Moontown

By Phoolo Danny Maharaj South Bureau

SOME United National Congress (UNC) supporters in the electoral district of Rousillac/Otaheite, are angry over the selection of the mother of a Government minister as candidate for the upcoming Local Government Elections.

Chandra Ramadharsingh was selected to run for the Rousillac/Othaheite seat in the Siparia Regional Corporation (SRC) in the July 26 elections. She was the wife of late councillor Evran Ramadharsingh and is mother of Glenn Ramadharsingh, UNC general secretary and Minister of the People and Social Development, who also served as a councillor in the Siparia corporation.

Yesterday, a spokesperson for the protest group said, “Ten villagers who have been working with the party for many years, during the general elections and even for the clean-up campaign were not considered at all. The party pretended to screen us, taking only a minute or two, because they know they already handpicked whom they wanted.

“When nomination was closed on the Friday, we were all there, but she was not there. The party reopened nomination on Monday to accommodate her. That is not fair, they fooling people. If they know they wanted the lady, they did not have to have a screening process.”

The spokesperson added, “The UNC talked of nepotism when Basdeo Panday chose his daughter Mickela to run for a seat and when Patrick Manning made his wife Hazel a government Minister, but they doing worse by choosing friends and family to contest seats. They say the people will guide them, but we not seeing that. You tell me that there is no other family in the Rousillac area who works for the party?”

Contacted yesterday, Chandra Ramadharsingh defended herself.

“I live in the area and I believe I am capable of representing the people. I have the people’s support. I filed my papers and had to wait like everyone else to be screened. I was screened at 2.30 a.m. on Wednesday. There are problems in this area.

“We have not been represented properly over the years and I believe I can represent my area, so I offered myself. People think I was favoured because my son is party general secretary, but I did not even consult my son (Glenn) before I went for screening. I was not given anything on a golden platter.”

Ramadharsingh, who has her own business Ramadharsingh’s Insurance Services, said since her husband Evran died 14 years ago, her family has worked within the party.

“In the recent years, people were disenchanted because of non-representation. I believe I can make a difference in the area,” she said.

Questioned on the matter, Local Government Minister Chandresh Sharma said: “Chandra Ramadharsingh has been very active in the party activities and in all the struggles of the party, even after the death of her husband. I know of her work with the party.”

He said it was unfortunate that only seven could be chosen from the 49 people screened for the region, “and I hope that good sense prevails during the election process”. (Trinidad Express)

By Akile Simon akile.simon@trinidadexpress.com

NEW CANADIAN Police Commissioner Dwayne Douglas Gibbs said yesterday that he has a lot of ideas and thoughts on how to deal with crime in Trinidad and Tobago, but they will have to wait until he talks with the authorities to determine how to forge ahead with them.

Gibbs was approved as police commissioner last Friday in Parliament, but as of yesterday had not yet been contacted.

In an exclusive interview with the Express, Gibbs said based on the information he was provided with, crime here has escalated to unacceptable proportion and he has several ideas and plans on how to tackle the issue, particularly gang-related crimes.

“Certainly from the information that I have received there (from Penn State University), is (that) over the last five to ten years (there has been) an escalation of crime, incidents of (involving the) use of small arms and probably all related to, and much of it related to the drug trade and gangs and organised crime,” Gibbs said.

“I have lots of ideas and thoughts but some of them are going to have to wait until I have a talk with the authorities in terms of direction. It’s going to be very much on my mind now that it starts to occur.”

He added, “All violent crimes are concern for any country and community, when you have crime that’s that horrific, it creates fear of crime to communities. I’m hoping to provide at least a sort of hope that we could get those crime issues under control, and build back community trust with the Police Service, and basically build back the engagement as a community to help deal with their own crime issues with the support of the Police Service.”

Another issue Gibbs said he would tackle is police corruption, which will not be tolerated by his new executive. He said he intends to meet with all the various stakeholders to ensure officers are properly compensated for their work.

“It’s not acceptable for corruption. It’s not acceptable for police officers to lower their integrity and be involved with criminal elements. There are many different factors that go along with that, and why that corruption exists. I hope to get to the root of it and help the service back on track in terms of their professionalism and their purpose for their work,” he said.

