The hum of dozens of motorcycle postal workers twice took over sections of the ABC Highway in the funeral procession today of Postmaster General Margaret Ashby.

[caption id="attachment_277226" align="aligncenter" width="400"] A procession of Barbados Postal Service workers on their motorbikes acted as outriders as the former Postmaster General’s mortal remains made their way to the Coral Ridge Memorial Gardens.[/caption]

The cortege first proceeded to the Seventh Day Adventist Auditorium at Oldbury, St. Philip, where relatives, friends, fellow churchgoers and staff of the Barbados Postal Service gathered to say farewell to Ashby, who died two weeks ago after a battle with multiple myeloma.

During the service, many remembered her as a lady who always gave wise counsel, worked diligently to achieve her goals and encouraged others to do the same, was passionate about her work, praised the achievements of her colleagues; someone who was always there for her family, and someone with “an unwavering and profound love for God”.

Daughter Lana Ashby, a professor of law at Cambridge University, said her mother left her and her sister, Lisa, with three significant legacies.

“Spiritually, she always told us to put God first, and even at exam time we still had to go to church every night there was a service. She gave us wise financial principles and encouraged us to secure “a piece of the rock” for ourselves before we reached 30 years old; and psychologically, she knew the odds she faced growing up and always pushed us to work hard to achieve our goals, including having us recite all our multiplication tables on the way to and from school and restricting our television viewing to only three channels and a maximum of one hour - half an hour during school time,” she said.

“Don’t forget to pay your bills at the Post Office, I want to keep my people employed,” her daughter and her nephew recalled the postal chief as saying frequently.

Ashby also kept newspaper clippings of any positive reports on customer service from her workers, who all spoke of her dedication to duty, even coming in during her vacations for meetings and on one day staging a special luncheon to celebrate her immediate staff.

Williams eulogized the Postmaster General’s passion for her work, outlining her vision for the Postal Service up to the end of her life.

Recalling his final conversation with his aunt at the hospital, Williams said “she asked about what was happening in Barbados, and looked forward to talking to the new minister about all the plans she had for the Postal Service.

“For example, she wanted to tell him about leveraging the network of the postal service to make it easier for Barbadians to pay their obligations to central Government. In other words, she believed she still had work to do”.

He also recalled his “Aunt Cheryl’s love of family: “When my mother’s breast cancer returned and had spread to her lungs, Aunt Cheryl spent every weekend with her, praying for her and taking care of her every need. My mother passed in February this year, and little did we expect that Aunt Cheryl would go so soon afterwards, but life is fickle at times.

“Aunt Cheryl was not shy to give advice, and she had the ‘annoying habit’ of always being right. In her last conversation with her family, she gave us a sermon and asked us to pray at the end of it. We also heard her whisper, ‘Lord, my healing is in Your hands’, and the theme of her sermon was No excuses. She reminded us, ‘There is no excuse not to go after your goals, hard work seldom fails, and there is no excuse not to have a relationship with God.’”

In his homily, Pastor Winston Cooke reminded the congregation, “We are only here for a short time; we must use that time wisely so we can say ‘thank you’ when it comes to
an end.”

He then counselled them on what he would do if today was his last day on earth: “I would recommit myself to God; tell my immediate family how much I love them; make sure that I am at peace with everyone, that I bear no malice, envy or hatred towards anyone, and to mend fences if things are not so great, and to ensure all my legal and financial matters are in order. At the end of it all, the relationships we build with God, our family and the people around us are what matter most.”

At the end of the service, the entourage of postal workers on motorcycles accompanied her cortege to the Coral Ridge Memorial Gardens for her burial. (DH)

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Eagle Hall Primary will likely be unable to open its doors on the first day of the school year, the Government said this afternoon on its yearly race to spruce up the nation’s schools.

The extent of refurbishment work at the urban school “may make it impossible for that institution to welcome students in time for the start of the term” on September 10, said the Ministry of Education in a release.

[caption id="attachment_277231" align="aligncenter" width="400"] Acting Minister of Education, Technological and Vocational Training Senator Lucille Moe; Parliamentary Secretary Dr Romel Springer and other education officials assessing the progress of repairs.[/caption]

 “The time frame and the amount of work left to be done may not allow those schools to be ready in time,” said Acting Minister of Education Senator Lucille Moe.

 “We have to wait a little longer and see how far within the next two weeks the contractors are able to get [in completing] the work. Certainly Eagle Hall [Primary] will be one of those schools and so we will be monitoring that situation closely to see if we will be able to make any kind of adjustments in regard to that situation.

 “Whatever money that has been made available for this refurbishment we will ensure it is provided to the contractors so they can complete the work,” the minister said.

 “Most of the island’s schools should be ready to open their doors to students at the start of the new school term,” the statement said.

 The news came as Acting Minister of Education Senator Lucille Moe joined the top brass of the ministry of a tour of schools across the island.

 Standing in for ailing minister Santia Bradshaw who has begun treatment for breast cancer, Senator Moe was joined by Parliamentary Secretary Senator Dr Romel Springer, Permanent Secretary Janet Phillips, and Chief Education Officer Karen Best.

 The officials assessed the progress of repairs being carried out, then declared that most of the schools should be ready when school opens on Monday, September 10.

 “Some of the schools are almost ready; they still have some way to go. I think the contractors are trying to complete what is left outstanding. Certainly, money is always a concern and Government is trying to ensure they can provide the funding to the contractors so that they can get the jobs completed,” Senator Moe said.

The refurbishment works included replacing tiles, windows and counter tops; repairing roofs and ceilings; and ridding school buildings of mould, which was due to the schools’ location, she said.

 Most of the problems could be rectified with proper maintenance, the minister said.

 The Acting Education Minister urged pupils to take care of their school when they returned in September.

