Black Immigrant Daily News

by Ms Melinda Goddard, MBA

Sometimes some slow changes are hard to see, but an unexpected guest seated at every meal is hard to miss! The last four administrations have gradually taken the tab for our government from $5 to $20 Million every month – just for operations! Assuming we still have some 5,000 kitchen tables in Anguilla, that means they’re sliding about $4,000 EC every month under each of those tables, with most taxes devoured unseen at the port – and now, a full spread of GST on top! And…That’s not counting all that debt they forced us to swallow by failing to curb their appetites and borrowing too many cups of sugar.

A Buffet – without a Patio, Tables or Chairs!

With GST, Canned Tuna tax is 24%. 1 of 4 cans “feeds” Civil Servants, instead of our families!

Nothing to see here. There is less than 1% in that budget for road maintenance, and not a penny for totally new roads, new offices, schools or terminals. Not even a pillar of salt. Those are in a separate Capital Budget.That $20 Million per month for the Recurrent Budget, however, includes at least $109 Million per year for salaries, wages, pensions, and other emoluments – that is, direct payments to civil servants! There is a very small amount for back pay that you might think was half the budget, if you listen to some accounts. It is a few crumbs.We also pay nearly $4 Million a year for general and House “allowances”! They allow people to have lunch brought in, office meetings and drive government cars, as a couple of examples. But there are separate budgets for “Hosting and Entertainment” and one for “Sundry Expenses” – in addition to Allowances! And, we pay for civil servant local and international travel, meals and incidentals, House of Assembly expenses – and subscriptions, periodicals and books, supplies and materials that they eat up in those 39 departments, and for “Operating Cost” in general! In addition, we specifically fork out about a million for civil servant phone and Internet megabytes, and nearly $5 Million a year for their electricity – before recent increases!

With GST, Canned/Preserved Vegetable/Fruit tax is 24%. 1 of 4 cans “feeds” Civil Servants, instead of our families!

Outsourcing Government: One Grill, Lots of Chefs!There’s nearly another $8 Million per year for insurance, while many governments notably self-insure in other countries. There’s about the same for Rental of Assets and for Heavy Equipment, and over $6 Million a year for Consultants! As if 1,315 civil servants aren’t qualified to get a job well-done with nearly $5 Million in the Training budget – and that’s before statutory bodies add icing to that cake! Gobbling up some $4 Million per month, statutory bodies, like the Health Authority, Board of High School Governors and the Tourist Board – add gravy on top of the expenses for the Ministries of Education, Health and Tourism, among many other boards and subventions. But, when we get BOTH a statutory body AND a Ministry, it’s like paying for 2 pizzas and getting 1 empty box! Having take-out government bodies gives us duplicate executives, duplicate Finance, Human Resources, Facilities, and Purchasing for the same services! Wow.

Smaller Bites for Youth and Culture – and Cuts to Public Assistance!Smaller budgets include Sports, Youth and Cultural development, as well as Gender Affairs and Advertising! ’Guess they need lots of hiring ads to keep stuffing that bloated government with all those young people. How else can we keep 39 departments largely filled with folks cooking up ways to collect fees and taxes while making it harder for everyone else to eat? Of course, education, police, waste management, prison, public assistance and medical treatment are essentials – but they took nearly $7 Million off the plate from Public Assistance just this year!

Domestic eggs are GST exempt, but most are imported. With GST, Imported Egg tax is 29% before mark-ups. ~1 of 3 eggs “feeds” Civil Servants, instead of our families!