“Those (corruption) are some of the symptoms that we see with regards to some police officers not getting paid well enough to support their families and themselves. In any society, if you do not support yourself or if you haven’t got enough to adequately supply food or clothing for yourself, that leaves the door open to seek that type of money in other ways and some of that could come by in illegal means, which is not appropriate.”

Gibbs, a retired Superintendent of Police with the Edmonton Police Service in Alberta, Canada, said he intends to come to T&T with his wife, since his three kids are all grown and independent. His family is supportive of his new move even though he will soon be living thousands of miles away, he said.

“My family is very supportive of me in the sense that they will support me in any endeavour that I take on. But there is the anxiety, the concern that I will be not living in Canada anymore. I will be living in another nation and away from them. That creates emotions for them,” he said.

He said he came to Trinidad in April and May for the assessment process and the candidates were taken on a short tour to several police stations. What he remembered most was the flavour of the bake-and-shark at Maracas Bay, where he visited while here.

“I loved it. We all enjoyed,” Gibbs said.

He said he has spoken briefly with Jack Ewatski, a fellow Canadian and retired Chief of Police at the Winnipeg Police Service, and congratulated him on his appointment of Deputy Commissioner of Police to the country.

Gibbs also promised that the Police Service will be more transparent with the media and the public. (Trinidad Express)

The ‘A Whale’ oil-skimming ship is anchored on the Mississippi River in Boothville, Lousiana, Wednesday, June 30. The ship is the length of 3.5 football fields and 10 stories high, and is designed to collect up to 500,000 barrels of oily water a day through 12 vents on either side of its bow. - AP Photos

Chief Engineer Ashish Ghosh stands in the engine room on the ‘A Whale’ oil skimming ship.

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BP Plc’s costs for the disastrous Gulf of Mexico oil spill climbed nearly half a billion dollars in the past week, raising the oil giant’s tab to just over US$3 billion for work on cleaning and capping the gusher and payouts to individuals, businesses and governments.

London-based BP, the largest oil and gas producer in the Gulf, released its latest tally of response costs Monday.

The total of US$3.12 billion was up from US$2.65 billion a week earlier. The figure does not include a US$20-billion fund for Gulf damages BP created last month.

As BP continued drilling relief wells that are the best hope for plugging the blown-out well, a giant new oil-skimming vessel was tested in the Gulf.

But lousy weather means it may be longer than first hoped before officials know if it can work full-time sucking crude from the sea.

The Taiwanese skimmer dubbed ‘A Whale’ has been able to show off its manoeuvrability during a weekend test in a 25-mile square (65-kilometre square) patch of water just north of the site where an April 20 explosion on the Deepwater Horizon killed 11 workers and started the worst oil spill in Gulf history.

TMT, the shipping firm that owns the vessel, had hoped to test a containment boom system designed to direct greater volumes of oily water into the 12 vents or “jaws” that the ship uses to suck it in, according to spokesman Bob Grantham.

Hindered by bad weather

But lingering bad weather in the form of stiff winds and choppy seas has made that impossible, and prevented a flotilla of smaller skimmers from working offshore along the coasts of Alabama, Mississippi and Florida.

“As was the case yesterday, the sea state, with waves at times in excess of 10 feet (three metres), is not permitting optimal testing conditions,” Grantham said in an email Sunday.

The skimmers, which have been idle off the coasts since a spell of bad weather last week kicked up by Hurricane Alex, were on the water along the Louisiana coast over the weekend. Officials with the US Coast Guard are waiting for the weather to improve before sending them out elsewhere.

“We’ve got our guys out there and they’re docked and ready, but safety is a huge concern for us, especially with the smaller vessels,” said Courtnee Ferguson, a spokeswoman for the Joint Information Command in Mobile, Alabama.

On Sunday, huge barges used to collect oil from skimming vessels were parked at the mouth of Mobile Bay, waiting for conditions to subside as waves rose to about five feet (1.5 metre) high offshore.

The current spate of bad weather is likely to last well into next week, according to the National Weather Service.

“This should remain fairly persistent through the next few days, and maybe get a little worse,” meteorologist Mike Efferson said.

On the shore, beach clean-up crews were making progress on new oil that washed up, thanks to the high tides generated by last week’s bad weather.

