Henderson Tull is wondering when or if his chance to have his matter heard before the Employment Rights Tribunal (ERT) will ever come.

The former emergency medical technician (EMT) at the Sparman Medical Clinic said he was keeping his fingers crossed that his case would be called soon since it has been four years since he filed a claim for wrongful dismissal.

In an interview with Barbados TODAY, Tull queried how more recent matters were being heard by the tribunal while he continued to wait in vain.

However, consultant to the ERT Winston Chase explained today that a check revealed Tull’s name was not among the list of matters to be heard by the Tribunal.

He explained that before any matter was sent to the ERT a reconciliation meeting first had to be convened by the Labour Office with the severed employees and the former employer.

Chase said it was only after agreement fails at this level that the matter would be transferred to the ERT.

Tull confirmed to Barbados TODAY he had not been called to any such meeting.

He however explained that he had initially been hired to work at the clinic in 2010, but had been made redundant in 2013. He said he was eventually hired back to work at the company that same year.

He explained that he had lodged his case with the Labour Office in 2015, and despite numerous phone calls and visits to the Government agency, he was still at a loss why it was taking so long to be processed.

He claimed his troubles began on April 1, 2015, when he was fired, allegedly at the request of someone external to the company.

He said the reason for his termination was explained in a letter from the hospital director Deron DeCaul.

Tull, who also used to drive the clinic’s ambulance, admitted to Barbados TODAY that he had been involved in two accidents - in December 2014 and March 2015.

However, he said he was subsequently cleared of all wrongdoing.

Tull explained that prior to him being fired he had not received any warning letters and had not been called into any meetings.

The day after being dismissed on April 2, 2015, he lodged his case with the Labour Office, he recalled.

The aggrieved former employee complained that even though he regularly visited the government office, he had received no information on when his case would be submitted.

“This is very frustrating because this is over four years that I was wrongfully dismissed and I still can’t get a hearing before the Employment Rights Tribunal. Yet, I can see all kinds of people who were fired after me going to the tribunal and their cases are being heard,” Tull lamented.

He said while he understood there had been a change in Government and a change in the tribunal’s personnel, that was still not a valid reason for his excessive wait.

“It is true that Government has changed and different people now make up the tribunal, but that doesn’t explain why I should be waiting four years. This wait is too long.”

Tull said what had made the situation even more frustrating was the fact that he had been unable to secure a job since being fired.

He told Barbados TODAY he had applied to work in Jamaica, Cayman Islands, Trinidad and Bermuda, but had been unsuccessful.

He said he hoped once his plight was made public that he would receive some assistance in having his concerns addressed.
randybennett@barbadostoday.bb

The post ‘At a loss’ appeared first on Barbados Today.

UNITED NATIONS - The Prime Minister today stepped up the challenge to the world to tackle the climate crisis, warning world leaders gathered here today of a backlash of mass migration to the world’s richest and biggest polluters.

She told a United Nations special summit on climate of an influx of climate refugees in coming years as a consequence of failing to take action to stop climate change.

Mottley said: “Make no mistake, there will be mass migration by climate refugees that will destabilize the countries of the world that are not on the frontline of this climate crisis.”

Speaking on behalf of CARICOM countries being battered by powerful hurricanes and other climate impacts, Prime Minister Mottley made it clear that the Caribbean would not roll over and play dead.

She told the UN: “We refuse to be relegated to the footnotes of history and be collateral damage for the greed of others, for we have contributed less than one per cent of greenhouse gas emissions.

“If it was up to our community of small nations to solve the problem of climate change, it would have been solved three decades ago when we raised it.” 

She declared that survival of Barbados and other Caribbean countries which make up the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS) bloc in the UN required far more than the current plan to stop global temperatures from rising by 1.5 degrees Celsius, 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit.

The Prime Minister said: “In other words, two degrees needs to be taken off the table once and for all.

“The real solution is for us to not keep asking people to make commitments that are small... but the global community must accept that it is within our power to halt and reverse climate change.”

If the world can make driverless cars, it can tackle climate change, said Mottley.

She declared: “There simply can be no more coal power plants after 2020 if we are serious about our future.”

Mottley stressed the need for those in power and those capable of developing new tools and technologies to reevaluate their priorities toward the greater good.

“The world finds it possible to apply resources to solving male baldness while it cannot find the resources to cure malaria. These misplaced priorities will lose us the battle.

“We have brought our plans as small nations, we are implementing them and we have fully embraced the responsibility to act. The young people of the world demand climate justice, as do we,” she said.

The post PM ratchets up climate crisis warning appeared first on Barbados Today.

An appeal has been made to nurses and friends to donate cash in support of their colleagues who are on the frontline of the response to the hurricane disaster in the northern Bahamas.

President of the Barbados Nurses Association (BNA) Joannah Waterman, says while the association has a high debt incurred from hosting the regional nursing conference, the circumstances facing nurses on Great Abaco Island are dire.

Waterman said she has been in touch with Rebecca Johnson,  the president of the Commonwealth of the Bahamas Nurses Association.

“[Johnson] describes the situation as very depressing and a situation in which it’s so enormous it feels unreal,” Waterman said.

The BNA president said nurses in Abaco had to escape from their homes with just the clothes on their backs in the face of Hurricane Dorian. The hurricane devastated the Abaco islands and Grand Bahama over two days from September 1.  The death toll so far has reached 53, with another 1,300 people left missing.  The damage is estimated at over US$7 billion.

Waterman reported: “The nurses are desperate for scrubs, uniforms, water, food, toiletries and baby items, including food.

“It’s unbelievable what the Bahamian nurses have to deal with.”

The appeal to an estimated 1,000 nurses in the BNA’s ranks in addition to friends and family for cash is to close at month-end.      

The BNA president said the association has a huge debt and was constrained in the degree to which it could support its sister association in the Bahamas.

The debt related to hosting the Caribbean Nurses Organisation (CNO) conference last October, she said. 

The post BNA in nurses aid appeal appeared first on Barbados Today.

ROSEAU - Two years after leading his officers to the first of a series of relief missions to hurricane-battered Dominica, Coast Guard Lieutenant Anderson Goodridge is singing the Windward island’s praises for its remarkable turnaround.

