Bajan Free Press

For all his crap talk about integrity legislation and his pre-election promise that DLP members would declare their assets, prime minister David Thompson was hit for SIX when opposition leader Mia Mottley sent him reeling in the House of Assembly yesterday when she PUBLICLY DECLARED HER ASSETS AND LIABILITIES, becoming the first Barbadian politician to ever do so!

BFPE

http://www.nationnews.com/story/360180682472633.php

MIA WORTH $3.5 M

Published on: 7/9/08.

by ALBERT BRANDFORD

MIA’S ASSETS EXPOSED!

In a dramatic and unprecedented development last night, Leader of the Opposition Mia Mottley publicly declared her assets and liabilities to the House of Assembly and challenged ruling Democratic Labour Party (DLP) MPs to do the same.

According to the document, as at June 30, 2008, Mottley has assets totalling $3.5 million and liabilities of $1.5 million.

The assets include houses at Frere Pilgrim, Lodge Hill and land at Cattlewash; three bank accounts; one vehicle; a credit union account; shares and mutual funds; part ownership in St Lawrence Management Inc. (which owns a condominium) and Barefoot Chattel Resorts Inc. and is settling a partnership agreement for 50 per cent of E.D. Mottley & Co. plus salaries from that company and as Leader of the Opposition plus $4 000 a month in rent from Frere Pilgrim.

Mottley’s revelations, the first by a Barbadian politician, stole a march on the DLP which had campaigned in the run-up to the January 15 general election on a platform that painted the then ruling Barbados Labour Party (BLP) as corrupt and guilty of a lack of integrity, transparency and accountability as well as of poor ministerial conduct after 14 years in office.

DLP president, now Prime Minister, David Thompson had promised that within the first 100 days, the new Government would enact a Freedom of Information Act and set up an Integrity Commission which he said would enforce existing anti-corruption laws.

He said the act would impose an obligation on a person in public life to make financial disclosures regarding his/her office or offices, his/her income, assets and liabilities and the assets of his spouse or relatives and all gifts made to him/her which exceeded a specified value.

Once the act came into force, he added, any minister or senior officer of Government would be required to make such a “disclosure” within three months of the passing of the new legislation.

In her 195-minute Reply to the 2008 Financial Statement and Budgetary Proposals delivered by Thompson Monday evening, Mottley said she was satisfied that MPs who wanted to serve in public life would have to face the legislation.

“There is more there to protect the innocent than to prosecute the guilty,” she said. “There are more people in Barbados who are innocent but because of the nature of a small society and the viciousness of partisan activity and rumour that invariably people who are not guilty of anything have their names tarnished.

“Therefore, you have a system which only reflects a mechanism for being able to trigger investigations – because the Prevention of Çorruption Act is there to deal with substantive corruption.

“In that context,” Mottley said, “I believe I have a responsibility to lead by example today by submitting as a document of this Chamber, and will do so as I sit, a full declaration of assets that I own and liabilities in this country.

“And I do so cognisant that while it may be inconvenient for my business to be made public, it is far more convenient for me to do so as an example of leadership.

“I invite the Prime Minister to join me because if he is as sanctimonious, and if he is as serious about transparency and accountability as he said that he was, then I believe that as leaders of the political parties, then both myself and the leader of the Democratic Labour Party should declare publicly.”

Mottley said the BLP group in Parliament agreed they would want members of the DLP to join them and agree “that as of next week, we will submit declarations of assets to the Governor General to hold in trust until such time as an Integrity Commission is functional”.

She disclosed that former Prime Minister Owen Arthur would follow suit with his declaration today.

We love this story!

It has a lot to teach us… about Caribbean unity… about battling rising food prices… and about new ideas.

Much better than the racism, hatred and xenophobia being pumped out by the slime-brains behind blogs like Barbados Underground.

Life can be better when Caribbean people (in this case Bajans and Guyanese) put our heads together for our own benefit.

Congratulations to Gladstone Gill and Randy Babulal.

Bajan Free Press

http://www.nationnews.com/story/328365646426235.php

Farmer fielding rice
Published on: 5/2/08.

