Caribzone News Highlights

St Lucia

St Lucia has announced the launch of a campaign that is aimed at increasing visibility and understanding of the 15-member regional integration movement, Caricom.

The Regional Integration Unit (RIU) in the Office of the Prime Minister said it is collaborating with the Guyana-based Caribbean Community (Caricom) Secretariat in the “I AM CARICOM's" communications campaign here.

It said the initiative also “seeks to engage and assist citizens of the Community to locate themselves within the Caricom construct – institutions, governance structure, policies and plans, and to take ownership and participate fully in the regional integration development agenda”.

The 'I AM CARICOM' initiative emanated from a meeting of the Caricom Committee of Ambassadors, where it was agreed that as part of the process for the development of the Community's Strategic Plan the Secretariat needed to re-engage the Caribbean population.

“This Strategic Plan will succeed the first Community Strategic Plan 2015-2019, and is aimed at defining the direction of the Community over the Plan's horizon, keeping implementing partners focused, and laying-out the strategies to secure the Community's future in a dynamic and often challenging global environment.”

The RIU said that the commemoration of Caricom Day on July 6, serves as an ideal opportunity to highlight the commencement of the 'I AM CARICOM' communications campaign and that it would be undertaking a host of public education activities celebrate and reinforce the achievements on the Organization and its institutions and to inform on the work that they continue to do.

These activities include the launch of the 'I AM CARICOM' photo frame for social media, interviews with the island's Ambassador to Caricom as well as online games and quizzes and the development and implementation of the Community Strategic Plan.

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Guyana

Guyana health authorities have confirmed that a 34-year-old man had become the latest victim of the coronavirus (COVID-19) and appealed to citizens to continue to follow the necessary measures put in place to curb the spread of the virus.

The Ministry of Public Health said that the man died at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC) last Thursday and that he had been at the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) since June 23, having been transferred to the GPHC from the Bartica Regional Hospital a day earlier.

The ministry said the man had become the 14th victim of the pandemic and that the number of people testing positive for the virus had reached 250, with two more cases on July 2..

There are currently 120 active cases in isolation at various facilities across Guyana, 16 persons in institutional quarantine, and two patients in the COVID-19 ICU. To date, 2,668 tests have been conducted.

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Anguilla,

The main opposition Anguilla Progressive Movement (APM) has won last Monday’s general election in the British Overseas Territory, winning seven of the 11 seats, according to the preliminary results, giving Dr. Ellis Webster a shot at becoming the next Premier.

Among the causalities is Premier Victor Banks, whose United Front (AUF) party won four seats.

Banks, 72, was defeated by the 27 year-old Dianne Kentish Rogers, the 2018 Miss Universe Great Britain, who some say could become the next leader.

An estimated 11, 950 voters were eligible to cast ballots Monday and the Central Electoral Office (CEO) said 32 candidates representing the two main political parties and 10 independents had contested the poll.

Under the electoral system, voters elect seven members in single-member constituencies by first-past-the-post voting and four at-large members elected from the entire island by plurality at-large voting. Voters may vote up to four candidates in the at-large seats, which replaced four appointees.

The victory for the APM, led by Dr. Ellis Webster is a reversal of the 2015 general election when Banks led his AUF to victory by winning seven seats and the APM, which was recently formed, failing to win a seat.

British Virgin Islands Premier, Andrew A. Fahie was among the first regional leaders to extend congratulations to Webster.

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Jamaica

Former Education Minister Ruel Reid, Caribbean Maritime University (CMU) President Fritz Pinnock and their co-accused had their bails extended when they appeared before the Kingston and St Andrew Parish Court today.  They were ordered to return to court on October 29.

Reid, his wife Sharen, their daughter Sharelle, Pinnock and Brown’s Town Division Councillor Kim Brown Lawrence is facing corruption charges. The five accused were charged in connection with a major fraud and corruption probe by the Financial Investigation Division (FID) involving transactions at the CMU.

Attorney-at-law Hugh Wildman has indicated that when they return to court, he will be making legal submissions for the case to be thrown out on the grounds that the charges laid against them were illegal.
Wildman is arguing that officers from the Financial Investigation Division had no authority in law to arrest or bring charges against the accused.

He said he will be basing his submissions on the recent Privy Council ruling that the Independent Commission of Investigations has no authority in law to arrest, charge or prosecute. Wildman is contending that the FID Act and the INDECOM Act are similar.

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Saint Kitts/Nevis, 

St Kitts and Nevis Prime Minister Dr. Timothy Harris has announced a significant yet time-limited reduction in the level of contribution required to secure the country's best-in-class economic citizenship.

The announcement came in light of the significant global economic fallout caused by the coronavirus pandemic and efforts by the country to find creative ways to stabilize the economy and put it on a path to consolidate growth enjoyed over the last five years before COVID-19.

From Friday, 3rd July 2020, until the end of this year (31 December 2020), families of up to four people will be able to secure citizenship of the safe, beautiful and prosperous twin-island Federation at a substantially discounted rate.

Today also marks 46 days since St Kitts and Nevis health authorities declared the country completely free of COVID-19. Just 15 people were confirmed in the country to have contracted mild forms of the disease since the start of the global pandemic, all of whom were isolated and recovered, with zero cases requiring hospitalization and zero fatalities. St Kitts and Nevis have received international recognition for its superb management of COVID-19.

A single applicant seeking economic citizenship with a donation to the Sustainable Growth Fund is normally required to contribute at least USD 150,000 and a family of up to four at least USD 195,000. Now the Government of St Kitts and Nevis has decided to temporarily reduce the family minimum contribution by USD 45,000 to a competitive USD 150,000. However, the minimum contribution for a single applicant will remain at USD 150,000, a level that recognizes St Kitts and Nevis' continuing market-leading position.

Prime Minister Dr. Timothy Harris said: "St Kitts and Nevis is the safest, most beautiful and prosperous country in the Caribbean to offer economic citizenship and we remain so during these difficult times”.

While COVID-19 has placed the world under enormous strain, St Kitts and Nevis' record to date of zero hospitalizations and zero fatalities from the disease underlines the character and enduring appeal of the country.

The limited-time offer will provide the resources to help the country successfully fight COVID-19 and enhance the safety nets for those who have lost their jobs or income as a consequence.

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