Moontown

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti – As Haitians continue to experience difficulties in garnering sufficient food and water supplies, tensions are growing among residents. Compounding the situation further, however, are the rapidly growing security concerns, owing to a number of overseas volunteers and security officers leaving the country.

Meanwhile, there are escalating fears that the food supplies that some individuals have been fortunate to receive may soon come to halt as there are rumours that the government will be moving sometime next week to stop agencies from distributing food stuff as a result of perception that the agencies are crossing their line of responsibilities.
Arriving at the makeshift airport, visitors are warned that security should remain their number one priority.

In an effort to maintain some semblance of control and security due to the massive crowd of people that flock the airport on a daily basis, individuals arriving to Haiti are warned to remain within the “red tent” as this is the only way the United Nations can guarantee security for them. The red tent was set up as a means of protecting arriving visitors and nationals returning home.

A young mother who works as a taxi dispatcher pointed out that while a number of relief efforts are being executed most of it is not reaching the people that need it the most, thus creating the growing tension. The mother of three said as people become more frustrated, they are acting on their frustration, stressing that if not checked, it can and will result in devastating effects.

She noted that because of what she said is viewed as the poor response by Caricom and Caribbean governments, people are turning to overseas and international agencies for assistance.

According to a source close to two of the organisations providing relief efforts, they have sought to increase bodyguards due to the evident tension of a number of people. According to the source, the current situation being faced by the public is as a result of the Haitian government’s inability to take control of the situation, adding that they have been informed that government will seek to stop the distribution of food efforts as a means of controlling things. This, the source noted, is not helping but rather creating increased difficulties and challenges for all.

“The other Caribbean governments need to come forward and help in this situation as everything should not be left up to the US and UN agencies but other Caribbean governments should try and contribute in a bigger way,” the distraught looking mother stressed.
Attempts to contact government officials proved futile. (Antigua Sun)

By Rawle Nelson in Haiti, compliments Winair and Supreme Security – St. Kitts

RICE AND PEAS; MACARONI PIE

STEAMED PUDDING AND SOUSE

CORN MEAL COU COU; BBQ SPARERIBS

BBQ PIG TAIL; BAKED CHICKEN

BAKED PORK; FRIED SNAPPER

FRIED STEAK FISH; GRILLED STEAK FISH

BEEF STEW; FISH GRAVY

STEAMED VEGETABLES

TOSSED SALAD; COLE SLAW

Despite uncertainty about the holding of local government polls, President Bharrat Jagdeo yesterday emphasised that general elections must be held next year.

Bharrat Jagdeo

“We have to have national elections in 2011,” Jagdeo told reporters, as he stated that the holding of these elections in the stipulated year is very important.

With constant delays in the run off of local government elections and the government’s new attempts at engaging the opposition parties on local government reform, questions have been raised as to whether the holding of local government polls would delay the holding of national elections.

Asked if the government would forego the holding of local government elections to ensure the holding of national elections in 2011, Jagdeo said that it was an issue that had to be addressed during the engagement with all the opposition parties. “Now I’m told that there is some legal issue against holding two elections in the same year, so then it means that we have a narrow window if that is accurate.  And then it’s not wise, probably, to do two elections in a single year. So these are issues that have to be discussed,” Jagdeo said, at a news conference at Office of the President yesterday. “So, I don’t want to be premature before we have that first engagement to scope out what we are looking at here,” he stated.

On Thursday, Opposition Leader Robert Corbin said that the issues associated with the local government reform should not affect next year’s general elections. “…Nothing must result in the extension of the term limit of the present administration beyond the five years,” he said.

Jagdeo said that after the first meeting is held between the government and the opposition, greater clarity on the way forward should be achieved.  He noted that no timeline has been set in terms of concluding the new attempts to reform the local government system. He, however, acknowledged that the April date that had been suggested for the holding of local government elections is not possible, given the fact that the associated nomination day has since passed.

