GEORGETOWN, Guyana - Those with an eye for coincidence and irony might have observed that, just as we were warning in last Friday’s editorial, that “a high academic title alone is no guarantee of personal achievement or, indeed, integrity” and that we should not “take anyone’s curriculum vitae at face value,” a mini-drama involving the appointment of Dr Naresh Singh to the post of CARICOM Deputy Secretary-General was beginning to unfold.
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PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad - Practical obstacles in the way of growing more and consuming more local produce have been elaborately acknowledged by Food Production Minister Devant Maharaj. And the ministry's solution_ a year-long advertising campaign to persuade citizens to eat local. Such a campaign must necessarily be based on assumptions that ordinary people do not know what they like to eat and are incapable of calculating what their budgets can afford. Yet, even if this PR strategy bears fruit, would local production be able to meet desired demand?
GEORGETOWN, Guyana - Agro-processing and rice production and research are among the options Trinidad and Tobago is pursuing under its mega-farm initiative in Guyana. This is according to Trinidad and Tobago’s minister within the Ministry of Food Production Jairam Seemungal who on Thursday hosted a media briefing with Agriculture Minister Dr. Leslie Ramsammy in Georgetown. Seemungal is here for a follow up meeting on discussions aimed at establishing an arrangement that would see Trinidadian businesses investing in farming in Guyana with the government as facilitator.
BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, CMC - Barbadian voters kept with tradition and provided the incumbent party with a second consecutive term in power following a nerve jangling general elections here on Thursday. According to the preliminary results, the Democratic Labour Party (DLP) won 16 of the 30 seats in the elections with the remainder going to the main opposition Barbados Labour Party (BLP). In the 2008 general election, the DLP won 20 seats.
BRIDGETOWN, Barbados - Barbadians have elected a new administration to govern this country’s affairs for the next four to five years. Once again, Barbadians can congratulate themselves on a peaceful elections period, devoid of the violence, rifts and fierce territorial demarcations that characterise other jurisdictions in the region and beyond. Bees, Dems, independent or apathetic, we all have to live on this same little rock, and we must continue to co-exist when the dust settles after elections.
ST. JOHN’S, Antigua - The international community has long agreed that English should be the language of business and diplomacy and for this reason, nations have made it compulsory that citizens at all strata are exposed to that language. Those who intend to conduct business in the international arena are expected to master it at a higher level. There are those who believe that there is no place for our local dialect. In fact, a few years ago, the chief education officer issued a mandate that dialect should not be spoken on the schools’ compounds.
KINGSTOWN, St. Vincent, CMC – Opposition Leader Arnhim Eustace said Wednesday that the United Kingdom Serious Fraud Office is investigating the Buccament Bay Resort project and that he has “a copy of submissions” made to that office. “I shall say more on this at a later date. This is as yet a developing matter,” Eustace told a news conference as the fallout continues from an encounter between Prime Minister Dr. Ralph Gonsalves and two journalists from the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) over the weekend.
St. John’s Antigua- Former CEO of LIAT Mark Darby has accepted US $15,000 for alleged wrongful dismissal from the carrier three years ago after originally seeking almost a quarter million US dollars. In person, he agreed to the settlement during a three-and-a-half-hour mediation session before Kelvin John in the High Court on February 6. Highly placed sources told Observer media that the former airline executive was seeking a total payment of US$220,000, including US$165,000 for 11 months of lost earnings following his dismissal in 2009.
KINGSTON, Jamaica - AILING President Hugo Chavez has returned to Venezuela, but that is not synonymous with a return to active service as leader of the country. His arrival in Caracas is not likely to silence political opponents salivating at the prospect of his demise, nor will it end the rampant speculation that his precarious health could force him to resign from office. He has been president for 14 years during which time he has been a populist in domestic policy and a nationalist in foreign policy.
MIAMI, CMC - A United States federal district judge has ruled against a New York-based online Haitian newspaper for publishing false and defamatory statements against Haitian Prime Minister Laurent Lamothe and his former business partner and prominent South Florida businessman, Patrice Baker. Judge Ursula Ungaro ruled that the Haiti Observateur's publications were “replete with statements that are outrageous, scandalous and reminiscent of a tabloid publication,” adding that the paper and its reporter acted with malice.