Black Immigrant Daily News

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Former Tourism Minister Dominic Fedee has declared that he welcomes any investigation by a Special Prosecutor.

He made the comments during a recent appearance on the Hot 7 Television programme ‘Good Morning Saint Lucia’.

Regarding whether he had anything to fear, the former Anse La Raye-Canaries MP said he welcomed a probe.

“I want them to begin every investigation. In fact, I will make every record I have available. I will open up all of my assets. I will open up my house. They could come any time they’re ready,” Fedee told programme Host Shannon Lebourne.

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His remarks came against the backdrop of the recent enactment of the Special Prosecutor Act.

It empowers an attorney-at-law appointed by the Judicial and Legal Services Commission to serve as Special Prosecutor.

The legislation also authorises the Office holder to receive complaints and investigate credible reports of corrupt conduct by incumbent public officials and also public officials who have demitted office.

But while making it clear that the opposition United Workers Party (UWP) supports any measure to clean up government, Fedee advised the Saint Lucia Labour Party (SLP) government to look within.

“I would say to this government you need to start with your own cabinet,” the former MP asserted.

“There are very unsavoury characters within the cabinet of the Saint Lucia Labour party that the government must take a hard look at itself, look very deeply in the mirror and ask itself whether it has the moral authority to make any pronouncement, much less to investigate corruption,” Fedee stated.

He also raised questions regarding the constitutionality of the Public Prosecutor Act, asserting there would be ‘some collision’ with the duties of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP).

According to Fedee, the government could have beefed up the Office of the DPP which has been crying out for resources.

“When you look at how the Public Prosecutor is appointed, you have that the Legal and Judicial Services Commission will consult the Attorney General. Now, why should the Legal and Judicial Services Commission consult the Attorney General?”

As far as Fedee was concerned, the commission should make the appointment, resulting in a ‘proper separation’ of the executive and the judiciary.

“I believe this is clearly political,” he asserted, adding that the Special Prosecutor measure was suspect and a witch-hunt, despite claims to the contrary by the government.

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Black Immigrant Daily News

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Black Immigrant Daily News

Jamaicans are being urged to get acquainted with the eight data-protection standards outlined in the Data Protection Act, 2020.

While the Act will take full effect in 2023, the Information Commissioner in the Office of the Information Commissioner (OIC), Celia Barclay, told JIS News that citizens must get a full understanding of what is required of them.

Ms. Barclay is also making a special appeal to data controllers, who handle and determine how individuals’ personal information is used.

A data controller can be a business owner or a teller who has access to customers’ banking details or a small community “pardna” banker.

“Although data protection is fairly new, everyone needs to ascertain how the different provisions of the Data Protection Act, particularly the data protection standards, apply to their specific data processing activities. And [they must] implement the most appropriate measures to ensure compliance,” she said.

Processing means any possible use of information that can identify a living person or someone who has been dead for up to 30 years.

The Information Commissioner advises data controllers to seek professional advice and technical assistance from a data privacy practitioner.

“There are several [data privacy practitioners] who are already operating in the market offering a range of services, legal and technical, to data controllers,” Ms. Barclay said.

Individuals are also being encouraged to learn and assert their rights as data subjects. This includes a right to knowing what personal data is being processed by a controller, the purpose for which it is being processed, how exactly it is being processed and to whom the data is disclosed during processing.

“Also, data subjects who have reason to believe their personal data is being misused can make a complaint to the controller and require that same be discontinued or remedied,” she said.

The passage of the Data Protection Act, 2020 made provision for the establishment of the OIC, which is currently being operationalised.

The OIC is responsible for monitoring compliance with the Act and attendant regulations as well as advising the Government on matters relating to data protection and access to information, among other things.

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Prime Minister Philip J. Pierre, just back from the Agri-Investment Forum and Expo II in Trinidad and Tobago, has told reporters that Saint Lucia agriculture is doing well.

“Saint Lucia is doing very well as far as our agriculture is concerned,” Pierre disclosed when a reference was made to the Trinidad and Tobago event.

In this regard, the Castries East MP noted that Caribbean Community (CARICOM) figures indicate that Saint Lucia had surpassed its fruit and vegetable quota.

“It wasn’t our figures,” Pierre asserted, adding that the disclosure represented good news.

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“What was revealing is the value-added products on the raw agriculture products. There were soaps, there were creams – a number of products can be manufactured,” he told reporters.

“There is cassava. There’s a big market for cassava,” Pierre observed.

And he declared that there’s great potential for agriculture.

Nevertheless, Pierre explained that to make agriculture attractive there must be a market and finance.

“And to get into the market we have to convert the raw products into value-added goods,” he said.

“We have been primary producers,” Pierre noted.

On the question of youth involvement in the sector, Pierre said a large component of young people involved in value-added agriculture was notable.

“The use of computers – the use of technology,” he stated.

“In Saint Lucia, our youth economy merges very well with that so we are looking forward to our young people getting involved as far as agriculture is concerned,” Pierre, also responsible for Finance, told reporters.

He spoke on Monday on the sidelines of a meeting of the Cabinet as CARICOM intensifies efforts to reduce the region’s US$5 billion food import bill by 25 percent come 2025.

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