Former GG favours term limits
A former governor general has weighed in on the debate about whether Caribbean leaders should be restricted to term limits in government. Former governor general of St Kitts and Nevis Sir Probyn Innis has told BBC Caribbean that he strongly favours term limits.
The issue has been raised in St Vincent and the Grenadines, Guyana, St Kitts and Nevis and Antigua and Barbuda.
Sir Probyn considers term limits on heads of government a definite contribution towards the growth of greater democracy.
“I think it would help within parties and within governments,” he told BBC Caribbean.
The former head of state said recent history in the Caribbean had shown that after serving two consecutive terms of office, prime ministers tend to be “out of control”, becoming more concerned with themselves and their place in history.
Union against curfew
The St Lucia government says it’s considering putting school children on the island under a curfew from September, to reduce the chance of their becoming involved in crime and other anti-social activities.
The authorities say they are examining legislation from other countries to determine how best to go about this.
But the island’s teacher’s union is questioning how that will work.
The president of the St Lucia Teacher’s Union, Wayne Cumberbatch, told BBC Caribbean that while something needs to be done, he wasn’t sure if the government’s idea is the best one.
Air tax under fire
The UK government came under renewed pressure yesterday to drop its controversial tax on air passengers.
The opposition Conservative party argued that the unpopular tax, which Caribbean countries have warned will hurt their tourism, should be imposed on planes rather than individual passengers.
Planned increases due to take effect in November will mean a 25 percent rise for passengers travelling to the Caribbean.
Countries in the region have complained that flights to the islands are taxed more than those to the US west coast, under the four zone system Britain has adopted.
Tory Treasury spokesman Greg Hands said the measure, intended to be an environmental tax, was extremely unpopular.
And Labour Party MP Diane Abbott urged the governing party to think again, warning that the proposals were the cause of much unhappiness and concern among Caribbean countries and Caribbean nationals residing in Britain.
Paris Club writes
off Haitian debt
Another debt write-off for Haiti, this time totalling $US 215 million.
The Paris Club of creditor nations said Wednesday it has cancelled around $63 million of debt it is owed by Haiti.
It also announced that further bilateral agreements have cleared the country’s remaining debt to individual club members, calculated at $152 million.
The Paris Club of 19 industrialised countries said they welcome “Haiti’s determination to implement a comprehensive poverty reduction strategy and an ambitious economic programme.”
