Moontown

PEAS AND RICE; MACARONI PIE

SWEET POTATO PIE; CREAMED BREADFRUIT

STEAMED PUDDING; BAKED CHICKEN

BAKED PORK; FRIED SNAPPER

FRIED KING FISH; FRIED DOLPHIN

GRILLED KING FISH; GRILLED DOLPHIN

STIR FRY SEA CAT; BBQ SPARERIBS

STEAMED VEGETABLES; TOSSED SALAD

LAMB STEW; PLAIN GRAVY

Contributed
General manager of Carib Star Shipping Limited, Charles Pennycooke (left), greeting climate branch head at the Meteorological Service of Jamaica, Jeffery Spooner, at a recent lunch-and- learn panel discussion at the Shipping Association of Jamaica’s Newport West Offices, to highlight the impact of climate change on the maritime Industry. Also pictured are: Lt Commander Michael Rodriguez of the Caribbean Maritime Institute (second left) and Dr Michael Taylor, member of the University of the West Indies’ Climate Change Group and physics lecturer in the Faculty of Pure and Applied Sciences. MEMBERS of the University of the West Indies (UWI) climate-change group, and physics lecturer in the Faculty of Pure and Applied Sciences, Dr Michael Taylor, are appealing to the private sector, the Government and fellow academics to increase their support of climate-based research, so that Jamaica can respond appropriately, and cope effectively with the challenges.

Speaking at a recent lunch-and-learn panel discussion, hosted by the Maritime Authority of Jamaica in association with the Shipping Association of Jamaica, Dr Taylor pointed out that Jamaica was a climate-sensitive society, highly vulnerable to climate variability and climate change, and was already feeling the effects.

Feeling the effect

“By the 2070s to the year 2100, we have a range of one to five degrees that we’ll be hotter by in Jamaica and the Caribbean region. Over the last century, we have only warmed by less than one degree, and we are feeling the effect. So think, if we warmed by two degrees by the 2050s, and by a possible five degrees by the end of the century!” Dr Taylor said, as the information about projected average temperatures jolted participants.

He said, however, that with “contextually relevant science research”, the country could cope with climate change, and would be able to pursue a sustainable development agenda incorporating the necessary mitigation and adaptation measures.

Reiterating the relevant and significant role of research in the process, Dr Taylor said that Jamaica was not helpless, as with research, adequate responses could be crafted.

“If we know we are going to be drier, let us not sit around and wait to become drier and then decide what we are going to do,” he advocated.

The UWI Climate Studies Unit runs physics-based climate models, using predictions or assumptions about how the world is expected to change over the next 100 years. These assumptions are plugged into climate models, after which simulations are done to depict how the climate will change, as we move to the end of the century.

Act now!

“We must know what is happening to us, so that we can appropriately respond. Act now! Do not sit down and wait and think that this climate change thing is something way off in the future,” Dr Taylor admonished.

According to the Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change, approximately 90 per cent of global merchandise is transported by sea. The increased integration of countries from the Far East and Southeast Asia into the world economy is said to be contributing immensely to the increase in international marine transport.

Additionally, an ongoing study, by the International Maritime Organisation, on greenhouse gas emissions from ships, has estimated the total carbon dioxide emissions from international shipping to be 847 million tons in 2007, constituting 2.7 per cent of the global anthropogenic carbon dioxide emissions.

Dr Taylor also called on Jamaica’s maritime industry players to begin to identify the areas to which the sector is sensitive, and begin to strategise how best to mitigate the effects and adapt to global warming.

“Climate change is caused by these greenhouse gases, and we may not be large emitters, but we still do, and so we can contribute our part to lowering the amount of greenhouse gases out there,” he stated.

While at the UN, Foreign Affairs Minister Rufus Bousquet thanked Taiwan and other countries that have assisted St Lucia.

In his speech at the General Debate of the 64th Session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York on Monday Foreign Affairs Minister Rufus Bousquet expressed his appreciation to many international organizations and friendly countries for helping Saint Lucia in various aspects.With regard to the positive impacts of the joint efforts by the Governments of Saint Lucia and the Republic of China (Taiwan), Minister Bousquet was quoted as saying: “We are reaching out to the world for cooperation and collaboration in the advancement of our development efforts, within the framework of respect for each other and for humankind.

