Chief Executive Officer of Barbados Agricultural Society (BAS) James Paul believes that the agricultural sector can be integral to the curbing of Barbados' large food import bill if the country grows its own food and agricultural land is preserved.

“The only way you can assist with the food import bill is if you seek to grow more food. Because truthfully if you take something as simple as sweet potatoes when you have a lot of them around you find that the price goes down to a dollar or two dollars a pound,” Paul told Barbados TODAY, adding that farmers would need to grow their crops more consistently.

“The whole thing about agricultural commodities is to try to improve the yield you get per acre. The other thing you have to do is grow more consistently so you do not have a situation where you have shortages within the industry,” he said.

The former Member of Parliament for St Michael North said that one of the major grievances of the agricultural sector was the way in which agricultural land is being utilized for non-agricultural business.

“One of the big things that we do have a concern about is that too much agricultural land is being taken out of production at the moment. It is one of the big challenges that we face in this country that is also causing us from contributing to lowering the prices we are seeing for food,” Paul said, adding that the sector is facing a lot of hypocrisies with the changes in land use.

“The main problem that we have is the hypocrisy that occurs around the transfer of land from agricultural uses to non-agricultural uses. They are too many instances in this country today where people speculate on the land they buy as agricultural land but soon after they leave it and then they proceed to have it sub-divided.

“We have a situation in this country today that there are areas which people have bought that are basically just laying there. Look at town! Town has a lot of new buildings that are not fully occupied yet we have applications from people who have an interest in construction to come and build in greenfield areas and areas which were previously agricultural land,” Paul said.

“We need to review the whole process and make it more difficult for persons to transfer these lands out of agriculture into other purposes. We should preserve the agricultural land for food and make it less attractive for persons. These are some of the issues that we have to deal with but once we have better access to land we will see an increase in agricultural production,” he said noting that increasing agricultural production was the BAS’ goal for 2019.

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The Barbados National Terminal Company Ltd (BNTCL), in association with its project consultants, will be holding a series of Town Hall meetings to discuss proposed traffic changes and inform residents about the impending repairs to its pipeline.

The company will be embarking on a major repair programme for its Oistins to Terminal and Woodbourne to Terminal pipelines. These repairs are likely to cause some disruption to residents of the Pegwell Boggs, Charnocks, Church Hill and surrounding districts and to motorists using the roads in these areas.

This maintenance work on the pipeline is necessary, following an inspection of the line done, adhering to the standard of the USA Pipe Safety Improvement Act. The primary goal of this repair project is to optimize the remaining life of the pipelines in the safest and most reliable manner.

There may be some areas that need physical reparative work on the pipelines which may require excavation that could result in the inconvenience of delays in traffic in the affected areas, some temporary road closures and/or traffic diversions.

The BNTCL has undertaken this work in order to proactively maintain the highest industry standards and the integrity of the existing infrastructure. It is expected that this work will commence in mid to late February and will continue for a period of five months.

To ensure that the public is informed about this project, BNTCL officials along with Project Consultants, Torque EPM Inc will meet residents in the affected areas and interested persons, to discuss the project.

Meetings will take place on Thursday January 10th from 7 p.m to 8.30 p.m. at the Christ Church Parish Community Centre; on Friday 11th  January from 7 p.m. to 8.30 p.m. at the Pegwell Community Church and on Saturday January 12th from 9 am to 10.30 am at the Charnocks Pentecostal Church. 

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It was chaos on the streets for the first day of the new school term as hundreds of Public Service Vehicles' (PSV) operators staged the second work stoppage in less than a week.

The move followed over twelve hours of uncertainty about whether PSV operators would attempt to force a response from authorities over myriad concerns, by striking in circumstances where the government-run Transport Board was simply in no position to service the general public.

For many frustrated commuters, the strike was merely an unnecessary inconvenience. In Speightstown, they vented openly.

“I feel really bad about it, because I might not get to work at all today if I don't get the transportation to take me to work,” said Eugene Hinds who at minutes past eight was still stranded in Speightstown, although she was scheduled to start work at eight o'clock.

“ZRs are coming down [to Speightstown from the northern part of the country ... they're bringing you here, but it makes no sense, because you're still not seeing any transport board buses, you aren't seeing anything,” she said.

Hinds advised the aggrieved PSV operators to go back to work, if not for the sake of the stranded passengers, at least for the benefit of themselves and their families.

“If it's the law that they have to wear the uniform, then they should wear them. I don't see anything against wearing the uniform. Wear them, because all of them have to get a little money to support their kids and their families,” said Hinds.

“ I think it is stupid, I think these men should strike for the rest of the year...they had grievances for years. If they want to strike, strike for the rest of the year,” said another woman sarcastically.

“I called [work] already and said that I can't get to work and if I don't get to work, it's not a problem,” she said.

Among those stranded on the country's roads were several school children. Some, who appeared to be using the strike as an excuse to ditch the first day of school, were rushed onto buses by adults believed to be truant officers at various points.

Charad Sobers, an 18-year-old student of Frederick Smith Secondary School told Barbados TODAY the situation was not affecting him.

“There is public transportation through the Transport Board bus. If the PSVs want to strike, it's up to them. It ain't really affecting me. If a bus is full, I'm not getting into it. That's just me,” said Sobers, who predicted that he would make it to school on time despite the strike.

Since then, there were conflicting reports about the next step operators would take to ensure their concerns were adequately addressed by authorities. PSV workers' leaders denied reports that a voice note circulating on social media instructing workers to strike around 3 o'clock Tuesday afternoon came from them. However, it was reportedly in the early hours of Tuesday morning that workers were given the go-ahead to strike.

Meanwhile, chairman of the Transport Board Gregory Nicholls said the company was only able to get sixty-three buses on the road, which would serve primary and secondary school students as a matter of priority.

He noted that the Transport Board was placed under immense pressure as a result of the strike, but was doing all it could to mitigate the impact if the action by PSV operators continued throughout the week.

