The Ministry of Education, Science, Technology and Innovation has advised parents and guardians of students of the Wesley Hall Infants School that the school will be closed until Wednesday, September 11.

According to a Ministry official this is as a result of cleanup work currently being undertaken at the King Street, St. Michael school and following major repairs during the summer vacation.

While work continues on the St. John Polyclinic, there’s one thing that can be said as far as architecture is concerned — and it’s that this could clearly be setting a new modern standard for what health care centres in Barbados will look like going forward.

Started more than a decade ago before being abandoned, and then restarted after the 2008 change of Government, the facility is to be named after late representative of the constituency, David Thompson, and is expected to be officially opened before the end of the year. (LB)

Recently appointed Acting Commissioner of Police, Tyrone Griffith, took on a new role today, complete with much pomp and pageantry.

He is seen here with Chief Justice Sir Marston Gibson at the start of the legal year this morning, before he accompanied the top judicial officer as he inspected a guard of honour outside the Supreme Court Complex on Whitepark Road. (EJ)

The 2013 to 2014 legal year officially opened this morning with what appeared to be a poorly attended religious service at St. Mary’s Anglican Church in Bridgetown. With a judicial official telling Barbados TODAY he was disappointed that more of his colleagues did not turn out, the overall number of worshippers was estimated at less than 150.

Taking part in the service were Governor General Sir Elliott Belgrave, Attorney General Adriel Brathwaite, Chief Justice Sir Marston Gibson, Director of Public Prosecutions, Charles Leacock, newly-appointed Acting Commissioner of Police, Tyrone Griffith, and presiding officers of the high and lower courts.

Church leaders from three denominations also shared in the proceedings — Rector of St. Mary’s, Dr Von Watson, Roman Catholic Bishop of Bridgetown and Kingstown, Reverend Charles Jason Gordon and Salvation Army Divisional Commander for Barbados and St. Lucia, Major Rosemarie Brown.

“Thy kingdom come, O God, They rule, O Christ, begin; Break with Thine iron rod, the tyrannies of sin,” were the first lyrics heard of the opening hymn as the “sweet” voices of the church choir and congregation, filled the historic building. Not only did the ministers of the gospel speak from the lectern, but also members of the legal fraternity.

The first lesson was read by Justice of Appeal, Sandra Mason, and the second by Vice President of the Barbados Bar Association, Liesel Weeks. The Roman Catholic Bishop delivered the sermon.

Once the service was ended, Sir Elliott returned to Government House, but the Chief Justice, other judicial officers and jurors departed for the Supreme Court Complex, where a guard of honour comprising members of the Royal Barbados Police Force and Band were waiting.

After inspecting the parade at the front of the complex, Sir Marston, addressed the Number 1 Supreme Court inside, amidst the fanfare of trumpets blown by police officers. Joining the Chief Justice on the bench were judges of the High Court and Courts of Appeal. (EJ)

Teachers, Ministry of Education and BUT officials meeting inside the school.

School should be in full session tomorrow at Society Primary after an early end today.

This morning, the 90 students and 12 teachers at the St. John school got an early day after concerns were again raised about the physical conditions.

“The [Barbados Union of Teachers] is satisfied that the Ministry of Education has made an attempt to correct the issues at Society Primary, of course the issues cannot be corrected in this short space of time so some work is still to be done,” BUT president Pedro Shepherd told journalists outside of the compound.

When a Barbados TODAY team arrived before 11 a.m., students, teachers as well as parents were sitting outside the classrooms.

BUT President Pedro Shepherd (right) and Parliament Secretary Senator Harry Husbands seemed both intent to get their points across at Society Primary today, moments before Shepherd was invited back from talking to media in the road, to the school’s compound.

Shepherd was there as well as Parliamentary Secretary in the Ministry of Education Senator Harry Husbands, Deputy Chief Education Officer Karen Best, Senior Education Officer Joy Adamson, as well as project officers from the Ministry’s Education Project Implementation who were in the main building with the principal Shirley Thomas and some members of the ancillary staff.

The BUT president went to the main building and shortly afterwards he returned to speak to his members who were seated by the pre-fab building. It was after this that he came outside of the compound to speak to the Barbados TODAY team before returning inside after Husbands invited him to show him the areas of concern.

Later, the team from the ministry gathered in the pre-fab classroom with the principal as well as teachers where Best addressed them.

Teachers kept a close eye on their charges until the school was dismissed.

Around 11:15 parents started to take their children home.

It was last Wednesday, the BUT was first made aware of the situation which included termite trails, mushroom like fungus on the walls and the shaky staircase. A visit was made on Thursday where the members of the executive toured the schools and saw first hand the teachers’ concerns.

Union officials visited again on Friday and were told the school would be cleaned over the weekend so school could start today. (DS)

The Anglican Church is training its clergy to deal with the scourge of domestic violence.

