Concert hommage à Ti Émile

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Black Immigrant Daily News

The content originally appeared on: Martinique FranceAntilles

MUSIQUE

Le fils de Ti Émile rend hommage à son père, l’un des grands maîtres du bèlè, tous les 5 ans. L’occasion pour le public de passer une soirée mémorable autour du chant, de la danse et de la musique traditionnelle.

Pour les 30 ans de l’anniversaire de la mort de Ti Émile (en mars 1992), son fils Jean-Michel Casérus propose de se souvenir du patrimoine qu’a laissé son père. Un hommage qu’il présente tous les 5 ans depuis 2002. « Chimen Milo a d’abord été un concept, puis c’est devenu une association en 2018 », explique le danseur et chanteur de bèlè, qui a repris le flambeau. A-t-on encore besoin de rappeler, combien le travail de Ti Émile est primordial ? Le fils sourit : « Ah oui !…


France-Antilles Martinique

352 mots – 07.07.2022

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« Les mentalités doivent changer »

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Black Immigrant Daily News

The content originally appeared on: Martinique FranceAntilles

Gustave Joachim-Arnaud, président de la Team Pédale Pilotine Blue Car

À deux jours de la 41e édition du Tour cycliste de Martinique, Gustave Joachim-Arnaud, dont l’équipe est tenante du titre, revient sur la saison écoulée, ses ambitions et évoque la prochaine échéance à venir.

Votre club, la Team Pédale Pilotine Blue Car, est le dernier vainqueur du Tour en 2019 avec un Vénézuélien, Edwin Beccera Beccera. Dans quel état d’esprit abordez-vous la nouvelle édition ?

En tant que vainqueur sortant, l’équipe aborde ce grand rendez-vous avec une grande sérénité. Nous avons plusieurs atouts pour définir la meilleure stratégie en vue de la victoire finale. Cette année j’avais misé sur un leader martiniquais, mais très honnêtement, les conditions ne sont pas…


France-Antilles Martinique

831 mots – 07.07.2022

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Sport, musique et jeux pour les vacances

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Black Immigrant Daily News

The content originally appeared on: Martinique FranceAntilles

Marigot

La 4e édition de l’opération « Vakans Marigo » sera lancée ce dimanche. Au programme : randonnées, sport dans les quartiers, conte, danse, ateliers créatifs, jeux d’antan et jeux vidéo, concert.

Durant tout le mois de juillet, de très nombreuses animations seront proposées par la Ville. Les réjouissances débutent ce dimanche 10 juillet avec un rendez-vous sportif en matinée, la 1re manche du championnat de Martinique de course de côte de moto, quad, karting. En soirée, à partir de 18h 30, un spectacle de danse est programmé.

L’objectif de la municipalité est de permettre à la population de se retrouver autour d’activités variées. La direction de l’animation et du sport…


France-Antilles Martinique

678 mots – 07.07.2022

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Les écoliers volent au secours des manikous

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Black Immigrant Daily News

The content originally appeared on: Martinique FranceAntilles

Rivière-Pilote

Des élèves de l’école mixte B En Camée ont participé, durant toute l’année, à un projet portant sur la protection des manikous. La dernière étape s’est déroulée en ce début de semaine avec la pose de panneaux de signalisation.

Ce lundi 4 juillet, une dizaine d’élèves de l’école primaire mixte B En Camée ont, en partenariat avec la municipalité, franchi la dernière étape de leur projet de protection des manikous : l’installation de panneaux de signalisation indiquant aux conducteurs la nécessité de ralentir, en raison de la présence de manikous sur certaines portions de route de leur commune. « Attention, vous entrez dans une zone de protection des mani- kous ! », c’est en substance le message que…


France-Antilles Martinique

716 mots – 07.07.2022

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Two elderly persons killed in separate RTAs

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Black Immigrant Daily News

The content originally appeared on: Amandala Newspaper

80-year-old Santa Chun died after being knocked down on the Valley of Peace Road, and 69-year-old Crispín Moreno Francisco was hit by a Toyota Ranger pickup truck in Carmelita Village while crossing the Philip Goldson Highway.

