caribbean graphic

VOL. 6, NO. 13 • June 27, 2012 618 Strouds Lane, Pickering, ON L1V 4S9 • Tel: 905.831-4402 • Fax: 416.292.2943 • Email: [email protected]

London Olympics To Feature Caribbean Talent

How About A Top Up Mr. President?

Arturo Tappin

Guyana’s President Donald Ramotar, stopped by Digicel’s booth during his walkabout at the June 23 Annual Guyana Festival. This year’s Festival, which was staged at a new venue on the grounds of the Markham Civic Centre, attracted thousands of attendees and scores of sponsor com-panies including Western Union, Norman Sue’s Bakery and Caribbean Airlines.

The Guyanese President had an enjoyable time during his walkabout, stopping at virtually every booth to pose for photos and chat with the staffers. Digicel’s event staffer Natalie Campbell was one of the many who attracted the President’s atten-tion.

Digicel’s participation in this year’s Guyana In-dependence Festival, its first time ever, was geared towards promoting the Canadian availability of its Top Up Service to Guyana. The service allows Guyanese residents in Canada to purchase credits for the cell phones of their loved ones back home.

Digicel’s visibly branded booth proved to be one of the most popular of those on display at the June 23 Festival. Thousands of attendees visited the Digicel booth to avail themselves of the com-pany’s attractive giveaways which included cell phone holders, flashlight key chains, backpacks and t-shirts. Many hundreds also made use of the opportunity to purchase Digicel cards to Top Up the cell phones of their loved ones in Guyana. The

cards were available at the Festival in denomina-tions of $6, $20 and $25.

Digicel’s Top Up service from Canada to Guy-ana, Jamaica, Haiti and other Caribbean countries

is also now available at hundreds of Caribbean-owned community stores across the GTA, includ-ing Brampton’s ASA Meats, Charlie’s West Indian and Nicey’s.

Regional talent will come under the spotlight during the London 2012 Olympics as the Caribbe-an Export Development Agency (Caribbean Export) hosts Carib-bean Soul Fusion on August 9 at Grosvenor House in London. Two headline acts and six emerging ar-tistes will be featured at the event, which forms part of the Agency’s London Engage initiative and will highlight a wide range of Carib-bean music genres: reggae, soca, zouk and kompa, Caribbean jazz, folk and Afro-Haitian.

The concert’s headline acts are reggae singer/songwriter Christo-pher Martin (Jamaica) and jazz/reggae saxophonist Arturo Tap-pin (Barbados). The six emerging

artistes scheduled to take the stage are: Michele Henderson (Dominica), Belo (Haiti), Hezron

Clarke (Jamaica), Claudia Ed-ward (St Lucia), Mr. Dale (Bar-bados) and Xiomara Fortuna (Dominican Republic).

“One of the best identifiers of the Caribbean Brand and its uniqueness is our music. Its ability to have global appeal is unquestionable. What we are seeking to do with Caribbean Soul Fusion is to showcase that authentic Caribbean culture and widen the market appeal for our regional music,” said Pamela Coke Hamilton, Executive Di-rector, Caribbean Export.

“As such, the artistes that

will be performing will represent the diverse na-ture of musical genres across the Caribbean. Not only will the entertainment industry benefit from the increased demand for the products on offer, but also performers will have the opportunity to display the export potential of their craft and its appeal to an international audience,” she added.

Caribbean Soul Fusion will also serve as the closing reception for the 2nd CARIFORUM-EU Business Forum, which is scheduled from August 8 to 9. The CARIFORUM-EU Business Forum is supported under the European Union’s (EU) 10th European Development Fund (EDF) Regional Private Sector Development Programme (RPS-DP), and in collaboration with CARIFORUM Directorate, the CARICOM Secretariat, and Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Internationale Zusam-menarbeit (GIZ).

June 27, 2012CARIBBEAN GRAPHICPAGE 2

Cricketers Honored At Mercy Hospital Fundraising GalaCommunity

Over two hundred guests attended the June 22 “Evening With Guyana’s Cricketing Heroes Gala,” that was held at the Markham Hilton Suites Hotel. Unfortunately only two of the five Guyanese and West Indian cricket-ers that were being honored managed to actually make it to the Gala. Basil Butcher and Lance Gibbs were present, but the other award recipients, Stephen Camacho, Clive Lloyd and Joe Solo-man were all unable to attend. A sixth award was presented posthumously to Roy Fredericks, the former Guyanese and West Indies opening batsman.

Guyana’s President Donald Ramotar took time from his hectic Canadian tour schedule to attend the Gala and present the Awards to Butcher and Gibbs. The awards were presented as tokens of ap-preciation for the cricketer’s respective outstanding performances, while rep-resenting Guyana and the West Indies.

Highlights of the honored cricketer’s respective careers were presented by Ian McDonald (Clive Lloyd), Tony McWatt (Stephen Camacho and Lance Gibbs), Frank Bettencourt, (Roy Fred-ericks) and Kenty Khan (Joe Solo-man). Longstanding Guyanese Dra-matist and storyteller Ken Corsbie had the attendees in constant stitches, with humorous recollections of his boyhood daysgrowing up in Guyana. Canadian-

based Guyanese-born calypsonian The Crooner also entertained the audience with renditions of his self written ca-lypsos. Music for dancing was provid-ed by the Bing Serrao led Ramblers.

Proceeds from the $125 plate Gala were in aid of the Guyana Mercy Hos-pital Rebuilding Fund. The hospital was severely damaged by fire in 2010.

Caribbean Graphic’s Advertisng Manager Lyn Balram is “roseended” by cricketing Award recipients Basil Butcher and Lance Gibbs.

Letter from Clive Lloyd

June 27, 2012 CARIBBEAN GRAPHIC PAGE 3

Jerry Ramlochan Memorial Gold Tournament Ca

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On Saturday June 16, 2012 the Ramlo-chan family in conjunction with the OB Limers Soccer Club held the Third Annual Jerry Ramlochan Memorial Golf Tourna-ment. The event was a resounding success with fantastic weather and well over 100 guests who attended the dinner, which fol-lowed golf.

The event was held at the Royal Ontario Golf Course. Owner Mr. Iggy Kanneff was present and full of praise for the event’s Caribbean flavour. The event’s attendees included attractive Xpats models in their

finest Carnival costumes. The day saw pa-trons drinking Carib beer and wining rum sponsored by Angostura. Other sponsors of the event included Bianca Aziz - Scotia-bank, the Naparima Alumni Association of Toronto, International Telephone Products, Oumarally, Baboolal Legal as well as Ca-ribbean Graphic. Also in attendance was a representative of the Big Brothers and Sisters of Peel, the Charity recipient of the event’s part proceeds.

Great fun was had by all.

Melanie:Lovely Melanie is a talented individual who is very much involved in the Carib-

bean community. She has been involved in making mas and modeling costumes for Caribana since she was 14. This year marks her debut as a Section Leader with Blues Carnival Fusion.


Bollywood: Lights, Camera, Action!B o l l y w o o d :

Lights, Camera, Action! That is this year’s theme for the Toronto Revel-lers; a band in the Scotiabank Toronto Caribbean Carnival led by Toronto Raptors’ Jamaal Ma-gloire.

Every year the Toronto Revellers depict a different theme and the in-spiration behind this particular one came from a friend of Jamaal Ma-gloire’s during a discussion over dinner. “He said Jamaal, why don’t you play Bollywood? Once he said that, it stuck in my head and I said ‘you know what, that’s a great theme and I want to do that’ hence the rea-son why we’re here now. ” said Ma-gloire.

Historically speaking, the Carib-bean Carnival focuses on the unique-ness of Caribbean culture; however, having a theme of Bollywood allows the festival to highlight other cul-tures and showcase the diversity of the Toronto community. “I wanted to embrace a different culture other than our own. Too often than not, the Toronto Caribbean Carnival is only about West Indian/Caribbean people and I wanted to embrace the Indian culture and let them know that we can embrace other cultures other than our own. I wanted a chance to do something different and embrace something that we’re not normally

used to and encour-age other people to embrace it as well. I want everybody to participate. It doesn’t matter what national-ity or where you’re from. Embrace the

Toronto Caribbean Carnival and em-brace what the Toronto Revellers are trying to do and enjoy an experience of a lifetime.” explained Magloire.

The Toronto Revellers is a cultural non-profit organization that aims to contribute to the multicultural land-scape of Canada by promoting, cel-ebrating and exploring the rich cul-tural diversities and traditions of the Caribbean. From the time when they entered the Carabana (now known as Scotiabank Toronto Caribbean Carnival) competition in 2005, the Toronto Revellers have become the premiere masquerade band. For two consecutive years, 2007 and 2008, they were awarded the “Band of the Year” titles. Presently, their band in-volvement has surpassed 2000 par-ticipants.

Toronto carnival historian and one of the original founders of Caribana, Tony Ishmael has been supporting the Revellers for years now. Based on the quality of the costumes, the dedication and professionalism of all the Revellers, tapping into his wealth of experience has definitely paid off. Look out for Jamaal Magloire and the Revellers at Carnival time!

Christine

Reid

Jamaal Magloire


URGENT NEED TO RESTORE CREDITIBILITY TO CARICOMCaribbean Perspective

Sandra Ann

Baptiste

Caribbean Community Heads of Govern-ment at their annual summit in St. Lucia early next month need to move forward with rec-ommendations to address the “ weakened” nerve centre of the integration movement, the CARICOM Secretariat, put firm governance arrangements in place and begin implementing a five-year year development plan if they are to restore some credibility to CARICOM.

Outgoing CARICOM Chairman, Surina-me’s President Desi Bouterse, was optimistic at the start of his tenure as Chairman that 2012 would be a year of change. He will hopefully persuade his colleagues to make this a reality by tak-ing urgent action on a number of fronts instead of the usual slow motion approach.

Caribbean leaders also need to show in a tangible way that steps are being taken to move ahead with the CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME) and that obstacles to freedom of movement within the region are removed by all fifteen member states once and for all.

For this year, there have been many storm clouds with insuf-ficient attention being paid to strategies to cushion the effects of the global financial crisis on the region including the current debt crisis in the Eurozone and social issues such as visible measures to stem the continuing brazen criminal activities in some Member States.

