Negotiations in progress

PRIME Minister Tillman Thomas has confirmed that negotiations are currently taking place for Government to sell the majority of its shares in two privately operated com- panies.

“Negotiation is going on, but nothing has been finalised,” said Thomas, who recommended that inquiries should be directed to the Ministry of Finance for more details.

Last week Thursday, Opposition Leader, Dr. Keith Mitchell, called on Government to confirm or deny that it sold its shares in a statutory body to the National Insurance Scheme as trade off to receiving the equivalent in money to assist with its financial commitments of paying monthly salaries and debt.

Government was late in paying public officers at the end of August and Finance Minister, Nazim Burke, is yet to explain what was responsible for the late payment as well as how Government was able to source the salary payments five days later.

Dr. Mitchell believes that an arrangement between the National Insurance Scheme and Government should be made known to the public because of the implications it can have for the future. 

“These are workers’ money they are dealing with, that is workers’ money for long-term and short benefits, and I believe that workers need to know what is taking place with their money,” he said.

First female chairman elected

New Chairman of the
National Democratic Congress (NDC),
Senator Franka Bernardine.

By Linda Straker

FORMER civil society activist, Franka Bernardine, who became the Minister for Education for the Tillman Thomas administration following the 2008 General Election, was last Sunday elected to the Chairmanship of the National Democratic Congress (NDC).

Almost 400 delegates voted for a new executive and at the same time took the decision to expel a number of long-serving executive members and party faithful, who included former General Secretary, Peter David, and Treasurer, Glynis Roberts.

Included in the new executive are former Minister of Government and Leader of the Opposition, Phinsley St. Louis, and Businessman, Kent Joseph, both of whom are two honorary members of the Party.

Political Leader Thomas said that he is now confident that he has a team of persons that will abide by the core values of the Party, which is preparing for General Elections that will be held in 2013. 

The new executive members are:

Sen. Franka Bernardine – Chairman

Kent Joseph – Deputy Chairman

Tillman Thomas – Political Leader

Nazim Burke – Deputy Political Leader

Bernard Isaac – General Secretary

Faye Thompson – Recording Secretary

Asheeda Charles – Assistant Recording Secretary

Elliot Bishop – Labour Relations Officer

Philip Telesford – Treasurer

Shane Ross – Assistant General Secretary (Southern District)

Allie Mathura – Assistant General Secretary (Northern District)

Phillip Alexander – Assistant General Secretary (Eastern District)

Glen Noel – Public Relations Officer

Arley Dowden – Assistant Public Relations Officer

Vincent Roberts – Floor Member

Pauline Andrews – Floor member

Petra Williams – Floor Member

Phinsley St. Louis – Trustee

Aaron Seethal – Trustee

Those expelled were: Peter David, Glynis Roberts, Karl Hood, Joseph Gilbert, Michael Church, Arley Gill, Chester Humphrey, Siddiqui Sylvester and Stanford Simon.

Development assistance and the Caribbean

One year ago Europe made clear that it intended changing the basis on which it provides development assistance to the region. Then, two Communications (policy papers), proposed that the EU should concentrate its future support on the least developed countries and a limited number of priority areas. It should graduate out of assistance high income and upper middle income countries such as those in the Caribbean.

No one in the region spoke.

Eventually it was the ACP Secretary General, Dr Mohammed Ibn Chambas, who made public the matter in the Caribbean when he told Caricom Heads and the media that the European Commission’s ‘Agenda for Change’ was advancing its new approach towards aid for the African, Caribbean and Pacific group of states (the ACP) and others.

Governments and the media expressed surprise and concern.

In this void the policy progressed through the European Commission, was developed into a draft regulation to be taken by the EU Council of Ministers and in the last week, has had a formal opinion expressed by a key committee of the European Parliament.

Finally, in the last week, but in a global context, the matter has been given the weight that it deserves.
In what is probably the first high level Caribbean public comment on the principles involved, Jamaica’s Prime Minister, Portia Simpson-Miller, in her address to the UN General Assembly, called on the international community not to push middle income countries to the margins of the development agenda. Speaking to other world leaders she reminded them that a significant proportion of the world’s poorest citizens live in Middle Income Countries, a diverse group which includes states, such as those in the Caribbean.