 “I would say to students that it is their school and to be proud of their school and to make sure the environments they will find themselves in every day are maintained to an acceptable standard. I would also like to appeal to the parents to speak to their children at home and ensure that they impress on them the need for them to take care of their schools and [have] pride in their surroundings,” she said. (BT/BGIS)

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Education officials here are yet to determine the number of Barbadian students who failed to pass a single subject in this year’s Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) examination set by the Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC).

 Some 11,000 students from across the Caribbean had failed every subject, CXC Registrar Glenroy Cumberbatch said at a function in Grenada two weeks ago during the release of the results from the May/June examination.

“This year we had over 60,000 candidates doing five or more CSEC subjects and 59 per cent of them gaining acceptable grades,” Cumberbatch said then, while noting that just 20 per cent of the Caribbean CXC-age population get to write the CSEC exam, and of this cohort some 13 per cent fail every subject.

 Local CXC Registrar in the Ministry of Education Dr Roderick Rudder told Barbados TODAY he was unable to say how many of the 11,000 students were Barbadian.

 “We have not gone into details in terms of looking at the national performance as yet because we were really and truly caught between facilitating our students who are applying for sixth form and we were at the tail end of dealing with the scholars and exhibitioners. So, we have not fully analyzed our statistics as yet, we are in the process of doing that,” Rudder said, adding that the ministry was in the process of doing some other “very critical things” at this point.

 He explained that normally the ministry would have been able to provide the updated statistics on the CSEC results, but this year had been a challenge due to clashes with other key events.

 “We are in the process of now going through the stats,” he emphasized.

 The examination body had put “corrective” measures in place to assist students writing the various exams, CXC’s Public Relations Manager Cleveland Sam told Barbados TODAY.

 “We have study guides for CSEC and CAPE [Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examination] subjects. We have for almost all of those subjects by now. We have been publishing those study guides . . . [and] we have also made the syllabuses available online free of cost for everyone to access them as well,” Sam said.

 The CXC spokesman revealed that the school reports, which allow students to review past results, were also accessible online at no charge.

 “With respect to specific subjects [such as] Maths, English and Caribbean History, CXC has set up three working groups to examine the issues affecting the performance of candidates in those subjects. And those committees are expected to present those reports to Council in December,” he revealed.

 CXC had not conducted an investigation into the reasons behind the 11,000 failures, but it had noticed that in some of the subjects, such as Social Studies, the students had been inadequately prepared for the exam, he said.

 “The examiners have observed that the students are not presenting Social Studies answers. They are presenting everyday answers as if they are having a conversation with someone down the road. So, they are not taking the time to learn the language of the subject, for example,” Sam said.

 Data provided by the CXC shows that in 2016, there were 13,388 pupils who failed to secure a single pass, while there were 11,751 failures cases last year.

emmanuel joseph@barbadostoday.bb

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A new Disability in the Workplace Act is on the cards for the three-month-old Barbados Labour Party administration, three years after it was introduced, Home Affairs Minister Edmund Hinkson has declared.

And Hinkson, a leader in the disabled community now a Minister of Government, has also promised that the department is to complete its move to a new building, which began construction under the previous administration.

The lawyer was speaking on the sidelines of a recent tour of the House of Assembly by pupils of the Gordon Greenidge Primary School in his St James North riding.

“The establishment of a Disabilities in the Workplace Bill which has been knocking around for three years when I was an opposition Member of Parliament – and as you know I also sat as Director of the National Disabilities Council - and I would have gone to a couple meetings which would have included that disability in the workplace bill. Obviously, from a legislative viewpoint [the Act] will prohibit discrimination among persons with disabilities in the workplace” he said.

The current way of defining someone as disabled and medically unfit needed revamping because disabled people still have their mental facilities functioning and are capable of working, he said.

“The workplace as is reasonable would have to retrofit the workplace to accommodate a person with a disability, or they may have an employee who became disabled in terms of mobility as a result of an accident.”

Under current law, workers who become disabled during their employment must wait a year before applying to a medical board, constituted by the National Insurance Scheme (NIS), that makes the declaration of incapacity.

“You may end up on the public purse through NIS where nothing is wrong with your brain, your mental capabilities and you should still be able to work,” he said adding that people with disabilities were more appreciative of jobs than those who were able-bodied.

“A lot of persons with disabilities, visual, mobile disabilities are as bright or brighter than persons who do not have those abilities, and of course they treasure a job more because they realize that they have been given an opportunity to show their worth, invariably you would find that they concentrate more on the job,” Hinkson said

“So we are committed to bringing that in legislation.”

The Home Affairs Minister criticized the Freundel Stuart administration for never bringing a comprehensive disability law to Parliament since he proposed it in 2015.

 “I would have laid in Parliament a resolution calling for comprehensive disability legislation now in March 2015 and it was never debated by the previous government; certainly that is something that we need to look at,” he said.

The then Minister of Social Care Steve Blackett assured the disabled community earlier this year that the National Disabilities Unit would have been relocated to the new building under construction in Collymore Rock, St Michael.

“It ought to have been completed by now”, Hinkson said.

“When I was a Director for [the National Council for the Disabled] we would have agreed for the Disabilities Unit to be relocated into that building and we were told that it would have been completed a while ago.

“Certainly, the then Minister Steve Blackett in the month of March earlier this year said that it would have been finished. Minister Forde has visited the building and we hope that it will soon be opened,” the Minister said. He added that it was impractical for members of the disabled community to have to do business in a two-storey building. (LG)

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Shopkeeper Anthony Winston Alleyne has been freed of the murder of Tyrone McDonald Babb, after the Crown dropped its case for lack of evidence.

Babb died last December 17 after an alleged altercation with Alleyne, while at 1st Ave, Goodland, St Michael.

The deceased, who lived at Goodland Main Road, St Michael, was taken to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital by ambulance for medical attention the following day after complaining of head injuries and later died.

Alleyne, 33, also of 1st Ave, Goodland, St Michael, appeared in the District ‘A’ Magistrate’s Court on December 22, last year charged with the capital offence.

He was remanded to prison at HMP Dodds where has been an inmate for the past eight months.