Over the past few months, the ill-advised and unfortunate call by the Opposition Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) for Jamaica to pull out of CARICOM and the trade dispute between Trinidad and To-bago and its sister CARICOM States Jamaica and Barbados have brought added strain to an already shaky integration movement.

No one who has followed Jamaican politics can be surprised at the antics of the JLP and it is widely known that the ruling Peo-ple’s National Party (PNP) has always been more pro-Caribbean. As for the trade spat involving Trinidad and Tobago, that coun-try’s Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar needs to ensure that there is a level playing field when it comes to intra-regional trade.

It is challenging for Caribbean countries to compete with a country whose cost of production is much less than its CARI-COM partners due to the significantly lower energy costs in the

oil-rich Republic. When non-tariff barriers are erected, it further aggravates producers in the affected countries, leading some-times to damaging tit-for-tat policies.

At next month’s Summit of CARICOM leaders, there will be a focus on issues identified by Landell Mills Consultants who confirmed just how ailing the integra-tion movement is and how much medi-cine, commitment and vision is needed to

ensure that the regional grouping recovers.Hopefully, as planned at the February meeting of the Heads

of Government in St. Kitts and Nevis, a Change Facilitator has been recruited to assist CARICOM Secretary-General Irwin la Rocque with the process of restructuring the Secretariat in accor-dance with the recommendations of the Mills Report, produced in January this year by three consultants – Justice Duke Pollard, management consultant Richard Stoneman and financial expert Hugo Inniss.

The CARICOM Bureau was expected to conduct a parallel exercise, working with an internal group from the Secretariat to facilitate improving regional governance and implementation and submit a Strategic Plan for consideration in St. Lucia.

Thankfully, the Mills report threw cold water on the proposal by the CARICOM leaders to set up a permanent Committee of CARICOM Ambassadors as the main solution for the governance issues. The report did say such a committee could lend “informal support” by providing advice to the Secretary General and play a troubleshooting and coordinating role in their own countries.

The Heads of Government ought to refresh themselves with the observations outlined in the report titled “Turning Around CARI-COM: Proposals to Restructure the CARICOM Secretariat”. The report highlighted a plethora of deficiencies, chief among these the weakening of the Secretariat, including its lack or direction, outdated communication methods, and the absence of priorities and vision.

The report identified three main requirements for the “survival and recovery” of CARICOM: the full and equivocal support of Member States; targeting the delivery of a narrow range of spe-cific, practical and achievable benefits in a reasonable short time

span; and a credible reorganisation and strengthening of the Sec-retariat and CARICOM institutions focused on the management of implementation.

The report noted that around 25 per cent of senior level posts at the Secretariat are currently unfilled, with key vacancies in “piv-otal areas”.

“The organisation needs an infusion of new blood, bringing new approaches and ideas, particularly at the senior levels,” the report stated, adding that the Secretariat needs many more man-agers since very few staff had management training or showed leadership skills.

It concluded that the vision of CARICOM needs to be updated to reflect today’s world. It also observed that specific proposals are developed on a piecemeal basis and that there is no policy making in the think-thank sense.

“A lack of serious economic and financial evaluation means that mandated policy initiatives have little or no chance of even becoming reality, “the report added.

It also suggested that the format of annual meetings of Heads of Government, with the pomp, ceremony and lengthy speeches should be replaced with discussions in caucus and “abandon all the frippery, expense and wasted time”. It also advocated regular smaller meetings with more use of video-conferencing.

The Mills report also said a “fundamental improvement” in re-lations with the private sector is long overdue. Instead of annual meetings with private sector organizations, the Mills report called for the CARICOM leaders to have direct dialogue with leading figures in the business community in the region.

The Heads of Government were also advised to work more closely with the business community to promote investment to the Caribbean.

The observation in the report that no one organization is truly representative of the region’s private sector is a loud signal to the Caribbean business community and particularly the Carib-bean Association of Industry and Commerce (CAIC) to get its act together. Indeed, it is both the region’s government and private sector organisations that are in dire need of a major overhaul.

(Sandra Ann Baptiste is a business consultant and Specialist in Caribbean Affairs).


Commentary

Rio+20: Canada Not Helpful To Caribbean Plight

Guyanese Pride On Display

Tony Mc

Sir Ronald

Sanders

The Rio+20 Conference in Rio de Janei-ro, Brazil, has brought the world no closer to a safer global environment. Indeed, if the measure of its success is that the large and influential countries stood still while the dreadful effects of Climate Change sped along, the Conference was a disap-pointment.

Heads of Government, who bothered to turn up for the Summit meeting, could do little to alter the ‘out-come document’ that had been laboriously negotiated by their officials over weeks of painful talks that sometimes threatened to reverse the fundamental principles that were agreed 20 years ago at the first Earth Summit in Rio. The leaders made long speeches that changed not a word in the document.

Such Heads of government, who could have made a differ-ence, were not there. They included Barack Obama of the US, Stephen Harper of Canada, Angela Merkel of Germany and Da-vid Cameron of the UK. Their four countries are among the top ten polluters in the world, and an enlightened approach by them could have made a difference.

The absence of Canada’s Prime Minister reflects the troubling attitude of the Canadian government to Global Environmental problems. It is an attitude that caused the Secretary-General of the first Earth Summit in Rio in 1992, Canadian Maurice Strong, to lament the radically changed Canadian position. Many coun-tries, such as those in the Caribbean that look to Canada for progressive leadership that would help their worrying situation, were deeply disappointed that Canada blocked compromise on a number of high-profile issues, including phasing out subsidies for oil and gas exploration, and for not trying to help find consen-sus on crucial points.

As it turned out, the Conference did absolutely nothing to help small island states, like those in the Caribbean, and developing countries with low coastal areas such as Guyana and Belize.

The ‘outcome document’ was made public in Rio on the day before the Summit began. In its effort to include language that addresses the concerns of governments, rich and poor, small island states and land-locked countries, as well as non-govern-mental environmental organizations, the ‘outcome document’ is 283-paragraphs long and repetitive in many places. But, it is not a document that moves the world forward. The most that can be said of it is that it averts the fears, expressed during the negotia-

tions, that the fundamental principles agreed at Rio in 1992 would be reversed.

At paragraph 15, it states: “We reaffirm all the principles of the Rio Declaration on En-vironment and Development, including, inter alia, the principle of common but differenti-ated responsibilities, as set out in Principle 7 of the Rio Declaration”. This is an important reaffirmation, because the original Rio under-

taking recognized that while all countries have common respon-sibilities for protecting the environment, rich countries (among the biggest polluters) also have a responsibility to provide the resources, both financial and technological, to help poorer coun-tries. Some developed countries wanted to change that language to make it conditional; the fact that the language has remained in place at least gives developing countries a basis for insisting that the big polluters stick to their commitment.

For small island states and developing countries with low-lying coastal areas, the specific paragraph on sea level rise is extremely disappointing. Paragraph 165 of the ‘outcome docu-ment’ merely “noted” that sea level rise and coastal erosion are serious threats for many coastal regions and islands particularly in developing countries. All that it then did was to call on the international community “to enhance its efforts to address these challenges”. No specific actions are proposed and no specific measures are adopted.

Reflecting the fact that the developed countries and the large developing ones, such as China and India, are now more con-cerned about the risks to their economies posed by the Eurozone debt crisis, no new monies were pledged for combating Climate Change and global warming. Instead, the ‘outcome document’ appears to have postponed the entire issue by agreeing “to estab-lish an intergovernmental process under the United Nations Gen-eral Assembly” that will “assess financing needs, consider the effectiveness, consistency and synergies of existing instruments and frameworks, and evaluate additional initiatives, with a view to prepare a report proposing options on an effective Sustainable Development Financing Strategy to facilitate the mobilization of resources and their effective use in achieving sustainable devel-opment objectives”.

That long process is to be undertaken by a group of experts who will report to the UN at the end of 2014.

Time, meanwhile, is running out. In a paper to be published

shortly in the Journal of Development Studies, on “Climate Change and the Future of Caribbean Development”, Matthew Bishop and Anthony Payne point out that small states are the least contributors to pollution and that they need help not with mitigation (reduction of domestic emissions) but with adaptation (establishing policies and infrastructure to cope with the effects of climate change). But such limited sums as have been made available are open to all developing countries. Small island de-veloping countries “have limited advocacy capacity to help them gain a slice of what is still a relatively meagre pie; there is no mechanism in place to ascertain which states are most in need of adaptation finance; and the vast majority of the money (all but approximately US$250 million) is being channelled through either the World Bank or Western NGOs and donor agencies, rather than the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), itself ‘the most appropriate institution to make this and other key decisions about adaptation financing’.

Of the Caribbean countries, Barbados has invested resources and is ‘one of the few countries in the Western Hemisphere to develop and implement a national policy for sustainable devel-opment’. But, for all Caribbean countries, however good their national programmes, a regional response is necessary through empowered joint machinery to negotiate financing for the region. As Bishop and Payne put it: “If Caribbean states and societies can develop a range of original and compelling approaches to the issue (as, in some respects, they have been seeking to do both individually and collectively), they may be able to help shift the nature of those structures a little further in the direction of a cre-ative response”.

Rio+20 was not a turning point for a better future for the plan-et. But, at least, it was not a turning back. The Caribbean should now take advantage of the continued stated commitment to sus-tainable development (meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs) to ensure that, collectively, it gains access to the funding for adaptation it urgently needs. No one country can do it alone.

(The writer is a Consultant and former Caribbean diplomat)

Responses and previous commentaries: www.sirronald-sanders.com

Guyanese Canadians pride in their country and the achieve-ments of their fellow country folk was on full display during the June 22-24 weekend. The weekend was filled with events that marked the Guyanese-Canadian community’s official celebration of Guyana’s 46th Anniversary of Independence that had been achieved on May 26th of this year.

On Friday June 22 there was a Gala Dinner in celebration of Guyana’s cricketing heroes, the proceeds from which were in aid of the Mercy Hospital Rebuilding Fund. As one of Guyana’s leading institutions of health care, Mercy Hospital was badly damaged by fire a few years ago.