Unfortunately, this is probably too late to have any effect on the changes that will take place in European policy after 2013, which will change too the relationship between the Caribbean and the region’s former colonising powers.

Although the European Parliament’s Development Committee has called for aspects of the policy to be amended, it is unclear how much of what they suggest will be adopted when the issue comes to the EU Council of Ministers in December for a final decision, let alone whether it will result in any change at all in relation to the Caribbean.

Voting earlier this month on amendments to the European Commission’s draft legislation on the Development Cooperation, the committee made clear that while the focus should be on the poorest countries, GDP alone should not reflect the true level of poverty in a country. They therefore recommended the use of a broader range of indices to ascertain eligibility for EU assistance; transition periods for ending aid programmes; the European Parliament having a say in influencing decisions on the allocation and distribution of aid; Parliamentarians having the right to veto the Commission’s strategic planning decisions; and for aid to combat climate change to be held separately.

It is unlikely, however, that this will make much difference as far as the Caribbean is concerned as, with the exception of Haiti, there is only limited sympathy for the region in Brussels, in part because no Caribbean Government in recent years other than the Dominican Republic has consistently cultivated the support of those who shape policy in the key institutions or spent much time getting to know Europe.

As a consequence, after 2013, Europe’s traditional approach to support though multi-annual national and regional programmes will cease. So too will budgetary support, the mechanism that provides financial resources directly to governments to administer.

Missed opportunity

Why no one had spoken out in the Caribbean’s interest on either the principles involved or the detail when this first became apparent is a mystery. Despite the EU’s known history of changing its policies at will to the detriment of the region on everything from sugar to trade agreements, no leading politician in the region has made this an issue, has spoken publicly, given an interview, rallied local opinion, or spoken to key European interlocutors in the European Parliament, EU member states, the media or NGOs. It suggests that Caribbean governments, foreign ministries and the region have lost track of how public opinion is formed and swayed and the need to use it to their political advantage to build coalitions in Europe and elsewhere.

Although two EU nations, a few individuals within the European Commission and the European Parliament have tried to have aspects of EC thinking amended to better fit the Caribbean’s needs there was no regional supporting voice or public political position when it was needed most in the early months of this year.

The region’s case has largely gone by default and the key decisions on the new policy’s shape, with some modifications, have now all been taken.

As a consequence, the new European approach to Caribbean development, Haiti apart, will in future largely only apply to the region rather than individual countries, will target improving the business environment, regional integration, climate change and security, and the money that will be made available will come through grants and loans at a regional level possibly through regional intermediaries other than Cariforum and Caricom.

What will also happen is that the new development policy will be led by Europe’s approach to foreign policy and that in the Caribbean and other parts of the world such as Africa, Europe will explore how best to co-ordinate with nations like China, Brazil and India that have become important regional aid donors and investment partners in their own right.

As matters now stand, neither the Caribbean public nor the private sector seems ready for this. Most of the public sector seems locked into a model that anticipates continuing grants and budgetary support, while much of the private sector has failed to look either at the region or beyond as a market opportunity.

All of which suggests that the region is being outpaced by new thinking and seems unable or unwilling to react, garner support or mobilise public opinion in the time scales in which the rest of the world is operating.

David Jessop is the Director of the Caribbean Council and can be contacted at david.jessop@caribbean-council.org. Previous columns can be found at www.caribbean-council.org

Tenth anniversary of EPA Negotiations: Not a time for celebration

September 27, 2012 marked the tenth anniversary of the beginning of negotiations for Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) between the European Union (EU) and the 79-member countries of the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) group. But, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) throughout Europe say it is not a time for celebration.

According to a joint statement issued by many of the NGOs, “10 years on, EPA negotiations continue to be fraught with concerns that, far from supporting development efforts and promoting regional integration, will do more harm than good”.

This anniversary has prompted protests in Brussels, the location of the EU headquarters, and in other European capitals, notably London where demonstrations were held outside the ministry of UK Business Secretary Vince Cable, calling on him to keep his promise to make trade work for development and making specific demands regarding EPAs. A letter was delivered to Cable, signed by leaders of 18 powerful UK organisations including the Trade Justice Movement, the Trades Union Congress, the Fairtrade Foundation, the National Union of Teachers; and the War On Want.