Lt Goodridge was the commanding officer of HMBS Leonard C Banfield, the first vessel to dock at the Woodbridge Bay Port just outside the Dominican capital, Roseau, two days after the Category 5 Hurricane Maria slammed the island.

When he returned last Thursday to attend a memorial and thanksgiving service to mark the second anniversary of the hurricane, the scenes that greeted him were in stark contrast to the island that lay in tatters merely two years earlier.

He told Barbados TODAY: “My experience on this particular deployment, it was a pleasure to see the transformation of the Dominican community from 2017 to now.

“I think Dominicans are very resilient and the present leadership that they have…. I think they did an excellent job in transforming Dominica from then to now. And it is a delight and pleasure to see where they came from.”

  Commander Goodridge noted that “while natural disasters and humanitarian crises can devastate an entire nation, resilience is what determines whether we fight through it or whether cave in and let those challenges defeat us”.

He also praised his fellow Coast Guard officers and sailors who were deployed to Dominica and other islands that suffered extensive damage from Hurricanes Irma and Maria in 2017.

He told Barbados TODAY the Defence Force conducts regular training for its officers to prepare them for such humanitarian missions.

“Every year prior to hurricane season we do drills and run exercises, we do training sessions, things like psychology first aid to put the guys in that frame of mind to expect certain things as it relates to disasters,” he said.

In addition to the training, they also rely on professional assistance and counselling, if necessary, after the deployment.

“We would love to continue to do these types of deployments and exercises where we are in a position where we can assist our neighbours in the region because being our brother’s keeper is very important.”

Addressing the thanksgiving service, Goodridge pointed to the changing face of security to include non-traditional challenges such as climate change, migration and pandemics that now confront the Regional Security System (RSS).

The challenges, he said, require a continued collaborative response of all agencies involved in maintaining security in the Caribbean. 

He said: “The landscape of Dominica and other RSS countries necessitates the collaborative effort of all the agencies maintaining a cohesive environment. As such the geographic reality, the importance of communication, cooperation, and limited resources of Barbados and Dominica and other RSS countries make us vulnerable to hazards.

“As such, both countries along with the other RSS territories as a collective body need to and should continue to unify our efforts and approach to humanitarian assistance and disaster relief related scenarios.”

With the increasing threat of more frequent and more intense hurricanes, the BDF will no doubt be called upon to offer humanitarian assistance to other islands in the future. Goodridge told Barbados TODAY he and his officers are up to the task.

“We are all small nations and our resources are minimal. So once we pool together and work as a community, I think that we can achieve anything that we set out to do,” the commander said. 

The post Naval commander’s awe of Dominica’s recovery appeared first on Barbados Today.

Show us the evidence!

That is the demand from President of the Barbados Union of Teachers, Sean Spencer in response to an assertion from Minister of Education Santia Bradshaw that environmental problems at Lester Vaughn School, Sharon Primary School, and the Maria Holder nursery, all in close proximity are “different and completely unrelated”.

Arguing the health of children and teachers was potentially one of life and death, the union boss challenged the ministry to provide empirical evidence of Bradshaw’s claims and demanded that they disclose “key information” on the problems as Sharon Primary School entered the third week of the new school year without classes.

Spencer remained concerned that a filtration system, which was promised by a nearby business to remove alleged harmful pollutants being spewed into the atmosphere by its operations had not been installed.

Over the weekend, the Education Minister sought to dispelled assertions levelled by the union president last week that Lester Vaughn’s problems were internal environmental challenges associated with the physical plant.

Spencer said on Monday that preliminary reports on Sharon and the previous reports on Lester Vaughn point to very common symptoms and common “illnesses and ailments” and in the absence of evidence to the contrary, dismissed Bradshaw’s comments as a “subjective view, which we [the BUT] would not want to hold”.

“We prefer to have the empirical evidence and that is why it is so important for us to have access to those reports as opposed to being moved by speculation,” Spencer told Barbados TODAY on Monday.

“Certainly you’re not talking about inanimate objects. You’re talking about people and the wellbeing of children in a nursery school...from as young as three years old. So we would want conclusive proof to allay any fears that may exist because we are being asked to consider proposals without full disclosure and that is difficult You’re exposing three years old to such without explaining what has been going on and what methods are being taken. So we are just going around in circles of speculations.”

On Friday, parents of students enrolled for the new year at Sharon Primary School held a small protest outside the nearby Jackson Church of God, demanding more answers from Government about the nature of the environmental problems which left several students and teachers extremely ill.

Since then, the ministry announced Class 4 students of the Sharon Primary School will report to the Jackson Seventh Day Adventist Church, Jackson, St Michael on Wednesday, September 25, for their instruction while all other classes will remain at home for the remainder of the week.

The Ministry of Education, Technological and Vocational Training and the Ministry of Health and Wellness will meet with all members of staff of the Maria Holder Nursery-Sharon and the Sharon Primary Schools on Tuesday at 10 a.m. at the Jackson Seventh Day Adventist Church.

Later the same day, these ministries will also meet with parents of the two schools at 4 p.m at the same venue.

Spencer lauded parents for taking matters into their own hands-on and playing an active role in their children’s lives.

“Very often when we seek to engage parents as teachers they don’t respond, but when parents are indeed engaged in their children’s progress and their wellbeing at school we normally see good things happen.”

He further argued that while health issues have subsided at the Lester Vaughn School, people are still falling ill and a documented trail existed with people becoming ill at school, leaving the school and becoming reasonable well. However upon returning to the plant they complained of becoming ill again.

“This was seen at Sharon on Monday, 2nd [September] which is the planning week. On the Monday, the first week of instruction, people became ill again. So if you’re telling me there’s no commonality I wouldn’t know what to say to that but the fact of the matter is we don’t want people exposed to harmful conditions or worse someone ends up dead.

“It shouldn’t come to that before authorities move with greater alacrity on this matter,” he said.

Efforts to reach the Education Minister were unsuccessful.
kareemsmith@barbadostoday.bb

The post Union wants proof appeared first on Barbados Today.

The collapse of the UK-based Thomas Cook group has sent shockwaves through Barbados tourism industry.

However, local officials have immediately sprung into action and are working on a plan to mitigate any potential fallout.

