A 26-year-old man, who pleaded guilty to two burglary offences, will know his fate on Friday.

Jamal Rohan Kellman, of Dash Gap, Bank Hall, St Michael, appeared before Magistrate Douglas Frederick yesterday and was remanded to HMP Dodds after he admitted to entering the Happy Rooster Bar and Grill as a trespasser between July 11th and 12th and stealing $500 belonging to Denise Lewis.

He also admitted to entering the Trinity Academy between July 16 and 18 with intent to commit theft.

Prosecutor Station Sergeant Samuel Hinds disclosed that the two establishments were secured but the complainants returned to find them broken into.

“It [Trinity Academy] was broken into already when I broke in, but yeah, I went in,” said Kellman, who is known to the court.

His sentencing for the offences was halted when the prosecutor revealed that he had outstanding fines to pay to the court.

However, Kellman tried to convince the court that the monies had been paid by family member at the District ‘F’ Magistrate’s Court.

Still, the magistrate informed him that the necessary checks would first have to be made and the receipts submitted.

“I was hooked on drugs, cocaine. I have a lil baby and I don’t want to spend no time in prison,” Kellman said before he was
remanded to the St Philip penal institution until August 31.

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A 20-year-old man who boarded a pleasure cruise empty handed but left with a backpack, is expected to know his fate on October 29.

Shamar Jabari Greaves, of Second Avenue, Water Hall Land, St Michael, pleaded guilty to taking the bag and its contents worth
$1,000 belonging to Rashawn Alleyne on June 24.

In reading the police report Sergeant Rudy Pilgrim revealed that Alleyne, a crewmember, reported to the captain that his belongings were missing from the kitchen. A review of the CCTV footage showed Greaves entering and leaving with the bag, which was not recovered.

Today Greaves, who is not known to the court, used the misuse of alcohol as his defence.

“On the night of the cruise, when it dock, I was under the influence of alcohol. I went back on the cruise to use the bathroom and could not find it so I went in the kitchen and took the bag up. I would like to apologize . . . . At the time I was not working and was under the influence” Greaves told Magistrate Douglas Frederick.

However the magistrate said: “Obviously you weren’t drunk enough if you take up the people stuff”.

Greaves responded: “I was just enjoying myself.”

A presentencing report has been ordered into Greaves’ life after his father requested that he be admitted to the Psychiatric Hospital for observation.

The first time offender was granted $1,500 bail. He was also placed on a daily 6 p.m. and 6 a.m. curfew until the matter is adjudicated.

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Members of the Guyson Mayers-led Police Service Commission (PSC) have been asked to resign.

Minister of Home Affairs Edmund Hinkson has written to the commissioners asking them to immediately send their letters of resignation to Prime Minister Mia Mottley.

“I am directed to kindly request you to submit a letter placing your instrument of appointment as a member of the Police Service Commission at the disposal of the Prime Minister, The Honourable Mia Amor Mottley, QC, MP,” stated Hinkson in the letter, a copy of which was obtained by Barbados TODAY.

Hinkson expressed gratitude to the commissioners for past services rendered to the PSC and said he “looks forward to your early positive response”.

However, in a defiant response, Mayers, who told Barbados TODAY he was unaware of the letters, dismissed the correspondence from the minister, stating: “There is no legal authority for such a letter.”

Asked whether he had received one the PSC chairman replied: “Nobody would send me such a letter.”

The Service Commission’s (Police Service) Regulations, 1964 CAP.34 does not address the issue of the chairman simultaneously serving as an executive member of a major political party.

Mayers, an attorney-at-law, has come under fire for holding on to the position since his recent election as general secretary of the Democratic Labour Party (DLP), having replaced George Pilgrim in that position.

Among his harshest critics was Caswell Franklyn, the trade unionist and Opposition senator, who suggested at a recent sitting of the Senate that Mayers did not have “a little bit of integrity”.

“That would never happen when people have a little bit of integrity. The thing is, the commissioner is not on these boards where the minister responsible can revoke their appointments, they have to misbehave in office and there is some little tribunal or whatever to take them out or they resign if they know better,” Franklyn said during the debate on the Public Service (General) Order, 2018.

“You can imagine the general secretary of a political party is the chairman of the Police Service Commission? the senator asked.

“I don’t believe that anybody with any modicum of decency would have done that,” said Franklyn, who accused Mayers of wanting to hold on to both posts so he could “put his people” in various positions.

The Mayers led commission was involved in a promotions controversy, which led to a lawsuit in 2016 by 15 officers who had claimed they had been unfairly overlooked for promotion.

A High Court judge dismissed the case against the PSC, which along with the Attorney General and former Police Commissioner Darwin Dottin, had been sued by police officers over their non-promotion during Dottin’s tenure.

According to Section 91 of the Barbados Constitution, the Chairman and members of the Commission “shall be appointed by the Governor General acting on the recommendation of the Prime Minister after consultation with the Leader of the Opposition, by instrument under the Public Seal”.   

Section 91.3 also stipulates that the office of a member of the Commission shall become vacant at the expiration of three years from the date of his appointment or at such earlier time as may be specified in the instrument by which he was appointed.

Hinkson could not be reached for comment, and PSC member and former senior police officer Keith Whittaker declined to speak on the contents of the letter.

The remaining members of the PSC are Anglican priest Dr Von Watson, retired permanent secretary Shirley Farnum and businessman Neville Lewis.

emmanueljoseph@barbadostoday.bb

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Minister of Transport, Works and Maintenance Dr William Duguid today described as “scandalous” and a crying shame, what he said was the last Government’s decision to allow $4 million in equipment to rot rather than be put to use for the good of the country.

