Moontown

DENIS KELLMAN’S COLUMN- THE DEBATE

JUNE 22, 2006

It is clear to me that politics is not a science. It seems to me that they are some politicians who have been able to treat it like one. The O’Neale’s family has been able to achieve this fate. It is rather interesting that whenever this has occurred, someone from among has been able to bad mouth them with their own. Such persons not only carry the dagger internally, but are prepared to remove their limited shares to the enemy seeking ransom. It seems to occur with thirty being a factor.

 I have already said that this family has served the party well and it is time that the party shows the public that politics in this family is not by accident. This country needs solutions and it needs them now. Should we continue delaying the process, this country will be destroyed. One only has to remember what happened to Nigerian in the seventies when it had all going for it, Capital projects were constructed and located without proper advice. Cost was not important, the private sector of the country was not worried about the foreign exchange problem, because when they looked at the bottom line everything was well.

We as a small country must learn to harness wisdom and stop behaving like cliques looking for manner to drop from heaven and not being able to associate with what you have because you are always looking for a person created in your own vision and not what God has sent for you. One only has to refer to the Bible and one would see what I speak about. Our country Barbados has to change to suit what is happening in the world.  We stopped believing that we are God and that we can create inequality for God has made us all one. We should remember the French Revolution. We must also remember the famous quote by Napoleon that “all men are equal, but some are more equal than others.” This type of thinking has caused Snowball to flee, but Boxer remained until his death, even though he worked hard and was badly treated. He understood the fight and stuck it out. Our country needs some men with backbones, who can remain and fight the good fight.

Some of us can be peace makers, even though in the end, we suffer at the hands of the persons we defend; we still have to fight for the cause. Nothing good comes easily, but the Lord has always been able to provide vision for men who mean well, while others do their plotting. I have always been told not to fear the enemy, because you know their intentions, but fear those who pretend to be your friends, but cannot say anything good about you in your absence. Many times I have to ask my Lord to keep reminding me as I walk, about the role of Judas, not only because I admired him, but because once you can work him out, then you can deal with all others.

We in Barbados have to understand that because someone plays foolish, it does not mean that the person is foolish. Gear Box was regarded as the biggest fool in Barbados, but any young person could have gained from his mouthing under his breath. Some of the best knowledge I have gained in this country came from men like Eric Sealy, Julian Hunte and Gear Box. I have had some of the best teachers in my life, but these stand out because they were not paid for their knowledge proffered. I have never seen a bad idea from Julian Hunte, but I have seen him robbed of his intellectual right. Many persons staking claims to the fame created by him have not even acknowledged the source or paid the necessary royalties.

This region has to stop trampling under-privileged persons and compensate them for their common sense. This is why the WICB and its selectors cannot accept that Brian Charles Lara is more brilliant than they are. One would believe that Lara had requested to pick the team. A captain must be given the best team to work with and the councils must understand their roles. If the councils give Lara a team, they should not believe that it is made of concrete. They should expect any captain to express an opinion in the interest of the team and organization.

It is rather interesting that persons who had no foresight as it relates to World Cup Cricket, can now seek to dictate and refuse dialogue with their most talented player and then ignore his views because he is a batsman and not a bowler, forgetting that in order to be a good batsman, you have to understand bowlers and their ability.

The people of the Caribbean must tell the cliques that it is not about them anymore, that is about a better life for all. The Caribbean must be seen as a place of equal opportunity. It can no longer be for the too few. Globalization and Trade Liberalization have demanded that a new thinking is required and persons can no longer be branded by birth. The branding has to be the ability to think and execute.

I am begging the Board and the Selectors to understand that cricket is not the livelihood of cricketers anymore. Instead, it is the livelihood of all of us. So if you do not listen to them, you are not listening to us. These councils must represent the interest of the people and not the too few. Wake up! Caribbean the world is not waiting on us. We have to understand that we have to pay our way by producing and not by begging or borrowing. Cricket is the game that promotes Barbados and tourism and these players cannot any longer ignore the significance of this industry to the development of the region.

Peace, love, unity, humility and understanding.

SPLIT PEAS AND RICE; CHICKEN PELAU

MACARONI PIE; SHEPHERD’S PIE

COW HEEL SOUP; BBQ SPARERIBS

BAKED LAMB CHOPS; BAKED CHICKEN

FRIED SNAPPER; FRIED STEAK FISH

GRILLED STEAK FISH; MIXED VEGETABLES

BEEF STEW; FISH GRAVY

TOSSED SALAD

Managing Director of Grenville Radio Ltd, (ZDK) Ivor Bird while issuing thanks for those responsible for organising the programme marking the centenary of Father of the Nation, Vere Cornwall Bird, has lashed out at a number of individuals who he said have shown nothing but disrespect for the country’s first National Hero.