But when Alleyne appeared before Magistrate Douglas Frederick today the case against him was discontinued through a warrant from the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions.

It said the charge against the accused “cannot be [proved] beyond a reasonable doubt” and advised that the criminal proceedings against him be discounted.

Moments later, the shackles and manacles where taken off and the shopkeeper emerged from court a free man.

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A Guyanese woman was handed over to immigration officials today after pleading guilty to a theft charge.

Crystal Saskiea Hope, 20, of Halls Road, St Michael admitted that she stole $55.15 in items from Popular Discount on Spry Street, The City, on Saturday.

The prosecutor said the security guard on duty observed Hope placing canned foods and meats into a bag. She was then stopped as she approached the exit and searched when the stolen items were found.

“I don’t know why I do this,” she is said to have told supermarket managers before the police were called in.

After addressing Magistrate Douglas Frederick this morning immigration officials were called in and it was disclosed that Hope arrived on March 4 and was granted a six-month stay as a visitor.

Magistrate Frederick then convicted, reprimanded and discharged her on the charge and released her into the custody of immigration officials.

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Thwarted in their attempt to bring in cheaper garbage trucks, sanitation officials are still working to source the extra vehicles from Britain – but they will cost the taxpayer a little extra.

The trucks are to be orderd within six to eight weeks of being initially announced by Prime Minister Mia Mottley in her June 11 mini budget -  albeit at a “minor additional cost”, said Minister of Environment and National Beautification Trevor Prescod.

[caption id="attachment_277252" align="aligncenter" width="400"] From left, Minister of the Environment Trevor Prescod, SSA’s Public Relations Officer Carl ‘Alf’ Padmore and Acting General Manager Rosalind Knight during today’s clean up operation.[/caption]

The 15 used trucks would come at a cost of about $15 million, as the delivery time for new trucks would be around eight months and Barbados could not wait that long, the Prime Minister had said then.

But a week ago Mottley told a St Michael South East constituency meeting that she ordered a group of Government officials sent to Europe to source the vehicles to return to Barbados after they reported the mysterious, simultaneous, appearance of a private sector firm’s representative.

Barbados TODAY later revealed that Courtesy Garage was the company whose representative had shown up in Europe.

Plans to source more than two dozen second-hand garbage trucks was still on the table, said the minister in an impromptu interview during the Down to Brasstacks radio talkshow today, ahead of a tour of the site of the old Fairchild Street market.

He could not give an indication as to when the used trucks would arrive in Barbados as a result of the “unconventional things” that resulted in the recall of the officials on a UK trip, but said Government was “hoping that we are working within the same schedule.

“As a consequence of what has transpired, the reality because there are cloudy areas, we have to wait until the clouds are cleared,” said Prescod figuratively.

The buyers team of SSA chairman Jeffrey Headley and two technical staff members had examined the trucks at the three locations they visited and had already “sent forward reports on the experience up there,” he added.

“They saw enough. The reality is that in arranging the trip, it was not Barbados to St Lucia, Barbados to St Vincent. So you had some extra time which would have been there. So although the mission was cut short the reality is that the department did what it had to do,” he said.

Without giving any estimate, the Minister for the Environment said Government was likely to incur “minor additional cost” as a consequence of cutting the trip shorter than expected.

Explaining that the country was in “a bad situation” when it came to the shortage of garbage trucks, Prescod said only about 16 trucks were functioning at times “but on a regular basis sometimes those numbers drop down to about four or five”.

He said ahead of the additional trucks arriving, the SSA was also taking steps to improve their efficiency.

“What we have also been doing is rather than having one shift or so, sometimes two or three shifts, and you will probably see garbage trucks out on Saturdays and Sundays and bank holidays. Sometimes when a situation becomes extremely intense and excessive amount of garbage accumulate in some areas we have a special service that will go out to that location and clear it,” he explained.

He said the decision to explore the trucks in the UK was based on the experts’ opinion, adding that they also did cursory checks in other markets.

“They felt that the English market was the best market. We obviously looked at China, we looked at Japan, we looked at Brazil [and] we looked the United States of America. We didn’t exclude anybody,” said Prescod.

Explaining that the Garbage and Sewage Contribution (GSC) that was introduced at a rate of $1.50 per day for households and 50 per cent of the water bill for companies on August 1, would help finance the SSA and the Barbados Water Authority, Prescod assured that “proper checks and balances” would be in place.

“We are going to be very prudent and I don’t want you to judge us based on what you have experienced within the last 10 or 11 years in Barbados. You can rest assured that we have designed a progressive programme as a political party and I believe that we also have competent persons,” he said. (MM)

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Stall owners and vendors are demanding the Government tackle a stinking mountain of garbage at the Fairchild Street Market site that attracts illicit dumpers.

[caption id="attachment_277254" align="aligncenter" width="400"] Piles of garbage at the Fairchild Street Market in The City.[/caption]

But the mini-‘Mount Stinkeroo’ not only earned the ire of the market’s users but brought out the Minister for the Environment Trevor Prescod, senior civil servants – and a clean-up crew from the Sanitation Service Authority today.

Armed with skid-steer loader and two trucks the SSA sought to clear the mess - discarded household items, food containers and cardboard boxes, even disused appliances.

And the people who make the market their place of business accuse previous and current administrations of turning a blind eye to the problem.

Irate business owners called on Government to take serious action against people who use the demolished market as a dumping ground in order to avoid paying the tipping fee for proper disposal of their refuse.

“People does come from all over the place and dump their garbage. Just last night one man came here with a grey Suzuki (jeep) and dumped a whole heap of fridges and when people tried to talk to him he start cursing,” said one bar owner, who referred to herself only as Janice.

“Trucks does come here and dump things because they don’t want to pay the tipping fee. This is just nasty and Government need to install some cameras around here so that they could catch some people and make them pay. This is downright nasty and it is years now that we suffering with this problem and it takes months before [SSA] comes,” said another stall owner, who did not want to be identified.

