Moontown

DENIS KELLMAN’S COLUMN- THE DEBATE

JULY 19, 2007

It is said that politics is not a natural science, but I honestly believe that it can be a science if we as a people learn to respect each other’s feelings. To know a man is to understand him and it is important for people to sometimes equate themselves to others. We in this world have a room for a “too few” and ignore the views of others. This causes us to ignore vital information and we find ourselves lagging behind in things when we should be steps ahead of others.

Every day in life is becoming an experience for me and I am learning the behavior of man better. Man is getting so smart that man has now believed that he can better the teaching in the Bible. I thought that after a Judas failed to betray Christ that man would have learned his limitations.

The best way to deal with man is to keep him at a distance or to ignore him for a while. This allows you to know the true science of man, because it has to do with human behavior. Once you have adopted the principle that no two persons are alike then you can easily figure out man. Too often we allow ourselves to think that man is similar, forgetting that being made with the same organs does not mean that we would think or react the same way.

Politics is about spending time understanding different human behavior. Once we understand that no two people are alike, then we can proceed and think about others. We have to understand firstly that politics is not about us, friends play a part in politics, but they must be secondary and not tertiary.

As politicians, we must first understand that friends tell you what you want to hear and not what you should know. Genuine friends tell you the truth. This sometimes creates enemies out of genuine friends, but you need not worry about them. Time has a way of proving to persons who are genuine and who are pretenders.

We sometimes need to stop and reflect on things said to us by people who we think hate us and also by persons we regard as our friends. A careful analysis would show that what we hated people for was what we did not want to face up to and what we liked others for was for the pampering.

We should be able to differentiate between what is constructive criticism and what is ego building. Too often, we accept “sweet nothings” from persons who believe that they had been exposed to the best universities. These persons seem not to understand that life is about living and not only reading. They seem not to understand the power of persons who have lived life and read life, leaving room for thinking.

In life, one must be careful how one has allowed his or her memory box to be saturated with things copied from others while not leaving room for thought. Too many times I have heard persons regurgitating things lifted from a book and when challenged cannot defend what they are espousing.

This week in the House, I had an opportunity to deal with an issue that I have been pronouncing for years and have been ignored by persons I thought would understand my position and the reason for my course of action.

I have always said that as a party, we need to demonstrate our innocence as it relates to our program for the period 1986 to 1994. We have been blamed for wrongs that we did not commit and we have allowed the guilty to be the accusers. This oversight has caused us not to be able to defend a period that we administered admirably. In essence, we gave away our goodwill.

The foreign exchange losses reported by the GAIA Inc. for the period 2005 to 2006 is immaterial as to what occurred when we borrowed the Japanese loans, and if Government had to prepare accounts using the same principles now, one would easily see that we paid out just as much or more in foreign exchange losses as we paid in principal. In real terms, we paid the principal twice and also the interest. It was if we borrowed one loan and serviced two.

I have always said that when we seek to borrow, countries like Barbados have to be very careful how and when to borrow in floating currencies. Our best bet is to borrow and service in US dollars or to deal in floating currencies when they are high.

As it stands now, any Minister of Finance could borrow floating currencies at this stage because they are high to the US dollar and the assumption can easily be made that they would decline further instead of rise.

I have always said before that we have to set up a department in the Central bank dealing primarily with currencies as it relates to our foreign reserves. Had we been holding our foreign reserves in floating currencies, we would have been in a good stead.

In the early nineties, when the Sandiford Administration borrowed the Euro loan, they were pillowed and accused by persons who were not familiar with international borrowing. These persons focused on the interest rate and paid no attention to the declining currency. The only institutions that experienced floating currencies were the Caribbean Development Bank and Barbados Sugar Industry Ltd. The Sugar Industry serviced loan borrowed by the CDB.

As a country, we have to be careful how we allow international institutions to dictate what currencies to repay or pay in. Too often, small developing countries in pursuit of loans ignore what some scholars will call minor issues only to saddle themselves with high service charges.

 We have to learn the advantages and the disadvantageous of currency markets and also that international organizations are set up to suit their masters and not small players who do not register in the ratings.

We have to know our place and respect our Independence. We as small states have something to offer, but we must know how and when to.

Too many times we believe that we have to follow blindly. That is why some of us do not understand a country that never had its dollar devalued is in trouble when it allows itself to be dictated by one that has already devalued.

We have to be careful how we allow persons in large companies to make decisions that can easily change the economic climate of Barbados. Any decision to change the currency value of Barbados must come from the Government and the people of Barbados.

In the early nineties, these same players thought that our currency was too high and they were praying to see us follow them. They have a lot to export, but we import a lot. What is good for the goose is not good for the gander.

BS&T must not be allowed to change hands. The Treasury of Barbados must be used to ensure that no outside force can change our currency rating. They are some players who believe that devaluations will help them, but they do not think country.

I want to thank the Directors of Banks Holdings for their Share Split and I am suggesting that because of their future export demand that a new share issue be offered, at this time excluding BS&T, because it seems that they are more interested in cash than in shares. This is as a result of their sale of shares in Neal and Massy.