“I would like to congratulate the Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda Dr. the Honourable Baldwin Spencer for the wonderful and sincere job he has done, personally, to celebrate and show respect for the founding father of our nation, The Right Honourable Sir Vere Cornwall Bird senior in celebration of his 100th birthday, Bird said.

He also extended congratulations to Chairman of the centennial celebrations committee Allister “for the wonderful work he has done in co-ordinating activities for the VC Bird 100th birthday celebrations. I would also like to say thank you and respect to my eldest brother, Vere Bird Junior for representing the Bird family in the way he has throughout all these activities.”

Bird, speaking in his capacity of Managing Director of Grenville Radio Ltd  ZDK (Liberty Radio) and SUN FM (Power 100.1) said, “I would like to remind my brother the Honourable Lester Bird, the  opposition leader of Antigua and Barbuda, the executive committee of the Antigua Labour Party (ALP) and all those of you who use ZDK for 104 hours every month without paying one cent to the upkeep of ZDK and SUN FM to you I address these remarks.

“I want to remind you that without V.C. Bird there would have been no ZDK and no SUN FM. And I have only one question to ask today – where would the Antigua Labour Party be without ZDK?”

Bird said when he looked around the church at the memorial service in honour of his father, he felt badly as there were only a few members of the Antigua Labour Party in attendance.
“As the head of this organisation I am asking my brother Lester Bird, the Bird family and supporters of the Antigua Labour Party ‘where is the respect for your founding father?’

“Without him, would Lester Bird have ever been the prime minister of Antigua and Barbuda, without VC, would you have had ZDK to keep you as strong as you are today?

Bird demanded that radio talk show hosts Paul “Chet” Greene, Lennox Weston and Percival Simon stand up and be counted at events in honour of Sir Vere.

He also called on Lester Bird, Cutie Benjamin, Hugh Marshall, Asot Michael and Guy Yearwood, who have access to ZDK and SUN FM, to explain their absence in relation to the memorial service.

Bird also took umbrage with the absence of the members of the Lebanese, Syrian and Caribbean nationals at the service declaring that it was his father who embraced them so that they could do well in Antigua and Barbuda. Bird also took a turn at members of the family of the country’s most recently declared national hero, George H. Walter, saying that before they die they will have to apologise for adverse comments they have made against V.C.s Bird. (Antigua Sun)

Concerns are once again being raised about Antigua and Barbuda’s escalating food import bill, which is said to be draining foreign exchange capital exceeding US$3 billion annually.

Making his presentation on the country’s annual budget, the country’s Minister of Agriculture Hilson Baptiste said as it stands 60 per cent of the local food consumption is from imports. He said over $271 million is spent on food in the country, while the value of the local food is $111million.

“This means we import one hundred and sixty million dollars in food; this is a challenge. We now have to produce more for the local market alone,” he said.

Antigua and Barbuda annually imports over 900,000 pounds of beef, 1.06 million pounds of pork, 315,000 pounds of mutton, 295,000 pounds of chevron (goat meat) and 13.5 million pounds of chicken at an annual cost of nearly $90 million.

“These are the things that drive me as minister. There is no way we should be putting these monies in peoples pocket and our people remain poor. Agriculture has evolved too much for this to continue.”

The minister is of the view that with the introduction of modern technology – greenhouse technology, water harvesting, post-harvesting and handling techniques – the import bill can be significantly reduced.

“We are currently in dialogue with the Cuban government to acquire the greenhouses but in order fur us to get this done we have to clean up the mess that the Labour Party left behind.”

Baptiste also is also calling for the institution of a land use policy to regulate the process in which people acquire lands for housing and agriculture purposes.

“That will determine how we use government land, what goes where and so on, and unlike the former government that use land for political patronage this will not be done under my watch,” he said. (Antigua Sun)

ST. GEORGE’S, Grenada – The wife of former prime minister Dr. Keith Mitchell has found herself at the centre of a row with the Grenada government over her refusal to return a diplomatic passport given to her while her husband was in office.

Marietha Mitchell was among several persons whom official travel documents were issued to by the previous New National Party (NNP) administration but are no longer qualified to possess official or diplomatic passports and were asked to return them to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs following general elections last year.

However, the government said that within the past three weeks, Mitchell, whose husband is now opposition leader, had the diplomatic passport in her possession while travelling on personal business.

She was questioned by an immigration officer because her name appeared on a list of persons who failed to return the travel documents to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

“It is even more disturbing that Mrs Mitchell refused to surrender the document when requested to do so by the immigration officer at the Maurice Bishop International Airport on the morning of Friday November 27th 2009, citing the need to use the diplomatic passport to facilitate her return to Grenada,” a government statement issued late Tuesday, said.