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Barbados has recorded its first murder for 2019.

Investigations are under way into the shooting death of 24-year-old Shaquille Toppin, of Danesbury, St Michael.

Police spokesman Station Sergeant Michael Blackman said lawmen responded to reports of a shooting at the aforementioned area, near Retreat Road, Black Rock around 9:55p.m on Tuesday, January 8. On arrival they were informed that Toppin had been shot and taken to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital by private transportation. He was pronounced dead at the hospital.

Anyone with information that can assist police with their investigations is being asked to contact Police Emergency 211, Crime Stoppers at 1 800 8477 or the nearest police station.

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Police are seeking the public's help in locating 17-year-old Alana Gittens, of Lemon Arbour, St John.

Gittens left home around 10:30 a.m. on Tuesday, January 8 to get a bus to Bridgetown and has not been seen since.

At the time she was wearing a beige dress, beige sandals and carrying a black clutch bag. Her hair was styled in one at the top with the back and sides trimmed and she was wearing large hoop earrings in both ears and two studded earrings in the right ear.

Gittens was also wearing large ray ban shaped glasses on her face.

She is 5' 6", of slim build, is of brown complexion and has bushy eyebrows and brown eyes.

Anyone with information relative to Alana Gittens is asked to contact the police emergency 211, Crime Stoppers at 1 800 8477, District 'C' Police Station at 416-8200 or 416-8201, or the nearest police station.

The post St John teenager missing appeared first on Barbados Today.

Police are on the scene of an accident at River Road, The City, involving a motorcyclist.

More details as it comes to hand.

The post Accident in The City appeared first on Barbados Today.

Even though Government has stuck to its promise that teachers would not be touched, retrenchment in the public service has taken a serious toll on the school system, president of the Barbados Union of Teachers (BUT) Sean Spencer has charged.

This morning Spencer revealed that since Government opted to send home 34 of the 43 general workers in the primary school system, occupational safety and basic tasks at several schools, are now compromised. As a matter of fact the BUT president told Barbados TODAY that the situation has got to the point where teachers and parents were now cutting grass at some schools to have them ready for the new term.

“We are left with nine general workers to look after 80-plus schools and it is really a poor situation. I can tell you that at one school, at least one or two teachers and members of the ancillary staff, have been pressed into service. You also have parents cutting grass at some of these schools, which are rural schools and therefore require specialized equipment,” he said.

General workers are tasked with the responsibility of repairing damaged furniture, moving heavy equipment around the school and assisting with the general maintenance of the compound. With the removal of the majority of them from all primary schools and some secondary, several of the country’s learning institutions are in a deplorable state, the teachers’ advocate charged.

“We have a state of neglect because we have grass which has been unattended for the past three weeks during the Christmas recess and the school plants are overrun in some cases. This is a situation that we have long lobbied against allowing to happen,” said Spencer, who warned that the current situation did not augur well for the summer maintenance programme.

The BUT president lamented that even without the challenge of less general workers, the summer maintenance programme was poorly run and he therefore feared things getting worse.

“It really doesn’t spell well for what is to come in the school’s summer maintenance programme, which the Ministry [of Education] undertakes every year. That has been inadequate where it starts late and some of the work has not been completed while the completed works have been compromised by either inferior material or poor workmanship,” Spencer explained.

Last month vice-president of the Congress of Trade Unions and Staff Associations of Barbados (CTUSAB) and former president of the BUT, Pedro Shepherd first raised the issue. He charged at the time that the retrenchment process under the International Monetary Fund (IMF) approved Barbados Economic Recovery and Transformation (BERT) programme, had resulted in untenable work conditions for teachers across the educational system.

“The general workers in the educational system also assist the janitorial staff in terms of removing large garbage receptacles. So what we are seeing now are schools with litter thrown all over the place with grass areas now growing out of control,” Shepherd told Barbados TODAY then.

The former BUT president contended: “Whereas teachers might not be affected upfront, we are seeing that there is some added pressure to the system. This movement of general workers for example now poses the problem of health and safety... We have very large schools, 500-plus students and the work of the general worker is extremely critical.”

Shepherd also claimed that clerk typists have been sent home from schools as well as the Ministry of Education, resulting in an increased burden on teachers. He explained that these shortcomings were not only visible in schools but also affected the efficiency of the Ministry of Education.

Recently, Spencer also revealed that government’s decision to send home a number of security guards from schools across the island had compromised the safety of teachers. This concern came into focus earlier this week when teachers at one rural school were forced to flee when an intruder entered a classroom and threatened staff on the premises for a meeting.

“A number of the staff members, both teaching and non-teaching members of staff [found themselves] having to secure themselves basically to escape what seemed to be some mentally-challenged individual,” Spencer recalled.
colvillemounsey@barbadostoday.bb

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Government's retrenchment programme for 2019 continues on Monday with about 46 workers from the Barbados Agricultural Management Company (BAMC) going on the breadline.

This revelation came this afternoon from general manager of the state-owned BAMC Leslie Parris, following almost two hours of negotiations with the Barbados Workers’ Union (BWU) at the company's Warrens, St Michael headquarters.

[caption id="attachment_287257" align="aligncenter" width="400"] General manager of BAMC Leslie Parris.[/caption]

“We are talking approximately 42 to 46 persons or in that range. These touch all of the areas of the company's operations in terms of the members of the BWU. These would include mechanics, drivers and support staff who, given the future of the company, would no longer be required,” Parris disclosed.

He was however quick to point out that field workers would not be touched in the current retrenchment process.

“Let me stress that field workers, those out in the field working daily with the crops, would not be retrenched,” the BAMC boss added.

He explained that if Government were to send home those workers, it would have to invest substantial sums of money in acquiring equipment to replace them.

“We do not consider it prudent at this time to undertake such an investment because the manual labour in the fields is still considered to be more efficient than using equipment,” Parris said.