Explaining the decision to make a final attempt to conclude the local government reform, Jagdeo said that his party wanted to go into 2011 elections with “some level of civility,” thereby avoiding a repeat of the past.  Regarding various statements from the opposition parties, Jagdeo said that he did not want to be drawn into the “rhetoric.” “I want to be helpful without being drowned by this rhetoric and sucked into a tit-for-tat and responding to them on every issue,” he said, while opining that the opposition parties may not be ready for local government elections.    “I suspect they are not ready but I don’t want to get into this rhetoric,” he said.

According to Jagdeo, it is important that local government elections be held so that a new core of leaders can emerge to do the work at the local level, thereby easing the burden on the central government. Local government elections have been due since 1997.

Meanwhile, Jagdeo voiced his concern about the large amounts of money spent on elections, and expressed his disappointment with the way the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) procures some of its materials. Stating that Guyana spends a disproportionate amount on elections, especially when compared with other countries, he criticised GECOM for single sourcing materials instead of choosing an open competitive process, especially when these items were not of a proprietary nature. “I have a huge problem with the way they source materials at GECOM,” Jagdeo said. Jagdeo added that while this may have been understandable when the country was rushing to hold general elections in 2006, there is no excuse now. “But now when we have all of this time, we knew local government elections were going to be held, and we have time to plan our procurement, we should minimise single sourcing, we should go to more open competitive tenders,” he said.  “…I am very appalled by the number of requests that we received for single sourcing,” he added.

On Thursday, Jagdeo announced that a final attempt would be made to conclude the reform of the local government system, before the holding of the long-delayed elections. . “I have discussed this with the People’s Progressive Party and they have very reluctantly agreed that we should make one last ditch attempt to resolve the issues raised by the opposition,” Jagdeo told reporters, during an impromptu briefing. He added, “We want to set a climate where we go into [general] elections in 2011 with very little controversy, so we are going to be engaging again, I think, through the parliamentary process to see if we can resolve the outstanding issues surrounding the other bits of legislation that were tabled in parliament.”

It was his first public statement on local government elections after a recent meeting with Opposition Leader Robert Corbin, who has led the call for agreed legislative reforms to be implemented before the polls are run off. The AFC has said that its participation in the polls would depend on the implementation of the reforms. (Stabroek News)

Byron Buckley (left)

Media and communications specialist Byron Buckley will lead a one-day workshop aimed at equipping participants with the knowledge and skills to prepare a crisis communication plan.

The workshop, to be held on May 19 at The Knutsford Court Hotel in New Kingston, will benefit corporate communications, public relations and risk-management executives.

Buckley will take participants through the five-step process in ‘Planning to Communicate in a Crisis’, including risk audit, defining the publics, procedure development, training and testing.

“Poor communication during a crisis can be costly as well as detrimental to the continuation of the company, so it makes sense to have a communication plan in place that has been tested,” warns Buckley.

Workshop participants will be exposed to case studies of how local and international firms handled or mishandled crises.

For further details on the workshop, please contact buckley2@hotmail.com. (Jamaica Gleaner)

Julien Neaves jneaves@trinidadexpress.com

THE Trinidad and Tobago Publishers and Broadcasters Association (TTPBA) has called out Prime Minister Patrick Manning on statements he made which gave the impression the local media were being supported by criminal elements.

The body was referring to his statements at a cottage meeting in St Margaret’s Village, Claxton Bay, on Monday, in which he linked the launch of interdiction Coast Guard boats last month with an increased level of attacks against him in the media in recent weeks.

The TTPBA quoted the Prime Minister’s statement: ’But the minute those boats were properly deployed … we began to notice attacks on the Prime Minister in the media. … We began to notice the attacks becoming more and more strident. … I can tell you one thing, that the drug dealers in this country … the information we have is that they are against the Prime Minister.’

In a release, the TTPBA stated: ’After careful investigation, the TTPBA is of the opinion that although the Honourable Prime Minister did not state that the media were being supported by members of the underworld, the manner in which his comment was delivered gave that impression.

