Moontown

Brian Wynter, governor of the Bank of Jamaica. - File

Jamaica’s monetary authority is seriously considering a switch to a ‘targeted inflation’ regime in the hopes of driving inflation down to single digits but also offering markets greater predictability in price movements.

“The bank is now evaluating the path to an inflation-targeting mechanism to manage inflationary expectations,” said Brian Wynter, governor of the Bank of Jamaica (BOJ).

“This is where the bank would pre-announce targets for the inflation and then give greater public disclosure on the performance of monetary policy in relation to these targets.”

Inflation is a driver of both foreign exchange and interest rates, and while the debate on inflation targeting has been low key, economic commentators have said it is a likely solution to Jamaica’s often-high inflation outcomes.

The argument has been advanced that a predictable inflation rate at single digits is more of a lasting solution to bringing down the cost of bank credit to producers than appealing to lenders who have to price loans above inflation to reap real returns.

“One way the central bank can help to build a resilient economy is to move towards an inflation-targeted regime, that is, a regime in which the bank responds to changes in terms of its policy instruments, to changes in the probability of vast swings in future inflation, by adjusting the policy rate,” Wynter said Thursday at a forum orgainsed by the Financial Services Commission, where he spoke about building a resilient economy.

Jamaica is predicting inflation this fiscal year at 7.5-9.5 per cent, but last year, the outcome was 13.3 per cent, while in 2008-09, it was 12.4 per cent.

Annual inflation is now running at 14 per cent as at May 2010.

Target is on track

Wynter says this year’s fiscal target is on track and may even come in lower than expected at the close of the year in March 2011.

“Based on recent outturns, we are pretty firmly heading towards the bottom of that range, possibly even below,” said Wynter.

While the governor noted that the monetary policy of the bank would continue to focus on achieving and maintaining single-digit inflation over the medium term, and that the achievement of an inflation-targeting regime in Jamaica would be a very significant evolution in the management of the country’s inflation, he was cautious in his outlook.

“The prospect of successfully moving Jamaica towards an inflation- target regime is far from certain, as there continues to exist significant threat to the achievement of a fiscally responsible environment,” he said.

He identified one threat as “demand for special exemption to benefit one sector or another”, adding that he was not questioning the validity of the needs, but that yielding to the requests did have fiscal consequences.

The finance ministry approves tax waivers amounting to more than J$1 billion per month, on average, but is in the process of reforming that system.

The Jamaica Debt Exchange was a positive policy initiative, Wynter said, but must be followed by comprehensive fiscal-consolidation efforts and strengthening of the financial sector to drive and sustain economic recovery.(Jamaica Gleaner)

sabrina.gordon@gleanerjm.com

Tyrone Reid, Sunday Gleaner Reporter

Thousands of young Jamaican girls are lighting up as they become what the World Health Organisation (WHO) describes as “victims of an enticing tobacco advertising campaign”.

There are also fears that thousands more young girls could become hooked on cigarettes unless measures are implemented to counter the campaign by the tobacco industry.

The WHO and the local National Council on Drug Abuse (NCDA) have both warned of the dangers facing young girls in developing countries, such as Jamaica, and have called for immediate action.

Dr Ellen Campbell Grizzle, director of information and research at the NCDA, believes there is an urgent need for the country to coalesce around an anti-tobacco campaign designed to combat the current efforts of the tobacco industry to recruit new users in developing countries.

“This is a market where girls are being seduced into smoking,” she said.

Campbell Grizzle told The Sunday Gleaner that a great deal of the evidence on which the WHO relies comes directly from the tobacco industry and includes minutes of high-level meetings that have been leaked.

There is a method to the marketing mechanism, as Campbell Grizzle explained.

She said females have traditionally been a deterrent to males engaging in smoking.

Now, it appears the tobacco manufactures are getting more girls to smoke, which they hope will eventually get more boys hooked on the habit.

In the NCDA’s latest quarterly publication issued last Monday, it was noted that the WHO pointed to evidence that tobacco advertising was increasingly targeting girls.

“Jamaica is in the crosshairs of that international marketing campaign (because it is) a poor, developing country with a lot of women,” Campbell Grizzle told The Sunday Gleaner.