The 178-year-old company officially ended its operations on Sunday after last-minute negotiations aimed at saving it failed.

The Barbados Tourism Marketing Inc. (BTMI) said it was saddened by the news, noting: “We were aware of the company’s ongoing financial challenges for some time. It is a major blow to the industry to lose the world’s oldest travel company.”

The BTMI further noted however that it was working closely with the Ministry of Tourism and International Transport and the Barbados Hotel and Tourism Association (BHTA) to minimize the impact to Barbados’ tourism business.

“Our first priority is working with the BHTA to facilitate solutions for the visitors currently on island who would have booked Thomas Cook packages. While customers are entitled to refunds from the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), we are committed to ensuring minimal discomfort and disruption to their Barbados holidays due to the fallout.

“It is estimated that there are currently only 44 Thomas Cook guests on the island, all booked through scheduled airlines and it is likely that they will not be considered as stranded passengers,” the BTMI said, following a meeting with ministry officials.

It was not immediately clear how many local hotels or room nights would be impacted as a result of the failure of the global travel group.

However, a quick check with some hotels revealed that the majority of the British holidaymakers who use the Thomas Cook holiday service were scheduled to start arriving in November.

Thomas Cook UK currently operates three flights to Barbados from Manchester in the winter, as well as a direct flight from the London Gatwick airport, providing a total of approximately 24,000 seats to the destination each year.

Condor, a subsidiary of the Thomas Cook Group, provides 12,600 seats through its summer and winter business to Barbados from Frankfurt.

Thomas Cook UK Plc and its associated UK entities have entered compulsory liquidation, indicating that its UK business has ceased trading with immediate effect and all future flights and holidays are cancelled. All Thomas Cook retail shops have also closed.

“A dedicated support service is being provided by the Civil Aviation Authority to assist customers currently overseas and those in the UK with future bookings” it said.

The BTMI said it estimated that about 60 per cent of Thomas Cook’s winter business to the island would have been booked in advance, and that it was already working on a strategy to assist any displaced passengers.

“The Honourable Kerrie Symmonds, Minister of Tourism and International Transport, is already in the UK meeting with other airline partners who currently service Thomas Cook’s routes,” the BTMI said.

The island’s tourism marketing arm said it was also considering the implications for the air-to-sea cruise programme, which could be potentially impacted by the loss of the chartered Thomas Cook flights.

“We have already commenced discussions with cruise and airline partners who can service the fallout,” the BTMI said.

Barbados TODAY reached out to officials of the popular Foster & Ince Cruise Services here, but they declined to comment on the development.

Meanwhile, Chief Executive Officer of the BHTA Senator Rudy Grant, who is also in the UK with Symmonds, expressed concern about the development.

[caption id="attachment_310703" align="aligncenter" width="500"] BHTA CEO Senator Rudy Grant and BTMI CEO William Griffith[/caption]

“The Barbados Hotel and Tourism Association is very concerned about the recent failure of Thomas Cook and its impact for the winter season when the service would be operating,” said Grant, adding that the BHTA was also participating in discussions led by the Tourism Minister.

He explained that the BHTA was identifying specifically the number of room nights that would impact its members so it could work with those affected and the BTMI to have the “right market response”.

“Our initial discussions are concentrated on ensuring that we are able to secure the long-stay visitor arrivals that would have utilized Thomas Cook for the winter, but also to identify the possible options available to assist in the cruise-and-stay home-porting area as well,” he explained.

It is estimated that the failure of the tour operator has put some 22,000 jobs at risk worldwide, and hundreds of thousand of people would be stranded.

So far, the British Government has promised to get the firm’s 150,000 UK-based customers back home from vacation spots around the world, while Virgin Atlantic has tweeted that it would be helping to bring Thomas Cook passengers and staff home from Cuba, Jamaica and the United States.

Grant said based on discussions so far between Barbados and its UK partners he was “confident” that Barbados’ response through Symmonds, would allow the destination to be able to properly deal with the fallout.

Meanwhile, the BTMI said it continues preparation to launch a direct service on October 28, 2019 from Frankfurt to Barbados as a result of a new partnership with the Lufthansa Group.

The partnership is focused on increasing business out of Europe and is projected to bring over 25,000 new seats to Barbados annually. marlonmadden@barbadostoday.bb

The post Swift response to airline’s collapse appeared first on Barbados Today.

Twenty years after the Owen Arthur administration sold the Barbados National Bank (BNB), the Mia Mottley-led Government says it is considering re-establishing an indigenous commercial banking presence in Barbados.

Speaking at a townhall meeting in Brooklyn over the weekend, Prime Minister Mia Mottley contended that with banking regulations tightening over fears of losing correspondent banking, resulting in Barbadians being unbanked or finding it difficult to even open a bank account, Government is again considering getting involved in commercial banking.

Mottley pointed to the fact that the banks require a utility in a prospective customer’s name before opening an account, a requirement that is difficult to meet for persons who reside with their parents or in rented premises. She revealed that her Cabinet has held policy discussions on the issue, noting that before forming the Government last year, Minister in the Ministry of Finance, Ryan Straughn, would have created a policy paper on incorporating some form of banking at the post office.

“Why is the threshold for proof of identity as high as it is, because what you are effectively doing is unbanking people. So what we are doing in the Government is looking at the reality that we are going to have to take some sort of responsibility and have some sort of domestic banking presence again because of what our people are facing with respect to the increase in persons who are being excluded from the banking system or who are being unbanked,” said Mottley.

She added, “If I was the Government in 2009, I would have been loathed to take further steps to come out of commercial banking given how much the world has changed. I understand why we sold the national bank when we did but I see how much the world has changed since then and we are going to have to find some way of defending the people of Barbados by having some indigenous banking presence here again.”

The Prime Minister also pointed out that the problems with these sometimes prohibitive banking regulations was not only impacting individual but legitimate businesses as well.

“Legitimate enterprises under the law, who in other jurisdictions may be considered as risky, are also being told, ‘come and pick up your money from my bank, even if you need a wheel barrow to pick it up because we are no longer banking you’. This is unacceptable for us and it is not just Barbados but other countries in the region. So we are going to have to have a banking presence that adheres to the very highest of prudential standards while reminding people that regulation must be appropriate to risk and the last time I checked, the biggest centres for money laundering are London, New York and Zurich,” she said.

colvillemounsey@barbadostoday.bb

The post National bank? appeared first on Barbados Today.

