Iran And Guyana Make Strange Bedfellows:Implications For Caricom

President Mahmud Ahmadinejad of Iran and President Bharat Jagdeo of Guyana

The President of Guyana Bharrat Jagdeo recently visited a few middle eastern countries, of interest to some was the visit to Iran. BU finds it surprising that we have had little if any analysis in the local media about what motivated the visit to Iran and possible implications for the region. It should be noted that Guyana is a sovereign nation and is solely responsible for shaping its foreign policy.

Press reports suggest that and a MOU was signed with Iran which will see Iranian medical doctors  fill shortages at state [Guyana] hospitals and build a medical school to train students and junior physicians. Additionally, Guyana is to benefit from a $1.5 million grant to target the healthcare system and resources to map mineral resources. Other countries like Jordan and Kuwait provided financial and other resources.

The foreign policy positioning of the Jagdeo led Guyana seems at odds with that of other countries in Caricom. Given the intrigue of geopolitics at large, it seems surprising to see Guyana formulating a foreign policy which could see it at odds with the only super power. Despite the boast of being a sovereign country it is one of the lowest rated if measured by GDP or HDI. Taking on a conflicting position with the USA might prove unwise.

The Utilities Raping Barbadian Consumers

First it was water, followed by electricity, based on recent reports Barbadians will suffer another increase in the telephone rate of $1.77 per pricing plan, whatever that means. The biggest of all ironies is the recognition that the Barbados Water Authority (BWA) is owned by government and not regulated by the Fair Training Commission (FTC). Cable & Wireless aka LIME and the Barbados Light & Power fall under the oversight of the FTC. In both cases the PEOPLE lose.

BU can join the esoteric debate by the academics and analysts to argue the merits of hiking utility rates at the hike of a recession. We have always been more comfortable using arguments rooted in commonsense.

Barbadians have had to pay by decree up 60% increase in the water rate. Most Barbadians given the value of water to maintaining our existence would have been persuaded to suffer the increase,  balanced by the argument the BWA was insolvent and in dire need of a overhaul. Prime Minister David Thompson told Barbadians in June 2009 that the increase in the water rate was necessary to ensure the BWA meets its mandate to deliver a quality water management infrastructure to Barbadians. Approaching one year the customer and other support services at the BWA remain abdominal. Minister Denis Lowe who is responsible for the BWA has been silent regarding progress in restructuring at that state body. Last week Barbadians were treated to the news that a consultant contracted by government will recommend the discontinuation of sucks/ pit toilets. Additionally current water zones may have to change.

Is this another case of the chickens coming home to ruse? It wasn’t too long ago when politicians Don Blackman and Trevor Prescod were defending the rights of squatters in the Belle. Other politicians have been known to put politics above the health of the nation by ignoring the growing problem of squatting in water zones.  A lack of leadership in our water management perhaps?

Tourism Potential

Submitted by Adrian Loveridge

Barbados Hilton-barbados.org

While I fully understand all the fiscal restraints Government currently has and the historical and possibly political desire to complete the recently re-named Lloyd Erskine Sandiford Conference Centre, I would like to propose a second option.

There is no doubt that Trinidad and Tobago stole a march on the Southern Caribbean by constructing a new conference facility and an adjacent first class hotel. It’s no secret that most people attending conferences, for all sorts of reasons, want to stay close to where the event is taking place.

The very last thing is they wish to endure is to spend indeterminate amounts of time fighting with rush hour traffic to reach where the function is taking place. For whatever reason, ‘we’ missed a golden opportunity with the construction of the Hilton. 354 rooms, but not one large enough space to host major exhibitors and trade or consumer shows.

In hindsight it would have been so easy to have incorporated a single meeting area on one level of at least 10,000 square feet. Whether it was rooftop, basement or even formed part of the car park!

It’s not too late!

