping of marketable skills to the students of the two female-only secondary schools in this island. “We have a mentorship programme in two schools – Ursuline Convent and Springer Memorial – with a variety of topics that we speak to the girls about – job applications, managing money etc.” (PJT)

Attorney General and Legal Affairs Minister Dale Marshall believes is time for the Barbados Revenue Authority (BRA) to have an outreach programme to capture outstanding taxes.

Insisting that there were individuals who did not pay but could be identified, he noted that every single Barbadian who was gainfully employed must “pay their way”.

“The same way the NIS officer can walk into my office, they can also walk into a mechanics or hairdressers, or a restaurant, or a bar or a shop and inquire as to whether the individual is registered. Why cannot the BRA do that? We know it is a voluntary system, but we pay officers taxpayers’ money and I can see no reason why the BRA cannot have an outreach programme.

“You do not want to frighten or terrorise people. In fact, many of the people they will capture are individuals who will not have to pay much in the way of taxes but the BRA needs to get up and go out and discover who are the persons engaged in businesses,” he said.

Speaking in Parliament yesterday, Marshall stated that routinely every business should be issued with a tax number by BRA.

The MP for St. Joseph outlined that the BRA has the ability to record judgements for taxes against individuals through the presentation of a memorandum at the High Court registry.

“So if they determine that you or I owe ‘x’ dollars or ‘y’ dollars all they have to do is prepare a memo of no more than four or five lines… they take it to the court registry, file it without paying a penny and immediately there is a judgement registered against you the tax payer who was in default. Now you cannot want a simpler mechanism for trying to get people to pay their fair share of taxes. This has been a provision of the Income Tax Act from the very day that it started,” he asserted and questioned why the authority had not been enforcing this.

Marshall therefore urged the Ministry of Finance to address this issue. (JMB)

YESTERDAY marked the beginning of what Government is hoping to be a permanent fix to the South Coast sewage woes, which have had a negative impact on businesses and households in the affected area for many months.

Just after 2 p.m., excavation started around a manhole located at the entrance of the Graeme Hall Nature Sanctuary.

This is being considered a major step which will give access to the breach area on the force main, where it is believed that the effluent line is recycling the water, resulting in the backup of sewage into the streets.

“This is where one of the first set of noises was detected and this is where we believe that we are having some challenges on the force main. The excavation will be done in line or close to the actual manhole, and then we are going to go basically under the manhole to have access to the force main.

“What you actually see here is that the manhole is actually encased in a much wider manhole. So we have to…proceed with caution, we do not want to undermine the manhole. Safety is paramount. We are happy that we are at this point, but we still recognise that this is but the start of another long process, or actually, short process, in repairing or fixing…” Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Barbados Water Authority (BWA), Keithroy Halliday, told members of the media yesterday while standing at the entrance to the Sanctuary.

The CEO said BWA employees will be working around the clock to get the job finished within a matter of four to eight weeks, due to the fact that the rainy season is lingering, in addition to the possible inconvenience that would be caused to businesses in the area where the work is being carried out.

Another excavation is expected to begin next week in front of the old Scotiabank building.

Minister of Energy and Water Resources, Wilfred Abrahams, who was accompanied by Minister of Environment and National Beautification, Trevor Prescod, and other officials to witness the beginning of the excavation process, said that at this time his mind was fixed on finding the problem and rectifying it.

Minister Abrahams said the focus is to get the job done with minimum disruption to people and the environment.

“The compensation aspect will take care of itself in the fullness of time, but that is not our concern now. Our concern now is just getting the job done,” Abrahams said, in response to being asked whether Government was looking at compensating those businesses and householders that would have been severely affected by the crisis.

The Minister noted that while most of the work would be concentrated at the entrance of the Sanctuary for the next seven days, there will be minimal disruption to traffic on Highway 7.

“When we manage to excavate here, we are going to send the cameras down to properly identify what is the cause in front of the old Scotiabank building. When we manage to see that properly, then we will know exactly what we have to deal with when we get there.

“If you balance the inconvenience on the streets for the last three years, against a possible disruption in traffic for four to six weeks, then I think most people would take the disruption in traffic,” Minister Abrahams said. (AH)

The credit union movement is alive and well in the Caribbean, recording significant growth in 2017.

Word of this came earlier this week from Hally Haynes, President of the Caribbean Confederation of Credit Unions (CCCU). He was speaking at the opening of the 61st Annual International Convention at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Trinidad, which is being held under the theme “Credit Unions: The Power to Change the Future”.

