caribbean graphic april 2013

VOL. 7, NO. 07 • April 3, 2013 618 Strouds Lane, Pickering, ON L1V 4S9 • Tel: 905.831-4402 • Fax: 416.292.2943 • Email: [email protected]

S E N D M I N U T E S F R O M H E R E

ST JOHN’S, Antigua, Vere Bird Jr, the elder brother of former prime minister

Lester Bird, has died. He was 76. Bird, the first son of the island’s first prime minister Vere Corn-wall Bird, died of an apparent heart attack at the Joey John’s clinic on March 31.

Bird, an attorney, entered poli-tics in 1981 and served as minis-ter of agriculture, as well as min-ister of aviation, information and public service. He also served as chairman of the Antigua Labour Party (ALP).

As Public Works and Commu-nications he oversaw the recon-struction of the V C Bird Inter-

national Airport, which was the subject of controversy after it was discovered that he had granted a

contract for the con-struction of a new run-way to a company in which he was a share-holder.

He was later fired af-ter a scandal in which Israeli weapons sold to Antigua and Barbu-da, were found in the hands of the Medellin cartel, Colombian drug smugglers, and a report by Sir Louis Blom-Cooper recommended that he be prohibited

from holding public office again.But despite that report, Bird

returned to government in 1996

serving as minister of science, technology and communica-tions and after the 1999 general election he served as minister of trade, industry, agriculture, lands and fisheries.

The ALP lost the general elec-tion in 2004, and five years later Bird, along with six other senior ALP members including his brother, was arrested for partici-pating in an unauthorised May Day rally. The seven politicians were found guilty of public or-der offences, although the trial was delayed following a seizure suffered by Bird. He suffered two more seizures in 2010, after the completion of the trial.

Soca Legends David Rudder and Denyse Plummer, along with Pan Maestro Ken “Pro-

fessor” Philmore, will be the main attractions of the Drupati’s Roti sponsored May 5th Ultimate Moth-er’s Day Show. The brand new and luxurious Scarborough Convention Centre will be the venue for the show which will also feature per-formances by Cane Fire, the Con-nector-Joanne Davis connection and steel pannist Mark Mosca.

Popular Caribbean community Deejays, Soca Vibes, D’Bandit and Bad Lad will also be on site to en-tertain members of the very large audience the top class cast Show is expected to attract. SKF and Eman will alternate as Show hosts.Tickets have been priced at $40 early bird, $45 regular advance and $50 for special reserved seating.

Rudder is considered to be one of the most successful calypsonians of all time. Having started 1977 as a lead vocalist for Charlie’s Roots, one of Trinidad and Tobago top bands, he came to prominence in 1986 with his album The Hammer,

which produced two big hits: “The Hammer” (a tribute to the late pan-nist Rudolph Charles) and “Bahia Girl”. This was followed in 1987 with “Calypso Music”, a brilliant encapsulation of the history of ca-lypso. In 1988 Rudder released what is widely considered his best album to date, Haiti, which included the title track, a tribute to the glory and suffering of Haiti; “Engine Room”, which captured the energy of the steel band; and “Rally ‘Round the West Indies”, which subsequently became adopted as the anthem of West Indies cricket.

Denyse Plummer was enlisted by Phase II Pan Groove steel-band arranger Len “Boogsie” Sharpe in 1986 to sing his band’s Panorama entry. It was then that Plummer started making a name for herself as a calypso-

nian. In 1988, with yet another Len “Boogsie” Sharpe pan tune, “Woman Is Boss,” she arrived at the National Calypso Monarchy finals and also won the Calypso Queen crown. Since then she has taken the Calypso Queen crown a total of four times and has won the World Calypso Crown three times.

Considered one of the world’s top steel-pan soloists, Ken “ Pro-fessor” Philmore has performed and recorded with numerous illus-trious international artistes, includ-ing Ella Fitzgerald, Tito Puente, Nancy Wilson, Tina Turner, Andy Narrell, Ralph McDonald, Lionel Hampton and the Duke Elling-ton Orchestra. He was honoured in 1989, by Pan Trinbago, as the country’s most outstanding musi-cal arranger.

Heart Attack Claims Vere Bird

Rudder, Plummer, Philmore To Headline Ultimate Mother’s Day Show!

April 3, 2013CARIBBEAN GRAPHICPAGE 2

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Caribbean born CBC News Anchor Dwight Drummond has become a source of community pride, as

well as a symbol of the rewards that hard work and self belief can oftentimes gen-erate. A native of Montego Bay, Jamaica, Drummond came to Canada in 1976 and grew up in a housing project. In grade school, teachers praised the way he read PA announcements. Raised in Toronto’s Jane and Finch neighbourhood, he attend-ed high school at Runnymede Collegiate Institute. An Ontario Scholar he later successfully completed studies graduat-ing from Ryerson University’s Radio and Television Arts program

Drummond first assumed public media prominence as Citytv’s crime special-ist. He started out at Citytv as a security guard on Electric Circus in 1989, working subsequently as a teleprompter operator, floor director, studio cameraman, deputy chief of assignment, anchor of CityNews Streetbeat, and videographer for Cit-yNews. Willingly doing”just about every job there is to do in a newsroom” as he worked his way up through the industry. He also appeared in the Maestro Fresh-Wes music video “Let Your Backbone Slide” as the cameraman at the beginning sequences.

Having previously anchored CityNews at Noon, he was later made anchor for an-other newscast, CityNews at Five. Due to the Citytv layoffs in January 2010, Drum-mond lost his anchoring job, but continued

DRUMMonD SeRving AS A SoURce of coMMUniTy PRiDe

to work as the station’s crime specialist. He left the station September 6, 2010. On October 12, 2010, he joined Anne-Marie Mediwake as co-anchor for supper hour newscasts on CBC News Toronto, co-host-ing CBC News Toronto at 5, 5:30 and 6 p.m. weeknights on CBC Television.

Known for his exclusives, he’s broken local stories that have gone national and has reported from the U.S., Caribbean and Africa. He had the lead story on Cit-yNews’ Gemini win for best newscast, and a top story for City’s Edward R. Murrow win for best newscast.

Dwight has also received a number awards for his police reporting and awards and commendations for his com-munity work. He was honoured with the Men of Excellence Award, the Distin-guished Men of Honour Award and the African Canadian Achievement Award for excellence in media. Dwight is a sought after motivational speaker and MC.

Often compared to the late Ed Bradley, Drummond has cited the late, legendary 60 Minutes correspondent as his inspira-tion for becoming a newsman.

“I’ve always been very interested in what’s going on in my city, my country and the world,” Drummond says. “This job allows me to both learn and share in-formation.”

A Toronto city resident Drummond shares his home with wife Janice and daughters Kayla and Jolie.

April 3, 2013 CARIBBEAN GRAPHIC PAGE 3

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Scotiabank carnival Awards Seneca Scholarships

Alluring AllyshaHaving recently graduated from York University with an Honours Busi-ness degree with a specialization in Human Resource Management, Allysha is currently studying French and Spanish with the aspiration of working abroad in the International Human Resource Management field. She enjoys cooking, travel-

ing and spending time with family and friends in

her spare time. On some weekends she

even tends bar at Leela’s Tropical Nights Restau-rant, owned as it is by her Mom and Dad!

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The five students will receive their schol-arships on Tuesday April 2 in Markham, as part of Seneca College’s Community Award Ceremony. This year’s scholarship recipients are:

Dinero DavisTemitope Owolabi Joy Uhunmhansebhor Irina Masner, Adam Murra

The scholarships are fully funded by the Festival Management Commit-tee (Scotiabank Caribbean Carnival Toronto) in partnership with Seneca College. Tuition assistance is given to those Scarborough high school stu-dents who are active in building on the strengths of the community, (e.g., peer tutoring or coaching in after school programs, such as breakfast club; se-

niors and families; and organized team sports.) This year the students will be sharing scholarships totaling $3,000.00

The students were honoured at the Seneca College Award Ceremony that was held at the Markham Campus.

Scotiabank Caribbean Carnival To-ronto is an exciting three-week cultural explosion of Caribbean music, cuisine, revelry as well as visual and perform-ing arts. The Carnival begins July 9th with the official free launch at Toron-to’s City Hall, with events continuing throughout the month. The Grand Pa-rade will be held Saturday August 3rd along the city’s Lakeshore Blvd. The Festival ends August 4thwith Beyond de Lime. Scotiabank, GMC, the City of Toronto, the Province of Ontario, the Toronto Star, CTV and CP24 sponsor the 2013 Festival.