“Stealthily, Jamaica women are being persuaded to join the ranks of tobacco-smoking converts. We must work together to correct this negative trend,” said the council’s quarterly update.

More teen girls smoking

The update also revealed that the favourability ratings of smoking among Jamaican female adolescents had increased, mirroring the trend noted for males.

“An increasing number of both males and females reported that ‘boys and girls who smoke have more friends and are more attractive’. The findings show that Jamaican women are less likely to be a restraining factor over tobacco use at this time,” read another section of the NCDA publication.

The spike in the number of young women taking a puff has narrowed the gap between male and female smokers.

As the risk factors increase, Michael Tucker, executive director of the NCDA, believes the nation’s young women need to be targeted in the country’s anti-tobacco programmes.

A global youth tobacco survey conducted in 2006 among Jamaican teenagers classified 18 per cent of females as current smokers of tobacco products.

A similar survey five years earlier had put the female smokers at 14 per cent.

“This rise of four per cent over 2001 is of major concern,” said Campbell Grizzle.

The NCDA also pointed out that an analysis of the clients seen in its treatment and rehabilitation centres indicated that tobacco was the onset drug for 24 per cent of all clients who sought treatment.

Tucker added that 80 per cent of lung cancer in women was linked to smoking.

In the meantime, Chris Brown, Carreras’ corporate and regulatory manager, said that Carreras did not target underage girls with the marketing of the smokes it distributes in Jamaica.

“We do not market and distribute our products to minors. Our marketing and distribution of cigarettes is also not gender specific. We are a responsible tobacco company and we market and distribute our products to adults who have taken the decision to smoke,” he said.(Jamaica Gleaner)

tyrone.reid@gleanerjm.com

The handover: Alicia, 16, gives the box of cigarettes, which was unlawfully sold to her at Michael’s Service Centre on East Street in Kingston, to Sunday Gleaner Reporter Tyrone Reid, who is preparing to quiz the person in charge about the illegal sale to the minor.

Many cigarette vendors do not heed this warning.

Sixteen-year-old Alicia purchasing a box of cigarettes with ease at Michael’s Service Centre on East Street in the capital city of Kingston.

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Tyrone Reid, Sunday Gleaner Reporter

THE LAW prohibiting the sale of cigarettes to minors is being ignored by most supermarkets, stores, corner shops and street-side vendors across the island.

Senior officials of the National Council on Drug Abuse have repeatedly argued that Jamaican children have too easy access to cigarettes, and recent checks have revealed that this claim is true.

A probe conducted by The Sunday Gleaner showed that Jamaican children have an 80 per cent chance of purchasing cigarettes without being asked a single question.

In the odd case where they are asked their age, a simple lie is good enough, as store owners are reluctant to ask for identification before selling the cigarettes.

When a Sunday Gleaner team of minors - who participated with the consent of their parents - took to the streets, only one of five retailers asked their age.

The other stores sold the cigarettes to the high-school students without a question.

Ironically, inscribed on each box of cigarettes purchased during the undercover assignment was the warning ‘Not for sale to minors’.

Our team’s first stop was at Michael’s Service Centre on East Street in downtown Kingston where 16-year-old Alicia, who was not in her school uniform, ordered a 20-pack of Matterhorn.

Without a question being asked, the cash machine was singing its familiar ‘chi-ching’ song.

When the store supervisor and the attendant were confronted about selling cigarettes to a minor, they argued that Alicia looked older than 16.

The store had a sign that said cigarette purchases can only be made by persons 18 and over. However, it was not the practice of the operators to ask for identification.

The next stop was at a corner shop in Orange Villa on Orange Street, also in downtown Kingston.

No questions asked

Again, no questions were asked as 15-year-old Jamespurchased three sticks of Craven A.

When confronted, the owner of the shop said he thought James was buying the cigarettes for a family member. Interestingly, the shopkeeper was spot on when asked to guess James’ age. He vowed never to be caught off guard again.

The probe continued at a makeshift shop on Bender’s Lane, off East Queen Street in central Kingston.

Like a scratched record, the same scenario repeated itself. The male shopkeeper just reached for a cigarette and sold it to the 16-year-old high-school student without asking any questions.