According to Haynes, despite myriad social and economic challenges experienced across the region, at the end of December 2017, the regional credit union sector – with 212 affiliated credit unions and a total
membership of 2 270 644 members – saw a 1.4 per cent increase over the figure recorded in 2016. Haynes further told those gathered that in respect of total savings, they recorded an increase of 12.21 per cent for the same period. That, he said, took the savings from US$4.26 billion to US$4.78 billion. He made the point while revealing that the highest growth in savings was recorded by Bermuda with 24.69 per cent, and Trinidad and Tobago with 24.3 per cent.

The President also disclosed that the credit union sector is quite sought after in respect of loans. According to him, the sector’s loan portfolio increased by 11 per cent, moving from US$3.5 billion to US$3.9 billion. Moreover, speaking to total assets, he said this also rose, moving from US $5.13 billion in 2016 to US $5.74 billion at the end of 2017, an increase of approximately 12 per cent. In both cases, he said Trinidad and Tobago was the leading country, recording the highest growth in loans and assets, both increasing by 25 per cent.

“Ladies and gentlemen, brothers and sisters, would you agree with me that the credit union movement in the region has recorded significant growth over the last year. The credit union movement in the region continues to contribute to economic development through the wider community, mobilising significant volumes of savings. They have transformed the social and economic status of thousands of members, enabling them to advance from the underprivileged class to the homeowner class, by providing affordable terms and conditions for access to loans to finance a wide range of programmes,” he said.

While noting that the co-operative business model continues to be resilient and sustainable, Haynes said the model should be adopted on a wider scale to assist the region in shaping its policy agenda. As such, reflecting on the theme of the conference, he said it is their belief that the regional credit union movement has a greater role to play if the region is to build strong, stable and sustainable economies going forward. (JRT)

“Your entire belief system and confidence in your abilities to accomplish your goals and objectives first starts with your thought process.”

This was among the valuable pieces of advice that was offered up by the Founder of ‘When Black Women Speak, The Universe Listens,’ Dr. Arvat McClaine to the students who graduated from The University of the West Indies (U.W.I.), Open Campus ‘Preparing Today for Tomorrow’s Challenges’ Programme which was held recently at Divi Southwinds.

“Understand that your thoughts produce things. Everything that you see around you first started as a thought,” it was pointed out.

She stated that even in those circumstances where it seems as if your particular situation preceded your thoughts, such as being poor and then thinking you are poor, also starts with a thought and once you keep focusing on those thoughts, then that continues to remain your reality and this is why it is important for persons to take control of their thought process.

“Well, the thing is that the thought still came first in those situations. You have an underlying thought that caused those situations to you and those thoughts hold those situations in place. But here is the thing, what we think and what our belief systems are simply handed to us by our families, our churches, our communities and even the country that we live in. So we are often blind to the very thoughts that keep us from the lives that we would love to live. But the thought always comes first. Thoughts produce things. Things do not produce thoughts. You produce thoughts and the universe stands to the will of our thoughts. So it becomes very important that you learn to take control of your thoughts.”

However, it is natural for most persons to keep their thoughts on the negative. “For most of us, we keep our attention locked into all of the things that we don’t want. We look around us and see what is wrong and then we focus on everything that is wrong. We focus on lack like we are not smart enough, we are not rich enough, we are not pretty enough or we are too fat or too young or too old. But the more that you think about these things, the more you lock those things into place,” she explained.

Therefore, the best way that this can be rectified is by replacing all of those negative thoughts with positive ones and spend all of your time and energy focusing on these uplifting thoughts.

“So instead of focusing on your current reality or all of the things that you don’t want, you need to start outing your attention on the things that you do want. Whatever you put your attention on grows. So start thinking about what you do want in life… Spend time everyday giving all of those beautiful thoughts your time and attention,” she urged.

Graduates of the 2018 graduating class of the Competency Based Training Fund are being encouraged to look beyond local businesses when thinking of generating income.

During her feature address, the Hon. Santia Bradshaw, Minister of Education, Technological and Vocational Training urged the graduates to not only consider local employers when looking to source income. With the increasing demand for technical and vocationally skilled employees world-wide, she noted that there is no limit to where they could go to work to achieve success.

