Caricom in 'changing' Cuba

ANALYSIS

RICKEY SINGH





A communiqué was expected to be issued yesterday on the Third Caribbean Community-Cuba Ministerial Meeting that concluded in Havana on Friday.

It was expected to offer an explanation on future Caricom-Cuba co-operation and initiatives in economic and political co-ordination with Latin America in the context of new economic and political alliances and arrangements in response to international developments.

The two-day meeting occurred in the significantly changing Cuban environment compared to that of 1972, when four Caricom countries had played a vital role in helping to bring the then Fidel Castro-led revolutionary Government out of the diplomatic cold in a display of courageous defiance of the United States of America.

At that time, Jamaica, Barbados, Guyana and Trinidad and Tobago chose to break Washington's crude isolationist policy against that small Caribbean nation with their unprecedented joint establishment of diplomatic relations with Havana.

The legendary Fidel Castro along with the administration he led for some half-a-century, before serious illness compelled him to hand over government leadership to younger brother Raoul Castro four years ago, has never failed to show his deep appreciation for that pace-setting diplomatic initiative by the quartet of Caricom states.

Caricom ministers who participated in the Havana meeting were expected to learn at first-hand why Cuba -- the only country to suffer from the longest and most punitive embargo enforced by the USA -- is now in the process of implementing serious adjustments to its economic model from total State control, based on socialist transformation, to embrace a widening experiment in private sector operations.

The announcement earlier in the week by President Raoul Castro that some half-a-million State workers are to be facilitated in new employment, mostly in a gradually expanding private sector — including tourism and construction industries — had followed a controversial interview by elder brother Fidel with an American journalist, Jeffrey Goldberg, published in The Atlantic magazine.

The "misinterpretation"


Castro lost no time in telling the media at the launch of his latest book that he was "misinterpreted on the economy" by Goldberg when he reported him as saying that "the economic model no longer works for us".

But the Cuban leader refrained from any criticisms of Goldberg, remarking that he would "await with interest" the journalist's promised "extensive article" to be published in The Atlantic.

Those in the US Congress and mainstream media, known for their anxieties to ridicule Cuba's economic model and governance system, can be expected to join in political jeerings.

Of course, they would have no interest in considering, for instance, that after 50 years of admirable struggles to survive the onslaughts of successive administrations in Washington, with their suffocating blockade as a core feature, Cuba does not have to apologise for tough, pragmatic decisions on adjustments to its economic model; not in this closing first decade of the 21st century — long after the disappearance of the once powerful superpower, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, and not after the collapse of Wall Street, America's traditionally flaunted economic model of capitalism.

Indeed, the 'Wall Street crash' was a development that spawned the prevailing global economic and financial crisis still seriously impacting today on economies the world over.

Work force


Initially, as explained in Havana, the alternative employment programme will affect half-a-million of the five million-strong Cuban work force, with another half-million to follow over a phased period with State assistance in various private sector businesses.

This, according to reports out of Havana, is not an overnight development. The adjustments, linked to reassessments of policies and programmes over the past two years, are being made all the more necessary by the global crisis that has affected so many poor and developing nations.

Incidentally, as readers would know, none of the economically affected nations have had to contend with a 50-year-long spiteful blockade by Uncle Sam.

Yet, for all its domestic challenges, the Cuban Government continues to reach out, in offering assistance, though not as previously extensive, to countries in the Caribbean and other regions in various areas, including health, agriculture and construction.

The United Nations has long recognised the remarkable achievements of Cuba in health and education. And just last week, while President Raoul Castro was speaking about redeployment of sections of the labour force, Inter-Press Service was reporting on Cuba's success in making available in the world VA-MENGOCO-BC, the only vaccine against meningitis-B. This medication has been included, since 1991, in Cuba's national infant immunisation programme and is used successfully in South and Central America.

As we await the outcome of last week's Third Cuba-Caricom Ministerial Meeting, it is of relevance to recall here what Professor Norman Girvan noted when he accepted in 2009 an Honorary Doctor of Economic Sciences degree from the University of Havana.

In recalling the debt of gratitude owed to the people of that Caribbean island state by so many in the poor and developing world, Girvan, a former secretary general of the Association of Caribbean States, observed:

"The Cuban revolution has been a source of inspiration on the ability of a small Caribbean country to chart its own course of social justice, economic transformation and national independence by relying on the mobilisation of the entire population; on the will and energy of its people; and for its numerous actions of intensive international solidarity... The debt is unpayable."

