RTC Director

Taiwanese President to visit St Kitts/Nevis

by RTC Director

Kamla, UNC’s future in doubt

The landslide victory of Jack Warner speaks to the demise of the UNC and could also signal a real possibility of the former national security minister becoming the country’s next prime minister, says former government minister Ralph Maraj. Maraj was among a television panel which also included journalist Sunity Maharaj, managing director of the Lloyd Best Institute of the West Indies, and political analyst Dr Winford James. Maraj described the victory as a “sad day” for the country, as someone who has been so discredited, locally and internationally could be elected. Examining what Warner’s win said about the national consciousness, Maraj added, “So-called validating elites in this country would tend to frown upon the emergence of somebody like Jack Warner and his possibility of becoming the prime minister, but clearly after tonight that is a very real possibility. “What does it say about our culture that somebody like Jack Warner could now emerge in this country as a possible candidate for prime ministership?”

Warner’s victory, Maraj said, also represented a much larger picture, one that questioned the future United National Congress (UNC). “Kamla Persad-Bissessar—under her leadership and under the influence of the cabal, the UNC continues to shrink back into that heartland, which in itself is shrinking, because younger people are growing up and the more professional class are moving out and moving into the urban areas. “If this election says anything to the UNC ,it is that it has to look at the leadership of Kamla Persad-Bissessar and the influence of the cabal,” he added.
The by-election race, Maharaj said, represented a “battle inside the UNC,” as Chaguanas West is a UNC constituency which has been divided into “UNC A and UNC B.” “What we have seen tonight is a tremendous division inside the UNC, and how is the UNC as a party going to deal with that? We are going to have to see what are the implications of a Warner victory on the UNC and the on the partnership,” Maharaj added.

Saying no one could deny that Warner is an “extraordinary man,” Maharaj said money also made him “even more extraordinary.” “The country is clearly searching for a way past the automatic voter connection to just ethnic politics. It wants to just try something,” Maharaj said. “There’s a huge vacuum now and for the moment he (Warner) is just filling it. It was clear very early on in this government that a vacuum was developing and the question is what new forces will be released in the political system.” On the issue of leadership of the UNC, James asked who was the potential replacement for Persad-Bissessar. “We hope that the result of this election is going to take us to a path which will not be reversed, and therefore the parties will clean themselves up and come up with a model of democracy or constitutional reform that does not take us back along the tribal rule,” James said.

After conceding defeat last night, Persad-Bissessar told supporters the UNC had not lost because the party was still in government. This however, James said, mirrored the unsuitability of Persad-Bissessar as prime minister. “Strange, incredible things continue to pour from the prime minister’s mouth. She is saying that the government has not lost because it is still in government, on the basis of the result of a by-election that could now put her out of power. “I find that really amazing. It captures the unsuitability of Mrs Bissessar and her Cabinet to run this country.”

by RTC Director

Bandits kill man raising an alarm in TNT

Hours before voting began in the Chaguanas West by-election yesterday, a man was murdered by bandits in front of his home. But despite a suggestion to the contrary by Attorney General Anand Ramlogan, the victim’s family do not believe the killing was linked to the election. Bhandath Ramkir, a 50-year old physically-challenged man, was shot around 2 am when he reportedly tried to stop thieves who were breaking into a relative’s car parked in front of his house. Relatives told the T&T Guardian the relative, who lives next door, had parked his Daewoo Cielo in front of Ramkir’s house and asked him to “watch” it. Around 2.30 am, however, Ramkir’s relatives were awakened by the sound of a gunshot and bawling. They found Ramkir lying in a pool of blood with a gunshot wound to the right side of his chest.

Ramkir, who was unmarried and had no children, was described by villagers as a harmless, fun-loving man, fond of a drink. His killing came in the midst of reports of vandalism and threats of intimidation by people reported to have been brought into the area from “outside” in the build-up to the election. Relatives, the police and neighbours denied his killing was related to the election but said at the same time that they never had any crime like that in the area. Ramkir, whose hand was permanently injured, lived with relatives and when the T&T Guardian visited the house yesterday morning, they were being questioned by Assistant Supt Seemungal Rampersad of the San Fernando Homicide Bureau. Rampersad told the T&T Guardian the incident appeared to be a straight case of attempted robbery. He said while the car was not in perfect condition, it was fitted with “mag rims” on the wheels, which the bandits were probably looking at.

