Moontown

Carnival Victory & Ocean Village (behind) on Bay Front

It was a busy day for the tourism sector with a total of five cruise ships docked at the Roseau Cruise ship berth, the Woodbridge Bay Port at Fond Cole and the Portsmouth Cruise ship Berth yesterday.

According to information from the Discover Dominica Authority, this is the second time during this tourist season that the Nature Island of the Caribbean had that many ships on port in the Roseau area at one time.

Information received from the Tourist Information Desk at the Dame Eugenia Charles Boulevard (Bay Front), stated that the MV Regata, MV Carnival Victory, MV Caribbean Princess, MV Ocean Village and the MSY Windsurf were the vessels anchored on the Roseau coasts today.

Two more cruise ships anchored outside Roseau

Two were docked at the Dame Eugenia Charles Boulevard in Roseau, while another two were on the Fond Cole coast. The fifth ship was docked at the Portsmouth Cruise ship Berth.

Though the head count of visitors was high, some vendors who were interviewed by Dominica News Online said that sales were relatively slow, as compared to the number of visitors.

Dominca News Online photographer Larry Larroque caught a glimpse of the scenes on the boulevard on Tuesday. (Dominica News)

- Staff reporter

View of Bayfront

RICE AND PEAS; MACARONI PIE

STIR FRIED BREADFRUIT; FRIED PLANTAIN

BBQ SPARERIBS; BBQ PIG TAIL

BAKED CHICKEN; BAKED PORK

FRIED SNAPPER; FRIED STEAK FISH

GRILLED STEAK FISH; PLAIN GRAVY

PLAIN STEW; STEAMED VEGETABLES

TOSSED SALAD; COLE SLAW

Several cheques totalling EC$30,000 were yesterday handed over to the National Co-ordinator of the Haiti Relief Donations 2010 Committee, Cordell Josiah, proceeds from an appeal made in January for help for the children of Haiti.

The Ministry of Education, led by Minister Dr. Jacqui Quinn-Leandro, issued a television appeal following the devastating Haitian earthquake, asking parents of students in public and private schools, primary and secondary, to give their children one dollar to assist the children of Haiti.

Schools responded to the appeal, and the monies were collected and delivered to the Ministry of Education. The final tally was EC$30,000. Dr. Quinn-Leandro, in handing over the cheques to  Josiah yesterday, expressed appreciation to those who contributed towards the effort.

“The children of Antigua and Barbuda came forward in the spirit of generosity and philanthropy and assisted their peers in Haiti to rebuild their lives. Some students gave more than one dollar, and so we’re very happy to hand over the money through the Haiti Relief Donations 2010 Committee to the children of Haiti, from the children of Antigua and Barbuda,” the education minister said.

In accepting the cheques, Josiah thanked the parents of students who donated towards the less fortunate children of Haiti. He also used the opportunity to encourage individuals to continue supporting the relief effort.

“I’m appealing to everyone to support the Antigua/Haiti disaster response account at the Antigua Commercial Bank. This Caricom effort will go a long way,” Josiah pointed out. Persons desirous of making a donation to the Haitian relief effort can do so at ACB, account number 107070072. (Antigua Sun)

Aretha Welch awelch@trinidadexpress.com

RELIEF for thousands of farmers came last night as the Ministry of Agriculture intervened to allow them to harvest water from the nation’s rivers free of charge.

The decision came less than 24 hours after the Ministry held a stakeholders meeting, which included the Water and Sewerage Authority and farmers.

WASA officials said then that they were not backing down from their decision to charge farmers 10 cents per 220 gallons for river water.

Farmers will no longer be required to pay the $150 fee for the annual licence to abstract water from the country’s rivers during the current drought, though they will still have to obtain a licence from Ministry of Agriculture, Land and Marine Resources’ regional offices.

While WASA officials had described the fees as negligible but farmers disputed the figure saying it required hundreds of gallons a day to irrigate their land.

WASA communications manager Ellen Lewis told the Express yesterday, ’The Ministry of Agriculture has assumed the responsibility for the issue of licences to farmers for the abstraction of water. Therefore farmers are no longer required to obtain said licence from the Water Resources Agency.’

In a release the Ministry of Agriculture stated, ’In terms of farmers accessing water from some rivers, an understanding was reached for farmers to win water downstream from (WASA) Water Treatment Plants as well as from rivers not designated for feeding Water Treatment Plants.’

The Ministry said, ’It is important to note that the Ministry of Agriculture shares the view of the Ministry of Public Utilities and WASA that the management of water resources for the farming community is as important as the supply of potable water and distribution to the citizens of Trinidad and Tobago.’