“That is why, Mr President, The Government of Saint Lucia joins with other delegations in extending our deep condolences to the government and people of Taiwan following the devastation and the loss of life caused by the disastrous August 2009 typhoon. Taiwan has assisted Saint Lucia in the areas of education, agriculture, health and other fields critical to our development efforts. Their assistance in agriculture, especially, has enabled us to improve our agricultural output and position ourselves for breaking into the food export market.

“Taiwan has extended a helping hand to all those who have requested. It seeks only to be part of the family of nations to share its knowledge and expertise with the rest of the world. This is not too much to ask. We are pleased to note that some positive steps have been taken in that respect and we hope that these will continue, with other agencies opening their doors to participation and enable 23 million people to make their contribution to their fellow human beings, and to realize their aspirations as we in Saint Lucia did, 30 years ago.”

The government of Saint Lucia has pledged its staunch support for Taiwan’s participation in the activities of United Nations specialized agencies like the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), both of which Saint Lucia is a member. The ICAO is the global forum for civil aviation. It works to achieve its vision of safe, secure and sustainable development of civil aviation through cooperation amongst its member States. Over a decade ago, most countries joined the UNFCCC to begin to consider what can be done to reduce global warming and to cope with whatever temperature increases are inevitable.

More recently, a number of nations approved an addition to the treaty: the Kyoto Protocol, which has more powerful and legally binding measures.

The government of the Republic of China (Taiwan) has announced that it will continue campaigning for meaningful participation in UN specialized agencies, programmes and conventions. Considering that climate change and aviation safety greatly affect its development as well as the well-being of all mankind, Taiwan has decided to first focus on striving for meaningful participation in meetings and activities of the ICAO and UNFCCC. Having acknowledged the rights of 23 million Taiwanese people, the Government of Saint Lucia joins the Government of Taiwan and its diplomatic allies in urging ICAO and UNFCCC to find appropriate ways to accommodate Taiwan’s meaningful participation in their work and
activities.

Written By: Nicole Mc Donald 

The Richfond police station where the alleged rape of a Jamaican National occurred. The woman has since been sent back to Jamaica and is speaking to media there about how she was treated. Right: Police Comissioner Ausbert Regis has said nothing about the indicident that is quickly turning into a foreign affairs nightmare.

Trying to get information about the case of a Jamaican woman who has accused a police officer of rape in
St Lucia is like trying to squeeze blood from a stone. Authorities here have been very tightlipped on the incident and simply offered the local media a five-line press release last week that stated that a 19-year-old Special Police Constable had been charged for raping a Jamaican National while she was in custody at the Richfond Police Station in Dennery. Police say the incident occurred between 6pm Thursday September 3rd and 6am Friday 4th September 2009. The STAR has learnt that the constable has secured a lawyer and has been bailed in the sum of $7000. As for the woman who has filed the complaint of rape against the police officer reports are that she was unceremoniously sent back to her homeland after being kept in lock-up for weeks.

Jamaicans are not as silent on the issue and St Lucian authorities are receiving a heavy bashing in the island not just over the incident but over the way the victim was treated following her filing a report. The media in Jamaica want answers and the foreign affairs ministry in that country has vowed to investigate further.

In an interview with Radio Jamaica on Monday the alleged victim, a dancer by profession, recalled her horrifying visit to St Lucia, the alleged rape and the treatment she received from police officers following her complaint.

Radio Jamaica referred to the woman only as ‘Donna’ and aired an edited version of her statement, which would make even the coldest heart bleed. Donna, who admits that she could hardly read or write because she left school in Grade Six said she was making a living as a dancer and she would sometimes do domestic washing and hair. The mother of three daughters said she met a man at a nightclub in St Ann—where Bob Marley was born. The man invited her to St Lucia and Donna said she saw it as a good opportunity to get work. Her troubles started when she arrived on the airport on September 3. She was stopped by St Lucian immigration.

