A Christ Church family is today in a state of shock over the untimely and unexpected death of 51-year-old Winston Bynoe, who was gunned down a short distance away from his St Matthias home last night.

Bynoe was at the residence of a friend when two masked men pounced around 11:30 p.m.

Police say the unidentified gunmen entered the gate of the home and fired gunshots, causing both the victim and his friend to run for cover.

However, when the commotion subsided, it was discovered that Bynoe was injured.

He was transported to the Accident & Emergency Department of the Queen Elizabeth Hospital by private vehicle and was later pronounced dead.

Today, when Barbados TODAY visited the deceased man’s home at Block 4C, St Matthias Housing Area, family members, including his parents Winston and Yvonne Bynoe, were in no position to speak.

[caption id="attachment_237635" align="aligncenter" width="500"] Shocked relatives of 51-year-old Winston Bynoe (inset) who was gunned down a short distance away from his St Matthias home last night.[/caption]

However, one community spokeswoman, who requested anonymity, told reporters she was startled by last night’s deadly incident.

“I hear somebody say, ‘gunshots’ and I say, ‘gunshots?’ I ain’t looking for no gunshots to be out this side,” she explained, adding that to her further surprise, the victim was someone she knew and loved dearly.

“Afterwards, I heard someone say, ‘Trevor get shoot’. I say, ‘Trevor get shoot?’” she said still in disbelief over the incident, which has also rocked his close-knit community.

“I didn’t know what to do,” the grieving neighbour stressed.

And while suggesting that his shooting death may have been a case of mistaken identity, she was adamant that Bynoe was no troublemaker.

“He don’t get into no trouble and he is a nice painter. That is all I can say about Trevor. He would do anything for anybody out here. You could call Trevor and he would go anywhere for you. A very nice person, I have nothing bad to say about him.”

Today, the two main political candidates contesting the May 24 general election in Christ Church West, where last night’s tragedy occurred, also expressed profound sympathy to Bynoe’s family.

“We regret this loss of life and we hope the perpetrators are brought to justice,” said Democratic Labour Party candidate Verla De Peiza, while the Barbados Labour Party’s William Duguid called for an end to gun violence on the island.

“I am very saddened by what has happened in the Pleasant Hall, St Matthias area. I have been to visit the man’s family and obviously they are extremely distressed.

“I join with the rest of the community in condemning this senseless violence that continues to plague our country and I hope and look forward to a time where we can get back to law and order in this country, where we no longer have this violence perpetrated,” Duguid said.

There have been a dozen killings so far this year, compared to 31 for all of last year.

anmargboyce@barbadostoday.bb

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Barbados Labour Party (BLP) St Michael North candidate Ronald Toppin has launched a scathing attack on Prime Minister Freundel Stuart, suggesting that the Democratic Labour Party (DLP) leader cannot be taken at his word.

Speaking at a BLP meeting in Redman’s Village, St Thomas on Tuesday night, Toppin specifically accused Stuart of reneging on a promise made over six years ago not to abolish free tertiary education.

“He stood [before] a graduating class at the Barbados Community College on November 24th, 2011, and said that tertiary education would remain free.

“His words were, ‘I firmly believe that it would be a retrograde step if we were to dismantle free education in Barbados.’” Toppin said.

However, the BLP spokesman charged that about 20 months later the Prime Minister sat in silence as Minister of Finance Chis Sinckler stood on the floor of Parliament in his 2013 Budget presentation and imposed the tuition fees on Barbadian students attending the University of the West Indies.

“When he was pressed by us he said, ‘in life things change’, [but] if you can’t trust the word of your own Prime Minister, whose word can you trust?” the St Michael North representative asked, while suggesting that Stuart was hypocritical.

“This man who always professes his humble origins and saying that they [the DLP] understand the importance of education, after he gets through, he kick down the ladder.

“I’m not only talking about the sheer incompetence of Freundel Stuart because that is well known, I am talking about the untrustworthiness of his words . . . . Without people trusting the word of their leader, they can never go forward,” he cautioned, while complaining that the current DLP-led administration had left the country in its worst position ever.

“We cannot say that we are better off today than we were ten years ago. The failure of this country has to do with the leadership of this country over the last eight years or so,” he said before suggesting that the public could have a trustworthy leader in Mia Mottley.

“We have Mia Amor Mottley whose words can always be trusted when it is given.”

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Campaign manager for the incumbent Democratic Labour Party (DLP) Robert Bobby Morris has promised that its manifesto for the May 24 general election will be a tough but responsible one.

While dismissing the recently released Barbados Labour Party (BLP) manifesto as unrealistic and unattainable, Morris further promised that the DLP document would be focused on fixing the island’s ailing economy.

“Our manifesto launch is on Thursday night at Oistins and I don’t want you to be wary yet . . . but it will be a responsible manifesto. Don’t look for giveaways that are impossible,” Morris told the crowd gathered at the DLP’s spot meeting in Kingsland, Christ Church last night.

