Black Immigrant Daily News

Over 4,000 to 5,000 jobs can be created for Bajans over the next four to five years, if and when Barbados starts making pharmaceuticals.

According to the country’s leader, Barbados is on the verge of stepping fully into the pharmaceutical industry if all the moving pieces from the latest Rwanda trip fall into their strategic places.

In this hemisphere, “because no country can do it alone”, Barbados will be going forward in the manufacturing of pharmaceuticals with Guyana in this region, and Rwanda and Ghana in Africa. The move is supported by the European Union Commission, the European Investment Bank, World Health Organization, and the Susan Buffet Foundation.

Happy about this development, Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley said that this the “biggest game changer since we came to office”. She said that Government has been working “very quietly” since April to get the necessary platform ready and started.

Becoming a player in the pharmaceutical industry, PM Mottley said that work will be going into figuring out the regulatory framework over the next nine to twelve months.

Furthermore, demonstrating that the ground work has been and is being laid, she shared that the head of the Rwanda’s Food and Drug Administration was in Barbados six to seven weeks ago and working with the Ministry of Health. “The preliminary work, meeting with our own people in the Drug Service and the Ministry of Health has already started. We have now to engage and to put the rest of the regulatory framework in place and then once that happens, we then monitor and deal with the identification of the space for the pharmaceutical part, in fact that will happen on a parallel track.”

In terms of infrastructure, it is the plan to have a physical pharmaceutical entity on island to establish the manufacturing of the pharmaceutical products.

With respect to a location, the Prime Minister says that a space still needs to be found and that is “significantly difficult” because the facility would not be the regular warehouse or manufacturing facility as traditionally erected. This new facility would require steam and water and high temperatures etcetera. “This is a highly complex engagement.”

But despite any of these challenging components, PM Mottley stressed that this is a “major, major, major success for Barbados” and “this is serious work in action.”

Answering the question of why go into pharmaceuticals, PM Mottley reiterated, “We cannot rely on what is in Barbados to move forward; we would not get too far.”

The prime minister also clarified that certain aspects of the pharmaceutical manufacturing will be conducted and completed in Barbados and others in Guyana. She said that the products will not be manufactured and bottled in the same facility or country, for example. “This is s a very, very complex process,” and thus the “European Union support is critical and the Rwanda Health and Drug Agency support is critical, but we will develop our own capacity in the Americas,” she affirmed.

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La préfecture de Guadeloupe a communiqué ce mardi (15 novembre) les nouveaux tarifs réglementés des carburants et du gaz. Ils sont applicables le mercredi 16 novembre, à 0h. Les voici.

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Kadaffi Romney, mother of Jehlano Romney, right, speaks to a relative at the Forensic Science Centre,
St James. – Photo by Ayanna Kinsale

Seven months after his lawyer claims he asked for protection after witnessing the death of a policeman in Richplain, Diego Martin, a 30-year-old man was gunned down at a house in Morvant.

Police said Jehlano Romney, 30, was at a house in Poinsettia Drive, at around 9.35 pm when a group of gunmen shot him several times before running away.

A woman who was nearby was also shot in her face.

Police from the North Eastern Division Task Force took the wounded woman to the hospital.

Police from the Homicide Bureau of Investigations Region II visited the scene with a district medical officer who declared Romney dead.

On April 22, a team of 12 officers from the Western Division Task Force went to a staircase on Upper Rich Plain Road, Diego Martin, where they confronted Romney.

During the incident PC Clarence Gilkes who was part of this group was shot and killed, as Romney ran away.

While the original account given by police claimed that Romney shot Gilkes, an autopsy later revealed that Gilkes was shot from behind with a police-issued bullet.

Romney spent almost a week in hiding before surrendering to police with his attorney Criston J Williams.

He was questioned and later released.

Speaking with Newsday on Monday, Williams confirmed that his client requested protection from the police while being interviewed by them but was never given any offer of protection.

He attributed Romney’s murder to the lack of protection and said his death was not reassuring to citizens who were willing to assist police in their investigations.

“It sends the message to the public that maybe I should not be a good citizen to hold anyone accountable because I may not be protected.

“It was the fault of the police because no protective measures were offered to him and as far as I’m aware his death may have been a direct result of this.

“I know he was not a saint, he may have been a sinner and he tried to change his life and not being offered witness protection and being placed back in your original environment you may have to act like a cornered animal to protect yourself.”

