Sandals Foundation comes to Grenada

WITH the new Sandals La Source resort having already given the economy an employment boost over the last 10 months, Grenada can now also expect to benefit from the community outreach efforts of the Sandals Foundation.

Last Friday, President of the Sandals Foundation Board and CEO of Sandals Resorts International (SRI), Adam Stewart, along with SRI Regional Public Relations Manager, Dominic Fedee, presented the non-profit organisation’s 2009-2013 report and gave an overview of the work of the Foundation at a press conference at Sandals La Source.

President of the Sandals Foundation
Board and CEO of Sandals Resorts
International (SRI), Adam Stewart.

“All told, between cash, volunteerism and kind, the Foundation has collected over US$12 million since March 2009, 100 per cent of which goes back into the Caribbean communities,” revealed Stewart.

In Grenada, Sandals Foundation has already implemented its Reading Road Trip programme, which takes donors into the communities so they can interact with the persons whose lives are being improved by the work of the Foundation. Other projects identified for possible collaboration include the School for the Blind, the Dove Preservation Sanctuary, as well as sport development and community programmes.

Said Fedee, “Definitely some of the staple Sandals Foundation programmes [will be introduced]. You will see a big injection in education through our Care For Kids programme, which is our scholarship programme which will touch at least 10 Grenadian secondary school students… Once they continue doing well at school, we are willing to fund their education for as much as seven years through that programme.”


Sandals Foundation is currently involved in over 300 projects across the seven Caribbean islands where SRI operates. Focusing on the areas of education, community development and the environment, some of these initiatives include the establishment of schools, sports academies and marine parks. Each country has a sub-committee which is made up of persons from within the communities themselves, who help identify long-term projects to be ratified at the board level.

SRI Regional Public Relations
Manager, Dominic Fedee.

“We spend a lot of time looking for the projects, working with people. They have to be sustainable; they’re not grants that are just handed out to people or dire situations; they’ve got to be sustainable programmes that are going to be game-changing for the countries that they operate in,” Stewart maintained.

“The team members of our company are the ones that drive this every day and those team members, nine and half times out of ten, live right outside in these communities; so you get that personal legitimacy to bring this thing to life.”

Confident about collections

Responding to whether he anticipates donations to drop in the face of the ongoing global economic difficulties, he declared, “I have every intention of more than doubling it [amount of donations collected] this year.

“The key to charitable works and what people misunderstand way too often is you don’t have to give a lot; you have to get a little bit from a lot of people,” he contended.

“The key to this is the fact that we have over one million customers a year and we just gently talk to them about the challenges these countries have. If they’re not interested, we don’t force it upon them, but I believe personally … that we live in a generation today, between connectivity and social media, that the world is so sensitised to the challenges that we have.

“In addition to tapping into the existing database of loyal Sandals customers, the Foundation is currently developing a public service announcement to be aired in its source markets with the donated efforts of a popular US film director and a US female hip-hop artiste.

“The sky is really the limit for community development with the Sandals Foundation. We are in this for the long run. We are more than an investor; we are partners for the future of the communities that we invest in,” said Fedee.

“We have just landed and the hotel is only six weeks old, so the Foundation is just doing its research and making sure that we do things properly so that Grenada can have the best experience.

“It will take us another three or four months to really identify those marquee programmes and then we’ll start to work towards getting them up and running,” Stewart concluded. (YA)

Combined efforts required – for sustainable economic development

By Linda Straker

Governor of the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank, Sir Dwight Venner, says that much more co-ordinated efforts at both the national and OECS levels need to be the hallmark of regional policies in 2014.

“We must enlarge our perspectives to realise that while there is a lot to be done within our borders, we will not succeed if we do not combine our efforts across our countries. This is one of the stark realities we must face for in this lies our hope for sustained and equitable development,” he said last week Tuesday when he presented the 2013 Eastern Caribbean Currency Union Economic Review.

Addressing nationals of the OECS in a regional broadcast, the Governor said that despite the challenges which faced the region during 2013, preliminary data indicate that economic activity in the member states of the Eastern Caribbean Currency Union expanded at a modest pace of 0.7 per cent, building on the marginal growth of 0.2 per cent achieved in 2012, which reversed the negative growth trends experienced since 2009.

He explained that the increase in economic activity was primarily driven by improved performances in agriculture, construction and tourism. “The construction sector expanded by 2.9 per cent following a 4.3 per cent decline in 2012, as public sector construction gained momentum. In the tourism industry, value added is estimated to have increased by 0.4 per cent due to improvements in major source markets and more intense marketing efforts. However, this rate was lower than the 1.4 per cent growth recorded in 2012,” he said.

