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The Chase Files Daily Newscap 9/11/2018

Good MORNING #realdreamchasers! Here is The Chase Files Daily News Cap for Tuesday September 11th 2018. Remember you can read full articles by purchasing Daily Nation Newspaper (DN), via Barbados Today (BT) or Barbados Government Information Services (BGIS).

SMOOTH START – The buses were rolling, the new Constitution River Terminal was packed, one school brought a brand new uniform on stream, while another was forced to close early for industrial cleaning. As thousands of children headed back to the classroom on Monday, there was a generally smooth start to the 2018-2019 academic term. But at Bay Primary School in Bayville, St Michael, classes ended well before the 3 p.m. bell to allow completion of industrial cleaning there. A Barbados Government Information Service statement gave no further details as to the cause. At The Ellerslie School, while most students came decked out in the new school uniforms, some parents vented their frustration about sourcing the new material which was only available at one outlet. (DN)

RIGHT MOVE – The Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) said this afternoon that the Mia Mottley-led Government was heading in the right direction by bringing the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on board to finance its homegrown Barbados Economic Restructuring and Transformation (BERT) programme. The CDB’s Director of Economics Dr Justin Ram told Barbados TODAY his institution had been saying for a number of years that the debt was on an unsustainable path and the Government needed to reduce spending and improve revenue. “This is a step in the right direction. It is going to have some challenges initially because it is not going to be easy whenever there is fiscal consolidation . . . and also some level of debt restructuring. There is going to be some challenges,” Dr Ram said, adding that from the bank’s observation and the Government’s pronouncements, the current path was the right one. The CDB Director of Economics was speaking after the board approved a grant of US$400,000 to help the Government further develop its economic reform programme. He said the money was a technical assistance project grant which aimed to enhance the capacity of staff in the Ministry of Finance, Economic Affairs and Investment to adequately design, negotiate and support the implementation of critical macroeconomic and structural reforms. “We think it is particularly necessary at this point in time because of the urgency of the [situation],” he added. Dr Ram told Barbados TODAY he expected to see improvement in the economic performance of Barbados in the near future, coming out of the IMF-financed BERT programme. However, he anticipated some drag on the economy in the short term as a result of cuts in expenditure whereby people’s spending would be restricted. But he said where Government was cutting back on spending, provided the private sector the opportunity to intervene and spark growth. “The package that is being proposed here is one of real, I would say, structural transformation for the economy…and so over the medium to long-term, Barbados is expected to be in a better position than it is currently,” Dr Ram assured. Barbados and the IMF last week reached a “staff-level” agreement for US$290 million to help shore up the foreign reserves and protect the country’s precious dollar. The CDB and Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) are standing ready to pump millions of dollars in loan development money once the IMF starts disbursing the money to Barbados. But the CDB said that today’s US$400,000 technical assistance grant is a response to the urgent challenges Barbados faces, including a fragile fiscal and external liquidity situation and unsustainable levels of public indebtedness. “Such issues are adversely affecting investor confidence and consequently domestic economic activity,” the Barbados-based development financing agency noted. (BT)

