RICE AND PEAS; MACARONI PIE
SWEET POTATO PIE; GARLIC ROAST POTATOES
BAKED CHICKEN; BAKED PORK
BBQ SPARERIBS; FRIED SNAPPER
FRIED STEAK FISH; GRILLED FISH
LAMB STEW; FISH GRAVY
MIXED VEGETABLES; TOSSED SALAD; COLE SLAW
Gary Spaulding, Senior Gleaner Writer 
( L - R ) Richards, Thomas, Panton
AS THE nation continues to struggle to find answers to the crime problem, more and more fingers are being pointed at the Christian
church for its perceived failure to play a lead role.
But the church leaders who are slated to meet with senior members of the police force this week say much of their work to reduce crime and violence is going unnoticed.
Vicar general of the Archdiocese of Kingston, Monsignor Kenneth Richards, argues that the church has played a significant part in crime-curtailing efforts, but he accepts that more could have been done.
According to Richards, there is a measure of hypocrisy involved in the expectations of the church as interventions by religious groups are often rejected.
“I think the Church has been doing a lot. The problem is, crime is a complex issue,” asserted Richards. “To suggest that the church can solve the problem is unfair.”
Richards argued that the situation would have been far worse without the intervention of the church.
“Everyone wants to shift the blame to someone else for what is happening. This has added to the complexity of the situation,” he contended.
Richards cited the efforts of the Downtown Ministers’ Fraternal, which has been instrumental in peace marches, forging peace initiatives and quelling anger among gang members in some volatile communities.
“The organisation has done much to mitigate and curtail the escalation of crime in the (downtown Kingston) area,” declared Richards.
“It is the authorities who now need to act by getting to the source and cutting off the supply of illegal weapons.”
Family life
Richards also cited church programmes which ensure that members of vulnerable groups are gainfully engaged.
However, he said the church, including the membership, could do more in the way they lead their lives.
“The membership needs to wake up and look at the way they administer justice and how the Gospel impacts family life.”
Richards is getting support from leaders of other Christian groups, which are to meet to look at ways they can do even more in the anti-crime campaign.
“The groups have put aside their doctrinal differences to try to come up with a united approach to the problem,” Bishop Everton Thomas of the Emanuel Apostolic Church said. “We are looking at a more cohesive approach to crime fighting.”
Thomas told The Sunday Gleaner that the Jamaica Council of Churches is collaborating with the World Council of Churches to support ongoing peace initiatives by the Jamaica Baptist Union in the volatile 100 and Park lanes in the Red Hills Road community.
Curtailing crime
He disclosed that the joint umbrella grouping would be meeting with the Peace Management Initiative, led by the Reverend Everton Jackson in the western end of the island and Bishop Herro Blair in the Corporate Area, as well as the police and other stakeholders to determine how the church could be of assistance in curtailing crime.
That is good news for former chaplain of the Jamaica Constabulary Force, the Reverend Vivian Panton, who is not convinced that the Church is doing enough.
“The question that keeps plaguing me is that Jamaica is often described as the most religious country in the world based on the number of churches per square mile, but it is also regarded as one of the most violent societies in the world,” the man renowned for his candour told The Sunday Gleaner.
“If the Church is being effective, how do you explain that?” queried Panton at the same time declaring, “therein lies the answer”.
Panton suggested that Christians should hold up Jesus as the model because the crowd who followed The Lord and whom He embraced was primarily the marginalised.(J/ca Gleaner)
Dionne Rose, Business Reporter 
It used to be that fast food was the answer when dining on a tight budget. Now, those budget meals are not only likely to pile on the pounds, but put the squeeze on patrons’ pockets as well.
While consumers were bracing for generally higher prices on goods and services with new tax measures taking effect on January 1, the price of fast-food favourites had already been making a steady climb weeks before.
In a Sunday Business sampling, three of the island’s fast-food restaurants blamed recent meal-price increases on costlier inputs -
The informal survey showed that over the past three weeks, Island Grill, Burger King and Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) had all upped the prices of their tasty nibbles.
The increases ranged across franchises from below 5.0 per cent, up to 12.5 per cent, with Burger King topping the board.
KFC’s popular meal deal costs $420, up from $395. Its Zinger, combo sandwich, has moved from $420 to $455. And the increasingly popular snack boxes rose from $235 to $250.
Tina Matalon, marketing manager for Restaurants of Jamaica, the operators of KFC and Pizza Hut, told Sunday Business that adjustments were made to KFC’s menu board because of the rising cost of poultryfrom suppliers and a climbing electricity bill.
