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The Chase Files Daily Newscap 5/6/2018

Good Morning #realdreamchasers! Here is The Chase Files Daily News Cap for Sunday 6th May 2018. Remember that you can read full articles via subscribing to Nation News Online, purchasing Sunday Sun Nation Newspaper (SS), via Barbados Today (BT) or Barbados Government Information Services (BGIS).

BLP LIFTS OFF WITH A BIG BUZZ – Barbados Labour Party (BLP), you have lift-off! The island’s oldest political party hit the ground running Saturday night, staging an entertainment-filled campaign launch at the Weymouth Playing Field just outside Bridgetown. More than three hours before the scheduled 6:30 p.m. start, the cricket ground was a hive of activity, with hopeful vendors setting up their stalls, volunteers making last-minute adjustments, and engineers making their final sound checks. Then the sea of red came in with the night. BLP faithfuls, decked out in the party’s traditional colour, some of them waving flags like they were on Spring Garden for Kadooment Day, ran around the venue as the tempo rose. Deejays kept the large crowd in a partisan mood, playing a number of songs dedicated to party leader Mia Mottley. Kirk Humphrey and Santia Bradshaw, the BLP’s candidates for St Michael South and St Michael South East, respectively, also got extended shout-outs from DJ Turkey during his 30-minute set. By the time the first strains of the National Anthem were played at 6:42 p.m., limited space could be found at the venue, with hundreds taking up strategic spots in their lounge chairs. The event was opened by League of Young Socialists members Jamila Burgess and Davidson Ishmael. The party’s general secretary and campaign manager Dr Jerome Walcott, in welcoming BLP support, reminded those on hand the party had been rubbing shoulders with Barbadians for almost two years as a precursor to the May 24 General Election. “Tonight the march begins. This will be a march to victory on May 24,” he told the crowd. The fans were then treated to early performances by Dancin’ Africa, Pastor John Yarde and Mark Lord, along with three-minute speeches by a number of Barbadians upset with the path the country had been taken down by the incumbent Democratic Labour Party administration. Introduction of the 30 BLP candidates began at 7:30 p.m. with St Lucy’s Peter Phillips, St Michael North West’s Neil Rowe and St Michael West Central’s Ian Gooding-Edghill being the first to take their seats on the large podium set up in the centre of the pasture. (SS)

MOTTLEYS FIX – It’s not rocket science. Opposition Leader Mia Mottley threw down the gauntlet to the Government Saturday night, promising that many social problems the island was now facing would disappear under a Barbados Labour Party (BLP) administration. And then she gave the estimated more than 10 000 on hand a sneak preview of some of the solutions to be brought to save the country. Speaking at the Weymouth pasture during the party’s campaign Lift Off, Mottley said the South Coast Sewerage Project problems, a shortage of Transport Board buses and Sanitation Service Authority trucks, and free tertiary education were issues that would be solved immediately should Barbadians vote the Bees back in on May 24 when they go to the polls. “We will buy the trucks. We will buy the buses. We will fix the South Coast Sewerage Project issues immediately,” Mottley asserted during her hour-long speech. “They keep asking how we are going to do it. We will show them how to do it,” Mottley said to loud applause from the partisan crowd. Minutes afterwards, the party leader promised that, should the BLP regain the Government, from June 1 non-contributory pensions would be increased. “The days of pensioners getting $77.50 will be no more. From June 1 pensioners will get $225 every two weeks,” she said to even louder applause. Public servants also left the venue smiling after Mottley promised a BLP government would immediately sit down with the National Union of Public Workers to negotiate a salary deal, and should it not be concluded, a cost of living allowance would be introduced. Mottley said it hurt her to the core that transportation issues were leaving old people and schoolchildren stranded at bus stops. “How under this Government is it so hard to purchase 40 trucks?” she asked. With her 29 colleagues sitting in a show of unity behind her on a large stage, Mottley said her team had the innovation and ingenuity to come up with solutions to simple economic problems the current Democratic Labour Party administration could not solve. She said the country still faced a direct date with destiny when a foreign debt of BDS$120 million would be due, but she was confident a BLP administration could get the country’s economy back on track. The BLP leader said she was embarrassed that a Google search of Barbados could be headlined with the negative news about sewage flowing in the streets. Earlier, Mottley arrived at the venue around 9 p.m. in a scene befitting a rock star, with stilt walkers, flute players and tukband drummers escorting her to the stage. “We have a high mountain to climb. We are up to the task,” Mottley concluded. (SS)