“The immigration officer take me passport from me. After, when she take me passport she put me at a side. After, they came to me and took me outside. Me saw a jeep out dere. Dem put me inside de jeep and carry me to a lock up place. Me dere one week straight, no food, nothing at all. Then they move me from that lock up place [take me] to a next lock up place. Just bread and water everyday.”

It was at this second jail cell that Donna said she was sexually assaulted by the police officer who was supposed to guard her. Donna said while she was being attacked all she could do was pray for help.

Crying during the interview Donna said she found it impossible to sleep in the cell.

“God why is this happening to me? What I come here for?” she said she asked herself. She said she was scared and afraid she would be killed.

“I couldn’t talk, there was nowhere for me to run or to go and kill myself,” she said.

Donna went on to tell Radio Jamaica that another officer came to the station and the one who allegedly assaulted her left. Donna said she finally mustered up the courage to ask the other officer for a pen and a sheet of paper and wrote down “wha me can manage.” She said she did not know whom to trust. She passed the note on and she was later taken from the cell by police officers who she asked her to explain her note. She recounted what had happened to a female and male cop.

“I feel like I could kill myself I cannot take it no more,” she cried during the interview, barely audible. “Boom. Boom. Boom . . .” she said imitating gun shots.

Donna said she has nothing to show for the three weeks she spent in St Lucia except pain. She said police officers took her statement and then a flight was arranged, she thought, for her to return to Jamaica. Donna said St Lucian police instead put her on a flight to the Bahamas with no means of getting to Jamaica from there.

“When me reach ah Bahamas dem say me have fi have money fi me reach ah Jamaica,” said Donna. “Me go down pon me knee,” she went on adding that immigration officers finally took pity and arranged a ticket instead of sending her back to St Lucia. In the interview the Radio Jamaica editor informs Donna that the officer in question had been arrested and charged.

“Have you acquired any legal help?” the editor asked.

“No, I don’t know if they got a lawyer or anything for me. Me just tell me-self that God ah me lawyer because me not telling any lies. What happen happen and me ah talk and they take me to the doctor and she said it happened.” Donna also said that the police officer in question had confessed to sexually assaulting her.

“Them ask him questions and me hear him answer to everything and dem make him sign,” said Donna.

The STAR’s efforts to the reach the lawyer representing the suspect were unfruitful. Foreign Affairs minister Rufus Bousquet who just returned to St Lucia yesterday promised a statement later this week.

Meanwhile the STAR also contacted the Jamaica-St Lucia community but they were unaware of the incident and not prepared to comment.

Written By: Matthew Hunte 

The thing about the Caribbean is that everybody has the same responsibility, which is no responsibility at all!
—Lloyd Best

The Ramsahoye Report, assuming that’s what it really is, is shaping up to be another Rorschach test where everyone sees what they want. But it ultimately came down to a game of setting expectations and recalibrating where deemed necessary. With those terms of reference, it’s difficult to see why some have been so offended by the reports that Kenny Anthony was exonerated in the Rochamel Affair, as the unfairly maligned HTS report by Carmy Joseph stated. Technically, no one was exonerated since no one was ever convicted of a crime. Instead they claim that the report made it clear that the then Minister of Finance didn’t place necessary safeguards in place to
protect the public’s money; all this is true but the problem with this critique is that these were accepted facts that even the staunchest Labour supporter conceded years ago, albeit with the half-hearted, and now dead, caveat that at least we saved the people’s jobs.

Given that members of the current government explicitly accused Kenny Anthony of gross corruption, something that other commentators strongly hinted at, unless some mofos get indicted—and we already know that’s not on the cards—this will be seen as vindication of sorts. Further, now that this charge has come up empty, once again hardly surprisingly since this too went through the courts, these types of accusations have been shown to be trivialized by our public discourse. In St. Lucia, charges of corruption aren’t what they used to be.

Section 41, Frenwell, Gavin French, Royal Merchant Bank, Statutory Instrument 2003, No. 4: We already knew this stuff six years ago. (Well for the most part; some have tossed around numbers like 81 million and 110 million at various points, some out of confusion and some for effect.)

