Category: CANA News

The following is the CANANews and SPORTS Schedule for Monday, September 28, 2026

KINGSTON – The 20th edition of the Caribbean Week of Agriculture (CWA) has gotten underway here with Jamaica’s Prime Minister Andrew Holness urging the region to ensure that agriculture becomes increasingly export oriented and able to compete globally.

UNITED NATIONS-Caribbean leaders addressing the 81st session of the United National General Assembly.

PORT OF SPAIN -Caribbean Community (CARICOM) chairman, Prime Minister Phillip J Pierre says the late Grenadian born calypsonian, the Mighty Sparrow gave the Caribbean a ‘voice that was unmistakably our own’ as he paid tribute to the legendary singer who died in New York on Sunday at the age of 91.

BRIDGETOWN – A new study examining the tourism in five Caribbean Community (CARICOM) countries calls for productivity, decent work and the transition to formality to advance together in the tourism sector.

ST. GEORGE’S – Prime Minister Dickon Mitchell says the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) will officially launch its campaign for the general election which is constitutionally due no later than October 2027, but widely expected to be held later this year.

SPORTS:

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM – West Indies batsman Amir Jangoo believes his team fell 20 to 30 runs short of a competitive total after they suffered an eight-wicket defeat to India in the opening One-Day International at the Greenfield International Stadium here on Sunday.

The Bermuda government has goven an assurance to public officers that are employed and eligible to retire on March 31 next year that the cash amount of the lump sum will remain protected if they continue in service.

‘Whether you retire a year later or many years later, you will not receive less than that protected amount,’ Premier David Burt said. Adding that his government believes this is the right way to carry this important reform forward by strengthening the Public Service Superannuation Fun for those who depend on it, while making adjustments to ensure that the public service can retain the experience it needs.

Burt recalled that last September, he brought legislation to Parliament to stabilise the Public Service Superannuation Fund, noting that its 2023 valuation showed only thirty-seven cents in assets for every dollar owed in pensions, and without reform, its invested assets were projected to be exhausted around 2045.

Burt said that after years of review and consultation with unions, his government made the tough decisions to change contributions, retirement ages, and the reference wage for retirement.

‘That reform was for the officers serving today, those who will join them and those who have already retired. After more than a decade without an increase, we also legislated a 10 per cent increase for public service retirees, effective from April of this year.

‘Payments are expected to begin in October, including arrears back to April 2026. We have taken responsibility for the Fund’s long-term future, but we must also listen to the people affected as the reforms take effect,’ Burt added.

He said that public officers had spoken of a sudden reduction in the lump-sum conversion factor could bring forward the retirement of people who still want to serve. Burt said that the government listened, discussed their concerns with union representatives, and consulted the Public Service Superannuation Board.

‘Today…I am pleased to announce a major change in how this part of the reform will take effect: the reduction in the lump-sum conversion factor will be phased in, and the cash amount available on 31 March 2027 to officers employed and eligible to retire on that date will be guaranteed if they remain in service. Let me explain why that change was needed and how it will work.

‘When a public officer retires, they may choose to exchange part of their annual pension for a lump sum paid upfront. The lump-sum conversion factor determines how much is paid for the portion of annual pension they give up.’

Burt said that the significance of this provision is clear from the choices public officers make at retirement. He said between 2020 and 2025, approximately 1,000 members retired from the public sector, and 90 per cent chose to receive some level of lump-sum payment. For most retiring officers, the lump-sum conversion factor has a direct bearing on the cash available to them as they begin their retirement.

‘For more than four decades, the lump-sum conversion factor was fixed in legislation at 11.5. It stayed at that level even while the Fund’s financial position deteriorated. That fixed figure imposed costs the Fund could no longer responsibly carry.’

He said leaving that provision untouched would have undermined the very reform te Parliament passed to secure public officers’ pensions, adding that the was therefore changed so that the lump-sum conversion factor could be adjusted following an actuarial review and consultation with the Public Service Superannuation Board.