In addition to looking at a facility that can help some of those in need of assistance, Chairman of the church’s Commission on Advocacy and Social Justice, John Goddard, said they were hoping overall to bring stability to the situation.

Goddard’s comments came as he noted the church’s alarm over the recent deaths of women as a result of domestic violence.

“As the commission has been stressing in its family violence campaign over the last year, all human beings, having been made in the image of God have inherent worth and dignity which must be respected. Abuse and violence devalue the image in both the perpetrator and the victim and must be condemned.

“We take this opportunity to remind both men and women that striking out violently is not an appropriate nor acceptable response to feelings of hurt or disappointment. As rational beings we need to find civilised ways of resolving conflict and where efforts fail we need to walk away from unwholesome relationships,” said the clergyman, who noted too that men needed to understand that relationships were based on mutual respect and not control of one’s partner.

He further encouraged the Attorney General to “fast track a new domestic violence act, which would make it easier for the police to act decisively to deal with cases of domestic violence”.

As to what the church is actively doing, the commission chairman said they had done a sensitisation programme, television programme, flyers, posters, as well as sensitised the clergy and other members on the issue.

More victims were turning to the church, he noted according to a CADRES survey, adding that the abused often saw it as a first resort.

“So we want to make sure we equip them that they can get the job done well because you can’t assume that because somebody’s a priest he will know how to deal with matters like this.

“Not all priests are trained counsellors. We need now to embark on this. We are hoping now to have introduced at Codrington, we are hoping to encourage the church to have built into their programme at Codrington College, training for priests and lay persons to deal with cases of abuse. We think that is now a priority.”

Additionally, he said they were now preparing the individual parishes for action in their own parishes.

“Ideally we are hoping that centres will be set up and staffed to be at least first respondents when people have cases they can go and where the staff, personnel can’t help they can at least direct people to the appropriate resources and facilitate it, not just let them to go but make the contact for them. Our first attempt is to bring stability to the situation and give the initial help.

“That’s what we’re trying to encourage the church to take on board. So we’re looking at that. The ultimate goal, of course, is to make sure the church has one main centre in the diocese which is staffed with all kinds of trained individuals who can deal with these cases so that the church can actually have a hands on when dealing with the matter.”

While not calling it a shelter, Goddard said the focus was to provide support and counselling, which was necessary for both perpetrator and victim. (LB)

The Government of Barbados remains committed to addressing gender inequality in the island.

Minister of Labour, Senator Esther Byer-Suckoo, gave Barbadians this assurance this morning while addressing the ILO Subregional Gender Equality Workshop for Judges of the Caribbean at Hilton Barbados.

“In 2011 the Ministry of Labour and Social Security participated in a participatory gender audit which was conducted by the ILO and the OAS. This gender audit assessed the extent of gender mainstreaming as a strategy to advance gender equality in the policies, objectives, programmes and projects implemented by the ministry and its agencies and to identify best practices, identify gaps and formulate recommendations.

The ministry has already taken steps to address some of the recommendations arising from the audit, including the promotion of gender equality in the world of work.

“One area of good governance is the commitment of governments to periodically review their national legislative instruments and to abolish those statutes that discriminate against men and women. The Government is focusing on two areas, sexual harassment and discrimination at the workplace.

“The new sexual harassment legislation will be gender neutral and it will ensure that both employers and employees will be responsible for the maintenance of a working environment which is free from harassment, discrimination and retaliation,” Byer-Suckoo added.

She disclosed that work is still being done by the Ministry of Labour on this piece of legislation and stressed that it was still the number one priority for the administration.

Conscious of the fact that in a depressed labour market women are usually exposed to sexual exploitation, Byer-Suckoo said: “Especially when I am aware that where jobs are scarce some employers may want to take advantage of the desperation and moreso the fear of job loss to offer a quid pro quo arrangement with their employees. Currently, we are looking to put in place the tribunal that will look at sexual harassment issues.” (NC)

by Donna Sealy

BUT President Pedro Shepherd (right) and Parliament Secretary Senator Harry Husbands seemed both intent to get their points across at Society Primary today, moments before Shepherd was invited back from talking to media in the road, to the school’s compound.

President of the Barbados Union of Teachers, Pedro Shepherd, is doing his job the same way the Minister of Education is doing his.

Making it clear he was not going to be involved in a public discussion on the issue, he said it was his job the defend the members, who, like other public workers had the right to comfortable working conditions.

“Let me state for the record that it has never been and I don’t think it would ever be the business of the Barbados Union of Teachers to engage in any form of negativity … when it comes to education in Barbados.