September 19, 2010

jamaicaobserver

Bahamas Blog International

Haiti needs a democratic revolution not an election!

By Jean H Charles:


“After Rwanda and Yugoslavia, Haiti seems to be the next theater of a major mischief by some international institutions.”

I must state at the outset that I am not advocating nor promoting neither a violent nor an armed revolution. I am talking about a democratic revolution in the minds and the spirit of the people, a revamping of the institutions and a new covenant of the government to usher in a true process of democracy. Once this revolution is on the way, Haiti can then proceed with a free and fair election.

The country needs a hiatus of three to five years of reconstruction, free of politicking, to heal the nation and set the country on the road of reconciliation and nation building. The present regime can be compared to a piece of wood filled with termites in a piece of furniture. To repair the furniture one needs to cut and throw away the damaged wood before affixing a new piece. Otherwise the damage part will eventually infect the entire furniture, including the new piece.

It was Alexis de Tocqueville who coined the concept of democratic revolution, while speaking of the birth of the United States. Akin to South Africa before Mandela, Haiti must transform itself from a de facto apartheid country to a state where the sense of appurtenance is the rule. It needs now a democratic revolution not an election.

I have this week visited a rural community named Mazere on the road from Grand River to Bahon. I have in mind these pictures that depict the extent of the misery, the magnitude of the squalid conditions as well as the inequality that 85% of the population of Haiti is forced to live under.

The public school, the only state presence of the area is located across the river. There is no bridge for easy access. I asked the kids how they get to school, one of the mothers interjected to let me know they carry the younger ones across the river, which sometimes destroys everything in its way, including an irrigation dam recently built.

Inquiring further with the adults, I asked them what their most pressing needs are. They told me that the government used to protect the land with rock formation on the hills to prevent avalanches during the rainy season. This operation has not been done for the past decades. We have now huge amount of water sitting for months in the fields destroying our produce.

It has been decades that the Haitian government has been a predatory entity preying on its people instead of providing services and support to help its citizens to enjoy the pursuit of happiness.

As such the people of Haiti educated or otherwise are waiting for the Blanc (the white man) to bring about deliverance. On the political scene, the question is not what is the agenda of the candidates, it is rather who has the blessing of Barack Obama for the presidency of Haiti? The sense of civics patriotism and leadership has been dimished by the last sixty years of corrupt governance.

The entire population is a crowd in transit. The rural world with no services from the government is in transit towards the small cities. The small towns have become ghost entities with the citizens in transit towards the larger cities, their citizens are in transit towards the capital and there the dream is to find an American visa or take a leaky boat towards Florida or the Bahamas.

Building up the sense of nation has not been a governmental priority or a United Nations foreign intervention initiative. MINUSTHA (the UN force) is substituting itself as the Haitian army without assuming the defense of the country. Inequality and injustice is queen, extorting the notion of appurtenance from and for each other. The sense of noblesse oblige of the past that kept the poor ones afloat has been substituted by the doctrine of “rock in the water against rock in the sun” or class warfare by Aristide. The Preval regime has introduced the concept of “swim to the shores at your own risk” leaving everyone to fend for themselves... It has left no lifeline of security for the majority of the population which is going into a free fall abyss.

In an article this week in the Miami Herald, Jacqueline Charles depicted the fetid situation where the Haitian refugees are living under in the Corail camp. “What was supposed to be the model for a new Haiti looks like the old one, a menacing slum.” Jean Christophe Adrian the United Nations Human Settlements Program added “the international community has a tremendous responsibility for creating this monster.”

Haiti, after Rwanda and Yugoslavia, could be the scene of a major catastrophe orchestrated by a non sensitive government with the connivance of major international institutions. I was in Washington last June at the OAS mansion at a conference on Haiti organized by CARICOM. In a conversation with Mr Colin Granderson, the Haiti resident, I shared my intention of running in the next election. His answer: how much money do you have, instead of what is your vision for Haiti? Sounds like “how many regiments do you have at your disposal?”

The gang of three -- the UN, the OAS and CARICOM -- in its dealing with Haiti is using according to Emil Vlajky in the wretched of the modernity, the absolute rationality which is anti-human. The human rationality with its sense of ethics is not in favor. The poor, the wretched, the refugees of the catastrophe will continue to live with unkept promises. While the entire country is decrying the upcoming election as a masquerade with the president holding all the marbles, the General Secretary of OAS characterize the process as “credible”. The Haiti of the Duvalier’s, the Aristide’s and the Preval’s culture is a gangrene that must be extirpated to create a modern nation sensitive to the needs of its people.

