Moontown

DENIS KELLMAN’S COLUMN- THE DEBATE

NOVEMBER 28, 2007

I have watched with interest the economic developments that are occurring in the world. The present devaluation of the US dollar is a plus for those countries whose currencies are tied to the US dollar.

These countries now have a trade advantage without having to adjust their currencies. These currencies should have caused most Caribbean countries to have a trade advantage. Their exports will become cheaper to countries that have floating currencies.

In Barbados, our devalued dollar will have to be used to increase exports in goods and services. We cannot only rely on the increase in Barbados dollars that our companies will receive when they export their goods and services.

Next tourist season, hoteliers will report higher revenues but the country will not report higher foreign exchange earnings. This is not advantageous to the country. Our productive sectors led by Government must take advantage of the additional fillip created by the weakening of the US dollar.

The Government cannot be speaking only in terms of imports but must be prepared to increase the product in order to increase growth. The increase in the cost of living must be the platform for my previous proffering. We must hasten to introduce Kellmanomics. This can only occur if the Government understands how to take advantage of a favorable situation without begging favour.

The current situation lends to a coming together of three forces to achieve one common goal. That goal has to be the development of our economy.  This can only be done if the current Government understands that real development can only occur if workers increase productivity, businesses increase investments and Government provides the necessity auxiliary services to create the right climate for development.

Social engineering cannot be about handouts for hands that can be productive. Government must understand that limiting growth by keeping the masses dependent is a thing of the past. To this end, Government’s distribution must be seen as productive, by creating opportunities for the poor to for what they want. A climate of work must be created again. It has worked well for us previously.

I have been saying that the land and the sea must be seen as exploits for those looking for work by subsidizing their incomes and food bill. As a people we have allowed persons to create a negative in our minds about the land. We have seen the land as a negative in Barbados where we have land space but would rent or buy a property in North America and plant every possible limited area in food to subsidize a low food bill, but would plant grass in Barbados where the food bill is high.

Sugar enslaved us but it also made us free. To this end, we need to understand that skills developed cannot be ignored. We knew how to survive when we were enslaved. But now we have allowed a new type of enslavement to starve ourselves by sourcing everything from external sources.

When we were not educated we understood the importance of freedom. But now that we are educated we are doing everything to ensure that we are enslaved again. We hate to see persons who we saw working hard to empower themselves but we happy  to talk about the money that is being invested in our country from outsiders who we cannot identify the source of wealth. The Williams’ brothers are still seen as the enemy. We behave as though we do not understand globalization.

Globalization must be seen as the enemy to localization and must be seen the same way slavery was viewed. Slavery was abolished for a good reason, but we seem not to appreciate our brothers and sisters. Barbados must be for all Barbadians first, regarded of colour, class or creed.

The blacks have broken barriers and the whites have also broken some too. Globalisation will enslave all of us and we have to come together to fight it. The late Right Excellent Errol Barrow understood this point and did everything to demonstrate his workings for all. For this reason our constitution is so structured. As a party, we have a lot to be proud of and we as the followers should be proud for knowing Sir James. He had a foresight out of this world. Those of us who were endorsed by him must continue to count our blessings and ensure that his works have not fallen on deaf ears.

I have said before that we as a party must educate the electorate about our commitment to localization. We have to understand that all Barbadians are our brothers and sisters even if they do not see us as such. We must lead and not be led.

So far, I have seen nothing from Government to demonstrate the advantage of a devalued dollar done by outside forces. It is to this end that we have to allow our productive workers to work harder and longer. This must be done by the Government showing appreciation for their contribution by appreciating that workers contribute to the development of the nation. Too often, we must measure development without showing appreciation for the workers’ contribution.

Because of its taxation policy, this Government seems more interested in the contribution of consumption more so than production.

We are foreign exchange starved and are speaking about lowering prices to please external forces. We should compensate workers for earning more foreign exchange and punishing consumers for consuming external goods. The cost of living in this country will always be high until we once again appreciate agriculture and stop the educated importers of the brand from espousing their foreign culture.

Most of these persons seem not to appreciate that their foreign culture has a foreign cost to it. We are behaving as though the world owes us a debt and if we can continue to borrow it will be infinite. We have to earn our way.