In Grand Isle, about 800 people were removing tar balls and liquid oil from seven miles of beach, Coast Guard Commander Randal Ogrydziak said.

“In a day or two, you wouldn’t be able to tell the oil was even there,” he said.

By Wednesday, Ogrydziak said they should have a machine on the beach that washes sand where the oil washed ashore.

Ahead of schedule

Crews have also been working to put containment boom thrown around by the storms back into place, he said.

So far, weather has not slowed drilling on two relief wells meant to finally plug the spill. BP officials have said they’re running slightly ahead of schedule on the drilling, but expect weather or other delays.

Early to mid-August is still the time frame for the completion of the drilling.

Along with the drilling, the capture and burning of oil and gas at the site of the leaking well has gone on without interruption from the weather. But the choppy seas have delayed the operation of another vessel that officials say will roughly double the amount of oil being collected or burned.

The Helix Producer is supposed to connect with the leaking well by a flexible hose that will help it disconnect and reconnect quickly if a hurricane or other major storm forces an evacuation of the site.

Coast Guard officials say they’re hoping to have the Helix Producer connected to the well and collecting oil by Wednesday. (Jamaica Gleaner)

- AP

Forlan

Robben

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CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP):

Netherlands coach Bert van Marwijk is not planning on changing his tactics for today’s World Cup semi-final against Uruguay, despite criticism about the lack of Dutch flair that has dogged his team throughout the tournament.

“We are continuing down the road we have chosen,” Van Marwijk said yesterday. “I will not let anyone distract me from that.”

Uruguay coach Oscar Tabarez, meanwhile, is drawing inspiration to beat the favoured Dutch from the 1950 “Miracle of Maracana”, when his tiny nation beat Brazil at Maracana stadium to earn its second World Cup title.

“The history of the World Cup is full of results that nobody could have expected and they continue to happen,” Tabarez said. “Why shouldn’t we be able to win on Tuesday?”

But, he added: “I know we have to play a perfect game and we’re going to approach it with all of our effort.”

Uruguay, ranked No. 16 in the world, are two-time World Cup winners, while the fourth-ranked Netherlands are still trying to shake off the tag of two-time loser after talent-packed Dutch teams lost to hosts Germany and Argentina in 1974 and 1978.

“We have to beat Uruguay,” Wesley Sneijder told the official Dutch supporters website. “We’re just thinking of one thing: we want to win the World Cup. This is our time.”

Uruguay only reached today’s semi-final at Green Point Stadium thanks to Luis Suarez’s handball on the line to deny Ghana in the dying seconds of extra time, and Tabarez knows his team will have to do better against the Dutch.

However, Tabarez hit back at criticism of Suarez’s actions.

“We are very proud of our behaviour,” Tabarez said. “Please don’t tell me or suggest that we cheated. I don’t accept that in any way.”

Van Marwijk and Tabarez are both having to fill holes in their starting line-ups caused by injuries and suspensions.

Chief among them will be the suspended Suarez, who knows all about scoring against Dutch defences - with 43 goals in 39 games for Ajax last season in the Eredivisie and Dutch Cup.

Fullback Jorge Fucile also is suspended after picking up a second yellow card against Ghana, while central defender Diego Godin missed that game with a left thigh problem and remains in doubt. Captain Diego Lugano also is fighting to be fit after injuring a right knee ligament against Ghana.

“The risk of pain is the last thing on my mind,” Lugano said. “Everybody wants to play in these games, but the question is whether I’m physically 100 percent to be able to play a game at this level.”

Tabarez refused yesterday to reveal whether Lugano and Godin would play.

“Our line-up is our great secret,” he said. “Neither my players nor the Dutch players are going to know until Tuesday.”

Van Marwijk is expected to start Khalid Boulahrouz at right back and Demy de Zeeuw as a defensive midfielder in place of the suspended Gregory van der Wiel and Nigel de Jong, who both picked up their second yellow cards of the tournament against Brazil.

However, injury clouds hanging over Hamburg centre back Joris Mathijsen and Arsenal striker Robin van Persie have disappeared, with both declared fit to play. Mathijsen has recovered from the knee injury that forced him out of the quarter-final just minutes before kick-off and Van Persie can play despite injuring his left elbow against Brazil.