Any policy short of this radical intervention is unfriendly to the gallant people of Haiti that deserve a break from a life of abject misery.

September 20, 2010

caribbeannewsnow

Bahamas Blog International

Honduras 14 months on: Time for a dose of diplomatic realpolitik

By David Roberts




So, those who plotted the coup in Honduras at the end of June last year got their way, after all. The coup-backers' bogeyman, President Manuel Zelaya, was successfully overthrown and remains in exile in the Dominican Republic, and the new government led by Porfirio Lobo has been recognized as democratic, or very close to democratic, by Washington, the EU and most of the countries that cut off ties when Zelaya was ousted.

The latest countries to recognize the Lobo government and restore full diplomatic relations were Chile and Mexico, both citing a report by the Organization of American States - which expelled Honduras after the coup - that concluded Lobo has made "considerable progress in the cause of restoring democracy and freedoms in the Central American country."

Still holding out are the left-leaning Latin American nations inspired by Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez, and, most notably, Brazil and Argentina. So was it right for the US, the EU, Chile, Mexico, Colombia, Peru and others - including all of Honduras' Central American neighbors except Nicaragua - to recognize the Lobo government? And if the answer is yes, should those who haven't done so follow suit?

Whatever the rights and wrongs of last June's coup - those behind it justified their move by arguing that Zelaya was trying to change the constitution illegally so he could run for another term in office - not having diplomatic relations with a country should not be used as a "punishment" for events in the past, nor as a means of protest because one nation does not like another nation's system of government. Otherwise, western-style democracies simply would not have diplomatic ties with most countries in Africa and the Middle East, nor with quite a few in Asia.

Nor of course with Cuba, although the argument that if a country is going to have diplomatic relations with Havana then there's no excuse for not having them with Tegucigalpa doesn't entirely stand up, as Cuba was not a democracy when the present incumbents took power.

Of course, withdrawing ambassadors and cutting ties can and should be used as a means of expressing disapproval of a serious breach of the democratic "rules of the game," as happened in Honduras last year, but times move on and the de facto government has given way to one that has earned a certain legitimacy.

Like it or not, Lobo was democratically elected, although Zelaya should be allowed to return without having to face criminal proceedings - and perhaps those who carried out the coup should face at the very least a full investigation (although not necessarily criminal punishment as Chavez and company maintain). But in deciding whether to restore relations, a nation needs to give priority to the current situation, and, of course, practical issues such as its own political, business and cultural interests, along with the interests of its own citizens.

In conclusion: Breaking off diplomatic relations may be a useful means of protest but in itself it doesn't solve anything, and over time has negative effects in other areas such as trade, investment, travel and cultural exchange. In the case of Honduras, it's time for the Venezuela-led bloc to fall in line with the rest of the region.

bnamericas

Bahamas Blog International

Bahamas: ...no law in place to govern shark harvesting

BAHAMAS:NO MARKET FOR COMMERICAL SHARK HARVESTING
By JASMIN BONIMY
Guardian Staff Reporter
jasmin@nasguard.com:


Amid calls for the government to enact legislation aimed at clamping down on shark fishing, officials at the Department of Marine Resources insist that policies are in place that strongly discourage commercial shark harvesting.

Director of Marine Resources Michael Braynen told The Nassau Guardian yesterday that despite recent reports in the media, there is no evidence indicating that there is a viable market for commercial shark or sea urchin harvesting.

While he admitted that there is no law in place to govern shark harvesting, Braynen said the Department of Fisheries adheres to a policy which in effect bans commercial shark fishing, and does not recommend applications for licenses to the Minister of Agriculture and Marine Resources for shark meat or any shark products to be exported outside the country. The recommendations of the Marine Resources Department weigh highly in the decision making process, said Braynen.

In a joint release sent out over the weekend by the Bahamas Marine Exporters Association(BMEA)and the Bahamas Commercial Fishers Alliance(BCFA)the two organizations expressed their opposition to the commercial harvesting of both shark fins and sea urchins in Bahamian waters. The organizations added that they do not believe proper research has been conducted into the impact of the commercial trade of both marine species.