“If you have a flat roof we are not promising that we are going to make it gable. I don’t know how many there are and I don’t know what that would cost,” he said in poking fun at the BLP’s 70-page promissory document released last Thursday.

And “I am not telling you that it makes sense moving from road tax paid by the individual to a tax of gasoline,” he said in reference to another BLP proposal, adding, “don’t look for an attempt to buy votes”.

Release of the DLP’s manifesto comes against the backdrop of a 0.7 per cent contraction of the island’s economy for the first three months of this year.

Delivering the disappointing news at his quarterly media conference earlier this month, Central Bank Governor Cleviston Haynes said the decline was due mainly to a slowdown in construction, a decline in tourism activities and the late start of this year’s sugar harvest.

Haynes said while the island’s foreign reserves grew by $14 million to reach $423 million for the period under review, this was still below the 12 weeks import benchmark with decisive action needed to further drive down the national deficit, which declined by 1.5 per cent to reach 4.2 per cent between January and March this year.

With this in mind, Morris, a former trade unionist and ex-Caribbean Community diplomat, maintained that even though Barbados had been through trying times, Government had made all the tough decisions in an effort to save the country.

He cautioned persons that there was no easy fix to the country’s economic woes.

“I hope that in your hearts and in your eyes you can say, ‘well done DLP’.  It has not been easy, but we are moving onto the Promise Land and after May 24, 2018, this DLP will tell you that if the things in the world remain as they are and don’t get any worse, then we in Barbados will see a new beginning.” 

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Locally-based firms Sagicor General Insurance Inc and Harmony General Insurance Company Limited have announced a merger of their businesses in a deal whose value has not been disclosed.

In an agreement dated December 8, 2017, but which was only made public this week, the two companies agreed to establish a new business, Sagicor General Insurance Inc.

Sagicor General’s President and Chief Executive Officer Keston D Howell announced the deal to policyholders in a circular dated May 14, 2018, but said the merger was awaiting Financial Services Commission approval.   

“Sagicor is presently rated by A M Best as ‘A-Excellent,’ which is a financial-strength rating measuring Sagicor’s ability to pay claims. Harmony is not presently rated,” the document cementing the merger states.

The agreement governs the corporate structure of the proposed amalgamated company and as such will not affect the operation of the businesses of the merged firms.

Policyholders have also been assured that their rights would not be affected by the changes made to the articles and by-laws of both companies or to the board of directors on the proposed amalgamation.

“On the proposed amalgamation of Harmony and Sagicor there shall be no transfer of any contract by an insurer to another company,” the agreement reads.

It also explains that the property of each company becomes that of the merged firms and that the absorbed institution would be liable for the obligations of each prior independent business.

Canadian actuaries said the policy liabilities consist of a provision for unpaid claims and adjustment expenses on the expired claim liabilities and a provision for future obligations on the unexpired part of the premium liabilities.

“For Harmony General Insurance Company Limited, the method and assumptions used to estimate the policy liabilities are reasonable and appropriate to the circumstances,” Cynthia M Potts, a fellow of the Canadian Institute of Actuaries said.

“For Sagicor General Insurance Inc, the methods and assumptions used to estimate the policy liabilities are reasonable and appropriate to the circumstances,” Potts added.

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Less than a week after the Barbados Labour Party (BLP) released its May 24 election manifesto in which it explicitly states that it has no policy on same-sex unions, the party’s St Thomas candidate, Cynthia Forde, is assuring that if elected, the BLP will not be pursuing any gay agenda.

“Nobody in the Barbados Labour Party is interested in any same sex marriage. We have neighbours that believed in same sex. They were discreet, both man and woman, we tolerated them, we have learned to tolerate people, [but] I am not interested in any man marrying a man or a woman marrying a woman. That is their private life. Do what they feel like in their bedrooms, but do not bring that as part of the Barbados Labour Party’s agenda.

“We are not interested and we are not pursuing it as a Government at all,” Forde assured during a political meeting at Redman’s Village, St Thomas on Tuesday night which followed the release of the party’s 70-page manifesto last Thursday in which the BLP said it had no policy on same-sex unions and that the matter would have to be put to a national referendum.

“We have said that repeatedly. We believe that no 30 people should be allowed to make decisions on issues that go to the heart of the nation’s collective values. This issue can only be determined by the outcome of a referendum,” the BLP manifesto states.

However, while responding to comments made by Minister of Environment and Drainage Dr Denis Lowe on the controversial topic, Forde either intentionally or unintentionally ended up articulating a similar position to that of Lowe, who, in putting the issue of same sex marriage squarely before the electorate in the lead up to next week’s poll, declared stiff opposition on his part and that of the incumbent Democratic Labour Party (DLP) to any such unions.

“I stand in opposition to any attempt to legalize same sex marriage in Barbados. I stand firmly against it. If you want to do that [be involved in a same-sex relationship], do it in the privacy of your home. Don’t tell me there is going to be a law that will tell me I have to be subjected to that,” he said during a meeting at Carter’s Gap, Christ Church on Monday night.