Van Persie has scored just one goal in the five victories leading into the semi-finals in Cape Town, but Sneijder has picked up the scoring slack with four strikes from midfield, including both second-half goals in the comeback 2-1 defeat of five-time champions Brazil.

Van Marwijk said he still has confidence in Van Persie, despite his lean patch.

“Players with so much talent can play well and turn a match at any time,” Van Marwijk said. “I have always had faith in him even when he was not playing so well and I still do.”

Uruguay may be missing Suarez, but it still has one of the world’s top strikers, Diego Forlan, who already has three goals in South Africa.

The Netherlands are on a 24-match unbeaten run and in their first World Cup semi-final since 1998 in France, when they lost on penalties to Brazil.

While both teams’ strikers are making headlines, their success is built on defensive strength; Uruguay have conceded just two goals at the World Cup, while the Dutch have allowed three.

Uruguay are the sole South American survivor in the last four after Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay all crashed out in the quarter-finals. The other semi-final is an all-European affair pitting European champion Spain against form team Germany in Durban.

Uruguay won the World Cup in 1930 and 1950, but last reached a semi-final in 1970 when the team finished in fourth place.

“It’s a very difficult match against the Netherlands,” Tabarez said. “They haven’t lost a game so far, they’ve got great players and a lot of diversity in their play.

“They will start as the favourites and it’s going to be difficult - difficult, but not impossible.” (Jamaica Gleaner)

Arthur Hall, Senior Staff Reporter

Despite less-than-unanimous confidence among Jamaicans that its Government has the will and ability to collar crime on the island, CARICOM leaders yesterday gave a ringing endorsement to Prime Minister Bruce Golding to lead the regional fight against lawlessness during his tenure at the helm of the grouping.

Golding assumed the chairman-ship of the 15-state regional body on Sunday at the official opening of the 31st CARICOM Heads of Government meeting.

Before he sat in the chair, there was already concern in St John’s, Antigua, Port-of-Spain, Trinidad, Bridgetown, Barbados, and all the other regional capitals, that Golding would not have time to address pressing CARICOM issues while leading a massive campaign against crime in Jamaica.

The army and police in his homeland are trying to staunch the haemorrhage of more than 835 lives this year, and Jamaica is a key drug trans-shipment hub in the Americas.

Support for golding

But these fears were rejected yesterday when immediate past chairman of CARICOM, Dominica’s Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit, and Antigua and Barbuda Prime Minister Baldwin Spencer faced the regional media.

“Dominica, and I believe all of us, have no objection to Prime Minister Golding leading CARICOM at this time,” Skerrit said.

“What he is doing in Jamaica is supported in terms of fighting criminals, and all of us, heads of government and citizens of the region, must play our part because crime is a societal problem and a government problem,” added Skerrit.

Blessing in disguise

He argued that Golding’s elevation to the CARICOM chairmanship could be a blessing.

“So at the regional level, he could also push that particular agenda, which is needed in the other islands.”

This was supported by Spencer, who noted that Golding would lead CARICOM for the next six months at a time when the entire region was grappling with a crime problem.

“It is a positive development and we don’t have any concerns. Jamaica will be helped by this process and I am sure that CARICOM will equally benefit from this situation,” said Spencer.

Golding, who is also Jamaica’s minister of defence, has led an islandwide clampdown on crime since late May when the security forces stormed the west Kingston community of Tivoli Gardens in search of alleged drug kingpin Christopher ‘Dudus’ Coke. Seventy-three civilians, gunmen allegedly among them, were killed in clashes. Coke has since been extradited to the United States.

The Jamaican Government imposed a state of emergency in Kingston and St Andrew before extending it to St Catherine in an attempt to flush out gangsters and seize firearms and ammunition.

Several alleged gang leaders have been taken into custody.

The prime minister has also appealed to the international community for assistance in providing the social interventions that will be necessary to fill the vacuum when gangs are dismantled.