Credit unions can no longer be seen as a meeting turn and like any other business it must be seen as how we saw the Barbados Mutual. The problem in the credit union movement cannot be about increasing liabilities but must be about increasing share capital. When the new law is passed you can easily have a run on this movement.

What we were to do was to create real shareholders’ equity by allowing members to have common shares as a condition of joining and saving. This decision would create cash flow for greater investments. The credit union movement can no longer be seen as an in or out transaction. It cannot be described any longer as Assets = Liabilities. It must be seen as Assets =Shareholders’ Equity + Liabilities. Land for a credit union cannot be seen as a Fixed Asset. It must be seen as a tradable good.

Over the years, our people have been accused of not taking risk. Now we have passed a law to ensure that we do not take risk. The best way to empower the masses is by allowing its known institution to be truly a business.

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

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Political leader of the opposition Antigua Labour Party (ALP) Lester Bird and his colleague Member of Parliament for St. Peter Asot Michael have been granted leave to seek judicial review by High Court judge Justice Errol Thomas, and both men have welcomed the ruling, stating they have been vindicated.

Bird and Michael had filed an application for leave to apply for a judicial review as it pertains to the commencement of a Commission of Inquiry into the Ishikawajima-Harima Heavy Industries Company (IHI Japan) dealings, which was halted on 6 Aug., 2009.

The judge’s ruling means that the commencement of the inquiry is further halted until the judicial review proceedings are completed.

“There shall be no public hearings by the Commission of Inquiry until the determination of the judicial proceedings or further order of the court. Penal notice is to be attached to the final order,” Thomas said.

Submissions were heard in the case last December (2009) before Justice Thomas, who returned with his decision yesterday (14 April).

In the 36-page judgment, Thomas ruled that the applicants’ (Bird and Michael) applications, in the circumstances, are not premature.

Thomas found that both men have an arguable case and that they have satisfied the standard of proof and have a reasonable prospect of success.

“As far as the ground of irrationality (or illegality) unreasonableness is concerned, the learning suggests that the questions are: whether the appointment of the commission in the circumstances is irrational or whether a reasonable government would advise the governor-general to appoint a commission in these circumstances?

“The court has noted the pronouncement of Justice of Appeal (Hugh) Rawlins (as he then was) in Mitchell v Georges that the standard of proof which attaches to the test for leave to seek judicial review is the balance of probabilities and that it varies according to the circumstances.

In this connection too, one of the propositions advanced by learned senior counsel for the respondent (attorney general) is along the same lines except that he says that the more onerous the consequences the stronger must be the evidence before the court grants leave.

With these propositions, the court has no difficulty, but the ruling of the Court of Appeal must be followed.

“Therefore, on the whole, upon an evaluation of the evidence, the court is satisfied that the applicants have an arguable case …And further that the applicants have a reasonable prospect of success,” Thomas said.

The judge noted that the grounds upon which the appellants rely in seeking leave for judicial review, abuse of the court’s process/interference with the course of justice and unreasonableness/illegality are disjunctive on the pleadings.

Based on Thomas’ ruling, Bird and Michael were given 14 days (of the receipt of the order) by which to file and serve a Fixed Date Claim.

The judge also ruled that the first respondent, Attorney-General Justin Simon, pay costs to Bird and Michael “under part 65.11 of the CPR 2000″ if not agreed within 21 days of the order.

The inquiry was set up to probe into the repayment by the then ALP government of a loan of US$29,750,000 (principal) and interest from Ishikawajima-Harima Heavy Industries Company (IHI Japan) to the Antigua Public Utilities Authority (APUA.) Both Antigua Labour Party (ALP) members have also filed a constitutional motion in the matter. However, they do not need leave of the court to pursue this motion.

Prime Minister Baldwin Spencer announced the commission of the inquiry during an address to the nation on Friday 24 July, 2009. The former government allegedly constructed a desalination plant financed by the Japanese company, and debt service for the financing was to have been covered by payments generated from the plant’s operation.

Allegations are the government renegotiated the payoff on the US$33 million loan and arranged for Bruce Rappaport to deal with the negotiations.

The sole commissioner, Australian Chief Justice James Jacob Spigelman, was expected to determine to what extent, repayment monies intended for IHI were allegedly diverted into the possession or for the benefit of other people or corporations and to trace the whereabouts of these monies.