Turning his attention specifically to today's meeting with the union, he described it as very productive with general agreement on all areas that were discussed.

“We expect that following a written brief to be vetted by both sides, that the negotiations would now come to a speedy conclusion,” Parris said.

He noted that the two parties would now seek to ensure the numbers discussed were accurate.

Commenting on the outcome of the meeting, deputy general secretary of the BWU Dwaine Paul said that both parties were able to find common ground on a number of outstanding issues regarding the retrenchments.

“Based on the position put by the management and the acceptance by the union, we should be able to move ahead with the restructuring of the company...those further details would be provided by the management as soon as they are ready,” Paul said.

However, he noted that the union was “reasonably” satisfied with the discussions and the proposals put by the BAMC.

“Therefore the plans would be going ahead as soon as the appropriate ministries can conclude what they have to do based on the discussions today,” the union official said.

“In terms of the number of people possibly to be impacted by this exercise...those that are to be retrenched by the organization...not those that volunteer...we are not counting those; but the retrenchment exercise today will impact less than 40 persons,” Paul pointed out.

He said those going home would come from the farms and the factory at Portvale, St James.

Meanwhile, Barbados TODAY understands that several supervisors and managers are being retrenched as well. Reliable sources said while it may not be labeled as retrenchment, the contract of the Portvale Sugar Factory general manager Raphael O'neal has not been renewed.

emmanueljoseph@barbadostoday.bb

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A fresh round of restructuring is on the horizon for the Transport Board, says Chairman Gregory Nicholls.

In an interview with Barbados TODAY, he indicated that with the low availability of buses, “a lot of hard decisions have to be made and we will be engaging stakeholders in the course of the next couple weeks.

“Given the lack of available buses which are now in the low 70’s and 80’s, we need in the short-term to look at how the Transport Board will survive with such a low availability of buses.”

While refusing to refer to the coming exercise as “layoffs,” Nicholls said changes were desperately needed to improve the viability of the over 690-strong workforce at the government entity.

“We can’t have one bus supporting ten employees because that is not a model for economic success.

“The Transport Board has to be restructured, I am not saying layoffs but there are a number of workers who have opted for voluntary separation, but I don’t want to say layoffs because it creates a lot of pandemonium for staff and for the unions,” he said.

Nicholls added that following further dialogue with the Barbados Workers’ Union (BWU), which represents the bulk of Transport Board workers he would give more information on the coming changes.

“So I can’t say whether it will be layoffs or voluntary separations, but we have to sit down with stakeholders. Workers have approached us [about voluntary separation], but obviously we can’t proceed without discussing it with unions,” he added.

“If 20 or 30 workers say that they want to go home and we allow them to go home without talking to unions, it would be a very bad state.”

In November, the state-run Transport Board started trimming its workforce by releasing 50 workers with Nicholls revealing the final numbers had not yet been determined.

Back then, he said the restructuring would not only involve job-cuts, but the possible amalgamation of departments and the deployment of technology to create a more efficient, effective and commercially-viable bus service operation.

This time, Nicholls said there was some silver lining as government prepares to wrap up the tendering process for the provision of new electric buses on a revenue sharing basis.

“It’s going to take time, it’s going to take resources, and obviously you know we have budgetary constraints because Barbados is not a country that is doing well economically right now. But the transport sector is very critical and the role of Transport Board is very critical and we are in the process of putting a system in place to ensure that when we do roll out the more environmentally-friendly electric buses, that we have the capacity to maintain the fleet and to power the fleet without any major disruptions to the local electrical supply and so forth.

“So a lot of work is being done behind the scenes to get us in a state of readiness,” he said.

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Less than 24 hours after crippling the country’s public transport system by withdrawing their services, Public Service Vehicle (PSV) operators appear to have forced high-ranking officials from the Barbados Transport Authority to take notice.

While drivers and conductors returned to work early Wednesday morning, officials from the newly-formed PSV workers association were solidifying their legitimacy as workers’ representatives with the Transport Authority at its headquarters in the Constitution River Terminal.

Chairman of the Barbados Transport Authority Ian Estwick and spokesperson for PSV operators, Fabian Wharton reported that after four hours of preliminary talks, progress had been made on numerous issues, including the controversial new uniform policy.

After expressing disappointment with the island-wide strike the day before, Estwick contended that much of the confusion was the result of ‘misinformation’ on a number of issues. He however admitted numerous concerns could not have been solved without the input of operators.

[caption id="attachment_287262" align="aligncenter" width="500"] From Left, Public Relations Consultant for the Barbados Transport Authority Joseph Dolphin, PSV representative Michael Farrell and Transport Authority Chairman Ian Estwick.[/caption]

“All along we’ve been meeting with representatives of the owners, but the drivers are in a unique situation. They were able to give us some information today about concerns and challenges on the routes that we would not have heard from the owners themselves. So it was much more comprehensive than we first thought it would have been,” said Estwick.

While some progress was made on the contentious issue of a new uniform, officials revealed the wearing of a logo, bearing the Transport Authority’s stamp remained in question.

“The logo is the final issue to be sorted out. We have made some recommendations, which in principle have been accepted with relation to the wearing of polo shirts and the colors that will be used. It is something that still needs to be ratified by the authorities. It is not totally resolved but we are pretty clear in our minds where we are headed on these issues,” said Wharton, refusing to say anymore on the matter.

Estwick however added that there were options on the table to ensure operators could purchase uniforms at a much more reasonable price than the up to $75 a shirt, previously stated.

He also offered clarity on the controversial ‘three-strike rule,’ which could see the revocation of an owner’s permit, after the commission of three traffic offences. According to Estwick, the rule was part of 2017 Road Traffic Act amendments, which came into force under the previous DLP administration.