A seemingly angry Duguid told Parliament a number of skidsteer loaders – known locally by the make, Bobcat – as well as trucks and trailers purchased for the National Environment Enhancement Programme in 2009 were abandoned when the programme ended in 2013.

“You would expect or imagine that the then administration would have reassigned those 13 trucks, and 13 Bobcats and 13 trailers to other ministries or other departments so that they could make use of the investment that the country would have made in those pieces of equipment - over $4 million of equipment, I was told,” the minister said as he led debate on the amendment of the Road Traffic Act.

Duguid said during a recent visit to the drainage department he was “appalled and horrified” when he discovered that nine of the trucks, eight of the skidsteers and seven of the trailers were “left to rot from 2013 to now”.

“For those vehicles to have been put down for years and nobody looked back at them for years apart from [taking] parts off them - and God knows where those parts went [to, or] who benefited from the parts that were taken off - it is nothing short of scandalous,” he said.

Expressing disgust at the development, the minister suggested that a forensic investigation be held to get to the bottom of the matter, although he did not recommend what action, if any, that should be taken at the end of the probe.

“I would ask that maybe we should have a forensic investigation into what happened to those vehicles and why nobody looked back at them and why nobody found it fit that those vehicles should be positioned in other ministries who would have benefited from them,” he said.

Stressing that the vehicles were “left in the elements for all, and cannibalized from time to time”, Duguid said they were now missing radiators, seats, carburetors and “all sorts of parts” at a time when the country did not have resources to make the vehicles whole again.

“To have left so many pieces of equipment for years and never to have gone back at them it is scandalous to have wasted millions of dollars of the taxpayers’ money, millions of dollars.”

Two of the trucks and two of the skidsteers were given to the Sanitation Service Authority (SSA) while one of the trucks and one of the skidsteers were given to the National Housing Corporation.

Duguid told his parliamentary colleagues he had asked the chief mechanic at the ministry to see what could be salvaged but was told just yesterday that “we would be lucky to get one vehicle now”.

“He said the quantum of money we would have to spend to be able to rehabilitate them now after five years to get them back on the road would not be worth it. The cost benefit analysis was not there and I was just shocked,” he reported.

Duguid argued that the trucks could have been used to help with the collection of garbage, especially given the shortage of garbage trucks at the SSA.

“You know what benefit nine trucks could have been to help pick up garbage in this country over the last four or five years? It would have been a tremendous benefit. You know what benefit it would have been to have those Bobcats working to help keep out gullies free and clear so that we don’t have the drainage problems, so that we don’t have the infestation with mosquitoes? And the last administration found it fit to just leave those vehicles there to rot. It is just a scandal and I was just appalled,” he stressed.

marlonmadden@barbadostoday.bb

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Minister of Health and Wellness Lieutenant Colonel Jeffrey Bostic has added his voice to the debate on alternative financing for healthcare, saying a national health insurance scheme is the preferred option at this time.

Delivering remarks at the opening of today’s sub-regional dialogue on health, hosted by the Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO) and World Health Organisation (WHO) at the Hilton Barbados Resort, Bostic acknowledged that there was no single, ideal model for health financing.

[caption id="attachment_277350" align="aligncenter" width="400"] Minister of Health and Wellness Lieutenant Colonel Jeffrey Bostic (second from right) chats with PAHO officials, including (from left) Sub Regional Programme Coordinator Jessie Schutt-Aine, Director of Health Systems and Services Dr James Fitzgerald and representative for Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean Dr Godfrey Xuerev.[/caption]

However, he suggested that a “homegrown” benefits scheme, similar to what currently obtains for payment of national insurance, was the way to go.

“The path to universal coverage for Barbados and the wider Caribbean must be homegrown with universal health coverage becoming the goal for reform. Pooling of funds is preferred to out-of-pocket payments, and public or compulsory pooling is preferred to private pooling,” he said, adding that the recent introduction of a Health Services Contribution of 2.5 per cent, which is shared between the employer and employee, was a move in that direction.

Ironically, it was Bostic’s Barbados Labour Party (BLP) that had sounded the warning to Barbadians two years ago at the height of the national health debate that they would soon have to pay for health services.

Back then,  the former Opposition Shadow Minister of Health Dr William Duguid had warned that based on all that was said at the Ministry of Health’s town hall meetings on health care financing, Government was prepared to go the way of a health insurance scheme that would see Barbadians paying directly from their wages for health care services.

“It is my understanding that there is an intention to bring a change in the law where health funding will no longer come from your taxes, but instead will come directly from your pay packet, like how the national insurance takes a levy out of your pay packet now, with part put by the employee, and part put by the employer.

“From my visiting those consultations I got the impression that is the way that the Government is looking to go to fund health care,” Duguid had stated at the time.

But without reference to those discussions, Bostic, whose BLP took up office here three months ago, also suggested that the current funding system in which Government meets the majority of the costs was unsustainable.

He made reference to a 2012-2013 Health Account Study which showed that the island’s total health spending amounted to $737.7 million or 8.7 per cent of its gross domestic product. Put another way, the total figure amounts to $2,582 per capita -  the third highest in the Caribbean.

While noting that 98 per cent of spending was in recurring expenditure, Bostic pointed out that “the increasing burden of non-communicable diseases, an ageing population and new health technologies are projected to increase demand, adding fiscal pressure to healthcare systems”.

Therefore, while successive Governments have kept access to public healthcare free for citizens, he said alternative financing methods now had to be considered.

“The Government of Barbados finances a range of health services from tax revenues.  However, the absence of specially earmarked funds for the provision of healthcare has seen the need to review our funding mechanisms and to develop initiatives which support increased coverage in a strengthened healthcare system.

