Category: CANA News

The Antigua and Barbuda government says it has commenced discussions on expanding the scope of the Windfall Tax to encompass all businesses operating on the island that earn annual profits of one million EC dollars (One EC dollar=US$0.37 cents) or more.

A statement issued following the weekly Cabinet meeting, noted that under the current legislative framework, the Windfall Tax applies exclusively to the telecommunications, banking, insurance, and energy sectors and imposes a 10 per cent levy on profits of one million EC dollars or more. ‘Cabinet is now examining amendments to the existing regime that would broaden the tax base to ensure that all highly profitable enterprises contribute equitably to the nation’s social and economic development,’ the statement said.

It said that the discussions centered on the growing investment being made by the government in education and human capital development.

‘Cabinet noted that Antigua and Barbuda has embarked on an ambitious expansion of its tertiary education sector, which includes continued support for the University of the West Indies Five Islands Campus as well as the institutions that comprise the Antigua and Barbuda College of Advanced Studies (ABCAS), namely the Alister Francis Campus (AFC), the Eustace Hill Campus (EHC), the Muriel O’Marde Campus (MOC) and The Harrison Centre.’

The statement said Cabinet considered that as access to higher education continues to expand and as the government invests significantly in facilities, programmes and student opportunities, ‘it is appropriate to explore innovative and sustainable financing mechanisms to support these initiatives.

‘The proposed expansion of the Windfall Tax is therefore being examined as one possible means of generating dedicated revenue to strengthen and sustain the country’s educational institutions.’

The statement said that the matter will continue to be deliberated in subsequent meetings of the Cabinet, with careful consideration being given to the legal, economic and social implications of the proposed changes.

‘When Cabinet ultimately agree on amendments to the Windfall Tax regime, the necessary legislative proposals will be brought before Parliament for debate and consideration,’ the statement said, reaffirming the government’s ‘commitment to ensuring that the nation’s economic growth is shared broadly and that investments in education remain a central pillar of Antigua and Barbuda’s development agenda’.

Meanwhile, negotiations between the government and the Jamaicca-based Sandals Resorts International (SRI) regarding outstanding tax obligations have been successfully concluded, resulting in a settlement agreement valued at EC$6.5 million.

‘Cabinet welcomed the amicable resolution of the matter, noting that the settlement reflects the government’s commitment to prudent fiscal management while maintaining strong partnerships with investors who contribute significantly to the country’s economic development.’

In November 2024, Prime Minister Gaston Browne told the SRI to consider removing its property from his country after he claimed that the luxury hotel brand, Sandals, has adopted a policy of not wanting to pay taxes.

Browne said then that Sandals, which owns the 373-room Sandals Grande Antigua, a six-star, all-inclusive, adults-only resort, owed millions of dollars in taxes.

The statement said that Cabinet has further agreed that five million dollars from the settlement will be allocated to commence the long-anticipated Renaissance Park Development at Fort James.

It said that the project is envisioned as a transformative recreational and tourism hub that will enhance the historic Fort James area and provide new opportunities for leisure, commerce and community engagement.

Sri Lanka trail West Indies Select XI by 32 runs with six wickets remaining at the close of play on the second day of their rain-affected four-day warmup match at the Coolidge Cricket Ground here on Friday.

Scores

WEST INDIES SELECT XI 205 in 61.4 overs (Kirk McKenzie 58, Keemo Paul 36, Kevin Wickham 20, Nial Smith 19 not out, Ojay Shields 16, Ackeem Auguste 12, Alzarri Joseph 12; Lahiru Kumara 4-39, Asitha Fernando 2-26).

SRI LANKA 173-4 in overs (Dinesh Chandimal 54 not out, Nishan Madushka 48, Dhananjaya de Silva 34; Keemo Paul 2-48)

KINGSTON, Jamaica, Jun. 18, CMC – Cabinet Minister Dr. Andrew Wheatley has vowed to clear his name as he faces charges stemming from an Integrity Commission report into his financial affairs.