“It is one of these things that would come up because it could be controversial,” he said, but contended that it does not call for any “draconian methods at all,” as it was all a part of attempts to better regulate the sector. PSV operators, who agreed that respect for traffic laws, regulations and general safety of commuters was necessary, accepted this position.

“As it stands now, we are happy with the discussions. We are happy with the way forward and there are moves to have additional conversations relating to the plans going forward. Issues like the ‘five-minute rule’ and lane assignments in the river terminal,” said Wharton.

The decision to resume work brought much delight to commuters, many of whom, only hours before were left stranded at transit points across the country, due to the work stoppage.

As discussed throughout the impasse, all parties involved agreed that an overhaul of some aspects of “PSV culture” is necessary for improvement to take place.

“We want to make it clear that we have observed that some operators are trying to stay within the boundaries of the law, decency and good sense.

“Like in any other organization, there would have the bad apple, but it’s important that we make a move to weed [them] out, because we have to create a better image for the PSV sector and that is what we hope our continued dialogue with the workers’ association will achieve over time,” said Estwick. kareemsmith@barbadostoday.bb

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The son of prominent fish vendor Stephen Molly Small who was senselessly killed last September has stepped up to the plate to continue his father’s legacy.

Twenty-six-year-old Stephen Small is a sushi chef at night, but in the day he is managing business at stall #4, at the Bridgetown Fisheries Complex.

[caption id="attachment_287280" align="aligncenter" width="600"] Stephen Small occupying the space where his father plied his trade to support his family.[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_287281" align="aligncenter" width="400"] Stephen Small, son of the late ‘Molly’.[/caption]

Describing the death of his father as a major loss to the fisherfolk, customers, and family members, the new manager of the fish business told Barbados TODAY that running the business was no easy task, but he was determined to get it done, because it is what his father would have wanted him to do.

Small said his father has two older daughters and a younger one.

He is the only son, and was taught the basics of running the business by his father.

“Running a business is not easy,” he admitted.

“I had to come in and learn a lot, because even though I knew some things about the business, I didn’t know it all.

“So I had to come in and learn pretty fast, maintain my chef work, and still try to maintain a social life, at least somewhat. At first, it was a shock to me, but I just told myself I have to do it for my dad,” he said.

The young man said since his father’s death, the business had lost a few customers. But, he stressed that the majority of Molly’s loyal customers were still coming to the stall to purchase their fish.

“I am trying my best to keep his loyal customers and maintain everything that he had, including his boat which is now being repaired.

“It is easy to just sell the boat, and say I got money. But I want to maintain his legacy and continue his business to the best of my ability,” the son promised.

Small was stabbed in the Belleville, St Michael area during a robbery, and died at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH).

Though the incident happened months ago, Small said it was still fresh in his and his siblings’ minds, and noted that he preferred not to talk about it.

But, the young man did reflect on what he described as a strange conversation he had with his dad days before he died.

“Just before his death he was doing repairs on the boat and I went to him and said ‘hi’. He told me to come and look at the boat. I wanted to know why I needed to look at the boat.

“He told me to just come and look at the boat because when I pass away this is going to be yours. I said to him, ‘man you just talking bare foolishness, what pass away what’.

“So it was just ironic that a couple months later he did pass away and I had to jump in and fill his shoes,” he recalled.

Small said many knew his father as a kind-hearted individual who would often give of his last to help others.

But to Small and his siblings, the fish vendor was the best father in the world who gave his all to ensure that his offspring were well looked after and reached their desired careers.

The chef said one of his older sisters was a lab technician, while the other was a singer, and the youngest one was still at school.

“He had two homes, and I am living in one. So just before he passed I called him and told him the pipe was not working and asked him to get it fixed. He told me he would see what he could do. When I came back home the pipe was fixed. That was my dad. He was really good to us. Anything you wanted, just call dad. Even if it inconvenienced him in any way, he would still do it,” he said.

“But his death was really a shock for us. It is hard on us because we can’t call dad anymore. We use to call dad for anything. The transition is hard.

“Even though I am running the business and trying to be there for my sisters, it is still hard. I have to make sure that my younger sister especially is okay and taken care of,” Small added.

Admitting that he is still learning the operations of the business, Small said while there were other fisher folk offering him advice at times, he was always alert to the fact that the operation was taking place in a market.

“You have to know who to trust, because at the end of the day it is still a business and people are still going to be competing. But my mom helps me because she works in the market. I also have my aunt, and my uncles working here. It is not just me against the world. I have people at my side as I try to continue his legacy. But he was loved by most of the people here.

“I always tell people that this market closes four times a year, but it closed five times last year because of my dad’s funeral. It was a Friday, one of the busiest days in the week. That is to show the type of person my dad was, and all I can do for him is to continue his legacy,” Small said.
anestahenry@barbadostoday.bb

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A Government minister is sounding a stern warning to people operating unlicensed day care centers and homes for the elderly - “We’ll be coming after you!”

Minister of People Empowerment and Elder Affairs Cynthia Forde says the administration will be looking to place strict sanctions on those persons who have not registered their care-giving facilities.

“I believe that we need to get the legislation upgraded or amended to be able to put in certain clauses that would bind daycare owners or managers as well as the members of staff and even the families who seem to be the ones causing more hurt, pain and destruction to the seniors than the people in the care-giving community,” Forde told Barbados TODAY.

“We are trying to put certain protocols and amendments in place whether it be to address social, sexual, or financial aspects. We are having more and more seniors coming on board everyday and they need to be protected. They need to be offered opportunities to keep them healthy and alert,” she said.

Forde, who is also Member of Parliament for St Thomas made the comments even as another video surfaced on social media showing an elderly man being subjected to violence by a care provider. The minister told Barbados TODAY that the National Assistance Board (NAB) was investigating the matter.

“You would have seen the picture last month of the caregiver standing in the belly of a client in one of the private homes. I sent it out to the NAB and I believe that they would have done their investigations,” she said, adding that some of the reports of elder abuse are not coming through the professional channels but they are coming through employees that anonymously send video via social media.