But Prescod said it was therefore unfair to blame the SSA for the lack of garbage removal because the market has a private contractor for garbage disposal which uses a skip to retain refuse.

The Minister also warned that Government is considering stiffer penalties for persons who use the market as a dumping ground.

“This skip belongs to a private hauler and it is not the Government department that is responsible for having the skip here and it is not the Sanitation Service Authority that is responsible for the accumulation of garbage.  The reality is that when that skip on more than one occasion becomes full, the private hauler moves it but leaves all the garbage that overflowed and accumulated around the skip,” said Prescod, as he oversaw the unsightly mound with top officials from his ministry and the SSA.

And the Minister revealed the possible implementation of garbage separation in homes for recycling and other alternative waste disposal.

“If we try to use moral suasion in the months ahead and we discover that society is not responding then we would have to use the legislature in order to use that muscle. We came into office and realized that a lot of these deficiencies existed in the system,” he stressed. (CM)

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A Governor General, a Prime Minister – now add an Assistant Commissioner of Police to the list of women breaking the glass ceiling in Barbados this year.

And while she does not see her appointment as major, Lila Strickland, who has been acting in the position for the last five years, has acknowledged that it was definitely a breakthrough for females.

“I was doing the work since December 2013. It is not a big deal for me [but] it is an achievement for the female section,” she said.

Strickland, 62, was on Monday presented with her letters of appointment from Commissioner of Police Tyrone Griffith during a short ceremony at Police Headquarters.

 “I have been in it for a while and I don’t think of anything that is new that is imminent but I have been making inroads,” she said.

She pledged to continue to give of her best at all times and continue to work closely with her colleagues to fulfill the mandate of the Royal Barbados Police Force.

Strickland’s appointment came exactly three months after Barbados witnessed the election of its first female Prime Minister Mia Mottley, 52, and about seven months after 69-year-old Dame Sandra Mason began her term as Governor General.

A record six women now serve as Members of Parliament in the 30-seat House of Assembly. Eight of 20 members of the Senate are female.

Commandment of the Regional Police Training Centre Sylvester Louis and Senior Superintendent of Police Eucklyn Thompson have been made Assistant Commissioners of Police.

The appointments will take effect from September 1. (MM)

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Credit card charges for supermarket shopping, a $900 restaurant bill, a television and more than $1,000 in duty-free purchases by yet another leader of the National Union of Public Workers (NUPW) are being challenged as unauthorized transactions, Barbados TODAY has learned.

And the decision-making body in the NUPW, concerned at a two-year pattern of high credit card spending, has called for scrutiny of the union leaders’ charge card bills.

Just one month after President Akanni McDowall was called to account for alleged unauthorized use of the union’s credit card, General Secretary Roslyn Smith is to be quizzed by the union’s national council later this week for a credit card bill of $13,262.57, a source close to the development told Barbados TODAY on condition of anonymity.

But Smith, backed by General Treasurer Asokore Beckles, has rubbished these accusations of unauthorized purchases in the last ten months.

But the source said that McDowall, who is chairman of the National Council, has been instructed to summon Smith in writing to a meeting on Wednesday. McDowall would neither confirm nor deny this account when contacted today.

In documents seen by Barbados TODAY, Smith charged $4000 at Popular Discounts and Massy Stores supermarkets from September 2017 to March 2018.

Other charges included a $937 bill at Brown Sugar restaurant, $773 for a television at Courts and $1,196.28 in purchases at Duty Free Caribbean.

Smith told Barbados TODAY that the charges were nothing short of a malicious attempt to besmirch her name because purchases were made with the expressed authorization of the union.

“All those things were discussed before. The supermarket purchases were for the hurricane relief effort in Dominica. I couldn’t use the card unless I have permission because I return the card to the union after every purchase. So I am not too bothered by what anyone says. When you have persons that have done things that they should not do they try to implicate people that are above board,” the NUPW general secretary said.

Her position was fully supported by the treasurer, Beckles, who denied Smith was being investigated.

“I am the general treasurer of the organization and I can say to you emphatically that the general secretary is under no investigation or under any disciplinary action under any circumstances when it comes to financial matters. Any financial spending has to be approved by myself or by the president and one of the first-vice presidents. So even if the general secretary had to make a transaction it would come to light when it came time to paying,” said Beckles, who added he personally combed through the union’s spending each week.

“There were various ways in which we had to go about purchasing stuff for Dominica disaster relief. These matters were urgent to get relief to our brothers and sisters out there. So, given the speedy nature we had instructed the general secretary to go and purchase these items as well as find ways to get them to Dominica,” he added.

The National Council, the union’s highest decision-making body, met on July 30 and August 2 and moved that “all documents in respect of the credit card should be brought to Council including the General Secretary’s use”.

According to a report of the meeting, a copy of which Barbados TODAY has obtained, the National Council expressed concern over the pattern of spending on the union’s credit cards in the last 24 months.

The committee recommended that all credit cards be destroyed and that a sole credit card be issued for NUPW use, limited to overseas charges and for emergencies. (CM)

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A rare open hearing of the Joint Select Committee of Parliament on the proposed Integrity in Public Life Bill 2018 was warned today that the legislation alone would fail to keep politicians honest.

The warning came from Sir David Simmons, the former parliamentarian, cabinet minister and attorney general under several administrations of the governing Barbados Labour Party who rose to become Chief Justice of Barbados.

But as he addressed the parliamentary committee, Sir David spoke as the man who helped establish the Turks and Caicos Islands Integrity Commission he currently chairs.

The former Chief Justice, one of two eminent persons making oral submissions to the Committee in the Senate Chamber, recommended that an Integrity in Public Life Act must be part of a package of related laws in order for it to get the job done of fighting corruption.

“This legislation must be part of a package.  It cannot exist on its own. It cannot adequately do the job. We agree that there must be a code of conduct developed which must provide for sanctions for breach of the code,” said Sir David.