Toronto’s Scotiabank Caribbean Carnival’s Festival Manage-ment Committee’s Scholarship Committee has announced that five scholarships have been awarded to high school students selected from Wards 7, 8 and 9 to pursue their post-secondary education at Seneca College beginning this fall. The scholar-ships are part one of the methods in which the Scotiabank To-ronto Caribbean Carnival festival engages the community.


Export-led growth: Who will lead in the Caribbean? Part 2

Despite all the promises of the Eco-nomic Partnership Agreement (EPA) with the European Union

(EU), the countries of the Caribbean have not benefitted from increased exports to EU markets or from increased investment from the EU.

The 15 Caribbean countries to which I refer are the 14 independent member states of the Caribbean Community (CARI-COM) and the Dominican Republic – to-gether described as CARIFORUM. Each of these countries has individually signed EPAs with the collective 27-nation EU.

According to Ivan Ogando Lora, the director-general of CARIFORUM, over the last five years since the EPA has been operational, “exports of goods from Ca-ribbean countries to the EU has practi-cally remained stagnant going from €4.6 (US$5.8) billion in 2007 to €4.5 (US$5.7) billion in 2011”. Further, he says that “with regard to trade in commercial ser-vices, CARIFORUM members exported €4.9 (US$6.2) billion in 2009 while the corresponding figure for 2011 was €4.7 (US$6) billion”. It is clear, therefore, that

Sir Ronald Sanders

Publisher/Editor: Tony McWattContributors: Sandra Ann Baptiste, Akua Hinds, Christine Reid, Sir Ronald Sanders,Legal: Oumarally and BaboolalGraphic Design: Adryan & Mel Manasan (www.echodesign.ca)

618 Strouds Lane, Pickering, ON L1V 4S9 • Tel: 905.831-4402 • Fax: 416.292.2943 • Email: [email protected] • www.caribbeangraphic.ca

No Complaints From This End!

the existence of the EPA has not resulted in greater exports of Caribbean goods and services to Europe.

While there are obstacles to markets of EU countries despite the EPA, the main reason for the stagnation of Caribbean ex-ports is the private sector’s failure to gear itself to take advantage of opportunities that exist. It also lacks access to capital, and it faces relatively high-costs of labour and other factors of production. This will remain the case, except for a few large companies in the region, unless there is a collaborative effort with governments to regionalise production for exports of both goods and services and to create region-wide machinery to facilitate exports.

The stagnation of Caribbean exports to the EU market requires urgent attention, particularly as no other area of the world gives the Caribbean equivalent wide ac-cess. Immediate attention should also be given to penetrating new markets par-ticularly non-traditional ones which have expanded exponentially in recent years. These markets are China, India and Bra-zil, particularly.

Unless, such exports are expanded, the countries of the region will not earn enough foreign exchange to pay for their vital imports including oil and gas. They will also lack the capital to maintain and improve physical infrastructure such as tourism plants, modern telecommunica-tions, road transportation and ports.

A great task, therefore, falls to the Ca-ribbean’s private sector. But while a great-er effort is needed by the private sector to retool their enterprises and to take advan-tage of existing markets and target new ones, this is not a task they can under-take alone. In this regard, CARIFORUM governments should already have started negotiations with India and Brazil to es-tablish treaties that agree rules for trade, investment and development assistance on a long-term and predictable basis. They should also have launched negotiations for double-taxation agreements.

China presents a special problem that CARIFORUM countries should resolve sooner rather than later. Nine of the 15 CARIFORUM countries have diplomatic relations with China while six of them maintain relations with Taiwan. This situ-ation deprives CARIFORUM of the op-portunity to negotiate a single agreement with China as CARIFORUM countries have done with the EU. It is understood that the six countries with links to Taiwan – and who are beneficiaries of Taiwan’s aid – wish to continue to receive this as-sistance, but they should not stand in the way of the other nine countries settling better arrangements than now exist with China through a long-term trade, aid and investment treaty. The nine should pro-ceed to conclude a treaty with China. The remaining six should have the option to join such a Caribbean-China treaty should circumstances change in the future.

The stagnation in EU trade in goods and services is unlikely to improve not only because of the lack or readiness by the Caribbean’s private sector to take ad-vantage of the EU markets, but also be-cause the EU is busily signing-up EPAs with other parts of the world whose goods and services directly compete with the Caribbean’s.

By the same token, the Caribbean’s oth-

er traditional markets, the US and Cana-da, based on several factors — including their proximity, a significant Caribbean Diaspora population, and their size — still offer export opportunities that should be energetically pursued.

One of the important findings of the recently held Colloquium is that a Carib-bean Business Council comprising high-level government and private sector rep-resentatives has to be set-up urgently to make binding policy decisions about how to expand Caribbean exports of goods and services, and to put in place the machin-ery to do so expeditiously. This should no longer be a matter for delay.

Beyond this, however, are two critical mechanisms that would help the private sector to penetrate new markets. These are a Pan-CARIFORUM Export-Import (Ex-Im) Bank and a region-wide Export Credit Guarantee Scheme (ECGS). There is every reason to believe that a Pan-CAR-IFORUM Ex-Im Bank to provide the Ca-ribbean private sector with access to capi-tal for exports, and a Pan-CARIFORUM Export Credit Guarantee Scheme, would receive initial funding support from do-nors and lenders including multilateral financial institutions.

As Delisle Worrell, the governor of the Barbados Central Bank, pointed out re-cently, “Caribbean economies may grow in a sustainable fashion only when their foreign exchange earnings increase”. To increase such earnings, exports of goods and services must expand. Collective ac-tion is required by governments and the private sector. An improved quality of life for the Caribbean’s people depends on it.

(The writer is a Consultant, former Caribbean diplomat and now Visiting

Fellow, London University)Responses and previous commentar-

ies: www.sirronaldsanders.com

As Caribbean Graphic’s Publisher I am often on the receiving end of complaints from members of the

community on the perceived shortcomings of other newspapers. Invariably accompa-nied by the suggestion that our airing such views would be of service to the commu-nity. Our response has always been that it is not our place to do so, rather we would prefer to utilize our own energies and re-sources towards becoming the type of publication of which anyone and everyone within the Community can be justifiably proud.

As a primary example we often hear grumblings that the design and content today of the community’s three longest established papers is not that much differ-ent from the way it was when they started twenty, thirty and in at least one instance forty years ago. The belief amongst many is that being in as creative a field as print media, those papers should have become shining symbols of all that’s good in our

community, instead of their seemingly endless regurgitation of pages that are un-inspiring in their design and uninteresting in content.

Our response to such grumblings is to remind those who suggest as much that by sheer virtue of their longevity our Com-munity’s top three newspapers SHARE, Indo and Caribbean Camera are still de-serving of the highest respect. Having at one point or another been involved with all three I can myself make such an assur-ance with some degree of pride.

As the longest established of the three, SHARE is often accused of not having given greater opportunities to young writ-ers within our Community. Too much of its content, it’s been said, is now written by one individual.

For its part Indo is now often criticized for having allowed its content ratio to be-come so heavily skewed towards advertis-ing that its writers, as talented as they are, are now lost in a sea of ads, some often

stacked four to a page. Many question how much value this can be to either Indo’s ad-vertisers or its readers.

As a publication that constantly pro-motes itself the best representative of com-munity cohesiveness, Caribbean Camera has been constantly criticized for its far too often practice of producing Issues with badly blurred front page photos. Those who notice this tendency are quick to sug-gest Camera should instead be setting stan-dards that serve as an example for others to follow.

As Caribbean peoples many of my own Facebook friends have relayed to me how often ashamed they are of the postings of one of Camera’s leading writers. This self accredited journalist, often cites Camera as “Canada’s Premiere Caribbean Newspa-per.” Thereby demonstrating for Facebook millions to see, that his journalistic accred-itations were insufficient to allow him to distinguish between the respective defini-tions of “premier “and “premiere!”

As busy as I am trying to make Carib-bean Graphic a publication that’s different and dynamic, I can ill afford to occupy my-self with such shortcomings of our rivals. I do wish though that the principals of many of the other minor players that now mas-querade as community newspapers would desist from their dishonest practices of in-flating their circulation numbers. Anyone who has been in this industry long enough will verify the economic impossibility of offering full page ads at $200 - $300 if your are truthfully printing any more than 5,000 copies of any weekly or bi-weekly Issue. What peeves me even more is the number of business owners who naively believe such outlandish claims and stu-pidly support that blatant dishonesty with their hard earned advertising dollars.

Like I said before, I am now far too busy trying to make Caribbean Graphic the best it can possibly be, as such you won’t ever hear any complaints about our rivals from me!

Tony Mc.