Fair Trading Commission To Hand Down Barbados Light & Power Rate Hike Decision

FAIR TRADING COMMISSION

DECISION – RATE REVIEW

THE BARBADOS LIGHT & POWER COMPANY
LIMITED

BARBADOS

No. 2 of 2009

IN THE MATTER of the Utilities Regulation Act CAP. 282 and the Fair Trading Commission Act CAP. 326B of the Laws of Barbados;

AND IN THE MATTER of the Utilities Regulation (Procedural) Rules 2003;

AND IN THE MATTER of the Application by the Barbados Light & Power Company Limited for a review of electricity rates pursuant to Section 16 of the Utilities Regulation Act CAP. 282 of the Laws of Barbados;

THE FAIR TRADING COMMISSION HEREBY GIVES NOTICE that:
The Commission will reconvene the Rate Review Hearing on Thursday, January 28, 2010 at 10:00 a.m. at the Lloyd Erskine Sandiford Conference Centre, Two Mile Hill, St. Michael to deliver its Decision in this matter.

Dated the 22nd day of January 2010.

Peggy Griffith
Chief Executive Officer
Fair Trading Commission
Telephone: 424-0260

Mottley Should Stop And Take Fresh Guard

Hartley Henry - DLP Political Strategist

No one seems willing to talk about it, so at the risk of having my email re-hacked and further untruths concocted, I shall today comment on a few recent slip ups in judgment by the leader of the opposition Barbados Labour Party, Mia Mottley.

Under normal circumstances, and using my preferred Bajan vernacular, I would say to Ms Mottley that her political ‘slip is showing’. But that somehow does not ring well with this particular politician, so I would merely wish to point out that on current course, she is on the wrong track; moving the Barbados Labour Party in the wrong direction.

Firstly, Mottley was wrong for not chastising Trevor Prescod, there and then, over his very uncharitable comments in relation to a former leader of this country. Even the other newspaper found it necessary to rap her on the knuckles for this letdown. As leader, she must not fail to rein in her charges, even if it means not being always in their good books.

Secondly, the media has made light work of the failed attempt by Ms Mottley and the Barbados Labour Party to launch their 2013 general elections campaign. Mottley announced at that same St Michael East meeting that she would be leading her party onto the battle field last Wednesday evening and would in effect be launching her party’s re-election campaign.

What’s Happening With The School Meals Program?

The Barbados School Meals Program (BSMP) was piloted in 1963 as a project which involved six primary schools. In 1976 the program was extended to include 35, 000 students distributed across 117 primary schools. The BSMP is widely regarded as being very successful and we believe has been case-studied by many countries across the region and further a field. Many outstanding sons of the soil owe their sustenance to the BSMP. Many still marvel at the extent to which the BSMP has been subsidized by successive governments – 10 cents per plate!

A feature of the BSMP was the variety in the menu. Although some students who were poor-great felt inclined to make other luncheon arrangements most pupils looked forward to seeing the white school meals vans entering the school yard before noon and the smell of the lunches floating across the school compound which caused the bellies to growl and mouths to salivate.

If BU understands the reports reaching us about the BSMP; the quality of the food has deteriorated significantly in recent years.  We are not sure if the reason for the decline can be attributed to the lack of culinary skills of the new crop of cooks employed by the BSMP or the rising standard of living which has seen less children registering to receive school meals, perhaps a combination of the two. For example, one day last week children registered to receive school meals got a piece of chicken breast in a salt bread, PERIOD!

Two Altars Of Stone:- The Black Church Versus The White Church – A House Divided Against Itself

Submitted by Terence Blackett

One of the greatest historical deceptions of all times is the refusal of mainstream Christianity as well as secular society to accept and advocate the original Black pre-eminence and presence in the Bible. This historical seismic rift created a fabrication of diabolical proportions which has ebbed and flowed for the last 4000 years right up to our present time.