“Rooting out criminal gangs that have embedded themselves in communities will leave a huge space which, if not filled by meaningful programmes that empower people, provide training, create jobs, generate new opportunities and offer hope, will shortly thereafter be filled by a new, smarter generation of criminals,” Golding warned at Sunday’s official opening of the heads of government meeting. (Jamaica Gleaner)

arthur.hall@gleanerjm.com

Madai Hernández (left), deputy head of mission of Venezuela, is all ears as Brazilian Ambassador Alexandre Gueiros makes a point. Hernández yesterday laid a wreath at the towering statue of Simón Bolívar during a ceremony at National Heroes Circle, Kingston, for the deceased Venezuelan liberator during the country’s Independence Day. In the background is Marc-Olivier Gendry, French ambassador. Further afield, the

Janet Silvera, Senior Gleaner Writer

CARICOM heads of government will this morning tackle a number of tourism issues in a closed-door session of the regional grouping’s 31st conference in Montego Bay, St James.

On the agenda will be the much-discussed regional marketing programme; the effects of the air passenger duty; and the Haiti Initiative, which aims to developing a tourism master plan similar to Jamaica’s.

With CARICOM leaders not being converts to the proposed gospel of a regional marketing fund, the Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Association (CHTA) has mounted its own advocacy campaign, emphasising the importance of the industry to the economic bloc.

Tagged ‘Tourism is Key’, the aggressive campaign underlining the importance of travel and tourism to local economies was launched yesterday.

It is the first in a series of programmes launched by newly elected president of the CHTA, Josef Forstmayr.

Target group

The CHTA’s campaign will target a broad audience, from Caribbean heads of government to citizens, who often do not realise the direct role tourism plays in their lives.

The first official advertisements for the Tourism is Key campaign - supported by the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC), the Jamaica Hotel and Tourist Association and the CHTA - will appear in the Gleaner and Observer newspapers.

“In order to remain viable in the future, we need to ensure the sustainability of our tourism industry today,” said Forstmayr.

“Paramount to that is a much-needed consensus among our leaders and the general public so that travel and tourism will receive the full support it deserves as the Caribbean’s most vital export,” he added. “Considerable time, effort and funds have been spent to study, review, research, report and make recommendations about various aspects of the Caribbean tourism industry’s policy agenda. Unfortunately, implementation has not been the strongest part of the process.”

WTTC study

The CHTA head said his organisation was currently taking steps to improve this through its strategic alliance with the WTTC, in which all would have access to information that boosts the industry and helps generate jobs.

A 2004 WTTC Caribbean study commissioned by the CHTA says travel and tourism will make an extraordinary contribution to the Caribbean over the next 10 years. However, the impact of the industry is generally not understood by public officials, the industry itself, or the communities where it takes place, the report said.

The WTTC stressed: “Long-term planning, at both the national and regional levels, is a prerequisite for generating investor confidence and organising the successful development of travel and tourism in the Caribbean.”

The study noted: “The Caribbean’s economic and marketing-related travel and tourism research and forecasting are generally inadequate, both in terms of quality and quantity.” (Jamaica Gleaner)

janet.silvera@gleanerjm.com

Rear Admiral Hardley Lewin

Daraine Luton, Senior Staff Reporter

Rear Admiral Hardley Lewin vowed last night that history would vindicate him for controversial declarations last week surrounding the extradition saga of reputed drug baron Christopher ‘Dudus’ Coke, as well as claims by a government minister that Lewin was lying.

While steering clear of naming National Security Minister Dwight Nelson, the former police commissioner and army chief argued that he was au fait with the strictures of the Official Secrets Act, which Nelson has cited in a possible bid to muzzle him on sensitive security matters.

Speaking at a Rotary Club of East Kingston and Port Royal dinner at Morgan’s Harbour Hotel and Marina, Lewin referred to his diagnosis of Tivoli Gardens as a gang haven, which he believes was borne out in the unprecedented military assault launched in May against militiamen loyal to Coke.

“Timing is everything. When I said in October 2005 … that Tivoli Gardens is the mother of all garrisons, I was vilified, torn up, chopped up, everything. It stayed five years before it came to pass. I am a patient man.

“I am not into the issue of storytelling, but we shall see,” he told the audience.

“When you are in public life, you are always under some form of criticism, some justified, some may not be justified. I compartmentalise them. I take them in stride,” the ex-top cop remarked, adding that he would not be embroiled in a war of words.