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UWi’s Tales of WoeBRIDGETOWN, Unprec-edented “hardships” for students and staff, and an “embarrassing” in-ability to pay suppli-ers and workers on time. That’s what the University of the West Indies Cave Hill Cam-pus has been facing as it waits for almost $200 million in economic costs and tuition fees owed to it by the Freundel Stuart Admin-istration.

In the wake of recent statements from Government that it will pay $90 million between next month and July to start clearing its arrears to the UWI, most of it due to the Barbados campus, Prin-cipal Professor Sir Hilary Beckles new annual report to the institution’s council has detailed the tales to support op-erations which were budgeted against tales of woe his organisation has faced over the past year. The noted academic said things were so bad because of the delay in receiving state funds that

Evolving EnergyBRIDGETOWN, Major

changes are on the cards for Barbados’ energy sector, in-

cluding initiatives that are expected to reduce the island’s foreign oil dependency. This was disclosed by Deputy Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Energy, Jehu Wiltshire, as he addressed a March 28 prize giving ceremony for winners of the Energy Week 2012 competitions at the Barbados Light & Power Com-pany Limited.

Wiltshire described energy as a “three-pronged fork made up of the hydrocarbons sector, the renewable and energy efficiency sector and the electricity sector”. He ex-plained that several initiatives would be rolled out later this year, the objective of which would be to reduce foreign oil de-pendency, save foreign exchange, increase energy security, to promote renewable en-ergy and energy efficiency, create jobs and promote energy conservation.

Wilshire revealed that in the next few months, an Electric, Light and Power Bill would be submitted to both Cabinet and Parliament, and the intention, among other things, was to facilitate the sale of electricity to the grid from renewable energy sources. Adding that the distribution of energy effi-

cient lights was also on the way, Wiltshire said that there were plans for a number of Government buildings to be retrofitted with solar electricity systems over the next four months, with 19 structures, including schools, already earmarked.

With regard to petroleum energy, the min-istry representative explained “we are go-ing to be importing low sulphur diesel into Barbados, we have heard the complaints of a number of persons about the high price…; within the next few months we are going to be finalising licences for an oil company to commence [offshore] exploration”.

He disclosed that a $50 million public sector energy conservation programme would soon commence which is going to entail retrofitting a number of buildings with energy efficiency technologies.

“the campus has been placed in the un-precedented and embarrassing position of being unable to settle accounts with suppliers as promptly as it had done in the past”.

The pro vice chancellor noted the campus was forced to con-

tinue with a number of bud-get cutting strategies “to

cope with the financial crisis which threat-ened to have a severe impact on the core operations on the campus”.

For a third straight year the UWI here “con-

tinued freezing of vacan-cies, thus creating unprec-

edented hardships for students and the academic and administrative staff”.

Other measures included strict moni-toring of teaching loads, use of energy saving strategies, reductions in overseas travel and greater use of teleconferenc-ing, deferral of all but the most critical maintenance activities, and reduction in overtime work “to its most essential minimum”.

Sir Hilary also said the non-payment of funds for special projects developed in collaboration with Government “ad-versely affected research and innova-tion initiatives”.


BRIDGETOWN, CariCRIS has lowered by one notch its ratings on the notional debt issue of USD 300 million of the Government of Barbados to CariA+ (Foreign Currency Rating) and CariAA- (Lo-

cal Currency Rating). The indigenous Caribbean credit rating agency stated that its downgrade

of Barbados’s ratings was driven by the below-expectation-performance of key macroeconomic indicators in 2012, and the non-achievement of tar-geted improvement in the fiscal performance.

In a recent press release on the decision, CariCRIS noted that not only was there no growth in Barbados’s real gross domestic product (GDP) in 2012, but there was in fact a reversal of the marginal growth recorded in the previous two years.

While acknowledging that a small return to growth of 0.5-1% is expected in 2013, the ratings agency cautioned that this was dependent on the recov-ery of Barbados’ main tourism markets. Unemployment rose to 11.3% in 2012, the highest it has been in over a decade and CariCRIS said it expected unemployment levels to remain high at around 11-12% in 2013.

BRIDGETOWN, B’S Metal Recycling Plant will no longer be transferring its met-al dump to Bagatelle, St Thomas.

On March 30, six days after the mas-sive fire at its present lo-cation at Cane Garden in the same parish, operator of the business Paul By-noe removed all of his equipment from Bagatelle, which was earmarked to be the new site.

Trucks lined up to re-move the state-of-the-art million dollar metal shredder, containers and other equipment which had been lying idle for the

ScrappedBRIDGETOWN, Mothers have been accepting payments, some

as high as $10 000, to end court cases against men charged with raping their daughters. Former Juvenile Court Magistrate

Faith Marshall-Harris made the charge on mArch 27 during a town hall meeting at the Christ Church Foundation School, where she pre-sented some of her recommendations for the upgrading of laws relat-ing to children, women and families.

She expressed disgust at the practice and reported that she had already spoken to the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Charles Leacock, QC, about it.

“I hear the going rate is $10 000,” the UNICEF Children’s Champi-on told the gathering that included president of the National Organi-sation of Women, Marilyn Rice-Bowen.

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BRIDGETOWN, Gay men may already be in the ranks of the Barbados Boys Scouts Association. So says Darcy Dear of the United Gays and Lesbians Association of Barbados (UGLAB), in response to recent comments made by Chief Commissioner Dr Nigel Taylor that openly gay men will continue to be shut out of enlisting in the

101-year-old organization.“All Taylor doing is really pushing more

people to hide because they are in there al-ready,” Dear told the local media.

“You don’t have to be openly gay to get in, you are in there already. Taylor may be afraid to know the number of gays already within the ranks.

gAy ScoUTS

past nine months because of residents’ objections.

While he refused to answer journalists’ questions about the move, Bynoe gave reporters gathered at Bagatelle, a news release stating that the scrap metal yard may be relocated to Vaucluse, also in St Thomas.

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KINGSTOWN, St Vincent — Under a Euro 30 million project funded by the European Union (EU) for projects to improve sus-tainable and equitable manage-ment of fisheries and aquaculture in Africa Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) states, fisheries officials from CARIFORUM states are receiving training in the use of modern, cutting-edge, informa-tion and communication technol-ogy tools in their daily activities.

“The enhanced use of these modern communication and information sharing tools, such as video-conferencing, social networking, tools for online collabora-tive document preparation and editing, can result in significant cost savings, increased productivity and outputs, as well as boost the earnings and income of fishers, and improve competitiveness and profitability within the fisheries and aquaculture sector,” said Milton Haugh-ton, executive director, of the Caribbean Regional Fisheries Mechanism (CRFM) Secretariat, at the launch of a three-day

regional training on information and knowledge sharing on sustainable fisher-ies management in the Caribbean.

Haughton described the March 25 – 27 regional training workshop as “another significant milestone in our journey to transform the fisheries and aquaculture sector, and enhance its contribution to national economic de-velopment.”

He said that organizers are providing practical training which they hope will improve capacities and lead to greater integration of information and commu-nication technology tools in all areas of the work of fisheries departments and other fisheries organisations in the region.

According to Haughton, the Workshop training is the second and final regional fisheries workshop on this subject of in-formation and knowledge sharing and enhanced communication among stake-holders in the fisheries sector. It builds consensus on the goals and targets for the IT component of the CRFM’s new Com-munication Strategy which was reviewed and updated this January.

Representatives from the CRFM Sec-

Workshop provides Fisheries training

DUES noT paidST.JOHN’S, Antigua, A representative of one of the major donor governments of the Regional Security System said some mem-ber states are not paying dues and it is a worrying sign as it relates to the sustain-ability of the unit.

Canada’s High Commissioner to Barba-dos and the Eastern Caribbean, Richard Hanley has said while indicating that Can-ada was committed to continuing to assist the RSS, member-states that owe dues need to clear the arrears.

“In an era of fiscal restraint, where demands for assistance are many and re-

sources are scarce, it is more important than ever to ensure that Canada chooses to support institutions whose member-ship demonstrates its own commitment.

“In this regard, the non-payment of dues by a number of RSS nations is a worrying sign. In the short term the RSS would benefit from consistent core fi-nancial support from all of its members,” Hanley said.

At the time, he was addressing repre-sentatives of the seven RSS member states and other partners that support the unit.

The RSS membership comprises An-tigua & Barbuda, Barbados, Dominica, Grenada, St. Kitts Nevis, St. Lucia and St. Vincent & the Grenadines.

Hanley did not go into detail of who owes what, but he noted that Canada is not the only donor to have expressed concern.

The official said the RSS member states should consider the costs or effects on the region should the unit fall apart.

