BLACK EYE PEAS AND RICE; MACARONI PIE
FISH PIE; CREAMED YAM
MIXED VEGETABLES; BAKED CHICKEN
BAKED PORK; BBQ SPARERIBS
BBQ PIG TAILS; SEA CAT
LAMB STEW; FISH GRAVY
STEAMED VEGETABLES; TOSSED SALAD
St. Lucia Star
Written By: Star Reporter on Nov 2nd, 2009
MP Richard Frederick pictured in the House on Tuesday as he tells an aside to his fellow minister. At his turn to speak Frederick highlighted several questions surrounding issues such as Helenair and Rochamel.
He wanted to run,” MPs of the ruling United Workers Party agreed both in the House of Assembly and in the members lounge afterwards, once the opposition staged a walkout on a debate to condemn the former government. “He needed a way to escape.”“He was trying to escape since morning,” Castries Central MP Richard Frederick said.
If the opposition leader wanted to take some air out of the government’s balloon by walking out, he seemed to succeed.
The media abandoned the House of Assembly in droves in the moments after the Labour Party walked out on the session shortly after the House passed a hotly contested motion to condemn the former administration. By the time the opposition was done with them, even most government supporters in the observer
section had abandoned the day.
“My light was on, but he hurriedly stood because he was looking for a way out,” Frederick said of Dr Kenny Anthony’s haste to depart the House once UWP members denied him more time to speak on issues surrounding the motion to condemn him. “From morning he was looking for a way out.”
“People will look at the walkout and say, why didn’t we give the leader of the opposition more time to speak,” Castries South-East MP Guy Joseph said in a pre-emptive strike against the most obvious criticism of government’s strategy that day. “But it is clear that what is being discussed cannot be defended. You think the opposition can sit there and watch me watching
him in eye making this presentation. What could they say in his defense?
The only one who could say something was the member for Castries East (Philip J Pierre, who was absent).”
But the walkout did not deter the government’s chief witch hunters from easing up on their condemnations of Kenny Anthony. In fact, it urged them to spread the blame around to Pierre as well.
“He knew about Rochamel,” Joseph said of the former tourism minister. Frederick agreed, quoting Pierre who said in the House that the loan guarantees in relation to the Hyatt hotel were due to cost overruns.
Frederick was more concerned with putting the condemnation of Kenny Anthony in a wider context and forwarding the government’s interpretation of the report, however.
“We keep hearing of exoneration,” he said. “I don’t know what report exonerated who but the report I have before me speaks of recklessness, negligence, managerial ineptitude and a host of other ills that throw a bad light on the stewardship of the last prime minister. He says he’s not to been blamed. But it says ‘We did not discern any attempt to protect the government and people of St Lucia from this loss.’ Who had that responsibility? I wasn’t in government. It was not me. There was no evidence that high level public servants were involved. All the documents were signed by Prime Minister Dr Kenny Anthony . . . But that was not the only situation. In the Helenair affair, on at least three counts, the House was misled. He said that Louis George on his sickbed endorsed the guarantee for Helenair. Louis George said ‘Me, mah jamais fair sa.’ He fired three senators because they were asking too many questions. Did he say he volunteered to give evidence? Because when they asked Dr Kenny Anthony questions, he refused to accept the opportunity. All of them remained silent.”
“Right is right and wrong is wrong,” Joseph said. “And if my administration handles the economy in a bad way, there will be commissions of inquiry and we will have to account to the people of St Lucia. Almost $200 million of the people went down the drain and a former minister of finance is saying ‘What
have I done wrong?’ And people are supposed to sit there and listen to him. But I am not surprised. Because
during the election campaign I said the minister of finance doesn’t understand money.
Arsene James, one of only two government MPs in parliament at the time of the famous “obligations to Hyatt” statement, remembered the day intimately.