MULTI-MILLION DOLLAR DEAL – The nation’s oldest hotel has turned over its timeshare business to the internationally acclaimed, Florida-based, Hilton Grand Vacation (HGV) deal. This makes Barbados the first location in the region where the largest luxury timeshare brand will offer timeshare weeks to owners and guests. Making the announcement on Monday during a media conference at Government Headquarters, owner of the Crane Resort Paul Doyle said it took about two-and-a-half years to complete negotiations and cement the arrangement. He gave the assurance that Millennium Investment Ltd would remain the owner of the Crane, while adhering to HGV’s brand standard. Under the agreement the Crane will be subjected to a quality score each month. “We have made a sale transaction where they purchase timeshare inventory from the Crane. The transaction value is US$54 million. So, it is a significant transaction and that is just phase one,” said Doyle, who pointed out that the deal consisted of two phases. “They are calling it ‘Hilton Grand Vacations at the Crane’. So what this does it really allow us to be full year-round. It is quite an opportunity for us. It takes the seasonality out of the business,” he said. Under phase one of the agreement HGV will acquire one, two and three-bedroom suits timeshare inventory from Millennium Investment Ltd over a 28-months to three-year period. Sales are scheduled to start by next month, and HGV Club Membership occupancy is expected to begin early next year. Though not giving details of the level of planned investment for phase two, Doyle said that phase would see HGV purchasing “new built inventory” or about 120 units, which he said was more than phase one. “An investment like that does demonstrate confidence in Barbados and that confidence is something that we all need at this time. So the timing of this is very important for growth in the Crane as a company and for Barbados,” said Doyle. He said the partnership would allow the Crane, which is already in the timeshare business, to open more restaurants, offer more variety, and “dramatically” accelerate its growth. “With that these folks are ready, willing and able to come and do a lot more with us as time goes on. This is an important opportunity for us, but also for the country. Timeshare can bring not just stability to our business but to the [tourism] sector and it is something the country can count on for the economy because it is consistent year after year and week after week. I see it opening up more air routes from the United States,” said Doyle. Without providing details, the hotelier said he was in the process of negotiating similar timeshare investments with other international hotel brands. Prime Minister Mia Mottley welcomed the deal while lauding the Crane for its work in helping to develop the island’s tourism product over the years. She said the agreement, which came on the heels of the recent decision by Ross University to set up shop in Barbados in early 2019, was an indication that confidence was returning to the Barbados economy. “For us as a Government this is very welcomed news . . . the Government of Barbados recognizes that if we are to get out of where we have found ourselves, where we have inherited, the only way we can do it is through growth,” said Mottley. “As important as phase one is we are equally looking forward to phase two because phase two is about building new product and ensuring that new product can be sold, bringing additional value to the country and additional jobs and additional foreign exchange. So we really are very happy,” she said. Pointing out that her administration was keen on introducing legislation to regulate timeshare, Mottley said it remained an area where there was potential for growth. The Prime Minister said she also saw the agreement with HGV as an avenue to create a platform for additional construction and expansion of rooms in the niche area. “We accept that there will be others who will want to come forward and in coming forward we need to be able to settle the regulatory framework that can work without hurting the country but giving confidence to those who are buying,” she said. Mottley said she expected Barbados to benefit from HGV’s international brand recognition as well as its marketing power especially in the US market, which could help build the island’s airlift capacity. (BT)

PRIVATE HELP TO THE FORE – At least three private sector contractors have come to the aid of the Mia Mottley-led administration in helping it to unblock drains, particularly in flood-prone communities by tomorrow. This follows a meeting last evening between Prime Minister Mottley and key disaster emergency management officials to discuss the pending impact of Hurricane Isaac which is expected to pass north of Barbados early Thursday morning but would begin affecting the island the day before. Mottley had said that the majority of the equipment at the Ministry of Transport, Works and Maintenance was not functioning and she needed help in clearing the drainage system. She said then that the Government wanted to get help from the private sector in supplying generators and other heavy equipment to clean and remove debris from the drains. She had also noted that efforts were underway to tackle the ten most critical areas that would likely be affected by flooding ahead of Isaac or future weather systems. “Regrettably the pieces of equipment . . . pumps and generators that are absent from the country . . . and we are trying to see what we can get in ahead of time . . . but in any event to place this country on a good footing for any future system as we go forward and we pray we can get through this season without it,” the Prime Minister said. But today, Minister of Transport, Works and Maintenance Dr William Duguid told Barbados TODAY the private contractors had already hit the ground running. “So we have contacted three contractors and they are prepared to assist us. Brathwaite’s Construction, Infra and C.O Williams [Construction], and they have indicated their willingness to help us clear the drains in preparation [for the hurricane], just to make sure the drainage of the island is perfected so that we have as little flooding as possible,” Minister Duguid said. He revealed that his technical officials met today with the companies to try to identify the areas which require priority attention. “In addition, the ministry’s equipment is being positioned. We have already done the Whim, we have already done the Constitution River and we are about to do Seaview as well as to do the minor outlets like in Oistins and in Holetown just so that all the drainage points…that there be no obstruction to drainage points and minimize the effects of any flooding from this system,” he disclosed, adding that work went into high gear today to try to get prepared as quickly as possible. However, Duguid assured that plans for the $10 million which the Prime Minister revealed in her June mini-budget would be available for the purchase of equipment for the Ministry of Transport were well advanced. “We are in the procurement process for the purchase of that equipment,” he added. (BT)