“The BUT … was established in 1975 out of cause. The BUT is a registered organisation, registered trade union and it has a role to play. I am not going to get embroiled in any debate with the Minister of Education … who in an article today … lambasted the BUT over its recent, as he said, pervasive negativity and approach to matters affecting the BUT,” he told Barbados TODAY.

“I agree with Minister Jones that the country does not build itself on pervasive negativity and that it builds itself upon people being positive, focussed and people being interested in the country and I would wish the minister to also bear that in mind when he is making statements about a trade union which is so bold to say in the same article that he headed between 1987 and 1995 — eight years [he] was at the head of the Barbados Union of Teachers.

“Those of us who knew Minister Jones when he was at the head of the BUT, would know that [he] defended the rights of teachers in the same way that the current [head],” Shepherd added.

The trade union leader said he supported Jones’ comments that it was remarkable that the majority of schools would open today given the Barbados’ size and limited resources, however: “If there are 103 schools and he can open 102 of them at the start of this term and … two are in the condition that the St. Jude’s Primary and the Society Primary schools were in, then I have a fundamental problem with opening those schools and putting the teachers’ and children’s lives at risk.”

Noting that Society Primary was older than 150 years, Shepherd said the photos published did not lie and were an accurate depiction of conditions seen at the St. John when he visited Thursday and Friday last week “in defense of teachers who felt unsafe”.

This morning in the road outside of the primary school, Shepherd told Barbados TODAY that after receiving a call from the shop steward who had indicated there were still concerns, he went there.

“On arrival the Ministry of Education had a number of persons on the compound. They were meeting with the principal at the time,” he said.

The trade union leader said work done included stabilising the staircase and removing the mushrooms which had been growing on the wall.

“If you take a look at the building you would notice that the termite trails are no longer very visible so some covering has been done, maybe they were treated and the area painted. I noticed the fungi and mould appear[ed] to be growing on the walls but the ministry I was told … treated those areas with some transparent solution. We will await the death of the mould and fungus in those areas…

“The Ministry is in a meeting with the staff and the decision has been taken to continue the work. It is my understanding that two teams of industrial cleaners will be in today … because teachers are still having concerns about dust, particularly coming from the upper floor onto the teachers and students who occupy the bottom floor,” he stated.

Shepherd outlined the BUT’s mandate.

“If teachers in Barbados feel unsafe in any building in which the Ministry of Education wants them to work then it is the duty of the BUT to represent them and Minister Jones is fully aware of that.

“If the minister categorises it as pervasive negativity, that is for the minister but I am doing my job, and teachers in Barbados need to be as comfortable as any other public servant in carrying out their duties. The children of Barbados need to be placed in environments that are safe and healthy, like any other person in Barbados and I will defend and continue to defend my members for as long as they are in need of that defence,” he asserted.

Regarding Alma Parris Secondary, Shepherd said that there would be no industrial action there as efforts at a resolution were made. These include a full inspection slated to start on September 23.

“I am not letting the teachers at Alma Parris School down. I am not going to fall short when it comes to representation of teachers [there]. When Mrs. Karen Best, the Deputy Chief Education Officer responsible for schools was president of the Barbados Union of Teachers, Alma Parris was an issue. I am simply continuing the efforts of the former president and simply continuing the agitation of behalf of the teachers of Alma Parris School and I will continue to do so.

“And until there is enough evidence that the teachers are comfortable. Pedro Shepherd and the BUT will continue to speak on the issues related to that school,” he said.

Teachers at the St. Peter school reported for duty this morning but left at half day and will meet next Monday to ensure there are no issues with the timetable. donnasealy@barbadostoday.bb

Acting Commissioner of Police, Tyrone Griffith with Chief Justice Sir Marston Gibson at the start of the legal year this morning.

A list of 29 court cases, some as old as 23 years, have been identified for dismissal by the High Court.

Chief Justice Sir Marston Gibson revealed this morning that the information came from the preliminary report of the Backlog Reduction Programme, which had been submitted to him. Speaking in the Number One Supreme Court at the opening of the Legal Year 2013 to 2014, Sir Marston said the report dealt with the status of the cases for 1990 to 1991.

“There are now some 29 orders of dismissal which are being prepared for my signature, and another 11 orders for cases which will be calendared for status hearings before me very shortly,” added the chief justice.

“What this means is that we can now move on to the cases from 1992 and 1993. The committee has determined that it is better to work in two-year tranches rather than biting off more than we can reasonably chew.”

He said he felt “very” positive, however, about the work of the committee and the fact that there had been some measure of success, albeit limited. The Chief Justice disclosed too, that the Director of Public Prosecutions has decided to use the procedure of a voluntary bill in some cases, in an effort to address the backlog in criminal cases. “This meant that once the evidence in an indictable case is ready, the DPP will seek the consent of a High Court judge to prefer a voluntary bill and so obviate the need to go through the process of a preliminary inquiry, a procedure which has led to the huge remand problem which we have,” concluded the top judicial administrator.