“This will be especially critical in ensuring the health gains achieved are not lost and we can therefore move forward with the agenda of sustainable development,” Bostic said.

He also pointed out that access to preventative healthcare was an area of deficiency, as well as financial aid for persons needing medical services abroad. (CM)

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Police are investigating a stabbing incident, which occurred about 10:30 this morning at a residence located at Thomas Gap, President Kennedy Drive, St Michael.

According to lawmen, a 54-year-old male received stab wounds about the body after being involved in an altercation with another man.

The victim was transported to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital by ambulance.

One man is assisting police in their investigations.

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With boys and girls as young as 14 years old said to be falling victim to domestic violence, a local women’s rights activist says she is not at all convinced that the Child Care Board (CCB) is doing enough to protect this island’s children.

As part of a scathing rebuke of the state-run child protection agency, Public Relations Officer of the National Organization of Women (NOW) Marsha Hinds has called for an urgent and comprehensive review of the CCB’s operations, as well as those of other social welfare agencies.

[caption id="attachment_277388" align="aligncenter" width="400"] Marsha Hinds[/caption]

“Right now one of the biggest challenges that we have is that a lot of the social safety net is not working. The Child Care Board is not working, family services in Barbados are not working, the Chief Probation Officer, her office is completely inundated. So, in terms of when you get these things happening, what are you supposed to do?  Where are you supposed to send these people? That is one of the major challenges we have to accept that the social services in Barbados need a complete and comprehensive revamp.

“We also need to train our children much earlier in how to interact in intimate partner relations,” Hinds added, while charging that the CCB in particular was not living up to its primary child protection mandate.

“Because of that, we find that a lot of these instances [of domestic abuse] that happen go unaddressed. Sometimes the parents know, sometimes the parents don’t know. In cases when the parent does know they are just so happy to get their daughter away from the bad situation that after they get their daughter out of the situation and she safe, that is all they want,” the NOW official told Barbados TODAY, adding, Barbadians had lost faith in the CCB’s handling of such cases as the perpetrators were not being brought to justice.

“The instances of reporting to the CCB are very low because the public has worked out that the CCB is not functioning and it does not make any sense reporting because nothing happens. That is another reason that makes schoolgirls a vulnerable group. These men [perpetrators] have worked out that they can do as they please with the nation’s school children and nothing happens,” Hinds stressed.

Over the weekend, Chairman of Save Foundation Barbara Daniel-Goddard reported that children as early as 14 years old were falling victim to domestic violence.

“The reason for [going into schools] is the teachers are aware of young girls and boys ages 14, 15 and 16 who are having conflict relationships. The boys are slapping around the girls . . . . They are controlling their phones, they are controlling what they are wearing, telling them what they should and should not do,” Daniel-Goddard said.

In response, Hinds suggested that the problem was one of culture, explaining that it was normal for Barbadian schoolgirls to become intimately involved with grown men for monetary gain.

“One of those vulnerable populations is school aged girls because we have this phenomenon in Barbados where some mothers ask school aged girls to subsidize their schooling so they are looking for transactions to keep themselves in school, and that makes them vulnerable. Some are themselves victims of abuse [by] their fathers, uncles or mothers’ boyfriends [and] that makes them vulnerable in terms of self esteem and other issues,” the NOW spokeswoman added.

Hinds also expressed concern that Barbadian society as a whole was turning a blind eye to domestic abuse of children.

“So there are a lot of cases where pubescent girls are allowed to deal with men in their 20’s, sometimes older, and it is seen as a relationship. It is not seen as child abuse, it is not seen as statutory rape, it is seen as a relationship.

“So, we have to have a national conversation around the issue and we have to take that collective wool off our eyes and stop pretending that we do not know that these things are happening,” the passionate women’s rights advocate stressed, while calling on the CCB to frontally address the issue of reporting.

“When you have child care officers who to themselves sleep with pubescent girls then report to who? Report to who?” she asked. (LG)

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Minister of the Creative Economy, Culture and Sport John King wants a minimum wage introduced for public service vehicle (PSV) operators.

[caption id="attachment_277387" align="aligncenter" width="400"] John King[/caption]

At the same time, he is suggesting that owners of those vehicles be held responsible for the bad behaviour of their drivers.

Contributing to debate on the Road Traffic Act in Parliament on Tuesday, King explained that PSV owners often require their drivers to earn a minimum amount of money for them, before the drivers could themselves be paid.

“If you are saying people are going to work and they are being paid after having to provide a certain amount of money if they are not the owner of the vehicle, you are in part and parcel contributing to the recklessness that happens on the road,” King argued, adding that this had been a concern of his “for some time now”.

“Let’s say I have to make $300 or $500 at any point in time before I get to be paid. It means that I have got to get a certain number of passengers into the vehicle before I earn a wage. You are putting that pressure on me to do that but then you get the kind of problems we are facing today. Someone has to be bold enough to say there must be a minimum wage or something that you start off with, because we cannot continue like this,” he warned, though making no mention of recent calls by PSV operators for an increase in bus fares.

King also expressed concern that PSV drivers, and not the owners, were the ones being hauled before the courts for various breaches.

“Too long and far too many times I have opened up newspapers and seen drivers before the courts; 20 charges, 21 and counting. This is the epitome of madness. There has to be something that says after a certain number you revoke the licence or you put some onus on the owners of these vehicles,” suggested King.

In making his contribution to the debate, King also suggested that time restrictions be placed on container trucks, which he said, “continue to cause problems” on the island’s small roads, especially during peak hours.

He argued that they were contributing to accidents and traffic backups, which ultimately impact on national productivity.