I heard recently that BS&T is merging with Neal and Massy to increase shareholders returns, but one would have thought that retaining and increasing their share of Neal and Massy, that is doing so well would achieve their goal.

It is clear to me that we need to improve the management structure at BS&T and I will only offer further comment when I hear from Sir Douglas Lynch on this matter. He has done too much to make BS&T an international player to watch it being diluted.

The Caribbean cannot be heard saying that our currency is too high and get a chance to do something about and do not act. Barbados be careful, the opportunity needed in the nineties is here, but disguised under a different mask. It is not talk now, it is hard oil cash. They did it to Guyana by taking away their best brains and now they are trying to take away our best companies. If you have to sell your shares, sell them to the local group, their offer is the best so far, or tell the Directors where to go. Barbados, I love you too much for the blue peter sharks to take over. Help us to save Barbados. BS&T is the foundation of Barbados, remove the foundation and everything comes tumbling down.

Let us not forget our fishermen who only wanted a few flying fish. This year we were able to lure them back into the waters and share them with the Tobagonians and our Coast Guard did not arrest anyone. We support CSME, but how many others support it? We must work to save Barbados. Let us stop the politics and introduce Kellmanomics. This will give power to the workers to help our investors, to help Government. We have always contributed to others, let us keep it that way.

Peace, love, unity, Kellmanomics, wisdom and understanding.

RICE AND FIELD PEAS; CHICKEN PELAU;

MACARONI PIE; YAM PIE;

CHICKEN FOOT SOUP; BBQ SPARERIBS;

BAKED CHICKEN; BAKED PORK;

FRIED SNAPPER; FRIED KING FISH;

GRILLED KING FISH; LAMB STEW;

FISH GRAVY; STEAMED VEGETABLES;

TOSSED SALAD; COLE SLAW

Mitchell

Dionne Rose, Business Reporter

Thousands of former sugar workers, left jobless after the Government’s redundancy axe fell on some 7,000 of them in 2008, are now at risk of losing their homes, even as others have had to watch houses and land intended for them, sold on the open market. The open-market sale by the National Housing Trust (NHT) in the face of a more than four-fold jump, since last year, in arrears on subsidised property sold to sugar workers, has set some trade unions on a collision course with the state-owned housing finance agency.

“The unions object to this practice,” Vincent Morrison, president of the National Workers Union declared to Wednesday Business .

“It is more than a concern. It is a serious breach of the arrangements. The arrangements belong to sugar workers and we are insisting that, until all the sugar workers are properly satisfied, none of the units should be sold to outside groups,” Morrison said.

Placed on the market

While the NHT is yet to respond to the questions about the number of houses and house lots earmarked for sugar workers, which have been diverted to regular purchasers, Hanif Brown, Bustamante Industrial Trade Union (BITU) assistant island supervisor and mayor of Morant Bay in St Thomas told Wednesday Business that the NHT recently placed 114 such housing lots on the market because of the inability of sugar workers to buy them.

The lots were in the Frome area of Westmoreland and were put on the market in November, Brown said.

“Initially some workers were not keen (on taking up the lots),” Brown pointed out, explaining that the reluctance resulted from job security concerns on the part of the workers.

At Frome, many workers have been temporarily engaged to help produce 79,000 tonnes of sugar the government has forward sold to Italian sugar producer Eridania.

A total 13,000 sugar workers are slated to join the unemployment line by the time the government wraps up the divestment of all its sugar holdings. Factories and land at Frome, Monymusk in Clarendon and Bernard Lodge in St Catherine are still under government control, while others in St Thomas and Trelawny have already been sold.

Brown said, while he understood the NHT’s decision to sell the land to persons other than sugar workers, he was not in agreement with the move.

“While we understand their frustration, a way should have been found to allocate the lots,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Trust has conceded that many sugar workers have fallen on hard times stemming from their separation from steady employment as the Government tries to sell its sugar operations. Payment arrears on sugar housing accounts have shot up 422 per cent in the year since the workers lost their jobs, the Trust said this week.

Delinquency rate

“When the redundancy at the Sugar Company of Jamaica took effect in December 2008, the value of mortgage accounts in the sugar workers housing programme portfolio in arrears 90 days and over was approximately $2.2M (translating) to a delinquency rate of approximately four per cent,” an email response from the NHT communications department said.

It added that the arrears had jumped significantly a year later.

“By December 2009, the arrears value had increased to $9.3M and the delinquency rate to 18.5 per cent,” according to the NHT spokespersons.

“Based on feedback from the mortgagors affected, the Trust can attribute the steep increase in arrears over the period to the unemployment of the mortgagors, and their inability to find alternative employment.”

The shelter finance entity said, however, that it was not insensitive to the plight of sugar workers.

“Despite the challenges, the NHT continues to work with the affected mortgagors to help them retain possession of their properties,” the NHT statement said.

Chairman of the Trust, Howard Mitchell, has said he was aware of the difficulties some sugar workers were having taking up lots offered to them.