Farmers Gladstone Gill (right) and Randy Babulal, with the rice grown as an experiment.

by TREVOR YEARWOOD

BARBADOS WILL SOON be producing rice. But it won’t be on the vast scale of Guyana – just on a quarter-acre of land.

Encouraged by some tests, local farmer Gladstone “Rudy” Gill is preparing to turn part of his holding at Braggs Hill in St Joseph into a paddy field later this month.

Rice cultivation requires a lot of water, which is one of the reasons why Barbadians don’t plant rice, but Gill says water is no problem for him.

The 44-year-old farmer is tapping a stream which runs through the land, from time to time disappearing in the area’s lush green vegetation.

“I got this idea to plant some rice when I visited Guyana recently and saw how it was grown,” Gill told the WEEKEND NATION.

“I decided I would get some seeds and try my hand, see how it turns out. People say you can’t grow rice in Barbados because you don’t have the water and rice takes a lot of water.”

With the help of Randy Babulal, a 26-year-old Guyanese who was planting rice at age 12 in Berbice on the family’s plantation,
he started the rice operation last January.

It was a totally new experience to the farmer, who up to then associated waterlogged fields with crop damage, including rotting roots and spongy vegetables.

An early problem he encountered was birds – they ate a lot of the seeds which were scattered across the experimental plot.

Another problem was that the water pumped into the field kept draining back into the river.

It meant extra work for the two, considering that rice “has to be in water 60 to 70 days” if one is to get a good crop, said Babulal.

The result was that Gill ended up with a small patch of rice, but nevertheless a healthy-looking crop which will soon be ready
for harvesting.

Gill is using a strain of Guyanese rice he calls “rustic” rice. “It takes about 110 days from planting to reaping,” Babulal reported.

“I am very satisfied with our production, and surprised by how good it turned out.”

Gill has been into farming for the last ten years. He grows a range of vegetables, including beans, cabbage, okras, tomatoes and cucumbers.

Water pump

“We wet everything with the water from the stream,” he said, pointing to a small mechanical pump.

To improve the holding capacity of the section of the stream which he controls, Gill used a backhoe to excavate the bed. “We went down about 18 feet,” he said.

The stream flows from somewhere in the region of Chimborazo and continues down to the area of St Ann’s Church.

Gill thinks it can adequately supply his farm year-round.

He has just started clearing land to the north of the experimental plot to plant more rice.

“Hopefully, in the next two to four weeks we will be into planting,” he said. “We will have to level the ground. We have to flood it as well.”

Gill is unsure of what the scale of production is likely to be, but says he will be looking to Hill’s rice milling operation to deal with the grain.

“They have been importing rice to package,” he said. “For the first time, they will be getting local rice.”

We agree with Mia Mottley. This useless DLP government has not kept a single one of its promises of what it would do in the first 100 days of coming to power.

Bajan Free Press

http://www.nationnews.com/story/326099964326301.php

ALL GAS
Published on: 4/27/08.

NOT A SINGLE PROMISE kept!

That’s the charge from Opposition Leader Mia Mottley as she accused the Democratic Labour Party (DLP) yesterday of unrealistic promises during the heat of the January election campaign.

The DLP Government marked 100 days in office last Wednesday.

Those promises were made “purely for the sake of winning that election”, according to Mottley in a statement issued to the Press yesterday.

“The major achievements of the Government in its first 100 days in office are the increase in the cost of living and an increase in apathy and cynicism among the voting population,” Mottley said.

She said the making of unrealistic promises during the campaign were in its simplest form “irresponsible, and reckless when taken to extremes”.

“For the Democratic Labour Party to have raised public expectation by setting a 100-day benchmark as the agents of change, is either a mark of incompetence, recklessness or both. Having created a false framework on which to build their policies, their performance for the remainder of this parliamentary term will indicate which one it was,” she said.

Mottley said the DLP was a party with considerable experience in Government, and thus could not claim ignorance of the complexities of Government or of the international situation.

In their own manifesto, she said, the DLP stated: “The price of crude oil consistently hovers around [US] $100 per barrel. Reliable forecasts suggest that oil prices are likely to remain in this range for the foreseeable future.”