“If you have done any amount of driving in Barbados, ever so often, especially at roundabouts, you would see a small vehicle stuck underneath a long-haul container vehicle,” King said.

“I would like to suggest, and humbly so, that we may want to look at restricting the times or putting some measures in place that would suggest that these types of vehicles use the road between certain hours, especially not in the hours that are peak time for people to be getting to work,” he said.

Meanwhile, Minister of Labour Colin Jordan expressed concern that some construction firms were telling their employees they were self-employed although they were being treated like full-time workers.

While not naming any company, Jordan said they were doing so in an effort to avoid paying national insurance for the workers.

“In Barbados there are construction companies that are saying to their employees that they are self-employed, refusing to pay national insurance for them. But they are breaching all the tenets that govern employer-employee relations. Persons have to work specific hours using tools of the company, doing the work in a manner mandated by the company, all the things that say they are employees, but to avoid paying national insurance for those persons, they treat them as self employed. Those kinds of things have to stop. I cite that because it is a manifestation,” Jordan said. (MM)

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Barbados is at risk of becoming a dumping ground for cheap goods from abroad unless Government acts decisively to protect local manufacturers, one member of the Senate has charged.

Lindell Nurse, an independent senator, today warned that repeal of the Fiscal Incentives Act would place Barbadian manufacturers at a disadvantage because they would lose the protections provided by the legislation.

Nurse said this would be compounded by the new taxes announced by Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Mia Mottley in her June 11 mini-Budget, making it even more difficult for local manufacturers to compete.

“We can very well find, if we are not very careful, that we find dumping [in Barbados]
. . . and therefore Government must seriously be thinking how they can, if necessary, have some anti-dumping legislation put in place to ensure that at least we are protecting our manufacturers from what could turn out to be a level of unfair competition,” he said.

Like the House before it, the Senate today passed a bill to repeal the Fiscal Incentives Act in order to comply with World Trade Organization (WTO) rules.

Among other objectives, the Act provided exemptions on customs duties for some manufacturing entities and made provision for incentives for manufacturing companies to invest in Barbados.

The Act, which also provided a number of tax exemptions and waiver of taxes on dividends for various classifications and categories of enterprises, was deemed to be in direct contravention of the WTO’s Agreement on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures, the rules regarding whether or not a member may provide a subsidy.

Those subsidies were first scheduled to be phased out by 2003, but after failing to meet that deadline, a new deadline of December 2015 was set by the WTO, with a disclaimer that no further extension would be granted.

Nurse today argued that Government needed to find new ways to assist the sector in order to save manufacturing.

“I think we have to look to see how Government can assist those manufacturing companies, not by means of incentives as worked in the past, but by means of making them more efficient,” he told the Senate.

“Is it possible, for example, that Government may be able to assist in terms of capital loans to allow such companies to purchase new and more technological efficient equipment to help them in their manufacturing processes?” he added.

He argued that the removal of the National Social Responsibility Levy was likely to make the importation of raw materials and goods cheaper.

However, he said the introduction of the Garbage and Sewage Contribution levy of 50 per cent of commercial businesses’ water bills, and the tax on fuel, would have some impact on operational costs.

“Our fuel tax, which is going to be applied to diesel for example, is going to have an impact on those manufacturers and we know that energy costs tend to be a significant cost in the manufacturing sector. So are there any ways that relief can be granted for those energy costs?” he asked.

Also raising concern about the repeal was Crystal Drakes, the opposition senator and economist, who called for a replacement for the Fiscal Incentives Act.

“Repeal this and replace it with what?” Drakes asked.

“So clearly then the goal going forward then has to do with encouraging small and medium-sized plants to have skilled intensive labour along with export orientation. There needs to be a participatory approach to this,” she said.

Drakes also described the abolition of the Act as “a bit opportunistic”, given that Government was “a bit cash-strapped and we have issues as it relates to our expenditure and revenue and we are going into an International Monetary Fund programme”. (MM)

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A call is being made for Government to consider merging the Barbados Investment and Development Corporation (BIDC) and Invest Barbados.

Contributing to the debate on the repeal of the Fiscal Incentives Act in the Upper House on Wednesday, Senator Lindell Nurse suggested that the two entities be brought under one umbrella in order to help cut Government transfers.

He argued that it could also result in increased efficiency and an overall improvement in the climate for doing business here.

“Some years ago we had a split off of this Invest Barbados and I was never convinced and I am still not certain. There always seem to be a grey area as to what these two entities do exactly and I would like to suggest that now Government is looking at reducing significantly its expenditure, and its attempts to make Government much more efficient, this may be timely that you consider bringing these two entities back together.

“That certainly would provide an opportunity for reducing for us, the amount of transfers that Government has to make to those entities and also increasing the efficiency of those two entities,” Nurse said.

Invest Barbados, according to its website, is an economic development agency of Government, responsible for attracting, winning and sustaining international investment for Barbados. The corporation is also responsible for helping to develop and manage Barbados’ international business brand.

Invest Barbados, which was initially established as the Barbados International Business Promotion Corporation (BIBPC) as a statutory corporation on November 10, 2005, became operational in October 2006 after it gained permission to operate under its current name.

In 2007 the international business division of the BIDC was transferred to Invest Barbados.

The BIDC is a Government agency whose mandate is to contribute to the diversification and growth of the economy through new investment, increased exports and employment creation by fostering the development of competitive business enterprises.

The BIDC also administers Government’s incentive programme for industry and provides a range of free advisory services for companies looking either to make a market debut or to expand operations.

An estimated 60 per cent of BIDC’s funding comes from Government, while the rest comes from the rental of operating spaces at the agency’s many estates.