He added he hoped this initiative could start before the end of this year.

Sir Marston also suggested that the pace of litigation in Barbados was showing no signs of slowing down or abating.

“In 2011 in the High Court, 2,132 civil cases were filed, along with 452 divorce applications, and 1,086 probate applications — a total of 3,670 civil cases,” he revealed.

He added that in 2012, the figure climbed to 3,938 civil filings, comprising 2,273 civil cases, 472 divorce applications and 1,193 probate applications.

“And to report on the filings which face our hardworking magistrates; in 2011, 22,824 matters were filed in the Magistrates’ Court, while in 2012, there were 20,656,” reported Sir Marston.

He reminded the audience, which included jurors, that there was need to change the way business was down in the court, “if we are ever to get ahead of the curve, or the very least keep up with our annual filings”.

Reporting progress on his proposed Alternative Dispute Resolution pilot project announced last year, the Chief Justice disclosed that the roster of high court mediators should be ready no later than the middle of next month.

“The bad news is that we are awaiting the appointment of an ADR Coordinator, who will be responsible for running the programme. Cabinet approval for the post has already been received and we were awaiting the establishment of the post,” added the CJ.

However, he questioned whether that could still happen, in light of the strictures included in the recent budget of Minister of Finance Chris Sinckler. Sir Marston is still hoping that he could have a coordinator to begin the ADR programme next month.

“I say that because one of the positive things which came out of the ADR training, particularly during the practicums, which involved real cases, was the number of attorneys who informed us that they wished to have their cases go through ADR,” declared the leading judge.

He disclosed that the Dean of the Faculty of Law at the Cave Hill Campus of the University of the West Indies, Dr David Berry, had indicated that the faculty was interested in starting a Certificate Programme for the Training of Mediators in Barbados, the fine points of which still had to be worked out.

He said he also expected that the proposed Drug Treatment Court would soon be in operation. (EJ)

Chief Justice Sir Marston GIbson oversees ceremony at Supreme Court Complex accompanied by Acting Commissioner of Police Tyrone Griffith and the commissioner’s Staff Officer Inspector Ian Branch.

Inmates of Her Majesty’s Prison at Dodds in St. Philip, will soon be able to have some cases conducted from the confines of jail.

Victims of abuse or those threatened with violence in drug cases, will also soon have their cases heard, without being in the same room as the accused. These were among the initiatives announced this morning by Chief Justice Sir Marston Gibson while he addressed jurors and judicial officials at the official start of the Legal Year 2013 to 2014, in the Number One Supreme Court.

“We are working on a video conferencing facility between the court and Her Majesty’s Prison at Dodds, which will permit some hearings, for example, applications for bail, to be heard by video conferencing, rather than by transporting the applicants to the court,” Sir Marston disclosed.

The Chief Justice noted that for some time now, the superintendent of prisons had been reporting a challenge with keeping the prison buses in good repair. “It is my view that only where an inmate is on trial or having an appeal heard, does he or she need to be physically present in the courtroom,” he added. “Also, we are planning to set up a video conferencing link between our trial courtrooms and our video conferencing courtroom, so that where there are vulnerable witnesses, such as victims of sexual or physical abuse, or victims of threats of violence in drug cases, the witness can physically testify from a video conferencing room without being in the intimidating presence of the accused.”

Sir Marston reported too, that he was pleased with the new Supreme Court website, which he said he intended to bring on-stream no later than the middle of next month. He suggested that what currently existed could not be called website by “a generous stretch of language”.

He said the judiciary had been working with a small company called, BitEdge. “The website committee had a meeting last week to get a look at what BitEdge has proposed, and I can’t say it any better than, we like what we see. The website will be user friendly, permitting searches, not only of decided cases, but to look as well at the progress of cases, and the judges to whom the cases have been assigned,” continued the Chief Justice.

However, the top justice official told the court there would be new frontiers, including e-filing of cases and the possibility of paying online for services, such as issuance of certificates.

“This will bring our courts in line with the demands of modern commerce and get rid of some of the long lines of which we have heard complaints,” he asserted. (EJ)

Roman Catholic Bishop, Jason Gordon.

A local religious leader told the church service which marked the official opening of the legal year at St. Mary’s Anglican this morning, that the judicial system in Barbados was not designed to benefit the “small man” and should be changed.

In his sermon, Roman Catholic Bishop of Bridgetown and Kingstown, Jason Gordon, used two characters on which to build his message, drawn from a story in the Bible of a widow and a judge.

Gordon named the widow or powerless one “Miss Little One” and the judge, dubbed “Mr B MaGuffy”, or the one who has the power, feared neither God nor man, cared nothing about what people thought, was unjust and used his power to suit himself.