When our team told him that he had breached the law, the shopkeeper said he thought she was buying it for a relative.

The first and only refusal was at the Total Bonjour service station in Mona, St Andrew. Signs screaming that cigarettes “are not sold to persons under 18 years of age” were everywhere, from the entrance to the counter.

James walked up and ordered a pack of cigarettes. The attendant asked him his age and when he said 16, the attendant promptly told him the purchase could not be made.

It was Alicia’s turn to take a crack at Bonjour’s alert attendants. She walked up and made her order. They asked the 16-year-old her age and she pointed to the 18 on the sign on the counter.

Unfortunately, the cigarette was going to be sold without her being asked to prove her non-verbal claim, but she told the attendant that she had changed her mind.

High praises

Bonjour’s managing director was pleased with the performance of her staff and she had reason to be. She also heaped praises on Carreras, distributors of the brands of cigarettes sold in her store, for putting up the signs that serve as a reminder.

The manager said although businesses are operated to make a profit, in her operation the dollar is not almighty.

“Business is not all about profit. It’s about goodwill and abiding by the law,” she said.

Chris Brown, Carreras’ corporate and regulatory manager, later told The Sunday Gleaner that if a store attendant is in doubt about a person’s age, the cigarettes should not be sold, or an ID shoud be requested as proof of age. If the identification card is not forthcoming, then the cigarettes should not be sold.

Our final stop was Shoppers Fair in Liguanea, St Andrew. A box of Dunhill with 20 sticks was sold to Alicia without any reservation.

At first, the store manger defended the sale by stating that her team could not tell by looking that a person was not 18 years old.

“We are going to defend it,” she said. After going back and forth about the illegality of such sales and the duty of stores to uphold the law, the manager finally caved. “You have to ask for ID because you don’t know the ages of persons,” she admitted.(Jamaica Gleaner)

- Names changed to protect identity.

- tyrone.reid@gleanerjm.com

Vybz Kartel

Philip Hamilton, Gleaner Writer

Lawyers representing dancehall star Vybz Kartel are heading to court to seek compensation from the State for his detention.

Kartel, whose correct name is Adijah Palmer, spent a little more than two weeks in custody after he was detained under the state of emergency.

But attorney-at-law, Valerie Neita-Robertson, believes the State overstepped its bounds and she wants compensation for the artiste, who was finally released by the police about 7:30 p.m. last Friday.

According to Neita-Robertson, National Security Minister Dwight Nelson had signed an order on Tuesday, July 13, authorising the release of Kartel.

She told The Sunday Gleaner that her client’s prolonged detention resulted in him losing several contracts, including a show he was booked to perform in in Nassau, Bahamas, yesterday.

No respect

“They do not respect or regard authority. They have no respect for anybody, and this has to stop,” said Neita-Robertson.

“From what was told to me, utterances were made to certain media personnel by police officers that they were not releasing him until today (Saturday). I would draw a conclusion from that they didn’t want him to meet this engagement,” Neita-Robertson said

She alleged that the detention order which her client was served did not state a reason as to why he was being detained.

The attorney said while the police’s interview with Kartel was very cordial, there was no specific offence which the police sought to question him about.

“When an order is given under the law, then the law must have its course. Police cannot just decide that they are not doing what they are supposed to do and we sit back and accept it,” an obviously upset Neita-Robertson told The Sunday Gleaner.

“We want to cooperate and want crime to go down, but we will not put up with slackness.”

Neita-Robertson charged that Kartel was not the only person who had been kept in police custody after the national security minister signed their release order.

She said several other persons, including women, were being illegally held by the police despite the order for their release.

The attorney said she had also been informed by the national security minister that one of her clients was to be released and placed under house arrest on the recommendation of the Emergency Powers Review Tribunal.

“That was days ago, and it has not been carried out,” said Neita-Robertson.

As one of dancehall’s hottest acts around now, particularly with his hit Clarkes enjoying heavy rotation, Kartel demands, and is guaranteed, top dollar for each show.

Last week, his publicist, Claude Mills, said due to his incarceration, two shows in the Caribbean were postponed. The shows were scheduled to be held in The Bahamas and Trinidad on July 17 and 24, respectively.