Mixed messages

Meanwhile, the Independent Jamaican Council for Human Rights (IJCHR) has urged the Government to honour its commitment to repeal The Official Secrets Act of 1911.

The Government has been deemed by the rights lobby to be sending mixed messages despite its tabling of whistle-blower legislation, because of utterances by Nelson that he would use the Official Secrets Act to shut up Lewin.

“You can’t have the Official Secrets Act and the Whistle-blower Act at the same time. They don’t mix,” Nancy Anderson, legal officer at the IJCHR, told The Gleaner yesterday.

Nelson, who is a member of the joint select committee of Parliament considering the Whistle-blower Act, has charged that public statements made by Lewin appear to be in breach of the Official Secrets Act. He has questioned whether Lewin, who left the job of top cop six months ago, could speak openly of any briefings related to national security.

Lewin last week alleged that deposed Tivoli Gardens don Christopher ‘Dudus’ Coke, who the United States has charged with drug smuggling and gunrunning, was “tipped off” about the extradition request within 15 minutes after Lewin, in his capacity as police commissioner, had advised Nelson.

According to Lewin, he had hardly briefed Nelson and arrived at Vale Royal to inform Prime Minister Golding on the pending request from the United States when Coke beat a hasty retreat to his enclave of Tivoli Gardens.

Nelson has distanced himself from the leaking of any information to the criminal underworld.

Hypocritical

Meanwhile, Nelson’s threat to use the Official Secrets Act has been described as hypocritical by the Opposition People’s National Party.

The Opposition pointed to Nelson’s call in 2006 for the Official Secrets Act to be scrapped and questioned his desire to rely on legislation he once said “has no place in a modern, democratic society committed to openness, transparency and accountability”.

Said Peter Bunting, the opposition spokesman on national security: “His statement, as published in The Sunday Gleaner, when juxtaposed with his 2006 comment, is at best an inconsistency, or, at worst, a demonstration that there is no real principle guiding his utterances.”

Politicians have not been short of pronouncements and promises about the Official Secrets Act. The Jamaica Labour Party, when it was in opposition, chided the People’s National Party administration for keeping “colonial-era” laws on the books. (Jamaica Gleaner)

daraine.luton@gleanerjm.com

Strauss-Kahn

Janet Silvera, Senior Gleaner Writer

WESTERN BUREAU:

While admitting it was still early days for Jamaica to start celebrating, managing director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Dominique Strauss-Kahn, said the country was on the right track with its fiscal-management policy.

“There is an optimum level of growth that the country should be aiming for and the first target must be the decreasing of debt and the sustainability of fiscal management,” said Strauss-Kahn as he addressed journalists yesterday, the second day of the 31st Regular Meeting of the Conference of Heads of CARICOM at the Rose Hall Resort and Spa in Montego Bay.

Strauss-Kahn said that talks yesterday with Minister of Finance Audley Shaw confirmed his satisfaction with the progress being made by the Jamaican Government.

He, however, cautioned that there was no way Jamaica’s problems could be solved without the implementation and maintenance of austerity measures, which would inevitably cause belt-tightening among most citizens.

Victims of recession

Underscoring those difficulties, he said Jamaicans were innocent victims of the global economic crisis, which was not over.

“We are still in a dangerous world,” he warned, adding that there were still problems in many parts of the world. “There is no place for complacency.”

The IMF approved a US$1.27-billion standby lending facility for Jamaica in February and paved the way for other multilaterals to pour in additional capital of up to US$1.1 billion.

The austerity measures have forced the Government to restrict public-sector wage hikes and, through the Jamaica Debt Exchange, to realign J$700 billion in debt at lower interest and longer maturity.

Strauss-Kahn insisted that Jamaica could only achieve sustainable economic growth by sticking to the strictures outlined in the IMF programme. Such policies, he said, would lead the country into a strong recovery, including an uptick in job generation.

The IMF boss is using his visit to the CARICOM summit to review the prospects for Caribbean countries that are indebted. Both Dominica and Antigua & Barbuda have sought the assistance of the IMF. Antigua’s agreement is only three weeks old.

Meanwhile, CARICOM chairman and prime minister of Jamaica, Bruce Golding, appealed to multilateral financial institutions, such as the World Bank and the IMF, to have another look at the treatment of Caribbean countries, whose economies are vulnerable on several fronts.

