CARIBBEAN ROUNDUP
Barbados
A call is being made for the government
to ensure that construction
companies in Barbados pay their
taxes with new multimillion-dollar
construction projects set to come on
stream soon.
Allan Evelyn, the founder of Rotherley
Constructions Inc. said the government
was losing out on collecting
revenue from taxes, while workers
were being given
no security of tenure
because of a system
being built into the
industry, where construction
workers were being hired
part-time.
Evelyn said his concerns are that
the workers are being disrespected
and taken advantage of in that the
holiday with pay is not honored; the
National Insurance is not paid and the
lack of insurance for employees.
Caribbean
The Pan American Health Organization
(PAHO) says an action plan
developed by Caribbean countries has
established a roadmap to ensure that
health is a national climate change
planning in the region.
The Caribbean Action Plan on
Health and Climate Change Project
was recently launched in St Lucia
which focused on protecting the
health of the people of the region
form the effects of climate change,
such as heatwaves, storms, hurricanes
droughts, floods, outbreak of disease
and other issues by strengthening
health systems, promoting inter-sectoral
collaboration between the health
and environment sectors, and increasing
financing.
PAHO said in order
to achieve this, Caribbean
countries have
agreed to take national
and regional action to strengthen
educational and research capacities
on climate change and health and to
build climate –resilient health facilities
throughout the region.
PAHO said the plan was developed
and approved during the Third Global
Conference on Health and Climate
Change; Special focus on Small Island
Developing States in Grenada, in
October last year.
Guyana
The Guyana Ministry of the President
has announced that three former
government ministers are to be given
jobs after they were forced to relinquish
their ministerial portfolio as a
result of their citizenship.
Former Foreign Affairs Minister
Carl Greenidge has been appointed
foreign secretary at the Ministry of
Updated daily at www.caribbeanlifenews.com
In this April 16, 2019 photo, vendors sit at a street corner as people walk past them, at night in Petion-Ville, Haiti. Since the blackouts
hit Haiti, nighttime activity has ground to a halt as armed robbers hold up street merchants or break into people’s homes in darkness.
See story on Page 22. Associated Press / Dieu Nalio Chery
Foreign Affairs and the Department of
Trade and Economic Cooperation.
Former business minister Dominica
Gaskin has been appointed director of
manufacturing and marketing within
the Ministry of Business with the
responsibility for the enforcement of
standards.
The government statement said that
Dr. Rupert Roopnarine, the former
public servant minister, will now
serve as the Director of Public Service
Training within the Ministry of the
Presidency.
The new portfolio
follow the recent
appointment of
former state minister
Joe Harmon as Director General of the
Ministry of the Presidency.
The former ministers were forced
to resign their previous positions after
both the High Court and the Court of
Appeal ruled that it was unconstitutional
for holders of dual citizenship to
serve as members of Parliament.
Grenada
The Grenada government has
announced that its debt obligation
to the Venezuelan oil initiative, PetroCaribe
is estimated at EC$372 million.
It said that its total debt stood at
more than EC$1.9 million at the end
of the first quarter of 2019.
The Ministry of Finance, which
Caribbean L 4 ife, May 24–30, 2019 BQ
released figures for the first quarter
of 2019, noted also at the end of last
year, more than 20-owned state enterprises
had accounted for a significant
amount of the island’s debt.
The Ministry of Finance said the
total debt stock
includes the debt obligations
of PetroCaribe,
which amounted
to EC$372.1 million
(or 11 percent of gross domestic product
GDP).
It was announced recently that PetroCaribe
is not functional because of
several reasons, including the ongoing
economic and political crisis in
Venezuela.
PetroCaribe was established in 2005,
when the agreement was signed by 14
CARICOM countries during the First
Energy Summit of Caribbean Heads of
Government held in the city of Puerto
La Cruz, in eastern Venezuela.
Jamaica
Jamaicans are being urged to end
the stigma and discrimination associated
with HIV/AIDS as a result of
a new survey which
showed that accepting
attitudes towards persons
living with the
virus remains low.
The call is being made by Minister
of Health and Wellness, Dr. Christopher
Tufton, who said it is this fear of
stigma and rejection that contributes
to a delay in persons accessing HIC
care.
He noted that persons who may
have signs and symptoms or who know
their status are unwilling to go to
the hospitals or to the clinics to be
treated.
The minister has reiterated the call
to end the stigma and discrimination
associated with HIV/AIDS in order to
stem the spread of the virus.
The 2017 HIV/AIDS Knowledge,
Attitude, Behavior and Practice survey
releases recently in Jamaica, indicated
accepting attitude towards persons
living with HIV/AIDS remained low,
but declined from 14.3 percent in
2012, when the last survey was done,
to 11.6 percent in 2017.
The survey, conducted by Hope
Research Group, sampled 2,000 persons
aged 13-19.
St. Kitts
The Greek billionaire, who is heir to
the Coco Cola fortune, appeared in a
Basseterre Magistrate Court charged
with possession, intent to supply and
importation of EC
$1.3 million worth of
marijuana.
Alkiviades “Alki”
David pleaded not
guilty to the charges and was placed
on EC$300,000 bail and is to reappear
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THE NEWS FROM BACK HOME
Black outs in Haiti
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