CARIBBEAN ROUNDUP
BARBADOS
Members of the new government in
Barbados will still have to declare their
assets in order to serve, despite the
absence of integrity legislation.
Prime Minister Mia Mottley made the
announcement recently as members of
Cabinet, the House of Assembly, Senate,
and parliamentary secretaries were
sworn in, a week after the Barbados
Labor Party’s (BLP) clean sweep at the
polls.
Mottley said she
remains hopeful that
there would be the
passing of integrity
legislation on the third
attempt to bring it before Parliament.
However, she noted, a modern Corruption
Act was passed, as well the
Whistleblower Act and Deferred Prosecution,
which give additional powers
to law enforcement and prosecution
officials.
She highlighted that recent reports
described Barbados as being among the
top 30 countries in the world that were
least corrupt and the least corrupt Caribbean
nation.
CARIBBEAN
CARICOM (Caribbean Community)
and Colombia foreign ministers have
agreed that regional cooperation is an
important instrument to achieve sustainable
and inclusive development in
each of their countries. They also reiterated
their willingness to deepen the
relationship between them.
According to the Declaration of
Barranquilla issued at the end of the
second Colombia-CARICOM Ministerial
Summit issued recently in Barranquilla,
Colombia, the foreign ministers
agreed that the summit
provides the “optimal
space for dialogue
and the strengthen of
political, economic,
cultural, social and cooperation ties.”
They also agreed to commit to
strengthening the regional integration
and co-ordinated mechanism in which
they share membership, renewing their
support for the proclamation of Latin
America and the Caribbean as a zone
of peace.
The summit expressed “profound
gratitude” to the Colombia government
for the donation of US$1million
to the Pan American Health Organization
(PAHO) to support vaccination programs
in CARICOM member countries.
CAYMAN ISLANDS
The Cayman Islands (CI) says children
11 years and younger will now be
permitted to enter the British Overseas
Territory regardless of their vaccination
status.
In a statement, the CI said the island
Caribbean Life, F 4 ebruary 11-17, 2022
Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley speaks to supporters after winning a landslide victory for her Barbados Labour Party (BLP) in
the country’s fi rst election since it became a republic by removing Britain’s queen as sovereign head of state, in Bridgetown, Barbados
Jan. 20, 2022. REUTERS/Nigel Browne
has officially entered Phase 5 of its strategic
phased re-opening plan, allowing
for “children aged 11 years and younger….
to travel to the destination accompanied
by vaccinated adults regardless
of the child’s vaccination status.
“In addition, quarantine requirements
for all travelers are shortened
from ten days to seven days and testing
protocols have been altered, now
requiring travelers to submit a lateral
flow test on days two, five and seven of
their stay.”
Tourism and Transport
Minister Kenneth
V Bryan said these
changes will make it
much easier to travel
to the destination with
children and allow families to enjoy a
“well-deserved, relaxing holiday in Cayman
once again.”
The Cayman Islands has recorded
15 deaths and 13, 734 infections linked
to the Covid-19 pandemic since March
2020.
GUYANA
Guyana will soon launch a GUY$2,000
bill. Governor of the Bank of Guyana,
Dr. Gobind Ganga said the new currency
note would go into circulation
in a few weeks after all the administrative
procedures, such as publication in
the Official Gazette, alerting the public
about the security features and presenting
one of the notes symbolically to
President Irfaan Ali.
He said that the new currency note
was expected to go into circulation to
commemorate Guyana’s 55th Independence
anniversary, but that was delayed
due to the COVID-19
pandemic.
He told News Talk
radio listeners that
Mashramani often
abbreviated to “Mash” is an annual festival
that celebrates Guyana becoming a
Republic on Feb. 23, 1970.
Ganga said the GUY$2,000 note will
depict the One Guyana unity theme and
is part of plans to commemorate Guyana’s
55th Independence anniversary.
He said it would not have been a
good idea to have introduced a higher
denomination because of expected currency
revaluation in the coming years.
Ganga said Guyana may have to
return to one-dollar, five-dollar and
ten-dollar notes because ‘the currency
shouldn’t be depreciating any further.”
GUYANA banknotes are in the
GUY$20, GUY$50, GUY$100, GUY$500,
GUY$1,000 and GUY$5,000 denominations.
GRENADA
The Grenada government has joined
other countries in the region to become
a signatory to a new United Nations
Multi-country Sustainable Development
Framework (MSDF) for the Caribbean
for the years 2022 to 2026.
The framework, which will align
with Individual Country Implementation
Plans, will govern
UN collaboration in
the region for the next
five years, to support
countries to recover
and build from the
Covid-19 pandemic, eliminate shocks
and other vulnerabilities in a sustainable
way, that leaves no one behind.
The new co-operation was signed by
Prime Minister, Dr. Keith Mitchell and
Didier Trebuckq, the UN resident cooordinator
during a hybrid ceremony
between UN House in Barbados and
Grenada’s Cabinet Office.
The other countries that are signatories
for the framework are the British
Virgin Islands, Barbados, Antigua and
Barbuda and St. Lucia.
JAMAICA
It has been a bloody start to the
new year in Jamaica as the country
recorded 112 murders during the first
23 days in January —
15.5 percent increase
compared to January
2021, according to figures
released by the
Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF).
It said that the death toll is 15.5 percent
higher or 15 murders more than
the corresponding period last year when
97 murders were recorded.
Continued on Page 12
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Bajan gov’t members to declare assets
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