CARIBBEAN ROUND-UP
T&T pastor pleads for radical anti-crime action
PORT-OF-SPAIN — The growing wave of killings and armed robberies in Trinidad and Tobago has moved a church leader to call for radical measures to beat back the criminals, including house-to-house searches and the cordoning off, by the police, of some districts.
Pastor Andy Homer of the Marabella Open Bible Church spoke passionately about the crime situation while addressing a memorial service Tuesday held by the “W Connection Football” team for their colleague, striker Rolston James, who was gunned down at his home Monday by armed bandits.
While he spoke, National Security Minister Howard Chin Lee was admitting in the Senate that there has been an increase in the spate of serious crimes, in response to a question from Opposition Senator Wade Mark.
With 158 murders recorded for the year up to Monday this week, the opposition United National Congress senator questioned the national security minister on the government’s plans to alleviate the crime situation that is proving such a distraction and cause of tension in various communities.
Minister Lee said that the government was moving on various fronts to confront the criminals, including the introduction shortly of tougher anti-kidnapping laws and intensified joint patrols by the army and police in areas such as Chaguanas, San Fernando, Port-of-Spain, San Juan and also in Tobago.
For his part, Pastor Homer told the memorial service attendees for the slain football star that the crime situation had gotten out of hand and “we need to employ radical strategies” to rein in the criminals.
Areas such as Laventille, where there has been a series of gun-related murders over the past fortnight, should be cordoned off, he said, and house-to-house searches be undertaken for arms and ammunition and “flush out the criminals”.
Such a development, however, may necessitate imposition of a state of emergency and just last weekend Prime Minister Patrick Manning ruled out such a possibility at this time.
Guyana gets US$16.8 million World Bank credits
GEORGETOWN — Guyana’s poverty reduction strategy has received a further boost in financing with two interest-free credits of US$16.8 million from the World Bank.
The bank said in a statement yesterday that credits, to be made available by the International Development Association (IDA), will help Guyana to achieve three of its key objectives in poverty alleviation.
These embrace the stimulation of economic growth; strengthening governance and public sector accountability; and providing the poor with improved access to health care and education.
Director of the World Bank’s programme in the Caribbean region, Orsalia Kalantzopooulos, said that the credits will assist Guyana in freeing up additional revenues for the poor to benefit from health and education services within the framework of the bank’s “Millennium Development Goals”.
Two pay days for Barbados public workers
BRIDGETOWN — Barbados public sector weekly paid workers will now be paid twice monthly from next year, according to legislation approved in the House of Assembly on Tuesday afternoon.
Economic Development Minister Reginald Farley, who piloted the Financial Administration and Audit (Amendment) Bill 2002, said the new law will also make it possible for the use of credit and debit cards in payments to government agencies.
Weekly paid workers will be paid bi-monthly with pay day being the closest to the 15th of each month and at the end of the month. The government was also arranging for full electronic processing of payment of public sector workers.
The minister explained that over the years payment to employees of the Ministry of Public Works and Transport, constituting a large percentage of weekly paid workers, had progressed from paymasters moving around rural districts with large sums of money to payment by cheque.
Switching from payment in cash to that by cheque was done to protect paymasters from attacks by criminals. Now the system of payment by cheque was resulting in workers being off the job for extended periods to cash their cheques at the banks.
The new bi-monthly payments and use of the electronic system for so doing should resolve this problem, according to Minister Farley. The bill was supported by the parliamentary opposition.