In an attempt to slash its salaries and wages and transfers, the Mia Mottley-led administration is currently examining the possibility of merging some state entities, privatizing others and possibly having some services delivered through a public private sector partnership. (MM)

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The National Union of Public Workers (NUPW) has rubbished newspaper reports that General Secretary Roslyn Smith was being hauled before its highest decision-making body over the use of the union’s credit card.

Following a meeting of the union’s national council this afternoon at the NUPW’s Dalkeith Road, St Michael headquarters, Acting General Secretary Delcia Burke said the reports were a figment of someone’s imagination.    

“The National Union of Public Workers, through its national council, wishes to say to the public of Barbados that an instruction was never given to anyone to summon General Secretary sister Roslyn Smith to a meeting to conduct any investigation. The union also wishes to state that her use of the union’s credit card was never any subject of any investigation,” Burke told journalists, explaining that today’s gathering was part of a series of meetings being held to discuss a number of issues of concern to the union.

Earlier this week both Smith and General Treasurer Asokore Beckles had dismissed accusations of unauthorized purchases in the last ten months.

But a source had said that NUPW President Akanni McDowall, who is chairman of the national council, had been instructed to summon Smith in writing to a meeting today. And documents seen by Barbados TODAY had revealed that Smith charged $4,000 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.

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

“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.

Today, Burke supported Smith’s position, telling journalists the union was aware of the charges and everything was above board as far as the general secretary’s use of the card was concerned.

“The union wishes to say, and this is more important than anything else, that there was never, ever any unauthorized use of the union’s credit card by sister Roslyn Smith. The items that were contained in today’s paper were legitimate transactions which sister Smith was authorized to conduct on behalf of the union. She never used the union’s credit card for her personal use,” she said while taking issue with a Nation newspaper report on the matter.

Smith did not attend today’s meeting because she was on holiday and never summoned, said Burke, who was flanked by council members, with the exception of McDowall, who, though he chaired the gathering, left before it was over.

McDowall later told Barbados TODAY by telephone he had adjourned the meeting because the Smith was absent.

“Today’s meeting was adjourned by me in my capacity as chairman as the general secretary, who was critical to assessment of the issues on the order paper was not present,” he said, without give details.

He did not address Burke’s statement regarding Smith’s use of the credit card, nor did he say why he felt it was critical that Smith be present for the meeting to proceed.

McDowall instead pointed an accusing finger at unnamed members of the union, whom he claimed were trying to put a wedge between his general secretary and him.

“I am concerned with the perception that some members of the national council are bent on creating confusion in the union. This I cannot tolerate when members legitimately have concerns that need to be addressed, like approaching job losses. Substantive member issues must be our focus not internal wrangling,” the NUPW president said.

A seemingly upset McDowall also accused council members of attempting to rehash the settled issue of outstanding monies he owed to the union through the use of the credit card.

“The meeting of the 26 of July 2018 was conclusive and the council’s decision was communicated to its members publicly through a public statement. We need to focus on our members’ mandate, not petty personal agendas,” he stressed.

However, while Burke declined to give details of McDowall’s financial obligations to the union, Barbados TODAY has learnt that it stands at $5,000, and he is to repay $600 per month from his union stipend.

emmanueljoseph@barbadostoday.bb

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Members of the Police Service Commission (PSC) are being told they do not have to resign, despite a letter from Minister of Home Affairs Edmund Hinkson asking them to step down immediately.

Queen’s Counsel Hal Gollop, himself the chairman of the Employment Rights Tribunal, told Barbados TODAY this afternoon the appointment of the commissioners was not at the minister’s pleasure, and neither was their removal.

[caption id="attachment_277412" align="aligncenter" width="400"] Queen’s Counsel Hal Gollop[/caption]

In fact, Gollop sought to make it clear that, unlike statutory boards, the appointment of the chairman and members of the PSC was a constitutional provision.

“A chairman [of the PSC] may be removed in the manner in which a judge is removed. That is, if he disqualifies himself through mental disability or for misconduct. So if neither of those is present, it really is left to the chairman himself, whether he would put the request through the Minister of Home Affairs to the test. I do not see it as one of those measures where the tenure of the officer, once he has been appointed, is at the discretion of the minister,” the attorney-at-law said.

Barbados TODAY reported last night that Hinkson had written to the members of the Guyson Mayers-led PSC asking them to immediately send their letters of resignation to Prime Minister Mia Mottley.

“I am directed to kindly request you to submit a letter placing your instrument of appointment as a member of the Police Service Commission at the disposal of the Prime Minister, The Honourable Mia Amor Mottley, QC, MP,” he stated in the letter, adding that he “looks forward to your early positive response”.

However, Gollop said this was “an interesting development” which Mayers may wish to weigh to determine whether he should step down or not.

“One would have to wait and see whether the chairman is sufficiently satisfied in the manner in which he holds the position, that he may choose to ignore the request,” he said, adding that the decision to request the commissioners’ resignation was a political rather than a constitutional one.

Mayers, an attorney-at-law, has come under fire for holding on to the position since his recent election as general secretary of the Democratic Labour Party (DLP), with his critics charging it was a conflict of interest.

However, Gollop said it was not as clear cut as this, stressing that a conflict of interest was not automatic, but depended on the strength of character and integrity of the person.

“In the final analysis, it is left to the good sense of Mr Mayers to decide whether he can hold those two posts and act impartially in the post as chairman of the Police Service Commission. But I would not readily jump and be judgmental and make aspersions that seem to suggest a conflict of interest, because a conflict of interest is not an automatic thing; it is not something that would naturally flow,” Gollop argued.

When Barbados TODAY reached Hinkson today, he said: “The Prime Minister of Barbados is the person who has responsibility for the Police Service Commission.” (EJ)

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A 20-year-old cyclist, who violated a number of traffic laws, had to part with $650 in cash today.