The anti-corruption body recommended that Wheatley face four charges, including illicit enrichment.

The recommendation was revealed Wednesday after the Integrity Commission’s report was tabled in the House of Representatives.

Wheatley, who is Minister without Portfolio in the Office of the Prime Minister with responsibility for Science, Technology and Special Projects, is the first of eight parliamentarians being investigated by the Commission for possible illicit enrichment, to have a report tabled.

Illicit enrichment relates to public officials being unable to satisfactorily explain assets that exceed their lawful income.

Speaking in the House of Representatives on Wednesday after the report was tabled, Wheatley stated that he will be vindicated when the dust settles.

‘I have every intention of protecting my reputation. It is a matter that somewhere or the other can affect all of us as members in this House. And so my team of lawyers will bring to the fore, to the public, that I am innocent, that the conclusions are inaccurate and that we have a responsibility to encourage anyone from any humble beginning or otherwise, who wish to serve his or her country, not to be afraid because of persons who would want to defame them or destroy their reputation,’ he said.

His statement came after strict instructions were given not to venture too far into the report.

The Commission said Wheatley was given the opportunity to account for how he acquired the assets, but a satisfactory explanation was not provided.

The Integrity Commission is recommending that Wheatley be charged with knowingly making false statements in statutory declarations under two pieces of legislation, failing without reasonable cause to provide information requested by the Director of Information and Complaints, and illicit enrichment.

In a statement, Wheatley rejected as ‘false, inaccurate and grossly misleading’ the Integrity Commission’s claim of assets being disproportionate to his earnings.

Police Friday detained 24 year-old activist Alyssa Phillip, who is behind a series of protests calling for justice in the January 20 police involved shooting that left 31 year-old Joshua Samaroo dead and the subsequent laying of charges, including manslaughter against his 25-year-old common-law wife, Kaia Sealy, who was severely injured during the operation.

The police have not yet issued any statement regarding Phillip’s detention, but David Abdullah, the leader of the Movement for Social Justice (MSJ), who has been present at the protests organised by Phillip, told reporters that prior to her participation in the Labour Day activities at Fyzabad, in southwestern Trinidad, he had given her an assurance that her presence ‘should not be any problem’.

Opposition Leader Pennelope Beckles has called for the removal of the board of directors of the Housing Development Corporation (HDC) after the government decided to cancel a multi-billion dollar project (one TT dollar=US$0.16 cent) which has been the subject of an investigation by the Office of Procurement Regulation (OPR) since April.

In a statement, Beckles is calling calling for the removal of the three government ministers in the Ministry of Housing saying that the HDC’s decision to terminate procurement proceedings for the TT$3.4 billion Design-Build-Finance (DBF) housing programme amounted to an admission the process was flawed and should never have progressed to the stage it did. ‘The population would have had no knowledge of this cancellation because the HDC merely referred to the release as ‘RFP No. 050126 – DBF – Portfolio 1,’ leaving no one other than diligent watchdogs able to identify the true impact of the release,’ Beckles said.

Beckles said that the procurement exercise involved the proposed award of contracts to favoured financiers of the ruling United National Congress (UNC) government and recently incorporated companies with little or no housing development experience.

‘This cancellation represents an admission of the inappropriate award of state contracts under highly suspicious and scandalous circumstances,’ Beckles said, accusing the government of failing to address housing issues while thousands of citizens continue to await housing solutions.

Minister in the Ministry of Housing Phillip Alexander said the Kamla Persad-Bissessar government had taken the decision to pull the process entirely rather than allow it to become mired in prolonged disputes and delays that could further postpone the delivery of thousands of homes.

Alexander said that the cancelled procurement exercise, which was intended to deliver approximately 3,700 housing units, will now be re-tendered alongside an expanded slate of housing projects.