“Oil is now at [US] $115 a barrel and their most recent action of passing on the full weight of the increase to Barbadians is only one example of the Government availing itself of options that do not allow it to appropriately protect the average consumer in Barbados.”

The Opposition Leader said Barbadians were still waiting for the Government to do some real work that would have a positive impact on their lives.

In a statement last night Prime Minister David Thompson said his new Government was grappling with the challenging realities it inherited and those that surfaced thereafter.

“We are supremely confident that with the continued trust, cooperation and reasoned thinking of the people of Barbados, we will deliver meaningfully to the people of Barbados, notwithstanding the deteriorating global energy and food supply environment,”
he said.

He said since the January 15 election, he and his team of ministers and support staff have been working assiduously to move the process of development of Barbados forward.

Time for change indeed.

Gas gone up!

Chicken gone up!

Fish gone up!

Only NINE MORE DAYS to go to mark the first 100 days of the new DLP government.

Wunna seh wunna want change… so tek um!

Bajan Free Press

http://www.nationnews.com/story/356208504471061.php

Watson backs hike in fish price

Published on: 4/22/08.

Former president of the Barbados National Union of Fisherfolk Organisations Angela Watson sees nothing wrong with yesterday’s decision by fishing boat owners to increase the price of flying fish.

The owners operating at the Bridgetown Fisheries Complex on Princess Alice Highway made the bold decision to increase their price to vendors from $25 per one hundred flying fish, to $40. Their decision was made after last week’s hike in diesel prices.

Detrimental move

The decision was met with much resistance, as vendors refused to pay more than $30 per hundred, saying if they paid the increase it would seriously affect their sales to the public and local processing companies, and would be a detrimental move due to the current high cost of living.

According to Watson, contrary to popular belief, fishermen do not make a lot of money.

“The fishermen can sit down and come together and decide we are going to be selling the fish at $40 per hundred, and not go below that,” Watson told the media yesterday.

“We have always thought that was a reasonable price. When you think about all the input, it is about the actual cost per (fishing) trip now that the diesel prices are up,” she concluded. (BA)

A reader comments on the continuing saga of the Ghanaians in Barbados. We agree that the DLP government does not seem to be handling this matter in the best way possible, though it is a challenging one. While David Thompson cluelessly bumbles and stumbles his way through it, decisive action should have been taken long ago. What is the sense of saying you will have an investigation AFTER the Africans have been sent home when you should be conducting it IMMEDIATELY while they are still here?

Bajan Free Press

http://sil.ghanaweb.com/r.php?thread=3686419

It is disgraceful the way these people are being treated in Barbados. They should either be free or imprisoned, no wishy washy half-way measures like this where they have to return to the chicken coop at Paragon before sunset. We would never treat whites this way. Keeping black Africans under armed guard evokes images of slavery which many black Bajans are annoyed about, yet you people with your kalabule ways always find a way to earn your own misery.

This bumbling idiot we now have for a prime minister of Barbados (I never voted for him) says he will have an investigation into the matter AFTER the Ghanaians have been sent home. The stupid Bajan fool should know that the right time to have an investigation is RIGHT NOW while the Africans are still here, not after they have flown the coop.

But I know that Nii Okai will only tell all of his story when he is safe and sound on home soil.

Nuff Respect, Okomfo Anokye Bajan.

http://www.nationnews.com/story/322858782014318.php

OPEN DOOR
Published on: 4/20/08.

After being housed at the Barbados Defence Force’s Paragon military base for over a week, some of the Africans breathed a sigh of relief yesterday when they were granted conditional release from the compound. Second from left is John Howell of Global African Congress.

by TIM SLINGER

THIRTY-ODD AFRICANS who have been housed at the Barbados Defence Force’s (BDF) military base at Paragon, Christ Church, for the past week were granted conditional freedom yesterday, as they strolled out with broad smiles.

The visitors from Ghana and Nigeria who were left stranded after a Ghana Airways charter flight did not return to take them back last February 15, will be allowed to leave the military base between 10 a.m. and 6 p.m. daily.