Akeem Jabarry Lamario Coombs, of Beckles Avenue, New Orleans, St Michael, admitted to riding a motorcycle around 11:15 a.m. yesterday without a helmet, driver’s licence, insurance and registration, as well as to using fraudulent licence plates.

Sergeant Rudy Pilgrim said police were conducting investigations in Coombs’ neighbourhood when they spotted him at the junction of Kensington New Road and Sixth Avenue, New Orleans on the cycle without a helmet.

According to Pilgrim, Coombs fell and was apprehended while attempting to evade police after they signalled for him to stop.

However, the accused tried to convince Magistrate Douglas Frederick that this was not the case.

“I was not trying to escape from the police,” Coombs, who is a mason by trade, told the magistrate as he sought to defend his actions.

“When I get to the junction, a truck was coming and I try to evade it, but the police were already at the next gap out of the vehicle. So when I tried to step off the bike, I missed and [fell].

“I don’t know who the bike concern. It’s just an errand bike for anybody . . . to use . . . to go to the shop or anything like that,” Coombs explained.

But while the magistrate seemed amused at the characterization of the motorcycle, he was definitely not happy that Coombs had placed not only himself, but the general public in danger.

“Riding a motorcycle is a lot of fun but you have to know how to ride it because it can also be very dangerous. You need to have everything in place. You have to understand the road signs and regulations. It is not about putting a wheel in the air and doing foolishness . . . and putting yourself and the public at risk. You are making it bad for other legitimate riders out there . . . . If you want to ride, make sure everything is right,” Frederick said in chastising the young man before ordering him to pay the fine.

The alternative was a two-month stay at HMP Dodds.

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Magistrate Douglas Frederick has reserved sentencing Livardo Rogelio Hinds, of St David’s, Christ Church, after he was found guilty of importation and possession of cannabis on May 12, 2011.

The decision was taken after the Crown called its last police witness to the stand and Hinds failed to put forward a defence.

Hinds, who is in his 20s, will know his fate when he returns to the District ‘A’ Magistrate’s Court on September 25.

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A 23-year-old man today walked free of a charge of assault.

Walton Wayne Alonzo, of King Street, St Michael, was accused of unlawfully committing the offence against Elton Harewood on June 26, 2017.

However, when the matter came up for hearing in the District ‘A’ Magistrate’s Court, Station Sergeant Samuel Hinds told Magistrate Douglas Frederick that the complainant, a Guyana national, had left the jurisdiction in December and there was no indication that he would be returning.

“I don’t have a file at this juncture in the matter and the virtual complainant will be critical in this case. At this point it is a proverbial needle in a haystack given that we don’t have any address for him in Guyana,” the prosecutor explained following which defence attorney Vonda Pile made a submission that the case against her client be dismissed.

The magistrate ruled in favour of the accused on the basis that the Crown could relodge the case if Harewood returned to the country and declared his intention to continue with the matter.

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“I didn’t want to go this route [coming to the newspaper] but I feel that I have no choice, because for the last three years I have been looking for help with my situation and keep getting the runaround.”

This was the cry of 25-year-old Maryann Powell, an unemployed mother-of-two, including a three-year-old son with special needs, as she shared with Barbados TODAY the challenges she is facing in raising her two children on a miniscule income.

Powell explained that her son was born healthy, but an incident in 2015, when he was four months old, changed their lives entirely.

“From the time Amari was four months old, he was in the hospital. He was born normal, but he started getting seizures after he got an injection. One night I took him to the hospital because he had a high fever. They tried to stop the seizures but they did not stop, and as a result his brain shut down and he went into cardiac arrest for seven minutes. He suffered brain damage because of that, and this has prevented him from walking and talking.”

She said the hospital gave her a letter to take to the Welfare Department after that, but to this day the department has refused to honour her numerous requests for assistance.

“When I first visited the department in 2015, they asked me if I have his father in court [for child support] and I said “yes”. At one point I was working, but things got slow and the business closed down. Right now, all I get from my children’s father is $60 a week per child, which is completely ineffective in meeting my needs, and while I have reached out to some of my more financially stable relatives for help, they have completely ignored me.”

Naturally, with a special needs child, her situation is even more challenging.

“The $60 covers basic things like Klim, cereal and Pampers, but his medication comes to more than $100 a month. My daughter is six years old and in primary school, so I have to provide her with breakfast, and thankfully I get a ride to their schools three mornings a week, but I have to still look for bus fare.

“On my visits to the Welfare Department, they have told me that since I am getting child support, I cannot qualify for welfare. I wrote a letter to my parliamentary representative [Cynthia Forde], but there was not much she could do at first since her party was in opposition at the time. Since the general elections, I have called her and sent messages repeatedly but I have got no response at all.”

Powell, who currently lives with her mother and her brother in Cane Garden Park in St Thomas, said she will be starting a three-year course next week, so she returned to the Welfare Department recently since she understood they made special provisions for people who were studying, “but although I only went there to ask a question, they insisted that I make an appointment to see the relevant officer.

“I would like this issue highlighted so people can see what mothers with children with disabilities go through, because I know I am not the only one. I am trying hard to find a job so I can look after my own affairs and not have these people insult me all the time.”

When Barbados TODAY contacted the Welfare Department, Chief Welfare Officer Deborah Norville said she was unaware of the case, stating that its northern division, which covers St Thomas, St Lucy, St Peter and St James, would have dealt with it.