He also brought a third character into the picture, which he called “Lady Harmony”, describing “her” justice — that essential quality for right order in society, added the priest.

“After 46 years of Independence, when we have the administration of the nation and justice in our hands, in a country where we believe in the rule of law, we have reached this untenable position, where the legal system is plagued by reports of lawyer misconduct, poor administration within the registry, including files being lost, delays in the administration of justice, with thousands of cases reportedly being outstanding,” the Catholic bishop noted.

Gordon also listed judicial decisions not handed down in a timely manner, “resulting in injustice to Miss Little One, (and) violations of human rights, as persons remain on remand for extended periods of time”.

“It sounds to me,” he reasoned, “as if our character Mr. MaGuffy is large and in charge, not just in the leaders, but at every level of the legal system.

“This system is not working to bring Lady Harmony to our people. It is not designed to serve Miss Little One. It is tired and need innovation. Your core business is the restoration of Lady Harmony. Everything you do, must serve this end.” (EJ)

Elson Toppin and Gloria Hutchinson busy on this pot.

Staff of Stantec took up paint brushes today and headed to Fitts Village Esplanade.

As part of the company’s global community outreach project, the Black Rock, St. Michael office decided to do a face-lift of one of the most popular “windows to the sea” on the west coast.

Managing Principal with the company, Justin Jennings-Wray explained that all their offices across the globe were embarking on various community-minded efforts as part of the engineering and environmental firm’s general rebranding initiative, themed Stantec in the Community.

It meant that there would be more than 4,000 people worldwide engaging in remaking, tree plantings, upgrades to facilities in need of assistance today, he said.

“We wanted to do a project that has an impact on the community and this is a well-utilised park, not just by residents of Fitts Village and Prospect and so on, but in more recent times it has become a drop-off spot, a sightseeing stop for the cruise ship visitors when the taxis come through. There are church events here, picnics here, people rent the facilities for birthdays and other events.

Alison Archer wanted to make this plant pot memorable.

“So having had a look and seen that there are aspects which are in a somewhat state of disrepair, we felt that we could make an impression on the community and add to the value of the place by playing our part,” said Jennings-Wray.

Today with brushes in hand, the crew of eight, including Jaye Applewaite, Orman Collymore, Antonio France, Elson Toppin, Gloria Hutchinson, Shae Warren and Alison Archer, gave a lift to the fountain at the entrance to the park, the plant pots, as well as the picnic tables and benches.

Jennings-Wray, who was splattered with paint from his own efforts at rehabilitating one of the picnic tables, said they had also thought to tackle the wall to the seaside but that would require additional work.

“We hope that people benefit from this. Unfortunately we can’t do everything. Our original intention was to try and do the wall. From the sea you can see it and it is kinda unsightly and so on, but it actually needs some structural repair before it can be done, but that might be part of a future project,” he added.

He said the staff participated in clean-ups each year but this was the first time they had designated a special day for Stantec employees around the globe to engage in such activities simultaneously. On the local front he noted they would continue with local community-related activities in the future, since he added that it was also a way to create camaraderie among staff as well. (LB)

5-year-old Damien Rasheed Forster

Four days after 25-year-old Damien Rasheed Forster of Campaign Land, Martindales Road, St. Michael went missing, he is yet to be found.

And today, Public Relations Officer of the Royal Barbados Police Force, Inspector David Welch, told Barbados TODAY that Foster was still on the list of missing persons.

Foster was last seen at his residence around 7:30 p.m. on Friday, September 6, 2013 and has not been seen or heard from since. He was last seen wearing a blue short sleeve shirt, long grey skinny jeans pants and a pair of black sneakers.

He is about 5′ 5″ in height, stoutly built, and of dark complexion. He has low black hair, a light moustache and thick eyebrows. He has a long face and a protruding forehead.

Foster has a tattoo of a skull head on the left side of his neck and the word MAD tattooed on his left hand. He walks with a “bop”.

The Royal Barbados Police Force has asked anyone with information relative to the whereabouts of Damien Foster to contact the Central CID at 430-7189, the emergency number 211, or the nearest police station.

President of BNA Blondelle Mullin

The Barbados Nurses Association has come out against the upsurge of domestic violence in the country.

And has vowed that it will join with the National Association of Women in a public rally on Thursday to condemn such acts of violence.

In a recent press release the association recalled that “a few weeks ago the nursing fraternity was thrown into shock and grief at the tragic death of nursing auxiliary, Denise Valette Clarke, who died at the hands of a perpetrator of domestic violence”.

The statement, issued by President Blondelle Mullin went on to say: “The Barbados Nurses Association abhors any form or type of domestic violence and when it occurs at our doorstep both literally and figuratively, since she was killed at her workplace, a nursing home, it is even more painful.”