ECONOMY ‘WILL DECLINE’ UNDER BARBADOS LABOUR PARTY – Predicting that it will happen “for the first time in history”, the former Democratic Labour Party MP for St Michael West Central James Paul has said that Barbados will record “negative growth” at the hands of the Barbados Labour Party administration. “The Democratic Labour Party has nothing to be ashamed of. We were able to get growth despite the challenges,” said Paul. He described the measures introduced by the four-month BLP government as “recessionary”. “For the first time in the past five years we are going to see negative growth and that is something that no one is speaking about, no one is saying anything about,” Paul said, using the economics term to describe a shrinkage of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), the total value of goods and services in an economy. He argued that while the DLP government had been heavily criticized for overtaxing the country the BLP had now “done the same”, suggesting the raft of tax measures imposed by the BLP government was a heavier burden than the DLP’s controversial National Social Responsibility Levy (NSRL) and Garbage Tax combined. “The same BLP said when we imposed the same tax claimed that Barbados was then overtaxed. Now we are seeing from the last measures that . . . the amount of taxation is even more than the NSRL and the Garbage Tax combined,” he said. Paul, who was speaking to party supporters at a branch meeting of the St James South constituency, was joined by DLP President Verla Depeiza who declared shock at hearing that the BLP was implementing an array of taxes when it criticized the DLP for attempting to tax a country out of a recession. “When we were introducing certain measures we were told repeatedly that you cannot tax your way out of a recession. So imagine my shock and [astonishment] that I am taxed some more. Calling it something different does not make it any less of a tax and I am speaking particularly now to the fuel levy,” Depeiza said. She noted that the Fuel Tax did not allow anyone to escape, claiming that it had people from all segments in the society caught in a stranglehold. “Whatever bus fare increase is granted will need to consider if not completely face the cries of the Public Service Vehicles…. They have found their bill multiplying . . . . The taxis, the minibuses, the ZR’s, your grocery bill, fishermen because the boats don’t use the road but they use fuel. The agricultural sector, some of them are heavily dependent on water, especially animal-based husbandry. You cannot let your plants run to ruin despite all that is said landscaping is an investment. “So there is no escaping the fuel tax it is all-encompassing and I do not even want to say all-embracing because an embrace is a comfortable thing this is a bear hug, a stranglehold; that is what the fuel tax is,” Depeiza said. She suggested that “more pressure” lay ahead with the full impact of the current taxation measures in addition to the introduction of October 1 of the Health Levy, VAT on online transactions, and a tax on private tourist accommodation, and the “Airbnb” tax. “The little incremental additions to our tax burden add up over time,” said Depeiza. “We will also see the impact on the tourism sector as the taxes that have been applied there come fully onstream. The DLP leader said she would reserve further commentary on the tax burden until the additional measures are in place. “But we do know of a certainty is more taxation than we had before and all has not come as yet,” she said. (BT)