Sea egg harvesters are being praised for sticking to a nationwide ban, as Minister of Maritime Affairs and the Blue Economy Kirk Humphrey said their restraint made the one-month suspension of the ban possible.

A growing population of the urchins on the northern coast which made the temporary harvesting possible suggests that sea egg poaching is on the decline, Humphrey told Barbados TODAY.

He said: “I am very happy to see that Barbadians, for the most part, have stayed loyal to the ban.

“When the ban was implemented, they weren’t hunting the sea eggs and allowed them to regenerate themselves.

“Some people have called [into] question the ban date, but it will only be a month but at the end of the month we will make another assessment of the sea eggs populations.”

But before the ban on sea egg harvesting was lifted, a survey was done across the island to determine the location, quantities and maturity of the sea eggs and their capacity to replenish their stocks, the Minister said.

“All these things are taken into consideration before the ban is lifted,” Humphrey said. “So, we did the survey and it was revealed that there was an abundance of sea eggs across the north and east of the island.”

But the Maritime Affairs Minister noted that while Barbadians appear committed to the preservation of the endangered sea egg population, another major issue facing the future of the sea urchins, the quality of the nearshore water, which is linked to onshore pollution.

Humphrey added: “We have to manage now the runoffs from the terrestrial space into the ocean space. This is why we are consistently and continuously testing that the ocean acidity are at levels that would allow life to continue.

“We have to maintain the temperature of the water because the waters are getting warmer in the Caribbean and most of our Caribbean sea organisms are at their maximum thermal capacity, which means that they really cannot take an increase in the temperature of the water.

“We are doing all these things so that we can maintain this space.

“We are talking about marine management of our space and this is something that we are going to be proud of in the long run.”

The post Sea egg poaching ‘on the decline’ – Minister appeared first on Barbados Today.

After two weeks of uncertainty and negative publicity over the late reopening of two primary schools, classes are now in session.

As parents dropped their children off on Monday morning at the Belmont and Eagle Hall Primary Schools, their reports were much better than those a week before when the schools were closed amid health and safety concerns.

At Belmont Primary School, the portable toilets which young children were asked to use the previous Monday were now gone and replaced with spanking new bathrooms. The walls were freshly-painted and the once rocky driveway had a new coat of asphalt.

[caption id="attachment_310713" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Spanking new bathroom facilities at Belmont Primary School.[/caption]

“The school is in immaculate condition,” said Roland Layne, the father of a boy in Class One.

[caption id="attachment_310714" align="aligncenter" width="500"] Outspoken parent Roland Layne said the Belmont Primary School was in immaculate condition.[/caption]

The outspoken father told reporters he preferred the school for his son because it was small and the teaching staff is one family. Layne said it would have been “heart-wrenching” if his son was forced to transfer as a result of the issues. The concerned father, however, acknowledged some parts of the school desperately needed to be repaired and was pleased the work had finally been completed.

“It is not a new school. It existed for a long time and it needed the work for a very long time so we still need to give the Minister and the Government kudos for coming on board and getting the school ready. Yes, we had a little setback, but I believe now the bathrooms are finished, you can see the difference. The areas that were rough, you could see the barber green. So I think everybody is happy. We just have to get back to normalcy and everyone needs to settle down because we’re already two weeks behind,” he said.

Despite the lost time, Layne suggested that parents, where possible, ought to take a greater role in educating their own children.

“Parenting isn’t just about getting up and making breakfast, it is about reading with your child, encouraging them with their tables. Every single step that they make, parents have to take that step with them,” he said.

“Even while there are on vacation, they have their playtime, but they should also have their time to learn their work. So I don’t think this little two weeks will affect them at all.”

Janelle Cato, the mother of two students attending Belmont Primary said she did not feel good about the circumstances surrounding the two-week closure, but was happy to finally have her children back in the classroom.

“I was very concerned because I wanted to know what was going on. I felt shut out and in the wilderness, because when I came up here to get the books, I realized the school was closed and when I called, I wasn’t getting any answer. Someone then told me the school was shut because it wasn’t ready,” explained the parent.

However, after dropping off her children to school today, Cato told reporters: “I feel very good.”

Meanwhile, at Eagle Hall Primary, a tremendous amount of dust which had been affecting teachers and students for some time had been taken care of with the laying of asphalt. In addition, classrooms and corridors received a much-needed improvement in the form of tiling and painting.

Tonya Mayers whose son transferred to Eagle Hall this school year said she was concerned about the changes but accepted explanations from education officials and management of the school that more work needed to be done.

Folasade Griffith, the mother of a son in Infants B welcomed the improvements.

“It is a welcomed improvement from all of the dust that was around here before. With the late start, I wasn’t too pleased, because the same thing happened last year when the children started two weeks later because of some work going on,” lamented Griffith.

Meanwhile, President of the Barbados Teachers’ Union, Sean Spencer, who recently voiced his displeasure with some aspects of the ministry’s handling of back-to-school preparations told Barbados TODAY he was awaiting word from union officials at the two schools. In the absence of reports to the contrary, he assumed the experience was a positive one for his members. kareemsmith@barbadostoday.bb

The post Schools get started appeared first on Barbados Today.

Government’s efforts to curb rising levels of gun violence are bearing fruit, Prime Minister Mia Mottley has suggested.

Mottley contends that in recent months, the rate at which shootings have occurred has lessened - in a year that will likely go down as one of the country’s bloodiest.

Speaking at a town hall meeting in Brooklyn over the weekend, Mottley, in response to a question about what is being done about the 35 murders for the year thus far, insisted that her administration has identified and plugged a number of loopholes, which has led to a decline in the gun crime proliferation.

The Prime Minister said: “Every life that is lost is one too many, but I don’t want us to take things out of context.

“The bottom line is that even the course of the last four months, there has been a significant reduction in the number and the rate at which people were being shot in the country.

“This is because people realise that there are people watching and there are people acting.”

From May, the rate of shooting deaths has declines from three to four per month to one per month.

There has been no recorded shooting death for the month of September thus far.