“You need a code of conduct, but more particularly... I would like to suggest, you need legislation to regulate campaign financing of political parties...and you need a Freedom of Information Act. I think those two, plus the code of conduct and this legislation [Integrity in Public Life Bill] as a suite of legislation will ensure that Barbados has taken proper steps towards providing minimum standards for good governance and the conduct of persons in public life,” the leading Caribbean jurist told the Select Committee chaired by Attorney General Dale Marshall.

He recommended a sliding scale of sanctions, instead of the automatic dismissal of corrupt government ministers or judges which is required under the British overseas territory’s constitution. He suggested such penalties should include a reprimand or suspension.

Sir David stressed that Barbados needed to get its house in order for the treatment it is likely to face from the international financial sector including the International Monetary Fund (IMF) with regards to corrupt practices.

He added there was no time for Barbados to turn back in its quest to tackle corruption and should follow the examples of countries such as Jamaica, Dominica, Trinidad and Tobago and Turks and Caicos which have Integrity Commissions.

“Corruption is attracting the attention of world leaders and the international financial institutions. The Summit of the Americas was held in Peru in April this year and the hot topic was how governments can combat corruption at the highest level throughout the Americas and that would include us. In the same month of April this year.

“The International Monetary Fund that we are dealing with now, promulgated a framework for enhanced engagement with countries on governance and corruption issues. And the objectives, according to the release from the IMF is to ensure that issues of corruption are dealt with ‘systematically, effectively, candidly and in a manner that reflects uniformity of treatment’,” said the former Chief Justice.

The IMF will begin to comment on actual or perceived corrupt practices in a particular country when it conducts its usual Article IV reviews, he predicted.

“It behoves us to start to put our house in order to align ourselves to the rest of the world and the best practices that are being developed to enhance good governance,” Sir David said.

But in a frank declaration, Sir David blamed the private sector for corruption in Government.

“Corruption in the public sector is a direct consequence of willing greedy and corrupt persons in the private sector. There is big money in Government contracts, everyone knows that. And where legislation for election campaign financing is non-existent and public procurement legislation is toothless, I don’t think it is fanciful to suggest that financiers of election campaigns of parties expect that if the donees of their funds are successful they would have access to lucrative Government contracts,” he contende.

The ex-judge also made a strong case for whistleblower legislation with provision to protect the informants, a major public education programme to ensure the widest possible buy-in and much stiffer penalties that would deter potential corruption.

The other oral submission was made by Head of Management Studies at the Cave Hill Campus of the University of the West Indies (UWI) Dr Philmore Alleyne, whose doctoral thesis was on whistleblowing.

Dr Alleyne, who also taught governance and ethics at the Cave Hill Campus, shared some of the findings of a 2017 study he conducted on behalf of the UWI on corruption.

He said 89 per cent of respondents believe there is political interference in business and the judiciary.

“There is also belief that there is pervasive corruption and fraud in business and Government. There is also a belief that Government is perceived as not being accountable and transparent,” the senior university lecturer told the Joint Select Committee, which includes the Opposition Leader Bishop Joseph Atherley and Opposition Senator Caswell Franklin.

Dr Alleyne also found that people saw Government as not being serious of tackling corruption. Without naming former Minister of International Business Donville Inniss, who is currently facing US money laundering allegations linked to alleged bribery, the academic pointed to the case as another reason for Barbados to have integrity legislation.

Heartened that Government was taking a bold step in seeking full stakeholder participation in the final drafting of the Integrity in Public Life Bill, he nevertheless said that its implementation and enforcement remained a concern, he said.

He agreed with Sir David’s suggestion for a public education campaign to address the negative perceptions in the public domain concerning politicians and business people.

He told the hearing that just before coming before the Committee, he carried out a cursory survey among some members of the public and discovered that people felt it was just a talk shop.

But Committee members Senator Lisa Cummins and Ralph Thorne MP said this was far from the truth, pointing to Dr Alleyne’s own submission and the invitation to all stakeholders to take part.

The UWI lecturer agreed to make his research available to the Committee and promised to return to the parliamentary body if needed.

He also sided with Sir David’s call for stiffer penalties in the legislation, a mechanism to protect confidential information, the expunging of the record of declared assets after a public official has left office and greater vetting of appointments to the Integrity Commission.

At the end of the three-hour session, which was carried live on television and streamed on the Parliament’s website, the Chairman of the Joint Select Committee Dale Marshall announced that 14 entities or individuals had made written submissions and seven of them would appear before the body.

The Democratic Labour Party, which held office until the May 24 election heads the list of organizations expected to address the Joint Select Committee, along with the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Barbados (ICAB), the UN Office of Drugs and Crime, the Mens Education Support Association (MESA), the Office of the Ombudsman and the Royal Barbados Police Force (RBPF) Financial Intelligence Unit.

The hearing was adjourned until Friday, September 7th at 1.30 p.m. (EJ)

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Acting Governor General Kenneth Rudolph Hewitt was sworn in today by Chief Justice Sir Marston Gibson during a brief ceremony in the Grace Adams Suite of the Grantley Adams International Airport.

Mr Hewitt will act until September 16, while Governor General Dame Sandra Mason travels overseas on a private visit.

(BGIS)

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Government is set to increase five-fold the fines for anyone found driving without basic insurance coverage, while doubling the prison time for the same offence.

The House of Assembly this evening approved the Road Traffic Amendment Bill 2018, which raises drastically the penalties on motorists who do not have third-party insurance or who simply fail to produce the soon-to-be-introduced insurance sticker.

In introducing the measure this morning, Minister of Transport, Works and Maintenance Dr William Duguid said it occurred to Government after it abolished the road tax in July, that the estimated 20,000 vehicle owners who over the years had not paid the road tax would likely not pay insurance.

Therefore, Duguid said, the Barbados Labour Party administration felt it necessary to make the penalty so punitive that potential offenders would think twice about driving without basic coverage.