Burt said that the government’s actuaries have shared that if the lump-sum conversion factor were changed to match the funded status of the PSSF, then the lump-sum conversion factor would need to move from 11.5 to 5.75 in April 2027.

He said the government had to consider what Bermuda would lose if experienced officers felt pressed to retire next March.

‘When a teacher leaves a school, pupils and colleagues feel the loss. When a long-serving officer retires, a department loses years of knowledge and guidance. A wave of departures across the service would be felt by the public as well.’

But said as a result, the lump-sum conversion factor will remain at 11.5 on 1 April 2027; it will not fall to 5.75. Required changes will instead be phased in over time, alongside the other pension changes approved by Parliament last year.

Burt said that the lump-sum conversion factor will be reviewed every two years by the Minister in consultation with the Board, with the aim of reaching a level that reflects the Fund’s financial position by 2035.

He said the second decision protects public officers who are employed and eligible to retire on 31 March 2027, adding that if they continue serving, the cash value of the lump sum they could have received on that date will be protected until they retire, regardless of what the lump-sum conversion factor may be in the future.

‘If their later calculation is higher, they will receive more. The guarantee is for that cash amount, not the 11.5 lump-sum conversion factor for future years. This government will bring the necessary amendment to the Public Service Superannuation Act 1981 to give that guarantee the force of law,’ he added.

Burt said that officers who are not yet eligible to retire on 31 March 2027 will still benefit from a gradual transition, adding ‘they will have more time to understand how the changes may affect their own retirement’.

The CARICOM Private Sector Organization (CPSO) has welcomed the decision by the Jamaica-based Sandals Resort to enter into an agreement with the US-based Royal Caribbean Group (RCL) noting that in an era of intensifying global market integration, the Caribbean cannot stand apart from the consolidation reshaping the international travel and hospitality industry.

‘The choice before the region is whether its enterprises participate in that integration as owners and partners, or merely as hosts. Sandals has answered decisively, entering this new chapter with its Caribbean identity, leadership and headquarters intact, and with governance shared at the highest level,’ said the CPSO, an Associate Institution of CARICOM, which represents the organised private sector in the governance of the CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME).

‘Sandals is proof that the Caribbean produces not only worldclass destinations but world-class companies. We congratulate Adam Stewart and his team, and we stand ready to work with them to ensure that this historic partnership translates into jobs, supply-chain opportunities and enduring prosperity for the people of our Community,’ said CPSO.’

Last Wednesday, Sandals Resort announced the agreement to form a partnership in the all-inclusive resort space with RCL making a 50 per cent investment.

Under the terms of the agreement, Royal Caribbean Group will acquire a 50 per cent equity interest in Sandals and Beaches Resorts for approximately three billion US dollars. Royal Caribbean Group has secured committed debt financing from Morgan Stanley to fund the investment.

The transaction is expected to close in early 2027, subject to customary approvals and closing conditions, and is expected to be accretive to earnings next year.

The CPSO said that this transaction, which implies a valuation of an estimated six billion US dollars ‘for a company conceived, built and headquartered in the Caribbean, is a defining moment for the regional private sector.

‘It affirms what the CPSO has long maintained: that CARICOM enterprise, when permitted to scale across the Single Market and Economy, can command a place among the foremost names in global business.’

CPSO said that the late Gordon ‘Butch’ Stewart, had founded Sandals on the conviction that a Caribbean company, a Caribbean Brand, could stand on the world stage.

It said that the partnership with RCL ‘is the emphatic vindication of that conviction, and a tribute to the stewardship of Adam Stewart and his team.

‘For tourism, the region’s largest export sector and principal earner of foreign exchange, the partnership brings together two category-defining leaders: Sandals and Beaches Resorts, the Caribbean’s leading all-inclusive resort brands, and Royal Caribbean Group, with its global vacation platform.’