Elaborating on the performance of Governments, the Governor told the region that the consolidated fiscal position of the Central Government is provisionally estimated to have deteriorated in 2013 as the growth in expenditure outpaced revenue collections.

“An overall deficit of approximately $427.3 million (2.8 per cent of GDP) was recorded compared with one of $367.3 million (2.4 per cent GDP) in 2012. The deterioration in the overall deficit position reflected the increase in capital expenditure while current expenditure decreased,” he said, while explaining that real economic activity in the ECCU is projected to increase by 1.9 per cent in 2014.


Though the economic activity in the OECS is expected to be supported by higher levels of output in the construction; hotels and restaurants; wholesale and retail; and transport, storage and communications sectors.

“This level of growth is however still below the target growth rate of 3.0 to 5.0 per cent, established by the Monetary Council as the rate needed to transform the economies, and is unsustainable given the prominence of the non-tradable sectors as the contributors to growth,” said Sir Dwight, who was of the opinion that it may be safe to say that never before has the Currency Union witnessed such a prolonged period of economic stagnation.

The challenges facing developing nations are having a severe negative impact on smallisland states like the OECS and according to the Governor, governments in the sub-region will have to  adopt a strategy of socio-economic transformation, and this requires resolute focus on a medium- to long-term strategy and the political commitment and social consensus to get there.

“We must have a vision of what we want and a systematic, pragmatic and adaptable strategy for achieving our goals. That means that our goals must be clear and measurable with emphasis on: an attainable and sustainable growth rate; higher level of employment in quality jobs; poverty reduction; and maintenance and improvement of the Human Development Indices,” he recommended.

He said that each state has a very important role to play in this new dispensation, but it must be complemented by the activities and performance of the private sector and the financial sector.

“The fundamental problem facing governments in small, developing states such as ours is the absolute cost of government. With relatively small tax bases and the need to provide basic services, these states have serious fiscal challenges,” he said while explaining that the objective of such states must therefore be to operate low cost and highly efficient and effective administrations.

NIDCU receives donation

By Linda Straker

Ronnie Marryshow, Counsellor at the National Infectious Disease Control Unit (NIDCU), says that approximately 40 families will benefit from a donation of foodstuff and other non-perishable items which was presented to the clinic for distribution to needy families from banks and other financial institutions that were associated with activities observing Financial Information Month.

An activity co-ordinated by the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank (ECCB) aimed at increasing Eastern Caribbean Currency Union nationals’ awareness and knowledge about financial information and how it affects their daily lives and future planning, the Financial Information Month is observed in October annually.

ECCB representative, Linda Felix-Berkeley, presenting the
donation to NIDCU representative, Ronnie Marryshow.

ECCB representative, Linda Felix-Berkeley, said that besides the educational sessions, the participating financial institutions have over the years made a contribution to a needy organisation and the 2013 recipient was the National Infectious Disease Control Unit – the arm of the Ministry of Health – which provides care and support to persons affected by infectious diseases.

“All the institutions who participated in the activities for 2013 came together and made this contribution, which is valued at more than EC$1 000. The recommendation came from one of the members of the organising committee, who is aware about the needs about those who are seeking the services at the clinic,” said the ECCB representative, as she explained how the recipient was selected.

Counsellor Marryshow said that the donation will be provided to persons who are receiving treatment for HIV, because it’s important that food be consumed along with the medication. “For the medication to be effective, those who are on treatment should be eating,” he said.

He further explained that some of the persons on treatment are not employed and providing them with a food hamper will provide some much-needed assistance.

Renowned virologist calls for twinning of HIV and HTLV tests

By Linda Straker

THE virologist who co-discovered HTLV-1 believes that Grenada and the entire CARICOM region should embark on an educational awareness programme about the disease and at the same time encourage persons to know not only their HIV status, but also their HTLV status.

World-renowned Virologist, Dr. Robert Gallo, who is widely known for his co-discovery of HIV and his development of the blood test, told journalists attending a health reporting workshop on Science and Epidemiology of Viruses that health-care professionals need to encourage persons who want to know their HIV status to also know about their HTLV status.

“HTLV is transmitted the same way that HIV is transmitted and it will be just right for those who are tested for HIV to also get tested for HTLV, because knowing one’s status with regards to any of these viruses is very important, not just for the person but for the public health system,” said Dr. Gallo, who also discovered the first known human retroviruses (HTLV-1 and HTLV-2) which are endemic to
regions in the Caribbean including Grenada.

The Human T-lymphotropic virus Type I (HTLV-1) is a human retrovirus that is known to cause a type of cancer, referred to as adult T-cell leukaemia and lymphoma, and a demyelinating disease called HTLV-1 Associated Myelopathy/Tropical Spastic Paraparesis.