DLP: TAXES ‘A SLEW OF PROBLEMS’ – Despite being rejected by voters over their handling of the economy, the Democratic Labour Party, without a voice in Parliament for the first since 1956 has delivered its first critique on the tax measures of the Mia Mottley administration. President of the Democratic Labour Party Verla Depeiza suggested that two of the promises made by the Barbados Labour Party administration in its manifesto and mini-budget – an increase in the Non- Contributory Pension and the introduction of the Solid Waste Tax – will create a slew of problems for Barbadians. Speaking at the former constituency office of embattled former Member of Parliament for St James South Donville Inniss who is currently facing charges in the US for money laundering, Depeiza raised concern about the mini-budget proposal to seemed to veer away from the policy of parity in increases between the non-contributory and contributory pensions. “I think that we are all aware of not only the fact of parity through this point, but they have kept them moving and kept the ratio between the two the same. The reason being non-contributory pension as the name suggests paid nothing into the fund and would benefit from someone else’s money that was paid into the fund. So, there was always the tendency to keep them moving along with the sliding rule together and I have learned that that has not happened in this case.” Depeiza called on the media to back up assertion which she said needed to research herself. “Now I will go, and research and I hope the media will too. Because my memory suggests that in the mini-budget the two would keep parity and if that has not happened then that is a point for investigative journalism. It is also a point for us as opposition to research and push forward,” she said to members of the DLP executive and party faithful. Depeiza tackled the issue of the Solid Waste Tax stating that there are a lot of questions to be asked about intended target of its proceeds. “I will not address anything other than we have off-budget money that belongs to the people of Barbados administered by God knows whom,” she said, adding that when the former administration implemented the Municipal Solid Waste Tax persons knew that the funds collected where being handled by the Accountant General and the Auditor General. “At least when it was paid into the Consolidated Fund you knew that the Accountant General and the Auditor General would have oversight. Now that it is paid into I would have to say an off-the-books entity and then shared with a second entity, how do we know how those funds are one being managed and two being administered? Depeiza said the new proposals lacked the “same level of oversight that we would have had if it were paid into the Consolidated Fund. That is the concern that I choose to raise outside of all of the others,” she stressed with applause from the party’s executive and party supporters. Depeiza argued that the Solid Waste Tax when calculated is far worse than the Municipal Solid Waste Tax that was implemented by the Democratic Labour Party. “When the last administration instituted a Municipal Solid Waste Tax there was a lot of furor in the country and a push back nationally against it. I do not know what your Solid Waste Tax bill looked like but mine was less than $300. What my water bill looks like this past month and if I extrapolate for a 12-month period I am going to be paying more in this new tax than the Municipal Solid Waste Tax. “The difference is that the Solid Waste Tax was paid in a lumpsum and this one is being paid over a period of time. But the feeling in the pocket in the pocket is the same. A lumpsum will hurt you one time but then you can recover, or you can recover from it. This bill and these taxes create a whole slew of problems,” she said. (BT)