Mottley credited this to ramped-up efforts to reducing the prevalence of guns by beefing up border security and providing the Royal Barbados Police Force with needed tools.

She argued that while former Attorney General Adriel Braithwaite had complained that guns were coming through the port with apparent ease, the Freundel Stuart administration failed to do anything about it.

“We have borrowed a significant amount of money to put two scanners in place which are now functioning.

“We put in place a system for the first time where customs and the police are speaking on an ongoing basis.

“You would have thought that this would have been the most natural response from the former Attorney General and the then government, who were complaining about the number of guns coming through the ports of entry.”

Mottley revealed that similar efforts were made to upgrade the crime detection tools of the police.

She added: “We would have put large sums of money at the end of the last fiscal year and at the beginning of this year, to enhance the technical capacity of the Royal Barbados Police Force that was seeking to fight modern crime with next to nothing.”

The Prime Minister also touted Government’s efforts to speed up the delivery of justice by the appointment of seven new judges as part of  a “multifaceted” crime fight.

Mottley said: “My Government took the extraordinary act of adding seven new judges, which carries our expenditure up by over a million dollars on judicial expenditure. This means we have five criminal courts.

“We inherited 10,000 cases in a criminal backlog. Now that I have appointed additional judges, the Judicial Services Commission now has to appoint additional prosecutors.

“So believe you me when I say that my Government not only understands that it is accountable but it also is determined to reverse the problem through a multifaceted approach.”

colvillemounsey@barbadostoday.bb

The post ‘Bearing fruit’ appeared first on Barbados Today.

Officials from the Ministry of Education, Science, Technology and Vocational Training, Ministry of Health and Wellness and Teachers of the Sharon Primary and Maria Holder Nurseries heading into a meeting at the Jackson Seventh Day Adventist Church.

The meeting is to discuss the conditions at the two schools which have been closed due to environmental concerns.

The post Education officials begin talks appeared first on Barbados Today.

Officials from the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Health meet with parents of Sharon Primary and the Maria Holder Nursery to discuss the way forward for the two schools which were closed due to environmental concerns.

The post Authorities to outline way forward for Sharon Primary and Maria Holder Nursery appeared first on Barbados Today.

We don’t trust you.

That was the general consensus among scores of parents who Tuesday afternoon unleashed a tirade of criticism on Minister of Education Santia Bradshaw and Chief Medical Officer (CMO) Dr Kenneth George for Government’s handling of the health and safety of their children enrolled at the Sharon Primary School.

In fact, they have joined teachers in demanding proof in “black and white” outlining the full extent of the issues, which started months ago.

[caption id="attachment_310757" align="aligncenter" width="500"] Minister of Education Santia Bradshaw speaking with outspoken and concerned parents Felicia Cox and Jared Williams before leaving Tuesday evening’s meeting.[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_310756" align="aligncenter" width="500"] Chief Medical Officer Dr Kenneth George.[/caption]

But health officials have denied all allegations of mismanagement of the matter, collusion with nearby businesses or strategically hiding information.

The meeting, which started at the Jackson Seventh Day Adventist Church after 4 p.m. was jam-packed with boisterous and passionate parents whose patience, had expired.

A team of health and environmental officials told parents the problems, initially linked to businesses in the area were narrowed down to a small spray-painting operation near the school and an abundance of painting materials left on the schools compound over the summer.

The CMO said the operation at a “domestic property” nearby had since been shut down and nearby businesses had made key changes.

However, parents were relentless with their questions. They demanded greater detail about the problems, questioned whether their children were exposed to fibre glass and if they should worry about future health problems occurring.

“We don’t trust you because of the lack of transparency. We want to see the report and we want to see it in black and white,” said Felicia Cox to Government officials and who, days before led a parent protest outside the Jackson Church of God.

She later told Barbados TODAY the information at the meeting was vague, parents felt officials were hiding information and criticised the Education Ministry’s “open-ended, quasi solution” to the problems.

“I felt as though they perhaps felt we would not understand… but there was no language they used that puzzled me and there was hardly any information that I thought was useful for me to protect my child’s health and that for me is the overall concern,” said Cox.

“We don’t know when students are going to go back into the school plant, we don’t know the timelines for accommodating them elsewhere and it doesn’t pass many people’s smell test.”

Meanwhile Kim Hoyte whose child was scheduled to start classes at Sharon said she was not “digesting” the information being given.

“At first it was one of the industrial places and they were asked to comply with some changes they had asked them to do. Now I am hearing it is some small man in the area that has a paint shop and they are also saying there is paint on the property of the school. I don’t know what these people are really telling themselves about the people in this country,” said the puzzled parent.

In response to the concerns, Dr George promised parents would get a copy of the reports from the relevant ministries and full disclosure would be given on all matters.

When pressed about whether Government had fallen short on their obligation to the affected citizens and their children, he said: “The Ministry of Health is always willing to engage parents but it must be done through the Ministry of Education.

“We in the ministry have always been very truthful. There is no collusion between the Ministry of Health and any business. When we closed Sheraton Centre, you all said something different. When we banned chicken wings, you all said something different. If the Ministry of Health has information that companies are breaching the Health Services Act, we will use our authority,” he told reporters.

Meanwhile, other parents, including Jared Williams were happy that officials from the Ministries of Education and Health took the time to speak with parents but agreed that not much had been said.

“There’s nothing conclusive about it so we can’t say there’s a challenge in the school or out of the school and we are waiting to hear from the Ministry of Health so that at least we would feel comfortable about it,” said Williams.

“At least the class three and four students would be accommodated here at the Jackson Seventh Day Adventist Church and we are awaiting that official report so the children could go to school.”

The outspoken parent however said he would not hesitate to step up the action if the performance of the two ministries remained unsatisfactory.

“I have signed the petition already and if we don’t see anything happening in a timely manner we will have to take it to the next level where we protest and let people know we are serious about our children’s education and health,” he said.
kareemsmith@barbadostoday.bb

The post Bitter tirade appeared first on Barbados Today.

Companies which have been “robbing” Government of revenue have been put on notice that any loopholes through the Bridgetown Port will be closed.

In fact, new Comptroller of Customs Owen Holder has pledged that there will be no more revenue losses from the facility under his watch.