Acknowledging that HTLV is a growing medical challenge, Health Minister Clarice Modeste told the journalists that in Grenada more persons are dying from HTLV than HIV, but yet it’s not receiving the same attention like HIV.

“I must acknowledge that HTLV has not received the same awareness drive and support like HIV, but it’s something that we will have to work on,” she promised.

A study conducted by the Windward Islands Research and Education Foundation – the research division at St. George’s University – revealed that of 4 003 samples tested, 157 were repeatedly positive for HTLV, yielding a prevalence of 3.9 per cent in the Grenadian population.

“Applying the results of blood screening records to the entire population of Grenada, it should be expected that approximately 3 728 Grenadians may be currently infected with HTLV,” said the findings of the study, which was conducted mainly among pregnant women.

Organised by the Windward Islands Research and Education Foundation in partnership with the Global Virus Network, the aim of the three-day workshop which concluded on Saturday was to take the complex subject of “science and epidemiology of viruses” and break it down to reporters, so they in turn can share the information with their audiences regardless of their age or educational background.

The participants represented media outlets in the USA, the region and Grenada.

Wanderers urged to ‘come back home’

By Linda Straker

Newly elected political leader of National Democratic Congress (NDC) wants supporters and advocates of the Party who have wandered away to “come back home”.

Former Finance Minister Nazim Burke is of the opinion that they have a positive contribution to make towards the rebuilding of the organisation, which lost the February 19, 2013 General Elections without winning one seat to the House of Representatives.

Burke was elected the new leader on Sunday at the Party’s convention, as former leader Tillman Thomas had indicated he was not seeking re-election.

In the lead-up to the convention, one of the NDC’s main strategists William Joseph resigned from the party as he openly expressed his disapproval about Burke becoming leader.

Joseph felt that Burke was not the best person to lead the party. However, on Sunday during its closed-door session the almost 400 delegates voted for Burke to lead the party from the next year.

In his inaugural speech as political leader, Burke told supporters during a rally that the NDC of 2008 is now a different party, with different persons who are prepared to rebuild and strengthen the organisation.

“I must apologise to those who have had distressful moments,” he said, as he issued a call for former supporters and close associates to have discussions with a view to resolving issues.

“I am willing to meet and discuss whatever were your complaints,” he stated, as he promised to listen and find solutions.

“There are always differences in a family, but we can come together and work things out,” he assured.

The other executive members are: George Vincent as Chairman; Glen Noel as Deputy Chairman; Joseph Andall as Deputy Leader; Patrick Simmons as General Secretary; while the Assistant General Secretaries are Shane Ross; Raphael Paul and Phillip Alexander; Merle Byer as Treasurer; Franka Bernardine as Public Relations Officer; Assistant PRO Randall Robinson; Vincent Roberts as Recording Secretary; and Velma Hamilton as Assistant Recording Secretary. The Labour Relations Officer is Elliot Bishop while the floor members are Anne Peters; Petra Williams and Elwin McQuilkin.　

Put taxes on back end, says Sandals Chair

(from left) Prime Minister Keith Mitchell,
CEO of Sandals Resorts International, Adam Stewart
and Sandals Chairman, Gordon ‘Butch’ Stewart.

HOTEL magnate Gordon ‘Butch’ Stewart has made a plea for governments in the region to re-think the way they tax land-based tourism.

Speaking at a function last Friday at the recently opened Sandals La Source resort, in the presence of Prime Minister Keith Mitchell, Minister of Tourism Alexandra Otway-Noel, as well as members of the former administration, Tillman Thomas and Nazim Burke, Stewart argued that the current tax structure for the hotel sector was stifling the region’s tourism industry.

“Going back to the old days, the Caribbean paid their bills. The economy got better and better, because we never contaminated export with taxes. Ships leaving with sugar or bananas, the governments knew that if you put a tax on it, you’ll sell less – or not sell it at all,” said Stewart.

“When the 60s and 70s came and we started putting taxes on tourism, by the 80s, it stalled on us. The cruise ships started coming on and without taxes they can expand. The Caribbean has been held back by taxing an export that you cannot contaminate. Otherwise, there is no difference than having the best racehorse in the world, but putting too much weight on the horse – it can’t win any race.

“We all need taxes to run a country, but get the taxes on the back end so that it doesn’t affect the competitiveness of your export, whether it be tourism or anything else manufacturing. By so doing, you will remain competitive, you will get more foreign exchange and you will get more employment. That’s my little philosophy,” he asserted.

The nine-month completion of the new luxury
Sandals La Source resort has been hailed for setting a benchmark in Grenada.