BoATRiDe enDS in DRoWningCASTRIES, St. Lucia, Police say one man drowned after he got into difficulties during a fun boat ride on March 31. Police said that Garfield Jean of Cul De Sac, on the outskirts of the capital, was pro-nounced dead at the Soufriere Hospital, south east of here, after he encountered difficulties and jumped off the boat into the sea near Magretoute in Soufriere. The police gave no further details, but boat rides are common here especially during the long holiday weekends.

retariat and eleven CARIFORUM states participated in the training workshop: Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Be-lize, Dominica, Dominican Republic,

Grenada, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, St Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, St Vin-cent and the Grenadines, and Trinidad and Tobago.


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ST JOHN’S, Antigua and Barbuda, The Antigua Labour Department’s recent decision that LIAT airlines

had unfairly dismissed former pilot Cap-tain Michael Blackburn is not holding much weight with the regional carrier. In a recent press release LIAT revealed that in fact Captain Blackburn had filed pro-ceedings in the High Court of Antigua (case ANUHCY2012/0536) against LIAT challenging his December 2011 dismissal just two months after he referred the mat-

ter to the Labour Department in Antigua and Barbuda.

Therefore, argued LIAT: “In these cir-cumstances where the complainant com-mences High Court Action before the determination of the conciliation process before the Labour Department, the com-plainant would usually be regarded to have signalled his intent to have the mat-ter determined by the Court instead of the Labour Department as it is incongruous for both the Labour Department’s concili-

ation and a High Court Action to be sub-sisting simultaneously.”

Moreover, revealed LIAT, the High Court Action was in fact last heard on March 5, 2013, when an interlocutory application by Blackburn was dismissed with costs by the Court.

LIAT maintained that the conciliation process is a confidential process which requires the agreement of both parties to any recommendation for a settlement to be achieved. However, no award was made

by the Labour Department and LIAT has not accepted the recommendation of the unfair dismissal.

The Antigua-based regional carrier said it was obliged to proceed with the action commenced by Captain Blackburn before the High Court of Antigua and Barbuda.

In the meantime, The Leeward Islands Airline Pilots Association (LIALPA) has come out in strong support of the Labour Department’s decision in favour of their former leader.

ST. GEORGE’S, Grenada, Prime Min-ister, Dr.Keith Mitchell has sought to assure Grenadians that plans are in

the making to have wiretapping legislation in place within a few months to assist with the fight against crime.

“The legislation will pro-vide for wire tapping to only be done to assist in crimes related to drug trafficking, terrorism and other forms of criminal activities, it will never be for the use of moni-toring people’s private life,” said Mitchell who is also the Minister of National Secu-rity.

While in opposition, Mitchell said there was evidence of wire tapping during the tenure of the Tilman Thomas led National Democratic Congress.

“The intention is not to get the police respon-sible for wiretapping anybody at their judgment, only a Judge will make that determination after the police would have presented a case on be-half of the state,” he said.

On March 27 Governor General Sir Car-lyle Glean indicated that some persons are still en-gaging in illegal wiretap-ping.

“In particular, my Gov-ernment will not encour-age or support any attempt to record private conversa-tions and use them against citizens except for cases of

criminality. Persons who engage in such practices as wiretapping will face and feel the full force of the law,” Sir Carlyle said when he delivered the Throne Speech at the opening of Parliament.

Wiretapping Legislation Forthcoming For Grenada

GEORGE TOWN, Cayman Is-lands, The Smoothie Factory has signed a master franchise agree-ment with ASK7 Enterprises Ltd to develop its brand throughout over 25 Caribbean countries. Included in this mix are Barbados, Cay-man Islands, Dominican Republic, Jamaica, Puerto Rico, St Lucia, Trinidad and Tobago, The Baha-mas, and Bermuda. The agree-ment calls for the development of Smoothie Factory stores within the Caribbean region and also for sub-franchising of the Smoothie Fac-tory brand from ASK7 Enterprises Ltd.

The first store under the agree-ment will open in Cayman Islands,

during the second quarter of 2013 and with plan to expand to the Do-minican Republic in the next 12 – 18 months.

Since the company’s founding in Texas in 1996, the Smoothie Fac-tory has taken its brand across

The signing of the agreement marked the continuing expansion of the Smoothie Factory System internationally. Over the next few months, Smoothie Factory plans to celebrate the opening of stores in Jeddah and Dammam, Saudi Arabia, Delhi, India, and Newfoundland, Canada. With the opening in the Cayman Islands Smoothie Factory will operate in 7 countries.

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Guyana DigestGuyana Digest

Bandits Attack Forestry Commission Offices

GEORGETOWN, On March 29 Ban-dits on snatched a revolver and five matching rounds

from a security guard who was on duty at the Guyana Forestry Commission (GFC) building, Kara Kara, Linden, even as Even as police try to take illegal guns out of crim-inal networks.

Police said the female se-curity guard was attacked by two men, one of whom was armed with a gun, around 4:30 AM.

The bandits then took the guard into GFC building where they held up Forestry Offi-cer, 25-year old Kevin Glasgow.

They took away his personal jewellery, a laptop computer, an Ipod, and two cell

phones and escaped, police spokesman, Ivelaw Whit-taker said in a statement.

Police last year recov-ered 111 firearms compris-ing 28 pistols, 39 revolvers, 31 shotguns and 13 rifles.

Forty-nine of the those guns were recovered in the

then “E&F” Division with the largest sei-zure being during October when four AK47 rifles and six M16 rifles were recovered at Tabatinga, Lethem, along with a quantity of ammunition, magazines, shrapnel hand gre-nades and radio sets.

GEORGETOWN, Government’s rolling out of its E-Governance project has hit a snag at Spar-

endaam-Plaisance, East Coast Demerara where residents have begun opposing the construction of transmitter tower on the Community Centre and play ground. A huge hole has been dug as well as green-heart piles and heavy duty machinery have been mobilized to construct a base for the transmitter just north of the pavilion. So

far, agitation by a small number of resi-dents including sportsmen has resulted in the sub-contractor withdrawing one small excavator from the playground.

Peoples National Congress Reform (PNCR) activist, Aubrey Norton told Willis that the new mast should be locat-ed where the only radio station transmis-sion station and masts were located.

He accused government of muscling its way to dominate and displace the

Bartica easter Regatta Draws Huge crowds

GEORGETOWN, Reggae sen-sations Jah Cure and Dwayne Stephenson were two of several

visitors from overseas who greeted Pres-ident Donald Ramotar at the crowded Bartica Beach front for the annual Eas-ter holiday Regatta.

“The Cure” as he is otherwise known was the highlight of a packed show at the Bartica community centre ground entitled ‘The Reggae Regatta Splash’ or-ganised as part of the widely publicised weekend spectacle. The main event-speedboat racing, was officially opened by President Ramotar who brought greetings on behalf of the Guyana Gov-ernment while addressing patrons from the main pavilion.

He was accompanied by Attorney General and Min-ister of Legal Affairs Anil Nandlall, Chairman of Re-gion Seven Gordon Bradford, A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) Leader David Granger and others.

The Bartica Regatta is wide-ly regarded a very important activity on Guyana’s tourism calendar, attracting thousands from across the country. The Regatta, according to President Ramotar, also fosters a reunion of Barticians as many from the riverain communities also at-tend this annual event.

He humbly declined several invitations to go jet-skiing while meeting and greet-ing the competitors of this year’s races, but was patient with several requests for photo opportunities. Among them was the family of the late boat racer Mon-ty Belle whose memory they kept alive with t-shirts bearing his name and pho-tograph. Belle died last August in a freak accident while participating in the Lake Mainstay Regatta.

residents of Sparendaam/Plaisance. Norton suggested that it would be un-healthy to install a tower there because of the ill-effects of radiation on human beings. He charged that the dump-ing of mud on the ground from the area that has been dug for the tower’s foundation signalled to residents that they were no longer permitted to play there anymore. Himself a resident of Plaisance, Norton said villagers have vowed to ensure that the tower is not built there.

Willis said the 36-meter tall Infor-mation Technology (IT) tower would take an area of 10 meters by 10 meters. He said the one being built at Spar-endaam is the first of 54 such towers that would be constructed along the coastland. The Sparendaam location, according to Willis, is one of the prior-ity sites because the dense population would be able to access the Internet wirelessly. The E-Governance project is tied to government’s fibre-optic ca-ble that has been laid from Lethem to Linden and would soon be connected to coastal areas. The Chinese firm, Huawei, has been contracted to build the E-Governance network. Certain aspects of the civil works have been contracted to local entities.