WASA also had a newspaper advertisement in yesterday’s print media announcing a three-month amnesty in which they will allow persons who have illegal water connections or pools and businesses which only pay residential rates to regularise their status, by June 18, without penalty. (Trinidad Express)

Ria TaittPolitical Editor

’I have no foreign bank account. My wife has no foreign bank account.’

’Again I say, I have no account in Caymans! I never had, and I do not now have!’

That was the categorical denial of Diego Martin West MP Keith Rowley last night, as he responded to reports that documents were being circulated in the media purporting to show that his wife, Sharon, had a bank account of US$6.5 million (TT$40 million) in the Cayman Islands, to which Rowley is also a signatory. Separate documents circulating also show that Rowley has another account at First Citizens with TT $167,445.

Reports yesterday alleged that the holder of the accounts was to be arrested shortly because neither account was declared to the Integrity Commission.

But a furious Rowley last evening slammed what he described as ’another desperate’ attempt’ to slander his name in the face of what has been deemed to be his apparent exoneration in the Calder Hart affair.

SLANDER: Dr Keith Rowley

Said Rowley: ’It has been brought to my attention by the media that this document has surfaced from which it can be determined that my wife’s name is being called and therefore this slander is being pointed at me. And I want to give the categorical assurance, to the extent that this slander is being pointed to me that: 1) Neither myself nor my wife has any bank account abroad. I have nothing outside of Trinidad and Tobago. 2) I understand the local bank is FCB. I have no local account at FCB. I run a credit card at FCB. The only business transaction I have with FCB is a Visa card which I service on an ongoing basis.

’I say it again-I have no foreign bank account. My wife has no foreign bank account. So clearly this scandal and slander cannot apply to me.’

’But, the document circulating, from the information I have received, is pointing at me and my family. So once again, attempts are being made to tarnish my character in this country. And I take this development today in close association with a comment made by the Prime Minister today in a press conference (when a media person said the perception in the country was that Rowley was exonerated), in which he (Manning) indicated to the country that it should wait until the evening has ended to see how splendid the day has been,’ Rowley thundered.

’And therefore I am not surprised at this development … I took that comment to be an expectation on his part that I will somehow be found wanting.

’You all must understand that there are serious things involved in the allegations against some people today, and there is a level of desperation going down in certain quarters. There is a level of desperation in certain quarters and this is a tangible manifestation of that extreme desperation existing in certain levels of the society.’

He added, ’The country would have seen what came my way in the Integrity Commission as well as in the Parliament, just because I am viewed in a certain way by certain people. And certain people have taken a decision that they will change my image in this country. So whoever would have done this, it is just another attempt.’

Noting previous allegations against him, Rowley said, ’This is just another version of the ’10 million missing, whey de money gone?

’Someone fabricates a story, placing my wife’s name on a document, sends it to the media, hoping that the media will publish it. Whoever has done that, it is aimed at me.’

Rowley said he hoped that those who print the documents with a story, ’print it in a way that allows me and my lawyers to get active. I will welcome that’.

Noting that the television report which referred to this matter did not name him, but merely said that a former minister in this country was to be charged for holding a foreign bank account in breach of the integrity laws, Rowley said he was not the only ’former minister’ in the country.

But, he stressed, he had been told by the media who received documents anonymously that his wife’s name was ’extractable from it’. Therefore, he said, he had to respond.

’I have no account abroad, period. Neither does my wife. So this is an attempt to smear and slander… part of the concerted effort in certain quarters to change my image and tarnish my character. And that has been going on now for some time now in full public view,’ he said. (Trinidad Express)

Ria TaittPolitical Editor

Prime Minister Patrick Manning yesterday sought to soften and modify the hostile and confrontational language he adopted on Monday, in discussing Government’s relations with the local construction sector.

On Monday, Manning, speaking during a public meeting in San Juan, used terms which many felt were more likely to aggravate discord, rather than resolve the differences between Government and certain stakeholders in the local construction industry.

As he spoke of Government’s determination to deal with the issue of cost overruns, late delivery of projects and other deficiencies associated with the local construction sector, Manning declared: ’Government is saying we are not prepared to tolerate it anymore. And it is war, you know, and soldiers may fall along the way.’

’See what is happening in the newspapers, and you realise it is a plan to kill Manning-when I say ’kill’, I’m not talking about-you know how they like to misunderstand-but we are not prepared to accept the established order, and we are going to fight until we change it. The people deserve value for money.’

’They’re coming at me from every angle, but I fear no man… And I will continue to fight that battle until the people get their just due.’