Apart from being the 10th anniversary of the beginning of the negotiations on the EPAs, the significance of the protests in Europe by European-based organisations on behalf of the ACP countries, is that the European Commission is proposing to withdraw duty-free and quota-free market access for key exports of those ACP countries which have not signed EPAs.

African countries have been strongest in resisting signing-up to EU’s EPA approach which they don’t believe works in the interest of their economic future. Hence, the ‘big-stick’ tactic by the European Commission. The Commission is clearly bargaining that those countries that have so far held out from signing the EPA will do so now simply to safeguard their traditional exports.

The Commission has good reason for their thinking. Threats worked in the negotiations with the 15 Caribbean members of the ACP that signed a ‘full EPA’ in 2008. In the previous year, the Commission’s negotiators threatened that if Caribbean countries did not sign-up to the EPA, the EU would raise its import tariffs on certain key Caribbean exports making them uncompetitive in the EU market. This would have led to unemployment as well as revenue losses that Caribbean governments could not face. Even the most reluctant governments signed.

However, Caribbean countries did not have to sign-up to a ‘full EPA’ which went beyond an agreement that would have been compatible with World Trade Organisation (WTO) rules. But, some governments accepted the promise that the ‘full EPA’ would open the European market to Caribbean services. Of course, five years later this has not happened in any meaningful way. Meanwhile, under the ‘full EPA’ Caribbean governments gave the EU commitments on services, competition, procurement and trade facilitation that are still to be settled as global rules in the WTO, but which the EU wanted to establish not only for the Caribbean, but also as a precedent for negotiations with the more important and lucrative markets of Africa.

As it has turned out no Caribbean country has derived any great advantages from the ‘full EPA’; they have continued to rely on the Cotonou Agreement that was signed in 2000 and expires in 2020. Indeed, the Caribbean experience of the EPA is that several governments have not implemented their commitments to remove tariffs on EU imports according to an agreed schedule and each of them is now at risk of being taken to arbitration by the European Commission.

Realistically, governments continue to need the revenues from tariffs on European imports in the face of high debt, and budget and trade deficits. And, in the case of the governments that have implemented their commitments to remove tariffs on a number of EU goods making them cheaper, a number of local companies have found themselves unable to compete. The promised opening of the doors to the EU for Caribbean goods and services has also not materialised as much from a lack of informed effort by Caribbean companies as from blocks at the national level in many European countries.

Against the background of the Caribbean experience with the EPA, African countries are justified in not wanting to sign without significant changes. Dot Keet, a long-time trade activist in Southern Africa, said: “Europe’s trade negotiations are undemocratic and the agreements are unjust. As part of a flawed global economic system, the current trade regime is fuelling the food, economic and climate crises facing Europe and the world. In that context, African and other countries cannot sign long-term agreements that set their policies in stone, because they can’t know in advance what policies they will need to deal with these looming problems.”

The proposal by the European Commission – to withdraw duty-free and quota-free market access for key exports of ACP countries that have not signed EPAs – has to go to the European Council for agreement before it can be implemented. This is why the protests in Brussels and the letter handed to the UK Business Minister, Vince Cable, by the 18 British NGO’s are so important. The letter urges Cable not to accept the proposal when it comes before the European Council and to ensure that the European Commission “respects on-going discussions about outstanding contentious issues and under no circumstances forces countries to ratify un-amended interim economic partnership agreements”.
What is striking about these herculean efforts by leading European NGO’s to defend ACP states and their people, and to influence the decisions of their governments on the EPAs, is that there are no corresponding mass actions in ACP countries by NGO’s and others to get the message of disappointment home to EU governments. In part, this is because ACP governments have not informed their civil society and – in some cases not even their parliaments – about the EPAs and the demands of the European Commission in these negotiations.

All ACP governments should be standing-up for fair EPAs, and right now they should be standing shoulder to shoulder with Africa.