AviAToRS HonoUReDGEORGETOWN, The Guyana Civil Avi-ation Authority (GCAA) on the evening of March 30th honoured long serving aviators, pioneers/entrepreneurs, and those that have made significant con-tributions to the sector but have passed on.GINA said that special awards of long service were given to Malcolm Chan-a-Sue, Col. Ret., Egbert Field, Col. Ret., Charles Hudson, George Loye, God-frey Charles Archer, Margaret Chan-A-Sue, Jennifer Debarros, Major Patrick Nichols, Captain Lloyd Marshall – the longest serving pilot, and Fazel Khan, Ahmad Mazahar Ali, Bill Mohaboob, and Michael Charles – the only pilot in his group that remained in Guyana.

GINA added that Michael Correia, Mohamed Ali, Kayman Sankar, Ronald Reece, Edgar Phillips (posthumously) – the first Director of the Civil Aviation Au-thority, Air Services Ltd., training school and the Art Williams and H. Wendt training school, were also honoured as the pioneers and entrepreneurs in the aviation sector.

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GEORGETOWN, After years of trying and many times being ig-nored, a Guyanese-born British

artist finally gained commercial success after one of his ‘forgotten’ paintings sold for £185,000 in New York recently.

According to the UK’s Telegraph, Frank Bowling’s painting Polish Rebecca which had been “rolled up and forgotten in a friend’s attic for 40 years, was sold at New York’s Armory Show for US$275,000 (£185,000), far in excess of his auction re-cord of £12,000.”

The report described Bowling as an “artist who has spent his life in poverty” who finally struck it rich at 79.

But even though he may have taken a while to strike gold in the world of art Bowling also created history by being a first for Blacks in the world of art in the

UK. An exhibition at the Serpentine Gal-lery in 1986 was the first recognition he received by a public gallery in London. In 1987, Tate bought one of his paintings, its first work by a living black Brit-ish artist. In 2005, he became the first black artist to be elected a Royal Aca-demician.

The report said success has been a long time coming for the artist, who left Guy-ana for London in 1953. After a few false starts, he enrolled as a student at the Royal College of Art alongside the likes

of David Hockney, RB Kitaj and Allen Jones, all of whom enjoyed success ear-ly on. But Bowling struggled, unable to find an effective gal-lery to sell his work. The Telegraph said some of his struggles may have been due to the fact that he was West Indian and as Bryan Robertson,

the director of the Whitechapel Art Gal-lery, said in 1964: “England is not ready for a gifted artist of colour.”

His way out, according to the report, was to go to America. “I was largely ig-nored and not really understood in Lon-

don, whereas the US enabled me to grow and change,” he was quoted as saying in the Telegraph.

In America he embarked on a series of “map paintings” – colourful abstract works rooted in ambiguous references to the South American and African conti-nents, before freeing himself from figu-ration altogether with colour-saturated, entirely abstract painting.

According to the report, although Bowling never set out to become an American artist, he was adopted as one, and a black American at that. Against the background of the Civil Rights move-ment and growing cultural pressures, the Whitney Museum of American Art embarked on a series of exhibitions for black American artists, one of which was for Bowling in 1971.

Guyanese Artist’s Forgotten Painting Sells For US$275,000

GEORGETOWN, Four ranks of the Guyana Defence Force have been busted down in rank

while an officer is to be court martialed in connection with allegations of crimi-nal behaviour at Julian Ross landing back in January.

Miners in the Cuyuni mining district complained that the soldiers raided their camps, beat miners and grabbed quantities of raw gold. In one instance, miners said the soldiers had stolen and smoked marijuana before continuing on their rampage.

The four soldiers were reduced in

rank on the orders of the Command-ing Officer since there was not enough evidence to support the allegations against them.

GDF Chief-of-Staff, Commodore Gary Best told reporters that the Cor-poral has been reduced to Lance Cor-poral and the Lance Corporal to a Pri-vate, and the Private served 42 days detention. The officer’s court martial is set to begin shortly.

The force had stated in a release early last month that it had “sufficient evidence to charge the ranks under military law.”

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GEORGETOWN, The Land Regis-try is to be overhauled to improve its services following a recent au-

dit of the agency, Cabinet Secretary Dr. Roger Luncheon has said.

He told reporters on March 28 that an audit was commissioned last October and the findings were submitted to the Cabi-net earlier this month.

Principal among the recommendations, he added, was that the resourcing of the agency be improved and to that end the government intended to relocate the Reg-istry in the former headquarters of the New Building Society which the govern-

ment recently acquired.Dr. Luncheon said they would also uti-

lise funding through the Competitiveness Programme to enhance the facility to boost the Registry’s service.

The Cabinet has approved the prepara-tion of an implementation plan and team for the realisation of the Land Registry’s transformation.

Land Registry To Be Overhauled


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KINGSTON, Jamaican exporters

have been told they need to pro-

duce more goods and services for

export. The call has come from

Junior Industry, Investment and

Commerce Minister Sharon Ffol-

kes-Abrahams, who argues this is

necessary in order to transform the

economy into one which is competi-

tively positioned globally, thereby

generating significantly higher for-

eign exchange earnings.

She told a public forum at the

University of Technology (UTech)

that the Global Entrepreneurship

Monitor Report for 2011 indicates

that approximately 64 per cent of

Jamaica’s entrepreneurs did not

have clients outside of the coun-

try. She said this “has to change.

Mrs. Ffolkes-Abrahams noted that

this will simultaneously promote

local and foreign investments and

improve entrepreneurs’ ability of to

take full advantage of favourable

and enabling internal and external

environments.

She assured that the administra-

tion is committed to “actively pur-

suing” policies that will “shape and

improve” the business environment,

as ell as establish a modern legis-

lative framework that underpins in-

novation.

The junior minister cited develop-

ment of the proposed global trans-

shipment and logistics hub as a “com-

prehensive opportunity” for business

interests, especially micro, small and

medium size enterprises (MSMEs)

stakeholders, to be integrated into

the global supply chain.

The Portia Simpson Miller is

spearheading the development

of the hub in an effort to position

Jamaica to take advantage of the

increased maritime activities, an-

ticipated from the expansion of the

Panama Canal, slated for comple-

tion in 2015.

KINGSTON — The government has hinted that Jamaicans could face more taxes when the national budget

for the 2013-2014 financial year is tabled in Parliament on April 4. However, Finance and Planning Minister Dr. Peter Phillips said any tax measure introduced will not be major.

Close to $40 billion of new taxes were im-posed in the current financial year.

Responding to questions at a March 31 post-cabinet press conference, Phillips said if taxes are imposed, these would be what he called tidying-up measures.

Meanwhile, Jamaicans are also to prepare for further cuts in government spending as Phillips said while the upcoming budget will be nominally higher than last year’s,

there will be a reduction in real terms.The Finance Minister said cabinet had

instructed that specific focus be placed on social protection and children’s issues along with education and health.

He said even in the context of reduced spending, there will be an expansion in some areas.

Debate on the budget is expected to begin on April 18.

In the meantime, Phillips refused to speak definitively on the impact of the absence of an International Monetary Fund agreement even as the budget date draws near.

Phillips, however, conceded that Jamaica would not get a deal with the IMF by the end of the month.

Cry for peace

KINGSTON, Frustrated about ongo-ing violence that has claimed the lives of more than 20 people in

the West Kingston constituency since the start of the year, scores of residents staged a more than five-hour prayer walk on March 31 to call for peace in their communities. The residents, led by political representa-tives and the umbrella group of churches, flooded violence-plagued streets to send home their message in the initiative.

“We want peace to reign. We want the war to end; the killings must stop! It is too

much,” Sashawn Lowe shouted.Lowe, a mother of four, was among more

than 500 residents and church members who said they were tired of what they de-scribed as a deadly battle for power among criminal gangs that was making their lives uncomfortable.

Andrew Holness, leader of the Opposi-tion, praised the effort and prayed for the residents. The West Kingston police ex-pressed confidence in the effectiveness of the march. But even as the police spoke, there were some residents who were less than optimistic that the drive would have sustained impact.

More export goods needed

Prepare for more taxes


KINGSTON, The Jamaica Stock Exchange’s (JSE) Regulatory and Market Oversight Committee

(RMOC) has implemented recent amend-ments that could see listed companies fine of up to JAM$5 million for non-compli-ance with rules of the exchange.

The new regulations include penalties ranging from JAM$2,500 per day for members who do not submit a schedule showing the number of accounts managed and the dollar value of these accounts each month; to a maximum penalty of JAM$5 million for not keeping proper accounts.

The RMOC holds responsibility for monitoring the adequacy and effective-ness of the JSE’s regulatory programme, and assessing the organization’s regula-tory performance, which require activi-ties such as rule formulation and compli-ance monitoring. It consulted with listed companies and member dealers for up to a year before implementing the new pen-alties.

