Moontown

OECS Ministers of Agriculture recently met at the Marriott Resort in St Kitts-Nevis to consider revised priority actions for development of the agriculture sector in the OECS region, within the context of the movement towards deeper OECS Economic Integration.

The actions under consideration were based on a review of an already approved OECS Agriculture Policy Framework, which had to be revisited in the wake of new and emerging issues facing the sector, including accelerated erosion of trade preferences in major export markets in Europe, the lingering effects of the food price crisis of 2008 and the potentially adverse impacts of climate change. The Ministers also took account of the broader contribution of agriculture beyond food production, encompassing the allied areas of sustainable development and conservation of natural ecosystems; as well as the links between food security and poverty alleviation.

OECS Agriculture Ministers were joined by their Tourism Ministerial colleagues to decide on integrated approaches straddling the two key economic sectors, and agreed to focus their attention on a few strategic areas including: private sector led strategies to transform OECS agriculture by tapping opportunities in non-traditional export markets; the integration of poverty considerations in the development of commercial supply chains; a demand-driven approach to establishing stronger commercial linkages between agriculture and tourism; and the modernisation of the OECS shipping industry to serve the mutual trading interests of both sectors in expanding intra-regional passenger and freight traffic within the OECS and the wider Caribbean region.

The OECS Ministers of Agriculture and Tourism mandated the OECS Secretariat to further develop the programme priorities for the agriculture sector, paying special attention to a number of important cross-cutting requirements, including the need to: identify a set of agriculture products in which the OECS region has a competitive production and trading advantage; identify and target appropriate private sector operators, including financial institutions, for the establishment of partnerships; reduce the high costs of agriculture inputs, in particular fertilizers and feeds, through joint procurement; risk management, including introducing and strengthening of insurance arrangements for crops, livestock and fisheries; as well as the need to put measures in place to ensure preservation of environmental integrity. (St. Lucia Star)

Anna Ramdass anna.ramdass@trinidadexpress.com

The education system in this country is weak and Government will be dealing with this issue urgently, says Education Minister Dr Tim Gopeesingh.

Gopeesingh, at the post Cabinet press conference at the Office of the Prime Minister, in St Clair touched on a number of flaws and weaknesses in the system, which may have contributed to the downward trend in examination results.

He announced the top three pupils of the Seconday Entrance Assessment (SEA) examinations but also noted the increase in the percentage of students who performed poorly.

Gopeesingh said his assessment showed that there are problems at the top which spreads across the board into the schools including an outdated primary and secondary school curriculum.

He said at the Ministry of Education there was a weakness in management as there are 44 departments and ’they don’t know the interaction between one discipline and another discipline and there are serious management weaknesses which need to corrected’.

finally: Pupils of St Joseph Boys’ RC celebrate their success in the SEA examination following the release of results at their school in St Joseph yesterday. -Photo: STEPHEN DOOBAY

He said there are 18,000 teachers within the system and although there were 170 human resource management personnel and also information technology departments, the records of teachers are not computerised and therefore teachers who are line for promotion, retirement cannot be tracked quickly.

Gopeesingh said at the school level there is a breakdown in supervision level by guidance counselors and security officers which lead to school violence.

He said in addition to outdated curriculums, ’we have serious disabilities of children within the school system, we estimate there are at least 30,000 students with some disabilities ranging from some medical, mental, psychological, emotional, abnormal behaviour patterns, visual, oratory and there are only 2,000 of these pupils taken care of within the system about 11 private schools and nine Government schools’.

He said Government will partner with the Health Ministry to conduct wide scale testing for children with oratory and visual problems.

He said there were not enough specialists in the system who would be able to make a dent upon this situation in terms of the children disabilities therefore there would also be a partnering with the Tertiary Education Ministry to increase the training for specialists’ teachers.

Gopeesingh said the SEA results show that children were performing poorly in government schools.

’The trend continues downward from the previous years so this needs critical analysis of what is happening in the primary education system and this extends into the secondary education system whereby 70 per cent of the students who go through the secondary education fail to get the full passes in the Government secondary schools in counter distinction in the denominational schools where 70 per cent of the students do get a full passes. So something is happening in the Government secondary school that obviously is being looked at carefully by the denominational boards and the denominational schools,’ he said.

Gopeesingh said 2,000 pupils failed to get over 30 per cent of the SEA marks and of this amount 506 were assigned to five and seven year schools, 399 assigned to pre vocational schools and the remaining 421 who are under 13 years of age will be required to re-sit the examinations. (Trinidad Express)

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) board of directors has signed off on a disbursement of SDR 63.7 million or US$93.9 million (J$8.06 billion) to Jamaica, having finalised its review of the country’s first test under the standby arrangement signed in February, the multilateral agency said Wednesday.