“Individuals are writing and calling us to say that they are working in homes that are not properly registered so that is another problem. Or they are working in homes where the practices are below par and as a result they are uncomfortable but that is the only form of employment they have so they do not want to jeopardize it, but they would want the institutions investigated,” she told Barbados TODAY.

Forde said that the NAB needs to be given more 'teeth' to protect the caregivers who attend to the elderly who may have mental illnesses such as alzheimers or dementia.

“You would appreciate that we want to protect our staff too. Because people with alzheimers when their heads turn, they would blame their own children for [stealing] their money, jewelry and stuff. Those laws need to be upgraded so that the safety of the workers as well as that of the leaders in the institution are not taken through the mill and punished as a result of somebody with alzheimer's or dementia making a report,” she told Barbados TODAY.

Other standards to be updated would address such issues as ensuring the elderly have defined access to proper entrances and exits, beds as well as meals.

“Those are some of the protocols, but the registration is critical at this time because you need a police certificate of character for some of these workers as well. You need the fire service to say there is a proper exit and entrance. You need the Ministry of Health to say we have given permission,” she added.

“Let us look at it critically and see how we can shape legislation and send it to Cabinet and then to Parliament and see how we can have it properly ventilated in public, so that those who are not familiar will fall in line and those who continue to breach the rules be shut down,” Forde stressed.

The minister said that her goal for 2019 is to ensure that all elderly persons in Barbados can be active and age with grace.

The post Get centers licensed! appeared first on Barbados Today.

Barbados could soon see a major change to its law on wandering that will see it removed from the Statute Books and with it any penalty of incarceration for young boys and girls who “run away”.

In fact, Minister responsible for People Empowerment and Elder Affairs Cynthia Forde believes there is a case to be made for “throwing out” the law altogether. She said it is time a modern Barbados takes on the law which can see young people confined for straying from their homes.

“I always felt that wandering was a very strange thing because the way in which we speak to it in the past and I believe that the statute books need to be upgraded again,” Minister Forde noted.

In fact, Deputy Chairman of the Government Industrial School Marsha Hinds the Bill is already in draft.

“We would have met in consultation recently to look at the juvenile reform process because we know that we are dealing with laws that are outdated. One of them is from 1926 I think, and the other is from 1923. As a part of that reformation process, wandering will no longer be considered as an offence that carries a period of incarceration. The Minister is well on track to deal with that issue,” Hinds earlier told Barbados TODAY.

Minister Forde noted “We have a lot of young girls and boys who would get up and leave the households they are in and they would not leave the households because they would wish to. They leave the households because they want freedom from an abused environment, whether it be from flogging, sexual or being deprived of meals or so on,” Forde said.

The former teacher noted that when she was active in the classroom, she realized that many of the youth that run away are seeking refuge from a violent situation that sometimes is caused by their family members.

“I have dealt with some who would have actually gone to Summerville (Girls’ Industrial School). When I looked at the evidence these incidents were as a result of parents and guardians and other caregivers who did not pursue aspects of complaints because no one listens to the children or thought that they were telling lies and some of them were 'unfaired' in that respect,” she told Barbados TODAY.

The minister noted that the wandering law should be amended or thrown out altogether. However, she warned that parents needed to believe their child or ward when he or she reports abuse.

“They are too many parents and guardians who do not listen the stories of their children and that is what leads to them not having the voice to say that ‘I am being molested’, ‘I have been touched’, ‘I have been beaten’ and so on.

Pointing to the issue of deprivation, Minister Forde said this is a real issue for young people and it is not taking away the opportunity to attend a fete.

“The deprivation that I am referring to is that the opportunity to get a proper meal and to go to school as I would like because they are keeping me home to babysit the siblings when I am 13 and 14 years old and I should be going to school. I am playing the role of mother and I have wandered away from home and then they put these children in an institution,” Forde told Barbados TODAY, adding that the law needs to be upgraded so that persons who prey on young children are brought before the law courts.

“I think that [it] needs to be properly investigated and upgraded legally so that more of our children get an opportunity to get counselling and access to other persons who would help to nurture them and give them another way of dealing with the issues in the home.”

Her comments came less than a week after Hinds confirmed that a meeting was held with the Minister of Home Affairs and UNICEF to take wandering off the Statute Book in Barbados. She said a bill had been drafted to ensure that Barbados is one of the last jurisdictions that has wandering on the Statute Books.

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President of the African Heritage Foundation (AHF) Paul Rock wants the Ministry of Education to take homeschooling more seriously.

The home education advocate told Barbados TODAY he was concerned that the ministry continued to treat homeschooling like public education, by asking for curricula to be developed based on a child’s age and not their level of education.

He said it was “unreasonable” since all children did not develop or learn at the same pace. In addition, Rock said there were concerns regarding evaluation, lack of assistance and assessment.

“For homeschooling, no assessment is done by the ministry. This is also problematic if they want to suggest that curricula should be set based on age,” he said.

He said except for a case that was highlighted last September and is now before the law courts, where the ministry wanted to revoke permission for homeschooling, the ministry was not doing any follow-ups with those offering home education.

“When I spoke to the families recently none of them said that the ministry had ever paid them a visit to see how things were going. We see that again as problematic,” said Rock, who suggested that if the ministry of education believed parents were not meeting certain criteria, they should first offer assistance before denying them the opportunity to engage in homeschooling.

He said the AHF has offered to do evaluations but had not heard back from ministry officials on the matter.

Rock said he was also concerned that the ministry was now asking parents who wanted to homeschool their children to present certification showing their qualifications, and he believed this should not be the case.

“I think that the ministry is still not prepared to take homeschooling seriously. They have not done their research,” he said. He questioned why a number of children continued to fail in the public education system despite having teachers who were deemed qualified to teach.