DON’T BE FOOLED BY DLP’S 15,000 JOB PROMISE:CADDLE - Barbados Labour Party (BLP) candidate for St Michael South Central Marsha Caddle on Saturday urged Barbadians not to be fooled by the Democratic Labour Party’s 15,000 job promise. On Friday, Attorney General Adriel Brathwaite, the party’s candidate for St Philip South, promised to find work for thousands of unemployed Barbadians over the next two years specifically in the tourism sector. “As usual this Government has sought to make a lot of empty promises that they know they cannot back up or keep.” Caddle told Barbados TODAY during a clean-up of Britton’s Hill. “This Government is not in the business of telling the people of Barbados the truth.” Caddle added that based on the trajectory of the Government’s policies, these jobs were nothing more than imaginary. “Based on what they have been doing I don’t know where these jobs are coming from. Further the Attorney General said that they would have to re-skill Barbadians and raise the skill level of Barbadians to fit into these imaginary 15,000 jobs and yet they removed free tuition at tertiary level, so I don’t know how they are going to embark on a plan to re-skill Barbadians when many Barbadians simply can’t afford it,” she stressed. Caddle said dealing with youth unemployment and unemployment in general is high on the BLP’s agenda as will be seen in their manifesto scheduled to be released next week. She also said figures released by the DLP regarding unemployment in Barbados were not an accurate representation of the situation. “We have seen the figures revealed by the Government regarding unemployment, anybody who is living in Barbados today will not believe those numbers, just look around and you can see unemployment is at all-time high,” Caddle said. Caddle, an economist by profession, also commented on the recently released report by the Central Bank Governor Cleviston Haynes which predicted that the economy is on the brink of a recession. “We have seen the Central Bank Governor’s report and it shows a downturn, a contraction in the economy of 0.7 per cent,” she said, adding that that “part of the reason for that downturn is the many projects promised by this Government that have not yet come on stream and the employment opportunities promised with said projects that have not materialized.” Caddle will be going up against Minister of Tourism and International Transport Richard Sealy in the upcoming general election on May 24. (BT)

ALLEYNE FOCUSED ON THE YOUTH – Democratic Labour Party candidate for St Michael East, Nicholas Alleyne, has entered elective politics at this juncture out of concern for the youth of the constituency. Alleyne made this disclosure on Friday night while addressing a spot meeting at Martinique Road, St Michael. Alleyne, who was a Senior Loans Officer at the Barbados Public Workers Co-operative Credit Union, said some of the members of the crowd could speak of the level of service he offered during his working life. The first-time candidate, who hails from Licorish Village in the constituency, said he has family connections in both Martinque Road and the Ivy and bemoaned the poor representation by the current parliamentary representative, Trevor Prescod. Alleyne said: “St Michael East has not had proper representation, especially over the past five years. I could not sit back and allow this decay that has occurred to continue so I ‘raised my hand’ and I wrote that letter to the DLP signalling my interest to run as a candidate.” Alleyne said his plan for the constituency is to work with everyone to rebuild the communities. He boasted that the constituency produced outstanding doctors, lawyers and other professionals and argued that it could do so again. He gave his audience the assurance that once he is elected on May 24, their concerns would be fully ventilated in the House of Assembly. He promised to begin programmes targeting the youth in an attempt to develop a cadre of entrepreneurs in the constituency. Alleyne said: “I will be seeking to assist you with your business proposals, business plans and financial statements. I will point you in the right direction to provide that guidance for you. I want you to hold me to that, I am not making any promises, these are the things that I will be doing for the people of St Michael East. Many of the young men have good ideas but because of lack of funding they are unable to get the projects off the ground.” (SS)

DLP ROLLS OUT CAMPAIGN BUS – Ahead of its official campaign launch tomorrow, the incumbent Democratic Labour Party has rolled out its election bus featuring its 30 candidates.

Elections will be held here on May 24. (BT)

QEH: IT’S JUST A BOTTLENECK – The Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH) doesn’t have a bed shortage. What the island’s state-owned medical facility does have is an issue with the slow movement of elderly patients from the facility after being treated, which is causing a backlog on the already filled wards at the Martindale Road, St Michael facility. The hospital is making that clear in response to an article which appeared in last week’s Sunday Sun that revealed the QEH would soon be expanding the Accident & Emergency (A&E) Department as more elderly persons seek medical care there. “There is no shortage of beds. The QEH has 519 bed spaces at present. However, the problem is the elderly for care who are admitted, treated, and cleared for discharge, but continue to utilise hospital beds while awaiting discharge into a relative’s care,” the hospital’s corporate communications specialist Lyn-Marie Deane said. “The solution to the problem requires that elderly patients who have been cleared for discharge are returned to their homes and the care of their relatives,” Deane added. “This will result in decreased wait times in the A&E Department and allow for the efficient transition of patients from A&E to the QEH’s in-patient facilities.” The hospital confirmed there were currently 20 people who had been treated at A&E and admitted to the QEH and remained warded there, but not in the Emergency Department. (SS)