“We are exposed to three of the worst natural disasters - earthquakes, hurricanes and volcanoes,” said Golding.

The CARICOM chairman said he hoped to woo multilateral institutions into creating a window similar to the one fashioned by the IMF for earthquake-devastated Haiti. (Jamaica Gleaner)

janet.silvera@gleanerjm.com

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IT WAS LOVE at first sight for Steve Wozniak of Apple computers fame. He was in Barbados for one week to take part in the 2010 World Segway Polo Cup Championships.
Wozniak, who made his first trip to Barbados and the Caribbean, fell so in love with Barbados that he vowed to make it his honeymoon spot when he ties the knot very soon.
The American computer engineer – who co-founded Apple Computer, Inc. with Steve Jobs and Ronald Wayne – created the Apple I and Apple II computers in the mid-1970s.
He told BARBADOS BUSINESS AUTHORITY he was impressed with Barbados from the moment he landed here.
“It was the most fun I ever had for a sporting event. It was like I was sharing a vacation – this beautiful place, the atmosphere, the people, the weather – it is second to none.
The computer engineer came to Barbados to exact revenge on the Barbadian Segway Polo Team that defeated his team, the Aftershocks, in last year’s final in Cologne, Germany. In fact, Wozniak blamed the beautiful attractions in Barbados for his team’s poor performance, finishing seventh out of nine teams.
“We will be going back to the drawing board to sharpen our skills. For a team that has only been playing Segway polo six months before taking part in a world championships last year to have won was a phenomenal feat.
“To do it a second year in succession is incredible. Your team will be in the Olympics someday. They have taken Segway polo to a new level; they are just an awesome bunch of talented players. (Nation News)

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PAHO/WHO’s Dr Adriana Ivama and Dr Bernadette Theodore-Gandi listening attentively as Minister of Health Donville Inniss.()

THE BARBADOS DRUG SERVICE (BDS) has seen its expenditure triple in the last ten years.
Minister of Health Donville Inniss told regional medicinal practitioners gathered at the PAHO/WHO Office of Caribbean Programme Coordination in Dayrells Road, Christ Church, yesterday that prescription volume in Barbados had moved from 806 950 in 1998 to over 2.1 million in 2009 to 2010.
“Using 1998 as the base year,” Inniss said, “Barbados has seen an increase in expenditure in its public drug service of approximately 325 per cent up to 2009, which does not include the QEH [Queen Elizabeth Hospital] expenditure on drugs.”
And this year the Ministry of Health has been allocated $35 million for the Barbados Drug Service, the minister added.
Inniss was addressing Caribbean pharmacists working on the first draft of the Caribbean Pharmaceutical Policy to be presented at the Regional Ministers of Health Caucus in Washington, DC, come September.
One of the co-ordinators, Louisa Stüwe, said the meeting was broken into a two-day workshop on the policy, followed by a one-day assessment of the WHO/EU ACP project Partnership On Pharmaceutical Policies.
“We are seeking to improve access to safe and quality medicines and advocate their rational use, and to foster greater co-operation between CARICOM states and the Dominican Republic, which would ultimately lead to better health of the population and enhanced productivity,” Stüwe said.
Featured speaker at the opening session of the pharmacists workshop, minister Inniss, who outlined the rising cost of pharmaceuticals in Barbados, gave the Government’s commitment to health care.
He said it was the primary responsibility of every country to ensure access to quality, affordable medicine, particularly in the current economic climate, adding it would require that governments put the necessary administrative and legal framework in place.
“It is recognised worldwide that the regulation of medicines is part of the essential functions of public health. In addition it is important to ensure the safety and efficacy of medicines. This workshop is considered a step in the right direction to achieving this goal,” Inniss stated.
He said there were few sectors that consistently provoked as much debate and controversy as the health sector, regardless of the island or country.
“This is perhaps so due to the importance of accessible and affordable health care to our people, coupled with the competing interest therein and fuelled by spiralling health care costs and decreasing health budgets.
Inniss advised that “as leaders in this sector we must not be daunted but must remain focused on correcting the wrongs, and building a sustainable health care system including a practical pharmaceutical service”. (CA)(Nation News)