“That particular resolution,” he recalled, “the whole Cabinet remained silent. Only one person spoke—the member for Soufriere who was no longer a member of cabinet. I think if he was a member of Cabinet, he would not have spoken. He supported the resolution and congratulated government for its strategy move to borrow funds. We on the opposite did not debate the motion. We didn’t have the facts. We saw it as a resolution that sought to finance
government’s capital works as it said and refinance obligations to Hyatt as it said. We didn’t know there was this transaction with Frenwell because of the manner in which the resolution was disguised. We began to ask questions whenever we got an opportunity to do so. The
pattern was to shut me up anytime I try and speak. Anytime I tried to ask for explanation, they always tried to ridicule me. But I am happy that this day has arrived and it has given me a chance to say some of the things I meant to say.”
James showed that there were at least six instances between December 1997 and July 2003 where he spoke about that particular loan guarantee that Anthony got passed without once mentioning Rochamel and Frenwell.
“We have agitated, we have asked questions, but we did not get any answers,” he maintained. And joining in the spreading of the blame he too agreed, “The former minister of tourism was an accomplice in all of this.”
Forced to defend their condemnation of Kenny Anthony as well as the Ramsahoye report, the
government was on the defensive for some part of the day.
“Reports are usually 300 pages so the average St Lucian will not take his time to read it,” Guy Joseph said in response to Anthony’s charge that it was the laziest commission report he had ever seen. “But we have a concise report that captures in 74 pages more information than you can get and find out what really happened. Do I have questions? Yes I have. But he stood there and talked for an hour and he didn’t say anything about the findings. The opposition had no intention of debating. If he wanted to answer questions, he had to wait until I made my
contribution.” Joseph said he thought that this was a time for informing St Lucians about blatant mismanagement by a government that was elected on a platform of transparency and accountability.
“They wanted an easy way out,” he said of the opposition’s walkout. “But the truth will be recorded in the books of this country of the mismanagement of this country by a reckless government. The last administration failed us miserably in the quest for transparency and
accountability.”
Written By: Maryanna Williams
Opposition Leader Kenny Anthony checks his BlackBerry as the prime minister speaks on a motion that condemns Anthony’s tenure as prime minister. His wife Rose Marie Antoine and former Labour Party Chairman Tom Walcott (background).
The tension in the House of Assembly on the morning of Tuesday October 27 was palpable. A packed gallery had come to hear a publicly battered former prime minister defend himself against allegations that he had wasted millions of the country’s tax dollars on a little known private company called Frenwell Ltd, inter alia. As the MPs took their respective seats it became clear that the leader of the opposition would be the only member of the last Labour government in attendance. Philip J Pierre had skipped town. Presumably he had more important commitments.The prime minister, in presenting the resolution that would dominate the debate of the day, accused his predecessors, the Labour government led by Kenny Anthony, of maladministration that cost the country millions of dollars over Rochamel, the NCA and Road Development Projects RDP 1&2. The prime minister commenced the debate in combative style tossing allegations of wrongdoing, deceit, trickery and dishonesty over his handling of the Rochamel affair. Never had Stephenson King been so vicious toward a parliamentary colleague.
Surprisingly, it was the leader of the opposition who was next on his feet to respond to the prime minister’s vitriolic attack. I say surprisingly because the leader of the opposition was yet to hear from the main government spokesmen: Rufus Bousquet, Guy Joseph, and Richard Frederick. Under the House rules no member is allowed to speak on a motion more than once except on a point of clarification or a point of
order. The one exception is for the mover of a motion who is allowed to return to the floor for a second time to close the debate. So why then was Kenny Anthony taking the floor so early in the day? He knew that having taken the floor when he did would leave him no opportunity to rebut the contributions from the earlier mentioned main government attack dogs.
Not a good defense move for a lawyer. Or perhaps there was no intention to put up a defense. As it turned out Kenny Anthony’s fifty-minutes-long presentation was unimpressive, except for his first fifteen minutes when he again exposed the incompetence of the attorney general. He had prepared a motion for resolution as a statutory instrument (SI) without a related enabling Act of Parliament. Saved by the Speaker’s advice, the motion was amended and presented without the SI reference by the prime minister for debate and resolution. Kenny Anthony’s first attempt at an escape from the House had been effectively foiled.
