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A worker collects a piece of copper wire at the West Indian Salvage and Recycling Company Ltd, Bypass Road, Kelly Village, in November last year. – FILE PHOTO/AYANNA KINSALE

THE government has imposed a six-month ban on the export of old and scrap iron to deal with the theft and vandalism of state and private assets.

Under the Customs Act, the ban on all scrap metal exportation came into effect on August 12, after Cabinet met last Thursday and agreed to accept the recommendation of a prohibition order brought by the Attorney General.

It was only announced on Monday afternoon at a joint news conference held by Minister of National Security Fitzgerald Hinds and Attorney General Reginald Armour.

Perpetrators will be liable to a $15,000 fine under the 1904 Metal and Marine Stores Act or a $1000 fine and/or imprisonment of 12 months under the Trade Ordinance.

In the next three months, Armour will review the industry and draft a regulatory framework so that by November he could approach Cabinet again with the proposed legislation aimed at monitoring and reducing the illegal trade in scrap iron and metal.

He will also look at regional and international scrap-iron exportation legislation and make recommendations to amend existing regulations.

“It’s a very reluctant decision the Cabinet has come to. We have attempted to keep it within proportion, that is to say, six months, to February 23, and to allow for an even shorter period of three months if the AG is able to persuade the Cabinet.”

Once Cabinet is satisfied and persuaded by his proposals, the ban will be lifted.

If not, the restrictions will remain in effect for the following three months to give the government more time to draft practical legislation.

This move comes two weeks after Hinds signalled the government’s intention to introduce restrictions on the industry. Soon afterwards, the Finance and General Purposes sub-committee of the Cabinet met and finalised plans to bring the ban into effect.

Last week the sub-committee reported to the Cabinet that the situation needed “urgent short-term action so enable the government to bring the crisis under control,” Armour added.

Recently police recovered over $1 million in iron I-beams and steel poles belonging to the Ministry of Works which were found at a scrap-iron yard in central Trinidad.

TSTT and WASA have been severely hit by vandals, who have carted off millions of dollars’ worth of cable.

In July, thieves struck TSTT’s underground fibre optic and copper installation in San Fernando, interrupting service to tens of thousands of customers.

On August 4, vandals attacked WASA’s California Booster Station, carting off electrical cables. The estimated cost of the damage is $400,000 and the timeframe for repairs was said to be between three-four weeks.

On July 31, TSTT underground cables were stolen. causing a disruption of services throughout the country.

Before this, on June 26, approximately $115,000 in copper and batteries went missing at the National Gas Company’s Hamilton Trace, Moruga, station.

In early August, copper thieves escaped with 60 feet of copper cable and two three-way standby antennas worth $300,000 from a radio station. A reward of $100,000 was offered for information leading to the arrest of the perpetrators.

Armour said while he understands the ripple effects of this move on scrap-iron dealers, the trade has been turned into an illegal business and the government must regain control.

Until the ban is lifted, he said. a subcommittee will work closely with Minister of Trade Paula Gopee-Scoon, Hinds and Energy Minister Stuart Young to review and grant licences to permit the handling of certain types of materials that fall under the ban.

Only manufacturers who “export old material as a by-product of manufacturing goods or a surplus material not required for manufacturing them and old metal and scrap iron defined in that order” will be granted such a permit.

“Our intention is to keep the legitimate industry alive. but under constant review under this six-month period, so there would be no loopholes through which any illicit undertaking would continue.”

President of the Scrap Iron Dealers Association Allan Ferguson told Newsday he is in talks with his attorneys and will speak publicly on the matter on Tuesday.

He described the situation as “putting your children in a room without something to eat and telling them, ‘I’ll come back for you in six months.’”

Armour said the next six months will be used to review the old legislation and update the register system of scrap dealers and buyers.The target is to have a regular inspection and monitoring regime.