by Charles Gladden

VALLEY OF PEACE, Cayo District, Mon. June 4, 2022

Over the weekend, two elderly persons died as a result of road traffic accidents. The first fatal accident, which claimed the life of 80-year-old Santa Chun, occurred on Friday, July 1, while  Chun was walking on the side of the highway in the Valley of Peace, Cayo District, after buying tortillas. The other accident took place on Sunday, July 3, in Carmelita Village, Orange Walk District, where 69-year-old Crispin Moreno Francisco was killed instantly when he was hit by a pickup truck while crossing the Philip Goldson Highway.

According to an initial police report, the driver of the pickup which hit Chun in Cayo, 43-year-old Jesus Felipe Galdamez, a vendor, told police that at around 7:40 p.m. on Friday night he was traveling in his pickup truck in the direction of Valley of Peace as he headed to Belmopan when he suddenly saw Chun walking on the side of the highway. Galdamez said he tried to swerve to avoid hitting Chun but to no avail. He stopped and assisted Chun by transporting her to the Western Regional Hospital, where she succumbed to her injuries sometime after 11:00 p.m. that night.

Since then, police have detained and charged Galdamez with manslaughter by negligence, causing death by careless conduct, and driving a motor vehicle without due care and attention.

Galdamez voluntarily gave urine samples to the police, so he did not receive a NIP (Notice or Intended Prosecution).

The family of Chun is now urging that speed bumps be placed in the village to prevent speeding on the highway, which could cause another family to lose a loved one.

The second fatal traffic accident, which occurred in Carmelita Village, took the life of 69-year-old CrispínMoreno Francisco, who was fatally hit by a Toyota Ranger pickup truck while crossing the Philip Goldson Highway.

Police arrived at the scene around 7:15 p.m., and were told by the driver of the Toyota Ranger pickup truck, CadieRhaburn, who hit Moreno Francisco, that he was traveling along the highway and was approaching a Chinese store when he saw Moreno Francisco crossing the highway hurriedly and tried to avoid hitting Moreno Francisco but failed to do so.

Moreno Francisco was flung a distance away due to the impact of the hit and died instantly when he landed on the pavement.

Jamie Moreno Francisco, a son of the deceased, has said that his father would often cross the road by himself in order to get to the store and he would often advise him to be careful of the traffic, as his father is a stroke survivor.

“Sometimes when he wants to walk around to go to the shop to buy something he would normally cross, or if I’m around I’ll do the errand for him, because you know the traffic is really high, and you got drivers who are driving, but they don’t drive with due care and attention… I always told him, ‘Dad, one of these days you need to watch the road because the road is not like what you think. And the situation that you will be in, you won’t be able to make it like us who have two better feet’,” said the grieving son.

“I used to come down every weekend or every two weeks to watch him, treat him the best although we went through our ups and down, but we’ll leave it in God’s hands, because he knows what he’s doing. But he was good, we treat him [well]. I love him because he’s my flesh and blood and the only thing you can do is to come together and make sure everything is accomplished in the proper way,” he continued.

Moreno Francisco believes that a speed bump should be installed in the area to avoid more accidents due to the lack of lights in the area.

“I think the people who are in charge of the highway are supposed to do is to try to make a bump in this area, because normally when the night comes, it is very dark; that’s the error. But normally, sometimes people see things at the moment, but when they put on their high beam, and that’s when they say sorry, because it’s too late,” he said.

Police have detained Rhaburn, and charges are currently pending.

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Financial literacy report: 35% of Trinis duped by financial fraudsters

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Black Immigrant Daily News

The content originally appeared on: Trinidad and Tobago Newsday

News

File photo.

The report on the Financial Literacy Survey revealed that 35 per cent of respondents fell victim to some form of financial fraud and 19 per cent took part in what turned out to be a pyramid scheme.