“People became very concerned and those who were non-compliant with the road tax would now become non-compliant with payment of their insurance,” he explained.

“That fine in this new legislation will go to $5,000 for people driving on our roads without third-party insurance,” he announced.

Currently, the fine is $1,000, six months in prison, or both. Under the amended Act the prison sentence is being doubled to 12 months.

Duguid said the $1,000 fine was not enough to act as a deterrent, since, in many cases, it was a lot less than the insurance premiums.

As a result, he said, the lawbreakers would be willing “to take the risk and not pay insurance because if they got caught the fine was less than the amount they would have saved, although illegally, if they had not paid the insurance for that period of time.

“So we decided that the fine obviously had to come in line with the cost of insurance. So we chose the number of $5,000 because we thought that being much stiffer a penalty, it would deter people from taking that chance of not paying their insurance,” he explained, even as he pleaded with motorists to “please don’t take that risk, please don’t take that chance”.

These changes were among amendments to 30 sections of the Road Traffic Act approved last November. The amendments, according to the Bill, were meant “to provide for the abolition of the payment of road tax, to provide for the payment of registration fees for motor vehicles and to provide for related matters”.

Among the other punitive measures introduced are fines of $5,000, imprisonment for 12 months, or both, if the seller or new owner of a vehicle fails to report the change of ownership, or submit false information.

The law also now requires vehicle owners to display a sticker on the top right hand corner of their licence plates to indicate that the insurance has been paid.

“That sticker will denote the month and year that your insurance expires . . . . When you go and produce your proof of insurance you will be issued the sticker which you will put in the top right hand corner,” Duguid said.

He explained that the sticker would be tamper-proof and therefore “if you try to peal this sticker off . . . it will bubble up and the word void would come up”.

Vehicle owners will also be fined $5,000, face imprisonment of up to 12 months, or both, if they fail to produce the registration sticker or registration card, up from $200 or three months in jail for failing to place the registration card on the vehicle.

“In time we will have other security measures involved in this sticker,” Duguid promised.

The minister also said the practice of using private licence plates on commercial vehicles would end, with all commercial vehicles now required to use a blue and white licence number plate with the letter ‘C’ to indicate that it is commercial.

All the measures, he said, were meant to “bring back order to the roads of this country”, stressing that the administration would do “whatever we have to do to bring order back to the roads of this country”.   

The amended legislation also makes provision for anyone visiting Barbados for less than six months to bring in a vehicle, as long as the person leaves with it.

However, he said, this would apply only to residents of countries with which Barbados has a reciprocal arrangement.

Duguid said the revenue from the measures in the amended legislation would “help us to clean our streets, to repair our roads. That revenue will help us to counter and to overcome the significant problems that the ministry is experiencing”.

marlonmadden@barbadosgtoday.bb

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Opposition Leader Joseph Atherley stopped just short today of calling for privatization of the public transport system, suggesting that more of the transportation services should be in private hands while Government maintains the “social service”.

In his contribution to the debate on the amendments to the Road Traffic Act, Atherley argued that private sector vehicle operators were important to the transportation sector here and should be made to feel that way.

Therefore, he recommended they be offered “meaningful concessions” so they could carry more of the transportation load, thus helping Government to reduce its spending on the Transport Board.

“I am simply saying the state needs to rid itself of the burden of this service to the extent that it does. Don’t get me wrong, the state should provide the social service – provide for pensioners, provide for the schools - but get out of the business to the extent that it can provide universally for public transport in Barbados and avoid that cost of acquisition, maintenance, energy and insurance and facilitate the private sector,” Atherley told his parliamentary colleagues during debate on the Road Traffic Act.

Atherley, who won his seat in the May 24 general election on a Barbados Labour Party ticket before crossing the floor one week later, said the private sector transportation providers should be treated no differently from the tourism and manufacturing sectors, which have benefited from duty-free and tax concessions over the years.

The Mia Mottley-led administration has already indicated it was seriously considering the acquisition of electric vehicles as an option to address the shortage of vehicles at the state-run Transport Board and would likely seek help from the Inter-American Development Bank and the European Union.

However, Atherley argued that at a time when Government was struggling with a high debt and low finances it should take “a very serious look at its attempts to provide for public transport in Barbados”.

“We continue to lament the cost of acquisition of new buses . . . . Whether new brand buses or used buses we are now looking to do that, but that is a burden on the taxpayers of Barbados to acquire these new buses to the extent that they are needed. There is the cost of maintenance, [which is] quite high, there is the cost of insurance, there is the cost of energy – all of these are costs which have to be borne for the state in the attempt to provide for public service transport in Barbados,” the Opposition Leader said.

“I am saying all of that simply to suggest maybe it might be more prudent if we would look to put more of the responsibility for providing public transport on the private providers of transport in a context where we meaningfully create an environment for them in which there is ease for acquiring buses, and I mean bigger buses,” he added.

He also called for facilities to be set up to allow entrepreneurs in the auto mechanic industry to “operate in auto industrial park situations” in order to encourage investment and development of entrepreneurship.

Atherley also expressed concern about the length of time some private sector drivers were spending behind the wheels.

“I know some of these guys are on the road very early - four o’clock and five o’clock in the morning . . . and then you are on the road hustling all morning, all afternoon, all evening, all night until about ten or 11 in the night,” he said, adding that they were putting themselves, the passengers and other drivers at risk.

“I suggest very urgently to the honourable minister that we put some attention there and regulate for how many hours per day a man or woman may get behind the wheel of the public service vehicle that is providing private transport. It applies to other people who chauffeur, pilot or drive people and I think that we need to put some focus there before the worse occurs,” Atherley pleaded.

He also suggested that some urgency be given to addressing the “increasing frequency” of drivers running stoplights, describing the practice as a “criminal activity” that Barbadians have been “picking up”.