He made no satisfactory attempt to answer three salient questions. No surprise. He had also avoided the opportunities presented at the Commission of Inquiry and previous parliamentary sittings to
do so. Why did the former minister of finance not bring the first government guarantee agreement with Pigeon Point Ltd before parliament for approval? Why did he not bring the second guarantee (Put Option) in favour of the Royal Merchant Bank for the loans of Frenwell Ltd for parliamentary approval? Why, having given the guarantee for Frenwell’s loans, the government failed to put in place measures to avoid misuse of the loan funds of $35 million?
Listening to the opposition leader on Tuesday, it is easy to conclude that he is truly the embodiment of contradictions. In answer to questions about the operations of Frenwell Ltd, a private company and the recipient of a $35 million dollar bank loan which the taxpayers of this country ended up paying, he unfairly redirected the questions to the lawyers who formed the company. Of course the lawyers had nothing to do with the operations of Frenwell Ltd; they only formed the company. But the disturbing truth about Frenwell’s incorporation is that it was done at the instance of Kenny Anthony. Or, as the Ramsahoye report put it, by “the government.”
The opposition leader accused one government MP of accepting a motor vehicle as a gift from a businessman. Not for the first time, the Leader of the Opposition forgot that back in 2007 he too had received a motor vehicle
(SUV) from a group of business people from his constituency, for services rendered as the parliamentary representative. At the time it was an unusual gesture which caused much consternation among his colleagues and the general public.
The Leader of the Opposition insisted that there was nothing in the Ramsahoye report that “condemned” him, a specious comment, for the report did not make references to the minister of finance by name. But everyone knows the person responsible for the loss of $35 million dollars was the then minister of finance Kenny Anthony, who signed the guarantee on behalf of the government of St Lucia. He was quick to claim the report ‘exonerated’ him, but wasted no time besmirching the character of the Chair of Commission of Inquiry. He likened Ramsahoye to Sir Allen Stanford and reminded the House that both men were knighted by the same government.
His big issue was the illegality of the Statutory Instrument condemning his Labour government of maladministration. As his legal authority he smugly quoted a recent case involving the Constituency Boundaries Commission of St Kitts in which the court ruled that a secondary legislative instrument had no legal effect without the relevant parent legislation: an Act of Parliament. But what he failed to reveal was that he was one of two defense lawyers in the cited case. To hear him in the House, one would never believe that he was only recently on the wrong side of the very principle he accused Stephenson King of running foul of.
Shamelessly, he cited the Ramsahoye recommendation that all guarantees have the backing of parliamentary approval. Nothing new, he said the Finance Act had already covered that. Then why did he not follow the rules?
Into the fiftieth minute of the leader of the opposition’s contribution, the Speaker reminded him that he had “ten more minutes.” Prompted by the leader of the opposition, the member for Vieux Fort north proposed an additional one hour of speaking time. The motion was taken to a vote and defeated: five for, six against. Kenny Anthony had been given a way out and wasted little time grabbing it. Predictably, the other opposition members followed their protesting leader out of the House. Kenny Anthony had avoided yet another chance to explain Rochamel, the NCA scandal etc.
Kenny Anthony is clearly not leadership material. By all the report underscored he cannot be trusted. It is very sad that in the Rochamel saga Kenny Anthony misled parliamentarians and the people of St Lucia over a matter which caused huge and avoidable financial loss in excess of $35 million. I have signed off on Kenny Anthony. Dear reader, your witness.
| By Linda Petrusi
Who says CSME does not create jobs? All one needs to do is a quick online search to discover that a whole new cottage industry has emerged. Namely: Workshops and Seminars. On any given day there is a workshop or seminar designed to educate, inform, “help the average citizen learn more about…” CSME. Not only that, there are many providers of such workshops all ready and willing to help the trade unions, schools, youth, etc. to learn more about how CSME can work for them. I have no idea how much they charge but it does strike me as a good profession to be in.
