Black Immigrant Daily News

A 5.0 magnitude earthquake struck south of the Dominican Republic early Wednesday morning, jolting people from their beds.

The quake occurred in waters southwest of the capital of Santo Domingo at a depth of 28 miles, according to the US Geological Survey.

No immediate damage was reported.

Dominican geologist Osiris de Le?n said the fault that triggered Wednesday’s quake is the same one that unleashed Haiti’s devastating 2010 earthquake and a subsequent 2021 quake, as well as the 6.4 magnitude quake that hit Puerto Rico in 2020 that damaged dozens of homes and schools and killed one person in the island’s southern region.

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The University of the West Indies (The UWI) community is saddened by the passing of Professor Emeritus Gordon Rohlehr on January 29.

Professor Emeritus Rohlehr arrived at the St Augustine at a moment of change in the 1960s as the Caribbean began its course to transform the way in which it saw and positioned itself in the world.

For him, these changes were manifested in culture and shaped by culture. The calypso and the literature of the West Indies were, for him, transformative and reflected the apocalyptic nature of our history and our history making.

He became part of an international movement that reflected on the traumatic nature of New World history and who saw the literature that emerged as rich in contradictions and promise. The multifaceted nature of that history of enslavement, indentureship and European incursion shaped Caribbean scholarship and literature, and shaped him.

In that regard, He initiated and taught the first course on West Indian Literature in 1970. That scholarship and his charismatic lecturing fuelled generations of Caribbean scholars, many of whom have gone on to teach the courses he created or inspired in the Literatures in English section at The UWI.

He was one of a band of intellectuals who used words to fashion ideas and to change the course of politics and the future. He wrote in small journals, in newspapers such as Tapia and spoke on radio and television.

He connected with and interpreted the writings of the literary giants of the day, including Kamau Brathwaite with whom he had a particular relationship, Derek Walcott whose “mulatto aesthetic” evidenced the ambivalence of a memory of Africa and Europe; George Lamming, Wilson Harris, Roger Mais and Martin Carter whose work he brought into the mainstream.

But it is his pioneering academic work on the oral tradition and in particular on the calypso that many will remember. Calypso was a repository of the submerged past and the weapon used to chronicle the present. His work was and is masterly. A scholar and a critic, he was noted for his study of calypso, oral poetry, and cricket in the Caribbean region. As recently as 2015, Professor Rohlehr published a book about calypsonian the Mighty Sparrow, ‘My Whole Life is Calypso’, in which he stated that he set out to look at whatever might have been taking place in the 40-45 years beyond the early music.

In a tribute to Professor Emeritus Rohlehr, Vice-Chancellor of The UWI, Professor Sir Hilary Beckles said, “The Calypso Chronicler has gone to rest. His resonant, distinctive Guyanese tones have fallen silent. From Bourda to Sabina through Queens’ Park Oval, the region mourns a gentle giant. He served The UWI, his alma mater with distinction. Students and colleagues across the region and beyond have benefitted tremendously from him. Sleep well colleague and friend. Innings well played.”

Pro Vice-Chancellor and Campus Principal at The UWI St Augustine Professor Rose-Marie Belle Antoine, remarked, “His legacy is carried in the students he nurtured at the Campus, through conversation and intense enquiry. His former students and those who thronged his lecture rooms, as well as the many scholars and intellectuals who have benefitted from his pioneering and intense and thorough research, share a deep sense of loss and gratitude. We extend condolences on behalf of the Campus community to his family.”

The University of the West Indies extends heartfelt condolences to his widow Dr. Betty Ann Rohlehr, their children and entire family.

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A revamped Integrity in Public Life Bill went before Parliament on Tuesday outlining heavy fines for those found guilty of an offence under the legislation and a threat of disqualification from holding public office by guilty parties.

“Specified individuals” face the possibility of being fined as much as $50,000 or in some cases, they can be jailed for up to one year, if they are found guilty of an offence. Similarly those individuals captured under the bill could face a fine for failure to report a gift worth over $2,500.

These provisions are outlined in the revised piece of legislation which was laid in Parliament on Tuesday, and will now include incoming judges of the Supreme Court, directors of public prosecution and auditors general.

According to Section 17 of the legislation, an individual who fails to file a declaration without reasonable cause is guilty of an offence and is liable to a fine of $50,000.

An individual who fails to comply with a directive given by the Integrity Commission or the President to place all or part of their assets in a blind trust based on “reasonable grounds”, can also be fined $50,000.

Specified individuals under the legislation include members of the House of Assembly and the Senate, members of the Cabinet, Permanent Secretaries and heads of departments in the public service and holders of public office in the same grade as heads of departments.

A specified person may also refer to chief executive officers, general managers and other executive heads of state-owned enterprises, chairpersons of state-owned enterprises, magistrates and senior officers of the commission.

“A member of the House of Assembly or the Senate who, without reasonable cause, fails to file a statement of registrable interests that he is required to file, is guilty of an offence and is liable, on summary conviction, to a fine of $50 000,” it added.

The bill also outlines that, “A member of the House of Assembly or the Senate who knowingly files with the Commission a statement of registrable interests that is incomplete or false in any material particular is guilty of an offence and is liable, on summary conviction, to a fine of $50 000 or to imprisonment for one year or to both.”

The legislation further states that where a member of the House of Assembly or the Senate fails to comply with an order under specific sections of the bill within a specified period, the offence shall be deemed to be a continuing offence “and the member shall be liable to a further fine of $3 000 for each day on which the offence continues”.

A member of the House of Assembly or the Senate who is convicted of an offence under section 17 or 20 of the bill “is liable, in addition to any other penalty prescribed by law, to be disqualified from holding any public office for a period of 10 years from the date of conviction for the offence”, according to the legislation.