The commissioner’s report should have included among other things recommendations relating to possible criminal offences that may warrant further investigation and possible prosecution.

The government was hoping that the findings would have been before the governor-general by Dec., 2009. It was unclear for how long the inquiry would have run.

In response to the Justice Thomas’ ruling, Bird said he and Michael sought leave for judicial review as they are currently defending court action in relation to the IHI debt settlement in three separate jurisdictions for the past four years.

He added that the unfairness of a Commission of Inquiry was evident to the world, except to the United Progressive Party (UPP) leaders.

Bird added that the government was relying on poor advice from the attorney-general.

“This judgment upholds the position that the UPP regime has been engaged in a witch-hunt of senior members of the labour party for the entire six years that the Baldwin Spencer regime has been mismanaging this country’s affairs, and that there is no basis for their actions.

“The Commission of Inquiry was surreptitiously set up in an attempt to distract the attention of the people of Antigua and Barbuda from the incompetence of the UPP regime which has burdened our nation with $2 billion of debt, caused unemployment to rise from five per cent under the ALP to 18 per cent today, taxed the nation to the eyeballs, and forced our country into an IMF austerity programme.”

The opposition leader said the UPP is trying everything in its power to hold on to the government, adding that the court continues to rule against the UPP administration.

“The reality is that the UPP regime has tried and will continue to try every scheme and device they can to smear the names of the ALP leadership in a desperate effort to hold on to office which they gained through electoral fraud.

“This is the second occasion in two weeks that the High Court has found against the shenanigans of the illegal UPP government.  The people of this country have had enough of the UPP’s false allegations, lies and deceit. The UPP is usurping office by the edges of their broken finger nails. Spencer must call elections now,” Bird concluded.

In his brief comment on the matter, Asot Michael said that the UPP regime has been abusing taxpayers’ money on political witch-hunts.  He said, “Now the taxpayer has to pay the costs for this case because of the abuse of power by the UPP. It is time to redeem the country from the UPP’s excesses.”

The ALP believes that this is a major interim victory for the parliamentary opposition party, “especially given this unnecessary, highly politicised and extremely expensive undertaking at a time when government is struggling to pay public officers on time and unemployment has climbed to 20 per cent.”

Meanwhile, the AntiguaSun was informed that the work of the commission’s office is continuing, despite the fact that James Jacob Spigelman is now in his native Australia.

Reports are that interviews are still being done by members of the commission’s office and the police.

People with any information about the IHI matter are still being encouraged to come forward and assist the commission with its ground work.

“The office here continues to do its work and conduct interviews as before. We are still working,” the source said.

Reports are that Spigelman returned to his country of birth shortly after the inquiry was halted.

Although the Australian chief justice was named as a defendant in this matter, the court did not order cost against him as during the hearing of submissions Deputy Solicitor General Karen Defrietas-Rait, who represented Spigelman, told the court that he (Spigelman) would not take part in the proceedings but will abide with the decision of the court.

Queens Counsel (QC) out of London James Guthrie and Barbadian attorney Elliot Mottley QC assisted by attorneys Rika Bird and John Fuller represented Bird and Michael, while Senior Counsel (SC) out of Trinidad Reginald Armour assisted by Vanessa Gopaul represented Attorney-General Justin Simon. (Antigua Sun)

WASHINGTON, DC (AP):

Congress is calling for the United States to take the lead in relieving earthquake-shattered Haiti of its debts to international institutions.

The House approved by voice vote yesterday and sent to President Barack Obama legislation that instructs US directors at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and other global development institutions to use their votes and influence to cancel Haiti’s debt.

Debt relief is one of several approaches to helping Haiti recover from the January earthquake that took an estimated 230,000 lives.

Congress is considering legislation that would provide some US$2.8 billion in new aid and the United Nations recently hosted a donors’ conference where nearly 50 nations pledged about US$9.9 billion in assistance.

The debt-relief bill, passed earlier by the Senate, would urge the immediate and complete cancellation of all debt owed by Haiti to multinational institutions. It would also recommend that for the next five years, aid to Haiti be provided as grants rather than loans.

“There are many of us who look at this earthquake as opportunity,” said Representative Maxine Waters, Democrat from California and sponsor of the measure. “We believe that there is now a real commitment by the world community to come to the aid of Haiti.”