Financial Ombudsman Dominic Stoddard made the revelation during the launch of the report, held virtually on Wednesday.

Stoddard said moving forward the National Financial Literacy Programme would need to do a comprehensive overhaul of content resources to include modules on using digital financial products and services, and detecting and avoiding financial fraud.

“We want to ensure that the population is able to identify fraudulent practices and keep away from them,” Stoddard said.

Given that 39 per cent of the population was affected negatively by the pandemic, the Financial Literacy Programme also plans to ensure that there are strategies to cope with the negative effects of the pandemic.

The survey was conducted with a sample size of 1,090 adults, 151 students and 160 SMEs. As far as financial literacy, Stoddard said that overall, 69 per cent of Trinidadian respondents and 67 per cent of Tobagonians were financially literate.

The report also revealed that there has been no change in the amount of unbanked people in TT since 2007.

“In 2007, we came up with a 21 per cent of the population or one in five people were unbanked. This year when we came up with the survey we came up with 19 per cent. So we had given that the margin of error was plus or minus three per cent, we could safely say there was no change in the unbanked population,” he said.

Findings also revealed that the people with the lowest financial literacy were between the ages of 18 and 24 years, with a form three education and came from lower socio-economic groups. Those with the highest financial literacy were over the age of 35, were in the higher socio-economic grouping and had a tertiary level education.

The report added that 40 per cent of SMEs said they prepare financial statements annually, 32 per cent agreed that business objectives were reasonably on target and 37 per cent felt they were not.

The report also revealed that 70 per cent of 10-17 age groups spend money on snacks.

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Fusillade à la cité Ozanam à Batelière : le bailleur social réagit

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Black Immigrant Daily News

The content originally appeared on: Martinique FranceAntilles

 Mis en cause par plusieurs riverains de la cité Ozanam, le bailleur social a tenu à réagir à notre article de ce mardi 5 juillet, en apportant des précisions et éclaircissements. Sa réaction à lire ici.

Notre article en date du 5 juillet 2022 concernant les témoignages d’habitants de la résidence Ozanam à Batelière pointant du doigt l’inaction du bailleur social face au regroupement de jeunes dans le hall de l’immeuble, suite à la fusillade qui a coûté la vie à deux jeunes, a fait réagir la société d’HLM.

Dans un communiqué, elle stipule que « les équipes du bailleur social mènent depuis plusieurs mois des échanges avec les résidents, dont les jeunes, pour procéder à la fermeture du hall d’entrée du A2 et du A3. De multiples actions ont été réalisées, avec les partenaires publics, pour apporter des solutions ».
 

« Fermeté d’Ozanam à agir »

Elle précise que « la société Ozanam applique les règles de la commande publique et s’assure que les entreprises avec lesquelles elle contractualise ont une liberté d’accès au marché, une égalité de traitement, une transparence et une équité dans les procédures, et répondent dans le respect des conditions d’accès à la commande publique. Par ailleurs, des seuils s’appliquent en fonction du montant des marchés et de la nature des travaux ».
Ozanam poursuit : « Dans un contexte extrêmement tendu et alors que tous les acteurs de la sphère publique sont mobilisés pour rechercher une coordination des actions, la mise en cause du bailleur social est délibérée face à une problématique sociétale dont nous pâtissons tous. (…) Les outils de protection doivent être aussi multiples, de la prise en compte du bâti aux services dédiés à la protection des personnes. Soyez convaincus de la fermeté d’Ozanam à agir face à toutes les formes de violences qui se répercutent dans la vie des résidents. »

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Audit Chamber doubts whether lowering rental costs is feasible – StMaartenNews.com – News Views Reviews & Interviews

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Black Immigrant Daily News

The content originally appeared on: StMaartenNews
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PHILIPSBURG — “We question if the goals set forth in the country package are realistic,” the General Audit Chamber states in its audit on the possibilities of rent reduction for government. Prime Minister Silveria Jacobs signed the agreement for the country package in December 2020. One of the measures mentioned in this deal is a 20 percent reduction of the rent the government pays for office space by 2025.