Gary Spaulding, Senior Gleaner Writer
Chang

Minister of Water and Housing Dr Horace Chang yesterday announced that the Government would be spending $447 million to put in place a five-pronged drought-mitigation programme to ease the protracted water shortage by February next year.

Additionally, the ministry is in the process of initiating a black-tank programme to ensure that households are equipped with adequate storage facilities to receive trucked water.

Educating the public

He said the Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management’s emergency fund would provide $2.9 million to purchase 500 200-gallon tanks.

Each tank would be sold for approximately $5,872.

Addressing yesterday’s post-Cabinet press briefing, Chang said the Government would be forking out $17 million to fund a long-term public awareness and education programme.

Another $18 million will be disbursed to the Rural Water Supply Limited to commission several projects to facilitate the flow of new water into the Corporate Area, while $142 million was to be spent to develop five wells in the Corporate Area to bring an additional two million gallons per day into the system.

Wells to be rehabilitated

Havendale $45 million

Rennock Lodge $10 million

Hampstead $30 million

Kings House $27 million

Devon House $30 million

(Jamaica Gleaner)

Gary Spaulding, Senior Gleaner Writer
Edward Seaga at a Gleaner Editors’ Forum at the newspaper’s North Street offices. - Peta-Gaye Clachar/Freelance Photographer

The tendency of leaders to opt for easy political short-cuts at the expense of long-term developmental goals for Jamaica has been blamed, in large measure, for many of the ills besetting the country, 47 years after it gained Independence.

Edward Seaga, former prime minister, and Dr Peter Phillips, former vice-president of the People’s National Party, were among a panel of persons who expressed the view that divisive, partisan political culture has severely handicapped political leadership.

They were speaking at a Gleaner Editors’ Forum this week.

“The state of leadership is weak. It is not providing guidance and not sufficiently mindful of the problems facing the country,” asserted Seaga, who served as prime minister between October 1980 and February 1989.

But it was Phillips who, early in the discussions, sought to put the leadership issue within the context of the tribalised political culture.

“It is generally accepted that Jamaica has not performed well over the past four decades. There have been peaks but, comparatively, we have failed when we look (at the development) of other states,” Phillips declared.

“Why have we not done as well as we had expected to in leadership and other spheres of national life?” he asked.

Phillips cited what he described as the excessively partisan nature of the country’s political culture which, he said, had increased over the years since Jamaica’s first elections in 1944.

He argued that Jamaica’s leadership at the national level was further undone by a preoccupation with short-term electoral objectives over a long-term developmental cycle.

Citing an example of the short-sightedness afflicting national leadership, Phillips referred to the severe drought affecting the country.

He said the last major water catchment facility - the Mona Reservoir - was constructed in 1952, but since then no decision had been made to construct others to deal with the increasing demand for water over the years.

“It would take another major engineering feat. We did not make use of the resources when we had it to build another dam,” argued Phillips, who has served as government minister of health, transport and national security during the PNP’s 18-year stretch in office.

“Going forward, we are going to need leadership which will reflect the courage to look at long-term developmental needs,” he asserted.

Phillips said the economy, national security, education and community service were areas requiring special attention and bold leadership.

Pollster Bill Johnson expressed disappointment that over many years his experience had found that political expediency had, almost invariably, reigned supreme over developmental considerations.

“People enter politics with goodwill, but change after they get elected; few are the exceptions, very few have shown courage to do what is required of them,” Johnson lamented. “The majority have lost sight of the reason that they went into politics in the first place.”

Johnson referred to a poll he conducted for The Gleaner two years ago, which found that Jamaicans were largely in favour of the reinstatement of capital punishment, even with the likelihood that innocent persons could be caught in the hangman’s noose.

“It is an indictment on political leadership that people were prepared to overlook the issue of collateral damage in order to deal with the crime problem,” argued Johnson.

President of Generation 2000, a group of young professionals in the governing Jamaica Labour Party, Delano Seiveright, conceded that his organisation, which had started in 1999 as a think tank, had lost its way in its attempt to assist the party’s campaign machinery.

Seiveright is of the view that Jamaica would only extricate itself from the mire in which it had found itself by engaging young professionals to assume the mantle of leadership.

“For the most part, leadership has been a failure. The older generation of leaders will not change; we need to use a cadre of young professionals, who are unshackled by the past, to bring about change,” contended Seiveright.

Daniel Fider, vice-president of Facility Planning and Information Systems at the Northern Caribbean University, suggested that leadership which can look beyond the next five years was critical at this juncture.

“We need to look at simple things about life, such as how we relate to each other. We have to find better ways to reflect best practices.” (Jamaica Gleaner)