The latest development followed a request to the Government by the People’s Empowerment Party (PEP) and the Barbados’ chapter of the Global African Congress (GAC) to grant the Africans temporary release.

In a letter to Prime Minister David Thompson last Thursday, PEP’s president David Comissiong wrote: “The PEP would like our guests to be permitted to return to their temporary Barbadian homes while they await a flight to Ghana, but your Minister of Immigration has made it clear that your Government is not prepared to allow this to happen.”

It added: “We are therefore now requesting that you at least allow these West African residents of Paragon to be permitted to leave the base during the day and to return by a stipulated hour at night.”

The temporary release of the Africans will continue until a flight is found to take them home.

Report to BDF

Additionally, all of them, including those now being housed by Barbadian families, were asked to report to the immigration for resettlement at Paragon.

Minister of State (Immigration) Senator Maxine McClean has confirmed that arrangements were now in place to allow the Africans to leave the army compound daily for the eight-hour period.

McClean said permission would be granted during which time the Government would try to get a flight to take the Africans home.

“I have given instructions to immigration until we can get a flight,” she told the SUNDAY SUN yesterday evening.

It was close to midday that a bus load of the West Africans were reunited with some of their friends who were living with Barbadian families. There were visible signs of emotion as they hugged each other and relived the ordeal of being stranded in Barbados for the past two months.

“We don’t want to be pitied. All we just want is to get back home and re-start our lives,” spokesman Caesar Ikeme said.

He said when the truth of their misfortune was told, those in authority would regret the action taken against them.

“We have done nothing wrong. We have not committed a crime. It is just the misinformed minority, because when they come to know the truth, they would know we should not be treated as such,” he added.

Ikeme also said there was nothing sinister about their visit to the Caribbean. He said most of them were only interested in setting up trade ties, or familiarising themselves with their “brothers and sisters in Barbados”.

Former Government minister and president of the Israel Lovell Foundation, Trevor Prescod, has urged Government to immediately begin the investigation into the circumstances surrounding the Africans’ plight.

“The Prime Minister indicated he would make a call for an investigation, as soon as all of these brothers and sisters depart for Africa.

“I, as well as members of the GAC, are fully supportive of the investigation, but what we are asking is to start the investgation now with the brothers and sisters [Africans] so they can tell their story,” he said.

Prescod also appealed to the remaining Africans who had not turned themselves into immigration authorities to do so immediately and avoid the likelihood of deportation.

The Immigration Department has also issued a call for them to get in touch with their offices no later than tomorrow.

The group of Africans arrived in Barbados on February 1 for a two-week holiday.

Please see also Page 11A.

http://www.nationnews.com/story/291498708002073.php

Bitter sweet taste of Caribbean
Published on: 4/20/08.

by TIM SLINGER

IT WAS LIKE A DREAM come true.

But that hope of reuniting with Mother Africa’s “sisters and brothers” in the Caribbean took a controversial twist – one that has left a trail of confusion and a bitter taste in the mouths of many.

“They say in America, do the crime and do the time. But we have never broken any law and whatever circumstances we are in right now are not of our making.”

The words of Caesar Ikeme, minutes after being allowed to leave the Barbados Defence Force’s (BDF) Paragon, Christ Church military base yesterday after being held there for more than a week.

He, along with more than 30 other African men and women virtually breathed a sigh of relief as they anxiously awaited arrangements for a flight to return them to their homeland.

They have all proclaimed they came to the Caribbean with good intentions and hopes to begin a harmonious relationship with their long lost “brothers and sisters.”

In shock

Ikeme, who is a university student pursuing a degree in sociology and anthropology, described their difficulties as unfortunate.

“The situation we find ourselves in is most unfortunate. Anybody . . . pray to God anybody you know, even your worst enemy, does not end up like the situation we are in,” he said.

He, like the others, Nigerian and Ghananian citizens, said they were shocked by some of the treatment they received, while emphasising that never once had they broken any of the immigration laws.

“We were locked up and all that – basically as human beings. We are not animals or pets, ’cause that basically is the situation in which we found ourselves,” Ikeme added.

Government has denied allegations that the Africans were mistreated.