“Just this week you would have noted that there have been significant deliberations with the Prime Minister in relation to CARICOM and being able to ensure that persons who want to either reside in Barbados and work or Barbadians who want to reside in the Caribbean and work, that we make it a little bit easier for those persons to take advantage of the opportunities that have been written into the statute books for so long, but have not been fully taken advantage of,” she said.
Bradshaw went on to remind persons present of the Ministry’s promise to reposition the Vocational Training Board.

“I also take this opportunity to remind you of our promise to reposition the Vocational Training Board to embark on new apprenticeship, internships and training in collaboration with community businesses, master crafts people and international bodies and last week the director met with us and we discussed a range of ideas. We also envisioned some exciting and dynamic new projects,” she said.

The Minister further expressed how impressed she was by the number of persons that became certified through the programme recently as they were the persons that would help propel Barbados on an upward trajectory.

“This evening we have 296 Barbadians certified in customer service; I believe that the National Initiative for Service Excellence would be elated with these achievements. We also have 197 Barbadians certified in leadership and management which is critical to implementing change in the organisations and nation on a whole,” she said.

The Minister went on to note that at last year’s World Skills graduation, it was pointed out that there was a need to have a greater investment at a younger level if they are going to be able to compete on the international stage.

“And that remains certainly the commitment of the Government of Barbados and indeed it remains my commitment as well to the Ministry of Education to be able to take us through to ensure that all citizens become global citizens,” she said.

VEHICLE owners who thought they could get away from paying the road tax due for this month have to think again.

Minister of Transport, Works and Maintenance, Dr. William Duguid, clarified that failure to pay the tax up until June 30 would be a bad move since the new fuel tax takes effect from the beginning of July.

“If it [road tax] is due July 1 – No. That is when that matter comes into effect. The law states you have to pay road tax. That change will come July 1. If your road tax is due June 28 and you don’t pay road tax, I would suggest that you put down your vehicle for those two days because if the police holds you, you will be found to be without road tax,” he said.

During a mini-budget which was revealed back on June 11, Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley stated that effective July 1, 2018 the road tax will be abolished and replaced with a Fuel Tax. This will be levied at a rate of 40 cents per litre of petrol and diesel and 5 cents per litre on kerosene effective July 1, 2018.

Officers attached to the District ‘D’ Police Station will have to wait a little longer to occupy their spanking new facilities at Cane Garden, St. Thomas, as the two Criminal Courts in the High Court system will be moved there for the time being.

Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs, Dale Marshall, made the disclosure while speaking to the media yesterday afternoon, after visiting the Cane Garden complex which also houses the District ‘D’ and ‘F’ Magistrates’ Courts, and is expected to provide temporary accommodation for the Coroner and Juvenile Court as well.

The move is necessitated by the environmental problems that have been plaguing the Supreme Court building from earlier this year, and Marshall said it will allow cases to be heard while those environmental issues are dealt with.

While apologising to the Royal Barbados Police Force (RBPF), who he noted is anxious to begin occupying the facility, for the inconvenience caused, AG Marshall said the RBPF has agreed for “the greater good to stand aside” and the courts should commence sittings there from next Monday. His comments came as he revealed that plans remain on stream for the Civil Courts to be housed not too far away at the Manor Lodge Complex in Green Hill, St. Michael.

“Happily this is a new facility that had not yet been occupied and it therefore means that the transition into this place from the Supreme Court building is somewhat easier. Obviously though we have had to spend quite a bit of money in getting it ready to function as a court,” he said.

In that vein, he revealed that Government has had to invest in new equipment to allow for bail applications to de done from the temporary location, in the same way it was done in the Supreme Court Complex at Whitepark Road, St. Michael, where the accused was not required to be physically brought to court. He explained that the equipment at the Supreme Court cannot conveniently be moved, and so they have had to make the additional investment.

“This facility we expect it to be up and running next week. As you can see the physical move of equipment [is] more less complete; one or two technological things I expect would be sorted out over the course of the next few days, but as of next week we would have our Criminal Court in the High Court jurisdiction up and running and also the Master. We know that getting to Cane Garden is going to be a bit of a challenge for some litigants, some individuals, but in this case better can’t be done,” he indicated.

Welcome move
Also on the tour was President of the Barbados Bar Association, Liesel Weekes, who told media personnel that the Bar Association is heartened by the move to Cane Garden for the criminal courts. She said it has been a major concern of theirs that accused matters could not be tried in a timely manner, particularly where those persons are on remand.