[caption id="attachment_237474" align="aligncenter" width="500"] DLP Christ Church East Central candidate Dr Denis Lowe says a firm no to same sex marriage in Barbados.[/caption]

It was not the first time that Lowe was publicly denouncing what he saw as advocacy to legally wed persons of the same gender.

However, on this occasion he went to greater lengths to explain his strident position on the issue, over which he had warned exactly a year ago that “there is an attempt in certain quarters to advance a legislative call for same-sex marriage, and I do not have any intention, within or without the legislator to support any such notion because I still believe in the biblical way of life”.

To that he added a further caution that “there is to be no law in Barbados saying that I have to be subjected to two men walking up an aisle, one in a wedding dress and one in a tuxedo.

“I don’t want to live in that kind of Barbados and that is what we are fighting right now,” he said.

“I don’t want them telling me how to live in my society by creating a law in the statutory books saying that I have to accept a man marrying a man. I am not doing it and I don’t care who don’t agree with me, that is my personal opinion,” the Minister of Environment and Drainage stressed.

However, while accusing Lowe of being fixated with the subject, Forde suggested that there were much more urgent matters - including the current shortage of garbage trucks - for the Cabinet minister to attend to.

“I don’t know how that [same-sex unions] got in his agenda or the Democratic Labour Party’s agenda . . . . His mantra is that Barbados under the Democratic Labour Party’s watch will not have same sex marriage . . . . That is all he saying all the time.”

However, she said her party was far more interested in dealing with the issues that matter to the people.

“We are focusing on the NSRL [National Social Responsibility Levy] that is killing the people. We are focusing on him [Lowe] coming in for ten years and has not bought a sanitation truck and every six weeks we got to be picking up garbage, the rats, the bush and everything that bad in rural buses,” the St Thomas candidate said.

She also blasted the DLP for not having enough conversations with the people on critical decisions.

“When we [BLP] were looking at gambling we had to have a referendum on it. When it came to abortion we had to go across the length of Barbados to discuss it. When it was capital punishment we had to go in Barbados and open up the dialogue. That is a part of the agenda that Ms Mottley has in our manifesto that we have dialogue with people,” Forde stressed.
kobiebroomes@barbadostoday.bb

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Barbadian minors are becoming increasingly aggressive, with a growing number of them committing violent crimes, according to a senior court official.

While not providing details such as numbers or age ranges, Supreme Court Registrar Barbara Cooke-Alleyne said young children were committing fewer petty crimes and are now appearing before the courts for more savage offences.

“Every year the Registration Department compiles statistics on what is happening in the courts. Currently we have figures from 2011 to April this year, and they show that from 2011 to 2014 the main crime among the boys was theft, and with girls it was wandering. But more recently, this has changed; assault is now the leading crime among both boys and girls, and we are also seeing an increase in actual bodily harm, which is more severe than assault,” Cooke-Alleyne said at a presentation ceremony this week at the Collymore Rock Church of the Nazarene where she received a cheque from the Guardian group in support of the Winner’s Circle programme administered by the Attorney General’s office.

She blamed a number of factors for this change, including “what we are seeing on the Internet, the music they are listening to” and the lack of guidance from the extended family.

“Previously grandparents and people in the neighbourhood kept an eye on the young ones in their midst, but now neighbours are keeping to themselves. We have also found that some children stop going to church after leaving primary school, thereby losing one important influence on their lives, while others stop participating in activities like athletics, Brownies and Scouts at this age, not recognizing that this will keep their minds active and can even expose them to opportunities for scholarships,” the court official said.

However, Cooke-Alleyne said the judicial system was looking at a series of new measures to help stem the tide of deviance, among which are the introduction of community service for those under the age of 16 and restorative justice, “which will bring greater healing to all parties involved, as it will enable children to discuss what they have done, recognize the pain it has caused to others and make amends”.

Now in its tenth year, the Winner’s Circle programme is aimed at helping children make the transition from primary to secondary school and covers a number of subject areas ranging from legal matters and drug awareness to puberty and the physical and emotional changes they go through as the grow.

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The privately owned transport sector is welcoming a recently announced campaign promise by the Barbados Labour Party (BLP) to grant the sector concessions on clean energy vehicles.

Head of the Alliance Owners of Public Transport (AOPT) Roy Raphael has called the promise a step in the right direction, as the sector continues to be encumbered by aging fleets.

However, Raphael told Barbados TODAY a BLP Government would have to do much more than simply placing the offer on the table, as most operators would need to warm to the idea of going green.

“We will be happy with any form of duty-free concessions, but I want to clearly state that we have to educate our operators on clean energy vehicles such as electric vehicles. A lot of them are not yet comfortable with the idea, so we need to do a pilot project with electric vehicles before we can embrace it,” Raphael said. 