The CPSO said it anticipates that the combined reach of the two companies will expand visitor arrivals, lengthen stays, deepen airlift and cruise connectivity, and multiply demand across CARICOM destinations, including Jamaica, Antigua and Barbuda, Sr. Lucia, The Bahamas, Barbados, Grenada, and St. Vincent and the Grenadines.

‘For CARICOM and the CSME, the significance extends well beyond tourism. The partnership demonstrates the CSME working as intended: a regional firm using the Single Market as its platform for growth, attracting world-scale capital on world-scale terms. It is a powerful signal to international investors of the bankability of Caribbean assets, Caribbean management and Caribbean brands.

‘The CPSO also sees in this development a renewed opportunity to deepen the linkages between tourism and regional production, in agriculture, agro-processing, manufacturing and services, so that the gains from expanded visitor demand are retained and multiplied within the Community.’

A new study examining the tourism in five Caribbean Community (CARICOM) countries calls for productivity, decent work and the transition to formality to advance together in the tourism sector.

The study undertaken by the International Labour Organization (ILO) involved Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Dominica, Grenada and St. Lucia.

According to the study, tourism contributes an average of 39 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) and more than 11 per cent of total employment in the Eastern Caribbean, but its economic importance coexists with persistent informality and decent work deficits.

The study argues that strengthening productivity, working conditions and formalisation together can help turn the sector’s economic weight into more sustainable and inclusive development.

The study finds that informality is sustained by mutually reinforcing factors, including low productivity among many micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs), limited access to finance, fragmented regulatory environments, persistent skills mismatches, gaps in social protection and limited capacity to enforce labour regulations. Strong seasonality and exposure to climate shocks further constrain the ability of enterprises to invest, grow and sustain formal operations.

The ILO said that the challenge is not simply to reduce informality, but to transform tourism into a genuine platform for decent work, productive development and social inclusion.

ILO Regional Director for Latin America and the Caribbean, Ana Virginia Moreira Gomes, said that the ‘challenge is not simply to reduce informality, but to transform tourism into a genuine platform for decent work, productive development and social inclusion’.

Rather than treating formalisation as a stand-alone objective, the study proposes an integrated approach based on the ILO’s normative framework, as well as on the Strategy for the Promotion of Formalization in Latin America and the Caribbean (FORLAC 2.0), and the ILO guidelines on decent work and socially responsible tourism.

Its nine pathways combine measures to strengthen productive development and MSMEs, upgrade skills and employment opportunities, extend social protection coverage and improve labour rights and compliance. They are complemented by action to strengthen social dialogue, promote gender-responsive policies and improve data collection and regional collaboration.

The study stresses that these measures need to respond to different realities within the sector. Subsistence-level operators and growth-oriented enterprises face different barriers to formalization, while conditions also vary among the five countries. This calls for gradual and differentiated approaches that make formalization viable for workers and enterprises while strengthening productivity and improving working conditions.

Director of the ILO Decent Work Team and Office for the Caribbean, Joni Musabayana, said advancing formalisation in Caribbean tourism is not only a labour market priority, it is a development imperative

‘By turning evidence into action and strengthening tripartite cooperation, we can build a tourism sector that delivers decent work, greater resilience and sustainable development,’ said Musabayana.

The ILO said it will continue working with governments, employers’ and workers’ organizations to translate these priorities into practical actions for more sustainable enterprises, better-protected workers, more resilient communities and a tourism sector whose growth creates opportunity and dignity.

The study was developed within the framework of FORLAC 2.0, with financial support from the European Union and the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID).

It is part of the ILO’s strategy to strengthen an integrated and coherent response to support the transition to the formal economy in Latin America and the Caribbean over the period 2024-2030, through innovative solutions tailored to national contexts, aiming to increase productivity, sustainable enterprises, formalization and decent work, and foster partnerships to advance integrated formalization policies across the region.

Prime Minister Dickon Mitchell says the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) will officially launch its campaign for the general election which is constitutionally due no later than October 2027, but widely expected to be held later this year.