The Bahamas National Trust(BNT)has also highlighted the issue of shark fishing in The Bahamas in a release, which strongly opposed any type of shark finning or commercial shark fishing in The Bahamas.

"While there are no specific laws prohibiting fishing for sharks in The Bahamas, there is really no commercial fishery for sharks in The Bahamas,"said Braynen."As a consequence fishermen do not pursue them. Braynen also noted the absence of a viable market for sea urchin harvesting in The Bahamas.

"The policy being pursued by the Department of Marine Resources has for years not allowed the export of sharks of shark products from The Bahamas. So i think there is little concern for the establishment of a shark fin industry in The Bahamas."

Braynen said while shark harvesting is a major issue for countries in Asia where the shark fin trade is a major industry, he insisted that simply is not the case in The Bahamas.

Given the fact that shark meat is not a Bahamian delicacy, Braynen added that local fishermen focus their attention on big sale items like crawfish and conch.

As a result he said fishermen shy away from wasting their energy and resources to catch a product that is not profitable in the Bahamian market.

"The big selling item for sharks around the world is their fins, but we have no evidence that commercial shark fishing in The Bahamas would be sustainable,"he said.

"That is why we don't support the export of sharks. In effect that's one means for controlling and limiting the fishing of sharks in Bahamian waters. Fishermen would not be able to makemoney because the export market would be closed to them."

Braynen further added that long line fishing, the most common and popular practice used in commercial shark fishing, is banned in The Bahamas.

9/17/2010

thenassauguardian

Bahamas Blog International

Record number of US homes seized by banks

By Andre Damon:


More US homes were repossessed by banks in August—more than 95,000—than in any other month in history, according to realtytrac.com, a real estate marketplace. The company expects 1.2 million bank repossessions this year, a level 12 times higher than in 2005, when there were only 100,000.

Every month, the company releases a summary of all foreclosure actions, which includes bank repossessions. Realtytrac said that the number of foreclosures increased 4 percent last month, but was down by 5 percent compared with a year earlier.

The University of Michigan index of consumer sentiment unexpectedly dropped to its lowest level since 2009, according to results published Friday. The preliminary September reading of the index fell to 66.6, down from 68.9 in August.

And they have reason to feel that way, given the most recent economic developments. The news came as more companies announced layoffs, and economic figures continued to darken.

Meanwhile, the Philadelphia Federal Reserve’s index of Mid-Atlantic manufacturing showed that factory activity again contracted, disappointing analysts, who had expected it to plateau.

“Regional manufacturing activity has stalled over the past two months,” observed the bank. “The broadest indicators of growth—general activity, new orders, and shipments—have all remained slightly negative for at least the last two months.”

Fedex, the second-largest package shipping company in the United States, announced Thursday that it would cut 1,700 jobs, in line with a gloomy projection for US business.

“We expect a phase of somewhat slower economic growth going forward,” said CEO Fred Smith in the company’s second-quarter conference call on Friday. “Slower growth is consistent with historical business cycles,” he said.

The number of people putting in new claims for unemployment benefits remained basically unchanged last week, at 450,000, the same level as nine months ago, and nearly double the pre-recession level.

In short, all indicators point to a protracted economic slump, with little, if any, improvement in housing prices. The bad housing market will further hurt families burdened by falling wages and high unemployment. According to figures released by the US Census Bureau on Friday, one in seven Americans is now living below the poverty level, and the total number living in poverty, nearly 44 million, is the highest since the 1960s.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics said Friday that real average hourly earnings for production and non-supervisory workers fell again in August. A 0.3 percent increase in prices wiped out a 0.2 percent increase in average hourly wages, leaving these workers with a 0.1 percent fall in average hourly earnings.

Housing prices are down 28 percent since 2006, leaving nearly one quarter of mortgaged houses “underwater,” or valued at less than what their owners owe on them. In some states, the majority of homes are in this condition.

In Nevada, for instance, 68 percent of homes were under water, with the total value of mortgages being more than double the total value of houses.

Meanwhile Corelogic, a California-based real estate tracker, said that housing prices in some cities, such as Detroit and Las Vegas, will not return most homeowners to positive equity for another 10 years. And in a separate interview with Bloomberg radio, Fannie Mae chief economist Sam Khater said that there are 7 million US homes that are either vacant or in some stage of foreclosure.

Economists expect prices to drop—some by up to 10 percent, before the US housing market begins a lasting rebound. There had been a temporary resurgence in home values earlier in the year, but this ran out of steam as the Obama administration withdrew a tax credit to encourage first-time homebuyers in May.