Since January 2009, the fried-chicken chain was hit with three sets of increases in the price of poultry, which hiked the cost of that input by a total of seven per cent, according to Matalon.
“This, plus increases in the cost of electricity, which has risen over an average of 22 per cent since January, in addition to increases in our other major inputs, such as beverages, seasoning, packaging and bread products, ranging from eight per cent to 58 per cent on 14 different items, have served to significantly push up the cost of preparing cooked products for our customers,” the KFC marketing manager added.
Second price hike
December’s menu price hike was the second for KFC last year. The first was in April.
It does not end there. The inflationary pressure for KFC was also affected by the devaluation of the Jamaican dollar, rendering imports more expensive.
But Matalon insisted that KFC has spared consumers some effects of the price pinch during the ongoing recession as not all the increases had been passed on.
“We remain aware that many of our customers have also been hurting,” said Matalon.
“With that in mind, we made the deliberate decision not to pass on all of the increases to our customers. Even when we did have increases (on raw materials), we deliberately refrained from (passing on) all of those increases at the same time.”
Island Grill, too, said it held out for a while but became almost punch drunk from absorbing price increases.
“We had a price increase from suppliers in November and we tried to hold out as far as possible because we know that with the recession, disposable incomes have diminished,” said proprietor Thalia Lyn.
Then the drought did them in.
“We had a big problem with water. We had to be buying water for $8,000-$10,000. All those costs we tried to control, but we found that it went out of sight,” she said.
But even now, Lyn is suggesting that Island Grill’s bump-up in menu prices has been kept below five per cent across the board, and has not given her chain a push into profits.
“It is not even a five per cent increase. Our margins are still nil,” she told Sunday Business.
Island Grill has tacked a near seven per cent increase on to its popular Yabba meal, a small bowl of which is now sold for $235, up from $220.
Chicken sandwiches have seen a 5.5 per cent price rise to $380, from $360.
And as a sign of the tighter times, the restaurant no longer offers a drink with its meal combo. Customers are now required to exercise the “option” of paying an extra $55 for soda.
Nevertheless, Lyn is declaring: “We are not that bad. We only hand two price increases for the year.”
The biggest price hikes - up to 12.5 per cent - have been imposed by Burger King.
Skimp and save
A regular chicken sandwich costs $40 more, up from $320 to $360. And its signature international sandwich combo now costs $400, up from $380.
The chain has for some time demonstrated a tendency to skimp and save - packing different combo meals into small bags, and denying customers additional cup holders. If, for example, their order comes with three drinks, they are allowed one two-panel cupholder.
Burger King’s
dionne.rose@gleanerjm.com
A KFC store at Portmore Mall, St Catherine. Island Grill in the Spanish Town Shopping Centre, December 2006. - File
Barbara Gayle, Staff ReporterTHE LEGAL profession was once placed on a pedestal because of the honesty and integrity of its members.
But in recent years, there has been a significant increase in the number of allegations levelled against some attorneys-at-law for professional misconduct.
Last year, four lawyers were disbarred by the disciplinary committee of the General Legal Council (GLC).
The GLC has the power under the Legal Profession Act to regulate the conduct of attorneys-at-law and the general environ-ment for the practice of law.
“Yes, there is an increase in the complaints to the General Legal Council because members of the public are more aware of their rights these days,” a senior lawyer who served as a member of the GLC’s disciplinary committee told The Sunday Gleaner.
Ethics of the profession
The lawyer, who requested anonymity, explained that some of the complaints were baseless, but those which went to trial before the committee were those in which the evidence should be heard.
“The disciplinary committee, in carrying out its mandate, does make efforts to see that the ethics of the profession are upheld and also ensure that lawyers are protected,” the attorney said.
According to the lawyer, misappropriation of clients’ funds was the most grave allegation to be made against a lawyer.
Well-known attorney-at-law Antonnette Haughton-Cardenas was one of the lawyers disbarred last year.
The GLC’s disciplinary com-mittee had a hearing and found that she defrauded a client of $2.3 million in a real-estate transaction. Haughton-Cardenas, 54, was admitted to the Bar in 1979.
In October 2008, the Court of Appeal upheld a ruling by the disciplinary committee that attorney-at-law Jonathan Vernon Ricketts should be disbarred.
In 2006, the disciplinary committee struck Ricketts off the roll of attorneys-at-law because of professional misconduct.
Several calls
Ricketts’ clients, Frederick and Madge Morris, complained that in 2003, he was paid $2 million to effect the transfer of nine lots of land in Westmoreland to purchasers.