‘The official launch will be at the 4th of October. We are going to present all 15 of our candidates at the 4th of October. A long concert will be held at the 4th of October. You will be seeing it in the sky, and then you, me, us, will be ready for both,’ Mitchell told a mini-rally NDC rally at the St. Paul’s Community Center on Sunday.

Mitchell, who led the NDC to victory in 2022 after it won nine of the 15 seats at stake, had earlier warned supporters that they should seek to be registered to vote before Friday.

‘…this week is the last week for registration. Let me repeat, this week is the last week for registration. So if you are not registered, please go …and get registered,’ Mitchell said, adding ‘after Friday, there will be no opportunity to get registered.

‘…so please, to be part of the change, to be part of ensuring we continue on the trajectory, you need to make sure. So I’m letting you know right now…this week is the last week for registration. Let me repeat, this week is the last week for registration.

‘We have Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday. We have to make sure we register the people who are not yet registered and who we know are ready for more and want to keep moving Grenada forward.’

Mitchell said that while the party is confident of victory he did not want to hear ‘we win already, I want to hear clean sweep.

‘I want to hear for the next five days that we’re registering anybody who is not registered. That’s the first thing. The second thing, you need to make sure that you know the five, the 10, the 15, the 20 persons responsible for making sure you take them to the polls on polling day.

‘This is the National Democratic Congress election to win. This is election about validating the last four years. The last election was about lifting the cloud over Grenada. It was about throwing Jonah overboard. It was about retiring people who don’t want to retire,’ Mitchell said, adding that the next five years should be about ‘validating the actual work that has been done for the last four years.

‘So when you walk around and you’re talking to your neighbour, you’re talking to your friend or you meet people still telling you they can’t see or they undecided, make sure you open their eyes for them.

‘Make sure you open their eyes for them. Make sure the way you are looking beautiful, nice, yellow, bright, energetic, that you tell them the story of the last four years,’ Mitchell said, adding ‘we made a deal four years ago. We agreed we were going to move Grenada…and we have we moved Grenada forward?

‘But the work is not finished. There is a lot more to be done. Our best chapter has to be written in the next five years because we need to ensure that there’s no chance of any resurrection. We need to make sure that no dark cloud ever descends on Grenada, Carriacou and Petite Martinique again,’ he said.

‘We need to bury the days of victimisation for once and for all. We need to bury the days of not believing in our people,’ he added.

A questionnaire circulated among NDC supporters overseas also asked whether they could travel to Grenada to assist during the upcoming election, instructing respondents to assume the election could be held ‘on or before December 31, 2026’.

One of the main challengers to the NDC in the election will be the New National Party (NNP) which will be entering a general election for the first time without its founder and former prime minister Dr Keith Mitchell at the helm.

The 20th edition of the Caribbean Week of Agriculture (CWA) has gotten underway here with Jamaica’s Prime Minister Andrew Holness urging the region to ensure that agriculture becomes increasingly export oriented and able to compete globally.

Holness told the opening ceremony that in time, agricultural modernisation must embrace digital technologies, precision farming, improved crop varieties, and more efficient production systems.

‘These innovations must become accessible to small and medium-sized farmers, who constitute an important part of the Caribbean’s agricultural economy. Technology should not be viewed as something reserved for large commercial operations.’

Holness said that there is also the need to develop financing arrangements, shared services, and extension programmes that allow small producers to benefit from advances in agricultural science.

The CWA is being held under the theme ‘The New F.A.C.E of Caribbean Food Systems’ with the organisers indicating that it highlights four key areas, namely Food Security, Agri-Business, Climate-Smart Technologies and Export Expansion.

Defence lawyers Monday say they will withdraw their legal services from all criminal courts in Jamaica following unsuccessful discussions with the Ministry of Justice, over the minimum mandatory sentences in the Firearms Prohibition Restriction and Regulation Act 2022.