(The writer is a Consultant and former Caribbean diplomat. Responses and previous commentaries: www.sirronaldsanders.com)

An eastern clash of western freedoms

In a photograph appearing in a recent edition of Britain’s Sunday Observer newspaper, a youngish
protestor, ostensibly of Middle Eastern extraction, displays a placard in capital letters, reading tersely; “Freedom of Expression go to hell”. Since it was unembarrassed by punctuation, we remain unclear as to whether he, in the exercise of his freedom of expression, is suggesting that the reader should journey to Hades or whether he is consigning that right, so jealously guarded in Western democracies, to the bottomless pits of fire and brimstone.

Whatever his intendment, we are of the opinion that he has captured the essence of the recent protests and deathly outrage in some Middle Eastern and North African countries over the YouTube released film “Innocence of Muslims”. What we in the West might view as freedom of expression availed of by the filmmaker, those in the Islamic world who incited the protests viewed as a blasphemy of their religion.

And it is not as if we too do not take religion seriously. Most of our supreme laws guarantee a right to freedom to manifest and propagate one’s religion or belief in worship, teaching, practice and observance under the rubric of freedom of conscience that also includes freedom of thought. Further, with very few exceptions, there exist laws against blasphemy and blasphemous libel, committed at common law if a person publishes in a permanent form any matter attacking the Christian religion or the Bible or God, Christ or other persons sacred to the Christian religion, provided that the material is calculated to outrage and insult a Christian’s religious feelings.

It is true that this has never been the law in the United States of America and that Britain recently repealed this offence in 2008, but in both of these jurisdictions, as well as in some others, there are offences constituted by what has come to be known as “hate speech” – communication which is hateful, threatening, abusive, or insulting and which targets an individual on the basis of his or her colour, nationality, religion or sexual orientation. It should be noted, however, that such laws have not fared well in the US where hate speech is viewed rather as merely “a particularly intolerable and socially unnecessary mode of expressing what the speaker wishes to convey...”

On the other hand, in the more theocratic societies where an attack on the dominant religion challenges the very authority of the state, freedom of expression, already tenuous at best there, is trumped by the supremacy of the religion. Blasphemy is punishable by death, no less. Hence the official fatwa declared on Sir Salman Rushdie, the British writer, for his 1998 publication, The Satanic Verses; the violent reactions to the Danish editorial cartoons in 2005; and the recent furore raised when young Rimsha Masih was accused, wrongfully, as it eventuated, of burning pages of the Koran.

For us, the gratuitous insulting of a religion does not constitute a useful and valuable exercise of the constitutional guarantee of freedom of expression or speech. It is, rather, an abuse of this right. In 1919, the great US jurist, Oliver Wendell Holmes, stated in a different context in the subsequently overruled Schenck v. US; “The most stringent protection of free speech would not protect a man falsely shouting fire in a crowded theatre and causing panic…”

At the same time, there is much force in the point made earlier this month by the US Secretary of State, Mrs Hillary Clinton, that when one’s faith is insulted “…refraining from violence then, is not a sign of
weakness in one’s faith…it is a sign that one’s faith is unshakable…”

The loss of life is to be regretted…equally so is the needless insult to another’s religious belief.        

New Board for newly named Grenada Sailing Week

Sailing Week committee.

OUT of an action group of 25-plus members of the Grenada sailing community, a new board was voted in to take over the reins of the Keelboat Regatta from the Grenada Sailing Festival. More details will follow, but rest assured, there will be competitive keelboat racing during the festival. The name of the new regatta is the Grenada Sailing Week. The board of 5 is as follows:

Marc DeCaul was elected as Board Chairman. Marc has lived in Grenada all his life and enjoyed dinghy sailing as a young boy, but has recently started sailing and racing on bigger boats. He runs the Triathlon in Grenada, is an accomplished Triathlete and a local TV personality.

Richard Szyjan was born in Lorient, France and has been sailing since the age of ten on dinghies and windsurfers, then 85’ racing cats in the 80’s. He has over 22 years of nautical industry experience in sail making and rigging in the Caribbean and runs Turbulence Ltd. His passion is to race monohulls and multihulls, of which he keeps a few on hand.