He also missed Tidal Wave, which was held at Waves Beach in Portmore, St Catherine, one week ago, leaving his bank book millions of dollars lighter. (Jamaica Gleaner)

- philip.hamilton@gleanerjm.com.

Alvin Murray (left), general manager of the Christiana Potato Growers Co-op Association and Donald Robinson, RADA Manchester manager demonstrate the operation of a greenhouse following a Gleaner Editors’ Forum at the association’s offices in Christiana, Manchester, on Friday.- Photos by Norman Grindley/Chief Photographer

Sweet potato plants in the greenhouse at the Christiana Potato Growers Co-op Association in Christiana, Manchester.

Finance Minister Audley Shaw, member of parliament for North East Manchester, addressing a Gleaner Editors’ Forum at the offices of the Christiana Potato Growers Co-op Association.

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Christopher Serju, Gleaner Writer

IN A move to boost agricultural production, Finance Minister Audley Shaw has announced the Government’s willingness to grant waivers to persons who want to set up greenhouses.

“All the greenhouse material that’s wanted in Jamaica, I’ll sign waivers for it,” Shaw told a Gleaner Editors’ Forum at the offices of the Christiana Potato Growers Co-operative Association in Christiana, Manchester, on Friday.

“I signed several last week. (I will sign waivers for) any greenhouse material needed to be imported, duty free,” Shaw declared.

The Jamaica Greenhouse Growers Association (JGGA) has applauded the Government’s decision to reactivate the waiver system that will allow for duty-free importation of construction material for greenhouses.

“The entire greenhouse industry and by extension, the agriculture fraternity, welcomes the decision to reopen the window for these waivers,” Burrell Scarlett, technical team leader of the JGGA, told The Sunday Gleaner yesterday.

Shaw’s announcement of the availability of waivers on greenhouse products comes in the wake of a recent government decision to suspend the number of wai-vers it grants, pending a review of the system.

The decision was made in light of fraud uncovered in the finance ministry relating to the issuance of waivers.

For many years, government policy has allowed for the duty-free importation of material for approved agricultural projects.

Easy access

To access the waiver, applications are to be submitted to the local Rural Agricultural Development Authority (RADA) which, after making an assessment of the project, sends the document to the Ministry of Agricul-ture for forwarding to the Ministry of Finance for final approval and issuance of the waiver.

Scarlett noted that even though this policy had been in place for some time, “many farmers probably still don’t know about it”.

He said the JGGA had not been affected by the suspension since it had no waivers pending, but the issue had been a matter of concern.

The minister’s announcement was timely news for the Christiana Potato Growers Co-operative Association, which is soon to receive funding to significantly boost its greenhouse operations in Devon, Manchester, where it operates eight greenhouses ranging from 3,000 to 7,500 square feet in size.

“It is the biggest assistance ever to come through the co-operative: US$100,000 for building more greenhouses to grow plants, US$95,000 to upgrade the lab, and US$40,000 to put in alternative energy sources,” Alvin Murray, general manager of the co-operative, told The Sunday Gleaner. The money is to be provided by Common Funds for Commodity, which will do an audit of the co-operatives as a prerequisite for releasing the funds.

Well-needed boost

For Murray, this capital injection will provide a well-needed boost for the 51-year-old organisation, which is moving to not only keep abreast of the times, but to become a pacesetter in agriculture.

“This co-op was established in 1959, March 23 to be exact, and the people who formed it, most of them are dead. Their children would have come along and they would not be interested in agriculture, so what we are really having now is a serious, serious renewal. So our motto now is ‘Community Renaissance Through Diversification and Technology’, Murray disclosed.

Among its many successes is the provision, on a pilot scale, of seed potatoes; the development of a modified aeroponic system (improvement on hydroponics) to facilitate the seed potato project; the training of young people in appropriate technology; and the development of a variety of products to develop a number of cottage industries. These include corn wine, Irish potato jam, sweet potato wine, Seville orange marmalade, a breadfruit and sweet potato flour mix, Irish potato flour mix, sweet potato pancake mix, breadfruit flour and dasheen flour.