I also do not understand the need for all these licenses unless its another new industry emerging. If the point of CSME is free movement of people, goods and services, then why is it limited to certain groups or classification of people? Sounds discriminatory to me. What about those individuals who do not have licenses but do have fifteen years work experience? Who would an employer want to hire? A person with fifteen years work experience or a person with one year experience and a license? Just because a person has a degree in restaurant management does not mean he knows how to fry chicken. On the other hand, just because a person knows how to fry chicken does not mean he knows how to manage a restaurant. But isn’t that what CSME is designed to do? Connect the restaurant manager with the cook to produce a product that is consistent, good and sells? Maybe I’m missing something here. It seems to me people have gone beyond the point of being fed up to just not give a damn anymore. Any who can blame them? Is there a Citizen Advisory Board established? Maybe that would help the “average politician to learn more about…”. Truth is that politicians, business leaders, schools and trade unions are doing nothing more than pay lip service to the goal of CSME and letting down the most important stakeholder of them all. The young adults and youths throughout the Caribbean. In spite of all the bickering that goes on in the “inner sanctum” of CARICOM, the Youth Ambassadors continue to work towards a full integration. If this sounds strange to you, then go to Facebook and search for CSME. There you will find young adults from the Caribbean posting news about CSME, exchanging ideas and thoughts on how to better improve. The young adults from Trinidad and Tobago do a tremendous job of posting news articles, events, and other interests on a daily basis. They are optimistic that integration can occur and have a very good handle on what needs to be done. I also discovered a link to a website www.CSMEjobs.net. So I went to the website and discovered it was a job search engine for citizens of T&T. In October alone, there were 51 new job postings ranging from general labor at Pepsi to teaching English in Japan. Since I was new to the website, I decided to register and open an account. It’s free and very user friendly. One can create a profile, resume, search for jobs, start their own blog, have their own inbox and have newsletters and new job postings sent direct to their email address all free. However, since I noticed all the jobs were located in T&T, I decided to send a message to gefeedback. By the way, one can send messages direct to CSMEjobs.net and ask questions about all sorts of things. There’s a drop box that allows you to decide what you need help with. So I sent a message asking if only citizens of T&T can apply for these jobs? Now I have to admit I was a bit skeptical on how long it would take for a response. My past experience in trying to obtain data from individual states took around 3-4 weeks. However, the next day, I received a prompt and courteous reply which to me indicates a good level of customer service. I was informed that CSMEjobs.net was interfaced with another search engine TNT.com. Had I read the welcoming remarks on the home page better, I would have seen the link to this search engine. So with a click, I was re-directed to many more job databases. Craigslist, and Caribbean search engines. There I discovered banks, cruise lines, positions with CSME, United Nations, 3M, and many others. If you understand Black Jack and can shuffle cards, there’s a job waiting on a cruise line. If you are interested in banking, there’s a bank hiring and all jobs listed are open to anybody residing in member states. So for all who believe CSME is a total waste of time, I challenge you to re-consider the possibilities. Imagine a region that is fully integrated, allows free movement for all people, free movement of goods and services and perhaps most important; the exchange of ideas, talent and minds. And to all the politicians who are only looking out for themselves, shame on you. To believe you can go it alone is irresponsible governing and undermines your credibility as leaders. And to the young adults of the Caribbean, stand up and speak up. Teach the politicians who have for so long let you down. Teach them the importance of teamwork, collaboration, and most of all, leadership. And it they fail to listen or are condescending, then use your power as citizens and vote them out. I’ve included a link to a video entitled, “The Girl who Silenced the World for Five Minutes.” It is about a young girl who spoke before the United Nations in Brazil and silenced everyone. This girl puts things into perspective in a manner no adult can. Please take five minutes to listen to her words. |