ANGLICANS REFUTE PRIEST’S COMMENTS – The Anglican Church has refuted claims allegedly made by one of its priests with regard to the church’s finances. In a statement issued Friday, Diocesan Administrator Canon Wayne Isaacs described the priest’s allegations as “baseless, irrational and outrageous”. In a media release to clear the air, Isaacs wrote: During the last week, some unfortunate, reckless and unfounded statements were made regarding the administration of the finances of the Anglican Church in Barbados, and in particular the reputations and characters of those persons charged with the responsibility of overseeing, compiling, preparing, scrutinising, verifying and reporting on the financial status of the Diocese of Barbados. “In the interest of clarity, the Diocese wishes to inform the public that its annual financial statements, together with notes, are audited in accordance with international auditing standards. Isaacs, who is in charge of the Anglican church until a new Bishop is elected, added that the Canons and Regulations of the Diocese required that the Audited Financial statements be tabled at the Annual Synod “where members of Synod, both clergy and laity, debate and approve such statements.” He added: “To date, the Diocesan Synod of Barbados has received unqualified reports from our auditors and the management letters to Synod have not highlighted any infelicities.” He therefore called on “the author and publisher” of the offending statements to “retract those statements” which he said “have had the effect of tarnishing the integrity of those attacked”. (SS)

SUNBURY CLOSES – Sunbury Plantation House, one of Barbados’ historic attractions, is undergoing major renovations. New owner Martin Ince, of Foster & Ince, is promising that when it reopens it will be a world-class attraction. Ince bought the 300-year-old property, located at Oldbury, St Philip, last year. Twenty-five workers, some whom have been employed at Sunbury for the past 23 years, were severed. Ince said some would get an opportunity to return when Sunbury reopens. “We are closed for renovation. We closed two weeks ago. We have to do pretty major renovations during the summer of 2018 and we will announce the reopening date during the summer,” he said. Without going into details, he revealed that there would be additions to the plantation house, but the grand architecture would remain intact. “It is the only plantation open house in Barbados that is completely opened as a business attraction on all three floors – that is going to remain unchanged. We are going to be sprucing things up and making additions to the property, improve the product that was there and make it into a world class attraction,” the tourism executive said. Sunbury, which was built in 1660 and still features mahogany antiques, old prints and a unique collection of horse-drawn carriages, has served as a major tourist attraction. It also has a restaurant and bar and was used for weddings and other functions. Sunbury was built by Matthew Chapman, one of the early English planters on Barbados. It was bought and restored by late optometrist Dr Keith Melville in 1981 who opened it to the public four years later. (SS)

ONICA LAID TO REST IN GUYANA – The two children whose mother was killed in a Swan Street salon almost a month ago will now be cared for by a maternal aunt in Barbados. The six-year-old son and three-year-old daughter of Guyanese nail technician Onica King went into their aunt’s care after Onica’s mother Vivian Jones left the island last week, returning to her native Guyana. Jones had originally indicated she wanted to seek legal custody of the children. Director of the Child Care Board, Joan Crawford, made it clear the agency had not taken custody of the two children after their mother’s untimely death. “The Child Care Board has not been involved in the care of the children. After the incident with their mother occurred, the maternal aunt came forward to take care of them. At the moment their welfare is not an official case of the Child Care Board,” she confirmed. Crawford also said the care and education of the children would now be the aunt’s responsibility. She noted, however, that Jones would have had to seek custody of the children through the law courts if she wanted to take them back to Guyana, where the family originates. Jones was finally able to obtain Onica’s body from local authorities the final week of April, and the 36-year-old was taken back to the land of her birth, and buried last Thursday in the capital of Georgetown. The maternal aunt was contacted recently through an intermediary, but indicated she and the family would not be conducting any media interviews and simply wanted to move on with their lives after Onica’s gruesome death. Meanwhile, Onica’s estranged husband David King remains at large. Rumours have run rampant that a body discovered off the rocks near the Bridgetown Fisheries Complex a fortnight ago was that of the wanted man, but police still have not officially released an identification of the body. “There hasn’t been any change in that matter. Other forms of identification such as dental records are being considered by the pathologist who conducted an autopsy on the body,” said police public relations officer Acting Inspector Rodney Inniss. According to the lawman, they are waiting on DNA results which could also confirm the identity. (SS)

DREAMS COME TRUE – Shouts and screams of jubilation reverberated throughout the Needham’s Ballroom of the Hilton Barbados Resort Saturday night as Tamara Bailey and Kareem Boyce were announced as the winners of the 2018 Forever I Do Dream Wedding competition. It was a fitting end to the competition, during which the finalists attended special events and met with the judges. The six weeks of competition culminated with an expo and seminars, which were well received by those who attended the event. The theme of this year’s competition was From This Day Forward. The Nation Publishing Co. Limited created the competition, now in its 17th year, with the objective of giving an engaged couple the opportunity to win the ultimate wedding package free of cost. (SS)

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