Sending a warning to those companies which have not been “operating above board”, resulting in Government losing substantial monies, Holder said he intended to transform the Bridgetown Port into a world-class facility, while also turning around its financial fortunes.

The Comptroller said since taking up office it had been brought to his attention that some companies were “giving away concessions”.

He however, gave ample warning that those days of Government being robbed of revenue were coming to an end.

“Since I’ve come into office a file crossed my desk where a company was given concessions and felt within itself that it should give those concessions to another company because that company was getting concessions. That is non-compliant behaviour,” Holder said while delivering the feature address at the Barbados Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s (BCCI) business luncheon at the Lloyd Erskine Sandiford Centre today.

“There is no company that is given a concession that has the authority to give that concession to another company so let me say this now, those of you who have been doing this, I would suggest that you come into us and let’s have a discussion to see how best we can solve the issue.”

Holder said the creation of a Cargo Management Inventory Unit would greatly increase customs’ monitoring ability.

He maintained that protecting Government’s revenue was of utmost importance.

“We will be doing in-depth monitoring, monitoring at the level that you have not yet seen in customs. I have created a Cargo Management Inventory Unit and that unit is supposed to manage cargo from the time it enters the cargo ship to the time of consumption. It will be looking at temporary exports, expired goods, manufacturing, hotel incentives, charities and other incentives.

“We are going to be monitoring those areas in a big way because we have seen in ASYCUDA ++ where there is a revenue loss to Government and we are going to ensure that we enforce all of our major roles, which is to protect Government’s revenue and that is important,” Holder pointed out.

“So you stakeholders, manufacturers, hotel owners, charities, we are coming. I am not saying that you are doing anything illegal, but we are coming and when we come we expect that you would be above table, otherwise then we will have to have another discussion,” he cautioned.

Holder told members of the BCCI that his plans to “reorganize the organiation” included changing the model that had been used to fashion customs since 1986.

He contended that model “had outlived its purpose”.

As part of efforts to improve customs’ efficiency, Holder said he had assigned his two deputy comptrollers Cheryl-Ann Cumberbatch and Sonia Jordan-Clarke who will deal with issues relating to trade and matters of compliance and enforcement respectively.

Holder said he also planned to automate every section of the department.

Additionally, he said ASYPM – ASYCUDA Performance Management System – would also be implemented, which would allow management to monitor the performance of all customs employees.

Holder also said there would be the establishment of a customs tribunal which would deal with appeals and objections by stakeholders, as well as the formation of a Public Private Partnership Committee (PPPC) where stakeholders would be able to air their concerns. randybennett@barbadostoday.bb

The post Businesses on notice appeared first on Barbados Today.

The Fair Trading Commission (FTC) is not about to back down from its decision that the financially struggling Barbados Water Authority (BWA) should not compensate customers for interruption of service although there is a standard of service in place.

This means that if the utility company breaches any of the guaranteed standards under the mandatory guaranteed and overall service metrics implemented in January last year, customers should not expect financial compensation.

Director of Utility Regulation Dr Marsha Atherley-Ikechi was responding to concerns raised by residents regarding the FTC’s suspension of the required compensatory payments under the guaranteed standards of service policy.

Atherley-Ikechi said after several rounds of discussions with the utility company the FTC had determined that based on its financial circumstance the BWA was in no position to pay.

“The regulation is such that it is dependent on and conditional on circumstances. I want to make that abundantly clear,” she said.

[caption id="attachment_310768" align="aligncenter" width="500"] FTC Chairman Tammy Bryan (left) and Director of Utility Regulation Dr Marsha Atherley-Ikechi.[/caption]

“One, when developing any type of policy, has to be cognizant of the environment in which they are acting, and as such it was determined that the Barbados Water Authority, given the predicament that it was in, was not in a position to be able to provide reimbursements to customers for failure to provide a certain level of service,” she explained.

Based on findings, the BWA is hard-pressed to fix between 800 and 1,200 ruptured pipes each month, which were compounded due to changes resulting from the Barbados Economic Recovery and Transformation (BERT) programme.

Atherley-Ikechi told reporters that the regulator did not want to impose hardship on the utility company “such that it cannot meet”, or is even further burdened in meeting its obligations.

However, she quickly pointed out that “this does not mean that the Barbados Water Authority is not held accountable for providing a certain level of service delivery.

“It is a balancing act that has to be struck and it was determined at the time that they were not in a position to be able to offer, at least in the short-term, consumers that were adversely impacted by a shortfall in their service delivery, any compensation. That continues, at this time, to be the position of the commission,” she said.

She explained that further review of the BWA, which went under the remit of the FTC in 2015, would be carried out and that the FTC would continue to monitor the situation “and when it can be determined that this position can be amended then it would”.

She insisted that currently the FTC was “between a rock and a hard place”.

“The reality at the end of the day is that we are entrusted to ensuring the public good. To do that we have to be able to bridge that gap and understand the circumstances because to do otherwise would be to put Barbadians at a significant disadvantage collectively,” she said.

“You do not want to be in a situation where the utility cannot provide the service, does not have the funds to provide the service and therefore put the health and economic well-being of the country in peril. That is not a sustainable way of doing it and therefore we took this particular position,” she maintained.

Atherley-Ikechi made it clear that because the FTC suspended the compensatory payments provision for BWA did not mean the same would be obtained for other service providers, adding that the FTC would have to examine the individual circumstance of each company.
marlonmadden@barbadostoday.bb

The post ‘Tap dry’ appeared first on Barbados Today.

Government has made good to restoring Government pensions and invalidity benefits nearly six months after they were slashed for scores of public workers who were retired medically unfit - including the woman whose lone protest sparked public outcry.

Minister of Finance Ryan Straughn told Barbados TODAY all 190 pensioners are on track to receive their pensions on or before the end of the month.

He said: “During the course of the month, the pensions were reinstated.

“Last week Thursday when I was going to Cabinet at that time there were only 26 persons left out of the 190 that were to be paid.

“Pension day is either tomorrow or Thursday so I anticipate that persons should receive their pensions by pension day.”

An elated Janice Harris, a former maid at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, told Barbados TODAY she was pleased to receive her reduced pension of $628.62 after her pension was cut back in June to a mere $47.51. The move led to her protest at the gates of Parliament.