Fannie Mae, the home mortgage company, said in a report issued Thursday that the expiration of the tax credit “suggests weakening home prices” in the coming period, and that the company projects a 7 percent decline in home sales in 2010, putting even more homeowners underwater.

The latest figures underscore the critical absence of any government programs to create jobs or alleviate the plight of families in foreclosure.

The “Home Affordable Modification Program,” which the Obama administration promised would help up to 8 million people adjust their mortgages, has to date offered permanent mortgage modification to only 422,000 homeowners. This figure is miniscule compared to the 10 million home foreclosures that are expected through 2012. But even this small assistance has taken the form of an adjustment to borrowers’ monthly payments, and not the total amount that they have to pay.

Instead of helping workers and homeowners, the administration has recently announced a program that would further extend tax credits for businesses, including write-offs for research and capital investments.

18 September 2010

wsws

Bahamas Blog International

Making the WTO democratic

By Sir Ronald Sanders:


The World Trade Organization (WTO) held its fifth public forum in Geneva over three days beginning September 15. It has become a kind of international bazaar in which every conceivable idea on trade and development is discussed formally and informally by representatives of virtually every government in the world and more Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) than can be easily counted.

A great deal of talk takes place without too much follow-up action.

But, maybe that’s the point. People who talk to each other aren’t warring, so long may the talk continue.

That’s not to say that good ideas don’t emerge from this overcrowded market place. They do. But many perish shortly after they are unveiled, usually because representatives of a powerful government or group of governments regard them as a threat to their interest, and quickly kill them off.

I was in Geneva for a Writers’ Conference on a book on negotiations in the WTO for which I am contributing a chapter. All the writers are from what used to be called the “third world,” a description seldom used these days, not because we have miraculously graduated into some better world, but because other descriptions suit the agenda of those who dictate the form of discourse on the global economy. Far better, in their view, to describe poor countries as “emerging” or “developing” whether or not they are really emerging or developing.

The purpose of the book, which has been commissioned by a progressive organization called CUTS International, is to tell the story of the many aspects of WTO negotiations from the point of view of negotiators from developing countries.

When it is published, it should make fascinating reading. It will break new ground in presenting the personal knowledge and experiences of the writers who were either in the trenches of the negotiations or were marginalized from the “inner sanctum” in which only the rich and powerful nations enjoy belonger’s rights, and into which they invite only those they wish to suborn in order to stich-up deals.

Of the many features of the WTO which point to the need for reform, this insider trading - in what has come to be called ‘the green room’ - is among the worst. No democratically managed organization should continue a process which so blatantly excludes from decision-making the weak, poor, small, and vulnerable nations which – as it happens – make up the majority of world’s countries.

That it has continued so long is entirely the fault of the majority of governments who allow it to happen without tangible and meaningful protest, such as packing their bags and going home leaving the ‘green room’ insiders to deal only with themselves, and returning only when there is a table at which representatives of all parties sit as equals.

But, that would call for two things – courage and solidarity, two very scarce commodities among “third world” governments these days. National interests have changed, some argue, and in pursuing these interests following a “third world” strategy is not productive.

It is worth, noting, however, that a “developed countries” strategy has never altered. The world’s industrialized nations continue to cling to their councils and to exploit their advantages. For instance, the creation of the G20 (the industrialized nations and the larger and wealthier developed countries) has not overshadowed - let alone eliminated - the G7 (the industrialized nations alone) who continue to devise and coordinate their own global positions.

Against this background, I was surprised to hear Pascal Lamy, the Director-General of the WTO, say at the opening of this year’s Public Forum, almost boastfully, that while the G20 has signalled the requirement for institutional reform of some international organizations, “the WTO was not amongst them”.

Lamy went on to say: “That governance battle has already been fought in the trade sphere, and the outcome is a fairly democratic institution where the voice of the small cannot be ignored.”

I have no doubt that Lamy believes what he says, but his belief – however sincere and fervent – does not make his statement right. The governance of the WTO is still an open sore. Despite Lamy’s personal efforts, the organisation still reflects the preponderance of power by the industrialised nations and the marginalization of poor, small, and vulnerable countries.

“No board, no quotas. One member, one vote, is the background rule against which the WTO forges its consensus”, Lamy declared. Oh, were that to be entirely true, what a far better world would mankind inhabit than the one we endure today.