Following a visit in May, where the International Monetary Fund technical team, led by Trevor Alleyne, made its first-quarter assessment of Jamaica under a new borrowing arrangement, the country was said to have passed the test with relative ease.

But approval for the release of the funds was still pending from the IMF board.

“Jamaica has performed very well under the programme. All quantitative performance targets and structural benchmarks for end-March were met and prospects for meeting the end-June targets and benchmarks appear favourable,” said the IMF release, following the board’s decision.

“Notwithstanding an overall weak economic context, the authorities preserved programme targets on the basis of strengthened tax administration and expenditure restraint,” said Naoyuki Shinohara, deputy managing director and acting IMF chair.

This disbursement brings the total lent to Jamaica under the standby arrangement to SDR 478 million or approximately US$704.6 million (J$60 billion).

The allocations will eventually reach SDR 820.5 million or US$1.2 billion over 27 months, providing Jamaica continues to meet the conditions set for the loans.

Among the pillars of the economic programme are fiscal consolidation and institutional reform, public-debt restructuring, completed as a precursor to the signing of the agreement. The country has also committed to financial sector reform to include improvement in consolidated supervision of non-bank institutions.

The second-quarter test for the three-month period ending June is to be completed and announced by August. (Jamaica Gleaner)

sabrina.gordon@gleanerjm.com

Drug Enforcement Administration personnel bring alleged gangster Christopher Coke to a waiting vehicle at Westchester County Airport in White Plains, New York, yesterday afternoon. - AP

Coke is escorted by law-enforcement agents towards a plane at the Norman Manley International Airport, moments before flying to the United States. - Norman Grindley/Chief Photographer

Christopher Coke is led to court by soldiers at the police Mobile Reserve headquarters in Kingston. - Contributed

Christopher Coke speaks with Drug Enforcement Administration personnel at Kingston’s Norman Manley Airport before being jetted away to the US. - Norman Grindley/Chief Photographer

The aircraft carrying Christopher ‘Dudus’ Coke on its way to the US.

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Gary Spaulding, Senior Gleaner Writer

Christopher ‘Dudus’ Coke, the alleged drug kingpin who enjoyed demigod status in the west Kingston stronghold of Tivoli Gardens, shared the fate of mortal man when he spent last night under armed guard on United States soil.

The 41-year-old arrived shortly after 6 p.m. (Jamaica time) at Westchester County Airport in White Plains, New York, and was taken to a federal lock-up.

The strongman, who was captured by the police on Tuesday, was whisked out of Jamaica by plane at 2:05 p.m. yesterday, four hours after he waived his right to an extradition hearing.

Coke was taken by heavily armed security personnel to the Norman Manley International Airport and placed in the custody of US Marshals who were waiting to escort him on to an unmarked aircraft.

The quickly organised departure of the man who was, up to a month ago, considered the most feared person in Jamaica brought an anti-climactic end to the mayhem that accompanied the extradition request from the United States in the summer of 2009.

Minutes after Coke signed the consent documents - indicating that he would not challenge his extradition - he was hit with a restraining order, freezing all his assets.

There was nothing defiant about Dudus’ demeanour throughout the course of yesterday’s historic proceedings.

“I have instructed my attorneys that I intend to waive my right to an extradition hearing in Jamaica and to proceed directly to the United States under the terms of the extradition laws and treaty between Jamaica and the United States of America,” Dudus’ attorney, George Soutar, quoted Coke in a statement to the court.

Later, Coke assured a probing Resident Magistrate (RM) Georgianna Fraser that he was fully aware of the ramifications of his decision.

After eluding the police for a month, the dragnet descended on Coke in less-than-spectacular fashion than the deadly gun battle that triggered a state of emergency in late May.

The dramatic challenge to the attempts of security personnel to apprehend Coke last month was absent yesterday, although the armed forces took no chances.

Gone was the bravado of Tivoli Gardens residents who demonstrated in support of Coke before barricading themselves into the community.

Vigilant policemen and soldiers searched vehicles on Industrial Terrace in that community during a consistent drizzle, as the time drew near for Coke to make his appearance in court.

The sound of a Jamaica Defence Force helicopter droned on and on as it hovered, while on the ground, security personnel cordoned the precincts of Up Park Camp and the Mobile Reserve.

Dudus seemed calm, oblivious to the buzz around him as he entered the court flanked by soldiers, but minus his attorneys, minutes before the scheduled start of the 10 o’clock hearing.

Attired in blue, striped shirt, guards towering over the 5′ 4″ captive who also bears the moniker ‘Short Man’, Dudus glanced around, before briefly nodding in acknowledgement of journalists.

Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Paula Llewellyn told RM Fraser, who presided over the hearing, that Coke’s attorney had not yet reached court.

Fraser inquired of Coke who was his lawyer, to which Coke politely responded, “George Soutar.”

As if on cue, Soutar entered the room with Tom Tavares-Finson, another attorney, in tow.