The association said it was joining with all the other agencies to lobby government to speed up the process to have the Domestic Violence Act passed.

Pointing out that the BNA was an affiliate of the National Organisation of Women, Mullin invited nurses and the general public to a rally on September 12, 2013 in Heroes’ Square from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.

In a subsequent statement issued by NOW, that organisation called the rally “a mission to lobby for supportive legislation environment that can adequately protect victims and prosecute the perpetrators”.

NOW stated: “This Rally is seeking to raise awareness about domestic violence against our women and to empower the public and service-oriented agencies, groups and faith-based organisations etc., to help to reduce the incidence in Barbados. Services and support systems offered by the various victim support agencies will be highlighted.”

Presentations will be made during the rally by the Royal Barbados Police Force’s Family Conflict Unit, the Bureau of Gender Affairs and the Business and Professional Women’s Club (Barbados) and NOW officials, along with Women of Purpose, and others.

Entertainers, both male and female, who are scheduled to address the issue via their respective art forms will include Mya Daniel, Adrian Greene, Bobo and Andre Belle, among others. The event will be chaired by broadcast personalities Carole Roberts and Dennis Johnson.

Managing Principal of Stantec, Justin Jennings-Wray

With all the talk about diversifying the local economy, one of the heads of a local engineering firm says it could be a good and maybe profitable concept for businesses as well.

Managing Principal of Stantec, Justin Jennings-Wray said one of the good things about being a company with diverse talents, and even having local staff with several varying skills was that these elements could be brought to bear in tough times.

Noting that Stantec, which has offices in Canada, the US, the Caribbean and further afield, has had 55 years of uninterrupted profitability, he said, “The other reason is the diversity”.

“There are various sectors in Stantec. There is a transportation sector where we look at highways; environmental, urban land and for buildings and so on. There was a time when urban land was king, with work being done in Florida and those places, but with the bust in the States and the real estate it has dwindled away almost to nothing; but then the environmental has picked up.

“So what happens is that when one sector is down, the other one picks up. So there is strength in having a diverse range of skills and I would like to believe that the same applies to what we do locally. Whereas some of our competitors may be more focused on buildings and construction and so on, but that’s not our primary focus. We do environmental engineering, EIAs, drainage studies and one of the benefits of that is that it tends to bring the clients to you a little earlier, but also there is a market for it.

“So whereas construction might be at a low ebb, so to speak, there is still a lot of interest on the planning side. People are forward planning for future work they might do when things turn around. We are seeing more environmental and more drainage and other types of studies,” said Jennings-Wray.

He said additionally the fact that Stantec was a global firm, they had access to resources, almost literally at their finger-tips should jobs require skills that are not home-based.

While the other overseas firms might have persons that specialise only in one area, he said locally the staff were more widely skilled. Jobs in other countries of the region as well, he said, had contributed to their ability to market their skills.

“There is an environmental impact assessment we are about to start in St. Lucia. So we are going to be doing some work in St. Lucia. So we have been keeping a diverse skills set… and more recently we have also been exporting our skills to North America, to Canada and so on…

“All of those little things keep us going. It is definitely not the best of times, but we have our systems in place to try and improve our marketing and it is not just about getting yourself out there, but you’ve got to manage your business properly to make sure you have the adequate cash flow to keep yourself employed.”

As for other businesses, Jennings-Wray said he personally believed the principles adopted by Stantec in terms of its own diversification could serve other companies to weather the difficulties.

“I would say in any business, if there is an item that is your key item which is bringing in business, at some point the demand might go down so you always have to be scanning. Based on my experience in consulting, the more diverse your skill range as an individual person and as a company, the more outfitted you are to adjust in this market.” (LB)

Governor General Sir Elliott Belgrave (right) toasting Frank Moore earlier this year.

Plans are under way to honour this island’s centenarians during a reception to be held later this year.

The National Committee on Ageing, under whose aegis the celebration will be held, is asking relatives or caregivers of all Barbadians aged 99 and over to contact the National Assistance Board’s Office at 426-3131, ext 227, on Tuesdays and Thursdays between 10 a.m. and 3:30 p.m. with the following information: the name and address of the person; his/her date of birth; and the name, address and telephone number of the contact person.

Information should be submitted by Thursday, September 26.

by Latoya Burnham

BUT President Pedro Shepherd

The Barbados Union of Teachers is satisfied with progress on two of the major school issues that caused friction on the first day of school.

President Pedro Shepherd told Barbados TODAY this afternoon that they had visited the Alma Parris school for a three-hour-long meeting this morning to examine the problems there that had teachers complaining yesterday.

Additionally, he said, teachers and students at Society Primary, who were dismissed because of conditions there were back in classes today.