They said they made several calls and visits to Ricketts’ office but the transfers were not done. The disciplinary com-mittee had a hearing and found that Ricketts had failed to provide the couple with information as to the progress of their business and did not deal with the matter expeditiously.
The disciplinary committee in October 2008 struck off attorney-at-law Georgette Scott from the roll of attorneys entitled to practise in Jamaica.
A complaint was made against her that she misappropriated $750,000, which she had collected for a client in a land transaction. She was ordered to make restitution. Scott appealed, but the Court of Appeal dismissed her appeal in July last year.
barbara.gayle@gleanerjm.com (J/ca Gleaner)
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WITH CLOSURE of US President Barack Obama’s first year, the promise of any fundamental change in US-Cuba relations is rapidly fading and a short-lived political honeymoon now seems heading for the rocks. The latest indicator emerged last week with a stinging broadside from Havana against Washington’s decision to include Cuba among 14 countries linked with alleged state-sponsored terrorism. In the absence of any clear commitment by Obama to lift the very punitive US trade and economic embargo enforced against Cuba 47 years ago, optimism, nevertheless, has been on the ascendancy with new arrangements on remittances and travel, as well as agreements on telecommunication and postal services between the two countries. When Obama came under some sharp criticisms for being awarded the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize, the legendary Cuban leader, Fidel Castro, came out batting on his behalf, even as reservations were being openly expressed about his expedient ’just war’ doctrine in relation to Afghanistan, as declared in his acceptance speech in Oslo. But Havana felt it was nothing but unprovoked official hostility for Washington to blacklist Cuba among 14 countries in new security arrangements in its ’war against terrorism’, following the foiled Al Qaeda linked bombing attempt on Christmas Day by a 23-year-old Nigerian national, Omar Farouk Abdulmutallab, on a Detroit-bound Northwest Airlines flight. It so happens that Cuba is the sole exception of the 14 countries that are known to be Muslim nations and with no regular flights into the US. Other than that is the four heavily monitored daily charters that connect Havana with Miami and two other American cities. The Cuban Foreign Ministry was last week alerting its allies in the global community, including the governments of Caricom, of its deep concerns about the implications of being so wrongfully blacklisted by the US, and while its citizens continue to suffer from the consequences of the almost half a century old economic blockade. ’We categorically reject this new hostile action by the US government’, the Cuban Foreign Ministry said in a statement. It claimed that the ’list was politically motivated and its only goal is to justify the US policy of economic embargo against Cuba’. Nigeria, a country of some 151 million largely Muslim people, has, for its part, dismissed as being totally unjustified to have to bear the ’blacklisting’ burden because of the crime with which a single Nigerian, Abdulmutallab, has been charged. It has officially demanded exclusion from the listed 14 countries. Before Obama, other Washington administrations had routinely sought to brand Cuba as a terrorist-sponsored state without offering any specific evidence of the US being a victim of such a deplorable political doctrine and practice. On the contrary, it is Cuba, as is known to the 15-member countries of our Caribbean Community (Caricom), as well as in Latin America and other regions of the world, that have had to repeatedly expose its sufferings, at home and abroad, at the hands of terrorists, many trained and financed by the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). Indeed, a few of the CIA’s terrorist collaborators who have been exposed in the assassination of the former foreign minister of Chile, Orlando Letelier on September 21, 1976, on ’embassy row’ in Washington, have been linked with anti-Castro Cuban emigres involved in a series of terrorist acts in Cuba and the Caribbean. Two of these CIA-collaborators were also involved 15 days after the assassination of Letelier with the October 6, 1976 Cubana airline bombing tragedy off Barbados in which all 73 people aboard perished, most of them Cubans, and including 11 Guyanese and five North Koreans. One of the earliest of Cuban emigres recruited by the CIA in Washington’s obsession with crushing the Castro-led government in Havana, and who was involved in the Cubana tragedy, Luis Posada Carriles, is still enjoying protection in the US. But the US continues to ignore all requests from Cuba and Venezuela (from where he had escaped, as a Venezuelan citizen, first to Panama) for extradition. Located somewhere in the bosom of America also is one of Posada’s better known terrorist emigre collaborators, Orlando Bosch, who had earlier illegally entered the US as a safe haven and succeeded in getting a presidential pardon from the elder George Bush when he occupied the White House. In the spirit of ’international solidarity’ to which all Caricom governments lay claim with Cuba, perhaps they should consider sharing their own concerns over the consequences for that Caribbean nation to be now blacklisted along with 13 others following the Christmas Day bombing scare on that Northwest airline flight. As Agence France Press (AFP) reported out of Havana on Wednesday, US-Cuba tensions are on the rise after the foiled Al Qaeda airline bomb plot, ending Havana’s ’fleeting honeymoon’ with Obama. (Trinidad Express) |
by TIM SLINGER
THE BARBADOS BAR ASSOCIATION says it’s time the judiciary be freed of political involvement.