The Treasury said that at the beginning of March, Haiti owed US$828 million to multilateral development institutions. Since then, the Inter-American Development Bank, which the Treasury said was owed some US$447 million, announced it would forgive all of Haiti’s debt and convert undisbursed loans to the country into grants. (Jamaica Gleaner)

President of Guyana, Bharrat Jagdeo. - File

The Guyana economy expanded by more than three per cent last year spurred by the recovery in the agricultural sector and continued strong gold production and robust activity in the non-tradable sector, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has said.

The Washington-based financial institution said that the CARICOM country had been able to weather “the impact of the global crisis well by regional and global standards” and that economic activity expanded by 3.3 per cent in 2009 compared with to two per cent the previous years.

Inflation fell to 3.6 from 6.4 per cent in 2009, reflecting the softening in world commodity prices, the IMF said.

Guyana’s current-account deficit narrowed, from 8.5 per cent of GDP to 5.0 per cent, and the international-reserve position strengthened significantly.

Gross reserves rose to US$623 million at year end.

The reserves were built from “strong official inflows, including concessional loans and grants, and the fund’s special drawing rights allocation and steady short-term capital inflows by commercial banks attracted to higher domestic interest rates,” said the IMF

It said that the nominal exchange rate remained stable, and the impact of the crisis on the financial sector has been limited so far, although expansion in private-sector credit has moderated to about six per cent in 2009, down from nearly 22 per cent in the previous year, reflecting both a deceleration in private-sector credit demand, as well as tighter lending standards by the banking sector.

The Washington-based lending institution said that the macroeconomic policies of the Guyana government have remained prudent, noting that monetary policy tightened somewhat in 2009, supporting the decline in inflation and external stability.

The fiscal deficit for the non-financial public sector declined to 3.3 per cent of GDP from 4.7 per cent of 2008 “on the back of higher-than expected revenues that supported the full execution of priority spending, including on infrastructure,” said the fund.

Structural reform

Guyana’s public debt fell from from 93.1 per cent of GDP as at end of 2006 to 56.8 per cent of GDP in 2009, “assisted by debt-relief operations and fiscal consolidation efforts,” the IMF said, noting that structural reform has continued to focus on further reducing vulnerabilities and entrenching long-term growth.

The IMF, in praising the Bharrat Jagdeo government’s economic policies, said that the strong fiscal consolidation in 2009 provides space for a more gradual tightening over the near term to support infrastructure investment and growth.

“A cautious fiscal stance remains nevertheless warranted given remaining vulnerabilities,” it said. (Jamaica Gleaner)

- CMC

Dr Christopher Tufton speaks at the Sectoral Presentation, Gordon House, on Tuesday, July 7, 2009. - Rudolph Brown/Chief Photographer

Laura Redpath, Senior Reporter

Last year saw a decrease in the import bill as production of domestic crops went up. However, Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries Dr Christopher Tufton said if the drought continued, productivity would be affected.

According to Michael Price, director of the Ministry of Agriculture’s Databank and Evaluation Division, the cost of imports decreased from $866 million in 2008 to $802 million in 2009, and domestic agricultural production, inclusive of domestic crops such as potatoes and yams, went up 22.4 per cent in 2009.

The ministry’s permanent secretary, Donovan Stanberry, at Tuesday’s ‘Good practices for participation in SPS Forums’ workshop, said these numbers are a result of the ministry’s efforts to encourage Jamaicans to eat more local produce under the ‘eat what you grow’ mantra.

“The figures will show, in absolute terms, the import bill went down in 2009 in comparison with 2008.

“Not only has the value gone down, but the volume too,” Stanberry said.

However, the drought could dampen the country’s agricultural productivity if it does not end within the next two months.

“We hope the drought will break in less than two months and normality will be restored.

“It is raining now and we’ve seen some water on the ground in some areas,” Tufton said.

Despite the dry spell, the minister pointed out that the country had experienced more land usage, especially in the drier areas of the country.

“Substantially more acreage was put into production last year when compared to the year before,” he said.

The National Irrigation Commission lands, with their own irrigation structure, have also joined production. (Jamaica Gleaner)

Eighteen Jamaicans, including two women, were extradited last year, even as the Bruce Golding administration tussled with the United States government over its extradition request for west Kingston strongman Christopher ‘Dudus’ Coke.