“It is in their interest and in pursuit of their constitutional right that they have access to justice, and we are happy that is going to restart as soon as next week. In relation to the civil aspect of things, it is unfortunate that we can’t start as we had previously hoped, which was the 20th of June, and that goal post is shifting a little bit,” she said.

Weekes added, “We do know that in trying to find solutions sometimes other issues may crop up so you can’t meet the deadlines that you hope to meet. We do think however that there are some ameliorating recommendations that have been made, that we would like to see taken out, because it would allow for some movement in the matters that are before the court without an actual building being assigned to it.”
Such, Weekes explained, are among the pressing matters she hopes to discuss with the Attorney General when the Bar Association meets with him early next week.
(JRT)

It is time for development in Barbados to be brought into the 21st century.

This is the view of Prime Minister of Barbados, Mia Amor Mottley, who made this call as she addressed the groundbreaking ceremony of Harmony Hall Green, which took place recently.

“It is about time that we bring development into the 21st century in Barbados,” she said.

“This country’s entire development has been premised on things that may no longer be relevant or, if relevant, may be capable of resolution because of technological and engineering developments.”

The Prime Minister revealed that starting next week Monday, she proposes to meet with all the major developers in the country in an attempt to understand where their developments are, what obstacles are currently blocking them, and to figure out what needs to be addressed so that Barbados can see the kind of growth it needs.

“I therefore propose that from Monday right through to Thursday that I will be meeting with all of the developers of major developments in this country to have those conversations, some will be easy and some will be difficult and I’m not excluding anyone, and therefore for the record that includes the developers of the Hyatt,” she said.

Additionally, she revealed that as per her indication last week, they are going to be reviewing the Town and Country Planning Act Legislation, as well as the zoning of water in the country.

“We are going to address all of the issues because Barbados must be a place that development must take place, but at the same time the rules of fairness and transparency will be respected in everything that we do,” she said.

“We will be broadcasting and streaming those meetings. They will be normal meetings, nothing fancy, but we feel that Barbadians have a right to hear those discussions that will be taking place among the public planners, the private planners, the allied stakeholders in the construction agencies, and of course ordinary Barbadians who are the persons who have to use the system of Town and Country Planning.”

With close to 950 criminal cases backlogged in the court system, serious consideration is being given to how to remedy this situation, including abandoning prosecution on some of them.

Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs Dale Marshall spoke to this yesterday afternoon, moments after touring the police and judicial complex at Cane Garden, St. Thomas, which will be the temporary home of the Criminal Courts while environmental challenges at the Supreme Court Complex are dealt with.

Noting that the backlog in both civil and criminal jurisdictions of the High Court is huge, he disclosed that figures from the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) show there are 947 assize cases, and while not giving an exact figure for the civil cases, he said it is “even greater”. As such, he said concrete steps are being taken to address the matter, including the appointment of three temporary judges as was promised by the new administration during the election campaign, and he said they hope to bring the DPP’s Office up to its full staff complement as well.

“The DDP’s office is made up of eight prosecutors, but only seven filled, but even with those eight it is a major task to get through 947, 950 criminal cases. We recognise that is a situation that is unwieldy and likely to cause the criminal prosecution system to grind to a halt. We have already begun to engage both the Chief Justice and the DPP with a discussion on how we can help deal with some of this backlog,” he said.

Marshall added, “I think it likely that we are going to have to make a decision on whether some of the older cases will simply have to be abandoned by the Crown, but hopefully we will be able to put a mechanism in place which would see different cases receiving different treatments.”

The Legal Affairs Minister made it clear that they are not suggesting that all old cases, some of which date back to 2003, would get purged from the system, as many of those old cases have victims. To that end, he said they are developing a modality of which the goal is to have some element of restorative justice, while at the same time trying to bring that backlog down.

“There are weaknesses that are endemic with trying to prosecute a case that is 15 years old. You are relying on the memories of individuals who have either put those things behind them [or] simply can’t remember… You are not sure if a 15-year old trial is really benefiting the society or perhaps delivering justice in the way in which it should be done. But these are things we are going to continue to engage the public on.”

With that in mind, he said one of the three temporary judges will be dedicated to dealing with the criminal backlog, while the other two will be assigned to the Civil Courts. His comments came as he said that he and Chief Justice Sir Marston Gibson are in talks to see how best to move some of the civil cases off the docket as well. As such, he stated that in instances where it possible to divert cases to full mediation, it will be done.