This comment by president of the association, Leslie Haynes, QC, has come in light of last week’s announcement of the retirement of Chief Justice Sir David Simmons, who leaves the bench on April 29.
“I don’t know what the facts are, but he [Sir David] is the first Chief Justice [in Barbados] who has left the bench without going through the period of extension.
“I don’t know if there is any political controversy,” Haynes told the SUNDAY SUN.
Under the Barbados Constitution, a Chief Justice or an Appeal Court judge who reaches the age of 70 may apply for an extension of two years.
However, this can only be done on recommendation of the Prime Minister and ratification of the Governor General.
Sir David, 70, has declined comment on the issue of whether or not he had applied for the prescribed two-year extension.
“He is the first Chief Justice who has not proceeded in this post, exercising the provision which allows him to continue.
Top Chief Justice
“Sir David did no less than the other Chief Justices and as Chief Justice he distinguished himself,” Haynes said.
Both Chief Justices who preceded Sir David, Sir William Douglas and Sir Denys Williams, were granted extensions at the end of their retirement periods.
The president said the tenure of judges has always been a major issue, noting that it was widely debated as far back as the 1970s.
“This tenure of the judges was heatedly debated in the 1970s and it was the subject of political campaigns in 1976,” he said.
Haynes also referred to the 1998 Constitution Review Commssion which was chaired by Sir Henry Forde, QC, and which recommended the appointment of a judicial and legal services commission “so that the tenure and appointment of judges would be taken out of the hands of the politicians”.
Meanwhile, there has been mixed feelings about the political directorate’s involvement in the judicial selection process.
“The idea that a Prime Minister could literally choose a Chief Justice is not acceptable,” said Professor Simeon McIntosh, dean of the Faculty of Law at the University of the West Indies’ Cave Hill Campus.
Calling for an independent body, McIntosh said: “That is not philosophically the sensible way in which a Chief Justice should be appointed.”
Former Attorney General Sir Henry Forde said the recommendations of the Constitution Review Commission, which he chaired, should be put in place.
However, UWI Cave Hill law lecturer attorney Jeff Cumberbatch, has dismissed any notion of political interference with the judicial system.
“The fears [associated with] a Prime Minister appointing a Chief Justice are grossly overstated,” he told the SUNDAY SUN.
At some point, a wise Prime Minister would seek advice on the appointment of a Chief Justice, rather than choose one willy-nilly, he said.
The Chief Justice has “perfect independence” under the Constitution and there is nothing which says that he is compelled to favour the Prime Minister or Government in any decisions, said Cumberbatch.
Meanwhile, the association’s president also said the time was ripe for Barbados to revisit its Constitution given the changes the country had gone through over the years.
“It’s time for us to revisit the Constitution, for as a society our needs keep changing.
“Can we say today that the Constitution is really relevant to the change?” Haynes asked. (Nation News)
UNDOCUMENTED CARIBBEAN MIGRANTS who have made no attempt to regularise their status in Barbados will be asked to leave.
This is the definitive position of Prime Minister David Thompson, responding to suggestions that his stance on the immigration issue may have “softened”, based on recent statements in the DAILY NATION attributed to Minister of State with responsibility for Immigration, Senator Arni Walters.
“The policy is clear.” Thompson stated emphatically during a reception at Ilaro Court recently.
“Those who have made no attempt to regularise their status will be asked to leave. Those who have made an attempt to regularise, we will give them time to see whether their application is clear and reasonable.
“If it isn’t, we will say thank you very much, but regrettably we cannot accommodate you, and if it is, we will grant them status.”
Walters was reported as suggesting that the Government would not be rounding up any illegal immigrants still in Barbados past the six-months amnesty which expired on December 31.
He was further quoted as saying that any crackdown following the deadline would be “on those who haven’t applied to have their status regularised and are caught in any illegal activity”.
The Prime Minister defended Walters, stating, “I think the media tended to be a little unfair to the Minister of State.
“The Minister of State understands what my instructions . . . and they must be followed.
“I campaigned on that basis and I expect what we have decided to be carried out in the manner in which I had campaigned and in which the people of Barbados have responded.” (GC) (Nation News)
by CAROL MARTINDALE
BARBADIANS LOOKING TO TRAVEL are being encouraged to stay home.