[caption id="attachment_310775" align="aligncenter" width="500"] Janice Harris after receiving her pension.[/caption]

She said: “Joy unspeakable, full of glory, praise the name of the Lord. I thank God for restoring the pensions for the medically unfit people.

“I thank God for working on the Prime Minister’s heart to restore the pensions. God is good. We the medically unfit can live a normal life.”

Harris’ comments came four days after Senator Caswell Franklyn threatened to take Government to court if the invalidity benefits and pensions were not restored.

Senator Franklyn said: “These people are entitled to their pensions.

“The problem is that a lot of these people are not in a position to pay for legal counsel, so they would suffer. I am not going to let that happen.

Harris expressed thanks and gave praises to God for “moving the heart” of Prime Minister Mia Mottley to authorize the Government’s financial secretary Ian Carrington, the Director of Finance and Economic Affairs to instruct the paymaster, the Accountant General, to restore her pension.

She said: “When the Prime Minister gave the order to Ian Carrington, I knew that was the authorization that I was praying about.

“I thank God for speaking to the Barbados Labour Party and moving their hearts to restore our pensions and giving us back our liberty to live a normal life and we can enjoy happiness once again. I  just want to keep praising God celebrating, giving God thanks, glory, and praises.”

Harris, an ordained prophetess, told Barbados TODAY she thanks God for giving her this tremendous victory for medically unfit workers in Barbados.

She declared: “I thank God for everyone who stood and believed that God was going to bring the victory one day.

“We can all say to God be the glory great things he has done. Glory be to God.

“It seemed it would never come it was victory after victory, there were times that we heard we would get back the pensions my heart was so full and so glad and then it was like we would not get back the pensions, but today Jesus has won the victory.

“Words cannot express my feelings it is so overwhelming to see what God can do.”

The post Payday appeared first on Barbados Today.

It will not be an easy task but Customs’ newest boss is determined to change the culture of that entity.

Comptroller of Customs Owen Holder is advising employees of the Customs and Excise Department to get on board with his new initiative as he seeks to transform the heavily-criticized Government department.

Speaking during the Barbados Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s (BCCI) business luncheon at the Lloyd Erskine Sandiford Centre this afternoon, Holder, who is overseeing the upgrade from ASYCUDA ++  to ASYCUDA World at Customs, revealed he had a two-step plan.

He said several new policies would also be introduced to help shape Customs’ new mode of operations.

“Customs has a unique culture, but there is always room for change and going forward you have to set parameters on how each officer will operate, or is supposed to operate. Those parameters are the guidelines…and where any activity falls outside of that parameter you will seek to take the necessary action to ensure that those persons come back within those parameters,” Holder explained.

“We will design those policies, we will communicate those policies, we will have meetings designed to illustrate that these are the policies with which you are supposed to operate, and any officer that operates outside of that policy, I will ask the stakeholders to notify me and I will take the necessary action to ensure that the policy guidelines of the department are kept.”

Additionally, Holder said providing training opportunities for his staff was also critical.

He maintained it was imperative that workers were afforded the chance to interact with other customs employees who worked at international ports of entry.

“I believe it is all about exposing persons to activities. If you travel the region like I did, you see other customs organisations operate. We are often asked for persons to go to courses from international organisations where they can now see or hear and deliberate with other customs officers,” the Comptroller pointed out.

“I believe that interaction is critical because it helps you to open your vision, open your perspective, and then you can bring back that experience and share it with persons within your organisation.

“Those are the two main ways that I will push to ensure that the culture within Customs is adjusted to suit my policies,” Holder added. 

The post Holder outlines customs plans appeared first on Barbados Today.

Existing and potential providers supplying the national grid with energy from renewable sources now have a firm guarantee for their investment.

At the same time, with new rates and increased maximum capacity to the grid, the country is expected to save some $53 million over the next decade, while the Barbados Light & Power’s (BL&P) customers should not witness any increase in electricity rates.

These assurances have come from the Fair Trading Commission (FTC), who today issued its decision on the feed-in-tariff (FIT) for renewable energy technologies up to and including one megawatt (MW), which will replace the unsatisfactory Renewable Energy Rider (RER) programme, introduced in 2010.

Existing RER customers will maintain their existing arrangement with the utility company for 20 years, with their system’s original date as the start date as they are grandfathered into the new programme.

Those existing terms include renewable energy rider rates of $0.416/kWh for solar photovoltaic, and $0.315/kWh for wind.

The current maximum of renewable energy from individuals and businesses to the grid is 24 megawatts (MW), and another 10 MW from the utility company.

However, delivering the decision on the new FIT at the FTC’s Green Hill, St Michael office on Tuesday, Chairperson Tammy Bryan said the first round of the FIT programme will run from October 1, to December 31, 2021 or until the new limit of 32.7 MW has been used, which ever comes first.

Individuals or commercial entities that sign up for the FIT programme will be able to provide energy from solar, land-based wind and biogas or anaerobic digestion, and solid biomass.

The new FIT rate for solar systems up to 10 kilowatts (kW) is 42.75 cents/kWh; solar systems above 10kW to 100kW is 44.75 cents; solar systems above 100kW to 250kW is 41.75 cents; solar systems above 250kW to 500kW 38.25 cents; while solar systems over 500kW to 1 megawatt is 36.25 cents.

The new FIT rate for wind up to 10kW is 39.75 cents; wind above 10kW up to 1 megawatt is 38.25 cents; biogas systems up to 1 MW is 44.25 cents; and solid biomass up to 1MW is 52.25 cents.

Prior to expiry, the FTC will conduct a review and thereafter the rates will be reviewed on an annual basis, with new rates announced before the end of each period.

The maximum allocated capacity for renewable energy to the grid may also be amended.

“This represents a major step for the renewable energy sector in Barbados as this rate will, we believe, guarantees investors a stable rate of return for 20 years,” said Bryan.

Licences will be granted on a first-come, first-serve basis and after licences are issued individuals will have a maximum of 12 months to complete solar and wind projects, and 36 months to complete anaerobic digestion and biomass projects.

“Extensions may be granted in some circumstances. However, if these deadlines are not met the licences will be revoked,” said Bryan.

