Black Immigrant Daily News

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The Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) is in the process of facilitating a “Sustainable Road Based Public Transportation Study” which broadly seeks to assist in developing sustainable road based public transport plans for both Saint Lucia and Grenada.

These include gender-responsive and socially inclusive measures, as well as short, medium, and long-term investments that will lead to an increase in the viability, efficiency and quality of public transport services to meet the needs of the public.

The objectives include improvement in the following areas –

• Legislation- review the policy and regulatory structures for operating public transport;

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• Public Transport Offer – improve the current bus routes, add new connections;

• Quality – propose investments to increase the efficiency and quality of public transport services;

• Social Inclusion – incorporate gender-responsive and socially inclusive measures;

• Sustainability – develop a programme to transition to low or zero carbon emission buses;

• Reduced Use of Private Vehicles – encourage a reduction of the use of single occupancy vehicles;

• Infrastructure – propose improvements to public infrastructure dedicated to public transport;

As part of the study, the consulting team engaged by the CDB is in the process of conducting field surveys which commenced Monday 04th July, 2022 and ends on Friday, 08th July 2022.

The surveys will take the form of traffic counting, public transport frequency and occupancy counts / surveys, public transit rider origin–destination surveys and user satisfaction surveys.

The Department of Infrastructure, Ports and Transport appreciates the public’s cooperation and support as we seek to improve Saint Lucia’s public transportation system.

Source: Department of Infrastructure, Ports and Transport 

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Black Immigrant Daily News

Un quadragénaire a été grièvement blessé par balle ce midi à Vieux-Bourg aux Abymes

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Black Immigrant Daily News

Police Commissioner, Major General Antony Anderson, has hailed the imposition of the recent state of emergency (SOE) in St Catherine, noting that 66 persons were charged with varying criminal offences over the 14-day period that the provisions existed.

Additionally, murders in the parish fell by 81 per cent, while shootings declined by 56 per cent, reported Anderson.

The SOEs were imposed in St Catherine on June 17, and were brought to an end on July 1 after the Government did not seek an extension, which was said to have been because of the broad, positive impact of the SOE’s imposition.

“Over the 14-day period, 66 persons were charged, 28 of which were for serious crimes, including murder, shooting and sexual offences, while six persons were charged with breaches of the Law Reform Fraudulent Transactions Act or lottery scamming,” said Anderson/

He was addressing the police’s monthly press conference on Tuesday.

Continuing, he outlined that, “Five wanted persons were taken into custody, three of whom were charged for sexual-related offences, and two for murder and illegal possession of firearm and ammunition.

“Two major players involved in the gang conflicts in both the St Catherine north and south divisions were also arrested and charged with murder, shooting and illegal possession of firearm,” Anderson informed.

The security forces also managed to seize seven illegal guns within the 14-day period.

Further, a 14-year-old who had been reported missing was identified and taken into the care of an officer at a SOE checkpoint, where she was found in the company of an adult male. The man has since been charged with rape and having sexual intercourse with a person under the age of 16.

Anderson pointed to two 19-year-old men who were arrested during the security measures. They were wanted for the August 2021 double murder of a policeman, identified as Corporal Delwin Jackson, and taxi operator Kenroy Chandler. The killings occurred in Central Village in the St Catherine South Police Division.

On the day of the announcement of the SOE, Anderson stated that 12 active gangs were responsible for a significant number of the murders in the parish, including the killing of two men in the busy Spanish Town market district, along with several other murders in and around Spanish Town on Tuesday, June 14.

At that time the commissioner vowed that the SOE would result in a significant drop in murders and shootings across the parish.

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Black Immigrant Daily News

Veteran journalist David Ellis returned to the airwaves and pulled no punches as it relates to some employers showing the door and giving walking papers to persons 45 years and older in this Barbados.

He said that he is not standing for, nor supporting ageism.

After a caller welcomed him and his years of expertise as a moderator back to the mic, lamenting the fact that some other younger persons cannot provide the contributions that he would make on the show, Ellis responded saying:

“I really believe that within the context of the media in the country there is a need for that mix of personalities and that mix of ages. So I’m glad to see younger people come into the picture as well, but I also feel very strongly that this country, we the older people need to stand up and be counted.”