However, the current head of that section is presently on holiday and Norville said: “The new chief officer for that division was only transferred there a couple of months ago. Several officers have passed through that catchment area over the past three years, but to the best of my knowledge, nothing has come my way on this matter.”
(DH)

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Barbados and smaller economies in the region and elsewhere are “under attack” by the world’s rich countries, which use agencies such as the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) to do “some harm to us”, according to one Government senator.

Speaking in the Senate yesterday on the Fiscal Incentives (Repeal) Bill, Rawdon Adams complained about some of the regulations imposed on small countries by the global regulator of international trade and the OECD, the grouping of rich countries.

[caption id="attachment_277504" align="aligncenter" width="400"] Rawdon Adams[/caption]

Like the House before it, the Senate yesterday passed the bill to repeal the Fiscal Incentives Act in order to comply with WTO rules, after the 124-member intergovernmental organization said it violated international trade regulations.

Among other objectives, the Act provided exemptions and tax waivers to encourage manufacturing here.

Although he supported the repeal Bill, Adams said he had done so with a degree of aggrievedness and bitterness, arguing that the WTO and the OECD had been using the controversial blacklist to beat small countries into submission in favour of multinational corporations.

“Repealing this Act is one data point in a long trend that has been attacking a set of policies we have used to promote growth,” he said.

“I think it is worth putting on record in this Chamber that for all the good they [WTO and OECD] may do in other places, they have done and are doing some harm to us with a very blunt instrument they have wielded for 25 years,” he charged.

Referring to a 2015 agreement between Barbados and the OECD on tax matters, Adams said the intent was “to sort of dismantle any sort of tax competition that threatens the countries of the OECD and the EU”.

He added that the OECD’s base erosion and profit shifting (BEPS) framework was a means by which to “take away any tool a small country like ours, with limited resources and no great political power, might employ to diversify its economy away from what I call the tyranny of monoculture”.

The OECD refers to BEPS as tax avoidance strategies that exploit gaps and mismatches in tax rules to artificially shift profits to low or no-tax jurisdictions.

However, some academics say the leading corporate tax havens, who are the largest global BEPS hubs, use OECD-whitelisted tax structures and OECD-compliant BEPS tools.

Meantime, Opposition Senator Crystal Drakes argued that WTO agreements were usually disadvantageous to small economies, recalling that the region’s banana and sugar industries suffered as a result of some WTO rules over the years.

“So when you have small industries like Barbados and small producers they are at a complete disadvantage when you look at the global market and the things that are allowed under the WTO regulations,” she said, adding that the WTO rules favoured multinational corporations.

In piloting the Bill Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade Senator Dr Jerome Walcott said the Fiscal Incentives Act had helped place Barbados on the European Union (EU)blacklist past.

He said the EU was concerned about the section of the Act that provides for the minister to determine who would get certain tax incentives. (MM)

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Amid debate on the repeal of the 1974 Fiscal Incentives Act, a Government senator on Tuesday warned that new protectionist measures would be necessary to safeguard the future competitiveness of local businesses.

Addressing the Upper Chamber, Senator Lynette Holder acknowledged that the global environment for business had changed over the past four decades since the Act was first introduced, and the cost of utilities, labour, raw materials and certain commodities had increased exponentially.

[caption id="attachment_277503" align="aligncenter" width="400"] Lynette Holder[/caption]

As a result, Holder said, local production costs were uncompetitive when compared to other markets.

“I strongly believe that Governments must play a greater interventionist role to protect vulnerable sectors. After all, the biggest markets in the world do exactly that. So we must implement the legislation to make sure our most vulnerable sectors are protected,” she added.

Barbados, which became a signatory to the World Trade Organisation (WTO) in 1995, has been deemed to be in contravention of the WTO’s subsidies and countervailing measures. As a result the country was given a deadline of December 2015 to phase out the subsidies as outlined in the Fiscal Incentives Act.

However, Holder, who was a longstanding president of the Barbados Small Business Association, maintained that a level of protection remained necessary if local enterprises were to be competitive.

She also stressed the importance of having businesses explore niche markets as well as opportunities for export.

Holder also suggested that they get away from the “Lone Ranger” approach.

Citing an example, she said, “recently we had a manufacturer who got a contract to supply his product to the British supermarket chain Tesco, and he struggled to meet the order because he did not have the capacity to do it on his own. That is why we must encourage networking, pooling of resources, and creating more incentives for small firms”.

Also taking part in Tuesday’s debate, Government Senator Lisa Cummins suggested that a research and development task force be established comprising the ministries of trade, foreign trade and all related line ministries and the University of the West Indies.

“We cannot remain static and expect to be competitive. We must invest in the education of our private sector service providers, exposing them to new methods, processes and services. Companies should also take advantage of the credit guarantee schemes such as the Enhanced Credit Guarantee Fund administered by the Central Bank and the IDB [Inter American Development Bank], which are under-utilized at present,” she said.

Cummins noted that all of the Caribbean Community member states had similar rules in place and some had already repealed them, including Jamaica, which “identified sectors of their industries that were growing or now starting up, and then created measures to help develop them”.

In her contribution, Senator Dr Crystal Haynes noted that while the Fiscal Incentives Act was beneficial in many ways, in retrospect it did not address sustainable growth of the manufacturing sector.

“In reading the old legislation, I realized there were no specific provisions on transfer of technology, or how to bring local staff up to managerial or leadership positions so that if the company left, a local person would have had the expertise and knowledge to start a similar establishment, and we gave them concessions to import their raw materials rather than sourcing them here,” she said.

In terms of where the country should go next, the eye specialist said: “We must become more efficient in processing applications and granting permits, having the necessary transport and infrastructure in place to support growth, and ensure we have a skilled workforce to attract high level companies.” (DH)

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“Don’t allow any company or any individual to carry you in the palm of their hand!”