The Audit Chamber is puzzled about the basis that should be used to calculate the reduction. The budgets for 2020 and 2021 both mention total rental costs as 15.2 million guilders, but in the 2022 budget it has gone up to 17.8 million. The countries financial statements for 2020 are unreliable and those for 2019 received an adverse opinion. The Chamber states that it makes more sense to use realized amounts than to base the desired reduction on budgeted amounts.

Meanwhile the confusion remains: “We are unable to determine the basis for the 20 percent reduction and the feasibility of achieving this.”

The government rents 47 office spaces from 26 different parties; three of them are government-owned or related entities: SOG (Foundation Government Buildings), SZV and St. Maarten Harbor Cruise Facilities.

The Vineyard Private Fund Foundation rents out three buildings, located on the W.G. Buncamper Road and the Juancho Yrausquin Boulevard for a total monthly charge of $22,570. These offices are the home of, among others, the Bureau for Statistics and the Tourist Bureau.

A company called Vineyard Office Park is renting offices to the Social Health Center, the Tax Office, the Department of Hygiene and Inspection and Collective Preventive Services for a total monthly charge of $127,518.

For its seven ministries, the government spends $670,914 per month or $8,051.294 per year in rent. This does not include the rent for the parliament building, and the offices of the Audit Chamber, the Ombudsman, the Social Economic Council and the Council of Advice. This adds another $1,256,574 to the total. The parliament building is the most expensive: 1.7 million guilders ($949,721) per year.

The Audit Chamber obtained copies of 27 lease agreements from the Ministry of General Affairs. “Some were unsigned and others outdated or in the name of the previous owner,” the report states. Ten of the leases contained automatic rent-increases from 3% (annually) and 5% (after 5 years) to 10% (very two years).

Using the 2019 budget as a benchmark, the Audit Chamber points out that the desired 20 percent reduction amounts to 3.6 million guilders ($2 million) over the period until 2025, or 720,000 guilders ($402,235) per year.

But how to achieve the goal to reduce rental costs? The Audit Chamber-report mentions two options: relocation or termination of lease agreement. The report advises the government to investigate the costs of relocation and remodeling. As a possible impact the report mentions lower turnover and income taxes for the government and it observes that an impact study should have been done before setting the objective of reducing rental costs by 20 percent.

“Terminating leases could result in long-term unoccupied buildings. The possible negative economic impact should not be underestimated and it should be researched.”

The Audit Chamber did a bit of researching of its own by sending out a survey to 19 of the 26 lessors it has identified. Four lessors were left out because it was not possible to obtain correct contact information and three were left out because they are government owned or related.

Seven lessors indicated their potential willingness to renegotiate their lease agreements and six of them said they were willing to relinquish the annual rent-increase.

The lessors also offered a suggestion to bring the costs down: have the government use available office space more efficiently. One lessor suggested rent-to-buy agreements as an alternative.

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Prime Minister Jacobs not concerned: “I think we still have a majority” – StMaartenNews.com – News Views Reviews & Interviews

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Black Immigrant Daily News

The content originally appeared on: StMaartenNews

PHILIPSBURG — The National Alliance-United People’s party governing coalition continues discussions with members of parliament about their willingness to leave the opposition benches. But Prime Minister Silveria Jacobs declined to comment on these developments during Wednesday’s Council of Ministers press briefing.

Asked whether she supported the addition of MPs Akeem Arrindell (independent) and Chanel Brownbill (United St. Maarten party substitute for suspended MP Claudius Buncamper) to join the coalition, Jacobs only conceded that there are “discussions with MPs” but that these talks have not been finalized. “And as long as they are not finalized, I will not say anything further on this topic,” she said.

The governing coalition was caught off guard when National Alliance MP Ludmila Duncan declared herself independent, thereby reducing the formal majority of the coalition to just one seat.

Prime Minister Jacobs did not seem too concerned about this. “MP Duncan has indicated that she will support anything that is good for the country, so I think we still have a majority,” she said.