“We met at Alma Parris, Rickmark Cave and myself, with executives of BAPPSS [Barbados Association of Principals of Public Secondary Schools] and the principal. We looked at a number of issues but focussed primarily on the timetables and the whole reassignment of teachers to departments and so on.

“The meeting lasted about three to four hours and I would say we made significant progress on the whole timetable issue. What we have now is the last set of timetables prepared by the staff or the principal of the school. That set that we are now working with is supposed to go to the Ministry of Education, I believe on Monday, so we have asked the principal to use that as the timetable that will be presented to the Ministry. It might have to be tweaked a little bit but we are hoping we will not have a significant variation from the timetables that the principal presented us with today,” he said. The president noted that in addition to the issue of timetables, matters relating to the teachers who were teaching outside of their area of competence was also brought up during the meeting.

“We are trying to work through those. We dealt with two today and I think that we came to an amicable conclusion on those. I think there is only one that is outstanding now and we are trying to see how best to resolve that, but the efforts of BAPPSS to bring the BUT and the principal together seems to have bourne some fruit. So we must commend [President] Vere Parris on that, for the effort,” he stated.

The suggestion that there be a closer inspection of progress at the school, he added, had found favour with the union, which had similarly advised its members on the matter.

“We have advised teachers that we are going to support the full inspection and we are going to cooperate with the inspection team when it is put in place because it is the inspection team that we see as the legal body, so to speak, that would take whatever recommendations are made by the staff back to the Minister and back to the Ministry and they will be acted upon. Remember that we had the Oversight committee which made a number of recommendations but I recognise a lot of them were not binding,” he said, adding that the inspection would be in addition to the Oversight Committee for two terms to report on work at the school.

About progress at Society Primary, Shepherd said teachers had reported that the school had been in full session today.

“They are happy with the cleaning that was done overnight. The scent of mould and so on is no longer; the floors have been cleaned. We are not sure if they were power-washed, but certainly the ministry had said they would vacuum to remove the dust and so on from upstairs.

“The school is back in session, teachers are comfortable with what they are seeing. When they left this afternoon painters were coming in to paint some walls and so on. They are going to use low-odour paint and I believe that school should be able to go on tomorrow. So all seems to be coming along at Society,” he said. latoyaburnham@barbadostoday.bb

Senior dairy staff explain an aspect of their fresh milk.

Officials from the Pine Hill Dairy, which recently received a rescue package from government to help relieve it of its excess milk stock and improve its bottom line, took Minister of Agriculture, Dr. David Estwick on an extensive tour of its modern processing plant in the Pine, St. Michael this morning.

Decked out in all the health and sanitary wear required for entering such a facility, Minister Estwick, a high-powered team of officials from his ministry and media representatives, were guided throughout the plant and into some of its more sensitive sections, by Acting General Manager, William Haslett, Director and Chief Executive Officer of parent company Banks Holdings Limited, Richard Cozier and senior PHD staff.

Some of the sections visited by the teams included the production line, the packaging and warehouse, the microbiology preparation and incubation area and operations control. One of the things which impressed the minister was news from management that the company had recently become the only dairy in the world to be authorised and certified through four ISO certification processes in a single sitting.

Agriculture Minister, David Estwick (left) on tour of the PHD this morning, accompanied by Acting Managing Director, William Haslett (right) and Quality Assurance Manager, Heather Farrell-Clarke, followed by ministry and dairy officials and media personnel.

“I think indeed, it is a commendable achievement and what we have to appreciate is that what it says to us, is that size sometimes doesn’t determine your capacity; and the capacity therefore of the Pine Hill Dairy, to be designated as essentially a world class dairy, is therefore now not in doubt, it is there for the record,” he declared.

“The thing that impressed me in this entire process, is how important it is to a manufacturing entity, that its final product as a consumer, to pay special attention to all of the phases involved in the output of that final production,” Estwick added.

He was particularly delighted, from what he witnessed during the tour, at the health and safety standards in place at the PHD.

“As the Minister of Agriculture, that is now battling with the whole element of a National Agricultural Health and Food Safety system; what I saw today, is probably a premier example of the achievements of that particular type of system, where you have, not only all the elements of traceability enforce, but you have a capacity to be able to manage your traceability from the farm, essentially, down to the consumption side, which is the table,” asserted the minister of food. (EJ)

Central Bank of Barbados Governor, Dr. DeLisle Worrell (FP)

Barbadians saving for a “raining day” should purchase government savings bonds instead of simply depositing their money at commercial banks.

Central Bank of Barbados Governor, Dr. DeLisle Worrell gave that advice today noting that banks were “unhappy” that his institution had stipulated a minimum 2.5 per cent interest rate to be paid to individual savers.

At the same time, he again voiced concern about the limited financing options for the island’s innovators and smallest businesses.