His comments came at an appreciation ceremony to toast Grenadian government and business officials, as well as Sandals staff and its regional and international partners, in recognition of their role in making the Sandals La Source resort a reality.

Leon Taylor, owner of the
original La Source property.

The massive project, which within a short nine months saw the previous 100-room property being converted into a top-of-the-line Sandals resort, with 225 rooms and suites, nine restaurants, fitness centre and spa, among other amenities, called for an unprecedented level of co-operation between various government departments, agencies and private sector businesses, some of whom are usually competitors.

Accordingly, the new Sandals La Source has been hailed for setting an impressive new benchmark for both Grenada and Sandals Resorts International (SRI).

“This property made us break the 12 000 employee threshold,” revealed CEO of SRI, Adam Stewart. “Sandals Resorts International now employs over 12 000 Caribbean nationals, which makes us the largest private sector employer in the region.”

Over 500 Grenadians have found employment at the property. This is in addition to the 1 600 workers on site during the resort’s construction phase.

And there are still more employment opportunities to be created, as SRI Chairman Gordon ‘Butch’ Stewart has revealed that the regional conglomerate intends to establish one of its call centres in Grenada, with construction to begin in another two months. (YA)

WAVE KNIGHT IS HERE!

A British Naval support ship is in Grenada from February 5 to 8, 2014 for a three-day visit to join in Grenada’s 40th Independence celebrations from Great Britain.

Berthed at Port St. George is the Royal Fleet Auxiliary (RFA) Wave Knight, which is a 31 500-tonne Fleet Replenishment Tanker that is currently operating as part of the Atlantic Patrol Task (North). This is part of the UK’s year-round commitment to the region in support of Overseas Territories, Disaster Relief, Counter Narcotics Operations and Defence Engagement. Recent success in Counter Narcotics Operations while working closely with the US Coast Guard has been widely publicised in US and UK media.

RFA Wave Knight.

During the visit, officers from the ship will participate in the Independence Parade while the Commanding Officer will host a formal reception onboard and pay a return visit to the Dorothy Hopkin Centre, where the ship’s company helped with decorating, carpentry and electrical work last year.

The Commanding Officer of RFA Wave Knight, Captain Duncan Lamb, said: “Following our call in September last year, we are all very much looking forward to the visit. There are strong ties between the UK and Grenada and we look forward to renewing old acquaintances and making new ones.”
Captain Lamb added, “It is a privilege to be visiting during the Independence Day celebrations.”

RFA Wave Knight carries Humanitarian and Disaster Relief stores including those supplied by the UK Department for International Development. Prior to deployment, the ship’s company of Wave Knight completed a training package which tested and developed its company’s ability to plan and deliver support to relief operations.

“Whilst the small and focused crew of RFA Wave Knight provides valuable flexibility and capability in the Caribbean, we also remain on short notice to support any crisis across the world. This takes commitment, training and versatility to achieve,” said Captain Lamb.

RFA Wave Knight has the ability to refuel and resupply other naval vessels at sea whilst operating helicopters from its large aviation facility. It is armed with Vulcan PHALANX Gatling guns and self-defence weapons and decoys.

RFA Wave Knight (A389) is a Wave-class Fast Fleet Tanker of the Royal Fleet Auxiliary. She was launched in 2000 and accepted into service in 2003. She is the second ship to bear this name in RFA Service. Wave Knight and her sister, RFA Wave Ruler, replaced the elderly Olna and Olwen, 36 000-tonne fast fleet tankers built at Swan Hunter and Hawthorn Leslie respectively in the 1960s.

The ship is crewed by 77 Royal Fleet Auxiliary personnel and supported by three Royal Naval personnel for weapons systems operations.

It currently has embarked an 11-strong US Law Enforcement team for counter-narcotic work.

A statement from the British Embassy in Barbados said that RFA Wave Knight is able to operate in support of amphibious forces, anti-surface and anti-submarine warfare operations and protection of vital sea areas and shipping.

The Royal Fleet Auxiliary (RFA) Service is a flotilla of 13 Naval Support Ships delivering afloat support to UK and Allied Armed Forces around the world. Owned by the Ministry of Defence, it is manned by British civilian sailors who are trained to Merchant Navy Standards prior to undertaking the military training required to operate alongside the Royal Navy.

Founded in 1905, the modern RFA is an essential element of the how the Royal Navy operates with freedom around the globe and is fully integrated into front-line groups of warships at sea and naval headquarters ashore.

The RFA supports a wide spectrum of operations from high tempo upthreat war-fighting to counter-piracy, disaster relief, counter-narcotics, law enforcement and evacuation operations. (LS)