The co-operative owes its ongoing success largely to private-sector support and the dedication of its members and other supporters. “We have gotten a lot of assistance. Not as much from the Ministry of Agriculture, a lot from the private sector development programme and the United States Agency for International Development. Those were the sort of major ones,” Murray told The Sunday Gleaner. (Jamaica Gleaner)

By Julien Neaves

LABOUR Minister Errol McLeod says in about two weeks, the country should know by what amount the minimum wage would be increased.

He said a decision has been made to raise it, but the “extent to which it is being raised is still being looked at”. The announcement will certainly be made after the Local Government election on July 26, and possibly at the end of this month, he said.

The increase in the minimum wage was one of the promises made by the People’s Partnership in the lead-up to the May 24 general election. The minimum wage is currently $9.

McLeod, speaking with the media on Thursday, following the University of Trinidad and Tobago’s (UTT) 2010 Business Plan Competition and Award ceremony at the UTT’s O’Meara campus, Arima, also responded to calls for him to intervene in the ongoing row in the Public Services Association (PSA). He said, however, it is senior leaders of other unions who should intervene.

“I don’t think it is for the Minister of Labour to intervene in the domestic squabbles of any of our unions, as pained as I feel about what is going on.”

McLeod, a former Oilfields and Workers Trade Union (OWTU) president general, said he is prepared to advise and may get involved if “there is a popular request by both or all of the contending parties to the issue”.

Vincent Cabrera, president of the Banking, Insurance and General Workers Union (BIGWU), told the Express union leaders have attempted in the past to intervene in the matter, and they continue to do so.

However, he said for an intervention to succeed, both sides must be willing to enter into some kind of mediation, “and I’m not sure that exists at this point”.

Cabrera said the issue came up on Thursday at an “all-union-movement” meeting, a regular meeting of 13 unions.

The rift in the PSA began in April when general secretary Oral Saunders was fired by PSA president Watson Duke, following a text message Saunders sent to a colleague, stating his intention to resign due to growing concerns over union spending, including Duke’s use of the union’s credit card.

Some general council members attempted to hold a special meeting on the issue but were locked out by Duke. The aggrieved members unsuccessfully called for Duke’s resignation.

In early May, the group began a sit-out at the union’s Abercromby Street, Port of Spain, headquarters to “shame” Duke into leaving the union’s property. At one of these protests, council member Alana Blackman-Maloney had to seek medical treatment after a scuffle between rival supporters. A police investigation is continuing into the incident.

Former PSA president Jennifer Baptiste-Primus, who wrote Duke advising him to abide by the general council’s decisions, recently told the Express McLeod should use his “moral suasion” to end the rift between Duke and the general council. (Trinidad Express)

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  steel pan music and the vivacious Mother Sally were too irresistible a combination for this tourist at yesterday’s Barbados Chamber of Commerce & Industry (BCCI) and Barbados Tourism Investment (BTI) sponsored Bridgetown Alive: Pantabulous.

This tourist was among scores, who braved drenching showers and enjoyed the National Cultural Foundation (NCF) musical and dancing presentation which also included stiltsmen.

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By: Stacey Russell

Attracting MORE visitors from Britain is one of a number of suggestions made to help haul Barbados out of the recession.

Others are pushing the use of alternative energy; positioning manufacturing and small and medium enterprises (SMEs) as solid drivers of the economy; and encouraging commercial banks to adopt lending rates and policies that favour them.

The recommendations stood out from sectoral leaders in separate interviews with the SUNDAY SUN on Friday on actions that ought to be taken by Government, the private sector and the labour movement

In the absence of a 2010 Budget from Government, Barbados Hotel & Tourism Association (BHTA) president Colin Jordan, trade unionist Robert “Bobby” Morris, Barbados Chamber of Commerce & Industry (BCCI) president Andy Armstrong, Barbados Manufacturers’ Association (BMA) president Ian Pickup, Barbados Small Business Association (SBA) chief executive officer Lynette Holder and Barbados Employers’ Confederation (BEC) executive director Tony Walcott hoped that their propositions would be officially adopted.

Jordan was convinced that not only would tourism continue to be the main breadwinner of the local economy, but spend from British tourists would remain at the core of tourism earnings.

Hence, he was adamant that any attempts to diversify the tourism product must not be to the detriment of long stay arrivals from Britain.