Jesus’ First Advent came at a critical time when the final 2000 year epoch of human history was to begin the process of bringing home the lost sons and daughters of Israel back into a harmonious relationship with their God (Yah) – that they had long forgotten and had rebelled against for centuries. This process would eventually culminate with the sealing of 144,000 – 12,000 from each of the 12 Tribes who will not see death, but will be translated at the end of human history – when Jesus will appear the second time in the eastern sky with over a trillion angels enshrouded with majesty that no eye has ever beheld.

Meantime, the house of God remains in a pile of rubble. The walls broken down. No agreement to be found. The sanctuary defiled. The priests and prophets lie – preaching and teaching to their own means and the followers seem to like it so. While the vast throng of God’s people are living in deception, apathy and disbelief because godliness and righteousness is enshrouded (wrapped up) in fickle, baseless religiosity with no real knowledge of God in the land.

The Reconstruction And Transformation Of Haiti: A Global-Moral Imperative

Submitted by Crusoe (as a comment on the Haiti We Are Sorry blog

You list some good ideas for the structural retransformation of Haiti [Responding to Commenter Dictionary on the Haiti We Are Sorry blog]. Each in of themselves they do not depend on improved education but do depend on improved technical training (farming etc). However, for all, the long-term success of those initiatives individually and collectively leading to a successful Haiti will certainly also depend on improved education, if as we have been informed, the literacy level is so low.

This has two implications.

Firstly, immediately after initial search, rescue, medical, temporary (short and medium term) and security issues have been addressed as priority, the early reformation must include an immediate education programme, for adult and youth, such that  the transformation of Haiti can begin with the active participation of her people, not as ‘serfs’ but as active individuals and communities with an understanding of the reasoning behind the methods and the aim of the methods.

A Jaundiced View Of Reality

Submitted by Looking Glass

First, to a former Press Secretary and those who dictated the critique to Using Economics For Political Ends. Morality, like integrity, is not served by politicians or party supporters serving their own personal ends. Dialogue requires socio-political responsibility, and at least a minimum of transitive consciousness which does not exist under conditions of immorality. The long rant, devoid of real substance and unfit for rumshop vituperation, appears to be the product of a paralytic mind(s) unable to adjust to the shifting sands of reality. A peacock flipping its intellectual plumage on audition would do a better job. Even the BLP columnist placed you in the backward category (Nation 22/11/2006)

Re the Senator’s utterances as reported by you: had you heard what was said about ‘you’ and the projected outcome, you would seek refuge in the Essequibo. Fear not, it is just a matter of time.

According to Mascoll those concerned about the growth of the national debt “which doubled from $2.5bn in 1994 to $5.5bn at the end of last December should not just look at the size but its structure….the recent increases have come from the domestic side of the equation and not the external debt.” (Nation 07/19/2006). Really? At last check the total national debt was about $45bn (why so low is another matter) of which about $36bn was foreign. The last regime’s share was $20bn including $16bn foreign debt give and take a few pennies. Are we turning peanuts into pounds? Am I to understand that most of the $3bn increase in the above stated period came from the public (domestic) sector? If so revision of the GDP may suggest that the country is in worst shape than indicated.

Could We Be Witnessing The Recolonisation Of Africa? Enter AFRICOM

Africa is the richest of all the continents on planet earth if measured by natural resources. It possesses rich reserves of platinum, diamond, natural gas, gold, oil, uranium among others in abundance. Despite its endowment of mineral wealth many of the African states are some of the poorest in world. The story of how Africa’s soul and culture were stolen by the Western world is a matter of record, hundreds of years later the legacy lingers.

It has come as no surprise to some to witness how a few of the world’s developed energy starved countries have returned their attention to the African continent. In order for China to sustain its economic super power status it has to feed its industrial appetite for fossil fuel. The United States of America is the military super power of the world, in a post 911 period it has carte blanche to deploy its military might anywhere it deems a terrorist threat may rear its head. Africa’s proximity to the Arab World and rumours that some African countries maybe giving cover to terrorist activities is an invitation which the Americans cannot refuse. An American presence in Africa gives it the opportunity to access the rich reserves of oil on that continent.