Sure, there is technically no board and no quotas, but every representative of a small or poor nation knows that decision making is still the preserve of a few nations whose economic power allows them to arrogate to themselves the right to dictate agendas and outcomes. The WTO is very far from the consensus decision-making body that it should be. It is still not yet even the “fairly democratic institution” that Lamy believes it to be.

Those who defend the ‘green room’ process do so on the basis that it is impossible to negotiate agreements with over 150 countries at the same table. There is truth in that. But it is equally true that representatives of like-minded groups of these countries can gather on sectorial issues that are important to them such as agriculture or services. This way their voices will be heard during the debate and account taken over their views.

Against this background, it is good for developing countries - and small and vulnerable countries in particular - that the Bahamas is now negotiating the terms of its accession to full membership of the WTO. No country can now afford to stay out of an organisation whose rules govern world trade, and every country should want a say in the rules of the game it has to play.

The Bahamas will strengthen the voice of small and vulnerable countries, who if they act with courage and in solidarity with themselves and other like-minded developing nations, can negotiate meaningful recognition and fair and flexible treatment for their people – in other words, try to make the WTO truly democratic.

September 17, 2010

caribbeannewsnow

Bahamas Blog International

Independence of the judiciary in the Caribbean

by Oscar Ramjeet:


There is separation of powers in the English-speaking Caribbean and throughout the Commonwealth, but sometimes the question arises whether or not there is independence of the judiciary. Although there might be complaints in some quarters, it seems to me that the judiciary is independent in the Caribbean Community.

In fact, I met several heads of the judiciary and senior jurists in the region in Barbados recently and heard no significant complaint.

The decision last month by Guyanese-born Justice Gertel Thom in St Vincent and the Grenadines to make an order for the continuation of an injunction to block the Boundaries Commission from increasing the number of constituencies from 15 to 17 until the determination of the substantive action brought by the opposition New Democratic Party (NDP) has prompted me to look at the operations of judges in the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court (ECSC).

Justice Thom's decision was a rather bold one, since it is not favourable to the United Labour Party administration in the multi island state, and I must say that it is commendable for Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves to make a public statement accepting the court's decision (whether or not he meant it is another matter). However, the fact that he issued a favourable comment augers well for the relationship between the executive and the judiciary in that country.

This is contrary to Antigua and Barbuda, where a minister of government made adverse comments against the trial judge who ruled against Prime Minister Baldwin Spencer and two other ministers of government in a election petition case, which now has the administration in limbo. The Antiguan minister said that if the judge had given such decision in Jamaica she could not have walked out of court -- a very unfortunate statement, which was criticised by the opposition Antigua Labour Party (ALP).

Guyanese-born Justice Louise Blenman made a very bold decision in Antigua when she found that there were breaches in the process of the last general elections in the constituencies that elected Spencer, John Maginley, Minister of Tourism, and Jacqui Quinn Leandro, Minister of Education, and vacated the three seats. But another judge the same day stayed the order and appeals were filed and later heard by the Appellate Court, but the decision has not yet been given by Chief Justice Hugh Rawlins and the two other appellate judges.

Over in Dominica, Vincentian-born judge Errol Thomas on August 25 made a ruling that Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerritt and one of his ministers, Peter Saint Jean, should face trial over a claim that they were not eligible to contest the last general elections because they have dual citizenship.

The same judge had made another controversial decision last October in St Kitts when he ruled in the boundaries case in which he found that the Denzil Douglas government violated the Constitution.

It is interesting to note that Justice Thomas was transferred on September 1 from Antigua and Barbuda to St Kitts.

Another Vincentian-born judge, Brian Cottle, made a ruling in St Lucia in August last year in which he ruled that a Cabinet conclusion on the Tuxedo Villas affair that allowed the Health Minister concessions for his Bonne Terre home as part of his Tuxedo Villas mini hotel was unreasonable and had to be quashed.

An appeal against Cottle's ruling was dismissed by the Court of Appeal last June.

Although judges of the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court are appointed by the Judicial and Legal Services Commission (JLSC) and do not fall under the regional governments, the administration is nevertheless responsible for accommodation, security, clerical staff, etc., and perhaps at liberty to make "life difficult for them" in their day to day activities.

It is said that judges who are close to the administration can get better facilities than others, but there is no serious complaint in this regard.

September 15, 2010

caribbeannewsnow

Bahamas Blog International