“We need to put some more resources into advertising. We also have to develop packages and promote those packages in the market to entice people to travel.

“We know British people to be resilient in the face of hardship and even though their economy is going through tough times, we believe that the market share out of the UK can be held,” Jordan said.

Central Bank of Barbados Governor Dr DeLisle Worrell in his review of the performance of the economy over the first six months of 2010 last week said visitor arrivals, driven by increases from the United States and Canada, were up, but not enough to grow foreign exchange reserves.

The new BHTA president admitted that Government was enduring a fiscal struggle, but argued resources could be found.

“Our point is that diversification should not come at the expense of what is still our most important market. Brazil is probably the one that has the most potential at this point, and as an association we have done things to facilitate dealing with Brazilian guests. But we cannot take out critical resources from going after the UK market to go after other markets, not in the very short term,” Jordan stressed.

He felt that regional governments should find it compelling to address exorbitant travel taxes at their own ports and enormous airfares with regional air carriers, in order to stimulate Caribbean arrivals, a lack of which were also vexing the tourism sector.

Slump in arrivals

Worrell also noted that arrivals from CARICOM countries, except Trinidad and Tobago, had slumped below that of the first half of 2009.

“At the end of this month, some of our members along with some persons from the BTA [Barbados Tourism Authority] will be going to Antigua on a sales trip. We do Jamaica every year, Trinidad every year, Saint Lucia and Grenada as well. They [CARICOM travellers] are especially important for hotels in the three-two star segment of our membership,” Jordan pointed out.

BCCI president Armstrong said the largest jump in foreign payments owing to foreign debt service, and a rise in the value of imported oil and other intermediate inputs, reported by Worrell, was an indication that “the Chamber of Commerce has been very correct in our move to try and push Barbados towards a more green economy to reduce our dependence on oil and to enhance our energy security by adopting renewable energy”.

Meanwhile, BMA’s Ian Pickup said that despite a 7.7 decline in manufacturing for the first half of 2010, the sector had performed well compared to declines in other sectors.

“It is essential that we move towards not relying on one sector or two to keep the economy going. We are seeing now the consequences of doing that, which is a real downturn in tourism, in international business and these are badly affecting our foreign exchange and total demand in the country.

“So it is important that we maintain a manufacturing sector and improve the  manufacturing sector. It is very important that Barbadians and Barbadian companies turn to locally produced goods because that way they not only save foreign exchange, but keep money circulating in the local economy and keep jobs going,” he said.

However, he declared that liquidity in the banking sector was of little benefit to manufacturers “if the banks are not prepared to lend it”.

“We certainly don’t see any evidence that banks are likely to change their risk assessment when lending to the manufacturing sector. As such liquidity only means that they are sitting on large amounts of money; but they are not lending it,” Pickup emphasised.

Holder at the SBA supported Pickup on the philosophy of banks being out of favour with the needs of manufacturing as well as SMEs.

Moral suasion

“I would have liked to see the Central Bank of Barbados use moral suasion to encourage our commercial banks to be a lot more enabling as it relates to the SME sector in Barbados . . . .

“What are we doing to assist our SME sector to access the necessary capital that would allow them at this point in time to invest in the retooling and restructuring of their firms to be able to take advantage of the market post recession?” she asked.

The Central Bank Governor spoke of liquidity at banks that featured cash reserves equivalent to 7.5 per cent of deposits, 2.5 percentage points above that stipulated by the Central Bank, and Holder asked: “What are we doing with that excess liquidity?

“I still think that the interest rates for loans and financing for small business are too high and do not lend to the kind of enabling environment that we are talking about.”

BEC’s head Walcott, who focused on employment, said the ability of employers “to hold strain for longer, undetermined periods, does not bode well for a containment of the unemployment statistics”, which stood at 10.6 per cent at the end of March this year, an increase of 0.5 per cent over the prior period.

He said that of greater concern to many employers were “emerging trends” such as declining levels of productivity in an environment of rising wage demands, deteriorating work ethics and absenteeism.

“In the area of wage demands and productivity, the BEC supports the concept that any increases in compensation must be linked to increases in output,” Walcott said.