“What homeschooling is showing up is that there needs to be some kind of accountability on the part of teachers. If you are asking for accountability and certification and valuations for homeschoolers, I think you need to ask these things of teachers on a whole,” said Rock.

“There needs to be more thought given to the educational system, which is too robotic and it doesn’t work. So those are basically the issues that we face now with homeschooling,” he added.

The AHF has been involved in homeschooling for the past two years. Rock said over the years the interest has been growing, pointing out that the charity received requests from six parents last year and two so far this year.

He said the children that go to the AHF for lessons have made considerable progress over the years, indicating that some students who were unable to read when they first started, were now identifying words and sentences.

It is not immediately clear how widespread homeschooling is in Barbados. However, Rock said he believed it was becoming increasingly popular.

Pointing to what he said were benefits to homeschooling, Rock said it provided students with the opportunity to be more involved given the size of the class.

“If you look at statistics from the United States you would see that homeschoolers generally do better. They are more sociable, they are more community-oriented, and they come out a more rounded individual. They are very self-assured. They are not frightened to ask questions,” he said, adding that students are more involved because they are able to choose some days what subjects they would do.

Efforts to reach the Minister of Education and permanent secretary in that ministry were unsuccessful.
marlonmadden@barbadostoday.bb

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The public is being put on notice that their garbage pickups on the weekend will cease at the end of this week unless the Sanitation Service Authority  (SSA) states whether it intends to continue the interim overtime arrangement for workers.

This warning comes from Acting General Secretary of the National Union of Public Workers (NUPW) Delcia Burke, who told Barbados TODAY that she is yet to receive word from the SSA management after a three-week interim arrangement elapsed last weekend.

“The SSA still has not gotten back to us on whether the workers will still be paid overtime for the time being and we all knew that the arrangement is only three weeks. So unless they come to us and tell us otherwise, I have instructed the staff to only work on weekdays,” Burke told Barbados TODAY this afternoon.

 It was last Wednesday that NUPW and SSA management continued talks but yielded little clarity for the way forward. Speaking to reporters immediately after the meeting, which was held at the SSA's Wildey, St Michael headquarters, Burke explained that the SSA hierarchy did not state whether the overtime payments would continue past last weekend.

“The truth is that the Sanitation Service Authority did not say they were going to stop the arrangement but when we first made the arrangement, we knew that it was for three weekends only. Our position is that the workers will continue to work [the way they are accustomed] and if they work weekends then they [must] be paid overtime. They [SSA management] have not said that the arrangement is going to cease but we are aware that the arrangement was only put in place for three weekends,” said Burke at the time.

She had also revealed that the SSA management made it clear that they were in no position to decide on the worker' position but instead kicked it up to the level of Government. She told the media that her union would now wait and see what the Government decides.

This afternoon Burke made it clear that while the workers were prepared to wait for the final decision to come back from Government, they were not prepared to continue any weekend arrangement in the interim without guarantees.

“The workers need to know that some arrangement is in place while Government decides on the way forward but as it stands the workers will only work on the five weekdays,” she stressed.

Barbados TODAY reached out to SSA General Manager Roslyn Knight for an update but she declined to comment, stating any response must come from the chairman of the SSA Board of Directors, Senator Rudy Grant. When contacted, Grant told Barbados TODAY that he would release a statement tomorrow.

Last month the issue of overtime threatened to derail weekend garbage collection over the Christmas holidays.

Under the current arrangement a work week spans from Monday to Friday and therefore workers are paid overtime for working on the weekends. The proposal was for the work week to be made up of any five days out of seven.
colvillemounsey@barbadostoday.bb

The post Union issues garbage warning appeared first on Barbados Today.

Police investigations are under way into a shooting incident at Odessa McClean Road, My Lords Hill, St Michael.

The shooting occurred about 9:50p.m. on Wednesday, January 9.

Acting Police Public Relations Officer Station Sergeant Michael Blackman said lawmen were told that 33-year-old Shane Rashid Omar Brown, of the aforementioned address, received a gunshot injury to his foot and was transported to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital by ambulance.

Anyone with information that could assist with this probe is asked to contact Police Emergency at 211, Crime Stoppers at 1 800 8477 or any police station.

The post Police probe shooting appeared first on Barbados Today.

Police are seeking the public's help in locating 14-year-old Tachina Kamisha Small, of Edge Cliff, St John who has been missing for over two weeks.

Small left the residence of Faye Andrea Bostic of No.10 Gemswick, St Philip on December 22, 2018 about 10:30a.m. to go to Pommarine Hastings, Christ Church but has not been seen since.

The teen is 5'6", light in complexion, stoutly built and is bow-legged. She has small ears which are pierced twice and black hair.

She  was wearing long jeans, which are cut out across the legs, a pink purple and blue blouse with a black slogan and red and pink slippers.

Anyone with information on her whereabouts is asked to contact the nearest police station, Police Emergency 211 or Crime Stoppers at 1 800 TIPS.

The post Police searching for missing 14-year-old girl appeared first on Barbados Today.

The Barbados Water Authority (BWA) is being advised to take a step back, do an inspection of the recently donated tanks from corporate Barbados and admit it made a mistake.

[caption id="attachment_287341" align="aligncenter" width="600"] The area on this Tuff Tank to show that it was inspected is vacant.[/caption]

This caution comes in light of an apparent rupture of several of the 1000-gallon tanks donated for the BWA’s Rapid Response Unit Community Tank Project, and subsequent suggestion from the BWA that it was due to vandalism.

However, Barbados TODAY investigations revealed that when the rapid response programme was conceptualized back in 2015, similar 1000-gallon Tuff tanks from manufacturer Rotoplastics Barbados Ltd. were used in the pilot phase and a number of them had collapsed.

[caption id="attachment_287340" align="aligncenter" width="486"] Water tanks in rural Barbados have taken the spotlight in recent months.[/caption]

It is understood that as part of that project, which was set up as a temporary measure to provide relief for residents who suffered from the perennial problem of water outages, several different sized tanks were tested.