During the BLP’s manifesto launch at Kingsland, Christ Church last Thursday night, candidate for St Philip South Indar Weir explained that PSVs would be given incentives in order to fast-track plans for making Barbados 100 per cent green and carbon-free by the year 2030.

“We will give duty-free concessions to PSV operators to import vehicles powered by clean energy and alternative fuels,” Weir said, while also promising that all Government vehicles and street lights would run on clean energy by 2025, should the BLP be elected to office in the May 24 general election.

However, the Raphael explained that with the entire PSV fleet in operation running on fossil fuels, the offer of duty-free concessions on green vehicles was a medium-term solution, and more immediate action was required to assist the sector. 

“We would want to discuss our proposals with a new administration because 100 per cent of our fleets are fossil fuels. We still need assistance with getting vehicle parts in the interim in order to maintain the efficiency of our operations,” Raphael said, adding that the BLP’s plan to replace the road tax with a tax on fuel would assist the sector greatly in the short term. 

“The idea of abolishing the road tax is something that we welcome and would have talked about before. We recognize that the PSVs use the road more than normal vehicles, [but] . . . we won’t have to find a lump sum payment for road tax,” the AOPT boss said.

Raphael drove home the point that PSV owners had to contend with annual payments of over $2,000 for road tax and permit fees, as well as approximately $30,000 for insurance. He argued that while operators may have to pay more at the pumps it would be less burdensome, especially if the permit fees were removed. 

“If they remove the permit fees as well then at the end of the day we will not feel it as much if they take it out at the pump. So it is something that we welcome and we also believe that we can look at a toll at the bus terminal instead of the permit,” he recommended.

colvillemounsey@barbadostoday.bb

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Police are searching for 24-year-old Rodney Darian Clarke, of 6B Bottom Close Wildey, St Michael, who escaped lawful custody around 5 p.m. yesterday along St Michael's Row, The City.

Clarke is five feet four inches tall, of brown complexion with brown eyes, a small nose, lips and eyes. He has a low haircut with moustache and beard and his hair is black in colour.

[caption id="attachment_237663" align="aligncenter" width="200"] Wanted man Rodney Clarke[/caption]

Police also say the wanted man has four tattoos - one on his left arm with the name NAJALIA and three on his right arm, including one with the words Only God Can Judge Me; one with a baby holding a cross and the other with the name NAJALIA.

At the time of his escape, Clarke was said to be wearing a grey t-shirt, a maroon long jeans pants and slippers.

Anyone with knowledge of his whereabouts is asked to contact the Central Police Station at 430-7676, District ‘A’ station at 4307242/43 or Police Emergency at 211.

"The public is reminded that it is a serious offence to harbour or assist wanted persons; any person caught committing this offence can be prosecuted," Police Public Relations Officer Acting Inspector Rodney Inniss reminded in a wanted man's bulletin issued this morning.

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Jamaican national Patrick Junior Gray is expected to appear in the District ‘A’ Magistrates Court today on a string of drug related charges.

The 47-year-old of Leith Hall District, St Thomas, Jamaica has been charged with unlawful possession of cannabis; unlawful possession with intent to supply cannabis; trafficking cannabis and importation of cannabis.

Gray arrived in Barbados on Friday, May 11 on board Caribbean Airlines flight #BW415 from Kingston.

After clearing Immigration, he was interviewed by members of the Drug Squad and was subsequently arrested on suspicion that he was in possession of a controlled drug.

Gray was taken to the Oistins Police Station where he was interviewed by officers. He admitted to ingesting a controlled drug.

He was then taken to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital where he consented to a medical examination by a doctor. He later passed out 76 packages of cannabis, weighing one kilo. The drug has an estimated street value of $8000.

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Police are on the scene of a possible mass casualty at Bathsheba, St Joseph.

Barbados TODAY understands that a tour bus ran off the road.

(more details as they come to hand.)

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Two tourists were injured and taken to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital following an accident involving a tour bus at Cleaver’s Hill, St Joseph.

The bus, which was carrying 31 adults and two children, was on a scenic tour coordinated by Foster & Ince Cruise Services, when it crashed into a wall.

Passengers told Barbados TODAY it was a scary experience but they praised the valiant efforts of the driver and tour guide, whose names have not been disclosed.

Police did not activate a mass casualty situation.

Investigations are continuing.

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It was generally smooth sailing today as police officers and other Election Day workers filed in and out of 30 polling stations spread across the island’s 30 constituencies today to cast their ballots, ahead for the May 24 poll.

From as early as 7 a.m., Election Day workers were seen filing in and out of polling stations with little to no fuss.

[caption id="attachment_237752" align="aligncenter" width="400"] People waiting outside the St Thomas polling station.[/caption]

However, there were a few hiccups at the Trents Community Centre where Returning Officer Marcia Graham confirmed that a few people had turned up only to find out that their names were not on the list of 120 registered voters for St James Central, due to changes of address.