And no, it’s not to bump up local occupancy rates, say tourism officials.
Instead, it is to help out and play a part in getting this economy back on track.
For Alvin Jemmott, a past president of the Barbados Hotel & Tourism Association (BHTA), Barbadians need to stay home, recognising that the recession is still on and this country is still feeling the “pinch”.
“I would encourage Barbadians to stay at home and keep the currency here. If we spend the foreign exchange money on travel, there will be less to spend on social services, health care and education.
Foreign dollars
“We need to keep the foreign dollars at home. We are not making the same foreign exchange earnings that we were making five years ago,” he said.
“We have health, social care and foreign debt commitments to meet. We have to look at our foreign exchange earning capacity and foreign exchange spending and our other priorities,” Jemmott told the SUNDAY SUN.
Still, he is not spouting doom and gloom for the industry. In fact, he believes Barbados is holding its own during this winter season, which started December 15 and runs through until April.
While the sector is down approximately eight per cent compared to the previous year, for Jemmott and other tourism officials, this is not bad compared to other countries that are experiencing double- digit drops.
“We are doing much better than some other countries, which are experiencing as much as a 25 per cent decline,” he said.
His concern, however, is the impact which the wintery weather currently being experienced in North American and Europe is having and will have on arrivals. He said this will not only frustrate travellers and turn them off from flying, but will also cause some of them to miss flights.
Just yesterday, president of the association Wayne Capaldi reported that some guests who were due to arrive at Sandpiper and Coral Reef Club on Wednesday were unable to do so.
He described the situation as “a blip on the radar” which will force hoteliers to rethink their projections.
Weather challenge
Executive vice- president Sue Springer also expressed her concerns, noting the challenges the weather is having on the sector. However, she said February was still looking strong, although pointing out that projections were difficult to make as some people were travelling at the last minute.
“This is another hiccup we face but we are going ahead with the things we have planned,” she said, including the ICC 20/20 and other major sporting activities like sailing and boxing.
Springer noted that tourism officials would have a good indication after they return from this weekend’s Caribbean Hotel & Tourism Association Marketplace being held in Puerto Rico.
Her assistant Michelle Smith-Mayers is also optimistic, indicating that from the looks of things, “hotels are holding their own”.
However, looking beyond the winter season, she believes hotels need to start pushing business for summer.
Smith-Mayers, who has been pushing the Staycation initiative which encourages locals to holiday in the island’s hotels at special rates, said the objective of the programme is to develop domestic tourism.
“Our thinking is that we always have specials out in every market, why not here too,” she said.
“Staycation is about developing domestic tourism. We must have a domestic tourism platform that must continue to grow,” she said.
In December Smith-Mayers indicated that hoteliers would be extending the staycation programme way beyond the period of the two previous ones.(Nation News)
Head of Realtors Limited, Nick Parravicino (left), smiling, as Prime Minister David Thompson (right) cuts the ribbon at the official opening of the luxury Condominiums at Palm Beach, Hastings.
LAND DEVELOPMENT in Barbados will be closely scrutinised to ensure such development is in keeping with the Government’s land use policy.
Speaking Friday night at the official opening of The Condominiums at Palm Beach, Hastings, Christ Church, Prime Minister David Thompson made it clear that “every development that takes place under my watch, will be carefully scrutinised so as to prevent any disruption in the agreed and established equilibrium in the use of land in our country”.
The Prime Minister pointed to controversies which had from time to time erupted over the sale of land, citing “the sale of a prime site in Holetown and the assumtion that this window to the sea would be blocked by new condominiums”.
“I am also satisfied that at the time when the demand for land and luxury property appears to be exceeding supply, when it is tempting to maximise revenue from the sale of these resources to the highest bidder, balance has to be maintained”, he said.
The Parravicino family of Barbados Realty Limited was lauded for their vision in constructing the 59 luxury condominiums which the Prime Minister said represented “a major departurefor the real estate sector in Barbados”.
And he suggested multistoryed housing may be the solution to Barbados’ general housing problem given scarce land resources.
According to the Prime Minister, Palm Beach Condominiums has already brought in an initial investment of $100 million and is likely to generate and circulate considerable more through the further sale of units.
In addition, the project “has succeeded in generating a flow of greatly needed foreign exchange”.
“Your faith, your confidence and your resilience have undoubtedly made a contribution to the stabilisation of the property market and prevention of a flight of capital away from Barbados,” Thompson told the Palm Beach investors. (GC) (Nation News)