“I am not sure what the NHT can do,” he told Wednesday Business.

“Some of these lots have been offered to people for years. However, we welcome dialogue on it,” he said.

Mitchell said the unions need to make representation on the matter to the NHT.

But the NWU’s Morrison is already putting one suggestion on the table to deal with the problem. He pointed out that sugar workers who have been affected by the redundancy, have family members who are willing to join with them to qualify for the benefits under the incentive programme.

He is also suggesting that the matter has already been raised with the NHT by the unions.

“We have a committee that meets at the Housing Trust once per month, and this matter is live on the agenda,” Morrison said.

Programme ESTABLISHMENT

The sugar housing programme was established in 2000 by way of a Memorandum of Understanding involving nine sugar-producing estates, three trade unions, the Sugar Producers Federation and the NHT.

A report on the website of the NHT said that 437 housing units had been completed and delivered under the scheme since 2000.

Another 149 serviced lots, it said, were now being prepared under the programme at Stokes Hall in St Thomas for delivery in April. Just weeks ago, groundbreaking ceremony for another 288 mixed solutions, including houses and lots, was held at Hampden in Trelawny as the Government promoted the programme designed to benefit sugar workers. Only 150 of these shelter solutions are slated to be sold to sugar workers by April next year.

Under the current arrangement, sugar workers are said to pay an average monthly mortgage of $6,000.

While the NHT did not divulge details of the agency’s expenditure to prepare lots or build houses under the sugar workers scheme, a four-year-old document indicated that, in 2006, the Trust had completed a total 1,892 serviced lots on six sugar estates at a cost of close to $1billion dollars.

dionne.rose@gleanerjm.com

Usain Bolt

Elton Tucker, Assistant Editor - Sport

Usain Bolt’s handlers are considering the offer of a honorary doctorate for distinction in sport from the Queen’s University in Belfast, Northern Ireland.

Carole Beckford, the local publicist for the world’s fastest man over both the 100 and 200 metres, in confirming the offer yesterday, said the Bolt camp is in discussions with the university.

“The offer is on the table and we have 18 months in which to consider it,” Beckford said.

In explaining how the process works, she said: “… They write to you to say they are considering, then they publish the list. … They obviously would want it to coincide with their graduation but because of Usain’s schedule … it may not coincide with what they want.”

Honorary graduate awards from Queen’s University, Belfast, are usually handed out during the first week of July. Bolt is, however, expected to appear at several meets on the new and lucrative IAAF Diamond League circuit during the same period. The fifth Diamond League meet, the Prefontaine Classic in Eugene, Oregon is set for July 3.

The world’s top athletes then travel to Lausanne, Switzerland for the Athletissima 2010 on July 8 before moving on to Gateshead in England for the British Grand Prix. Paris, Saint-Denis for the Meeting Areva on July 16 is the next stop for the world’s elite athletes. Early and mid-July should therefore be a hectic period for Bolt.

Among the nominees

According to a press release from the Queen’s University, Bolt is one of several famous men who are being offered honorary doctorates this year. They include Nobel prize-winners Professor Amartya Kumar Sen, one of the greatest intellectuals of modern India, former Finnish President Martti Ahtisaari, a veteran diplomat who played a major role in the Northern Ireland peace process and BBC broadcaster Sir Mark Tully, the BBC’s India correspondent for many years.

Bolt has collected several awards since his triple gold medal winning performance at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Last year he received the island’s fourth highest honour, the Order of Jamaica, and was named the IAAF’s Male Athlete of the Year for the second year in a row.

At the 2009 IAAF World Championship in Berlin, Bolt smashed his own world records in winning the 100m and 200m. He took home a third gold medal as a member of the sprint relay team. (Jamaica Gleaner)

In exactly one month from today, the United States Embassy in Kingston will begin accepting only online visa applications, doing away with the paper-based forms now familiar to applicants.

“On March 24, use of the new form becomes mandatory and the US Embassy will no longer accept printed DS-156 non-immigrant visa applications,” the embassy stated in a release yesterday. “Form DS-160, the new electronic form, will be available on the embassy’s website ( www.kingston.usembassy.gov ) beginning Thursday, March 4, 2010, for optional use by applicants.”

The embassy said applicants were being encouraged to begin using the new DS-160 form as soon as it becomes available.

The new DS-160 form, which will replace the current paper-based DS-156 non-immigrant visa application, must be completed and sent online and the information on the application will be electronically transmitted to the US embassy. The new system is expected to improve efficiency, accuracy and security for all visa applicants.

“Beginning March 24, 2010, non-immigrant visa applicants need only present at their interviews a printed DS-160 confirmation sheet issued at the time of the electronic filing, their passport and a visa application fee-paid receipt from any National Commercial Bank Jamaica branch,” the embassy said.

“The transition to the DS-160 online form will not change any other portion of the current non-immigrant visa application process. Specifically, the processes for making an appointment and paying the visa application fee will not change and all applicants will still be interviewed by a consular officer to determine their qualifications.”(Jamaica Gleaner)