Black Immigrant Daily News

For fifty years – since 1969 – the Pegasus was the only ‘name brand” hotel in our dear mudland. Imagine that!! Yet we’d been persuaded by the Brits that we were a “Caribbean” country – all of which were chock-full with five-star hotels that they could – and did! – flaunt in our faces!! The hotels, of course, represented the acme of “First World” fantasy living!! But juxtaposed with our shacks, maybe – as Marx suggested – if we had them, our revolution might’ve actually happened??

As it was, we had our solitary “Peg”, which gradually sank into genteel disrepair like the rest of our once-proud Georgetown Creole upper crust!! But thankfully, not into “disrepute”, like the nearby Tiger Bay quick-time spots!! It was joined by the Princess – now the Ramada Princess – next to the Providence Stadium, just in time for the 2007 Cricket World Cup. But it was a visionary President Jagdeo who set the Marriott brand in train in 2011, and completed same in 2015 – just in time for our oil boom!! The fella must’ve been psychic – since in 2011, the worry was how’d we ever fill the US$51M top-of-the-line 5-Star hotel!!

Now, even with the venerable Pegasus rising like a Phoenix (to mix two metaphors!) with its brand-new, futuristic, 12-floor, megalith-like extension, everyone’s sweating how soon the dozen or so other hotel projects are gonna be completed. To accommodate the deluge of business, overseas Guyanese and tourists who’ll be flocking to the shores of the FASTEST GROWING ECONOMY IN THE WORLD!! That’s right – that’s us!! And the erstwhile Caribbean destinations that used to snicker at us must be getting greener than sea moss!!One report in this paper described hotels for which the sod HAD BEEN TURNED, where the sod IS TURNING, and where the SOD WILL BE TURNED!! That’s a whole lotta sod in play!!But seriously, folks, while the average man and woman in the street are surely impressed that we’re finally getting to look a little less that your typical Third World picture-postcard dump, they gotta be asking when is all this development’s gonna be reaching them?? After all, the PNC Coalition left them in the trenches, being battered by COVID-19 as hundreds of businesses had to close or cut back. Then the PPP had to deal with the second whammy of the fall-out from the Ukraine war!! Supply-chain disruptions piled on supply-chain disruptions – all pushing prices to the sky and draining pocketbooks that were depleted, to begin with.

Well, all your Eyewitness can say is: the Government’s doing a dammed good job in this transition between the trail-wreck left by the PNC and pulling it out back onto the tracks of full employment!!The folks staying in those hotels will be opening up businesses!

…and Suriname protests

What we can’t afford to do is to imitate what’s happening next door in Suriname. There, the good citizens had voted in a man names Bouterse, who’d staged a coup in 1980, and in 1982 had lined up 15 Opposition leaders who criticised him and shot them dead. He appointed “civilian governments”, but he really ruled behind the scenes, and indulged in drug smuggling and gun running on the side!!

By 1987, he formed a party, NDP, but lost ignominiously in the elections – only to depose the Government with a telephone call in 1990!! Eventually, he won in 2010, and again in 2015. Go figure!! The young’uns had forgotten about his origins?? By then he’d not only drained the treasury, but put the country in debt to the tune of one-and-a-half-times their entire GDP!! Their foreign reserves had been wiped out.Now his supporters are picketing Santokie because he hasn’t solved Bouterse’s mess in two years!!Well, here, the CoI will soon confirm the PNC’s perfidies!!

…and growth

No matter where you look, economies have to first be allowed to grow – during which time some areas would grow more than others. But eventually governmental policies would smooth that out to deliver equitable development.Be woke!!

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Black Immigrant Daily News

Jamaica’s Prime Minister Andrew Holness and his wife, Juliet, the Member of Parliament for St Andrew East Rural, are celebrating 25 years of marriage today.

The couple shared sweet messages to each other on social media on Wednesday to mark the milestone.

“Happy anniversary J (@julietholness), today we celebrate 25 years of marriage. We look forward to many more years of love, happiness, family, commitment, and friendship,” Prime Minister Holness’s Instagram account captioned a photo of the two.

The same photo was posted on the Instagram account of Juliet Holness and extolled the partnership and friendship they’ve built over the years.

“Twenty-five years ago I married my best friend. Two and a half decades, two sons, countless amazing memories, many lessons and triumphs later, we remain committed to this friendship, this partnership, this journey of life together. Cheers to many more years of growing together my rock, my support, my confidant. Happy anniversary my darling.”

Their posts were immediately flooded with followers congratulating the two with some dubbing them a “power couple”.

“My favs hottest power couple out deh,” one follower wrote.

“Happy Anniversary to 25th anniversary to u both more and more blessings and love, cover them, Lord,” another commented.

The high school sweethearts and St Catherine High alumni got married in 1997. The couple’s two children are Adam and Matthew.

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Black Immigrant Daily News

C&W Communications has unveiled its strategy to help bridge the digital divide across the Caribbean.