Ikeme dismissed reports that some of them were part of a human trafficking exercise, noting that among the group which arrived in Barbados on February 5 was a wide and varied potpurri of artisans, entrepreneurs and intellectuals.

He said despite the trying circumstances which has been confronting them, they were impressed with the hospitality of Barbadian people.

“We all came to Barbados to see our black brothers and sisters in the diaspora, learn the way they think, see the culture they have here, make friends and in turn they (Barbadians) will see what we are like from the motherland.”

Another spokesman, journalist broadcaster Nii Okai has mixed emotions about his first trip to the Caribbean.

Okai, who also runs a talk show programme in Ghana, says the misfortunes should serve as a means of trying to mend the ties between Barbados and Africa.

“In every misfortune you find answers. This must not separate us, this must strengthen us,” he said.

“I have had a lot of experiences. From the beginning it was very interesting and I have that story. And after my flight didn’t come it also developed a different way and I also have that story.

“So I am going to tell both sides of the story when I return home,” he said.

* timslinger@nationnews.com

While researching information on the plight of the Ghanaians in Barbados, our friends at De Standpipe notified us about some delightful online Ghana music stations, which in turn caused us to come across this sweet melody from Ghanaian singer Kontihene called Africa Mama.

http://www.brightcove.tv/title.jsp?title=422561817&channel=301783393

Whatever the truth is with our present batch of West African visitors, there is certainly denying that their country has a rich abundance of musical talent.

Bajan Free Press

All around the world there is an outcry against rising food prices:

Riots in Haiti that killed four people, violent protests in Ivory Coast, price riots in Cameroon that left 40 people dead, demonstrations in Mauritania, Mozambique and Senegal, protests in Uzbekistan, Yemen, Bolivia and Indonesia.

Note also the reactions of some governments: India has placed restrictions on rice exports, the government of Guinea has banned the exportation of some basic commodities, Guyana has announced that it may cut exports of rice. We should expect this trend to continue as more countries control their agricultural output to secure food for their own people.

Several months ago Former Prime Minister Owen Arthur wisely advised Bajans to keep kitchen gardens and grow more of our own food, and we wish to echo that call today. Prime Minister David Thompson also cautions us that food security is vital. We cannot control the prices of imported food produced outside of Barbados, but we can surely do much better on the home front. We also encourage Barbadians to consider the land offer made by the government of Guyana. It is a sensible business proposition offering rewarding opportunities and should be regarded strictly as such.

In times when we are experiencing steep international increases in the prices of food and fuel, we should not fail to realise that these also present opportunities for investment in local and regional agriculture.

Bajan Free Press

http://www.nationnews.com/story/321410954904358.php

Food security ‘vital’
Published on: 4/17/08.

PRIME MINISTER David Thompson says the issue of food security must be taken very seriously.

He told businessmen in Port-of-Spain yesterday that as a region, “we must increase the output of agricultural produce and foods in particular”.

Thompson, who was the specially invited guest speaker at the annual general meeting of the Trinidad and Tobago Manufacturers’ Association, dealt with a range of issues in his presentation entitled: The Future Of The Caricom Single Market And Economy.

He pointed to the global issues impacting on regional economies such as the growing demands of India and China and the worldwide increase in demands for food and bio-fuels. These situations, he said, were likely to continue for some time.

Against this background, he said: “We must examine the question of food security very carefully. The costs of fuel will also increase the costs of importing foods and related inputs to agricultural production. The CARICOM Council for Trade and Economic Development has been studying the issue of food security for some time.

“You have a core group of food processing firms and agriculturalists among your membership who I believe are very capable of developing a response to this rising demand for food and CARICOM governments have an obligation to ensure that our agriculture sector can meet the needs of our people,” he said.

Of the CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME), Thompson said that it was here to stay. But, that its creation would require deeper social partnerships between regional governments, the private sectors, trade unions as well as civil society organisations.

“I have consciously put emphasis on CSME not only because I was asked to speak about its future, but also because I believe that a strong and sustainable CSME is a precondition for successful competition in the global market place,” Thompson added.