’We would like Mr Manning, as a responsible politician and the leader of our nation, to explain what he meant or to release to the relevant authorities, any information he might have to support his comment, particularly since his endeavour is to clean up crime and put a stop to the drug trade. This matter is of concern, as well, since the Government also owns media.’

The TTPBA said its members are in no way linked to any underworld activity. The association is a non-profit organisation that was established in the early 1990s with the granting of presidential licences to potential radio broadcasters to own and operate radio stations.

Members include IETV, CCN/TV6, Caribbean New Media Group (State-owned), Express Newspapers Ltd, Guardian Media Group, Daily News Ltd (Newsday) and a host of radio stations.

The TTPBA said there were several other issues of urgent national importance that needed to be addressed, and instances like these ’could cloud significant matters and cause undue unrest with the public’.

’Our responsibility as the media is to inform and entertain the audiences we serve.’ (Trinidad Express)

Anna Ramdass aramdass@trinidadexpress.com

Should Prime Minister Patrick Manning pull any election date from his back pocket, the race for the leadership of the country will no longer be a three-way one.

Leaders of the United National Congress (UNC) and the Congress of the People (COP), Kamla Persad-Bissessar and Winston Dookeran, have agreed, in principle, that any future fight against the People’s National Movement (PNM) would be a united one. However, they have not yet figured out who will lead, should there be victory, as that issue, they say, does not yet arise.

Both leaders met at the Opposition Leader’s Port of Spain office yesterday, where they held talks on the issue of unity and elections. This is the second meeting Persad-Bissessar has held with Dookeran since she defeated Basdeo Panday for the political leadership of the UNC.

Yesterday marked the third milestone she has achieved for the year thus far-success at the internal polls in January, appointment as Opposition Leader in February and now a solid commitment from Dookeran to chart a united way forward.

Both leaders agreed that committees from each party would brainstorm to come up with a proper model where both parties can work together. The agreement does not mean that any of the two parties would dissolve and join the other, as Dookeran made it quite clear that the COP maintains its individuality.

He said, ’One party subsuming into the other, that is not so. The identity of the party remains intact and clearly the COP as a political identity has established a permanent place in the political landscape of Trinidad and Tobago. I have no doubt about that and I think that will continue to be so. But for the purposes of the challenges ahead of us we have to find the right formula to have the one-to-one contest.’

Describing their talks as ’interesting, inspiring and useful’, Persad-Bissessar said she and Dookeran agreed on three principles.

’That is, we are both very much interested in and will work towards charting and drafting and crafting strategies for unification within and between and amongst our parties … secondly, we’ve agreed in principle that we will work together for the purposes of the Local Government election which is constitutionally due by July … we have had agreement and consensus that we both would want to engage in any electoral contest on a one-to-one basis against the PNM.’

Said Dookeran, ’We had very intense discussions with respect to the politics of our country and more particularly with respect to the common ground that must be forged in order to pick up the challenge ahead of us. I want to reiterate what Kamla said, we have in principle agreed that we will work towards a sustainable unification not only between our two parties, but with other political groups in the society, so that we can offer to the nation, at the appropriate time, something that will be purposeful and will in fact have the competence to tackle the various problems we are facing in our society.’

He added, ’We will, in addition to that, be able to agree in principle at this stage that whatever elections are held in Trinidad and Tobago, we will thrive to find the right formula and model to agree on a one-to-one contest against the ruling party.’

Dookeran stressed this was the only the first step forward as he insisted there must be more dialogue and common ground to be explored. In one month’s time, the leaders will again meet to discuss policy matters for the both parties.

Persad-Bissessar confidently asserted, ’There will be a unification, there will be a one-on-one contest, there will be change and we will go forward.’

The 2007 general election was a three-way fight between the PNM, COP and UNC. The PNM won the government. The UNC won 15 seats while the PNM ran away with a majority 26 seats. (Trinidad Express)

Ria Taitt Political Editor

Prime Minister Patrick Manning told the Syrian-Lebanese community yesterday that he wanted to hold a World Business Forum next year in Trinidad and Tobago. He said he had not yet got the approval of the Cabinet for this as yet, but if he is able to persuade members of his Cabinet he would like to host it.