Atherley also called on the ministry to quickly tackle the issue of noise pollution associated with motorcycles, which he described as a bother. (MM)

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Minister of Transport, Works and Maintenance Dr William Duguid and one of his Cabinet colleague today publicly disagreed over the penalties for those who flout the road traffic laws, especially those who refuse to pay insurance.

Declaring he has a zero tolerance for such lawbreakers, Minister of Energy and Water Resources Wilfred Abrahams recommended automatic jail time for those acts of “wanton recklessness”.

However, in wrapping up debate on the Road Traffic Amendment Bill 2018, Duguid chided his colleague for his “militant” approach.

“I understand the Honourable Member for Christ Church East and his militant way of doing things, but it is a process, and we have to get this process right . . . because at the end of the day, whether we like it or not, there are 750 public service vehicles on our roads, and there are only 80 or 90 Transport Board buses. So the vast majority of people are transported in Barbados through public service vehicles,” Duguid said.

Stressing the need for a less aggressive approach to addressing breaches to the road traffic laws, the Minister of Transport urged his Cabinet colleague to recognize that Government needed to work in partnership with the private operators.

“We have to recognize that the public service vehicles are our partners in transport in this country and we have to get our relation right with them,” he said.

The Bill, which was introduced and passed today, was to “amend the Road Traffic Act, Cap. 295 to provide for the abolition of the payment of road tax, to provide for the payment of registration fees for motor vehicles and to provide for related matters”.

Duguid promised that there would be other amendments, among which will be provisions for random drugs testing to target those who drive under the influence of prescription medicine, in addition to those who drive while drunk.

“Drunk driving is a serious problem, and it not only goes as drunk driving because it is not only alcohol, it is impaired driving . . . because people don’t only abuse alcohol, they abuse other medications as well. Not only marijuana, they also abuse prescription drugs. So we are going to go further. Not only would it be assessing alcoholic use, but a complete assessment of impaired driving as a whole rather than just sticking to one drug,” he pointed out.

The Road Traffic Act introduced last November by then Minister of Transport and Works Michael Lashley made provisions for breathalyzer testing, as well as random alcohol and drug testing of people who operate public service vehicles and heavy-duty cargo vehicles.

Lashley had said at the time breathalyzer testing would ensure that once there was reasonable cause, the Royal Barbados Police Force could ask for a breath sample from drivers suspected to be under the influence. Those who fail to comply without reasonable excuse face a $1,000 fine, six months’ imprisonment or both. (EJ)

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In the wake of yesterday’s stabbing incident at the Constitution River Terminal, Head of the Association of Public Transport Operators (APTO) Morris Lee is calling on Government to hasten the opening of the new state-of-the-art replacement facility, with 24-hour security.

[caption id="attachment_277318" align="aligncenter" width="400"] Morris Lee[/caption]

“One stabbing incident is one too many and there is no place in our sector for this type of behaviour. We need to do everything in our power to ensure that this type of behaviour is stamped out,” said Lee following the 7:45 a.m. bloody incident involving three public service vehicle (PSV) workers.

As a result, one worker was left nursing serious injuries and two others facing criminal charges.

“We need that new terminal building up and running because on the current piece of real estate PSVs can come from any angle and cut in front of another. The new terminal has a concourse where all of the commuters wanting to catch a vehicle are funnelled through one area. Once it is streamlined we can have better control,” the APTO president contended.

In the lead up to the May 24 general election, then Minister of Transport and Works Michael Lashley had declared the terminal open even though the building had no furniture or surveillance equipment installed.

The three-storey building, completed at an estimated cost of $3.2 million, was hailed as the fulfilment of a promise by the former Democratic Labour Party administration, dating back almost five years.

However, three months after the Barbados Labour Party came to power, no indication has been given as to when the facility would be operational, with Lee warning today that the longer Government tarries on this project, the longer the public is exposed to chaos.

“That terminal has been hit with so many delays that I have lost track, but, in the meantime, people are at risk of being knocked down [at the current terminal],” Lee said.

He also warned that persons other than commuters were using the terminal “as a place to lime and engage in illegal activities”.

“All these things are putting the travelling public at risk, “ he stressed.

Yesterday’s stabbing incident was by no means an isolated one. Back in March, 23-year-old Kemar Gooding of Ellerton, St George, a conductor and father of two, lost his life when he was stabbed at that same location.

At the time, an eyewitness had told Barbados TODAY the deceased was part of a mob that approached a young man who is employed by the Ministry of Transport and Works at the River Bus Terminal, and began throwing stones in his direction.

Lee is therefore worried that with only sporadic police presence in the van stand, such lawless behaviour will continue to go unchecked. (CM)

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Government is in the process of mapping out a major recycling programme.

Speaking ahead of a tour of the Fairchild Street public market on Monday, Minister of Environment and National Beautification Trevor Prescod did not give details, but revealed that his ministry was working on a public-private sector partnership in this regard.

[caption id="attachment_277325" align="aligncenter" width="400"] Trevor Prescod[/caption]

Currently, Barbados is said to produce in excess of 1,100 tonnes of waste per day, with funding to the state-run Sanitation Service Authority (SSA) averaging $50 million per year.

In view of this, Prescod said a “professional assessment from the technical staff in the ministry” would first have to be done.

However, he disclosed that he had already met with two recycling companies - Scrap Man Recycling and Sustainable Barbados Recycling Centre Inc - both of which indicated a willingness to expand their operations.

“Obviously if we begin to deliver it the way we are to deliver it [they have] to upgrade the level of the staff . . . . They are now saying they are going to expand,” Prescod said on the Down to Brass Tacks radio show on the Starcom Network.

“We are ready to work in collaboration to address these issues. The ministry is very energetic. It is moving,” he added, as he lauded the SSA staff for their hard work.

Prescod, whose Barbados Labour Party (BLP) came to power following the May 24 general election, pointed out that as part of the BLP’s plan for the country, there would be a national clean up campaign, which would include the removal of derelict vehicles.

However, he acknowledged that Government was grappling with resource and other constraints.

