Established October 1895 Climate Change ‘on the mind’ of CARICOM Page 6 Saturday November 28, 2015 $1 VAT Inclusive Parents encouraged to nurture children PARENTS of children attending the Shelley Boyce, as she addressed guardians for turning out in their Maria Holder Nursery School were parents and guardians during the numbers in their Independence colours told yesterday that they should do school’s Independence Programme as a show of support to the young ones, their best to nurture their children and held at the Sharon, St. Thomas Boyce gave a word of caution about aid in building their character and institution, under the theme how parents should seek to discipline their confidence. “Celebrating 49 Years of and guide their children as well. The advice came from Principal of Independence”. the Maria Holder Nursery School, Commending the parents and CHILDREN on Page 5 Sugar workers in Guyana call off strike – Page 10 Pope urges Kenyans to end tribalism, corruption – Page 13 Acting Prime Minister, Richard Sealy (second from right), cuts the ribbon to officially open the BWA’s headquarters. Sharing in the moment are (from left) Chairman of the BWA’s Board of Directors, Dr. Atlee Brathwaite; Minister of Agriculture, Food, Fisheries and Water Resource Management, Dr. David Estwick; and the BWA’s Acting General Manager, Dr. John Mwansa (right). ONLY WAY Desalination the way to go FORWARD ‘Venom’ rolls BARBADOS is very likely to soon desalination” that will effectively The project, which saw the new through to have another desalination plant. address the challenges in the short to state-of-the-art four-storey building Minister of Agriculture, Food, long term. materialise, was done at a cost of Clash of the Fisheries and Water Resource He made the comments yesterday $65 million, with $44.7 million plus Management, Dr. David Estwick, is afternoon as he delivered the feature value-added tax going specifically Titans semis suggesting that with the water address at the official opening of the towards construction costs. shortages being experienced in new Barbados Water Authority’s The Water Resource Management – Page 21 areas across the island, “there is headquarters at the Pine Commercial going to be no solution apart from Complex, The Pine, St. Michael. PROJECT on Page 3 2 • Saturday November 28, 2015 The Barbados Advocate The Barbados Advocate Saturday November 28, 2015 • 3 BWA working to improve efficiency CHAIRMAN of the Board of Directors of the Barbados Water Authority (BWA), Dr Atlee Brathwaite says they are fully committed to the reorganisation and modernisation of the State-owned utility. To that end, Brathwaite told those at- tending the official opening of the BWA’s new multimillion dollar headquarters at the Pine Commercial Complex,The Pine, Acting Prime Minister Richard Sealy (second from left) and Minister of Agriculture, Food, Fisheries and Water Resource St. Michael yesterday afternoon, that the Management, Dr. David Estwick (right) unveil the plaque on the new BWA Headquarters. Looking on is BWA Acting General new building is but only one of the Manager, Dr. John Mwansa. strategic measures being taken to achieve their goal. cluding the establishment and implemen- “As a utility with an ageing infrastruc- tation of safe working procedures to ture, some of the measures needed to ensure the provision of a safe working en- achieve this are going to be through infra- vironment, as well as the upgrading of structural projects, as evidenced by the the human resources development pro- ongoing and just completed mains replace- gramme to provide improved customer ment programme;construction of this new service, and build capacity to utilise the headquarters building… [and] equipment new technologies effectively. change-outs,most of which are all very vis- “These measures…cannot be imple- ible to the public. However,the Authority mented instantaneously and will there- has also been engaged in other projects fore take time to bear fruit.What we have and activities aimed at improving produc- embarked on is a process, which with tivity, morale and health of the workers proper guidance, facilitation, financing and skills and competence,” he added. and support… should result in a more ef- The Chairman explained that through ficient and modernised, effectively run the adoption of new technologies,the BWA water utility within the next few years,”he can now,among other things, better mon- stated. itor its facilities and equipment from its With that in mind,he called on the staff head office, as well as track and identify to engage in team work,working together actions taken, and the status of specific for the common good, warning that to do work orders. He made the point as he otherwise would bring about a standard of Acting General