HOMELESSNESS ‘MAY RISE’ WITH JOB CUTS – The charity that looks after the nation’s homeless says it is bracing for a significant rise in homelessness when Government begins its cuts to public sector jobs. President of Barbados Vagrant and Homeless Society (BVHS), Kemar Saffrey, told Barbados TODAY that for the last five years homeless numbers steadily rose as a result of increased hardship. He argued that it would be nothing short of delusional to think that a spike in the numbers was not inevitable, once Government’s structural adjustment fully implemented under the International Monetary Fund (IMF) programme got underway. “This is something that we are very worried about because we have seen it when the last administration sent home a lot of persons from Government. There is going to be a serious strain on our organization, which is already stretched by the number of people coming to us for food and clothes. Anybody who thinks that the coming austerity measures won’t be a problem, is only naïve in their thinking,” said Saffrey. “Many landlords are not going to wait until these persons get another job, so some of them are going to become homeless… It can get bad but I don’t know how bad it is going to get because I do not know the full extent of the austerity,” the BVHS head pointed out. He explained that in 2014, when the then Democratic Labour Party (DLP) trimmed the public sector by an estimated 3,000 persons, some of those persons joined the homeless statistics, causing it to spike in 2015. “I warned the Minister at the time [former minister of Social Care Steve Blackett] and I assume he didn’t understand anything about social work because he ignored what I [predicted] even though it came to pass . . . “In 2015, the numbers were the highest in terms of the amount of persons that became homeless; it was really bad, because we had 117 new persons becoming homeless that year,” he said. The total count of homeless people on the island now stands at over 500, with women and children accounting for 116 of them, he said. But the homeless persons advocate told Barbados TODAY that he does believe that the impending displacement is going to be as bad as it was in 2015, mainly because of Government’s promise to put measures in place to look after those hardest hit by the job cuts. “This current administration seems to be putting things in place to cushion the impact, which is good and may ease a serious increase but there is still going to be some fallout. The Government is working to help those from a bottom level and I have heard a few programmes that would be put in place and that may take some of the pressure off us as well as other services such as the Welfare Department,” he stressed. Earlier this month, the Mia Mottley administration revealed that workers from a number of statutory corporations would be severed as part of the second phase of Government’s Barbados Economic Recovery and Transformation programme (BERT). In releasing the results of an online survey last week on the restructuring of state-owned entities, one of Mottley’s key economic advisers, Dr Kevin Greenidge, said while he could not say precisely how many workers would likely be displaced, of the 40-plus statutory bodies identified in the survey, “at most about 1,000” of a total 2,823 employees would be affected. (BT)

JUDGES ON HOLD – Ten days after three temporary judges were to be appointed to help with the massive backlog of cases, the plan has been shelved – for now. Attorney General Dale Marshall made the revelation following yesterday’s church service at Christ The King Anglican Church in Rock Dundo, St Michael, to mark the start of the legal year. The temporary appointments were part of the Barbados Labour Party’s manifesto promise to deal with the pile-up of cases in the courts. He said that to date, there were 1 030 criminal matters waiting to be heard, dating back to 2004, while there were “thousands” of civil matters from as far back as the 1980s. “We had anticipated having those appointments made by September 1. Certainly that is what the Prime Minister and I assured the country. The challenge is that some of the individuals with whom we have had discussions, or have expressed their willingness, are committed in other jurisdictions to performing judicial duties,” he explained, adding they would not be available until January or later in the year. (DN)

SWAN STREET BUSINESS ON FIRE – Fire officials and police are currently on the scene of a fire at a business in Swan Street, The City. The business has since been named as clothing store Bsharp. (DN)

MURDER SHOCK – The two Deacons, St Michael men known as Soup and X were remembered fondly in the community Monday as “respectful”, “mannerly”, and “good” fellows who did not deserve to meet gruesome deaths in rural Jamaica last week. But residents speaking to Barbados TODAY declined to identify themselves as they revealed their reminiscences about the two men, gunned down in Jamaica’s southeastern parish of St Thomas. The bodies of 27-year-old Dario Soup Yearwood and 37-year-old Daniel X Griffiths were discovered partially burnt with gunshot wounds in a bushy area. Arriving in Kingston last Wednesday, the duo were due to check into the Four Seasons Hotel in Kingston but never made it there. Immigration officials used identification cards found on the dead men to confirm they were Barbadian nationals. The Deacons neighbourhood where both individuals grew up has been jolted by the news of the disturbing deaths. A Redman’s Road neighbour who requested anonymity, told Barbados TODAY that she raised Yearwood like her own. While a pupil of Deacons Primary School, the patter of his young feet could often be heard throughout her house, the distraught resident said as she relived the moment she received news of his death. Although he moved across the street to nearby Fernihurst, Yearwood remained in contact with friends and family in the neighbourhood, said the resident who recalled that the last she saw of Yearwood was when he dropped in to check on her and her family the day before flying to Jamaica. “Dario was very respectful and mannerly. Dario was always in this house from the time he was small and he always continued to look for me,” she said, still expressing disbelief at this death. “Dario is everything a mother would want in a child and the people from this neighbourhood can testify that,” she said. As they limed on the “Red Sea” block, known to police and criminal justice officials for its rampant gang activity, his friends said they were deeply saddened and upset about the deaths of X and Soup. Another individual who asked to remain anonymous told Barbados TODAY that Griffiths, a father of two, was a ‘good fellow’ who was always willing to lend a helping hand. “Anybody could have gotten anything from Daniel, you could be in a slump and ask him for something [and] he would give to you . . . . Daniel would give you anything without even thinking twice about it,” said the resident. One of the individuals gathered was extremely troubled by the circumstances surrounding their death. “They didn’t deserve to get shoot so, none of the two of them. They get treat real dread for nothing,” said the Deacon’s, St Michael man who revealed that a number of guys on the block were disturbed by the news. He went on to describe Yearwood as a charismatic personality who easily made friends. “(Yearwood) does just catch people spirit; people just like the man and I mean all kind of people. There is something about Soup that people were just . . . attracted to,” he said. Jamaican detectives were continuing their murder probe after retrieving the bodies of Yearwood and Griffiths in a bushy area in the St Thomas village of Woodbourne. A villager who had gone to tend to his cattle stumbled upon the bodies in the bush, a Jamaican radio report said. There were gunshot wounds to the head and side of one victim and a bullet wound to the upper body of the other. Woodbourne residents told police that they had heard gunfire in the area on Wednesday just after 1 p.m., the radio report added. (BT)