But a release issued yesterday from the Office of the Prime Minister stated the prime minister was ’desirous of addressing concerns raised by the public, in response to reports in the media that Government was at ’war’ with the construction sector’.

’The prime minister wishes to state clearly that the Government is not now, or has it ever been, in any literal war with any group or person in Trinidad and Tobago,’ the release said.

Manning said when he addressed constituents in St Joseph on Monday evening, his statement ’was in no way intended to exacerbate a conflict but to draw attention to the serious deficiencies in one of the most important areas of the local economy and to indicate that appropriate remedial steps were underway’.

In the release, the prime minister said he was addressing the setbacks in the national infrastructure development drive, which were ’largely due to unsatisfactory work being done by the local construction sector’. The release noted, ’The prime minister stated that there would be a fight to ensure that the public gets value for money, that cost overruns and delays are eliminated, that projects are executed in the most efficient manner possible and that in the conduct of its business, the Government is resolved to ensure that the people of Trinidad and Tobago are given only the best by their Government.’

The Government has been under fire from the local construction industry for its decision to use Chinese contractors over local contractors. The prime minister has been under particular attack because a man, in whom he has reposed tremendous confidence, UDeCOTT’s former executive chairman, Calder Hart, was the main protagonist and implementer of this ’new construction order’ and is now under investigation for a serious conflict of interest and other breaches.

The Office of the Prime Minister’s qualification of the PM’s statement was very similar to the ’amplification’ issued by the Ministry of Housing, following a statement by Housing Minister Emily Gaynor Dick-Forde that Hart was hounded out of office and the people of this country should be ashamed. The ministry’s statement said Dick-Forde was concerned about the soul of the nation. (Trinidad Express)

Jamaica will assume the chairmanship of Caricom in July, instead of Haiti

, a decision that the Conference of Heads of Government has endorsed.

Haiti was next in line for the rotating chair but president Rene Preval feels his country would be unable to fulfil its regional obligations, as recovery and reconstruction work gathers steam in the earthquake-struck capital Port-au-Prince.

Already an estimated US$2.2 billion of aid has been committed to Haiti for rescue and recovery since the 7.2-magnitude quake of January 12 that claimed more than 230,000 lives, and displaced about 1.5 million city residents.

The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) said Wednesday that a donor conference on March 31 would further assess Haiti’s future needs.

The Washington-based bank also said it would continue the US$700 million of IDB projects that were on the ground there prior to the disaster, and that its board of governors were also discussing plans to pour another US$2 billion into the country over the next decade.

Preval advised Caricom of his decision not to assume the chair of Caricom ahead of the bloc’s 21st intersessional meeting held March 11-12 in Dominica, which currently holds the chair.

Jamaica’s Bruce Golding was one of the first Caricom heads to send assistance to Haiti, including soldiers. The country’s ports were also offered as transit point for aid.

Haiti is one of 15 Caricom members. It is also the poorest and most populous, with about nine million people, more than three times the population of Jamaica, which is the second largest market with 2.7 million. (Jamaica Gleaner)

business@gleanerjm.com

Jamaica’s sprint star Usain Bolt (center) in action.

Bolt: If the weather is good, I hope to run a fast time

PRAGUE (AP):

Jamaican sprint star Usain Bolt will compete in the rarely contested 300-metre race for the first time at the traditional Czech Golden Spike meet in May.

Organisers said yesterday that Bolt, who holds the world record at 100 and 200 metres, will attempt to break the world mark in the distance on May 27 in Ostrava.

Michael Johnson holds the current mark of 30.85 seconds.

The International Association Athletics Federations does not recognise it as a world record, as the distance is not used at major events.

Earnings

Bolt will reportedly earn more than US$300,000 for his participation. Organisers say he will receive another US$30,000 if he sets a world best.

“I have done some 300s in training so I am used to the distance, but this will be my first time to race it,” Bolt said. “If the weather is good, I hope to run a fast time.”

Bolt will race for the fourth time at the meet, which is part of the new IAAF World Challenge series. Last year, he won the 100 metres in 9.77 seconds.

Bolt opened his season by running the 400 metres in the Camperdown Classic at the National Stadium in Jamaica on February 14, clocking 45.86 seconds. However, he said he has no plans to compete regularly in the longer sprint distance - at least for now.

“I think the 400 metres is somewhere in the future, but hopefully after 2012,” Bolt said. “The 400 is painful.” (Jamaica Gleaner)

Minister of Finance and the Public Service Audley Shaw (left) and Financial Secretary Wesley Hughes. - FILE

Daraine Luton, Senior Staff Reporter

With one week to go before the tabling of the estimates of expenditure for the 2010-2011 fiscal year, Finance Minister Audley Shaw has indicated that the national budget will be at least $100 million less than the previous year.