According to local media over the past five years the RMOC said it has reviewed and decided on 33 regulatory cases in-volving member dealers and listed com-panies.

Statistics published by the JSE’s regu-latory arm show that the highest areas of delinquency among listed companies are in the timely filing of their audited and annual reports.

Listed companies are required to sub-mit to the exchange their quarterly finan-cial statements within three months of the end of the period to which the statements relate. Within 120 days of the company’s financial year-end, a printed copy of the company’s Annual Report and Financial Statements, are required.

Under the amendments, any listed com-panies that violate either of these rules will be fined JAM $5,000 per day (includ-ing weekends and public holidays) until the default is adequately covered.

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KINGSTON Cash-rich state agencies have been ordered to turn over any excess money in

their possession to the Consolidated Fund as the Government strives to meet its target of a 7.5 per cent prima-ry-surplus target in the new fiscal year which began on April 1.

Finance Minister Dr Peter Phillips has already assured the nation that there will be no major tax package to help the Government meet the surplus target and it appears that state entities will not be allowed to hang on to their excess.

As part of efforts to meet its agreed target with the International Monetary

Cash Call

KINGSTON, Hard hit by the Govern-ment’s decision to pull $45.6 billion from its coffers over the next four years, the National Housing Trust’s (NHT) accounts have taken a further slash with its participation in the Na-tional Debt Exchange (NDX).

While most holders of government bonds which participated in the NDX had the interest rates reduced and the maturity extended, the NHT is one of

a number of state entities which had the price of the bonds held by them cut by 20 per cent.

These state entities - including the National Insurance Scheme (NIS) and the Jamaica Deposit Insurance Company - swapped their bonds under a fixed-rate accreting note (FRAN), which involves a cut in the price of the bonds over a specified period.

Housing Trust Takes Another Hit

Companies Facing Fines

Fund, the Government has tapped the surplus of the National Housing Trust for $45.6 billion over the next four years.


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Sextuplet dies

PORT OF SPAIN, After fighting for life for 19 days, the firstborn of Trini-dad and Tobago’s first sextuplet ba-bies has died.

A relative said the baby boy was named Kaylan Nasir Lee Foon-Cummings.

He was critically ill since he and his five brothers and sisters (two boys and three girls) were delivered via Caesarean section at the Mt Hope Women’s Hospital on March 4.

Baby Kaylan died on March 30.The other five babies are doing

well and were on full feeds.If their development continues

positively, they should be discharged from hospital at 34 weeks, which is regarded as the gestational age.

The birth of the sextuplets to par-ents Petra Lee Foon, a teacher, and Kieron Cummings, a bank employ-ee, was a first for the country and the Caribbean.

Within the first few days of birth, five of the babies were taken off ventilators and were breathing on their own at the hospital’s Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU).

However, baby Kaylan remained on ventilator support as a team of doc-tors and nurses kept a close watch on him. Baby Kaylan suffered upper gastrointestinal bleeding.

His condition worsened and he re-ceived CPR but later died because of his fragile condition.

His parents were at his side when he died.

Kamla listed amongst Vanity Fair’s to ten best dressed world leadersPORT-OF-SPAIN, Prime

Minister Kamla Per-sad-Bissessar has been

named on Vanity Fair’s list of the top ten best-dressed world leaders.

“Vanity Fair is a cultural filter, sparking the global con-versation about the people and ideas that matter most,” ac-cording to its website, vanity-fair.com.

The magazine claims an av-erage monthly audience of 2.7 million.

On the home page for the site, Persad-Bissessar is fea-tured alongside United States President Barack Obama, Da-vid Cameron, the Prime Min-ister of the United Kingdom, and President of Costa Rica Laura Chinchilla.

The introduction for the top ten list of the best dressed world leaders states:

“VF.com’s celebration of the sartorial elite has already included stylish television characters, well-appointed pontiffs, and readers like you.

“Today’s gallery is a dis-tinctively international affair, spotlighting the men and wom-en who accessorise political acumen with perfect tailoring, bold colour schemes, and idiosyncratic personal touches.”

Persad-Bissessar’s photograph is the sixth on the list, although the countdown is not ranked.

In the caption supporting the photo-graph of Persad-Bissessar, Vanity Fair states:

“The first female prime minister of

Trinidad and Tobago—and the second first female prime minister on this list—Kamla Persad-Bissessar chose a shiny, lime-green suit for her swear-ing-in and has not ceased experiment-ing with more adventurous fashion since.”

“She pairs drop earrings with pearl necklaces, brooches with statement lapels, pink jackets with purple eye

shadow and, most notably, a punchy personal style with political appropri-ateness,” the caption stated.

Sonia Gandhi, president of the Indi-an National Congress, and Joyce Ban-da, president of Malawi, were the only other women featured on the list.

In August 2010, Persad-Bissessar was named on an unranked list of the “Top 10 female leaders”

PORT-OF-SPAIN, Trinidad and Tobago has been ranked the third-fattest

country in the world behind Ku-wait and the United States of America, who are in first and second places, respectively.

This was the findings in an ar-ticle published in the Daily Mail

T&T world’s third fattest countryin the United Kingdom.

The online story showed the average body mass index values for adults around the globe.

The story said the data was gathered in the UK but did not attribute the sources of the in-formation.

In Trinidad and Tobago, there was an average body mass in-dex of 26.6 for men and 30.6 for women while in Kuwait, the average body mass for men was 27.5 and 31.4 for women.

According to the report, the UK also has rising obesity lev-els, particularly among children and is ranked 26th on the list.

The report also ranked those countries where the majority of

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Some of the world’s poor-est countries in Asia and Af-rica featured as the countries with the lowest body mass index. Among those at the bottom of the list were Ban-gladesh, Ethiopia, Rwanda and Kenya.

Based on this recent sur-vey, Trinidad and Tobago could be considered a fat country.

But previous surveys have listed the country as having one of the sexiest accents in the world and one of the best-dressed country leaders.


PORT-OF-SPAIN, Construction of the long-anticipated Eastern Caribbean Gas Pipeline is slated

to begin in 2014 from the Cove Eco Business and Industrial Park in south-western Tobago.

This announcement has come follow-ing a meeting between Tobago Chief Secretary Orville London, Beowful Energy Principal Andy Lindholm and Clyde Williams, technical coordinator

for the Eastern Caribbean Gas Pipeline Company (ECGPC).

According to the company, the first phase of the US$300 million project will end in Barbados with natural gas expected to be pumped into Barbados in 2016 from the BHP Billiton field east of Trinidad to the Cove, which is a US$1 billion processing plant.

In Phase I of the project, ECGPC will construct and operate a 300km

natural gas pipeline from the Cove Point Estate in Tobago to Barbados. Phase II of the project will involve ex-tending the pipeline from Barbados to other Eastern Caribbean islands.

Beowulf Energy of New York and First Reserve Energy Infrastructure Fund with offices in Greenwich, Houston, Hong Kong and London, have acquired a majority interest in ECGPC.

Caribbean Airlines Mum On Alleged Bankruptcy

PORT-OF-SPAIN, Caribbean Airlines (CAL) is reportedly facing what amounts to more than $500 million

in debt, but in response to an article printed in a weekly publication which alleged that CAL is bankrupt and its board has been at-tempting to borrow more than $100 million from the Government to pay its staff and suppliers, CAL’s corporate communica-tions manager Clint Williams said he could not speak specifically to the article.

“We prefer not to discuss any specific aspect of the report that we have seen in the media at this time.

“CAL is currently in a stabilisation and transformation initiative and our short- and medium-term goals will see us ratio-nalising cost and driving revenues towards more self-sustaining and profitable op-eration...the initiative has been developed with full partnership from the board and

personnel from the Ministry of Finance,” Williams added.

“And at this time we prefer not to com-ment on specifics of the internal activities, simply to say that the industry demands greater operational productivity and we are moving in that direction.”

Quoting from a Jamaican news agency, the local news report further stated that CAL has already fired employees in Ja-maica whose contracts recently came to an end and was now weighing its op-tions with regards to Jamaica operations, including a call centre which employs 90 people.

In 2011 when CAL merged with Air Ja-maica, CAL took over what were deemed the profitable routes held by Air Jamaica and those operations are now said to be running at a loss, according to the weekly news publication.

PORT-OF-SPAIN, The Ansa McAL Group earned over TT$600 million more in 2012 than it did in 2011 de-

spite tough economic times.The Trinidadian conglomerate earned

TT $5.9 billion in revenue for the finan-cial year ended December 31, 2012, a sig-nificant gain over 2011’s revenue total of $5.3 billion.