Adamantly, he contended:

“This idea that Barbados now must be run almost exclusively by people in their forties and that sort of thing, and that older people must take a backseat and must run and hide and duck, is not something that I agree with.”

And he argued that others should not just swallow it either. Having retired from journalism to take up his previous COVID Public Advisor post, now resigned from that role and back on air for scheduled shows, he urged:

“Too many older people are buying into this idea that you have retired and because you have retired you have to go sit down on your pension.

“You know how much money a lot of these people get for pension? You’d be shocked at what some of those people earn. People who have done so much for this country, and then a handful of vocal people out there on social media in particular, want to run people under a rock, I don’t agree with that.

“And I am one of the people who would be prepared to stand up and fight against that kind of behaviour.”

His comments comes after residents in the St John Talks with ministers and the Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley talked about how skilled and qualified persons of all ages were unemployed and finding it difficult to find gainful employment.

But on the point of the plight of the mature workers specifically, Ellis went on to say, “This country has a situation where it does not have enough people to sustain its National Insurance Scheme in the current circumstances. It needs as many people as it can get to help this economy and to keep it moving and that sort of thing, and there is a lot of shortsightedness, and as a result we have ageism. You try to get rid of people from the time they hit 45 and 50 and the people who suffer most of all are the women in the country. That is what I think we need to stand up and fight against.”

And the caller, who was in full support, added he too is one who does not support “pelting away older employees” because, according to him, “experience should be used till the very end.”

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Black Immigrant Daily News

The trial of the 28 alleged members of the One Don faction of the Clansman gang has been further delayed for several days as a result of Chief Justice Bryan Sykes’ absence due to COVID-19.

Despite the delay, High Court Judge, Justice Leighton Pusey, who filled in for Sykes on Wednesday, implored the prosecution and the defence to use the unscheduled delay to get their houses in order.

The prosecutors were on Wednesday expected to reveal whether they would agree to admit the records of several log books from both the Horizon Remand Centre and the Spanish Town Police Station into evidence, given the difficulties to locate five police officers who initially made the entries.

Subpoenas have been issued for two of the lawmen who are on suspension, as well as three others whose whereabouts cannot be definitively established.

Defence attorneys are trying to use the relevant records to prove that four of the defendants defendants – Pete Miller, Kalifa Williams, Tareek James and Donovan Richards – were in police custody when the criminal acts that they are accused of committing were carried out.

Sykes stormed out of court on Tuesday after defence attorney Gavin Stewart sought help from a court assistant to show the prosecution a section of a dispatcher’s log book he was using to support his case for his client, Pete Miller.

“This is a grand waste of my time… This passing around and so on is wasting time,” Sykes remarked.

He then asked: “Have all the records been examined, so we don’t waste time in court?”

On Wednesday, Pusey urged the prosecution and the defence to use the extended delay arising from Sykes’s scheduled seven-day absence to their advantage.

“The absence of the chief justice doesn’t mean all the things you need to do stops. It gives you an opportunity to put things in place for it all to move smoothly as possible next week,” Pusey advised.

He subsequently adjourned the case until Tuesday, July 12.

COVID-19 has repeatedly stalled the trial since its commencement in September of last year.

In October, defendants Andre Golding and Owen Ormsby received positive COVID-19 test results, forcing the trial to be adjourned for approximately seven days.

Then in January, the trial was adjourned for two weeks following the confirmation that members of the prosecution team had tested positive for the respiratory illness.

In June, defendant Stephanie ‘Mumma’ Christie tested positive for the virus, which caused a delay for several days.

The 28 accused are being tried under the Criminal Justice (Suppression of Criminal Organisations Act), 2014, better known as the anti-gang legislation, on an indictment containing several counts.

The offences were allegedly committed between January 1, 2015, and June 30, 2019, mainly in St Catherine, with at least one murder committed in St Andrew.

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