The law also makes provision for the yet-to-be established Integrity Commission to “make rules prescribing the circumstances in which the acquisition by a specified person in public life of an interest in a contract with the Government or a state-owned enterprise is prohibited.”

According to the proposed legislation, “No member or employee of the commission shall be liable to any action or suit for any matter or thing done by him in good faith as a member or employee of the commission or in the exercise of his functions or the course of his employment, as the case may be.”

Section 23 makes provision for individuals captured under this law who receive a gift worth more than $2,500, or whose spouse or child receives such a gift, to make a report of it to the Integrity Commission using the appropriate form.

The legislation states that individuals “shall state in the report the name and address of the donor, the description and approximate value of the gift and whether, in the opinion of the recipient, the gift is a personal gift or an official gift.”

“This section does not apply to a personal gift received by a specified person in public life from a relative or friend,” it said.

“A specified person in public life who is unsure whether a gift received from a relative or friend is a personal gift or an official gift may apply to the commission seeking an opinion as to the proper classification of the gift,” it added.

The bill further outlined that where the commission finds that a gift was given to a specified person in public life personally and it was “trivial, or it was not trivial but was not intended to be a motive or reward for doing or forbearing to do anything in the course of the discharge of his official functions or for causing any other person to do or forbear from doing anything, the commission shall allow the specified person in public life to retain the gift”.

However, where a specified person in public life who, without reasonable excuse fails to comply with Section 23 of the law, he or she “is guilty of an offence and is liable, on summary conviction, to a fine, which shall not be more than three times the value of the gift involved in the commission of the offence”.

If an individual makes an incomplete or false report in relation to the receipt of gifts, they shall also be found guilty of an offence “and is liable, on summary conviction, to a fine, which shall not be more than three times the value of the gift involved in the commission of the offence or to imprisonment for six months or to both.”

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No earthquake, drought or hurricane in recorded history has claimed more lives than the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the world’s largest disaster response network, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC).

The shocking death toll–estimated at more than 6.5 million people–has inspired the humanitarian organization to take a deep dive into how countries can prepare for the next global health emergency.

Two groundbreaking reports released by the IFRC network today, the World Disasters Report and the Everyone Counts Report, offer insights into successes and challenges over the past three years–and make recommendations for how leaders can mitigate tragedies of this magnitude in the future.

Ariel Kestens, IFRC Head of Delegation for the English and Dutch-speaking Caribbean, says:

“The COVID-19 pandemic has taught us many lessons, chief among them is that being prepared is crucial to any disaster. Many countries around the world and within this region were not ready for COVID-19. The effects of the pandemic, exacerbated by the many climate-related disasters in the region, have shown us that true preparedness means being ready for multiple simultaneous hazards.”

Jagan Chapagain, IFRC’s Secretary General, remarks:

“The COVID-19 pandemic should be a wake-up call for the global community to prepare now for the next health crisis. Our recommendations to world leaders center around building trust, tackling inequality, and leveraging local actors and communities to perform lifesaving work. The next pandemic could be just around the corner; if the experience of COVID-19 won’t quicken our steps toward preparedness, what will?”

The IFRC network across the world reached more than 1.1 billion people over the past three years to help keep them safe from the virus. During that time, a theme that emerged repeatedly was the importance of trust. When people trusted safety messages, they were willing to comply with public health measures that sometimes separated them from their loved ones in order to slow the spread of the disease and save lives. Similarly, it was only possible to vaccinate millions of people in record time when most of them trusted that the vaccines were safe and effective.

Those responding to crises cannot wait until the next time to build trust. It must be cultivated through genuinely two-way communication, proximity, and consistent support over time.

In the course of their work, Red Cross and Red Crescent teams documented how the COVID-19 pandemic both thrived on and exacerbated inequalities. Poor sanitation, overcrowding, lack of access to health and social services, and malnutrition create conditions for diseases to spread faster and further. The world must address inequitable health and socio-economic vulnerabilities far in advance of the next crisis.

In its Everyone Counts report–which surveyed National Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies from nearly every country in the world–the IFRC found that teams were able to quickly respond to the pandemic because they were already present in communities and many of them had engaged in preparedness efforts, had prior experience responding to epidemics, and were strong auxiliaries to their local authorities.

“Community-based organizations are an integral part of pandemic preparedness and response. Local actors and communities, as frontline responders, have distinct but equally important roles to play in all phases of disease outbreak management. Their local knowledge needs to be leveraged for greater trust, access, and resilience,” states Mr. Chapagain.

“It has been a brutal three years, but we are releasing this research and making recommendations in an act of hope: The global community can learn lessons and do justice to this tragedy by being better prepared for future health emergencies.”

The World Disasters Report offers six essential actions to prepare more effectively for future public health emergencies. The Everyone Counts Report highlights the need for accurate and relevant data in pandemic preparedness and response. Both are available to practitioners, leaders, and the public.

According to WHO, 43% of all COVID-19 related deaths worldwide have occurred in the Americas, with the Latin America and Caribbean region having the highest number of deaths per million inhabitants on average: 3,000 deaths per million.

Since the onset of the pandemic, the IFRC network in the Caribbean has conducted several activities in response to the pandemic including risk communication, community engagement, health and hygiene promotion, water and sanitation, and food and cash assistance. Local Red Cross teams will continue to work as auxiliaries to the authorities, promoting equitable access to vaccines and activities to build vaccine confidence, socio-economic recovery efforts for the most vulnerable, and placing communities at the center of its actions through locally led humanitarian support.

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