Basil Butcher and Lance Gibbs were the only two of the five illustrious Guyanese and West Indian cricket heroes slated to ne honored at the Gala, able to attend. Clive Lloyd, Stephen Cama-cho and Joe Soloman all had to decline their invitations for un-avoidable reasons.

Such was the significance of the contributions of Butcher and Gibbs to Guyana and West Indies cricket that the country’s Presi-dent Donald Ramotar, who was in town for the weekend, invited himself to the Gala, He also requested of the organizers that he be the one to make the presentations to Messrs Butcher and Gibbs.

Other than the presentations, the evening’s indisputable high-light was the entertainment provided by Guyanese dramatist and story-teller Ken Corsbie who had been flown in for the event. Corsbie had the audience in stitches with his humorous recollec-tions of his boyhood days growing up in Guyana.

For me it was a very memorable throwback to the glory days of theatre back home in Guyana when the “All Ah We” com-bination of Corsbie, Marc Matthews and Henry Mutoo used to entertain audiences at the Theatre Guild with the finest displays of Guyanese drama.

To have the new found love of my life, Resident Love Goddess present with me to enjoy Corsbie’s performance made the eve-ning that much more memorable. As did my participation in in-troducing Steve Camacho and Lance Gibbs as award recipients.

Having always had close cricketing ties with both of those esteemed gentlemen, it was indeed and honor for me to recap-ture for the audience some of the highlights of their outstanding achievements for Guyana and the West Indies. The presence in the audience of the likes of Steve Camacho’s brother Ian and his lovely wife Michelle, the Fisher brothers Mark and Nigel and their respective adorable wives Marje and Kim, as well as Ritchie Seymour, all of whom I have known since forever back in Guyana, made the evening that more special.

As icing to that already delicious cake, Jeewan Darshanand and his wife Ann Clarke, two of my most treasured college mates from University of Toronto’s Scarborough Campus, were also seated at our table. So too were Bart Singh and his wife Jan. Bart and I had served together at the Ontario Cricket Association dur-ing its glory days back in the nineties. He was the Association’s very competent Treasurer and I its Executive Director.

For me it was therefore a very special and memorable evening indeed.

On the following day, Saturday June 24th, Markham’s Civic Centre served as venue for the Annual Guyana Independence Festival for the very first time. Since its inception, years ago in the nineties, the Festival had previously been held at Scarbor-ough’s Lamoreaux Community Center.

The change of venue to more remote, far less accessible Markham Civic Centre, unfortunately adversely affected the at-tendance. By my admittedly very unscientific estimation there were in the end only just about one third of the fifteen to twenty-five thousand who customarily attended the Festival in previous years.

Despite its reduced attendance, the Markham Festival was however superbly organized. The far more spacious venue al-lowed all of the event’s impressive collection of sponsors to have their booths in the same area. It was much easier for attendees to access the booths and the crowding and congestion that had characterized the event at Lamoreaux was thankfully eliminated.

The venue also facilitated the staging of the Cultural Show, the Softball Cricket and the Dominoes Tournament, the Festival’s three cornerstone activities within very close proximity of each other. The only thing lacking this year was the absence of the ever popular Bar area. Consul General Sattie Sawh and her cadre of volunteers, all of whom did such an excellent job managing this year’s Festival will undoubtedly want to seek to correct that omission for next year.

Guyana’s President Donald Ramotar certainly seemed to en-joy the Festival. He was absolutely in his political element during his walkabout, stopping at each and every booth to pose for pho-tos and chat with the respective event staffers. Throughout his walkabout he was incessantly shadowed, almost comically, by his self-appointed photographer for the day, the Caribbean Cam-era’s Gerald Paul. One can only wonder what “Eyes” will ever do with the literally hundreds of shots he took of the President at the Festival.

On what was a very commendable display of Guyanese-Cana-dian community spirit over the weekend, the only blemish was the choice made by the Coconuts Restaurant and its management to stage their own Guyana Day events, in direct competition to the Independence Festival. With so many other weekends avail-able throughout the year, their choice of June 23-24 for their own festivities was in very poor taste indeed. Having now been staged for years during third weekend in June as the Guyanese-Canadi-an Community’s official celebration of their country’s Indepen-dence the Festival deserved far more respect than accorded by the folks at Coconuts. Shame on you, Kishore.

Notwithstanding that unfortunate demonstration of a lack of community spirit, it was nevertheless and outstanding weekend of displayed pride for the Guyanese Canadian community. Ku-dos to all who contributed to making it so.

Publisher/Editor: Tony McWattEditorial Consultant : Malcolm CliffeContributors: Sandra Ann Baptiste, Beverly Brown, Akua Hinds, Christine Reid, Sir Ronald Sanders,Legal: Oumarally and BaboolalGraphic Design: AM Creative

618 Strouds Lane, Pickering, ON L1V 4S9 • Tel: 905.831-4402 • Fax: 416.292.2943 • Email: [email protected] • www.caribbeangraphic.ca


Caribbean Destinations

Nevis Where You Are Only A Stranger OnceNevis is an island in the Caribbean Sea.

It is located near the northern end of the Lesser Antilles archipelago about 350 km east-southeast of Puerto Rico and 80 km west of Antigua. The 93 km² island is part

of the inner arc of the Leeward Islands chain of the West Indies. The capital of Nevis is Charlestown.

Nevis and the island of Saint Kitts to the northwest form the Federation of Saint Kitts and Nevis The two islands are sepa-rated by a shallow two-mile (3.22 km) channel known as “The Narrows”. Nevis

is conical in shape with a volcanic peak known as Nevis Peak at its center. The is-land is fringed on its western and northern coastlines by sandy beaches that are com-

posed of a mixture of white coral sand with brown and black sand which was eroded and washed down from the volcanic rocks that make up the island. The gently-slop-ing coastal plain (0.6 miles/1 km wide) has natural freshwater springs as well as non-potable volcanic hot springs especially along the western coast. Nevis has natural vegetation that is unparalleled.

The name, Nevis, is derived from the Spanish, Nuestra Señora de las Nieves , which means Our Lady of the Snows ; The name first appears on maps in the 16th cen-tury. Nevis is also known by the sobriquet

“Queen of the Caribees”, which it earned in the 18th century, when its sugar planta-tions created much wealth for the British.

Nevis is of particular historical sig-nificance to Americans because it was

the birthplace and early childhood home of Al-exander Hamilton For the British, Nevis is the place where Horatio Nelson was stationed as a young sea captain, and is where he met and mar-ried a Nevisian, Frances Nisbet the young widow of a plantation-owner. The majority of the ap-proximately 12,000 citi-zens of Nevis are of pri-marily African descent. English is the official language, and the litera-

cy rate, 98 percent, is one of the highest in the Western Hemisphere.

There’s something about this small, sombrero shaped island that grabs its visi-tors. The charm and tranquility takes one back to a time when things were simpler, when life was more peaceful, when stress was just a word, not a way of life.

Green and serene, Nevis is truly one of the world’s remaining un spoilt places. From the top of the 3,232-foot Nevis Peak to the depths of the clear waters off-shore, there is a world of flora and fauna to be explored. In the hills, the comical green ver-vet monkeys chatter and scamper; in the sea, the whales cruise by. Stroll around and see the archi-tecture of eras gone by: churches, windmills, and

refurbished Great Houses.Its 10,000 residents are friendly and

helpful, ready to make new friends and welcome back regular visitors. The genu-

ine charm and hospitality radiate into the unspo-ken, “Welcome,” “Be my guest,” and “Do come again.”

Nevisians are a warm people who are rightly very proud of their coun-try. The capitol, Charles-town is still a sleepy mid-Victorian Caribbean town, a far cry from the bustling capital centers of other Caribbean is-lands.

Nevis boasts f several beaches hat stretch for miles relatively undis-

turbed, the longest, being Pinney’s Beach. The windward side has a magnificent and usually deserted beach where visitors can body surf the breakers. Oualie Beach is the center for windsurfing, diving and snorkel-ing with trips to the nearby coral reefs and exotic dive sites.

Activity is limited but worthy on Nevis. Visit the Botanical Gardens with cascad-ing pools and examples of tropical plants from all over the world, play tennis (sev-eral courts available at the various resorts) or play a round of golf at the Four Seasons beautiful 18-hole Robert Trent Jones palm

shaded course. Equestri-ans and would-be eques-trians alike, will enjoy horseback riding.

A race track schedules horse races on major holi-days.

Dining is a mixed bag with the local delicacies of steamed breadfruit, goat water, grilled lobster and fresh fish vying with inter-national interpretations at the Plantation Inns. Local musicians with steel pans and string bands alternate with jazz groups and a traveling discotheque to provide entertain-ing diversions on Nevis.

That’s about it for nightlife and visitors here wouldn’t have it any other way. Nevis attracts hikers, divers and other water sport enthusiasts; however the main attractions are lounging on the beach, reading a good book and relaxing.

The luxury Nevis hotels and plantation inns here attract many a discriminating traveler. Nevis is a destination of quiet, laid back charm and natural beauty greatly undisturbed by develop-ment.

Nevis is special, a place that will seduce you, and tug at your heart strings after you leave.

Like they say on Nevis: “You’re only a stranger here once.”


$900 Million Contribution

Almond Buyer

Budget Hope

Party Problems

Pastor Concerned About Rihanna

Drones To Fight Drug Trafficking

BRIDGETOWN, The international busi-ness and financial sector says it contributed just under $900 million to the Barbados economy in 2010.

According to figures compiled by the Economic Contribution Committee of the Barbados International Business Association (BIBA), even as business dropped as a result of the global economic slowdown in 2010, the sector contributed $878.74 million to the local economy.

According to the 2012 BIBA annual re-port, the bulk of the contribution came from salaries and wages, legal fees, hotel ac-commodation and administrative expenses, which totaled $666.44 million two years ago.

More importantly, the BIBA committee revealed that about 4 106 people – mainly professionals – were employed in the sector, earning some of the highest salaries on the island. (GE)

BRIDGETOWN, Al-mond Beach Club will have new owners next month; and that could have implications for the 150 plus staffers at the St James resort.