Williams said Romney asked officers of the Homicide Bureau of Investigations to place him in witness protection while members of the Police Complaints Authority (PCA) were present.

But responding to Williams’ claims in a TV6 interview broadcasted on Monday night, acting head of the police’s Homicide Bureau of Investigation Snr Supt Rishi Singh said police did offer protection to Romney on at least three occasions but he repeatedly refused the offer.

Singh said Romney was offered police protection when he surrendered himself to police after a nationwide manhunt was conducted for his capture in late April.

At the time, Romney had turned himself in to co-operate with the police’s investigation into Gilkes death.

Romney was later released on May 1.

Singh said Romney was again offered police protection when homicide officers completed their investigation.

Finally, Singh said Romney was offered protection for a third time when PC Kristian Genty, 28, and WPC Crystal Williams-Bowman were charged in relation to Gilkes death on August 5.

Singh, on Monday, expressed disappointment in the latest turn of events.

“It’s not something that we are, at all, ever happy to see. But we are very alive to the fact that, in the circumstances, he was a very special type of witness. And we wanted to ensure that all offers of safety would have been offered to him and, certainly, we are disappointed that he did not accept it.”

When Newsday asked Williams how he though Gilkes’ murder case would progress with its main witness now dead, he said Romney entered a statement before his death.

Under the amended Evidence Act a dead witness’ statement can still be entered as evidence and can lead to a criminal prosecution.

Williams added that Romney had two cases against the police for false imprisonment.

Newsday attempted to contact acting Police Commissioner McDonald Jacob for comment several times on Tuesday but was unsuccessful.

Romney’s mother and other relatives visited the Forensic Science Centre, St James, on Monday to identify his body and speak to police investigators.

They refused to comment.

Newsday also later visited the family at their Richplain home where they again declined to comment.

Newsday attempted to contact director of the PCA David West via phone call and WhatsApp but was unsuccessful up to press time.

Police in the Western Division said while homicide detectives were still trying to establish a motive for Romney’s murder, they suspect it may have been a reprisal for gang-related murders in Diego Martin.

They also denied claims that the police were responsible for Romney’s murder.

“His name was calling in the death of a few people, so he had a lot of enemies. And it’s no secret because gang reprisals are real.

“I know there are people who are trying to make it out that the police killed him given everything that happened to PC Gilkes, but the truth is the police weren’t anywhere near that.”

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Former commissioner of police Gary Griffith –

GENERAL SECRETARY of the National Transformation Alliance (NTA) Tim Teemal has said it was not covid19 that was responsible for a reduction in murders in 2020 and 2021, but proper leadership by Gary Griffith as police commissioner.

Griffith is the political leader of the NTA.

In a media release on Tuesday, Teemal said the narrative that the pandemic was responsible for a reduction in murders is false, as other countries had increases in murders while TT had reductions.

For the first three months of 2020, with no public health restrictions, state of emergency and curfew, Trinidad and Tobago had the safest Carnival, and crime and murder began to decline he said. He added that in October and November 2021, with public health restrictions, a state of emergency and a curfew, the country experienced its most and third most murderous months, with 127 murders collectively.

“Despite all these facts and data, many people continue to push the narrative that covid19 was the magic bullet for crime, rather than the systems, policies and operational plans executed by the police.”

Teemal then took aim at the media for not only publishing what he called the inaccuracies but seeking out the opinions of criminologists who he said have not supported their assertion with data that the pandemic was the root cause of a reduction in murders.

“It was the fear and respect for the police that pegged them back, not magical covid19. This non-factual narrative is also the one being pushed by the hierarchy of the police, perhaps because they are beholden to the politicians, and because it is an attempt by them to shirk responsibility for the runaway crime that sees us headed to over 600 murders in a year, for the first time in our history.”

He called on those who credit the pandemic for the reduced murder toll to admit to Griffith’s leadership abilities, as not to do so will have “real-world implications of citizens losing their lives.”

Teemal addressed both politicians and the police hierarchy, telling them to give Griffith credit and to restore the policies he had in place. Specifically, he called on the government to let “good sense prevail” as the “Get Gary” narrative was not accepted. He added that in an unnamed poll, nine out every ten people questioned felt safer and more secure when Griffith was head of the police service.

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