Journalist Ralph Cantave pointed to the “minimal contribution in parliament” of MPs Arrindell and Brownbill and further labeled Brownbill as a “deputy-MP.”

The perceived status of MP Brownbill as a ‘deputy-MP’ has raised many questions. The constitution (staatsregeling) does not mention the term deputy for a parliamentarian that replaces a suspended member of parliament. Article 50.3 only states that a suspended MP will be “taken over” (waargenomen). “The one who stands in for the suspended MP or the one who replaces the MP that has lost his membership, steps down at the same time as the other members of parliament.”

The constitution does not specify that a stand-in like MP Brownbill has a status that differs from that of other parliamentarians.

Brownbill is no stranger to political upheaval. In 2019 he left the faction of the United Democrats (together with MP Luc Mercelina) to bring down the government. Brownbill subsequently joined the United St. Maarten party (USp) and Mercelina joined the United People’s Party (UPP), but failed to win a seat in the January 2020 elections.

Joining the NA-UP coalition would reunite Brownbill, who was sentenced for tax fraud in 2018, with a party that he helped into power three years ago.

In the 2020 elections, Brownbill won 224 votes as a candidate for the USp, behind the now suspended MP Claudius Buncamper (301 votes); Arrindell won 229 votes for the same party. USp-founder Frans Richardson (212 votes) lost his seat in parliament that year. In 2018, Brownbill was a candidate for United Democrats, a short-lived fusion of the Democratic Party and the United People’s party.

Given this political history it is not surprising that the coalition focuses on Arrindell and Brownbill as potential candidates to strengthen their position. The question remains, as usual, which price NA and UP will have to pay for their support.

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Griffith: Lack of leadership caused PoS protest to last so long

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Black Immigrant Daily News

The content originally appeared on: Trinidad and Tobago Newsday

News

Gary Griffith. File photo/Sureash Cholai

APPLICANT for police commissioner Gary Griffith said the response to Monday’s protest by the state reeked of a lack of proper leadership.

In a telephone interview with Newsday on Tuesday, the former commissioner of police said police were seemingly left alone.

He recalled in 2020 when residents of east Port of Spain and other communities throughout the country staged multiple protests over the killing of three men, his officers then were able to quell the uprisings within minutes.

He said then there was a collaborative effort with several ministries including Works and Transport, Local Government and other arms of the National Security apparatus.

“It was shocking to hear the Minister of National Security in Parliament state that the intelligence did what was required to assist the police. If that was the case then the police would have been fully prepared and there would have been a pre-emptive strike or what is known as predictive policing based on intelligence-driven operations. That simply did not take place.”

He said there was no use of technology by the powers that be to assist police in stopping the protests which lasted for close to five hours.

Griffith said the National Operations Centre and the police operation command centre were not used to co-ordinate police responses to protests instead of officers playing a cat-and-mouse game.

“A major point was a lack of communication. The public, in contrast to two years ago, was not fully apprised of what was happening. They were fully aware (in 2020), so it did not cause panic and fake news to spread. We were monitoring through an operations centre anywhere that had traffic to ensure that it was cleared immediately. None of that was done. And this is no fault of the police officers or the police service. This has to do with leadership. If you have systems that are working, why remove it or not utilise it.”

On Monday, residents of Beetham Gardens, Sea Lots, Morvant, Nelson and Duncan Streets blocked roads and burnt tyres and debris protesting the police killing of three people.

The major protest took place at Sea Lots where the east and west bound lanes of the Beetham Highway demanding justice for the killing of Fabien Richards, 21, Leonardo Niko Williams and Isaiah Roberts, both 17.

The three were part of six people shot at by police ending in their deaths, the arrest of two men and a fourth person, 16-year-old Malakai Glenn, hospitalised.

The two men who were arrested were released on Monday night and Tuesday without charge.

The Police Complaints Authority (PCA) said anyone with information pertaining to the shooting deaths, which police said was after a shootout and car chase, should come forward.

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