Shaw told the Standing Finance Committee of Parliament yesterday that the reduction in the Budget is due to the lowering of interest rates, as well as the extension of the maturity on some Government of Jamaica instruments under the Jamaica Debt Exchange programme.

“This year we have high levels of interest, which is $186 billion. It will come down to about $130 billion in the next fiscal year. The amortisation which is in the same region - $180 billion - will be down to around $100 billion,” Shaw said.

The cut in expenditure, if it materialises, would bring Government’s expenditure for the year to just under $500 billion. Government is spending $593 billion this year on the country’s affairs.

Shaw had originally budgeted to spend $555 billion this fiscal year. However, after two supplementary budgets, the last of which was tabled on Tuesday, government expenditure soared to just under $600 billion.

Yesterday, Shaw promised that the new Budget would be credible. He has also signalled that it will contain little fat, as Government aims to cut its expenditure to meet International Monetary Fund (IMF) stipulations.

“There will have to be adjustments in terms of expenditure. There is $13 billion in arrears from various agreements with the public sector and we will not be able to pay that $13 billion this year. This is part of the contraction that is going to have to come about,” Shaw said.

“There are also areas of capital expenditure that will have to be truncated in order for us to stay on course and fulfil the IMF targets. It is not an easy exercise. There are sacrifices that we will have to continue to make for some time,” he added.

10 to 11 per cent deficit

Meanwhile, the finance minister, who was responding to questions from Central Kingston Member of Parliament Ronald Thwaites, said the fiscal deficit this financial year will be between 10 and 11 per cent.

Financial Secretary Wesley Hughes had advised Shaw just before he responded that the fiscal deficit will come out at 11.3 per cent.

At the start of this fiscal year, Shaw announced that the Government was targeting a deficit of 5.5 per cent of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP), or about $65.4 billion. The deficit target was later revised to 8.7 per cent of GDP, or $94.5 billion for the year.

Shaw said a big part of the increase in the deficit was an increase related to the debt exchange. (Jamaica Gleaner)

daraine.luton@gleanerjm.com

EDUCATION MINISTER RONALD JONES says Government will never stop providing university education for Barbadians.

“I want to say now that this Government will never retreat from the provision of university education for the people of Barbados. We will never!

“I cannot see a substantive economy without the bright fundamentals bred by human resource development on its foundation laid by education, especially tertiary level education, buttressed by deep and sustainable research to help push the areas we are speaking about in the Ministry of Economic Affairs, Empowerment and Innovation,” Jones said

He said that Government, even when it was in Opposition, supported the Estimates of Expenditure voted for education and for the University of the West Indies.

“The young people from Christ Church Girls, The young people from Milton Lynch, the young people from Deacons and Eagle Hall, St Mark’s, St Martin’s Mangrove and Reynold Weekes, Arthur Smith - all the young people of Barbados - must know that as they look towards the horizon and make their educational journey that there will be no burden placed on them as individual familïes, but that we all must subscribe to their education in a collective way.”

He defended Government’s establishment of camps for children, the provision of free public transportation for uniformed schoolchildren, and the setting up of Constituency Councils.

The minister told Day 3 of the Estimates Debate in Parliament that there was nothing wrong with the camps and councils and that the cost of providing the bus service was no more than $5.7 million.

Jones said the councils were an important aspect of the new methodology of governance, where it was taken right to the heart of the people “where they interact with the people”.

“We can’t do it alone, yes, we have strength and fortitude, but our time tends to be limited because of the various pursuits of governance itself and that is why the abandoned school committees will be resuscitated in a matter of weeks.

“There must be local governance as well for schools in education,” he said.

“These initiatives flow out of the heads of great men and women on this side, they can’t be stifled.

Path for change

“This is a time of fundamental contestation in this country and we as leaders have to chart the path for change.

“If we retreat, we will be in trouble. There would be a mad scramble for the hearts and minds of our youth and people of this country,” he said.

The minister called for a greater work ethic and greater levels of productivity, adding that would make the country more competitive.

“We have to speak of more innovation and creativity bringing out the latent talents of our people, that is what we need,” he said.

Jones added that it was unfortunate that nowadays people wanted to accentuate what he described as the anti-establishment hero, the rude boy, the bad boy.

“We who have been led to govern must stand up like men and women. No retreat, no surrender,” he insisted. (PW) (Nation News)