He said about $150 was stolen from the wallet of the owner’s wife, which was in the car, along with her bank card. “We are trying to piece it together,” Rampersad said. He noted, however, there was another robbery in Endeavour on Sunday night, in which a security guard was bound by bandits while they pillaged the place. The owner of the car and his wife, who were questioned by Rampersad, appeared distraught and were reluctant to talk to the media. Attorney General Anand Ramlogan, who visited the Petersfield house around 8 am yesterday, told the media Ramkir was a United National Congress (UNC) activist and his killing might have been linked to the election. The UNC, one of the parties in the coalition People’s Partnership Government, was one of the main contenders in the election race for its former stronghold. The UNC’s main political rival was former Fifa vice-president Jack Warner, who resigned the seat and re-contested it under the banner of his newly-formed Independent Liberal Party.

But one of Ramkir’s relatives, Usha, dismissed any idea his murder was related to the election. “He never vote in his life. He supports everybody,” she said. “A relative ask him to watch the car and people pass and break into it.” Usha said the family lives on the side of the road that falls in the Couva North constituency and could not vote in the election. Neighbours said Ramkir was wearing an Independent Liberal Party jersey the day before he was killed. UNC Chaguanas West candidate Khadijah Ameen, who visited the home around 11 am, told the family the UNC would handle the funeral expenses. Shortly after Ramkir’s murder, which pushed the toll to 210 for the year, news also circulated in the village that a man had been knocked down near the polling station at the Felicity Presbyterian School.

Trinidad Guardian

by RTC Director

Caribbean Climate Finance dialogue conference takes place

Second Latin American and Caribbean Dialogue on Climate Finance in Latin America and the Caribbean

The Second Dialogue is organized by the Government of El Salvador, with support from the EU through its EUROCLIMA programme, the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), the Central American Bank for Economic Integration (BCIE), the Latin American Development Bank (CAF), the UN Development Programme (UNDP) and the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), and among others.

Over 125 participants will attend from 20 Latin American and Caribbean Governments and 15 bilateral and multilateral agencies, civil society organizations and academia, along with international climate finance experts and climate finance experts from Asia-Pacific and Africa.

The Second Dialogue is to discuss: climate finance mechanisms and instruments; inter-institutional coordination on climate finance; potential of the private sector for climate finance; and assessing the impact of climate change on public expenditures. The Dialogue will be followed on 31 July by a meeting of the regional coordinators of EUROCLIMA.

The two day conference started Monday 29^th at Hotel Sheraton Presidente in San Salvador, El Salvador.

by RTC Director

St. Kitts & Nevis: Protesting the Prime Minister

It’s a twist rarely seen in Caribbean politics where party loyalties are fierce, but political tensions are high in St. Kitts and Nevis following the defection of two senior ministers from Prime Minister Denzil Douglas‘ ruling St. Kitts and Nevis Labour Party.

The move has placed the government in a minority position in the country’s National Assembly, and the Prime Minister has not summoned Parliament in more than six months, presumably to avoid facing a vote of “No Confidence”. Meanwhile, the two ministers, Timothy Harris and Sam Condor, have formed a political party of their own, the People’s Labour Party.

Late last week, the opposition People’s Action Movement and the PLP led a protest march through the streets of the capital in an attempt to force the Prime Minister to either call an election or to step aside to allow the formation of a unity government.

Permission for the march was initially withheld by the police and was finally granted hours before the event. Prior to the march, there was a smaller protest, but quite curiously, only one blog – Barbados-based at that – took note. It reported on a press conference held before permission for the march was granted, in which the opposition leader laid out his justification for the march and for continued protests against the government:

The two elected members of PAM and partners in the CCM [Nevis-based Concerned Citizens Movement] and PLP have also written twice to the Governor General, confirming that all six of us, who make up the majority of the elected members of parliament, no longer have any confidence in the government and Dr. Douglas as Prime Minister. We have stated to the Governor General twice in letter that when the Motion of No Confidence is called, we will all vote in favour of it. We have also written twice to the Speaker of the National Assembly, echoing the same message that we communicated to the Governor General, and after six months, not one of these gentlemen has taken the appropriate constitutional action.

There were reactions to the march on the Facebook pages of some of the parties involved. On the People’s Action Movement’s page, Jacqueline Elliot felt that the march was not enough:

PAM and PLP the time has come to take our country back[...]instead of marching, everyone go down Church Street and do not move[...]you stay right there[...]close down St. Kitts. Marching last[s] a couple of hours[...]you need to stay down Church Street like they are doing [in] Egypt.

--Global Voices

by RTC Director