In Christ Church West Central the process was much more smooth, with Returning Officer Walter Jones describing today’s voting process in the southern riding where there were 76 people down to cast ballots, as generally incident-free.

Over in Christ Church East there was a “steady flow” of voters in and out of the polling station with Returning Officer Allan Archer reporting that a total of 120 Election Day workers were eligible to vote by the close of the poll at 5 p.m.

[caption id="attachment_237751" align="aligncenter" width="400"] From as early as 7 a.m., Election Day workers were seen filing in and out of polling stations with little to no fuss.[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_237753" align="aligncenter" width="400"] Polling clerks described the start to the voting process as steady, with some reporting that the majority of the voting took place in the morning.[/caption]

At the Valley Resource Centre several police officers patiently stood in line waiting to cast their ballots in the St George North constituency, while at the Duncan C Moore Educational Centre, located in the annex of the Sharon Moravian Church, St Thomas, there was a steady stream of persons coming in to cast their ballots.

By the time Barbados TODAY arrived there, Returning Officer Hallcourt Bovell reported that just over 54 of the 134 people registered had already voted, with no major hiccups occurring.

Over in the constituency of St James South at Caribbean Meteorological Institute, Husbands, St James Returning Officer Charles Phillips said the process was also smooth.

“No hiccups, there was a steady stream after seven o’clock and then there was a heavy stream around ten o’clock,” said Charles who was expecting a 75 per cent turnout today.

However, activity was much slower at the Sion Hill Community Centre in St James with Returning Officer Anthony Greaves reporting that 108 persons registered there had been trickling in to cast their ballots.

In St Michael, where close to 800 people were registered to cast votes across 11 polling stations, things were relatively quiet with voters trickling in to mark their X.

Polling clerks described the start to the voting process as steady, with some reporting that majority of the voting took place in the morning. (KB/KK/MM)

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The incumbent Democratic Labour Party (DLP) is promising to decriminalize small quantities of marijuana for personal use, as well as for medical purposes, should it retain power in next week’s general election.

The pledge is contained in the DLP’s manifesto, a leaked copy of which was obtained by Barbados TODAY ahead of its unveiling at a meeting in Oistins, Christ Church tonight.

Robert Bobby Moris, the DLP’s campaign manager, has confirmed that the 56-page document which Barbados Labour Party leader Mia Mottley first flashed before supporters last night, and which Barbados TODAY has obtained, is indeed the party’s official list of campaign pledges.

The party does not elaborate on its plans to decriminalize the herb in the document, except to state that it will decriminalize medical marijuana and possession of less than a minimum quantity of the drug.

The debate over marijuana use has been a highly controversial one here, with Rastafarians insisting it should be legalized for religious reasons, while a growing number of people, many of whom are members of the disabled community who say they are tired of the side effects of pharmaceutical drugs, have been calling on the authorities to legalize it for medicinal purposes.

However, Attorney General Adriel Brathwaite has said Barbados “will not, and should not jump ahead” to decriminalize ganja without proper dialogue.

“I am not an advocate of the decriminalizing of small quantities because we do not know what we would be encouraging young people to put into their bodies,” Brathwaite said in November 2016 during debate on legalizing the drug.

As recently as last September the Attorney General also repeated his position that any move towards decriminalization should be made from an informed position.

Meantime, the DLP has placed a series of tax breaks for the all important tourism sector at the centre of its programme for a third term.

The manifesto, entitled Stand Strong, Barbados, outlines the party’s plans to diversify the Barbadian economy around tourism, which has been the country’s primary foreign exchange earner.

“The integration of tourism with agriculture, renewable energy, cultural industries and manufacturing will be the economic priority of the DLP over the 2018 to 2023 period. This new diversified economy will provide new opportunities for the skilled persons that make up the middle class, and provide the basis for tax relief,” the manifesto reads.

The DLP promises to provide a land tax rebate of up to 15 per cent for tourism-related entities that can demonstrate at least a 25 per cent increase in the use of local inputs ranging from agriculture and cultural industries to manufacturing.

Entities will be eligible for the rebate in the year they achieve the target, with 2018 as the base year. The rebates will continue as long as those levels are maintained.

There will be a further ten per cent land tax rebate for tourism-related businesses that install systems that produce at least 50 per cent of their electricity generation requirements from renewable sources. New agri-businesses are also being promised a ten-year tax holiday.

Additional incentives to the agri-business sector include 150 per cent deductible on interest paid on loans used for developing the sector, expenditures for product development and research, as well as expenditures for staff training.

In addition to strengthening food security through agriculture, and developing the renewable energy sector, the DLP plans to modernize the public sector, to include the introduction of a pay-for-performance system based on key performance indicators for all Government departments and statutory corporations.

The ruling party also promises to double the budget of the Youth Empowerment Scheme, increase the number of primary school teachers by 500 in the next four years, establish additional campuses of the Samuel Jackman Institute of technology in St Lucy and St Philip, and extend business hours at the magistrates’ courts in order to ease the case backlog.