At a standing room only staff meeting a few days ago, chaired by acting chief executive officer Monty Cumber-batch, workers were told that the hotel would be changing hands by July 31 and that their terms and conditions would re-main the same with the potential buyers, who are still to be identified.

Cumberbatch, accompanied by Almond Resorts Inc. Director of Human Resources Marsha Alleyne, Almond Beach Club Di-rector Gerry Lewis and the Barbados Work-

ers’ Union’s (BWU) hotel lead negotiator LeVere Richards, made it clear that current staff would be carrying over the years spent with the company and that no one would be severed.

BRIDGETOWN, Minister of Finance Chris Sinckler was on June 26 scheduled to deliver his third and most eagerly anticipated Budgetary Proposals since being appointed to the position in September 2010 by late Prime Minister David Thompson weeks be-fore his death.

With the country still fighting off the ef-fects of a global economic slowdown that has hit hard Barbados’ main trading partners; the eagle eyes of two international rating agen-cies monitoring developments in the coun-try; a hungry Opposition party; and a general election looming, what Sinckler delivers will be important on several fronts.

Barbados Chamber of Commerce & Indus-try President Lalu Vaswani has asked Sinck-ler to use whatever methods he has at his disposal to put more money in the hands of

consumers. He pointed out that many of the austere measures in the 2010 Budget had re-stricted consumer spending and had damp-ened activity in a consumer-driven economy.

BRIDGETOWN, The heavy partying and feteing Barbadians enjoyed during the 2011 Crop Over season may be significantly re-duced this year – and not for financial, plan-ning or religious reasons. It’s simply because party promoters are having problems obtain-ing the necessary licenses to hold the week-day and weekend parties and limes.

Some party promoters have already been refused entertainment licenses for the year – and they are hopping mad! A note circu-lated to the promoters said: “The limitations imposed by this new system not only affect our businesses but also the social pulse of the island.”

Anderson Connell, president of Party Ani-malz, said an application to hold his annual limes at the Boardwalk in Bridgetown on Tuesday nights had been turned down by the Town and Country Planning Department.

“I don’t understand why we were turned down . . . . We held our parties there last year and it wasn’t a problem. Now this year we have been turned down. They said that the Boardwalk is a pedestrian crossing. They want us to submit a plan just like if you are submitting a plan for a house and by the time that is approved Crop Over would be fin-ished,” Connell said

BRIDGETOWN, Rihanna has been urged to clean up her act, by her former religious mentor. Fears have grown for the Good Girl Gone Bad star in recent months.

Now family friend and Barbados pastor Bishop Vibert Lowe says Barbados is “pray-ing for” the singer. The 64-year-old clergy-man preached to Rihanna and her family at church every week before she left Barbados for the international stage.

He told reporters “A lot of people have been praying for her and hoping that she will drop these bad habits.”We feel it’s wrong for her to behave like this. As a young lady she’s not setting a good example,” he said.

Lowe said young people look to Rihanna as a mentor, and regard her as an idol and copy her lifestyle.

“There are people on the island who think she parties way too hard.”

BRIDGETOWN, – More famously known for their targeted assassination techniques in the Middle East, the United States “Preda-tor drone” technology is now being brought into the drug-trafficking fight in the Carib-bean. Reports coming out of the US are that the Department of Homeland Security has been testing its unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) over the Bahamas for more than a year and is ready to go operational over areas used by smuggling boats in the sea lanes of the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico.

US Customs and Border Pro-tection has report-edly asked for US$5.8 million in additional financing to further push its drone operations into the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean. The US military is also said to be establishing a new control station in Corpus Christi, Texas this month, a base that will allow Predator drones to perform flights over a larger por-tion of the Gulf of Mexico; while in Cocoa Beach, Florida, a single new drone will be added to the military’s fleet to monitor water over the Caribbean.

The Los Angeles Times reported that the Department of Homeland Security already has nine Predators, most of which are as-signed to the Mexican and Canadian border areas. Adding the Gulf and Caribbean to the patrol area will more than double the square

miles currently covered.This move has reportedly come about be-

cause, while the United States has been op-erating several high-tech aircraft in the area, those flights have apparently failed to fight speed boats and other craft used to smuggle drugs into the United States.

However, some skepticism remains as to whether this new technology will be any more effective. Officials told the LA Times the Predator has not proven particularly suc-cessful at detecting small boats on the open sea.

The technology being deployed in moni-toring drug trafficking routes over the Ba-hamas border agents reported used a special variation of the Predator B UAV known as “The Guardian”. The UAV was equipped with a SeaVue radar system that is capable of scanning large areas of open water. The Guardian is able to check a ship’s unique ra-dio pulse through a database which can iden-tify the boat’s owner and ship type.

Chris Sinckler

Barbados Beat


St Lucia Resort Upgrades Its Properties

LIAT Focusing On Safety

Immigration Award For Grenada

Antigua Now Under Constant Scrutiny

SOUFRIERE, - Waiting for a room or suite at one of St. Lucia’s most alluring properties is about to become easier. Fond Doux Holi-day Plantation resort is increasing its capac-ity by adding five new cottages, which gen-eral manager, Eroline Lamontagne pledged would “retain the same unique architecture as the other 11 cottages on the plantation.”

Mrs. Lamontagne, who owns the unique accommodations along with her husband Lyton, concurs the recent TripAdvisor Cer-tificate of Excellence recognition received by Fond Doux is motivation for the expansion. “Our recognition as a favorite destination last month is sparking interest in the property as well as enthusiasm to add the new accommo-dations.”

On the cards are three deluxe one-bedroom cottages and two honeymoon cottages with private plunge pools.

To retain the old French colonial charm, Lyton Lamontagne painstakingly moves au-thentic cottages from throughout the island and lovingly restores them at Fond Doux in Soufrière, St. Lucia’s former capital.

However, Mrs. Lamontagne reports the

additions will be a little different: “All new cottages are going to be more spacious with outdoor living day beds and hammocks in the patios.”

Additional enhancements will be evident in the bathrooms which she says will “fea-ture outdoor rain forest showers with luxuri-ous fittings.”

Scheduled to be unveiled by the start of the winter season in December, the room addi-tions will be accompanied by added touches to the common areas. “We are creating a larg-er and more comfortable lobby and reception area in the Great Estate house to include a library and Wi-Fi area for our guests. We are also refurbishing and upgrading our res-taurants and kitchen to accommodate these changes.”

ST. JOHN’S, – LIAT Airlines is reiter-ating its safety standards for the general public in the wake of a massive fire that recently destroyed one of its airplanes, a hangar and two office blocks at the VC Bird International Airport in Antigua. A recent media release issued by the regional airline stressed that LIAT continues to pro-vide regular services throughout its net-work two weeks after the fire.

Director of Maintenance Alan Alexan-der stated in the release that the remaining hangar had the capability and ability to maintain the airplanes in accordance with the Eastern Caribbean Civil Aviation Au-thority approved maintenance programme.

“We also have ramp maintenance capa-bilities in Antigua as well as engineering personnel at the Grantley Adams Interna-tional Airport in Barbados and the Piarco International Airport in Trinidad,” he said.

“With regards for work normally sched-uled for the hangar lost in the fire, LIAT has two Eastern Caribbean Civil Aviation Authority (ECCAA)-approved Mainte-nance and Repair Organizations (MROs) and workshops outside of the region (in Canada) to do maintenance work on its

aircraft.“So there is no inability to continue with

regular maintenance of our aircraft in com-pliance with both ECCAA and the manu-facturers requirements,” Alexander added.

As it relates to maintenance records which were destroyed in the fire, the Di-rector of Maintenance said LIAT’s mainte-nance records are in fact digitally recorded on a network server.

“The maintenance records which were destroyed were hard copy, mainly of a his-toric nature, that would not normally have been referenced on a daily basis to ensure continued airworthiness,” Alexander said.

“We are currently working, with assis-tance from the aircraft and power plant manufacturers, to reconstruct the historical records,” he added.

NEW YORK, – Grenada’s Immigration Chief believes that the recognition of his department for improved delivery of ser-vice is a reflection of the potential of the public service in Grenada. The Immigra-tion and Passport Department of Grenada on June 25 received an award as part of the 2012 United Nations Public Service Awards at the UN Headquarters in New York.

The award was for “Improving the De-livery of Public Services” in Latin America and the Caribbean region.

Superintendent Godfrey Fleming re-ceived the award as part of activities mark-ing the 10th anniversary of United Nations Public Service Day and the start of the Public Service Forum.

It rewards the creative achievements and contributions of public service institutions

that lead to a more effective and respon-sive public administration in countries worldwide.

“This award will serve as a flagship for the rest of our public servants and civil so-ciety in Grenada in the way we execute our responsibilities,” said Supt. Fleming.

“I also hope that this award will create a better synergy between the public service and the customers that we are serving in Grenada.”

He credits the award to what he de-scribed as a group of committed officers who go beyond the call of duty, even working on weekends to ensure that they accomplish targets.

Supt. Fleming was accompanied by Consul General Derrick James and Immi-gration officer Cpl. Ron Joseph.

ST JOHN’S, – Com-menting on the recent life imprisonment of Texan fraudster Allen Stanford, Antigua Prime Minister Baldwin Spencer said the 110-year jail sentence was small comfort for Antigua and Barbuda. Stanford de-frauded nearly 30,000 in-vestors in 113 countries in a Ponzi scheme involving fraudulent high-interest certificates of deposit at the Stanford International Bank in Antigua.

The Prime Minister went on to say that the dis-graced Texan’s legacy had hurt Antigua and Barbuda in ways that both predated and outlived Stanford’s spectacular downfall.

“While this may represent a semblance of closure for some of the investors who lost a combined sum of approximately US$7billion, it provides little relief for Antigua and Barbuda as we remain under constant scrutiny,” Spencer noted.

“Our offshore financial services sector has declined significantly as a direct result of the Stanford debacle and it will likely take some years to recover,” he added.