‘It was going to be a back and forth, and before it became something that was just going to drag on, we’re not leaving it in limbo,’ Alexander told the Trinidad Guardian newspaper, adding ‘we took the decision to say, look, you’re not happy with this process, we’re going to pull it, we’re going to come back at it, where any of the issues that you had a concern with before will not exist.’

On Wednesday, the HDC issued an official Notice of Cancellation terminating procurement proceedings for its ‘Portfolio 1’ housing project with immediate effect under Section 33 of the Public Procurement and Disposal of Public Property Act, noting that it had determined that discontinuing the exercise was in the ‘public interest.’

Section 33 of the Procurement Act permits a procuring entity to cancel procurement proceedings before a contract is awarded, provided the reasons are properly recorded. While the HDC confirmed that those reasons have been documented in the official procurement record, they have not been publicly disclosed.

Alexander said while the government’s priority remains delivering housing to citizens, ‘we really don’t appreciate wasting this time here, because we really want to deliver the houses’.

He said the same projects would be returned to the market, alongside additional housing packages.

‘These same projects that have been pulled here will be reissued together with more, and every single developer, because that was the number one complaint that we got, that some people felt like they didn’t get time to tender, so now everybody has a chance.’

On April 8, the HDC had issued a Notice of Decision to Award naming 11 intended contractors for various housing packages.

The proposed awards were collectively valued at more than three billion dollars. However, on April 17, the OPR intervened and directed the HDC to suspend the process pending a review of the procurement proceedings.

In her statement, Beckles criticised Housing Minister David Lee, as well as Alexander and junior housing minister, Anil Roberts, claiming they had failed to deliver meaningful results in the housing sector.

Beckles said the main opposition People’s National Movement (PNM) would continue to scrutinise the government’s handling of the housing sector and hold it accountable for its decisions.

The OPR has not yet publicly disclosed the outcome of its review.

Opposition Leader Mark Golding has called on Prime Minister Andrew Holness to dismiss his embattled Minister without Portfolio in the Office of the Prime Minister, Dr. Andrew Wheatley, after the Integrity Commission (IC) recommended that he faces face four charges, including illicit enrichment.

Wheatley has already vowed to clear his name and is the first of eight parliamentarians being investigated by the IC for possible illicit enrichment, which relates to public officials being unable to satisfactorily explain assets that exceed their lawful income. The Integrity Commission is recommending that Wheatley be charged with knowingly making false statements in statutory declarations under two pieces of legislation, failing without reasonable cause to provide information requested by the Director of Information and Complaints, and illicit enrichment.

The IC said Wheatley was given the opportunity to account for how he acquired the assets, but a satisfactory explanation was not provided.

Golding told reporters that he is against people returning to the government who have had serious allegations of corruption levelled at them without the accusations being cleared.

‘I think each case has to be assessed on its own merit. There are situations where somebody who holds a ministerial position may do something that is not quite right and, because we are trying to set a standard of good behaviour and proper governance, that cannot be ignored, but it may not be so egregious as to warrant permanent exclusion of that person from their career.

‘On the other hand, there are some things that are sufficiently serious and that person really should not be a public figure any longer. They should not be responsible for any aspect of the affairs of the nation. They should not be privy to State secrets and exercising executive authority in a portfolio affecting the lives and interests of the Jamaican people,’ Golding said.

Opposition spokesperson on finance Julian Robinson said that he too found Wheatley’s return to the Cabinet ironic.

‘I find it ironic that he was removed in 2018 after allegations of corruption, nepotism and cronyism related to him as minister of energy. For some time he remained out of the Cabinet – for seven years. I don’t know whether he had told the prime minister when he was being reappointed that he was the subject of an Integrity Commission investigation into illicit enrichment.

‘One wonders why would he be reappointed had he known that he was the subject of an investigation. We know that he is not alone. We know there are eight or nine Members of Parliament who are also the subject of investigations by the Integrity Commission for illicit enrichment. We call for those persons to declare themselves and hold up their hands,’ said Robinson.

Robinson said that the report indicated that Wheatley told the IC that he earned returns on a high-yield investment scheme but there was no evidence the scheme existed.