(ES)

http://www.nationnews.com/editorial/290067331009302.php

The Guyana land offer to Barbados
Published on: 10/16/07.

GUYANA’S OFFER to Barbadians and other nationals of the Caribbean Community for agriculture lands leased merely at BDS$10 per acre over a long period of years, has drawn sharply conflicting positions from spokespersons for the ruling Barbados Labour Party (BLP) and the Opposition Democratic Labour Party (DLP).

Not surprisingly, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economic Development Mia Mottley, who disclosed the offer following her recent visit to Guyana for the Trade and Investment Exposition (GUYEXPO), welcomed the gesture when she spoke of the potentials for both countries’ agricultural and economic development.

In contrast, the DLP’s candidate for St Michael West, James Paul, was dismissive. He deemed it “nonsensical” and “ridiculous”, and linked the offer to a claimed attempt by the Owen Arthur administration to divert Barbadians’ attention from problems of land acquisition at home with hopes of securing farmlands in Guyana.

To follow current public discussions from political platforms, a realistic land policy, embracing issues of ownership, location and usage in the context of integrated agricultural, economic and social development, promises to be one of the major areas of focus for the coming general election.

It is not clear whether the DLP’s Paul was reflecting the party’s thinking, or aspects of any related policy, or speaking on his own behalf. In the report published in THE NATION of October 9, Paul said his comments were to be considered in the context of his position as “executive officer of the Barbados Agricultural Society (BAS)”.

Whether his position coincides with or has the endorsement of the BAS, is another matter. However, both Mottley and aspiring parliamentarian Paul would be aware that Guyana’s extension to Barbadians and other CARICOM nationals of an offer to acquire long-term leased agriculture lands is in accordance with a prevailing non-discriminatory policy applicable to all Guyanese – at home and abroad.

It is rooted in a policy, across political boundaries, to encourage agricultural diversification and expansion with food security as a major focus that is integral to CARICOM’s multi-faceted sectoral programmes for the emerging regional seamless economy.

Therefore, as Guyana’s President Bharrat Jagdeo emphasised last week, and earlier articulated differently by Deputy Prime Minister Mottley, when it comes to the pepper-corn rental of US$5 per acre for a total of 15 acres, leased for 50 years, it is a standard policy for all Guyanese and now being extended to all CARICOM nationals.

It would be unfortunate should the offer – consistent with President Jagdeo’s lead responsibility within CARICOM for regional agriculture diversification, modernisation and expansion – be confused with the national policy of any community partner state, whether in our out of an election season.

Cooperation for mutual development is, of necessity, a two-way process; and Guyana equally stands to benefit from Barbadian skills and capital once the proposed partnership in the use of farmlands and related technological, transport and marketing initiatives are seriously pursued.

Too bad that we can’t replay the video on our blog, but Bajan Free Press gives FULL MARKS to Prime Minister David Thompson for his handling of the matter of the Ghanaians in Barbados as seen on tonight’s CBC-TV 7:00 pm evening news.

Firm, fair and open. His visit to the Africans (who are being rounded up at the Paragon defense force base) was a very good touch.

Shame on those who would seek to use this issue for political purposes. As much as we welcome closer ties with Africa, Barbados must deal firmly with putting out anyone who is here illegally.

Carry on, Prime Minister. You have our full support!

http://www.cbc.bb/index.pl/article?id=966863

Prime Minister visits stranded Africans

Prime Minister David Thompson says a full-scale investigation will be launched into the circumstances that led to several Ghanaians being stranded in Barbados. He made the comments after visiting them at the secure facility in paragon, where they are being housed. Yesterday seventeen Ghanaians and Nigerians reported to the Immigration Department, and were taken to the security facility at Paragon. Prime Minister Thompson says he agonised over the plight of the Africans, and visited the defence force base in Christ Church, to talk with officials and the Africans, and to assess the situation for himself. The prime minister says government wanted to ensure that they were being taken care of, that their medical and other needs were being met, and that they were not being detained as suggested in media reports. Mr. Thompson also encouraged other Africans to report their whereabouts or living conditions to immigration officials, so that things could be put in place for their safe return home. Mr. Thompson added that the government of Ghana would also be briefed about their stay in Barbados, so they could be facilitated on their return home. Meanwhile Ghana’s Honorary Council Dr. Erskine Simmons, who also toured the facility, said what happened was an unfortunate set of circumstances, which had nothing to do with the two governments. The Prime Minister also gave the assurance that the Africans will not be deported as suggested and that their passports will reflect that this is not the case.