After the rupture, from which the manufacturer sought to distance itself, it was decided that the 2000-gallon tanks were best suited for the community project.

“The integrity and suitability of these 1000 gallon tanks will have to be inspected more carefully when delivered from the manufacturer for any similar faults. This is to minimize a reoccurrence of the Boscobelle, St Peter incident and avoid any safety issues for the residents accessing these community tanks,” a caution, which was signed then by an engineer Edmund Brathwaite said.

A report, which is now being circulated on social media, showed that Rotoplastics, the BWA and Innotech were made aware of the failed tanks.

In addition, an email which Barbados TODAY saw, revealed that an operations manager of Rotoplastics at the time, wrote Innotech to inform that company that Rotoplastics would not accept “that our Tuff tanks are at fault and firmly believe that the damage was caused by the angle at which the tanks were leaning”.

However, he said, the company was willing to replace the damaged tanks at 50 per cent off, and that this gesture would apply to any further damaged tank(s).

“I also do believe that you will not have that issue again as you have begun to level the platforms on which they stand,” said the email.

One source close to the developments told Barbados TODAY that all the parties involved concluded three years ago that the potential risk to the public did not warrant incorporating the 1000-gallon tanks in the project and that was when the 2000-gallon tanks were decided on although they cost “six times” more than the 1000-gallon ones.

Principals of Innotech declined to comment on this issue and would only say “we do not discuss company policy”.

When contacted, the Operations Manager of Rotoplastics Barbados Ltd Jackie Wilson said she was not aware that the tanks had collapsed during the 2015 pilot project.

When pressed about the testing and the quality of the 1000-gallon tanks for such a project and why the company would still sell them to corporate Barbados to donate, Wilson insisted that the tanks were in no way inferior since “the material is used proportionately according to size” in the making of the tanks.

“What I am prepared to say at this time is that there is a standard way of making the tanks and there is a guarantee on each tank for seven years,” she said, adding that Rotoplastics would soon be making an official statement.

The 200, 450, 600, 800 and 1000-gallon tanks are manufactured in Barbados, while the 2,000-gallon tanks are manufactured in Trinidad & Tobago.

“It is the same application, same process, same material used because that is how the tanks are done and each tank, whatever the size has a sticker that says seven years warranty on it,” said Wilson.

The issues relating to the tanks surfaced last December after the BWA raised an alarm that Innotech had removed the community tanks. It was later found out that the company was carrying out its scheduled cleaning.

However, within days corporate Barbados started donating replacement tanks.

Earlier this week several of those tanks collapsed, leaving residents in sections of St Joseph and St John shocked and wondering what would happen when their taps go dry again. The BWA issued a statement saying that a full assessment would be carried out, suggesting that “there is evidence of vandalism”.

“The authority will be engaging the services of the Royal Barbados Police Force to investigate the matter,” the BWA said in its statement.

An engineer close to the developments told Barbados TODAY he believed the tanks collapsed simply because the base were not properly done.

“The BWA would be well-advised to pause, to take stock, to inspect the tanks to see that what they have that were donated were properly manufactured and properly signed off by the manufacturer as having been inspected as properly manufactured and certified,” he said.

“They would be well-advised to look at the base of the concrete tanks because they have altered the base of the concrete tanks especially as it relates to size. They have issues where the base is smaller than the tank itself. That is not permissible from an engineering perspective, neither is it recommended by the manufacturer.

“The BWA would be well-advised to pause, to take whatever public embarrassment they think they are going to suffer, rather than risk their integrity or the safety of the general public,” he added.

He said it would also be in the best interest of the utility company to ensure the underlying structure of the base was well compacted and secured since this was found to be the fault three years ago when the tanks first collapsed.

One source told Barbados TODAY although he did not carry out an assessment himself, it was possible the water tanks could have exploded because of how they were positioned.

Describing the development as “grossly unfortunate”, the source even questioned the quality of the tanks, saying during the pilot project concerns were also raised about the thickness of those tanks. He said while the help from corporate Barbados was admirable, he believed the water company was trying to replace the tanks “quickly and cheaply” instead of correctly.

“The tanks cannot be inclined,” he said, explaining that unless the base was properly compacted and level then it would present some problems.

“Unless the tanks have been properly inspected to be absolutely certain that they meet the specification of the manufacturer locally, then there is a possibility that is a contributing factor,” said the source.

“If the BWA or whoever else installed those tanks did not carry out a proper inspection of an installation of the tanks’ base and sub-base especially as it relates to it being level and properly compacted, then you can almost certainly sit back and expect that there will be more ruptures across Barbados,” he added.
marlonmadden@barbadostoday.bb

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The implementation of the paper committal system has received the thumbs up from judicial officers.

But while magistrates, prosecutors and defense attorneys have praised the system for its speediness in streamlining cases from the Magistrates' Court to the High Court, they all agree it will create a bottleneck once it reaches that stage.

The paper committal system replaces preliminary hearings in indictable matters, allowing magistrates to sift through written evidence to determine if there is enough evidence to have it heard at the High Court.

Two magistrates who spoke to Barbados TODAY described it as a “blessing in disguise”.

They said they had been calling for such a system to be implemented for quite some time and it had eased the way in which business was done at the Magistrates' Court.

“It is something which we welcome with open arms because it speeds up the process and there is no longer a situation where a defense attorney has to come in and cross-examine every witness,” one magistrate who asked not to be identified admitted.

“But the problem now is that these cases are being fast-tracked to High Court and that will create a bottleneck of sorts up there. To alleviate that situation more judicial officers at the High Court and in the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions will have to be hired.”

Another magistrate contended that the system should have been introduced a long time ago.

That magistrate, however, also agreed it would cause a back-up of cases once they reached the High Court.