“The Rules of the Supreme Court which came into force in 2008, we call them the new rules, they were intended to ensure that civil cases move through the system swiftly. Unfortunately, we have brought new rules, but we have put them in the same old wine skins and the concept of case management, which is new in my view, has not bitten into the conduct of civil litigation in the way in which it should be. I would say it would be in impossible to set a strict timeline for the conclusion of any civil trial, but with case management and holding lawyers to account, making people pay costs for delay and so on, we ought to be able to improve on those timelines,” he said.

Marshall said he looks forward to a “mutually satisfactory regime” which would see judges delivering decisions in a more timely fashion. The Attorney General made the point while also raising the matter of the length of time it takes judges to deliver decisions, reiterating his long time concern that they are taking too long. While acknowledging that some steps have been taken to improve that aspect of the system and that there are sometimes outside influences that result in delays, Marshall opined that justice delayed is justice denied and therefore maintained the issue had to be fixed.

“I don’t want to be seen as being overly critical of our Judiciary and I commit to you [Chief Justice] and to the Judiciary that everything that can be provided by the Attorney General’s office to make their work easier and to allow them to function more efficiently, I will move the earth to provide. But at the same time, I not only represent a constituency with people who have cases before the court, I think I represent all of Barbados as a Minister, and if the court system is not going to work in the interest of Barbadians, then you could as well wait for anarchy to set in,” Attorney General Marshall stated. (JRT)

The Government of Barbados will commence formal discussions with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) from next month.

Word of this came Prime Minister of Barbados, The Honourable Mia Amor Mottley, who delivered a few remarks during the groundbreaking ceremony of Harmony Hall Green, which took place on Thursday evening.

“With the IMF, their team will return to start formal discussions with us from July 2 to July 12,” she said.

“Last Thursday, I was meeting with the Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund, to begin the process of the journey back to and the stabilisation of this country and to stop the bleeding. But the contrast between last Thursday and this today – with the groundbreaking – speaks volumes, because even as we seek to stop the bleeding and to contain the damage that has been done in this country, we are about the task of rebuilding and this evening therefore is the imagery of that rebuilding.”

Mottley believes that in order for Barbados to get out of the current position it is in, is to ensure growth.

“We cannot get out of this condition without growth. When we talk about debt to GDP ratio, debt is only one part of the equation. GDP is another part and GDP is determined by how much we grow,” she said.

“If we can continue to grow at a much faster rate than we have traditionally been growing then it means that we can reduce that ratio by tackling it, both with respect to the absolute volume of debt, but equally with the rate of growth by the absolute level of output that we can put out as a country.”

Mottley took the time to formally thank the efforts of Minister of Water Resource, Wilfred Abrahams for being hands on since his appointment and ensuring that the South Coast Sewage Project crisis is being dealt with, as that is a major contributor to the lack of economic growth in the south.

The Prime Minister believes that Abraham’s work is just testament to the fact that the Government may not and will not be able to always stop things from happening; however, when these things do happen, they will be all hands on deck in order to ensure that the problems are solved.

Use the sewage issue as a wake up call in how water services are managed in Barbados.

This is according to Dr. Adrian Cashman, Director of the Centre for Resource Management and Environmental Studies (CERMES), who was speaking to The Barbados Advocate at the Water Resource Management Seminar facilitated by the Barbados Town Planning Society (BTPS) on Friday at Courtyard by Marriott.

He indicated, “I do believe that as a result of the sewage issue that people realise it is not just a South coast issue, this is not about one dysfunctional plant, this is about how we manage our water services and I think we need to really look at how we manage our water services. I am hoping that the new government takes the opportunity to address this situation.

He reassured Barbadians, “We are not at the point where our taps will run dry, but if we don’t plan for the future we will see a situation where we don’t have the same amount of water available to us as we have now. More worryingly is that the cost of water is going to go up. The changes that we have seen recently are starting to address the cheapness of water, the potential changes we have seen and our perception of the value of water is going to change. We are going to value water much more. We are not at a crisis point, but it is a challenge that needs to be tackled now.

We have to drill down because if we were to go into a drought situation like we had in 2015-2016, there will be challenges in the system and some people will not get the amount of water they would like to get.”