The Amistad has arrived in Barbados!

We can’t wait to step on board. Welcome to Barbados!

Bajan Free Press

http://www.nationnews.com/story/291367327758573.php

Amistad drops in six days early for the show
Published on: 4/3/08.

Amistad’s captain Eliza Garfield (left) speaking about the ship. At right are BTA’s director of marketing services, Averil Byer (centre), and Goddards Shipping & Tours general manager Jo-Anne Pooler (right). (Picture by Charles Pitt-Grant.)

THE AMISTAD freedom schooner is already here, six days earlier than expected.

The Barbados Tourism Authority’s (BTA) director of marketing services, Averil Byer, said this historic ship arrived last Saturday evening, thanks to the favourable high winds.

It is now anchored at a “secret location” and will be escorted by flotilla to Fort Willoughby for the welcoming ceremony around 7 a.m. tomorrow.

The ship’s captain, Eliza Garfield, spoke yesterday about why Barbados was chosen as a stop-over point for the legendary cargo ship during its route that follows that of the slave trade triangle.

She noted that the island was “one of the more frightening places of the slave history of the British Empire . . . . but also, in all of the British Empire, it was the first to abolish the slave trade”.

Theme of the voyage is The Atlantic Freedom Tour, which is part of the 200th anniversary celebration of the abolition of slavery.

The Amistad story dates back to 1839 when 53 Africans were kidnapped from West Africa and sold into the transatlantic slave trade, with 49 of them being sold illegally to Spaniards in Cuba.

They were transferred to La Amistad for transport but the Africans seized the ship and killed the captain and cook.

They were captured and jailed by Americans but former President John Quincy successfully argued before the United States Supreme Court on their behalf and the 35 surviving Africans were returned to Africa.

Members of the public can tour the historic schooner on April 6, 8-11, 13, 15 and 16 from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. and from noon on Sundays. (TM)

We are indeed our brother’s keeper. Bajan Free Press is very happy to share this news today from the Nation newspaper. This is the true pan-African spirit.

Bajan Free Press

http://www.nationnews.com/story/314847405880326.php

JP help for Ghana group
Published on: 4/3/08.

JUSTICES OF THE PEACE have come to the aid of stranded Ghanaians in Barbados.

The JPs, whose president Demora Kirton described the Ghanaians’ situation as desperate, told the DAILY NATION: “We never anticipated being involved with a community matter of an international nature. However, remembering the Biblical term ‘he who is without sin cast the first stone’, we ignored all of the negative comments about the stranded Ghanaians/Nigerians still here.

“Preferring to see them only as human beings in a desperate situation, we opened our hearts and pockets to assist because of the circumstances,” she said. Kirton noted the association did community work on an ongoing basis.

Sixty-six Ghanaians and 30 Nigerians came to Barbados on the direct inaugural flight in January, but the Ghana Airways charter flight was unable to return to Barbados.

The remainder of the 146 visitors on that inaugural flight went to Trinidad and St Lucia.

After the failure of the return flight, some of the West Africans started working on a construction site in Christ Church. Since then, a number of people have offered money and personal items to help the group.

Ghana’s Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Dr Charles Brempong-Yeboah said recently his government planned to charter a plane to fly home the group.

Kirton said that until the matter was resolved, however, the Justices of the Peace Association would assist the stranded travellers.

“Sincere thanks to [several] people who have given us their time and shared their knowledge either at a training session or to address a graduation or awards function . . . thanks also to members of corporate Barbados who readily assisted us in various ways over the past years,” Kirton said.

The JPs association which celebrated its fifth anniversary last Monday, has the stated aim of ensuring “that the office of JP is always held in high esteem through development of ongoing training; as well as the promotion of peace, justice, and a safe and equitable society for all”. (PR/RJ)