An initiative entitled ‘JUMP’ has been introduced by the operators of the Flow, Flow Business, C&W Business and BTC brands in a bid to foster greater digital inclusion in a region that today still enjoys less than 50% broadband penetration.

“Low broadband penetration in the Caribbean contributes to diminished opportunities for individuals, communities, and local economies, but with the support of funding partners, we aim to significantly close this gap within three to five years through a comprehensive programme that focuses on providing access, devices, and digital skills,” said Rosario Veras, Senior Director, Marketing and Operations, C&W Communications.

Veras was speaking to an audience of regional heads of state and heads of government, along with regulators, telecom operators, and industry stakeholders at CANTO’s 37th Annual Conference & Trade Exhibition in Miami.

“Digital inclusion is about ensuring the benefits of digital technologies are available to everyone, and we must have intentional digital inclusion strategies and strive to eliminate institutional and structural barriers to technology accessibility,” she added.

Veras said ‘JUMP’ was a long-term investment aimed at changing lives, unlocking the potential of economies, and truly enabling progress across the Caribbean.

“We are committed to harnessing our resources and capabilities so more students can connect to their virtual classrooms, more people can benefit from telehealth and job seekers can improve their search for work and application access. Our core social mission is to connect everyone to the internet – irrespective of their income or where they live,” she said.

C&W Communications will be partnering with regional governments, along with non-profit organisations and private sector partners to ensure the success of JUMP.

“The digital divide is a large, multifaceted issue that requires holistic solutions, and a successful strategy requires building innovative partnerships, so we must co-create solutions in partnership with the communities we serve to ensure no citizen is left out,” she said.

“There is a role for each business, government, and community, and we are hoping to create an opportunity for all to bring their energy, commitment and collaboration on the mission of uplifting our region.”

Aamir Hussain – CANTO

Aamir Hussain, Chief Technology & Product Officer at Liberty Latin America, the parent company of C&W Communications, also addressed the conference on ‘The Future of Broadband in the Caribbean’.

“Broadband is a fundamental right of every citizen, and although there are currently 27 million users in the Caribbean, this only represents 60% of the total population and therefore there is a tremendous opportunity for growth,” he said.

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Black Immigrant Daily News

News

Chief Medical Officer Dr Roshan Parasram. –

Chief Medical Officer Dr Roshan Parasram said the BA.5 sub-lineage of the omicron variant was detected in 41 per cent of the samples sent for genomic testing in the last week. He said the variant was only detected in TT the previous week.

At the Health Ministry’s weekly covid19 media conference on Wednesday, Parasram said the BA.5 variant was driving a new wave of infections around the world.

“To date, omicron continues to be the dominant variant of concern in TT, with BA.2 narrowly remaining the dominant sub-lineage at 45.5 per cent of recent omicron samples. BA.4 was detected in 9.1 per cent of recent samples, and BA.5 was detected in 41 per cent of last week’s omicron samples, noting that it was first detected a week prior to that, so it seems to be gaining speed and overtaking BA.2 and BA.4 both locally and internationally.

“A couple of weeks ago, we would have had one delta variant as well, so there seems to be a very low presence detected in circulation.”

Parasram said some of the cases were reinfections. He said it was difficult to quantify the number of people who would be reinfected, especially if they had a mild version of the disease and did not need to seek treatment.

“In TT we haven’t quantified a particular percentage that has been reinfected, but most of the new variants of concern are prone to reinfection. This is why we have stressed on the booster programme and the importance of getting boosted, as another element of reinfection is the element of waning immunity over time.

“Most studies have suggested that you should get a booster every six months, then a second booster four to six months after that. It may not completely prevent infections, but will prevent severe disease outcomes in terms of morbidity and mortality related to them.”

The CMO said there has not been a great increase in cases at the long covid clinics thus far, but monitoring would continue in light of the increase in BA.5 cases.

“Arima has a specific clinic dedicated for long covid, while in other hospitals it has been integrated into the internal medicine clinics.

Health Minister Terrence Deyalsingh said the ministry would continue monitoring the numbers of covid19 cases as it had done after the removal of each restriction.

“We monitored after Christmas and New Years when we were expecting a spike, after Taste of Carnival, we monitored when we dropped the TTPass requirement and then the proof of vaccine, we monitored after the two large mass events in the Brian Lara Stadium and Port of Spain, and we will continue to monitor after Sunday. The next two-three weeks, by the end of July into early August will give us an idea of the effect.”

He congratulated the population on continuing to wear masks after the lifting of the mandate.

“Masking remains mandatory in health care facilities. We noticed in the public a lot of people remain masked, and it shows that they are managing their personal risk and doing the right thing. There are the odd people making comments, but the vast majority are taking the thing seriously and I’m pleased and grateful that masks were not ditched wholesale.”

Deyalsingh said he noted that many businessplaces were doing away with the requirements for hand sanitising, and appealed to them to continue inviting their patrons to sanitise.

“It’s not the law, but the three recommendations of wearing a mask, washing your hands, and watching your distance are still fashionable and should still form part of the public health landscape.”

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