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 Cruise tourists taking refreshments at a bar in St Kitts (Photo by Erasmus Williams) BASSETERRE, St Kitts (CUOPM) — Cruise tourism pumped US$44 million or EC$118 million into the St Kitts and Nevis economy during the 2008/2009 cruise year. Prime Minister and Minister of Tourism, Denzil Douglas, said it was evident that his administration took the right decision to close the debt-ridden sugar industry in 2005. The survey-based analysis of the impacts of passenger, crew and cruise line spending was carried out by the Florida-Caribbean Cruise Association, on the 26 cruise destinations during the period May 2008 through April 2009. The survey indicated that cruise passengers who came ashore spent a total of US$33 million or EC$89.1 million. The crew members who disembarked spent a total US$7.8 million or EC$21.6 million while the cruise lines spent US$3 million or EC$8.1 million in St Kitts and Nevis during the survey period. While St Kitts and Nevis generated US$44 million from cruise tourism, other destinations like Acapulco received US$21 million; Cartagena ( US$24 million); Costa Rica (US$26 million); Curacao (US$39 million); Dominica (US$14.1 million; Dominican Republic (US$23 million); Grenada (US$21 million); St. Vincent and the Grenadines (US$7 million); Trinidad and Tobago (US$2.9 million) and the Turks and Caicos Islands (US$25 million) St Kitts and Nevis led 24 of the 29 destinations in terms of average expenditure per cruise passenger of US$99.41 or EC$268.40. F
CCA figures also show based on the survey, that in St. Kitts and Nevis, expenditure in 2009 by each passenger increased to US$33.20 (EC$89.64) compared to US$5.40 (EC$14.50) in 2006, an increase of 514 percent and crew expenditure in St. Kitts and Nevis increased to US$7.80 (EC$21.06) in 2009 compared to US$0.40 (EC$1.08) in 2006, a whopping increase of 1,850 percent. Expenditure by passengers dropped in Antigua, Aruba, Belize, Dominica, Grenada and St Lucia. Crew visiting St Kitts and Nevis spent an average of US$142.14 or EC$383.77, the third highest crew expenditure rate among the 29 destinations and the seventh highest among the 29 destinations in total crew expenditures of US$7.8 million or EC$21 million. Ahead of St Kitts and Nevis were the United States Virgin Islands (US$152.58); St Maarten (US$149.45); Puerto Rico (US$138.63), Curacao (US$116.88) and the Cayman Islands (US$108.81). In other Caribbean destinations spending by crews were Antigua and Barbuda (US$54.16); Aruba US$69.34); Bahamas (US$77.95); Barbados (US$54.26); Dominica (US$56.41); Grenada (US$40.43); Jamaica (US$51.32); St Lucia (US$37.66); St Vincent and the Grenadines (US$17.61); Trinidad and Tobago (US$66.95) and the Turks and Caicos Islands (US$61.00). |
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LONDON, England – Airlines, travel agents and passenger groups have strongly condemned the decision by British authorities to increase the departure tax to the Caribbean.
The British government over the weekend increased the tax, officially known as the Air Passenger Duty (ADP).
According to the new figures, a family of four travelling to the Caribbean will now pay US$327 in taxes, or US$655.65 if they are travelling in premium economy seats.
“We are very disappointed that the government is continuing with its plans to increase APD,” Thomas Cook, a major travel agency in London, in a statement said.
“They have steadfastly refused to listen to any of the arguments the travel industry has presented and, yet again, are making the consumer pay,” it added.
The increase is the latest in a series of price hikes since February 2007, with officials warning that the charges will rise again in November 2010.
Antigua Sun
Full details of the agreement struck between government and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) will be revealed during the 2010 budget presentation on 30th November, 2009.
The announcement was made by Prime Minister Baldwin Spencer during his Independence Day message as he called on citizens and residents to prepare to answer the call of action, when full details of the nation’s fiscal consolidation programme is provided.