The decision also makes provision for community-shared renewable energy projects, but there must be at least 15 residential customer investors with no entity or individual owning more than 50 per cent of the project.

These community-shared projects will benefit from “more favourable rates, at least 10 per cent more than the regular rate,” said Bryan.

During the allotted 30-minute media briefing on Tuesday, Director of Utility Regulation Dr Marsha Atherley-Ikechi said the FIT will allow a reasonable rate of return to investors, and that it was in keeping with the national energy policy.

She gave the assurance that a rigorous process was followed during the research period, adding that stakeholders were consulted and the utility company was informed of the decision on Monday.

She said based on empirical evidence, the FTC “did not expect any significant increase” in electricity costs up to 2030.

In fact, she said: “On average we should see a reduction, in that the average cost of FIT should be 30.61 cents and the fuel clause 31.1 cents”.

“We anticipate an overall saving in nominal terms of $53.3 million [for the country] over the period, and that is based on information we have to hand at this time,” Atherley-Ikechi said.

“We have a situation where we spend between $500 million to $600 million annually on imported fossil fuel, that is not very tenable for a small economy like ours. We understand the predicament we are in and this is one way we can use to offset that challenge,” she said.

The post FIT rates set appeared first on Barbados Today.

Days of uncertainty and anger over the situation at Sharon Primary School have forced education officials to close the school building indefinitely and relocate students.

Acting Minister of Education, Science, Technology and Innovation Senator Lucille Moe, Permanent Secretary Senator Rommel Springer, Chief Education Officer Karen Best and Chief Medical Officer Dr Kenneth George on Tuesday joined teachers of the sick school to discuss the way forward.

Following an over two-hour ‘closed’ meeting at the Jackson Seventh Day Adventist Church which also included staff of the nearby Maria Holder Nursery, the acting education minister indicated the ministry’s decision followed close consultation on the matter.

They determined that from tomorrow class four students would report to the SDA church for classes and class 3 students would follow later in the week and students of the Maria Holder Nursery would resume classes on Monday.

However, the ministry is still looking for places to house the remaining students from Sharon Primary.

“We are looking at two other venues and we are going to see what progress is going to be made in terms of being able to use those venues. If we can use them and there are fit for purpose by Thursday, then we will use them. If not we will do so certainly by the beginning of next week,” promised Senator Moe.

“We will ensure that we find accommodations for them and we are trying to get that done as speedily as possible.”

Today’s meetings follow days of agitation by both parents and teachers who have been demanding more clarity about the nature of the environmental issues, which led to the suspension of  classes at the Sharon Primary School for the first three weeks of the school year.

Teachers and students have been falling ill since last term and Barbados Union of Teachers’ President Sean Spencer has predicted Lester Vaughn School and Maria Holder Nursery, both in close proximity could be next.

He linked environmental problems to nearby businesses and has asked for proof that Sharon’s issues are internal as stated by Minister of Education Santia Bradshaw.

When pressed for more information on the issues, the acting education minister described them as “a mix of factors”.

“It would be difficult for me to speak on environmental issues,” said Moe.

“What we will do in [the Ministry of] Education is to be guided by the Ministry of Health as to how we should proceed. All of the staff was present from the two institutions and I think they are in agreement with the steps and the approach being taken to solve the problem,” Moe said.

Teachers formed a large huddle outside the Jackson SDA Church but refused to comment on the matter. The BUT, which represents staff at Sharon Primary did not comment on the situation up to the time of publication. 

The post School building off limits appeared first on Barbados Today.

Renewable energy industrialist Ralph Bizzy Williams has welcomed new rates energy providers will be paid for selling power to the Barbados Light & Power Company (BL&P) as a much-needed shot in the arm for the industry.

In a decision handed down today, the Fair Trading Commission (FTC) announced the introduction of a new Feed-In-Tariff (FIT) arrangement that will run from October 1 to December 31, 2021, or until the new capacity limit of 32.7 megawatts runs out.

Individuals or commercial entities that sign up for the FIT programme will be able to provide energy from solar, land-based wind and biogas or anaerobic digestion, and solid biomass.

The new FIT rate for solar systems up to 10 kilowatts (kW) is 42.75 cents/kWh; solar systems above 10kW to 100kW is 44.75 cents; solar systems above 100kW to 250kW is 41.75 cents; solar systems above 250kW to 500kW is 38.25 cents; while solar systems over 500kW to 1 megawatt is 36.25 cents.

The new FIT rate for wind up to 10kW is 39.75 cents; wind above 10kW up to 1 megawatt is 38.25 cents; biogas systems up to 1MW (megawatt) is 44.25 cents; and solid biomass up to 1MW is 52.25 cents.

This is a hefty rise from $0.416/kWh for solar photovoltaic electricity, and $0.315/kWh for wind energy under the Renewable Energy Rider (RER) programme that was introduced in 2010, with a maximum capacity of 24 MW for customers and 10 MW from the utility company.

Williams thanked the FTC for completing the research and delivering a decision in less time than anticipated.

He said: “I would like to applaud the FTC for completing this task in several weeks less than we believed they would take.

“I believe the rates are bankable and will result in additional investment between October 1 and December 31, 2019.”

But the business mogul expressed disappointment at the allocation of the MW size to the various categories for energy production.

He claimed his firm, Williams Renewable Energy Ltd, could install as much as 40 MW solar photovoltaic systems.

He explained: “We would have liked at least twice the allocations and also another column of rates if battery storage is added, equivalent to say, six hours of the output of the systems to which the batteries are connected.

“This, I believe, will allow far more renewable energy to be generated without destabilizing the grid, especially on rainy days.

“With batteries installed with the right switchgear, it would also allow systems with batteries to have electricity at reduced levels after a hurricane when there is no utility electricity available.”

In a brief statement, BL&P acknowledged the decision. It said: “The FTC facilitated consultation and Light & Power participated in the process.

“The decision has just been received and therefore the company is in the process of reviewing it.”

The FTC said it carried out extensive research, consulted industry “stakeholders” and informed the electricity company of the decision on Monday. marlonmadden@barbadostoday.bb

The post Williams: New RE rates industry boost appeared first on Barbados Today.