The Prime Minister was commenting on the matter while delivering the feature address at a ceremony to mark the official

opening of Antigua’s new Inland Revenue building. Spencer further noted: “Despite this fact and the events that have trans-pired since 2009, we still have our detrac-tors who are full of praise for Mr. Stanford and still view him as a savior. If only they could take their beaks and heads out of the sand.”

Directing a jab at the opposition Antigua Labour Party (ALP), the Prime Minister said: “Under the stewardship of our prede-cessors in office, Antigua and Barbuda was operated as a giant Ponzi scheme and we can appreciate, therefore, the unqualified affinity of the ALP to R Allen Stanford.”

Prime Minister Baldwin Spencer


Indian Courtesy Call Forged Documents At Border

Intent To Create Unrest

Pushing For Instability

GEORGETOWN, Acting Min-ister of Tourism, Industry and Commerce, Mr. Irfaan Ali, after engaging in discussions with the recently accredited High Com-missioner of India to Guyana, Mr. Puran Mal Meena, said the two countries will be working on a number of initiatives to boost the tourist industry and advance their relations.

The diplomat paid a courtesy call at the Tourism Ministry on June 25, when the proposal was put for-ward for India to assist Guyana in making Fort Island a major tourist hub, and devel-op it into a strong adventure eco-tourism package.

Minister Ali informed the envoy that Guyana has a lot of historical sites which are not developed, and the former solicited help from the Indian Government in that regard. Ali suggested that experts come to Guyana to develop high technology pro-gramming in recreating the history of Fort Island, and at the same time facilitate train-ing of Guyanese personnel.

Guyana will also be looking to promote more air traffic within the Caribbean, as the country depends on regional integra-tion and movement of people, not only for tourism but for trade as well.

Ali requested that India assists in getting investors who are interested in regional traffic to establish Guyana as a major des-

tination.He made a proposition, as well, for the

two sides to explore ways of integrating their people, and marketing Guyana so that those from India can use Guyana as a place for vacation and a transit point to other countries, like Suriname and Brazil. Guy-ana and India will also work on advancing Guyana’s eco-tourism products, as accord-ing to Ali, this country has the raw mate-rials but needs expertise to build what is required.

About the business aspect, Ali suggested that Guyana can be a major call centre, due to the fact that it is close to North America, and is strategically located for such a fea-sible initiative.

With regard to housing and water, for which he is also responsible, the minister lobbied for technical assistance to find new opportunities and new areas that can be expanded, and create a city outside of Georgetown.

GEORGETOWN, There have been re-ports of persons submitting forged docu-ments at the Guyana Suriname border in a bid to defraud the tax system. During this year there was a reduction in the amount of revenue collected at Corriverton.

Investigations have revealed that boat operators were submitting forged customs clearances to Suriname customs officials in Nickerie. The submission of the cus-toms clearances issued at Corriverton is one of the requirements for boat owners to load goods in the Dutch speaking nation.

In so doing, boat owners who load goods with forged customs clearances, undetect-ed by Surinamese officials, do not report to customs at Corriverton with the goods for the payment of the applicable duties and taxes. This has resulted in the GRA chang-ing the system.

Commissioner General of the GRA, Khurshid Sattaur has ordered a more care-ful examination of the documents issued. In addition a dedicated team comprising customs staff and an officer from the Ber-bice anti-smuggling squad were tasked to review valuation of imports and classifica-tion of goods. Law enforcement officers from Georgetown were deployed to con-duct patrols.

This is aimed at preventing smuggling activities. The Surinamese authorities have been notified of the issue and are working collaboratively with the local authorities to combat the illegal practice. Currently, information is shared on a daily basis be-tween the two countries. This has resulted in more boat owners reporting to Corriver-ton and paying the relevant taxes.

GEORGETOWN, THE main opposi-tion, A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) has signaled its intentions to cre-ate “unrest” in the mining town of Linden and cut off access to the interior, in a bid to pressure the government into cancelling its plans to increase electricity rates in the town described by members of the opposi-tion as “impoverished”. At a June 23 pub-lic meeting in the mining town, APNU’s Aubrey Norton reminded that Linden is the gateway to the interior and residents with the support of the party will use that to their fullest advantage “We have to be prepared to do what is required to achieve our objective. We stand at the gateway to the interior. I say no more.”

Norton called on Lindeners of all ages to join the “struggle” to pressure the Donald Ramotar administration into abandoning the plan of increasing the electricity tariff.

Region 10 (Upper Demerara/Upper Berbice) Chairman Sharma Solomon said

that Lindeners have been able to mobilize themselves and can shut things down, “we can shut things down so I am saying to you that our actions are not many. Our action remains one- our act is that we are not go-ing to pay a single cent increase”.

Norton, who pledged to go to Linden and help to mobilize for a “disciplined political struggle,” entreated police sup-port, saying that they were also victims of government’s maladministration. “In this struggle, we will do everything possible to work well with the police. We know (Home Affairs Minister) Rohee has an ig-norant squad he will send,” he said.

Several years ago, anti-government ac-tivists had blocked the Mc Kenzie-Wismar Bridge across the Demerara River, pre-venting fuel, food and other supplies from being shuttled into mining operations in huge sections of the interior including the Rupununi. Riot police eventually inter-vened and dispersed the crowd.

GEORGETOWN, The government has accused the main opposition, A Partner-ship for National Unity (APNU) of “de-liberately pushing for instability” after the opposition party threatened to “shut things down” in Linden and cut off access to the mineral-rich interior, if the government does not quash its plan to increase the Lin-den electricity tariff from July 1.

APNU’s Aubrey Norton and Region 10 Chairman Sharma Solomon told a June 23 public meeting in Wismar, Linden that residents cannot allow the government to move forward with the plan since the re-gion cannot afford to pay more for elec-tricity.

Responding to these calls, a senior gov-ernment official said on June 25 that this call by APNU is “irresponsible, reckless and without merit”. The official who asked not to be named since his comments were not officially from the government PR,

said that the call is another demonstration that APNU is “the same old PNC in dis-guise” and accused the main opposition of “creating instability”.

“No responsible political party, or any grouping for that matter will not go to its supporters and publicly tell them to create instability, tell them to cut off access to any area, that is being irresponsible and reck-less” the official said.

The same official is of the view that “better sense will prevail”.

“I believe and trust the people of Linden, I know better sense will prevail and Lin-deners will reject this call by the APNU, the people know better” the official said.

The official also dismissed claims that the recent demonstration by the police with the water cannon was in preparations for possible street protest in Linden over the tariff hike.


Miss Jamaica World 50 CrownedKINGSTON, Amidst cheers of approv-

al, student Deanna Robbins was crowned Miss Jamaica World 50 inside the ballroom of the Jamaica Pegasus Hotel in St Andrew on June 23. A crowd favorite throughout

the evening’s presentation, the 21-year-old seemed shocked when her name was called as the new queen edging out 19 other beau-ties. Robbins will be representing Jamaica at Miss World in Inner Mongolia, China, on August 18.

In her first media interview as Miss Ja-maica World 50, Robbins, still sitting on the coronation throne, struggled to find the words to describe the moment.

“I’m speechless,” she told reporters, still shaking from the mix of nervousness and joy.

“This has been such a great journey and I can see so much growth in myself... I am truly proud of this win,” she continued.

Robbins said she is looking forward to representing Jamaica at Miss World and hopes to add to the Jamaica 50 celebra-tions.

Earlier in the evening, it was a tight race

to the finish as all the contestants took to the stage with poise during the swimwear and evening wear segments. They all held their own during the dreaded interview segment.

At the end of the night, second place went to the immensely-popular 24-year-old reg-istered nurse Trishauna Clarke, while the statuesque Rashida Beckford took the third spot. Shona Bewley was fourth and Lauren McKay completed the top 5.

The Top 10 finalists were completed by Adrianna Bryan, Kelly-Ann Diedrick, Chevell Powell, Claudiann Berry and Lau-ren McClure.

Busy Signal

Busy Signal Pleads Not Guilty

Teacher Mourned

Remove GCT On Eggs

KIA Motors Expanding

KINGSTON, Popular Jamaican deejay Busy Signal, has pleaded not guilty to one count of failure to appear in court . Busy Signal, whose real name is Glendale Gor-don, is accused of fleeing the US to avoid a drug trial a decade ago

Gordon could face up to five years in prison if convicted on that count. He was ordered detained pending his trial. He was charged in February 2002 with two counts related to cocaine trafficking. He fled be-fore his trial was to begin in Minnesota and has been a fugitive for the past decade, As-sistant US Attorney Andrew Dunn, said in court.

Busy Signal was detained by authori-ties in London last month who suspected he was traveling with false documents, including a passport that listed a different name. He was allowed to fly to Kingston, Jamaica, and was arrested at the airport there.

Gordon waived his right to an extradi-

tion hearing.The cocaine charges still exist, but be-

cause of extradition treaties, any future prosecution on those counts would have to be worked out between the Jamaican and US governments.

Gordon’s attorney, Bill Mauzy, said in court that the US doesn’t have jurisdiction to prosecute Gordon on the drug charges.

MONTEGO BAY, — Students and staff of the Harrison Memorial High School in St James have been receiving counseling as they try to come to terms with the bru-tal slaying of one of their teachers. Thirty-seven- year-old Tania Lowe was stabbed to death at her home in Pitfour, on the eve-ning of June 23, shortly after she arrived home from church. Her attacker remains at large.

Neighbors reportedly heard loud screams coming from Lowe’s premises and her body was later found lying in a pool of blood on her lawn with a stab wound to the left side of her neck. The gruesome murder has left the entire community, the school, as well the Harrison Seventh-day Adven-tist Church in Catherine Hall, where she worshipped, in mourning.

Vice-Principal at the school, Winsome Willis, told local reporters that guidance counselors from the Ministry of Educa-tion along with counselors from the Mount Alvernia and St James High schools had

been “offering support to the students at this difficult time.” Willis, who worked with Lowe for over 17 years, described the deceased as “the kind of teacher that you could ask to do anything.”

“She taught geography, social studies, Spanish and music. We also asked her if she could work in the library, and she glad-ly did them all at the same time. She also worked part time for a number of years as assistant registrar. She was just a very ver-satile person, always pleasant and so will-ing to help in any way she could,” Willis recalled.