Good Governance Left the Table!As past administrations failed to properly feed a healthy government while building up financial strength, our Governors signed off on one sour plan after another, year after year. How? A Budget is a formal Appropriations Act and requires House of Assembly votes from our Ministers – AND sign-off by our Governors. They only brought unseasoned technocrats to starve us with taxes after fattening us up for more debt, pushing people into poverty, risking higher crime and chronic disease rates, and nauseating tourists, investors, and school leavers as soon as the rotten smell of GST wafted their way.So, now we are all feeding civil servants at every meal, instead of being served by a world-class, re-engineered Public Service that is fit-for-purpose. They could have sent efficiency experts to right-size the government with recipes for gradual restructuring without burning the place down. Instead, they cordially poured the wine for Ministers sliding off their chairs into debt and then happily humiliated them with GST – instead of fostering practical pathways to temperance, like tax and hiring freezes, salubrious scheduling, and early retirements.No, they left the table without ensuring that every department and position palatably served the public, while distilling fewer, more meaningful jobs for civil servants – and educating our People for a fit private sector. They allowed the very public service that reports to them to grow obese and unhealthy even for those who serve, as well as the rest of us who must feed them. Just the service charge on those loans from years of financial feasting is over $1 Million per month! And…Politicians must cure their cravings for construction, contracts and cherries on top, instead of preparing meals within our means and saving a serving from every season of plenty for reserves.

1,315 Uninvited Guests Need to Share Solutions, Not Our Supper!GST has sickened everyone who has tasted it, and we are feeding uninvited guests at our tables with every fourth bite of our food budgets being consumed by taxes. While a few civil servants have been uncivil while shoving GST down people’s throats, most are surely suffering from empty stomachs and pantries after also losing 13% of their purchasing power – and from a spoonful of shame for taking bread from others’ tables.By adopting alternative taxes, by perhaps working leaner on fewer days, and by steadily streamlining and dieting over time, we can all bring a healthy dish for sustainable solutions to restore Anguilla to being proud, strong and free – as she once was so sleek, before GST.

Repeal GST. Now.

This article reflects cultural and economic issues raised on July 5, 2021, by Ms. Melinda Goddard, Principal of ClienTell Consulting, to the House of Assembly Select Committee on (GST) Goods and Services Tax Public Hearing. References: Budget Address (2022); Integrated Customs Tariff (Amendment) Regulations (2019).

NewsAmericasNow.com

Black Immigrant Daily News

Primary School Debators at the mute

Approximately 37 primary school students from the six (6) public primary schools on Anguilla recently participated in a Debate Training Camp organised by the Anguilla Community College in partnership with the Department of Education. The camp was held at the Teachers’ Resource Centre over the course of Monday 22nd August through to Friday 26th August 2022, and set the stage for the hosting of the first ACC Inter-primary Schools Debating Championships, slated for October as part of College Week 2022.

Participants in attendance comprised students who were selected by their schools to represent them in the upcoming championships. They benefitted from the knowledge and expertise of a number of persons known to have either debated in the past, coached, and/or assisted with the preparation of school-related debates at national and regional levels. In this regard, a number of sessions related to the art of debating were held following a planned schedule.

The session on Monday 22nd introduced students to the concept of Debating and was conducted by Mrs. Rita Celestine-Carty. On Tuesday 23rd, students benefitted from a session entitled “Debate Structure: How a Debate is Organised”. Mr. Dwayne Adams conducted this session. Wednesday

Judges and audience

24th saw Mrs. Mikeela Skelleie-Cunningham, Mr. Colin Johnson, and Mrs. Dayna Connor, dealt with “Debate Techniques and Presentation Skills”. On Thursday 25th facilitators guided students, in small groups, on the actual preparation for a debate including coaching and giving them tips on how to research a topic and execute it. On the final day, Friday 26th, students engaged in mock debates, applying all that they learned about debating throughout the week. They were each given immediate feedback on his/her performance by the facilitators.

The camp culminated with a soft launch of the Debating Championships and an official handing over of the sponsorship cheque by Mr. Dexter Ward, Manager of Sol Anguilla, the official sponsors of the event.