According to him, “As we look ahead with the potential impact of climate change, [that] could negatively impact ground water. In other words if we don’t change our habits and remember we have competing needs, we have the Tourism Industry, Agriculture, residential homes, offices etc they all want water and they are all drawing from the same limited resource, thus we still have demand for water but not the same amount to go around. We can avoid that situation and we have seen good examples globally in how we can use water more effectively and efficiently.” (NB)

Award Winning Chef in Barbados, Michael Hinds believes that it should be mandatory that students in secondary school take part in an internship programme before they leave school.

Owner and Culinary Director of Terasu Inc., Couture Caterers Hinds believes that this can improve the future of productivity and competiveness in Barbados to start gaining work skills from early.

While addressing his alma mater, the Graydon Sealy Secondary formerly the Garrison Secondary School, Business partners meeting on Thursday he explained, “Many places offer, sun, sea and sun but what will separate us is how we deliver our products, the quality of our work, therefore it is important to have well-trained individuals operating at real world pace. Since we are not big enough to produce anything in quantity, our focus has to be quality driven niche market products and services, to achieve this we need public /private sector partnership which offers incentives to companies to take on interns from secondary school. However, this needs to be mandatory in the schools curriculum system to cover work skills. This will further improve and increase our productivity levels over the long term that we can be a more competitive country. Free education is an investment and there must be a return on that….”

Hinds indicated what has guided him over the years in achieving his goals is sacrifice. He recounted, “When I was 14, I did an internship through school and it was an experience. A lot of students may be facing difficult situations but you can create your own positive path by making the best out of opportunities, such as internships. I worked in the Kitchen at Grand Barbados and I realized my love for food and the creativity of food. The internship was a character building exercise and it aided and guided me to following my new found passion. I was never paid for my internships but I was happy to learn and I got to test drive a career and also gain experience...”

“... I was able to go on to Sandy Lane because now I had experience so I was able to get the job because I got a jump start by doing an internship. I was able to achieve promotions and pay raises because employers saw the value in my work and I was sent to training and was able to work throughout the world.”

He continued, “I left Sandy Lane in 2006 as the second most senior post and I left to start my own businesses, now Owner of Terasu Inc., Couture Caterers etc. . . .”

“We also bring on interns into our company for them to have that opportunity. It is important young person’s take internships seriously. It is not about money as some don’t pay, but gaining the skills and experience to develop oneself to create a career path,” Hinds emphasised. (NB)

The various Optimist clubs across Barbados and the Caribbean would soon be embarking on a campaign aimed at stamping out bullying and other forms of school violence from our schools – both primary and secondary.

This is according to the Governor of the Optimist International Caribbean District, Calvin Hunter who spoke to the media on the sidelines of their Third Quarter Regional Meeting recently at the 3 Ws Oval, University of the West Indies (U.W.I.), Cave Hill Campus.

He stated that this campaign would soon be on multimedia formats including both the traditional media such as the print and electronic as well as social media.

It would have the late, Jamaican Reggae Musician, Bob Marley’s hit song, ‘Get Up, Stand Up’ as its theme song as the lyrics entail exactly what they as members in the Optimist Clubs are trying to do, which is to get up and take a stand for these children who are being bullied and it would be spread across five islands – Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Grand Cayman and Jamaica, stated the Caribbean District Governor.

They already have the cooperation of various stakeholders such as the media and corporate organizations in some of the islands in this regard and they are also hoping to get superstars such as Barbados born singer, actress and businesswoman, Robyn Rihanna Fenty on board.

“So our programme would be spreading messages, doing public service announcements, (getting) superstars – hopefully Rihanna would come on board for Barbados, but we have other stars from the Caribbean, the corporate and the media are already on board. So we want to spread the message that the Optimists are here for the children, we are here to help them and we are here as big brothers, big sisters, moms and fathers for our children.”

Hunter acknowledged that bullies do not see their actions as an abuse of power when they hurt others with their words, but instead view it as a form of joking around and the person on receiving end, not being able to ‘take a joke,’ ‘being sensitive’ or ‘getting defensive.’ He stated that this is why their campaign would touch on areas that are not usually covered in bullying campaigns such as the aforementioned and physical bullying and it would target both the bullies as well as the ones being bullied.

“...Our campaign is geared at both the bullies and the persons being bullied because more often than not, the message really goes out just to one party. Our message would be for both parties to help them to understand what is bullying and as I said, the definition that I gave earlier which is bullying is a hurtful or harmful act in a relationship and repeated where there is an imbalance of power – and if you think of it, once that person is being hurt, it means it is bullying. It is not a joke anymore.”