“Lowe was the kind of teacher that any school would grab,” she added, emphasiz-ing that Harrison Memorial has suffered a great loss.

“Parents, students and past students are grief-stricken and devastated. No one can ever replace Tania; she will be terribly missed,” said Willis. The police are yet to establish a motive for the killing.

KINGSTON, - Opposition Spokesman for Agriculture JC Hutchinson has called on the Government to immediately remove the General Consumption Tax (GCT) on eggs. In a release to the media Hutchin-son argued that eggs are a critical source for protein for children and adults and is a staple for most Jamaicans.

He said that the Government must con-

sider the many poor parents who are suffer-ing from the GCT pinch. Hutchinson noted that the cost of a dozen eggs has moved, in some instances, from $220 to $360 put-ting the product out of reach of the average consumer and precipitating what is now amounting to a near collapse of Jamaica’s self-sufficient egg production industry.

KINGSTON, - KIA Motors Jamaica has signaled its confidence in the local mar-ket with the opening of a service centre in Kingston, accompanying further plans to expand its operations on the island.

“We know that more and more people are buying Kia vehicles, and it is time to bring that trend to Jamaica,” said Ian Lyn, vice-president of marketing and sales. “Kia is positioned for growth, and we will be capitalizing on the opportunities that exist in the marketplace.”

Toyota Jamaica is still the top seller of automobiles in the country, according to an Automotive Dealers Association (ADA) report on market sales during January and February. Korea-based Kia posted a 13 per cent-plus year-on-year increase in global sales in March, up from the 216,219 units sold in the same month last year.

The company’s Jamaican operations will attempt to tap into that level of per-formance, said Lyn, adding that the cur-rent fiscal year will see more investments

to help increase the Kia brand’s presence here.

“We created a mix of over 30 tempo-rary and full-time jobs during and after the construction of the service centre,” he said. “As we move forward with our other plans, I’m happy to say that more jobs will be created.”

Though mum on the specific details of those plans, the company is gearing up to unveil a number of new Kia models to Jamaican motorists next week. These in-clude the Cerato, Sorrento, Optima, and Sportage. The Sportage and Cerato were among the company’s best-selling models in overseas markets in March. The newly built centre is the product of a $30-million investment and will provide technical and mechanical servicing to Kia vehicles, as well as other brands. The company said the parts and after-purchase care facility is part of a larger aim to grab a greater share of the Jamaican market.


Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar

New over sized cabinet

Cabinet Reshuffled

Drunk Driver Kills Five

Mother Of 4 Jailed

Size Doesn’t MatterPort-Of-Spain - Prime Minister Kamla

Persad-Bissessar has made good on her May 24 promise to Trinidadians that she was go-ing to carry out a “reconfiguration” of her Cabinet.

Shortly before 8 p.m. on Friday, June 22, the Trinidad and Tobago Prime Minister an-nounced her “major shifts in responsibilities and portfolios [in order] to get the most out of the best fit possible”, she read from her prepared statement.

Her shifts saw the exit of outgoing Minister

of National Security, Brigg John Sandy; out-going Minister of Gender, Youth and Child Development, Verna St. Rose-Greaves; and outgoing Minister of Tobago Development, Vernella Alleyne-Toppin, who leaves Cabi-net to become a junior minister in the Min-istry of the People and Social Development. The high profile former Minister of Finance Winston Dookeran has also now been trans-ferred to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Persad-Bissessar also introduced a few “new faces” into her Cabinet. New to the government are former Member of Parlia-ment Ganga Singh as the new Minister of Environment and Water Resources, and Lar-ry Hawai, is now the Minister of Finance and the Economy.

The Prime Minister defended her chang-es by saying: “as I see it, the government has two choices, we can pat ourselves on the back and say under the circumstances, ‘well done’, or we can look at all we did not achieve, we can choose instead to listen to those who are not satisfied, we can measure the way forward by looking at areas where we have gone wrong or not done enough, we can reassess approaches and strategies, im-proving upon everything in every way pos-sible. We can choose to work harder, to do more, and to be urged on by the criticisms even as we are inspired by the congratula-tions.”

She acknowledged that her reshuffle would likely meet criticism, noting that: “the reconfiguration of my Cabinet will meet with reviews from all over and everyone will have their say one way or the other. I ask one thing of every consideration made and that is to acknowledge what change is possible from within us all.”

However, she charged her newly reconfig-ured Cabinet ministers, who she called her “performance team”, to “deliver a level of competence and performance for an impa-tient and expectant population”, adding that: “I have been very clear on what is required of each member of the new Cabinet”.

She urged them to accept no mediocrity or arrogance, while adhering to “a leadership style that is firm, but humble, passionate and

impatient for great achievements, but ever conscious of the correct procedures.”

The new Cabinet was announced as fol-lows:

Minister of National Security - Jack War-ner, M.P; Minister in the Ministry of Na-tional Security- Collin Partap, M.P; Minister of Legal Affairs - Prakash Ramadhar, M.P; Attorney General -Senator Anand Ram-logan; Minister of the People and Social Development - Dr. Glenn Ramadharsingh, M.P; Minister in the Ministry of the People

and Social Development - Vernella Alleyne-Toppin, M.P; Minister of Education - Dr. Tim Gopeesingh, M.P; Minister of Housing- Dr. Roodal Moonilal, M.P; Minister of Gender, Youth and Child Development - Marlene Coudray; Minister of Justice- Herbert Vol-ney, M.P; Minister of Public Administration - Carolyn Seepersad-Bachan, M.P; Minister of Energy - Senator Kevin Ramnarine; Minister of Labour & Small & Micro Enterprise Dev’t - Errol McLeod,M.P; Minister of Transport - Chandresh Sharma,M.P; Minister of Sport - Anil Roberts, M.P; Minister of Planning- Sen. Dr. Bhoendradatt Tiwarie; Minister of Public Utilities- Nizam Baksh, M.P; Min-ister of Tobago Development - Dr.Delmon Baker, M.P; Minister of Local Government - Dr.Surujrattan Rambachan,M.P; Minister in the Ministry of Local Government - Ru-dranath Indarsingh,M.P; Minister of Works and Infrastructure- Sen. Emmanuel George; Minister in the Ministry of Works and Infra-structure - Stacy Roopnarine,M.P; Minister of the Arts and Multiculturalism- Dr. Lincoln Douglas,M.P; Minister of Health- Dr.Fuad Khan M.P; Minister of State in the Office of the Prime Minister- Rodger Samuel, M.P; Minister of Tertiary Education - Senator Fazal Karim; Minister of Tourism - Stephen Cadiz,M.P; Minister of Community Develop-ment- Winston Peters,M.P; Minister of Food Production- Sen.Devant Maharaj; Minister of State in the Ministry of Food Production - Jairam Seemungal, MP; Minister of Science & Technology- Dr.Rupert Griffith; Minister of Foreign Affairs - Winston Dookeran, M.P; Minister of Trade, Industry & Investment - Sen.Vasant Bharath; Minister of the Envi-ronment & Water Resources- Ganga Singh; Minister of State in the Ministry of Environ-ment & Water Resources- Ramona Ramdial, M.P; Minister of National Diversity & Social Integration - Clifton De Coteau; Minster in the Ministry of National Diversity & Social Integration - Senator Embau Moheni; Minis-ter of Communication - Jamal Mohammed; Minister of Finance & The Economy (with responsibility for Caribbean Airlines) - Larry Howai; Deputy Speaker - Nela Khan,M.P

Port-Of-Spain – A 24-year-old Trinidadian has been discharged from hospital into police custody after ploughing into a Caura bar and killing five people on June 19. The man, who reportedly failed a breathalyzer test about an hour after the accident, now faces charges of drunk driving and motor manslaughter. Dead are Shayaz Khan, 25, of #8 McKenzie Street, Frederick Settlement, Caroni, and his moth-er Christine Khan, 51, of the same address; Arun Ajay, 22, of #26 Peas Street, Caura Road, El Dorado; Harrilal Mongroo, 30, of #54 Maraj Street, Five Rivers, Arouca, and Shiva Bharat, 28, of St Joseph.

Autopsies were subsequently conducted at the Forensic Science Centre in St James.

The carnage reportedly unfolded at around 5:30am shortly after the man, driving his cousin’s Nissan Almera, left a bar on the Eastern Main Road with four passengers: his brother, a male friend and two young women. According to police, the driver was proceed-ing east along the Eastern Main Road when he pulled to his right at Caura Junction to avoid colliding with another vehicle, a white Corolla, which was exiting Caura Royal Road. The Nissan went on to strike a traffic light pole and then ran into the five victims outside the Palance Bar, which is located on the southern side of Caura Junction.

District Medical Officer (DMO) Saty-

anarayana Uppalapati first pronounced two people dead and then, when the vehicle was pulled away from the extensively damaged bar by a wrecker, three more bodies were dis-covered crushed below it. All three were also pronounced dead by the DMO. Three other people injured in the bloodbath were taken to the Arima Health Facility for treatment. Ake-la Alleyne, 19, suffered a broken hip, while Anika Small and Ian Joseph were treated and discharged. The driver complained to the police of serious pains and was taken to the Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex (EWMSC) for treatment. He was treated for minor injuries. Owner of Palance Bar, Ra-mesh Sookraj, was on the premises when the accident occurred.

“Careless and reckless driving cause in-nocent people to lose their lives. The man coming up the road is either he sleep away or he couldn’t control the speed of the car. He ran into the bar from the end of the cul-vert and lick down everybody,” Sookraj told the press. Sookraj went on to say that he was surprised that the driver came out “without a scratch” and proceeded to tell him that he did not have to worry about the damage and that he would “fix everything”.

He added that the driver was not even con-cerned or maybe unaware that he had just killed five people.

Port-Of-Spain, A single mother of four, who admitted in court o burning the hand of her eight-year-old daughter, has been sent to prison for three years.

Kamla Ramcharan, 29, was given the sen-tence despite an appeal by her attorney who said his client was struggling to make ends meet without the help of the father, and had burned the child because she had allegedly stolen money at school for a third time.