Ultimately, trade unionist Morris made a commitment that unions would help companies to rally the economic crisis by trying not to “escalate” labour costs “in an environment where revenue increases might be fairly difficult for the companies”.

Partnership

“I still feel that the reason why unemployment is not even worse now – at one time people thought it would have been at 15 per cent – is because of the partnership arrangement that the union has adopted with the companies and I think that has to continue,” Morris said.

He added that Barbados’ real test at this time was to reduce the cost of doing business, but not by laying off people.

“It is getting from the people that you have higher productivity levels, which would then reduce the unit cost of whatever good or service you’re producing,” the trade unionist with the Barbados Workers’ Union said. (Nation News)

• staceyrussell@nationnews.com

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Party Monarch finalists making the draw. ()

By: DAVANDRA BABB

Two newcomers will compete against reigning monarch TC next Sunday in the Sweet Soca competition at the Soca Royale, Bushy Park, St Philip.

Kirk Browne, who is singing third with Dat Is All I Want, said yesterday he felt very good to be among the finalists.

“I feel very accomplished, especially being here with the likes of who are actually in the finals.

“I came up watching Blood, Mikey and Khiomal. I will be looking forward to doing my best,” he told the SUNDAY SUN.

Brett Linton, another newcomer, will be performing sixth in the finals.

He described his feeling as “euphoric” after hearing that he made it into the final 8.

Khiomal, who will be performing fourth, said he felt honoured that his song Wine On You made it to the finals “because it was the people who made the choice” for the Sweet Soca competition.

“It feels pretty good. I am very thankful that people voted for me to get to the finals, and I am happy that I was able to do a good enough job on judging night for the Party Monarch to make the finals.

The order of appearance for the 98.1 The One McEnearny Quality Inc, in association with LIME Sweet Soca Finals are as follows: Mr Dale: Drop It, Li’l Rick: What A Feeling, Kirk Browne: Dat Is All I Want, Khiomal: Wine On You, Mickey: My Party, Brett Linton: Can’t Stop This Party, TC: Down De Road, Blood: Boom Bam. The reserve is Statement with Sun Come Up.

In the Party Monarch finals, the order is: Khiomal, Mikey, Popsicle, Blood, Queen T, Soca Kartel, Li’l Rick, Edwin Yearwood and Ras Iley. The reserve is Serenador.

The order of appearance for the Banks/Lime Pic-O-De-Crop Semi-finals will be: Blood, Cystal Cummins Beckles, Colin Spencer, Kid Site, Classic, Dre, TC, John King, Sheldon Hope, Adrian Clarke, Ishaka McNeil, Jah Stone, Sir Ruel, Shaki-K, Malika, Gabby, Tassa and Sammi Jane.

The draws were made yesterday at the National Cultural Foundation. (Nation News)

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THE ‘shaggy bears’ excited fans with their athletic moves in Broad Street yesterday.()

THE RHYTHMIC steel pan beat, the gyrations of Mother Sally and the imposing stiltmen brought Bridgetown Alive yesterday afternoon.

The occasion was the Barbados Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BCCI) and Barbados Tourism Investment (BTI)-sponsored Bridgetown Alive: Pantabulous and it was a hit, judging by the audience response throughout the capital.

LH Pan Groove Steel Orchestra along with the Iron Massive and Ife Moko Jumbies pleasantly distracted dozens of shoppers who defied steady rain to take in the National Cultural Foundation’s (NCF) event, which started and finished at Jubilee Gardens.

Keisha Branch, one of the assistant festival event planners with the NCF, described the parade of floating culture as a success.

“The steel pan and tuk band music was well received by both Barbadians and tourists. The rains did not dampen their spirit,” she said.

The steel band ensemble made designated stops at Cave Shepherd, Norman Centre, Satjay Centre, Royal Shop and Abed’s, with the fans’ interest also being piqued by the six-member Casablanca steel band.

At the forefront of the musical march was a group of female dancers while teenage boys, Keemo Bryan and Edward George, showcased their skill on unicycles (one-wheel frames). Bryan, 14, and George, 16, both of whom hail from Rock Gap, New Orleans, weaved their way delightfully through the large crowds in Broad and Swan Streets. (MK) (Nation News)