Manager of the BWA, Dr. John Mwansa (right) gives officials and spoke of a number of other initiatives, in- mediocrity. (JRT) members of the Press a tour of the new headquarters. Minister aiming to expand mains laying programme PROJECT from Page 1 water or not, if you don’t fix the mains you’re wasting your time. I’ve been hav- Minister disclosed that he has al- ing discussions with the Latin ready asked Acting General Manager, American Development Bank to see if Dr.John Mwansa, to start the process to we can get additional funding to con- put out expressions of interest to build tinue the mains-laying programme be- such a facility. Speaking about the cause it is a long-term process,” he said. abundance of water provided by the sea, Estwick told the audience, which in- Estwick contended that this is the di- cluded several Cabinet Ministers and rection that Barbados has to go, and he Members of Parliament, led by Acting anticipates that it will take around 18 Prime Minister Richard Sealy, that the months to two years to see such a plant Inter-American Development Bank is come to fruition. also examining the possibility of provid- His remarks came as he indicated ing funding for the continuation of the that his ministry is also well aware of mains laying programme. This disclo- the need to expand the mains-laying sure came as he indicated that he programme, especially in the face of made contact with the Caribbean water challenges that this country and Development Bank earlier this week, others in the region are expected to ex- and they will be seeking approval for perience in the not too distant future.As funding from their board to deal with such, he said they have already taken non-revenue water. some steps to address those concerns. “So critically down the road, I am “The entire Caribbean region is suf- seeing significant reductions in the non- fering a major drought; every single revenue water issues that plague the country is going to have major chal- Water Authority in regards to affecting The four-storey building which is the new headquarters of the State-owned lenges next year, Barbados will too. And its bottom line,” he added. Barbados Water Authority. the reality is whether we find new (JRT) 4• Saturday November 28, 2015 The Barbados Advocate Pupils of the Maria Holder Nursery School waved the These boys had a field day with the song “Cut De Sugar Cane”, as they got to work with Barbados flag as they sang “November 30th”. their specially crafted cutlasses. Maria Holder Nursery School celebrates island’s 49 years of Independence By Regina Selnan Moore have indicated how we can keep dramatic piece “Pull Dem Oars our country blessed and on the Men” which saw the young ones “BARBADOS Ah Come right track and the answers, she working on their oars to propel From”, “John Belly Mama” said can be found written in the a classmate drifting in a boat, and “November 30th” were articles of Independence. was also a crowd pleaser. just a few of the The Independence celebration Additional activities which Independence songs pupils then got underway as the chil- caused parents and guardians of the Maria Holder dren performed via song, poetry, to stand to their feet with their Nursery School belted out dramatic portrayals and sing-a- cameras in hand, included a se- on Friday, as they cele- longs and even a game or two. lection called “Games Children brated the country’s 49 The audience thoroughly en- Play”, which saw the nursery years of Independence, with joyed the presentations, espe- pupils working to “Draw-a- a special programme. cially the dramatic portrayal of Bucket Ah Water”. The pupils, guided by their the song “Cut De Sugar Cane” The programme also consisted class teachers and Principal of where children used specially of a Cultural and Performing the Maria Holder Nursery designed and crafted cutlasses Arts selection entitled “Bajan School, Shelley Boyce, per- to cut down sugar cane and the Market Scene”, which was con- formed for their parents and mix group presentation of “Cou ducted by facilitator of the pro- guardians and specially invited Cou and Flying Fish” where the gramme Tyrone Trotman and guests, during the school’s pre- children held up a fishing next the parents also had their time Independence Programme held filled with flying fish and bags of in the spotlight, as they joined in Pupils of the Maria Holder Nursery School bedecked in “Mr. at the Sharon, St.Thomas insti- the corn meal used to make cou at a later period, to do line danc- & Mrs. Barbados” outfits, during the school’s Independence tution, under the theme cou, as they sang the song. The ing. programme as Principal Shelley Boyce looks on. “Celebrating 49 Years of Independence”. The programme got started with a Prayer for the Nation by Senior Teacher Mrs.