However, in imposing the prison term, Ch-aguanas Magistrate Gillian David-Scotland told the woman: “That is a heinous way to punish a child. This child you give birth to, this child is innocent. She did not ask to come here. What interactions you have with her fa-ther have nothing to do with the child.”

Ramcharan, wept as the charge of assault

occasioning actual bodily harm was read in court. The maximum penalty for the offence is five years in prison.

According to the charge, on June 16, at Ramcharan’s Railway Road, Longdenville home, Ramcharan held the child’s hand on a hot tawah, a circular flat iron skillet used to make roti.

The court prosecutor, Sgt Jackman, said a teacher at the Montrose Vedic Primary School had called Ramcharan from the Mon-trose Vedic School and informed her that the child had allegedly stolen money from a classmate. He said Ramcharan later went to the school and took her daughter home.

In a statement given to police by Ram-charan, the mother said the girl denied steal-ing money.

Port-0f-Spain - Size doesn’t matter Responding to concerns about the ex-pansion of her Government as a result of the recent Cabinet reshuffle, Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar has said: “It is all well and good to talk about numbers and size. But what is important is that the fo-cus areas of concern to the population are being ad-dressed by the reconfigura-tion.

She defended her decision to increase the number of Cabinet ministers in her Government (to 33), making it the largest Cabinet in this country’s history (in addi-tion to seven non-Cabinet ministers), and bigger than the Cabinets of countries such as China (which has 27 members) and the United States (23) with massive popula-tions. She was speaking with reporters

shortly after the swearing-in of new min-isters at Knowsley building, Queen’s Park West, Port of Spain.

Questioned on the cost to the taxpayers of this larger Cabinet, the Prime Minister said: “There are so many issues to deal with. I do believe the composition of the Cabinet as it stands is better poised for greater delivery, greater performance and implementation.”


Belly Bustas Take 2:

A fellow was very much in love with a beautiful girl. One day she told him that the next day was her birthday. He told her he would send her a bouquet of roses... one for each year of her life.

That evening he called the local florist and ordered twenty-one roses with in-structions that they be delivered first thing

the next morning.As the florist was preparing the order,

he decided that since the young man was such a good customer, he would put an ex-tra dozen roses in the bouquet.

He never did find out why she suddenly refused to ever see him again..

Birthday Gift


Your Mortgage Health CheckYour home is your most important investment and you will want to do everything you

can to make it the best. Consider this your home oil change to do every 6 months to 1 year. Similar to a physical, take a look at the checklist below and the more of these steps you can check off, the better your mortgage health will be.

Accelerate your mortgage payments - For many of us, mortgage payments represent our largest monthly expense and making your payments more frequently (bi-weekly as opposed to monthly) can reduce interest costs over the long term.

Choose a shorter amortization period - Another way to reduce the total interest you pay is to reduce your amor-tization (the length of time it takes to pay off the mortgage). Select-ing a shorter amortiza-tion (20 years instead of 30, for example) will mean higher monthly payments but could save you thousands in interest costs over the life of the mortgage.

Take advantage of mortgage pre-payments. - Many mortgages offer prepayment

privileges, allowing you to pay up to 20% of the original value of the mortgage each year. This money goes directly to reducing the principal, which can also lead to large savings over the life of the mortgage.

Make a lump-sum payment when you renew -This can lead to greater savings on

interest charges over the life of your mortgage.

You may be thinking of refinancing or be up for renewal. First, you may want to consider what your short-term plans are? If your mortgage

is coming up for renewal and you are thinking of moving shortly afterwards, an open mortgage can give you the flexibility you need. An open mortgage may also be a good idea if you will be coming into a lump sum that can be used to pay down your mortgage (ex. Sale of assets, inheritance, bonus).

Consider a blended-rate renewal - If your existing mortgage rate is higher than cur-

rent rates, you could save money with a blended rate. A blended renewal or “blend and extend” extends your mortgage beyond your existing term at a rate that averages what you are paying now with current mortgage interest rates.

Factor in potential costs when refinancing - If your mortgage is closed (that is, you

cannot pay it ahead of schedule), you may face a penalty when you renegotiate. How-ever, it may still be worthwhile to refinance. The key is to determine whether the savings in interest costs outweigh the penalty. That’s why it’s important to think of the longer-term benefits in the form of total interest savings.

Use your home equity to borrow at more attractive rates - The equity you have

built in your home can be a valuable source of financing allowing you to borrow at better rates. You can borrow against the equity in your home to pay for your child’s education, purchase an investment, pay for large-scale home renovations or buy an income property.

Check your insurance - If you have a family (and especially if you are the sole bread-

winner), credit protection can give you the peace of mind of knowing that your family’s mortgage payments will be covered. If you purchased your home more than five years ago, check to be sure that your property protection is still sufficient.

Having a healthy mortgage and assessing your financial goals will only lead to success

and a better financial outlook. Take a few minutes and complete your Mortgage Health Check.

*The information in this article is not intended as specific investment, financial, ac-counting, legal or tax advice for any individual.

Home AffairsContracts

According to the dictionary, a contract is:

“An agreement be-tween two or more persons which creates an obligation to do or not to do a particular thing”

In order for the agreement to be valid and enforceable, there are some prerequi-sites. Firstly, the parties entering into the agreement must be over the age of major-ity. In other words, the law recognizes that minors would not be competent to form binding legal obligations. Secondly, the parties entering into the agreement must have what is commonly referred to as “a meeting of the minds”. Essentially, the parties must have a common intention with respect to the subject matter. Furthermore,

the common intention must be to create a le-gal obligation. Third-ly, in order to be valid, something of value must move from one party to the next. The Courts refer to this

something of value as “consideration”. It is important to note that the consideration or thing of value need not necessarily be money. The Courts have recognized and stipulated that the consideration or thing of value can be something as small as a lol-lipop.

Finally, in order to create a valid contract, the parties must enter into the agreement voluntarily. A common example where voluntariness would be lacking is where indivuals are invited to a sales seminar and promised a gift for attending. Upon attend-

ing the person is locked into a room and the product is displayed, they are not given a gift nor are they allowed to leave until they have agreed to buy the product, which is aggressively marketed by sales people. In such cases one may feel constrained or compelled to sign on the dotted line. If you find yourself in this position, this contract may be questionable, so it might be advis-able to see a lawyer.

Does a contract have to be in writing to be valid? It is a common misconception that a contract must be in writing in order to be valid. Oral contracts are valid and enforceable. For obvious reasons a written contract is easier to prove in a Court in the event of a dispute. Furthermore, a written contract will leave less room for confusion and ambiguity.

In the event that one party breaches a contract the other party’s remedy is to seek

monetary compensation or what is com-monly referred to as “damages”. In some cases money will not suffice. For instance, assume you are in the market to buy an exotic car; you have a collection of such cars but not a Porsche 959. You locate one and enter into an agreement to purchaser it. You pay a deposit but before delivery, the seller changes his mind. In such a case, the Court can order the seller to complete the transaction and sell you the car.

Selwyn R. Baboolal in a partner at Ou-marally Baboolal practicing in the area of litigation for the past 18 years.

This is intended for information purpos-es only and you should consult a lawyer if you need legal representatation or a legal opinion.

Selwyn R.

Baboolal


There are tricks to every trade and hair-styling is no exception. Many women find themselves falling into a rut with regard to their hair styles because they think many of the looks that are popular today are too dif-ficult to manage. Nothing could be further from the truth. Here are some of the com-mon “looks” in hair fashion today, and the tricks to getting them perfect.

Slicked BackTo get a smooth finish to the “slicked

back” look, the secret is to rinse the hair

with warm water (as hot as can be toler-ated) for a few minutes prior to applying the styling product. The application of heat and moisture will break the physical side bonds in the hair and allow it to be combed smooth and flat. All but the curliest of hair can be made to lie smooth and straight along the curve of the scalp.

The styling product should be applied – use a strong hold styling gel for maxi-mum control – and massage it through the

hair with the fingers. Comb the hair with a wide-tooth comb first to ensure there are no tangles, then switch to finer toothed combs to further smooth and define the styling.

Big VolumeWhether your hair is a medusa’s nest of

snaky curls or sleek and straight, you can pump up the volume in your hair by ap-proaching the problem upside down. That’s right, after shampooing and conditioning, apply some styling gel to the scalp ends of

the hair and massage it through the hair to distribute it. Comb through the hair with a wide-tooth comb to evenly distribute the product then flip your head over.

Dry the hair using your blow dryer on low heat setting or with a diffuser attach-ment. Start at the scalp and be sure to hold the hair out from the head to get maximum lift at the root ends of the hair. Continue to dry the remaining length of the hair until the hair is halfway dry along the shaft, at which point you can upright your head and finish drying the hair as desired.

If you have curly hair you may need to lightly mist the hair with a styling spritz, spray gel or hair spray and scrunch the hair

to redefine the curls. Straight hair can be misted with a touch of shine enhancer and

combed through to give that glossy look to the ends.

Sculpted CurlSometimes you want a style that has

something a little different to it. You want a clean, sleek look, but you don’t want the same old “slicked back” look. Well, try a finger wave, or sculpted curl, to make the look more exciting.

Treat the hair as if you are planning to create the slicked back look. Once the styl-ing gel has been applied, use your fingers and a comb to form curves and ridges in the hair. Allow the hair to set (meaning dry) and use a comb to break the gel and soften the look of the hair. The result is a look that is clean and tidy, and visually in-teresting.

If you are still short of ideas you can al-ways copy straight t from some celebrities whose hairstyles have become iconic:

Women’s World - BeautyHairstyling Made Easy

Halle Berry’s Spiky Pixie HaircutThere have been other every-which-way haircuts before and since, but none quite

this amazing

Dreadlocks, Cool and beautiful—what’s not to love?