“We had to continue the struggle with the south coast sewage plant. We then had a fire at Mangrove,” he said.

“Of course we have the personnel and we have a Government with the capability now going forward, but the reality that we have to face is the financial constraints,” he said. (MM)

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The management of the Sandals is reassuring residents and businesses in the Speightstown community that they will not be “left in the dark” regarding plans for the conversion of the former Almond Beach Village into a Beaches hotel.

General Manager of Sandals Barbados and Sandals Royal Ferry Zievinger admitted to reporters today that “when we built here [on the south coast] we could have been better organized in terms of our communication with the residents, so we are doing that with this [Beaches] project through a series of town hall meetings.

[caption id="attachment_277324" align="aligncenter" width="333"] Ferry Zievinger[/caption]

“We believe it is important to keep residents and businesses updated on what is coming, especially since as the project progresses, new questions will always come up.”

The spokesman for the Jamaica-based regional hotel chain said work was currently being done on the beachfront of the hotel which began life as the Heywoods Holiday Village in the early 1980s.

“Presently we are working on the beachfront, cultivating coral so that we can upgrade the reefs directly in front of the hotel, and we have been receiving positive feedback from the people in the area based on our first town hall meeting with them.”

Zievinger also stated that since the hotel was a going concern when it was acquired, Sandals had to sell off its assets and expects to complete this process by January next year so construction of the new property could commence.

“We already had a big sale in which we gave our staff and former Almond workers first option on purchasing the inventory, and we are now about to give the general public a chance to do so. Ideally, we want to dispose of everything by January 2019 so we can demolish the old property and start working on the new buildings,” he said following last month’s town hall in which residents raised strong concern about beach access, with the multi-million dollar Sandals Beaches hotel due to be constructed at Heywoods within the next two years.

They also alluded to the constant issue of flooding in parts of St Peter, asking the Sandals officials, including Project Manager John Duffy, Corporate Director Jeremy Jones, Regional Project Manager Terence Des Vignes and Kevin Macintosh-Baird: “What have you done to prevent flooding?”. (DH)

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Magistrate Douglas Frederick today remanded a 31-year-old carpenter who has exhausted his bail conditions.

“There isn’t anything more I can do with you but put you in prison,” the magistrate told Pedro Alfonzo Burgess, of Baycroft Road, Bridge Road, St Michael, who appeared in court this afternoon charged with entering the home of a woman as a trespasser between August 25 and 26 with intent to indecently assault another female.

Burgess was not required to plead to the indictable charge when he appeared in court with his attorney-at-law Sian Lange.

The accused however denied loitering on Roger’s Road, Government Hill, on August 26 and was unable to give a satisfactory account of himself.

But when it came time for bail Sergeant Rudy Pilgrim raised strong objections to his release, pointing out that Burgess had a number of matters pending, including allegations of indecent assault and loitering for which he was also on bail.

“He also has a number of antecedents which speak to indecent assaults . . . . The aspect of reoffending is ripe,’ Pilgrim said.

However, Burgess’ attorney argued that while her client had matters pending, the charges were mere allegations at this time. She revealed that her client had a part time job and was currently attending skills training.

“No identification parade was conducted which speaks to the strength of the evidence. Our position is that the evidence is patently weak and circumstantial. He has pleaded not guilty and awaits his day in court,” Lange said.

She further submitted that stringent conditions could be imposed in granting bail to her client to ensure that no other allegations were made against him.

However, Frederick made it clear that several magistrates had tried “all conditions, but your name keeps coming up all the time”.

He pointed out that Burgess was on daily curfews with “all sorts of hours”, reporting to a police station daily and warnings not to interfere with the complainants or go their houses.

“I don’t know what else to do with you. There ain’t nothing more I can do with you but put you in prison,” the magistrate told the accused who responded: “I didn’t do these crimes. They [the police] target me all the time.”

Frederick then gave Burgess a September 25 date to return to court on the premise that “when you are in prison your name can’t get called”.

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A public service vehicle (PSV) driver and conductor, jointly accused of wounding another man, were today granted $5,000 bail each in the District ‘A’ Magistrate’s Court.

The driver, 41-year-old Shawn Ricardo Harewood, of Block 7C, Pleasant Hall Land, St Matthias, Christ Church, pleaded not guilty, while the conductor, 35-year-old Darrun O’Brian Phillips, of Todds Land, St
George, pleaded guilty to unlawfully and maliciously wounding Samuel Sealy on
August 27 with intent to maim, disfigure or disable him or to do some serious bodily harm to him.

[caption id="attachment_277337" align="aligncenter" width="650"] Shawn Ricardo Harewood (left) Darrun O’Brian Phillips (right)[/caption]

Sergeant Rudy Pilgrim objected to bail for the two accused on the grounds that the offence was serious and allegedly occurred at “high day time” while Sealy was plying his trade and in the midst of the travelling public.

The prosecutor also revealed that there was still “some volatility” surrounding the matter.

“We would not want for the situation to escalate,” Pilgrim added.

However, in his application for bail, Phillips said while he agreed that the charge was serious he had no charges pending before the court and did not believe that the situation would escalate.

“As far as I know the virtual complainant was treated at hospital and discharged,” Phillips told Magistrate Douglas Frederick.

Harewood’s attorney Shadia Simpson asked the magistrate to give her client “the benefit of the doubt as he had no history with the complainant”. Simpson also pointed out that Harewood had no prior convictions and was not currently on bail.

“He was plying his trade at the time, in the same place, and pleaded with the police to speak with witnesses. My client clearly distances himself from the incident and told police he was nowhere near when it occurred,” she further submitted, while suggesting that the court could impose conditions on her client that would satisfy the prosecution’s fears.

It was then that Sergeant Pilgrim revealed that Sealy was stabbed several times with a scissors and was treated and discharged from hospital.

Following that revelation, the magistrate granted bail to the two accused on the condition that they do not interfere with Sealy.

They return to court on December 10.

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