Gerry Brooks the group’s chief operat-ing officer has called the figure “the high-est revenue in the group’s history.”

Speaking at the presentation of ANSA McAL’s 2012 year- end audited financial results, Brooks said growth in revenue was equivalent to TT $626 million, and he acknowledged that this was achieved during one of the worst economic periods in history.

However Brooks declared that having navigated recessions and economic chal-lenges over its 133 year history, the group

“has the capacity, has the resolve, and has the ability to do so again as we move forward, and to also identify and pursue commercial opportunities as they arise.”

During his presentation, Brooks at-tributed the increased revenue mostly to their new operations that they acquired over the last few years, including TT $372 million of which came from new business growth through the Barbados-based Standards Distributors and Tri-mart supermarkets.

Profit before tax was TT $952 million, up five percent over 2011, while earnings per share rose seven percent from $3.46 the previous year to $3.69. Cash gener-ated from operations also increased, by nine percent or $1.3 billion, with total as-sets now standing at $11.3 billion.

There was a slight decline in the group’s gross profit margin, from 40.5 percent in 2011 to 39.9 percent in 2012.

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In Canada today, where food is abun-dant, affordable and irresistibly deli-cious, overweight and obesity are now

an epidemic. And, as the epidemic keeps growing, weight loss and dieting have be-come major topics of conversations, media coverage and health care research.

The secret to weight loss is simple: Con-sume fewer calories than the body uses. And any diet that limits caloric intake will do the trick. The problem is, when people go off the diet, they gain the weight right back. That happens because most diets re-quire that we deprive ourselves of certain foods or food groups— and many can’t sustain this for long. Instead, research has shown that people respond better to posi-tive messages. And, with some education, everyone can learn to form healthy eating habits and pave the way to maintaining a healthy weight and improving fitness.

Here are some simple tips that will help you eat healthier.

Choose Foods High in Fiber and WaterThe key to feeling satisfied without weight gain is adding water and fiber to favor-

ite dishes and reducing fat. Water-based soups or stews, for example, are more filling than their ingredients served as a separate meal.

Fiber, which has been lacking in the typical Canadian diet, is found mostly in vegetables, fruit, whole grains and le-gumes. It increases satiety, reduces hun-ger and can help manage weight. Unlike other food components, it passes through the digestive tract unchanged and unab-sorbed, curbing hunger faster and longer.

Reduce Simple CarbohydratesSimple carbohydrates—sugar, candy, pizza, chips, cookies and bread that is not made from whole grains—are low in fiber and are rapidly broken down by the body, so they can be consumed in large amounts without feeling full. In some people, simple carbohydrates can trigger overeating, as well as blood-glucose slumps, which can lead to fa-tigue, headaches, craving sweets, de-pression, irritability and a host of other symptoms.Stock Up on Healthy Foods and Snacks

Eating well does not have to cost a lot of money. To lower your food expenses, con-sider buying meats in bulk, buying fruits and vegetables that are in season and sticking to serving sizes.

In addition, keep a good variety of low-calorie snacks available to satisfy crav-ings. Having carrot sticks, apple slices, whole-grain granola, fruit and raisins on hand can prevent you from running to the snack machine or picking up fast food on the way home.

Read Food LabelsRead food labels carefully to monitor your caloric intake and the serving size, while watching the list of ingredients. For de-cades, the food industry has been mo-tivated to increase portions and to load processed foods with appetite-stimulat-ing salt, sugar and fat. Salt and sugar trigger their own appetite responses in the brain while fat enhances other fla-vours.

Commercial cereals often contain more salt than potato chips, and spaghet-ti sauce is loaded withmore sugar than chocolate. The same happens in buffets,

where everyone overeats—the variety alone is enough to keep you eating when you are no longer hungry.

Form Healthy Eating HabitsAvoid eating in front of the TV or while busy with other activities. Pay attention to what you are eating, chew your food well and fully enjoy the smell and taste of your foods. Eat slowly, so your brain can get the message that your stomach is full. When eating out, read the menu carefully. Many restaurants now list the number of calories next to the meals or include a section of low-calorie dishes. To enjoy eating out without overeating, consider sharing your meal or ordering a half-prtion or an appetizer as a main meal, in addition to taking half of your meal home.

Calories CountIt takes an excess of about 3,500 calo-ries to gain a pound—and a loss of 3,500 calories to shed a pound. One hundred extra calories a day can put on 10 pounds a year. To determine caloric intake in foods, you can go to a calorie counting Web site, such as www.my caloriecoun-ter.com/calorie_counter.asp.

There you can also keep track of the foods you eat throughout the day, as well as calculate the caloric intake you will need to maintain your current weight or to lose weight.

Old Foods for New Weight Manage-ment Research shows that some foods can contribute to weight management as a part of a healthy, well-balanced diet:

Replacing simple carbohydrates with eggs during breakfast helps improve sa-tiety and reduce daily caloric intake. A high-quality source of protein. choline,

folate, iron and zinc, eggs may pro-mote l ss of body fat and stabilize glu-cose levels.

Potatoes, rich in vitamins C and B6, potassium and fiber, have been ranked as a very satisfying food. French fries, however, don’t count—their energy den-sity is rapidly increased by the fats add-ed in the frying process.

Eating yogurt in place of foods with the identical number of calories may also help in weight loss. Emerging evi-dence shows that calcium and protein from lowfat dairy products may help burn fat.

dr. George i. Traitses d.C., B.Sc.(Hon.), M.Sc., C.H.n., C.n.M., a.C.R.B. 3, C.R.a.

HEALTHY EATING


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A resident in a posh hotel breakfast room called over the head waiter one morning and read from the

menu. “I’d like one under-cooked egg so that it’s runny, and one over-cooked egg so that it’s tough and hard to eat. I’d also like grilled bacon which is a bit on the cold side, burnt toast, butter straight from the

freezer so that it’s impossible to spread, and a pot of very weak, lukewarm coffee.” “That’s a complicated order sir,” said the bewildered waiter. “It might be quite dif-ficult.” The guest replied sarcastically, “It can’t be that difficult because that’s exactly what you brought me yesterday!”

The teacher asks her class: “ Can anyone explain what a period is?’

Little Balgobin responds: “ I don’t know Teacher, but I guess it must be very

dangerous because when my sister said she hadn’t seen her period for five months, my Mum fainted, my Dad had a heart at-tack and our Driver ran away!”

Deep in the back woods a hillbilly’s wife went into labor in the middle of the night, and the doctor was

called out to assist in the delivery. Since there was no electricity, the doctor handed the father-to-be a lantern and said, “Here. You hold this high so I can see what I am doing.” Soon, a baby boy was brought into the world.

Whoa there, said the doctor, “Don’t be in such a rush to put that lantern down. I think there’s another one coming.” Sure

enough, within minutes he had delivered a baby girl. “Hold that lantern up, don’t set it down there’s another one!” said the doctor.

Within a few minutes he had delivered a third baby. “No, don’t be in a hurry to put down that lantern, it seems there’s yet another one coming!” cried the doctor.

The redneck scratched his head in be-wilderment, and asked the doctor, “You reckon it might be the light that’s attrac-tin’ ‘em?


Sports Beat

President of the Jamaica Football Federation (JFF) captain Horace Burrell says he is not daunted by

Jamaica’s loss to Costa Rica in their CONCACAF World Cup Qualifier on March 26. The last English speaking Ca-ribbean country in the running for world cup qualification, Jamaica suffered a 0-2

defeat at the hands of Costa Rica at the Estadio Nacional.

The loss plunged the Reggae Boyz, who drew 1-1 with Panama four days earlier, to the bottom of the six-nation round-robin play-offs on two points.

“One has to remember that it is not an easy achievement qualifying for a World

Cup (finals) and you’re going to have these kinks. We still have seven games to go, I say again, seven games to go and I am not daunted,” declared captain Bur-rell.

“World Cup qualification is not for the faint-hearted; you have to be courageous, you’ve to be strong, you’ve to be positive and that’s how we are now; we’re still in it, we just hit a bump in the road”.

The Jamaicans are within a win of the leading team Panama, who top the stand-

ings on five points, while the United States, Honduras and Costa Rica are next on four, with Mexico, on three.

All the teams have played three matches.Jamaica and CONCACAF giants Mexico,

two teams desperate for points, will do bat-tle on June 4 at the national stadium.

Jamaica’s preparation for that crucial fix-ture includes a one-week training camp in the Bahamas and an international friendly against English top flight team Totten-ham Hotspurs.