The High BunA classic style that was reinvigorated in

the ’00sSubtle Layers

Cutting hair in gently cascading tiers breaks up a mass of hair and gives lift and

bounce

The Half-Up HairstyleThe ‘do that’s kept women looking stylish

for decades without giving them a hair headache


Sports BeatPhillip Retains Grand Prix Crown Blazing Bledman

Ace Trinidad and Tobago cyclist Njisane Phillip retained the US Grand Prix of Sprinting match sprint crown on June 24 in Colorado Springs, Colo-rado, after a blistering perfor-mance. Phillip pedaled to a new national and Pan Ameri-can record in the Flying 200 metres event, clocking 9.775, the fourth best time overall as three Germans—Robert For-stemann, Stefan Nimke, and Rene Enders in that order—all eclipsed the time. Forstemann’s winning time was 9.652.

However, Phillip was the overall winner, repeating his victory of a year ago. The three Germans pulled out of the late rounds of the competition.

To get to the quarter-final, Phillip defeated another Ger-man, Robert Kantner, in the second round.

Phillip also teamed up with Americans Gideon Massey and TJ Mathieson to finish third in 1:02.100 in the team sprint event, while the T&T trio of Quincy Alexander, Haseem McLean and Justin Roberts combined for seventh place of nine teams with a 1:03.480 clocking.

During the competition, which started Friday, Roberts broke Phillip’s national

junior Flying 200 record with his 10.429 time, while Alexander, in his first season as a senior rider, clocked a personal best 10.345 in the same event

Keston Bledman won his first senior na-tional sprint title in style, bolting to victory in a personal best 9.86 seconds at the June 22 Championships held Hasely Crawford Stadium in Port of Spain.

At the halfway mark, “Blazing Bled-man” was in charge, motoring to the line for a commanding victory in the NAAA Sagicor/NGC National Open Track and Field Championship men’s 100 metres fi-nal.

Richard “Torpedo” Thompson did not achieve his beaver-trick goal, but had the satisfaction of getting home in an impres-sive 9.96 seconds to seize silver.

Rondel Sorrillo clocked a new personal record (PR), 10.03, to claim bronze, ahead of Marc Burns (10.06), Emmanuel Cal-lender (10.12), Jamol James (10.17), Dar-rel Brown (10.27) and Aaron Armstrong (10.51).

Bledman had sounded a warning ahead of the final with a speedy victory in the second semifinal, clocking 10.04 seconds to beat Sorrillo (10.11) into second spot.

After the championship race, Bledman told reporters he is extremely satisfied with his performance.

“I’m just thanking the Lord for coming out injury free. I’m very, very, very happy with the time. My fans came so I had to give them a show.

“No disrespect to (Usain) Bolt, (Yohan) Blake, my training Tyson Gay, but when I go to the Olympics, I’m going to win. I ain’t going there to play around. I have at least 9.7 in me.”

Bledman is now joint-second on the all-

time Trinidad and Tobago performance list, with quadruple Olympic medallist Ato Boldon. Thompson is in the number one spot with his 9.85 seconds national record.

Kelly-Ann Baptiste whipped the T&T young brigade in the women’s 100m final.

The World Championship bronze med-allist separated herself from the field early in the race, and by the halfway stage was in full control. Baptiste went on to win in 10.98 seconds, finishing well ahead of Semoy Hackett, the silver medallist in 11.14, Kai Selvon (11.24) and Michelle-Lee Ahye (11.29).

A strong finish from Lalonde Gordon earned the 23-year-old athlete gold in the men’s 400m. Gordon clocked 45.40 sec-onds to grab the title from Renny Quow, the 2011 champion finishing second in 45.60. Third spot went to 19-year-old Deon Lendore (45.74).

Jarrin Solomon (45.88) copped fourth spot, and 17-year-old Machel Cedenio finished fifth in a personal best 46.02 seconds--a new national youth (under-18) record.

Lendore, in lane three, made the early running in the one-lap final, quickly mak-ing up the stagger on Quow, in four. But Quow stepped up a gear in the second half of the race, catching Lendore about 60 me-tres from home.

Gordon, though, was strongest in the dy-ing stages, surging past the pair and thrust-ing an arm in the air to celebrate his first national title.

Keston Bledman

Njisane Phillip


Uncapped Badree Picked For Kiwi T20sWest Indies have picked uncapped legs-

pinner Samuel Badree in their squad for the two Twenty20 matches against New Zealand in Lauderhill, Florida on June 30 and July 1. Darren Bravo hasn’t been selected after he returned to the West Indies from the tour of England due to a groin strain. Also missing are seamer Tino Best and allrounder Andre Russell, who picked up an injury during the first ODI against England at the Rose Bowl.

Badree, 31, who plays for Trinidad and To-bago, has played 12 first-class games, taking 14 wickets at 37.50 in a career that started ten years ago. He has done better in one-day cricket, with 32 wickets at 26.31, and has an excellent T20 record. In the 41 T20s Badree has played, he has collected 39 wickets at 15.61 with an economy-rate of just 4.42.

Badree was successful in the Caribbean T20, picking up eight wickets in six games at 11.87 and going for just 4.31 an over. In the final, which T&T won, he conceded just 14 in his four-over spell, taking one wicket.

“The team is well-balanced and has been selected with the Twenty20 World Cup in mind,” West Indies’ chief selector Clyde Butts said. “Looking at the team, we expect this side to do very well against New Zea-land, as our preparation for the World Cup continues.

“Badree has been a consistent performer in regional tournaments over a period of time

and the selectors felt it was the right time to introduce him to the team.”

West Indies were due to leave for the Unit-ed States from the UK on Monday. The two T20s in Florida are followed by five ODIs and two Tests in the Caribbean.

West Indies squad: Darren Sammy (capt), Samuel Badree, Dwayne Bravo, Johnson Charles, Fidel Edwards, Chris Gayle, Sunil Narine, Kieron Pollard, Denesh Ramdin, Ravi Rampaul, Marlon Samuels, Lendl Sim-mons, Dwayne Smith.

Samuel Badree

Tony

McWatt

So the West Indies have completed yet another unsuccessful tour of Eng-land, losing both the Test and One Day International Series to their hosts. As bitter as those defeats would have been, the tour has provided some useful les-sons for the West Indies, in its continu-ous quest to regain some semblance of its former glory as a respected cricket-ing entity.

The first of those lessons would have been the folly of exposing such an in-experienced to order as Adrian Barath, Darren Powell, Kirk Edwards and Dar-ren Bravo to an English pace attack as seasoned as Messrs Anderson, Broad and Bresnan in conditions so favor-able to the latter. That was almost as suicidal as it was foolhardy as reflected in the West Indies early loss of wickets throughout the Test Series. Kirk Ed-wards in particular was completely out of his league and eventually had to be mercifully dropped for the 3rd Test.

The West Indies would have been far better served having the experience of a Chris Gayle or Ramnaresh Sarwan at the top of the order. The presence of either or both would have provided obviously needed guidance to the very talented but wantonly inexperienced youngsters, Barath, Powell and Bravo.

Admittedly Gayle’s IPL commit-ments eventually rendered him unavail-able for at the least the first two Tests. Sarwan however was otherwise occu-pied, scoring runs at will for Leicester-shire. In the very same conditions that his less experienced fellow West Indi-ans were finding so difficult to adjust to.

Such is very sad politics of West In-dies cricket today, that the appreciation of the value that Sarwan’s experience would have brought to the team at the top of the order, was completely lost on the selectors. So it was left to Marlon Samuels and Shiv Chanderpaul to con-stantly have to try to repair the damage done to the West Indies cause by the in-evitable loss of early wickets.

The loss of the Series proved how impossible a task that was. The West Indies can however at least be thankful for Samuel’s long awaited emergence as a reliable middle order batsman. His batting throughout the Series was a joy to behold. With him now settled at number six, Chanderpaul at five and Bravo’s obvious if yet unfulfilled talent still warranting tenure of the number four spot, the West Indies at last have a settled middle order.

Chris Gayle’s much welcomed reso-lution of his longstanding differences and disputes with the West Indies Cricket Board, has allowed for his fu-ture availability at the top of the order.

Adrian Barath and Darren Powell are the two most suited by talent to join him. Their competition amongst each other as to who should be chosen will be very healthy for West Indies cricket. Almost a throwback to the days when Lawrence Rowe and Alvin Kallicharran were competing with each other for number three spot in West Indies bat-ting order.

The other two very obvious lessons to have emerged from the England Tour both involve West Indies current captain Darren Sammy. The first of these is the harsh reality that the West Indies simply will never win Test matches against any of the top ranked teams such as Austra-lia, England, India, South Africa and even Pakistan, as long as their bowling is based on a four man attack of which Sammy is the third pacer.

At Test Cricket’s highest levels, Sam-my’s medium paced dibbly dobblies simply aren’t penetrative enough to do anything more than pick up the odd wicket here and there. As a bowler in Tests he has now taken 70 wickets from 27 matches, at an average of 32.40. That’s just slightly over two wickets per Test and one per innings.

Taken to their logical conclusion those statistics signify that ff the West Indies were to be dependent upon Sam-my alone to take all twenty-wickets re-quired to win Test matches, they would only do so after the opposition had scored 320 runs in each innings or 640 in the match!

With the bat Sammy, despite his ever so lucky, swiping century during the 2nd Test, still averages only 21.39 so even his status as an all-rounder is du-bious at best.

To my mind Jerome Taylor, whose 82 Test wickets in the 29 matches he’s played to date have included a best of 5/11 against England, should be the rightful occupant of the third pacer spot behind Kemar Roach and Ravi Ram-paul. Those three backed up by any one of Shane Shillingford, Sunil Naraine, Davendra Bishoo or Sulieman Benn, as the front line spinner, would consti-tute a bowling attack with a reasonable chance of bowling opposing teams out twice in a Test.

Sadly, the second inescapable lesson to have emerged from England is that as long as Sammy remains guaranteed an automatic pick as captain, the West In-dies will again never win Test matches against quality opponents. Not unless there’s the aberration of a bad wicket or poor umpiring. That’s the harshest les-son to have emerged from the English tour.

With Sammy’s St Lucian connections still entrenched at the helm of West In-dies Cricket, in the personalities of the Board’s President and its CEO, it’s a lesson that seems likely to remain un-heeded until God knows when. As long as it does, fans like me will continue to suffer in abject frustration.

Long live nepotism.

Lessons From An English Tour

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Documents

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eu business

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