The Business Forum, it is understood, falls under the aegis of the Commonwealth Business Council and the issue was raised with the Prime Minister during his recent trip to London for CHOGM Day.

Manning’s government hosted both the Fifth Summit of the Americas and the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) here last year.

The meeting with the Syrian-Lebanese community lasted two-and-a-half hours and was held at the home of Mario Sabga-Aboud, in Goodwood Park. About 60 persons attended and Manning went with four ministers-Finance Minister Karen Nunez-Tesheira, National Security Minister Martin Joseph, Trade Minister Mariano Browne and Works Minister Colm Imbert. All gave addresses.

The Prime Minister’s address dealt with the responsibilities and challenges of leadership.

HIGH-POWERed MEETING: Prime Minister Patrick Manning arrives for the private meeting with members of the Syrian-Lebanese community at the home of Mario Sabga-Aboud in Goodwood Park yesterday. -Photos: JERMAINE CRUICKSHANK

Speaking afterwards, Nunez-Tesheira said the Prime Minister gave an overall view of the responsibilities of leadership and his vision for Trinidad and Tobago.

’It was well received,’ she said. ’Everyone came there with the intention to make a contribution,’ she added.

She said the PM mentioned the Trinidad and Tobago Revenue Authority (TTRA) in the context of what was necessary to take Trinidad and Tobago forward.

’He said ’to make a cake, you have to break an egg’. He also said ’everyone wants to go to heaven but nobody wants to die’ in describing the process to take us to the realisation of Vision 2020,’ she said.

Nunez-Tesheira said the ministers gave an overview of their respective portfolios and how they saw their contribution to national development.

’It was mostly a sharing experience and an opportunity to break down any kind of walls and an excellent opportunity to meet with a significant contributor to the national economy and the business sector. So it was an excellent evening,’ she said.

She said she was not quite sure how it was arranged.

’I was just asked to come,’ she said.

Faris al-Rawi, son of Diane Seukeran, who is of Trinidad and Iraq descent, said the meeting was organised by the Syrian-Lebanese Women’s Group. He likened the meeting  to a ’town or a cottage meeting’.

’It was just a discourse and dialogue between people … very productive … sharing of perspectives as has happened on any walkabout in Trinidad and Tobago,’ he said.

He said Manning’s ’frankness, honesty and sharing, as well as his perspectives in the economy of Trinidad and Tobago and his encouragement of the private sector’, were the most striking things about his address.

Al-Rawi also noted that Manning’s  encouragement to the Arab community, a strong contributing sector, to ’hold the lines and to continue strengthening and working with the country’ was also very important.

Asked if the community would now be willing to throw its support behind Manning and his Government, al-Rawi said the community would firstly throw its support behind T&T. ’Business is always independent of politics,’ he said, adding that the business community has always met with the political directorate.

’There was no subterfuge,’ he added.Â

He said construction, crime, the finance sector, banking sector and vision for T&T were discussed. He said Manning said it was with strong leadership that good governance happens. The Prime Minister noted, he said, that there were significant challenges in getting to developed nation status and touched on some of them. But his message to the community was to continue to invest and have ’commitment and confidence in ourselves and our country’, al-Rawi stated.Â

Asked what the community thought about the PNM government, he said that question could not be answered as a community, but on an individual level.Â

Businessman Jimmy Aboud said the major concern of the community was crime. He said Manning said ’exactly what he has been saying at most of his meetings (walkabouts)’.Â

Aboud said Manning told the gathering that drugs were a major cause of crime and the Government was committed to dealing with this problem.

’We welcome that,’ Aboud said.

In response to questions, he said any druglord should go to jail whether he is black, white, Syrian or Chinese.

Vice-President of the Senate, George Hadeed, said the PM was meeting with all communities in the same way as he does when he has a walkabout. He said the meeting was held at that venue because of ’convenience’.

’It was a first-class, excellent meeting,’ he said.