Official data show 15 people were extradited to the US, two to Canada, while one person was sent to England to answer charges.

In 2008, a total of 14 people, including two women, were extradited.

Of the 18 people extradited last year, 10 were wanted overseas for narcotics charges, five to answer murder charges, two for fraud, and one for first-degree assault.

However, the administration has refused to sign the extradition request for Coke, who has been interdicted in the US on drugs and firearm charges.

Golding has argued that the extradition request for Coke was unusual, as the American authorities are depending on wiretapped information that is inadmissible in a local court because it was illegally provided to them.

The prime minister has claimed that the justice minister cannot sign the extradition warrant based on what has so far been presented by the Americans.

However, Washington has rejected this position and has urged the Government to place the matter before the court.

Seeking declaration

According to Golding, Justice Minister Dorothy Lightbourne will be seeking a declaration from the court on whether she has the authority to refuse to sign the extradition request for Coke in the present circumstances.

And even as the impasse drags on, Lightbourne is proceeding with other extradition requests.

On Tuesday, 50-year-old Mark Antonio Clarke, a musician of Parks Road, St Andrew, was arrested by the Fugitive Apprehension Team (FAT) on an extradition request.

The police reported that about 5:15 Tuesday morning, an operation was carried out on Parks Road by members of the FAT, the Flying Squad and the Mobile Reserve.

During the operation, Clarke, who is wanted in the United States for narcotics offences, was arrested.

According to the allegations, Clarke was a member of a drug-trafficking organisation which distributed large quantities of marijuana in East St Louis and Illinois during 2004 and 2008.

Clarke reportedly fled the US to Jamaica in May 2008.

He is to appear in the Corporate Area Resident Magistrate’s Court today for an extradition hearing. (Jamaica Gleaner)

West Indies will be looking to stretch their One-Day International winning streak to six when they take on Ireland in the final one-day match of the Jamaica Cricket Association Festival at Sabina Park today. Albeit against lightweight opponents, West Indies have sparked a winning streak dating back to the Zimbabwe series last month and they will look to finish the run with another convincing display against the Irish.

On Tuesday, they pulled off a massive 208-run victory in the opening ODI of the Festival, which came on the heels of their 4-1 series win over Zimbabwe in the preceding five-match series.

Darren Sammy, the team’s stand-in captain, said it was not only important to win but to get a good tune up against the Irish who they would meet in the World Twenty20 Championship starting later this month.

“They are in our zone of the T20 World Cup so we will not take them lightly. They are a competitive team,” he said.

“We just have to do the basics right, be consistent in all areas, batting, bowling and fielding.”

He added: “We got those right in the last two games we played, so we are hoping to continue and hopefully by the time we reach Guyana for the T20 World Cup, we will be ready.”

After modest scoring in the T20s against Ireland and Canada at the weekend, West Indies improved their batting in Tuesday’s ODI to pile up 316 for four off their 50 allotted overs.

Their bowlers then shone against inept Canada batting, ousting the visitors for a paltry 108.

The Irish, meanwhile, will also take the game seriously, especially after losing to West Indies at the weekend.

“It’ll be really tough against the West Indies-–they showed just how good a side they are with that big win over Canada yesterday,” said captain William Porterfield.

He said the side still cherished memories of their last outing at the venue, during the Cricket World Cup three years ago.

“Sabina Park has great memories for us-–the dramatic tie with Zimbabwe and the win over Pakistan.’

Porterfield said they are going into the encounter at a time when the bowlers are hitting form.

TEAMS (from):  WEST INDIES – Darren Sammy (captain), Lionel Baker, Sulieman Benn, Darren Bravo, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Narsingh Deonarine, Andre Fletcher, Wavell Hinds, Nikita Miller, Denesh Ramdin, Ravi Rampaul, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Jerome Taylor.

IRELAND – William Porterfield (captain), Peter Connell, Alex Cusack, George Dockrell, Nigel Jones, John Mooney, Kevin O’Brien, Paul Stirling, Andrew White, Andre Botha, Gary Wilson, Niall O’Brien, Trent Johnson and Gary Kidd. (Trinidad Express)