Mr Dexter Ward presents cheque toDr Michelle Queeley

Dean of Studies at the Anguilla Community College, Dr. Michelle Queeley, has hailed the recently held ACC’s Inter-primary Schools Debating Training Camp as a tremendous success. Dr. Queeley, who was at the forefront of the planning and execution of the camp, observed:

“This camp was designed to equip students with the knowledge, skills, and dispositions that are necessary for them to debate effectively,” she said. I was especially pleased with the large turnout of students, the enthusiasm that they displayed during the sessions, as well as the overwhelming support of parents and the wider school communities.”

Looking beyond the competition, she highlighted the long-term aims of the Debating championships as:1. fostering students’ interest in issues that affect them;2. developing students’ critical thinking, research, oral and written communication skills; and3. promoting school pride and friendly competition.

“The ACC,” Dr. Queeley said, “looks forward to a large turnout of the general public to the debates in support of the students’ efforts in October.” She is very grateful to Sol Anguilla for their kind sponsorship of US$5,000, and she looks forward to their continued partnership with the Anguilla Community College.

More information about the upcoming championships will be shared with the public in due course.

NewsAmericasNow.com

Black Immigrant Daily News

A DeSouza Road family of five was left shaken following a shooting incident in the early hours of Monday, September 5.

A family member spoke to REAL News on the condition of anonymity, reporting that, at around 3 a.m., he heard four loud explosions that sounded like gunshots.

He says he turned to his girlfriend and said the gunshots sounded as though they were coming into the house.

The father of three says he got up and looked through a window, but did not see anyone. Not wanting to venture outside at that time, he says he waited until sunrise to inspect.

Much to his surprise, he says, when he and a neighbour went looking around the house they discovered several bullet holes.

One of the bullets damaged the styling around the door frame and was lodged there, he says, while a bath left on a table in the front yard was split by another bullet.

On the eastern side of the house, the man says, he was able to trace the path where a bullet penetrated into the living room and burst his son’s book bag – mere hours before he was to return to school.

The child was in the living room at the time and could have been seriously injured or killed, the father says – admitting that the very thought brought tears to his eyes.

Allegedly, another bullet went through a neighbour’s fence and struck the house; but that one reportedly was not retrieved.

In the meantime, the man says he is still frightened and is wondering what could have caused this incident.

He is speculating that someone was being chased and ran into his yard. He believes the attacker opened fire, thinking that the person had entered his house.

The victim further speculates that two persons were chasing the individual, and one ran into his neighbour’s yard, breaking his pipe. The other came through his property, which is fenced on all four sides, he says.

The man reports that he and his family moved into the area only three months ago, and he has not been in any confrontations since then.

He notes that he or his daughter could have been injured, given where they were sleeping, and he implores persons to think about the safety of others before discharging a weapon in a residential area.

The Police were notified and have since visited his home and conducted investigations. Three bullets were retrieved from the house and four spent shells from the road.

CLICK HERE TO JOIN OUR WHATSAPP GROUP

NewsAmericasNow.com

Black Immigrant Daily News

El representante por el Partido Independentista Puertorriqueño, Denis Márquez Lebrón, informó en RADIO ISLA que ayer la Autoridad de Energía Eléctrica (AEE) les dijo ayer que la negligencia de LUMA está afectando las plantas generatrices.

“La propia Autoridad de Energía Eléctrica nos dijo ayer y nos sometió ayer mismo en un documento de que las consecuencias que está teniendo esto en las plantas generatrices, por la falta de acción o de negligencia de LUMA”, expresó Denis Márquez.   

Denis Márquez agregó que en la Autoridad de las Alianzas Público Privadas “no hay un solo funcionario que tenga conocimiento o peritaje en el área de transmisión y distribución que pueda entender los documentos o entender lo que está viendo”. 

[embedded content]

NewsAmericasNow.com

Black Immigrant Daily News

PORT-LOUIS

La production de Meurtres au paradis, la célèbre série télévisée franco-britannique, a tourné, jeudi dernier, le 3e épisode de la saison 12. Celui-ci sera diffusé sur le petit écran en juin 2023.

France-Antilles Guadeloupe

684 mots – 06.09.2022

NewsAmericasNow.com