The respected economist, whose institution regulates all banks operating in Barbados, was speaking this morning at the Fourth Annual Domestic Financial Institutions Seminar at Radisson Aquatica Hotel.

“As you know, individual savers do not do very well at commercial banks, earning 2.5 per cent on savings only because the Central Bank stipulates that minimum. It is no secret that banks are unhappy that there is a minimum at all,” Worrell said.

“I am suggesting to individuals that, for all their rainy day savings, they consider Government savings bonds instead. Savings bonds are just as convenient as savings deposits, because you buy them at commercial banks, and they are just as liquid as savings deposits, because you can cash them in at any time.

“However, if you hold them for the full five years of their maturity you earn an interest rate in the region of five per cent, compounded over five years,” he noted.

Another weakness reiterated by the governor was that the island’s financial sector did not sufficiently fund innovation and small and medium enterprises.

“This is an area of exceptionally high risk, into which conventional financial institutions no longer have any incentive to enter. The stipulations for reserves and provisions against possible loss are now so stringent that even small portfolio allocations for high risk high return propositions may no longer be viable,” he said.

“Conventional institutions, even insurance companies and others with a long horizon, may not be the best sources of funds for SMEs in their initial years. New firms should start with equity funding, so as to avoid debt service obligations during the formative period of the enterprise, before it has a regular clientele and a dependable cash flow.

“Some new firms have been successful in finding equity, in spite of the absence of an organised market for venture capital in Barbados, and some capital has been provided, over the years, by NGOs and others. We need to continue the search for better arrangements for equity funding of new ventures,” he added.

The official said he and others involved in the oversight of the local financial system were “well aware that there are ways in which our financial system needs to be improved”.

“We have never had a perfectly competitive financial system, and if we are realistic we will admit that our financial sector is too small to attract many players. We should think of other ways to encourage higher levels of service and efficiency on the part of financial institutions,” he stated.

Worrell also wanted attention paid to other issues including “the unanticipated consequences of international financial reform for emerging market economies like Barbados”.

“We are discussing this issue at the Regional Consultative Group for the Americas of the Financial Stability Board, and we will place this item on our agenda going forward,” he told participants.

“Also for the future agenda are ongoing projects to improve regional financial surveillance and to put in place formal mechanisms to actively manage any future difficulties of financial institutions that are regional in scope. These efforts are being coordinated by the Caribbean Centre for Money and Finance.”

Minister of Agriculture Dr. David Estwick and Quality Assurance Manager of the Pine Hill Dairy, Heather Farrell-Clarke during an extensive tour of the company’s processing plant this morning.

A new milk pricing structure for Barbados, is getting closer to implementation.

During a news briefing shared this morning between Minister of Agriculture, Dr. David Estwick and Director of the Pine Hill Dairy, Richard Cozier at the company’s Pine, St. Michael offices, it was revealed that government had a $4.2 million per year cap within which it could provide support to the industry, under WTO rules. Addressing the media at the end of a tour of the dairy plant, Estwick said since government could not provide that full financial support, discussions were ongoing with the PHD, to work out the specifics of an alternative initiative, which includes a reduction in price.

“I am glad to hear there is a number that we can operate within, and we will be using the capabilities of the government and the ministry, as currently prevails, to see how best we can utilise what is available to achieve a reduction in price,” stated Cozier. “Reduction in price is something that we see as absolutely critical to move the quantities of inventory we have, not just locally, but by extension across the region to markets that we currently trade in, but could do better with, if we had a better first price to them,” added the PHD top executive.

“So those discussions are, I gather, close to coming up with a scheme that we believe would work. We have done our home work and we have an idea … where we could possibly end up, because it all depends on a combination of things; how much is school meals, how much is welfare, so when you put it all together, we have an idea of a range that we can get to market with, which would provide consumers with a tangible discount on what they currently pay,” he concluded.

However, Cozier saw this as a stop gap measure, tantamount to “stopping the bleeding.” The company director argued that one now had to deal with the “cause of the bleeding.”

That is where Cozier said, the dairy supports the restructuring of the industry, through the proposed establishment of a Dairy Control Board, “to take the relationship between processor and farmer, away from the processor and place it in the hands of an independent authority that has representation across the board. He also rejected the notion that its importation of powdered milk, was the main reason Barbadians had shifted their consumption of its produce to the imported one.

“This is a notion that somehow or the other got credence over the past year, or perhaps longer, but bears no relationship to the truth,” he asserted. “Pine Hill Dairy, over the course of its life, imported powder. We import powder primarily to make evaporated milk, which requires the level of solids, that farm fresh milk would not deliver, and even if it did, we don’t have the capability here, with the equipment, to do it,” the dairy boss emphasised.

Cozier sought to make it clear, that powder has “never found its way into fresh milk.”