Patrick Brathwaite is Grenadian born and a sailing enthusiast. His interest in sailing is more than social. With several investments in the marine sector (Island Water World, Grenada Marine and Shadowfax. He sees the future of sailing and Grenada as one.

Nicholas George was born in Trinidad, moved to Grenada at a tender age and was educated in the U.K. He is Store Manager of Budget Marine Grenada having worked in the Grenada marine industry for the past 10 years. His passion for the ocean started at a tender age. He owns and sails his own yacht and is a board member of the Grenada Chamber of Industry and Commerce, Grenada Sailing Association and the Marine and Yachting Association of Grenada.

Mike Bingley was born in the UK and has lived in Grenada for the past 8 years. His love of the water started many years ago. He bought his first yacht in 2002, sailed from the UK to the Caribbean and then fell in love with Grenada. Mike is a Diesel Engineer and owns Palm Tree Marine, so not only does he like racing boats but he also likes to fix them.

Many other people from the marine industry are supporting this “lean but keen” BOD chaired by Marc DeCaul. In true Olympic spirit, Grenada will Sail de Spice this year, challenging yachtsmen from the Caribbean and around the world to match their racing skills.

Regatta schedule: Skippers Briefing – Thursday, January 31; Race Days – Friday, February 1, Saturday, February 2, Monday, February 4 and Tuesday, February 5, with Lay Day – Sunday, February 3, 2013.

SWIMMERS SHINE – 35 meet records broken overall; three national records set

Grenfin Swim Team took first place
at their annual Invitational Meet.

LAST weekend, the Grenfin Swim Club in collabora- tion with Ribena and the Grenada Amateur Swimming Association staged their annual Invitational Swim Meet in the newly renovated Good Hope Swimming Pool.

Although there were moments of inclement weather conditions on the final day of competition, this did not dampen the spirit of the swimmers, quell the enthusiasm of the parents or even hamper the excellent execution of the event.

The annual swim meet is used as the National Trials for swimmers vying for a coveted place on Grenada’s swim team for the OECS Championships, which will be held in November, in Antigua.

Thirty-five meet records were broken overall, while three national records were set by Oreoluwa Cherebin during the weekend.

It was the consensus of officials and patrons alike, that based on the performance of the swimmers from Grenada, the nation’s future in com petitive swimming looks very promising indeed.

A total of seven swim clubs participated in the three-day event, which began last Friday afternoon. An impressive opening ceremony was held on Saturday morning. Present in the ceremony was the Chinese delegation, who made the renovation of the pool a reality. On the final day, Sunday, the events included several very exciting relays which were followed by the prize-giving ceremony.

Capturing the esteemed Championship Trophy was the host team – Grenfin Swim Club with 1929.5 points. Lightning Aquatics Swim Club, a powerhouse team from St. Lucia, placed second with 690 points. While another local club, Grenada Youth Adventurers (GYA), snatched the third position with 527.5 points. Swimmers from St. Vincent and Barbados also took part in the meet, which was a test of endurance and speed.

This year, for the first time, the event was title sponsored by Ribena, whose local distributor is Geo. F. Huggins & Co. (G’da) Ltd., whose representative George “Porgie” Cherebin urged the organisers to do all in their power to impress Ribena into a long-term relationship, by making the event mutually beneficial to both the swimming fraternity and Ribena.

Congratulations to all the winners!

Lightning Aquatics Swim Club – second place winners
with Charles Hood, Director of Huggins.

Age Group Winners

6 and Under: Naima Hazzell – St. Lucia and De’ Andre Blanchard – St. Lucia

7-8: Kimberly Ince – Grenada and Jenibi Benot – Grenada

9-10: Katie Lillie – Grenada and D’Andre Stephen – Grenada

11-12: Simone La Qua – Grenada and Kerry Ollivierre – Grenada

13-14: Ore’oluwa Cherebin – Grenada and Corey Ollivierre – Grenada

15 and Over: Valorie Andrews – Grenada and Kahlil John – Grenada

Overall champions

Girls: Naima Hazzell, St. Lucia

Boys: De Andre Blanchard, St. Lucia

Grenada Youth Adventurers (GYA) – third place winners.