Some of the pledges are similar those in the BLP manifesto released a week ago. For example, both parties advocate the provision of free island wide Wi-Fi, as well as incentives for the privately-owned transport sector to purchase green vehicles.

And like the BLP, the incumbent is also planning to upgrade the polyclinic network to expand access to health care and ease the burden on the Queen Elizabeth Hospital.

However, the document, which is filled with picture illustrations, is silent on how a re-elected DLP Government would address the country’s falling reserves, which, according to the last Central Bank report, stood at $423 million, or 6.9 weeks of import cover, well below the recommended 12 weeks. Instead, in a one-page reference to the economy, the document states that taxes would lessen as the economy grows.

The manifesto is also silent on what is to be done to fix the two-year long sewage spills on the south coast, while the issue of garbage collection was covered by promises of tougher legislations for illegal dumping and a national recycling programme.

colvillemounsey@barbadostoday.bb

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The Democratic Labour Party’s (DLP) manifesto being unveiled tonight at a meeting in Oistins, Christ Church, is being written off as a poorly thought out set of ideas which contain nothing to tackle this island’s economic problems.

The Barbados Labour Party (BLP) said the 56-page document, first made public by BLP leader Mia Mottley at a public meeting last night, is so lacking in specifics and new ideas that it did not warrant any serious analysis.

Speaking at press conference today at the party’s headquarters at Roebuck Street, The City, Ryan Straughn, the candidate for Christ Church East Central and the BLP’s economic advisor, said when compared to his party’s 72-pages of election promises unveiled a week ago, the DLP manifesto was nothing more than a “pie in the sky” wish list.

[caption id="attachment_237756" align="aligncenter" width="500"] BLP Campaign Manager Dr Jerome Walcott (left) listens attentively as candidate for Christ Church East Central Ryan Straughn addresses the media.[/caption]

“Whilst we provided a roadmap for how jobs would be generated and how the programme would be paid for and the mechanism through which we would do so, there is nothing here that addresses the state of the economy,” Straughn charged.

“There is nothing that stands for analysis simply because there is nothing of substance that addresses the current economic situation in Barbados,” he stressed.

The first-time candidate also contended that the DLP had been recycling the same plans since it took office in 2008.

The document, which focuses on food security through agriculture, developing the renewable energy sector, modernizing the public sector and a small business push, does not indicate how a DLP Government in its third term intends to address the country’s falling reserves

According to the last Central Bank report, the reserves stand at $423 million or 6.9 weeks of import, well below the recommended 12 weeks. Instead, in its one-page reference to the economy, the document states that taxes would lessen as the economy grows.

The BLP last night launched a pre-empted strike against the DLP by releasing the incumbent party’s manifesto a full 24 hours before tonight’s official unveiling.

Mottley took Barbadians by surprise when she pulled out a copy of the document during a BLP meeting at Clevedale, St Michael, before dismissing it as falling short in its vision for Barbados over the next five years.

This did not go down well with the DLP, which responded by accusing Mottley of violating election campaign customs, and lacking an understanding of law and order.

“We have no idea how she obtained that manifesto because to me it is in breach of our customs and practices for a party to be allowed to release another party’s manifesto to the public. It reminds me of the tendencies of the Opposition Barbados Labour Party, who reveal that they have acquired Cabinet documents and other official documents and parade them to the public,” Morris said.

“To me a person who would parade a document, which they had not obtained from the source or owner of the documents, is demonstrating a lack of understanding of law and order in this country. To me it does not demonstrate the right way in which we should behave,” he added.

That the BLP was able to get its hands on the manifesto a full day before the DLP’s big launch left many wondering if someone from the governing party had leaked the document.

However, Morris said there was “absolutely no possibility” of this being the case, pointing fingers instead at the port of entry.

“Nobody in my party leaked that manifesto but I would not be surprised that when they came in at the port, open Sesame, someone breached the package. That is a possibility but there is absolutely no possibility that anybody in the Democratic Labour Party leaked it,” he said before going on to question whether Mottley “got it through legitimate means”.

Back in March the BLP charged that the first draft of its manifesto was leaked on social media, but it welcomed the fact that the document was in the public domain, arguing it gave people an opportunity to provide feedback before publication of the final document.

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Democratic Labour Party (DLP) candidate for St John George Pilgrim is warning constituents of Christ Church East Central that they would be punished with severe neglect, if they were to elect the Barbados Labour Party (BLP) to office on May 24.

Speaking in support of DLP incumbent Ronald Jones during a spot meeting in Kingsland, Christ Church on Tuesday night, Pilgrim argued that due to its history as a DLP stronghold, the people of the southern constituency would be made to suffer in much the same way that St John residents were made to during the BLP’s last 14-year term in office.