“This register will, under the new legislation, be available on our website so that everybody will know who is dealing in this trade. It will also give enhanced powers to the police to enter premises of offences suspected of being committed and also to inspect containers in which scrap metal is stowed before exportation.”

All this will be done with the consultation of all stakeholders.

According to the Central Statistical Office, scrap-metal exports escalated from $69 million in 2009 to $216 million in 2018 and have continued to grow.

But in the past two years, the number of perpetrators arrested for illegal trade and theft of scrap iron has doubled.

Police data revealed in 2020 there were 58 reports of scrap-iron theft and they arrested 30 people. In 2021, police responded to 87 reports and 52 people were brought before the court.

Between January and August this year, a total of 162 reports were made and police arrested 136 people.

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Black Immigrant Daily News

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Some 900 million people, or 96% of the population of the 35 countries of the Americas are currently protected by at least one of the six tobacco control measures recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO), up 50% from 2007. However, progress has not been uniform.

According to the Report on Tobacco Control for the Region of the Americas 2022, presented by the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), 26 of the Region’s 35 countries have achieved the highest level of application of at least one measure; but other measures such as increased tobacco taxes have made slow progress and nine countries have not yet taken any action.

“Tobacco causes nearly a million deaths in the region every year and it is the only legal consumer product that kills up to half of those who use it,” said Dr. Anselm Hennis, Director of PAHO’s Department of Noncommunicable Diseases and Mental Health. “The response to this enormous threat must be equally aggressive. Control measures work and we must move more quickly to implement all of them.”

The report shows that, in 2021, of 35 countries in the Americas:

24 are implementing measures to protect against exposure to second-hand smoke
22 require large graphic warnings about the dangers of smoking on tobacco product packages
10 have surveillance systems with recent, periodic, and representative data on tobacco use by adults and young people
6 offer a comprehensive system to help people quit smoking
9 establish total bans on tobacco advertising, promotion, and sponsorship
3 apply indirect taxes to cigarettes that account for 75% or more of the retail price.

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Progress in the application of the six measures known as MPOWER, established by WHO in 2008, has helped reduce the prevalence of tobacco use from 28% of the region’s population in 2000 to 16.3% in 2020, the second lowest in the world. In 2020, South America became the first smoke-free subregion of the Americas, where smoking is absolutely prohibited in enclosed public places, in workplaces, and on public transport.

Tobacco use is the leading risk factor for six of the eight leading causes of death in the world, and for the four most preventable and prevalent noncommunicable diseases: cardiovascular disease, diabetes, cancer, and chronic respiratory disease. All forms of tobacco are harmful and there is no safe level of exposure.

Addressing the threat of new products

The PAHO report warns that new and emerging nicotine and tobacco products such as e-cigarettes are becoming increasingly available and accessible, posing a threat to tobacco control. It also warns that the tobacco industry makes misleading claims to increase consumers and enter new markets.

PAHO/WHO recommends that governments put regulations in place to help prevent non-smokers from starting to use these products, to prevent tobacco use from becoming socially acceptable again, and to protect future generations.

Currently, the sale of electronic nicotine delivery systems is banned in seven countries in the Americas. Five of these countries and 13 others have taken partial measures to prohibit the use of these systems, limit their advertising, promotion, and sponsorship, and require warnings on their packaging. Fifteen countries do not impose any regulatory framework.

Source: Pan American Health Organization

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Black Immigrant Daily News

Below is a replica of one of the first airplanes which introduced Antigua to aviation when Johnson and Johnson (originally Johnson & Son Inc.) in 1935 decided to commission a special Sikorsky aircraft to fly from America to Brazil to locate a specific plant for its pharmaceutical inventory.

In 1998 J&J decided to build the prototype shown and retrace the route in celebration of their exploration. Below is the then 9 year old Ports Services Ltd. the aircraft handler, and Mr. Frank St. Hilaire, who was the Trinidad & Tobago operator who welcomed the original aircraft as it tech-stopped in T&T en route to Brazil.