“As a responsible and independent government, having fully assessed the challenges presented by the global economic crisis and the debt burden and having engaged in widespread consultations, we have decided to present a fiscal consolidation programme to the IMF in an effort to secure technical and financial assistance in implementing the policies and measures identified in our National Economic and Social Transformation Plan,” Spencer told the nation.
Full details of the meetings held recently involving the government and the IMF were not made public, but the news that government had engaged the organisation in dialogue in order to receive assistance was met by widespread criticism in some sections of society, including the opposition Antigua Labour Party.
Much to their chagrin, however, the process has advanced, and yet again, members of the public are being assured that the changes expected to come about in the fiscal consolidation programme will be in the best interest of all.
“I wish to say to you the citizens and residents of this nation, that the programme we will embark upon with the assistance of the IMF is not an IMF dictated programme.
“It is our programme. It is a programme conceptualised by an independent and responsible Antigua and Barbuda,” the prime minister assured.
Spencer said there is still the need for some fine-tuning, so that the targets presented by the government and endorsed by the fund are manageable and attainable.
This will be done when the IMF returns to the country. The discussions with the IMF in October focussed on economic developments in Antigua and Barbuda, and on the elements of the Fiscal Consolidation Programme, which involves measures that will increase revenue, reduce expenditure and improve Antigua and Barbuda’s debt position.
Reducing expenditure on wages and salaries by 20 per cent by 2012, continuing to reduce the size of the public sector through a programme of attrition over the next 5-7 years, reducing the number of items in the basket of zero-rated goods under the ABST, increasing the non-citizen land holding licence from five per cent to 10 per cent, and outsourcing some of the services government currently provides through a competitive bidding process are among several points listed in the programme.
“Our nation has survived serious crises and we have overcome momentous challenges. Whatever the challenges ahead, we shall overcome. Your government is fully prepared to face the challenges.”
We face them with a positive outlook and with the determination to overcome them. If we work as a family, it can be achieved.
Prime Minister Spencer has called for a united approach in addressing the economic challenges being experienced, in an effort to overcome the global economic crises that poses a serious threat to Antigua and Barbuda. He remains optimistic that the nation will weather the storm.
| Trinidad Express |
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Four men died after eating a meal on Sunday night at a Barrackpore house. Winston Seelal, 55, Mahadeo Roopchand, 40, and Nazim Mohammed, 40, were dead before the Emergency Medical Services ambulance arrived. Ramdeo Jugmohan, a grandfather of two, died while undergoing treatment at the San Fernando General Hospital. Police said yesterday the men spent the evening cooking a meal and drinking home-made wine at Seelal’s small wooden shack at Rampersad Trace, off Rochard Douglas Road, Barrackpore. But several hours later neighbours saw them lying on the grass outside the house. Police searched the house, but found no evidence of poison. Nevertheless, they took away four glasses and samples of water from a steel barrel for forensic testing. A bottle containing a chemical substance was also seized. Seelal lived alone in the wood and galvanise house. Mohammed, his childhood friend, lived a short distance away. Mohammed’s common-law wife walked out of the marital home with their two children two days ago, police said. Roopchand’s sister, Parbatie Ramdeo, said: ’My brother left home yesterday morning to go and lime by his friend. And then in the night someone came and told us that he was dead. I don’t know what happened but I am certain that it was not suicide.’ Roopchand, a welder, lived with his mother, Boodanie, at Debie Trace, Barrackpore. ’He was a quiet man who kept to himself. He was not married and had no children, but he was happy. I believe someone did this to them, but I cannot say who because they were really quiet people. They had no arguments with anyone,’ she said. Jugmohan, a carpenter, lived at Ramsingh Trace, Penal, with his wife, Brenda, and their son, Ryan. His 25-year-old daughter, Mindy Bassant, was baffled by his death. ’I think he was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. He knew the other men, but he was not friends with them. My father left home around 3 p.m. and said he was going for a walk. He usually walked on Sunday evenings and when he did not return we started looking for him,’ she said. During the search they were told that their father was lying at the side of the road in Barrackpore. ’When we went there he was frothing and we thought he had suffered a stroke. The ambulance take him to the hospital and the nurses told us to leave and come back in the morning. But within 15 minutes he was dead,’ Bassant said. Her father, she said, was a simple man who enjoyed spending time with his two grandchildren. ’He also wanted to build a flat house for him and mummy to live and he was sending me to do a nursing course. He was the best daddy anyone could ask for. I know it was not suicide, so I believe that if someone mixed poison it was not for my father, he was just at the wrong place,’ she said. The bodies were removed to the Forensic Science Centre in St James, but up to late yesterday the autopsies had not yet been performed. Homicide detectives are continuing investigations. Two years ago, a man died and two fell violently ill, after they unknowingly drank poison during a Hindu prayer service at Ramsubad Trace, Rochard Road, Penal. |
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Stacy-Ann Smith, Contributor 
Michelle Wilson-Reynolds
THERE IS no doubt that Tanto Campbell is an outstanding Jamaican. At 29 years old, he has already achieved global recognition as a sportsman, earning for himself a spot on the podium at the World Championships in Berlin, Germany, this year after winning a bronze medal in a discus event.