“From 1994 to 2008, the BLP would have allocated to the Ministry of Health at least $300 million a year and for 14 years that works out to about $4 billion. . . [but] not one red cent was spent on the people
in St John and the St John Polyclinic,” Pilgrim said, while contending that “only because of where it was, they punished the people of St John and by extension, the people of Barbados, only because the people of St John supported [late Prime Minister] David Thompson and the DLP”.

St John has been a stronghold of the DLP since 1958, and has been represented only by the island’s first Prime Minister Errol Barrow and David and Mara Thompson, while Christ Church East Central has kept faith with the incumbent party since 2003.

Therefore, Pilgrim sought to warn constituents of Christ Church East Central that “if you ever make the mistake of electing the BLP, the good people of Christ Church East Central will see a level of victimization and poison unleashed on this country as it happened on the people of St John and the people of Barbados.

“They denied people in this country health care only because of where the clinic was located and who they felt they were hurting,” Pilgrim said, adding that the BLP did the same thing to the Lloyd Erksine Sandiford Complex.

The post Not one red cent! appeared first on Barbados Today.

A ruling Democratic Labour Party (DLP) candidate has suggested that without the dreaded National Social Responsibility Levy (NSRL), the Freundel Stuart administration might have been left with no choice but to send home workers.

“The NSRL raises tax revenue for Government, while at the same time controls expenditure on foreign goods,” explained James Paul during last night’s DLP meeting in Bank Hall, St Michael, in support of St Michael West candidate Michael Carrington.

Linking the recent increase of the levy from two to ten per cent on both locally manufactured and imported goods to the need by Government to save jobs, the St Michael West Central candidate openly enquired: “Now, which do you prefer? Contributing money to keep people employed, or send them home?”

At the same time, Paul took local trade unions to task over their criticisms of Government’s failure to grant pay increases to public servants.

“Despite the prevailing economic climate, our public servants are always paid in full and on time, and we have passed several laws which guarantee workers’ rights,” Paul pointed out, while suggesting that “the unions should focus their attention on the private sector, especially when it comes to contracted workers, who have no rights; when it comes to unemployment benefits, severance pay, vacation or sick leave, whereas Government workers receive all of these”.

Also addressing last night’s meeting, Minister of Social Care Steve Blackett warned that if the Barbados Labour Party (BLP) were to take the reins of Government following next week’s general elections, constituency councils would be a thing of the past.

“The constituency councils have served us well since we established them, but I believe that if the BLP takes over, these councils will be no more, because they have never supported them,” said Blackett, the incumbent representative for St Michael Central.

Blackett explained that the councils, which were set up by the DLP Government after it took office in 2008 to give voice to the concerns of residents of the various constituencies, were established in such a way that “all the political parties would be represented on them”.

However, he lamented that “to this day, the Barbados Labour Party has never nominated anyone to serve on their behalf” on any of the councils, which are also mandated to maintain links with Central Government and other agencies with a view to effectively and efficiently managing resources for the development of the given constituency.

Critics of the constituency councils have dismissed them as another political arm of the governing DLP. However, in the estimation of Blackett they have helped many people over the last decade, especially through the David Thompson Memorial Football Classic, which he said provided job opportunities during the tournament for many small operators, including those with food stalls.

The post Either NSRL or layoffs, warns Paul appeared first on Barbados Today.

The man who is seeking to retain the St James North seat for the Barbados Labour Party (BLP) has made a remarkable accusation againg the Democratic Labour Party (DLP) administration, charging that three ministers in the Freundel Stuart administration admitted to neglecting the constituency because it is a BLP stronghold.

Edmund Hinkson, who won the seat in 2013, told a public meeting at the Sion Hill playfield last night the admission by the ministers confirmed what he already knew: that the DLP was punishing constituents because they did not support the governing party.

[caption id="attachment_237765" align="aligncenter" width="500"] BLP candidate for St James North Edmund Hinkson (centre) surrounded by supporters at last night’s meeting.[/caption]

“That is the attitude of a Government that has told me - three ministers - that they’re not spending one single cent in St James North, or on anybody in St James North. They kept their promise,” Hinkson said.

“Just because St James North does not vote DLP a position was taken by this Government that they will not spend any money in St James North,” he added.

To back his claim Hinkson cited as an example an elderly gentleman for whom he had sought housing assistance.

He said years of persistence led to nothing, and the man died without ever getting help.

“From the time I became a Member of Parliament I had been writing various Government ministries asking for assistance in terms of building him a home as is the right of any Barbadian,” the incumbent said.

The BLP has dominated the St
James North seat since it was created in 1981, losing just once, in 1986 when the DLP swept the polls with a 24 to three result in the then 27-member Parliament.

Hinkson last night complained that in response to a letter of appeal to Minister of Transport and Works Michael Lashley for badly needed road repairs in 2015, he was told that the roads needed too much work.

He also said key ministries and state agencies such as the Ministry of Housing, the Rural Development Commission, the Ministry of Social Care and the National Assistance Board were equally dismissive “just because it is in St James North”.

The post ‘Dees refused to spend a single cent in St James North’ appeared first on Barbados Today.