Soon after,  the Mill Reef home owners persuaded Panam to place Antigua on their Southern route,  and thus began Antigua’s thrust into Aviation as the top of the line airlines realized Antigua was an important destination and tech-stop in the Caribbean. BOAC  (now BA) from England came next, and down the years Antigua welcomed airline carriers from the U.S., Europe, South America, and Military Aircraft of all sizes from US, accommodating even the biggest airfreight carrier from Russia.

As a consequence Antigua over the years has grown an enormous segment of aviation and airline-trained personnel who have filtered into the hospitality sector, other business development and into the entrepreneurial field. These persons,  increased phenomenally by LIAT based in Antigua,  all whom are extremely knowledgeable on the key principles of Aviation, have achieved compliance affirmation re the three imperatives of Rules, Regulations and Transparency, as dictated by International Air Transport Association (IATA) and the International Civil Aviation Authority (ICAO.)

With a working population of 60,000 plus (?) it follows that Antigua can boast of one of the largest per capita aviation intelligence in the region.

It therefore is no surprise that Antiguans by and large have expressed alarm at the strange aviation proposition of a Trans-Atlantic airline which expects to lift off within a three month timeframe.

Further, the absence of any knowledgeable persons at the signing of such important documents, opens the conversation to questioning of the absent Permanent Secretary, Aviation, the Coordinator (ICAO), the Aviation Advisor to the Minister, or even a spectator from ECCAA. The Minister of Aviation was noticeably absent.

Whereas the Government is at pains to encourage Antiguans to ‘stop negative talk’ regarding the Nigerian aviation investor and his Antigua Airways, Antiguans are knowledgeable that Aviation is the second most dangerous business enterprise in the world, after space travel, and respect the fact that there is no overhaul capacity in airspace.

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Residents of Melajo, Vega De Oropouche, fill water at a standpipe in the area. PHOTO COURTESY EMROLD JAMES –

WATER, everywhere but not a drop to drink. That is the cry of over 100 households from the community of Melajo at Vega De Oropouche, which has been without a pipe-borne supply since May.

Speaking to Newsday on Sunday, spokesman for the residents, Emrold James, said they depended on rainwater and a nearby standpipe for water.

James said innovative villagers have taken to filling water drums on their vans, and selling it to others who are without transport. He said some kind-hearted neighbours who have greater storage capacity, have taken to “lending” villagers, containers of water in emergency cases.

With children on vacation, James said the situation was dire.

“Right now, I have water bottles in my trunk which I am taking home to flush the toilet.”

One of his neighbours, Jovica Henderson, said several of his family members lived in the area, including his grandparents, uncle, aunts and brothers.

“We are a low-income community and we cannot afford to buy water. To fill a 500-gallon tank, the cost is $300 and that last just a few days.

“It’s a real strain because, even though we are not getting water, we still have to pay our WASA bill every quarter.”

Darren Clement, another resident, said he lived on a hill so his situation was even worse.

“I have been suffering for over one year because when water comes and the pressure is low, it does not reach my home.”

Clement said six people lived in his household and a 500-gallon tank of water lasted just about a week, once they used it sparingly.

Resident Bobby Ali was so incensed by the horrors of having no water to care for his family of eight, he used some colourful language to refer with WASA.

“If I was f—— depending on WASA, I dead right now.”

James explained, some time ago, trucks traversing the roadway to get to quarry in the area damaged some of the water mains.

Residents subsequently mounted a protest for the bad roads and the water problems.

“That caused some problems. WASA came and fix the lines, but still no water. This problem happening long before the road situation.

“No one can tell us why the water is reaching the standpipe, but going no further to our homes.

“The pressure is so low at the standpipe that we cannot even use a hose to fill barrels on van trays. People have to full these barrels by the bucket.”

He said they really need the situation resolved.

WASA’s communication manager, Daniel Plenty, via WhatsApp message said a WASA team would be dispatched to the area on Monday to resolve the issue.

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