ROSEAU, Dominica, CMC – Lawyers for Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit have defended the decision to go to the courts regarding the decision of the Integrity Commission to probe allegations that the head of government had breached the Integrity in Public Office’s (IPO) Code of Conduct. The Commission was due to have started its hearings on Monday, but Justice Brian Cottle last Friday granted the lawyers leave to apply for judicial review against the decision of the Integrity Commission.
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BRIDGETOWN, Barbados - The 2013 election is now over and the votes have been counted, disappointments and jubilation expressed and we have begun to return to normalcy. The Prime Minister is busy choosing his Cabinet and in due course the senators will be chosen and the debate on the annual Estimates of Government Revenue and Expenditure will begin.
BRIDGETOWN, Barbados - PRIME MINISTER FREUNDEL STUART has been able to achieve levels of support on par with former Prime Minister Owen Arthur. This is the view of the Democratic Labour (DLP) which, in a statement from its general secretary George Pilgrim yesterday, said Stuart had shown in two years an ability to muster as much support as Arthur, who led the country for 14 years.
PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad - New discoveries in alternative sources of energy by developed countries such as the United States and Australia has slashed export demands from developing countries like T&T, which has this commodity in large supply. But Gordon Deane, chairman of energy company Atlantic says, however, that for the global energy business the future appears bright. He said this was the case despite challenges facing the global economy. “Energy continues to be the fuel for industrial and economic development.
KINGSTON, Jamaica - JAMAICA'S harsh experience with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), to get a new $750 million loan, signals equally harsh conditions for many Caribbean countries in the not too distant future. The burden of the tough conditions placed on Jamaica by the IMF falls entirely on the Jamaican people and Jamaican businesses.
KINGSTON, Jamaica - AT their Inter-Sessional summit last week in the Haitian capital, Port-au-Prince, Caribbean leaders called on the United States to comply with the ruling by the World Trade Organisation (WTO) to end the long-running dispute with Antigua on Internet gaming. They affirmed their "full support" for their Caricom colleague in its fight against our giant neighbour to the north.
KINGSTON, Jamaica - The foreign minister of Suriname is reported in the press as stating that his Government will neither nominate nor support Mr. Albert Ramdin, a distinguished Surinamese, for the post of secretary-general of the Organisation of American States (OAS). The minister is also reported to have said Suriname will support the Guyanese nominee for assistant secretary-general, the post which Mr. Ramdin now holds. This is a very strange position to state publicly since at this time there is no vacancy nor any formally announced candidates in either post.
GEORGETOWN, Guyana – Guyana has nominated its Ambassador to Washington, Bayney Karran to become the next Assistant Secretary General of the Organisation of American States (OAS), a top government official has confirmed. “Guyana has nominated the Guyanese Ambassador in Washington,” said Head of the Presidential Secretariat, Dr. Roger Luncheon. Karran has been his country’s Ambassador to the United States since 2003 and Permanent Representative to the OAS for several years now.
KINGSTON, Jamaica - Last week, St Lucia's Prime Minister, Kenny Anthony, issued a warning about Europe's future relationship with the Caribbean. Speaking in his capacity as outgoing chair of CARICOM, he suggested the possibility of a reassessment as a result of the EU's changing development policy towards middle-ranking economies. Speaking to CARICOM Heads of Government in Haiti, Dr. Anthony suggested that such changes may lead to Europe, as well as CARICOM, having to determine not just the diplomatic, but also the political value of the existing relationship.
KINGSTON, Jamaica - Who is this special advisor from Britain, Shaun Bailey, and what is his real purpose here in Jamaica? Those of us who are of the pre-independence era, and who have emerged through the delivery of our country from colonialism to independence, must ask the above question with sadness.