It is the latest addition to his collection of medals which includes bronze from the 2008 Paralympics in Beijing, China, and gold, silver and bronze at previous Paralympics and world events. Campbell says winning medals on the world stage is great, but it is not the only major success of his life. In the last few years he has been able to further his education with the help of a scholarship from the Capital and Credit Financial Group (CCFG). Speaking at the company’s scholarship awards ceremony held recently, he described the pride he felt at having completed the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate subjects and attested to the positive impact it has had on his life.
“They have been very good to me, and I will always be grateful,” says Campbell.
Deputy executive director of the Mustard Seed Communities, Darcy Tulloch-Williams, also attests to the benevolence of the organisation. “They have been excellent to us in terms of being consistent in their contributions to Mustard Seed and in the caring for our children,” she says. The relationship between the charity organisation and the financial entity began seven years ago, and according to Tulloch-Williams, it has been good. She fondly recalls the assistance Capital and Credit provided after Hurricane Ivan in 2004 through the initiative of the group’s senior vice-president for marketing and corporate affairs, Michelle Wilson-Reynolds. “We had lost roofs; we had no water, no electricity. I remember when Michelle came with a driver and assessed the situation. She identified what we needed and collaborated with her overseas partners to get us the tanks and other things we needed at Jerusalem,” Tulloch-Williams recounts.
Undoubtedly, 2009 has been a tough year for businesses in Jamaica but Tulloch-Williams says Jamaicans - citizens and corporate entities alike - have come through for the Mustard Seed Communities in times of crisis. “When we had the fire at Martha’s House, it was so heartening to see the amount of goodwill that is out there, to know that in very challenging times people will rise to the occasion and that community spirit takes precedence,” she relates.
Despite the current financial challenges, Wilson-Reynolds says her organisation remains committed to assisting the Mustard Seed Communities. “We are a Jamaican company that operates for the betterment of Jamaica. “There is no organisation that will continue to remain profitable and healthy if the society around it is not healthy. We care about making sure that we give back to society and we can help those in greatest need,” Wilson-Reynolds adds.
The CCFG executive asserts that while the company cannot be all things to all charities, there is a conscious effort to make a meaningful contribution. “This is one of the reasons we have focused on the next generation in terms of children’s homes, their health, education and well-being. Last year we gave about $1.8 million to about 50 charities that cater to children’s needs,” she explains.
Wilson-Reynolds notes that the general support the company has given is in addition to the money raised through ‘Pickney Love’, its signature outreach event held at Christmas. “It’s a family show where we get wholesome entertainment, including some of Jamaica’s stellar performers. So far we have raised just about $8 million to buy anti-retroviral drugs and to change Dare to Care from being a hospice to a home. And that is what has happened, no child has died as a result of needing any medication,” she adds.