Housing Development Corporation (HDC) CEO Jearlean John, who said she was invited in her capacity as the former CEO of Pizza Boys, said issues which would impact on the business community were discussed. (Trinidad Express)

GOVERNMENT IS MOVING to reform the social service sector to correct a number of anomalies.

Minister of Social Care Chris Sinckler stated this as he delivered the lunchtime lecture at the Democratic Labour Party’s headquarters on George Street, Belleville yesterday.

“The reform process must start at what type of society you want,” Sinckler said. “It has to flow from where you want to take the society.”

He said his ministry had been trying to encourage agencies to be more efficient through being more particular about what they were doing.

“Barbados does not have a never ending pit of resources; they are resources that will come to an end and under economic stringency they are even more challenging,” Sinckler said.

He continued: “There’s a popular view in Barbados that the only way to treat welfare is to throw money at it. I don’t believe in that approach. We should be running away from creating a big welfare state, we cannot afford it.”

“So the goal of the Ministry of Social Care is to see that what Government gives to the welfare agencies comes down.

“Our communities are not now known by its cluster of community, but is known by a plethora of disconnected values, even disconnected households and families each existing on a basic and crude individualism that I am more important than the person next to me,” Sinckler said.

“The reform process has to start at the macro level with the behavioural and psychological patterns of the entire society. We have to unpack the society and pack it again so that people understand that as Barbadians our success is not through individuals but through collective efforts of everybody in society,” Sinckler said. (PW) (Nation News)

by CLIFTON HENRY

SOME SIX MEN’S, ST PETER RESIDENTS have been complaining bitterly about dust problems and inconvenience with a temporary road as a result of the new multi-million dollar marina being built in that area.

“Since this project started, it has been a nightmare for me and my family; we better had been living or working in a quarry,” said one irate resident who declined to be named.

“Dust morning, noon and night! I would like to know why they want another marina when we already have one that is of no help to people living in the area,” the resident said.

Another issue raised by the residents was the new walkway to reach their homes. They pointed to the constant vehicular traffic and the inconvenience for pedestrians.

Brenda Jordan who grew up in the area said the residents were complaining about the dust and other problems but seem afraid to speak out .

“It appears to me that no consideration was given to the well-being of the residents. There is no proper walkway, nor lights. Are they going to wait until someone gets knocked down before addressing these concerns?

“I am not against progress,” she stressed, but questioned the cost of it in terms of inconvenience.

“I am an asthmatic and the dust is unbearable, I am not the only person in the area suffering with asthma. This is very bad for our health,”Jordan said.

Jason Parkinson, project manager with Jada Construction, builders of the marina said the project was making good progress adding, “we have had complaints from some of the residents about the dust situation and so we have put up a number of dust screens in addition to watering the road a couple times a day trying to keep down as much of the dust as possible. The recent rain was of tremendous help in that regard.”

Parkinson appealed to motorists to slow down while using the temporary road.

“We are appealing to the public to take their time and bear with us. Too many people are driving by here too quickly!”

Phase 1 of the project comprising of three or four blocks of condos, the cool Island, the marina, and the bridge is estimated to be completed in two years.

Approximately 70 people are employed on the project but this figure is expected to increase significantly as work progresses, Parkinson said. (Nation News)

ALL INVESTMENTS made by policyholders in Colonial Life Insurance (CLICO) will be honoured.

That assurance has been given by Geoffrey Brewster, president of CLICO Life International, a subsidiary of CLICO Holdings Limited.

“CLICO has been working over the past few months to develop an extensive restructuring plan to ensure that policyholders’ investments in the company are secured.

“We have been working with an auditing firm as well as consulting actuaries out of Canada to help us put together a business plan that will see the company going forward as a growing entity and to ensure that all investments in the company made by policyholders are honoured,” he said in an interview last night that was aired on CBC Television.

CLICO International Life has come under increasing pressure since an announcement last week by Prime Minister David Thompson that the company, along with British American Insurance, had been barred by the Supervisor of Insurance from writing any new business. (MK) (Nation News)