The Democratic Labour Party (DLP) candidate for St Michael North East Patrick Todd has attributed a recent increase in visitor arrivals from the United States to the presence of the Sandals hotel group on the island.

Addressing a DLP meeting at Bank Hall last evening, Todd stopped short of providing any statistical evidence of this, but was adamant that Government’s relationship with the Gordon Butch Stewart led group has been good for Barbados.

In fact, he told party supporters that the only reason the Barbados Labour Party (BLP) has been criticizing the concessions granted to the Sandals hotel group was because it was “jealous of what we have accomplished with that hotel chain”.

“The BLP is jealous of what we have done with Sandals because they did nothing to get Sandals started when they purchased Paradise Beach Hotel in the early 1990s,” Todd charged, adding that “the concessions we gave them have benefited both sides, not only with their investments at the former Casuarina Hotel and Almond Beach Village, but they have given us millions of dollars in free advertising when they advertise their properties in the international media”.

After the Sandals deal for Paradise Beach Hotel fell through, the Four Seasons group purchased the property and started a major project there, but it was abandoned following the global economic recession in 2008, and attempts to resuscitate it have been unsuccessful to date.

Todd, the former DLP representative for the City of Bridgetown, who will be going up against the BLP’s leader Mia Mottley this time around, also touted the island’s tourism performance over the past five years.

While suggesting that Sandals should take its share of credit for the recent growth, Todd noted that the Jamaican-led company had just sent in an application to the Town and Country Planning Department for the transformation of the Almond Beach Village property in St Peter into one of their Beaches resorts.

He also gave an update on the Sam Lord’s Castle project in St Philip, explaining that “we financed this [project] through a low interest loan from the Chinese government, and Barbadian contractors are doing at least 40 per cent of the work there, as opposed to former projects with the Chinese where the workforce was predominantly from that country.

“Once that project is completed, we will also see some benefits coming to businesses in that part of the country as they interact with visitors and the local people working at the property,” he said.

The St Michael North East candidate also pointed out that the multi million dollar Hyatt development slated for Bay Street remained stalled on account of legal action, “hampering people in The City from getting jobs”.

However, he promised that “once that gets under way, along with the other hotels and convention centres we have planned for the Carlisle Bay and Needham’s Point areas, we will see Bridgetown prosper. In fact, we will have so many people working that the percentage of unemployment on the island will be in the single digit range,” he asserted.

The post Jealous Bees appeared first on Barbados Today.

Democratic Labour Party (DLP) candidate for St Michael West Central James Paul is accusing the Barbados Labour Party (BLP) of engaging in bullying tactics in the lead up to next week’s general election.

In fact, Paul is now demanding an apology from his political opponent Ian Gooding-Edghill, who he said recently walked into his constituency office uninvited, declaring, “this is war”.

“That is what he said. He said those inflammatory words and he cannot deny it,” the DLP incumbent told Barbados TODAY in relating the incident, which he said left him feeling threatened.

[caption id="attachment_237773" align="aligncenter" width="500"] DLP candidate for St Michael West Central James Paul pointing to the empty space where his poster was removed.[/caption]

“Politics is not a war. When you make those type of inflammatory comments in circumstances like these, what example are you sending out there?” the DLP candidate questioned, while stating that it was not the type of political behaviour he was accustomed to.

“In the environment that we are in yes, I feel threatened. This is not necessary. I think that gentleman should immediately apologize for those comments.”

Referring to the BLP’s party colour,  Paul stated that “red is an intimating colour, so when you insert that language, it is intimating to people. But I don’t let anybody scare me, [even though] it makes me question what else will you do.”

He also complained that one of his posters at the corner of Long Gap and Spooner’s Hill, St Michael was vandalized by opposition supporters.

 “I recognize there is vandalism creeping in. There was an attempt made on three nights, where the poster was first slashed, [then] they came back and further ripped it apart, so it made no sense having it there,” he told Barbados TODAY.

The two-time parliamentary representative, who is seeking his third straight mandate from the people of St Michael West Central, made it clear that he had advised his supporters not to indulge in vandalism.

“I told persons who are with me and my campaign not to do anything to antagonize the other persons. We have not interfered with them.  What I find unfortunate is some of the comments coming as well. When we put up posters they tried to put theirs over ours and we have not done that. If my people were to do that,  I would say that is not necessary.

“That behaviour is something we should not tolerate in politics today. Candidates need to be more responsible in their behaviour and understand that they cannot say these things,” Paul stressed, while calling for a peaceful election last lap.

“Whoever wins or loses we have to be part of this country. Let us not go and inflame passions. I want us to have a good campaign, but I am not willing to tolerate vandalism because we do not know where that will lead.

“Let us come together, we have become public figures and people are watching us.”

When contacted for comment on the claims, Gooding-Edghill requested a copy of the audio recording of Paul’s interview, which was submitted to him.

However, despite repeated calls to him, he is yet to offer a response. 

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