Eventually some who were paying attention called them out on it and after the initial bluster over TV and platform; they slithered away from their statements. Unfortunately, many commentators have a habit of just flinging around terms to see what sticks as if terms don’t have actual meanings and as if court rulings are inconsequential in comparison to their own esteemed judgments, instead falling back on the amorphous standard of morality which could be custom tailored to suit whatever is their specific need at a given point in time. Of course, if these rulings were against Anthony, I doubt that their relevance would still be doubted. But then again, even those responses were known from five years ago. (Incidentally, the current Attorney General was second chair on Martinus Francois’ team during the Rochamel cases.)

Given the way that some have framed the analysis, no court case or Commission of Inquiry could ever clear Anthony since the only acceptable result is him taking the fall; if he doesn’t, then it is the judges and by extension the law which has the problem. I’m skeptical of those who arbitrarily layout the grounds for resignation in one case while also providing caveats for why this standard couldn’t be applied in other cases.

Others, acknowledging that legally Anthony is unscathed, thus far, have now sought to frame this as a moral issue against the poor. I suppose that I could argue that since technically the poor are not taxpayers, the sales tax on Shirley biscuits not applying, they by definition aren’t victims. But even I concede that such an approach is cold and legalistic; not even Metamucil could help someone like that sleep at night. That said I am hesitant about applying explicitly moralistic language to fiscal policy because though emotionally satisfying, this is ultimately laced with problems, not the least of which is that this rhetoric sounds eerily reminiscent of something a tea-bagger would say. (No, not that kind of tea-bagger; get your mind out of the gutter.)

Now it could be argued Kenny Anthony has already paid the price, unless of course they are demanding that he retroactively resigns as Prime Minister. It is’’t clear exactly what is meant when Kenny Anthony is supposed to take responsibility for Rochamel. Is he supposed to pay back the money? Turn his self in? Go into exile?

I should further add that we should never fail to see the big picture: while the Rochamel Affair was obviously a sign of maladministration, it certainly didn’t do irreparable damage to the finances of the country and the portrayal of Kenny Anthony as being totally devoid of fiscal discipline. As a matter of fact, St Lucia was one of the top performers on the World Bank’s Country Policy and Institutional Assessment of 2007 which rated countries for, among other things, macroeconomic management, fiscal policy
and debt policy. But that doesn’t mean that it’s not important, what it does mean is that by co-opting these various issues for nakedly partisan or personal
ventures, we get bogged down and miss the larger point. None of this is to say that there should be no repercussions to such affairs; the question is whether we are willing to lay blame or assign responsibility.

Head of the Commission of Inquiry Sir Fenton Ramsahoye during the Hearings of the Commission held in April.

The late political philosopher Iris Marion Young wrote a seminal essay on the distinction between blame and responsibility. Though she was mainly writing about Global justice issues, I think that the frame she constructed is a useful one that could have a more broad application than the one it was originally formulated for. I am simplifying the argument but essentially Young is saying that the assignment of blame is strictly punitive and backward looking while the taking of responsibility is ultimately forward looking and seeks improvement. Tanja Pritzlaff in an essay related to Young’s thought entitled Political Practices as Performances of Political Responsibility delivers a fine summation of the distinction between ‘blame’ and ‘responsibility’ when she wrote: “One of the major differences between these two conceptions lies in the fact that political responsibility is forward-looking in the sense that it manifests itself in actual performances of political practices. Accordingly, oppositional, performative political practices embody political responsibility by actually fulfilling the actions required to change complex structural processes that are in need of improvement
and change.”

In an article entitled Katrina: Too Much Blame, Not Enough Responsibility, Young writes that “Practices of blaming look for “whodunit.” As in mystery novels, when we find who did it, we absolve other people, who by implication didn’t do it. In the context of social processes and political discussion, this focus on individual agents deflects attention from the structural processes to which large numbers of individuals and organizations contribute.”