‘There were no records. More importantly, the explanation was not in Dr Wheatley’s statutory declarations for the entire period. He only raised it in 2024 as part of the investigation into illicit enrichment. Dr Wheatley would present one thing to the commission and then after an investigation it is found that it is totally opposite,’ Robinson said, adding that the report showed where Wheatley said he received rental income of approximately J$143 million (One Jamaica dollar=US$0.008 cents).

‘The Integrity Commission asked for the names of those tenants, receipts, et cetera. Dr Wheatley indicated that these persons were protected under the Data Protection Act and as such he could not provide that information. When he was pressed further, while he was able to provide some names and some substantiation, he could not substantiate $143 million which he claimed came from rental income,’ said Robinson.

In a statement, Wheatley has rejected as ‘false, inaccurate and grossly misleading’ the Integrity Commission’s claim and his lawyers have also reportedly written to the IC pointing to what they describe as inconsistencies in its report and conclusion.

In a pulsating encounter at the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup, West Indies held their nerve to secure a hard-fought victory over a spirited Scottish side, with all-rounder Chinelle Henry revealing the team’s resolve to overcome injury worries and a fiery opposition.

Speaking after the match, Henry, who was a late inclusion after a warm-up game injury, praised veteran Stafanie Taylor for a match-defining knock that propelled the Windies to a competitive total. ‘The way Stafanie played today was really amazing,’ Henry stated. ‘She is always a class act, a class performer, and tonight we saw that. She finished that innings perfectly for us.’

The West Indies posted a total that Henry admitted was slightly below their initial target. ‘We discussed that the wicket was a bit slow up front, so we thought maybe 160 would have been par. The idea was to get as many as possible, but it proved to be enough to bring us over the line.’

Scotland came out firing in the chase, putting the Windies’ bowling attack under immediate pressure. Henry acknowledged the tense moments, noting the team’s strategy was to remain calm during the powerplay.

‘We knew everyone would come hard in the first six overs. It wasn’t the best start with the ball, but as a unit, we finished the job,’ she said.

The match saw a few jitters in the field and a tense exchange involving the emotional Deandra Dottin. Henry explained the team’s supportive approach.

‘It was just about the nerves. Deandra is passionate and wears her heart on her sleeve. The plan wasn’t going her way, so Hayley and I just reminded her that she is one of the best death bowlers we have.’

Addressing concerns over a fielding injury to Shemaine Campbell, Henry downplayed the severity. ‘It was just a precaution, nothing major,’ she assured.

Henry also confirmed her own fitness was a ‘team decision’ made with the medical staff, stating she was fit enough to contribute.

Looking ahead, she emphasised the unpredictable nature of the tournament, which she believes is one of the most open in recent memory.

‘This table is blown wide open. Nobody is here just to compete; everyone is fighting. We can’t take anyone lightly,’ Henry said, turning focus to their next challenge. ‘Winning our first two games puts us in a good spot. We just have to go back to the drawing board, assess those first six overs, and keep trusting our skills.’

With two wins from two, the West Indies are building momentum, but Henry insists the focus remains on a game-by-game approach to secure a semi-final berth.

A 40-year-old engineer, who has been in prison since July last year, awaiting trial for the murder of a 20-year-old South African stewardess, has been denied bail.

Justice Guillimina Archer-Minns denied the bail application for the Mexican Brigido Lara Muñoz, the engineer on the Superyacht, Far From It, who is accused of murdering Paige Bell. The judge cited the strength of the evidence while deeming Muñoz a potential flight risk.

Prosecutors allege that Muñoz slit Bell’s throat in the yacht’s engine room while it was moored at Harbour Island, Eleuthera.

Muñoz, who had severe wounds to his arms that the authorities suspect were self-inflicted, has pleaded not guilty to the July 3, 2025 murder.

Police said they had discovered Bell’s body partially undressed in the yacht’s engine room, having sustained severe slash wounds to her neck and signs of a struggle. The alarm had been raised when she failed to turn up for her shift.