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Usain Bolt fell just short of his 150m world

record as he opened his season with victory on Copacabana beach. The six-time Jamai-can Olympic champion crossed the line in 14.42 seconds on a four-lane track in Rio de Janeiro.

He was 0.07 seconds shy of the record he set on Manchester’s streets in 2009, with Brazil’s Bruno Lins second.

“It was my first sprint race, definitely a good start for the season,” Bolt said. “I’m looking forward to the Olympics here in 2016.”

Local hopeful Lins finished in a time

of 14.91 seconds, with Ecuador’s Alex Quino-nes and Daniel Bailey of Antigua and Barbu-da finishing third and fourth respectively.

Bolt’s agent Ricky Simms recently revealed the sprint star could ap-pear at the London 2012 Anniversary Games in July after “positive ne-gotiations” had taken place.

Other than the Olympics, Bolt has not raced in Britain since 2009 because of tax rules which would force him to give up a share of any appearance or prize money and a cut of any endorsements.

Bolt Starts Season With Brazil Beach Race Win

Jamaica continued to rack up the medals at the Carifta Games; five coming in the in-termediate hurdles with gold medals from

Omar McLeod and Kimone Green helping the country’s overall tally to 35; including 11 gold, 13 silver and 11 bronze.

Green was comfortable in winning the Un-der-20 girls’ 400m hurdles, relaxing through a 59.31 seconds win with teammate Tatiana Wolfe making it one-two for Jamaica after get-ting the silver in 1:00.66. Tia Adana Belle of Barbados got the bronze in 1:01.36.

After victories in 2011 and 2012, McLeod made it three wins in a row in the boys’ Under-20 event. Despite early pressure from Barbados’ Kion Joseph, McLeod powered home in 51.46 seconds as the Bajan clocked 51.94 for the silver with bronze going to Mar-tinique’s Ludvy Vaillant in 52.31.

“My plan was to just go out and execute and have fun, as I really wanted the gold. I was in great form and I wanted to end my Carifta career on a high,” said McLeod.

It was a perfect start for Jamaica in the open-ing session, as the country’s athletes picked up four early medals, including two gold and two silver to set things in motion.

There were two quinellas in the Under-17 throws; Cornwall College schoolboy War-ren Barrett, son of Reggae Boyz goalkeeping

coach of the same name, pro-duced a lifetime best in the boys’ Under-17 shot put, winning the event with a heave of 16.88m with team-mate Vashon MaC-arthy taking silver with 16.47m with Grenada’s Peter Anderson taking bronze with 15.53m.

A few hours later, it was the same result in the girls’ Under-17 shot put.

Excelsior athlete Shanice Love produced a personal best of 40.16m to win the event ahead of team-mate Janelle Fullerton with 39.91m as Trinidad and Tobago’s Shaiann Charles took the bronze with a throw of 39.19m.

“I feel great, I feel like a star by winning this gold medal for my country and to know that it is my first national trip and to do so in a personal best, I am even happier,” said Love.

More Carifta Games Medals For Jamaica


BRIDGETOWN, Barbados (CMC) - The West Indies Players Association (WIPA)

has congratulated new West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) president Jamaican Dave Cameron following his election victory in Barbados on Wednesday.Cameron won seven votes to five defeating incumbent Dr Julian Hunte who lost his bid to be president for a fourth succes-sive two year term.

Cameron’s running mate Em-manuel Nanthan, the Windward Islands Cricket Board chief, also defeated Barbados Cricket Asso-ciation president Joel Garner, 8-4 to become vice-president.

“WIPA extends sincere con-gratulations to Messrs Cameron and Nanthan on their successful bids for the leadership of West In-dies cricket,” said WIPA president Wavell Hinds.

“Both men have been around

the administration of the regional game for a number of years now, and we expect that they are fully cognisant of the challenges which currently exist, as well as those to come.”

“For our part we look forward to meeting with the new leadership team very early in their tenure to discuss a number of issues of con-cern to both parties,” said Hinds.

Meantime, WIPA has lauded the contribution to West Indies cricket of the outgoing president Hunte who has given 33 years of unbro-ken service to the region. Dr Hunte is the first WICB president originat-ing from the OECS sub-groping.

“Dr Hunte is to be congratulated for his service to our game and for his dedication to the develop-ment of cricket in the region,” said Hinds.

“WIPA wishes him well in his fu-ture endeavours.”

Whycliffe ‘Dave’ Cameron has been elected president of the WICB, after he beat

the incumbent Julian Hunte 7-5 dur-ing the board’s annual general meet-ing in Barbados. Cameron’s run-ning mate, Em-manuel Nanthan of Dominica, is the new vice-pres-ident; he beat Bar-bados Cricket As-sociation president Joel Garner 8-4 in the election.

Cameron, 42, was nominated by the Jamaica Cricket Associa-tion and seconded by the Windward Cricket Board. He has been a WICB director since 2002 and served as vice-president during Hunte’s ten-ure as president, which began in 2007.

“It was a long process and I trav-elled the length and breadth of the Caribbean, from Kingston, Jamaica to Georgetown, Guyana to be able to address the concerns of our stake-holders,” Cameron said after his election. “As we take over the reins

of the WICB, we assume responsi-bility with very lofty goals in our minds and the understanding of the reason we are here and what every-body in the region is looking forward

to us being able to accomplish.

“In my presenta-tions to the territo-rial boards, I spoke about building on our immense talent, increasing the rev-enues in the sport and, above all, uniting the region through the game of cricket. We must find creative ways of dealing with the challenges that will confront us from

time to time.”Nanthan joined Cameron in thank-

ing outgoing president Hunte for his services to West Indies cricket over the last six years. “He is my friend and has been for a number of years,” Nanthan said of Hunte. “He is to me a hero, coming from the Windward Islands, and I am proud of the way he presided over the WICB during a difficult time and now the baton has been passed on.

WIPA Congratulates New WICB Top Brass

cAMeRon noW WicB PReSiDenT

Julian Hunte’s defeat in the recent West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) Presidential elections has resulted

in the second exit of from the St Lu-cian triumvirate that recently managed the reins of West Indies cricket. Hunte’s exit follows that of his countryman Dr Ernest Hillaire, as the WICB’s CEO a few months ago. As captain of the West Indies team in all three of the game’s formats, Darren Sammy now remains as the sole survivor of the once mighty St Lucian management trio.

Now that his political and administra-tive backing has been removed, Sam-my’s highly questionable tenure as West Indies team captain may not last much longer. At least not in all three formats.

Having led the West Indies to their recent World Championship win in the T20 format, he should be able to hang on to that leadership role for a few more years. Maybe even long enough to lead the West Indies in defence of its crown, in 2015, when the T20 World Cup will next be played.

Sammy was given a break from the West Indies recent 50 Over One Day In-ternationals against Zimbabwe, having been replaced by Dwayne Bravo for the entire Series. He’s expected to be back at the helm however, for the West Indies forthcoming One Day International en-counters, a Tri-Team Series involving India and Sri Lanka at home, followed by the ICC Champions Trophy, then even more matches against the visiting Pakistanis.

Sammy’s economical, if un-penetra-tive bowling can oftentimes be very use-ful in both the fifty-over and T20 for-mats. So too the hit or miss unrefined swiping that defines his batting. At number eight in the batting order, he’s

actually not a bad option to have.It’s for Test cricket that Sammy’s de-

tractors, myself included, will continue to have justifiable cause to question whether he merits his place in the team. In the recent Test Series against Zimba-bwe, he batted at number seven, below the wicket-keeper Dinesh Ramdin, who despite having a very good two-Test Series with the bat, still only averages 26.30.

With his own batting average at a paltry 22.38, Sammy therefore hardly qualifies as a batting all-rounder. Used against Zimbabwe as the fifth-bowler, even behind the part-time off-spinner Marlon Samuels, Sammy took only one of the forty-wickets the West Indies cap-tured to win both Tests.

Based on those figures and overall Test statistics of 77 wickets from 33 matches at an average of 34.45, indispensable is not an adjective anyone would ever use justifiably to describe Sammy’s value as a bowler. Since he doesn’t qualify ei-ther as a batting or bowling all-rounder, Sammy’s detractors will forever ques-tion the definition of his exact role in the team. Hence also his ability to com-mand a place, a fundamental require-ment of captaincy.

West Indies next Test outings will be at home against Pakistan in July. The Pakistanis will be stronger opponents than any the West Indies has faced over the past two years, during which under Sammy’s leadership the Windies have won their last six Tests in a row. The Series should therefore provide a true measure of Sammy’s value to the team and for how much longer he should re-main as Captain.

His fellow two St Lucians now gone, will Sammy soon follow?

Two Down,One to Go!

TONYMCWATT

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