Later in the same article she writes, “When public discussion of suffering and injustice focuses on whom to blame, general distrust and cynicism often result, and this could be politically counterproductive when it is imperative that large numbers of private and public individuals and agencies cooperate to meet huge needs. Of course, citizens and their representatives should demand an account of the human and bureaucratic reasons for any massive failure of institutions to protect people. But the hearings begun by the US Congress are too focused on separating blameworthy individuals from others, and will probably not ask whether private and public policies over a long time have rendered some Americans particularly vulnerable to harm.” [Italics mine.]

Urban Dolor was arguably exploring along a similar strain of thought when he wrote in December 2004: “Every dark cloud has a silver band thus I hope that in the long run the Rochamel affair will have a profound and positive effect on our democracy. It is my hope that in the future parliamentarians will understand the need for motions that are clear and precise; that parliamentarians will act in a manner which clearly display their understanding that Parliament is an institution of honourable people who are not prone to deliberately mislead each other. I also live with the hope that parliamentarians will accept their responsibility to seek clarification on unintelligible matters brought to the House for their deliberation.”

Most of our problems are structural and cultural problems which means that things often go wrong even with those who may be well intentioned may have egregious slip-ups. And not all of our public officials even have pretensions or aspirations of attaining nobility. Unfortunately, our disinterest in understanding the interplay between politics and governance plagues us. If war is God’s way of teaching Americans geography, then scandals are His (Her?) way of teaching West Indians how our countries are run. Stubborn indifference probably is rooted, in the lack of standards for the critique of performance of government officials, not to mention the general absence of interest serious examination of policy for its own sake. Therefore, much like our education and penal systems, we are more interested in punishment than remediation, and so we end up stuck in the same rut.

Recently I read a working paper by Ray Fisman and Edward Miguel which argued “There is a strong correlation between illegal parking and existing measures of home country corruption. Even
when stationed thousands of miles away, diplomats behave in a manner highly reminiscent of officials in the home country.” Kuwait and Egypt nabbed the tops two spots with each of their diplomats having an average of 246.2 and 139.6 tickets annually over the period 1997-2002. Chad, with a delegation of just two, came third with an average of 124.3.

While this list doesn’t exactly correlate the authors of the study still found “strong persistence in cultural norms: Diplomats from high-corruption countries have significantly more parking violations, and these differences persist over time.” This drew my interest since my old lady had told me a few years ago that at some point; she had heard that a three-man St Lucia delegation reached the top ten in the world for unpaid parking tickets.

We are now faced with an ironic situation which is a microcosm of our existence: arguably a report which was intended to investigate government wastage may be destined to become yet another example of the same thing, especially given that the most important part, the recommendations will probably be ignored. But
what, ultimately is the endgame? Given all that has transpired, probably a continued stasis until there is some serious discussion of Constitutional /Public Sector reform, but that may just be wishful thinking. I’ll leave you with some words from Sir Louis Blom-Cooper: “The new Government in St Lucia has been uncomfortably aware of the past backwardness in good governance. That recognition is a necessary first step towards dispelling the culture. The second step, it is to be hoped, will come with publication of this report . . .”

Her rock: Amy Winehouse has flown her faith healer Peter Hippolyte to the UK after meeting him in the Caribbean.

This is the man who Amy Winehouse is relying on to keep her on the straight and narrow. The hedonistic singer, 26, met faith healer Peter Hippolyte during her lengthy stay in St Lucia earlier this year. And now the booze and drugs junkie is flying him over to England to help keep her demons at bay.
Peter has described how he put an end to her wild ways in the Caribbean and even stopped her boozing.

“I have healing hands and I talk to her and explain things to her,” he told Heat magazine.
“She’s a wonderful girl and she believes in me. I am coming back to England to help her.”
Peter talked about his therapy sessions with the star, who became addicted to drink and drugs when with estranged husband Blake Fielder-Civil.
He claims to have rescued Amy from her hedonistic lifestyle and stopped her boozing, seen here in London last November.

He said: “We hug each other, we kiss each other and I put my hands on her shoulder. I tell her not to worry and we sing to each other. When I come to the UK, I will use my hands to help heal her and use my psychological healing to organise her mind. We will say prayers together and she will drink bush tea with antioxidants.”

However, despite Amy trying to turn her life around it seems it will be a long time before she manages to shrug off her tarnished image.