‘NINJA MAN’ FREED – Street character Ninja Man has been freed and is back on the streets of the capital. The 60-year-old, whose real name is Anthony Fitzpatrick Lynch, had been on remand at Dodds prison for almost a year accused of committing sacrilege in a place of divine worship. He had not been able to plea to the indictable charge of entering the St Michael’s Cathedral sometime between August 6 and 8 last year and stealing a crucifix worth $125 and a surge protector worth $25 belonging to the church. When his case came up for hearing before Magistrate Douglas Frederick at District ‘A’ today the prosecutor said he had no instructions on the matter and as such left it in the court’s hands. It was at that time that the city fixture himself intervened, putting it to the magistrate that as the Crown had neither photos, statement nor evidence to take the case before the High Court, he would seek a dismissal – pointing, too, to the length of time he had already spent on remand. After hearing the submission Magistrate Frederick, who had continually urged the prosecution to proceed to wrap up the matter given that the accused was “a vulnerable person” in society, was inclined to agree with the accused. Back in July, the magistrate said: “What you have to do when you have a person like this who is vulnerable you have to give it priority because he most likely does not have anyone to sign bail for him. So you’ll have to prioritize this file. “A person who is vulnerable has rights just like everybody . . . and we need to make sure he is not disadvantaged. So I am urging you to get this file as a matter of priority because of his vulnerable position.” With the prosecution failing to deliver a file two months later, the magistrate ruled in Ninja Man’s favour and dismissed the matter for want of prosecution. “You are free to go,” the magistrate told a happy Ninja Man who walked out of the No 1 District ‘A’ Magistrate’s Court free of the shackles and manacles of either prison or any other dwelling. (BT)

STANDFORD V STANDFORD: NO RETURN HOME – A son has been told that he cannot return home after assaulting his mother. Tre Akeem Shakeil Standford had earlier pleaded guilty to assaulting Shirnell Standford on September 3 occasioning her actual bodily harm. “I don’t want him back at my house!” Stanford told Magistrate Kristie Cuffy-Sargeant, in the presence of her son who had spent three days at HMP Dodds for the offence. Last Monday, the two were involved in an argument over money when the young man followed his mother into her bedroom. She picked up a cleaver while he armed himself with a knife. In the melee, it was a kick to the left side of her body and a beating about the head and face, after she fell onto the bed, that landed him before the court. Under questioning mother Standford told the magistrate that she had only been hit in the head but had not been injured. The magistrate then ordered that the young man not to go to his mother’s premises and pay her $200 in one month or spend a month in prison. He must return to court on October 5 with his receipt to show proof of payment. He must also be on his best behaviour of the next 12 months. If he finds himself in trouble with the law during that time he will have to pay a $1,500 forthwith fine or spend three months in prison. (BT)