“As it stands right now there aren't enough judges at the High Court to deal with the large number of cases which are being committed there,” the source said.

A senior prosecutor also welcomed the system, but he warned it would only be successful if all the agencies involved worked together.

“It is an effective system and it would help with the backlog but everybody has to work together. What has to happen is because the workload is being increased, you have to make provisions for more judges and more prosecutors at the DPP,” he said.

“If you are getting them up there quicker but don't have the judicial officers to deal with them you will be back at square one.”

Queen's Counsel Andrew Pilgrim is fully behind the paper committal system.

He said it allowed magistrates to use their discretion in determining whether a matter should be dismissed or not.

“Overall I would say that the system seems to be working well. The magistrates seem to be having a good approach to it generally and it allows a discretion by the magistrate to have defense counsel cross-examine witnesses who they think may affect the process of sending the matter on.

“At the end of the day, you don't want magistrates sending on things that really should be stopped,” Pilgrim pointed out, saying that the magistrate's role was to act as a “strainer”.

“But the obvious result of the system working more rapidly at the Magistrates' Court is that the High Court is now where the backlog will be occurring. Every single magistrate sending up committal matters much more rapidly than before. We weren't even keeping up when they were coming up slowly,” he added.

Pilgrim said once Government followed up on its promise to appoint three more judges soon it would help the situation.

He suggested that those cases which were 10 years or older should be “fed out” of the system as they were too old for trial.

Another defense attorney Mohia Ma'at also agreed.

“It's fast-tracking the matters out of the Magistrates' Court, but because of the bottleneck situation in the High Court they have to wait. In essence, it's just that the wait in the Magistrates' Court is shorter, but the wait before getting before a judge is longer,” Ma'at said.

This is not the first time for the appearance of the paper committal system as it was introduced more than two decades ago but had hardly been used over previous years.

The post Magistracy ease appeared first on Barbados Today.

The brutal killing of 24-year-old tattoo artist Shaquille Toppin has not only left his Danesbury, Retreat Road, Black Rock, St Michael family reeling in pain, but also with many unanswered questions.

[caption id="attachment_287364" align="aligncenter" width="500"] As soon as Shaquille Toppin (inset) stepped out from his home (on the right) he was gunned down.[/caption]

This afternoon, his sister Zonel Forde told Barbados TODAY that she was struggling to understand why somebody would riddle her younger brother’s body with 16 bullets, just a stone’s throw away from his home.

Sitting on the patio of the family home, staring at Toppin’s pink and white tattoo shop, situated on the same property, Forde said though her tears had subsided for a while, she was nursing an aching heart.

She was seriously concerned about their mother, Pollenia Gibson-Toppin who has not been the same since 9:55 Tuesday night when her last born child was gunned down.

“Mummy is in a mess. Mummy is not taking it well at all. They were very close. He would talk to her about anything,” Forde said.

“Mummy I coming back, lock the door,” were the last words Gibson-Toppin heard her son say.

The next thing Forde and her mother heard were gunshots.

“When we heard the gunshots I take my mother and I push her down to the ground. We went on all fours. The bullets sounded like fireworks.

“I said to myself ‘what going on?’ And then it clicked with me, and I say ‘mummy that is Shaquille’. And she said, ‘no don’t tell me that’. I say, ‘mummy that is Shaquille, Shaquille now left the house, call he’. So we were calling him, and he didn’t answer the phone,” she recalled.

Toppin did not answer, but his mother and sister could hear the neighbours screaming and shouting.

“My mother drop down to the ground, and quick so my neighbour was in the house saying call the police. We couldn’t get the police called because we couldn’t function.

“By then out there was full of people screaming, and quarreling and hollering, and trying to figure out what to do. It was chaos,” she said.

Forde recalled that her mother’s weak legs would not allow her to move from the house to the scene.

But she said that when she got the strength to go and see her sibling, she believed she stopped breathing for a while, forcing residents to call an ambulance for her.

Meanwhile, a private vehicle rushed Toppin to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead, after 30 minutes of resucitation by medical personel failed.

Forde said she admired her brother’s passion for success. She said the young man who started his career as a tattoo artist five years ago in his mother’s gallery before saving money to build his own private space, was always thinking about ways to improve his business or life.

Just before his untimely death, Toppin, a former St Leonard’s Secondary student, had bought a car and was looking at the possibility of starting a farm. His parlour was registered, he recently got life insurance, his health certificate was up-to-date, and he was awaiting word on whether he would be receiving an United States visa for which he had just applied.

“He was all about being progressive. He was really clean, and kept his workspace clean, like when you going to get an operation. He had his close friends and everybody respected him. He would bring young fellas here for my mother to talk to them when they are giving trouble.

“He was no troublemaker. My brother would run from trouble. If he feel a wrong vibe, he gone, he wouldn’t stick around. But he was running and it find he,” she said.

The sister admitted that she was feeling unapologetically angry about the circumstances surrounding her brother’s death. The 40-year-old said her family knows that they cannot bring the deceased back to life, but they are determined to get justice for him.

“Give us the peace to know that whoever do it is caught, and that justice is served. And we don’t want them to get no ten years nothing. They must never see light again. That is how I feel about it. If they had an electric chair, they would have to get that. You got to have some kind of mind to murder somebody like that; it can’t be a normal mind.

“You got to have a wicked mentality that you would kill a child, you would kill anything. The doctor told us that he got 16 shots,” Forde lamented.

“You would understand if he was a bad boy giving trouble every since and you was prepared for it, because you know he bad. So you waiting everyday to hear something will happen. Not somebody who don’t trouble anybody.

“We have so many questions. Why Shaquille? Of all the people, why Shaquille had to be the first person to be killed for the year?” she continued.

Toppin’s father, Tony Toppin, was too distraught to speak about the death of his only child when Barbados TODAY contacted him. He said he was leaving the matter in the hands of the police.

anestahenry@barbadostoday.bb

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