Soutar announced that Dudus had expressed a desire to waive his right to a local court hearing, before reading from a prepared text he attributed to Coke.

The attorney told the court that Coke said he had made the decision of his own free will even though he believed his case could have been successfully argued in the courts of Jamaica.

“I take this decision for I now believe it to be in the best interest of my family, the community of western Kingston and, in particular, the people of Tivoli Gardens and, above all, Jamaica,” said Coke’s statement.

Coke acknowledged that the entire country had been adversely affected by the bloodshed related to his extradition.

He said he hoped that his decision yesterday would help to heal the community of Tivoli Gardens, which the army stormed to uproot a militia, resulting in the deaths of one soldier and 73 civilians.

Tavares-Finson expressed appreciation on Coke’s behalf yesterday for the professional treatment he received while in custody.

Tavares-Finson commented that even the court was being fair to Coke, eliciting a brief smile from the resident magistrate.

gary.spaulding@gleanerjm.com

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West Indies cricketer, Sulieman Benn, known for his spin bowling and improving batting revealed another talent Wednesday evening - his dancing.
With a glass - instead of the ball - in his left hand, he enjoyed himself and entertained teammates at a reception held by  sponsors, Digicel at the Concorde Experience, Grantley Adams International Airport.
Benn appeared very fit for the third cricket test against South Africa which starts at Kensington Oval tomorrow. (DA) Nation News)

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The Ministry of Education and Human Resource Development is again organising summer school programmes for selected students from primary and secondary schools.
One of the objectives of the interventions is to assist students in improving their knowledge and skills in core subject areas. In addition, this exercise is also intended to boost students’ self esteem and to enhance their interpersonal skills.
Students at both public and private primary schools who were granted a deferral from this year’s Barbados Secondary Schools’ Entrance Examination will be offered a well-rounded programme at the George Lamming Primary School.
They will receive tutoring in Language Arts, Mathematics and reading, as well as engage in such extra-curricular activities as drumming, stilt walking, basketry and indoor games.
Summer School for primary students is scheduled to start on Monday, July 5, and will finish with a closing ceremony on Thursday, July 29. Daily activities will commence at 8:45 a.m. and conclude at 2 p.m.
Parents and guardians of deferred students, who have not yet registered their children or wards for summer school are urged to do so before Friday, July 2.  At the secondary level, students who are in need of additional support in mastering core subjects will have the opportunity to use a part of their summer holiday to improve in those areas.
Classes for this group of students will be offered at five centres. These are: Alexandra School, Ellerslie Secondary, Christ Church Foundation School, St George Secondary, and St Leonard’s Boys’ School.
The ministry will provide bus passes for students attending the summer schools. (BGIS)(Nation News)

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Lil Rick

Popular entertainer Lil Rick, the “Hypa Dawg”, has been axed by STARCOM NETWORK INC. as it clamps down on dirty lyrics on the airwaves.
Yesterday, the radio network announced that it had decided to “sever all ties” with the controversial DJ following an incident last Saturday that breached guidelines aimed at keeping the airwaves clean.
The guidelines virtually ban the airing of recordings that in the network’s opinion “contain sexual crudity, social degradation or exhibit unmistakably poor taste”.
In a statement, Starcom Network Inc. said Lil Rick violated the guidelines by playing a song that was not in its music system and therefore not cleared for broadcast.
According to the network, he “did not apologise for the breach, but proceeded to play a more radio-friendly version of the same song.”
Starcom said “actions such as this” were likely to jeopardise its image “as a standard-bearer in the community”.
It said that was not the first time Lil Rick had broken the rules.
“On no fewer than three occasions what may have been considered infractions of our Code were attributed to Ricky and we have, on each occasion, counselled, reprimanded and disciplined him, in keeping with our established employee protocols,” Starcom Network Inc. said.
It apologised to its listeners for “the unfortunate incident” on Saturday.
The station is expected to speak to the issue in greater detail today during its Brass Tacks programme.
Efforts to reach Lil Rick and his manager, lawyer Santia Bradshaw, for a comment yesterday proved unsuccessful. (TY) (Nation News)

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These three female students stand on the outside looking in after having been locked out by the guard.(Picture by Carol-Ann Tudor)

Students who turned up at the Alexandra School after 9:30 a.m yesterday, found the gates closed and were not allowed enter.
The WEEKEND NATION was unable to reach principal, Jeff Broomes, but was told by a source that students had been warned to be at school by 8:30 a.m.
Sergeant Wilma Farley at District E Police stattion confirmed that two patrols went to the school in response to students’ complaints that they had been locked out.
One female student commented: “This is not fair to us, for months now these teachers have been on strike, they have cancelled exams, sent us home early, and because we are late this last day of school, they have us locked out.”
Another student said she was late because her bus had broken down. (CT) (Nation News)