NEW NETBALL COMPLEX COMING – The netball community can look forward to a new indoor complex for the sport. That assurance is coming from Minister of Sports John King. Delivering the feature address during the opening ceremony of the 39th Barbados Workers’ Union (BWU) Netball Tournament at the Netball Stadium on Sunday evening, the minister encouraged players to demonstrate high levels of excellence, discipline and team spirit and promised the netball fraternity an indoor sporting facility. “In the plans for the redevelopment of the National Stadium you will get an indoor netball stadium, so let your actions reflect the high standards of netball and sportsmanship for which this tournament is renowned,” he said. “In so doing, let your individual and collective performances be worthy of being emulated by others both in netball and in other sporting disciplines.” (DN)

NCF SHAKEUP NOT PREDICTABLE – Cranston Browne’s departure last week as chief executive officer of the National Cultural Foundation (NCF), though not politically motivated, signals a shakeup there for Minister of Culture and Creative Economy John King. He also denied reports that veteran broadcaster Carol Roberts had been earmarked for the post by the Barbados Labour Party (BLP) administration and has been waiting in the wings since July to take over the NCF. In his interview with Barbados TODAY over the weekend, King would not go into any details behind Browne’s removal, nor did he say whether Roberts was one of the candidates being considered for the post. Government was now in process of finding a suitable candidate, King told Barbados TODAY, adding that the post is to be advertised shortly. “I can tell you that nobody has been earmarked for the position because we are going to be advertising the position shortly. That is something I can speak to because we have not even begun the process of looking for someone yet,” King said. Browne, who is said to have earned $142,000 annually, accepted a separation package, it was reported on Friday. Speculation emerged at the end of July that Browne’s tenure would come to an end after the Crop Over festivities on August 6 and that he would be replaced by Roberts, who was previously employed at the NCF as a marketing officer. In April 2013, during the Democratic Labour Party administration, Browne was appointed interim CEO to serve until April 21, 2014. An official release had stated then that the board of the NCF would continue its search for a chief executive by widely advertising the post in an attempt to secure a candidate for a longer-term contract. Browne was appointed to the post in April 2016. With the change of government at the May 24 polls, Browne’s contract, which was renewed just a month before the general election, was among several contracts under scrutiny by the BLP administration. But the minister declared that it would not be business as usual at the state cultural oversight body, stressing that the new CEO must oversee the promotion of Barbados’ diverse cultural activities outside of the Crop Overfestival. “People have a perception of the NCF of being only relevant around Crop Over time as well as NIFCA [National Independence Festival of Creative Arts] and that has to change. Even before I became the Minister of Culture I would have always told the people at the NCF about the great work that they do. “The sad thing is that nobody knows,” said King, who contended that these diverse functions are often only promoted among those artists who operate within the individual fields. “If we are talking visual arts then there is a visual arts circle, and this would be the circle who knows about the things that are going on. If it is poetry, then again there is a small number of people who know and are involved. We have not done any outreach in recent years to find new people and expose people who would not otherwise know much about the programmes and that’s where we fell down for years. This is now a great opportunity for us to do those things and whoever CEO turns out to be is going to have their hands full,” King said. (BT)

WATER STORAGE DURING HURRICANE SEASON – The Barbados Water Authority (BWA) has advised that it is important to store an adequate supply of water for each individual and pets during the hurricane season. The minimum recommended amount for drinking, food preparation and personal hygiene is five gallons per person, per day for at least five days. Additionally, water must be stored in clean, covered containers. The public is urged to follow the guidelines of the Ministry of Health for further information on safe water storage. Barbadians are also advised to always be prepared and to stay safe during this hurricane season. (BWA/BGIS)

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