Prime Minister Mia Mottley Friday led the tributes for Sir Charles Emile Straker, ‘one of our greatest cultural sons,’ who has died on Friday. He was 90 years old. The cause of death has not been made public.

‘Early this morning, Barbados awoke to the deeply sad news that Sir Charles Emile Straker, one of our greatest cultural sons and the golden voice of The Merrymen, has gone home,’ Mottley wrote, adding ‘for generations, Sir Emile gave us more than melodies. He gave Barbados a feeling’. She said through songs such as ‘Beautiful Barbados,’ ‘Nut Seller,’ ‘Big Bamboo,’ ‘Sam Lord,’ ‘You Sweeten Me’ and so many others, he captured Bajan life and Barbadiana with humour, warmth, pride and an unmistakable joy that brought people together – locals, visitors, and Barbadians wherever they were in the world.

‘He helped make Barbados matter far beyond our shores. Before hashtags, campaigns and global platforms, Sir Emile and The Merrymen were taking our island to the world on hotel stages, in concert halls, on records carried home by tourists, and in the hearts of people who returned to Barbados because his music made them feel they already belonged.’

Sir Charles, who was knighted in 2019, published his autobiography in 2023, titled ‘My Island and Me’ and Mottley said his recognition as Knight of St. Andrew ‘was a proud and fitting national embrace of a man whose gift had long been one of Barbados’ greatest honours.

‘Today, as we mourn with his children Dean, Ray and Stacey-Jane, his grandchildren, relatives, friends, bandmates, and all who loved him, we give thanks for a life that sweetened Barbados and made the world sing along.’

Sir Emile’s death follows that of Robin Hunte, the tenor guitarist, who died from cancer, on August 24, 2015 and Chris Gibbs, the bass guitarist and one of four original members, who in 2003 became the first person from a Caribbean country to swim the English Channel. He died from cancer at 80 on June 17, 2025.

The other members of the group, Stephen Fields, guitarist, has dementia, while Willie Kerr, guitarist, and Peter Roett, drummer, periodically perform with other local acts in Barbados.

A non-profit organisation here is observing World Sickle Cell Awareness Day on Friday with the launch of the first digital health platform in the Caribbean built specifically for people living with sickle cell disease.

The Sickle Cell Cares Foundation Inc. (SCCF) founded in 2013 by Kellyn George, who is living with sickle cell disease (SCD), said that the SickleConnect platform is free to download and puts health management tools directly in the hands of SCD patients. ‘From a smartphone or any device with internet access, patients can now track pain levels and triggers, manage medications, monitor daily hydration, log lab results, and generate an AI-powered clinical summary to share with their doctor – all in one place, designed specifically for the Caribbean patient experience,’ George said.

She said that SickleConnect also offers a 30-day clinical summary generated from patient data as wellas a one-tap emergency alert with location sharing, accessible at all times.

She said SCD affects an estimated one in 500 people of African or Caribbean descent and causes severe episodes of pain, organ damage, and significantly shortened life expectancy.

‘In Dominica and across the Eastern Caribbean, access to specialist haematology care remains limited, and until today, there has been no digital health tool designed for this patient population,’ said the SCCF, which provides education, advocacy, peer support, and digital health services to patients and their families across Dominica and the wider Eastern Caribbean.

World Sickle Cell Day is being observed under the theme ‘Closing the Survival Gap: Equity in Sickle Cell Disease,’ highlighting the persistent disparities in access to diagnosis, treatments, and quality care across the globe.

The Trinidad-based Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA) is using the global occasion to advocate for early diagnosis, raise public awareness about sickle cell disease (SCD) as a genetic haemoglobin disorder, and promote patient support systems across the region.

CARPHA has classified SCD as one of the leading non-communicable diseases (NCDs) in the region, focusing heavily on raising awareness for a disorder that disproportionately affects populations of African and Caribbean descent.