Deputy President of the Senate Rudolph Cappy Greenidge issued this warning to members of the political directorate as the Upper House debated the repeal of the Fiscal Incentives Act on Wednesday.

[caption id="attachment_277502" align="aligncenter" width="400"] Rudolph ‘Cappy’ Greenidge[/caption]

Greenidge, who served as Minister of Labour in a previous Barbados Labour Party administration, also cautioned Government to “guard against the perception of preferential treatment” in the granting of concessions.

“Barbadians are very discerning now, and some will tell you that businesses which benefit from concessions and incentives remain obligated and indebted to governments, and they are expected to return the favour to Government at some time, and in some form or fashion,” he said, adding that “once upon a time you could get away with certain things, but you cannot do that now, because the ‘penetrating eye’ of the Barbadian is always on you.

“They will watch all the political representatives. They will watch the people who sit in your box and whose boxes you sit in at cricket, they will watch who goes to your parties and whose parties you attend, who takes you to lunch and whom you take to lunch, whose car you are driving and who is driving your car. It is not what it used to be. There is a lot of mistrust, questioning and scrutiny,” he added.

Opposition Senator Caswell Franklyn expressed similar sentiments, speaking of what he had personally experienced when his trade union went into foreign owned businesses to represent the workers.

“We invited people from Canada and other places who exploited our workers. Because they supported former Government ministers, they felt they could do what they liked. The [just repealed] Act gave the ministers carte blanche where they could waive not only VAT [Value Added Tax] and other duties and taxes, but even National Insurance. Corruption brings these companies in who abuse their workers; we now have a duty to correct all of these things.”

However, Greenidge said despite these issues, the Act, which was passed in 1974 shortly after Barbados became independent, “may be obsolete now but it did bring some measure of economic prosperity to Barbados, in that it stimulated manufacturing in Barbados, assisted in job creation, and companies found Barbados an attractive place in which to set up their operations because they could enjoy up to 15 years of tax concessions”.  (DH)

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Barbados remains a jurisdiction of integrity, says President of the Barbados International Business Association (BIBA) Julia Hope, who is also reporting that the sector has not suffered any noticeable fallout as a result of former Government minister Donville Inniss’ money laundering debacle.

Earlier this month Attorney General Dale Marshall said the island’s investment and international business reputation had been tarnished as a result of Inniss’ current legal troubles in the United States.

“In the last few days, I can tell you that the international community has already begun to turn its scope on Barbados and questioning whether in fact we are meeting the kinds of standards that the international arena expects of us. The reputation of Barbados has now taken a sufficiently large hit that they have to consider whether to move their business ventures somewhere else,” Marshall had told a news briefing at Government Headquarters at the beginning of August.

However, when asked what was the word among the international business officials here, Hope told Barbados TODAY she has been following up with sector representatives to get a feel of what was the sentiment and “there hasn’t been anything”.

Inniss, the Minister of Industry, International Business, Commerce and Small Business Development in the last Democratic Labour Party led administration which was booted from office in the May 24 general election, was arrested in Florida earlier this month and subsequently pleaded not guilty in a federal court in Brooklyn, New York.

Prosecutors said in the indictment that in 2015 and 2016, Inniss engaged in a scheme to take about $36,000 in bribes from high-level executives of a Barbadian insurance company, which has subsequently been identified as the Bermuda-based Insurance Corporation of Barbados.

In exchange, they said, Inniss used his position as a Government minister to help the insurer secure two Government contracts.

The prosecutors said Inniss, 52, a legal permanent resident of the US, concealed the nature of the bribes by receiving them through a dental company and a bank located in Elmont, New York, under the guise of payments for consulting services, and as a result faces possible imprisonment.

Hope said BIBA continues to keep a close eye on the developments.

At the same time the association is working closely with the new Mia Mottley led administration to meet deadlines relating to global tax rules, while seeking out new markets.

“We are following it [the case] closely. At this stage I don’t think we can say there has been any real negative impact,” said Hope.

“The jurisdiction is one of integrity and we are working at the moment going forward on the OECD [Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development] and EU [European Union] BEPS [base erosion and profit shifting] initiatives,” she said.

The OECD refers to BEPS as tax avoidance strategies that exploit gaps and mismatches in tax rules to artificially shift profits to low or no-tax locations.

In 2016 the OECD gave Barbados a rating of “largely compliant”, meaning the jurisdiction was still not complying fully with some regimes governing the sector.

Hope told Barbados TODAY BIBA was working closely with Government on any outstanding compliance matters as it related to the OECD and the EU.

“We are only going to see from that a further strengthening of our position in the jurisdiction with regards to integrity and a jurisdiction which people want to do business in because of a number of different factors, including legislation and compliance,” said Hope.

She said a BIBA task force met with Mottley, regulators and other stakeholders last week and presented four options to help drive the sector.

“The Prime Minister has indicated her preference for potentially two of those four options. Closer analysis and fiscal impact studies need to now be carried out on an urgent basis,” she said.

While opting not to say what the recommendations were, Hope indicated that they would require enhanced Government policy.

“What I would say is that the proposals that we fielded will work very well and they are quite different and just require a lot more work – changing legislation, improving business facilitation and continuing to collaborate with Government,” she said, insisting that it would be done “in a very short timeframe”.

The BIBA official also noted that with UK companies becoming increasingly worried about the impact of Britain leaving the EU, there was an increasing opportunity for Barbados to get more business from that market.

“So right now that is really what we are looking at. We are working 24/7 trying to sort out what our next steps are from a BEPS perspective. We have a solid plan, we just need to enact it quickly and we have the Government on board and assisting and reviewing the suggestions,” she said. (MM)

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