In a joint the Jamaican Bar Association (Jambar) and Advocates Association of Jamaica (AAJ) say their members had voted overwhelmingly in favour of withdrawing legal services this week until October 2. While the full withdrawal takes place on Monday, targeted industrial action focused strictly on the Gun Courts will follow on Tuesday.

The lawyers held a near two-hour meeting last Thursday with Justice and Constitutional Affairs Minister Delroy Chuck. But they said the discussions concluded without any definitive legislative timeline to address their concerns.

The lawyers are demanding changes to the Firearms (Prohibition, Restriction and Regulation) Act, 2022, particularly the mandatory minimum sentences, which they say have significantly reduced judges’ ability to consider the circumstances of individual cases.

Last Wednesday the lawyers staged a peaceful and quiet protest with Jambar president Tenneshia Watkins saying ‘the biggest issue we have is the mandatory minimum which has taken away the discretion of the judge totally and we continue to have the backlogs, cases not moving through the system as they should’.

Watkins said removing the mandatory minimum would be a major step towards addressing the concerns.

But both the Jambar and the AAJ have urged attorneys to manage urgent remand list matters, emergency bail applications involving juveniles or vulnerable persons, and time-sensitive constitutional applications in a manner that ensures no client’s fundamental rights are prejudiced during this period.

The associations say they are again calling for urgent and meaningful legislative amendments to ensure the justice system functions efficiently for all Jamaicans.

Prime Minister Phillip J Pierre Monday said that a technical mission from the countries of the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) with a Citizenship by Investment (CBI) programme will visit Europe next month as they seek to prevent Europe from ending the free visa access to holders of their passports.

Pierre ,speaking to reporters at the post Cabinet news conference, said that while in New York to attend the United Nations General Assembly last week, he together with Antigua and Barbuda Prime Minister Gaston Browne and the OECS Director General, Dr. Didacus Jules met with European Union officials on the issue.

He said that following the talks it was agreed that a technical mission would travel to Brussels and St. Lucia would be represented by deputy Prime Minister Dr. Ernest Hilaire.

‘As you know, the countries that have CBI programmes, we’ve taken all the necessary steps to ensure that our due diligence is intact, to ensure we were asked to have six points of intervention.

‘We’ve followed all of that, we’ve strengthened our due diligence, we’ve made our programmes as accountable as we can, we’ve formed an Eastern Caribbean Regulatory Authority where the programmes will be regulated by that authority,’ Pierre said, adding ‘but the fact is, the Europeans have said that in two years, in spite and despite of all that, having a programme could mean visa suspension.’

Under the CBI programme the islands of Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Grenada, St. Kitts and Nevis and St. Lucia provide citizenship to foreign investors in return for making a substantial investment in the socio-economic development of these islands.

Pierre said that the technical committee comprising members of all five OECS countries would be ‘negotiating with Europe as to the process, what happens before then.

‘There are many things that can happen in between. But the point is, after two years, a Schengen visa is no longer going to be available to you once you have a CBI programme’

A Schengen visa lets non-EU nationals visit 29 European countries for up to 90 days within any 180-day period.

‘But we continue to work, we continue to strengthen our programmes, and St. Lucia is fortunate in that the CBI programme is about 10 per cent of our revenue, and…our programme still is very attractive.

‘…we are in a fortunate situation in that our programme is not our main revenue source, which is where we continue to diversify our economy. But it’s a programme that we would not like to lose, because it has done quite a bit for our country. But we are going to try to protect it’

Pierre said that the truth is, St. Lucia and the OECS countries have ‘done all what we’ve been asked to do.

‘We’ve strengthened our due diligence, we’ve strengthened our accountability, we’ve formed the Eastern Caribbean Regulatory Authority, we’ve done all what we were asked to do,’ he said, adding ‘ we cannot dictate policies of other countries, so we have to accept and we have to respect their position.

‘So we await the results of the meeting of the technical committee. I’m sure Dr. Hilaire is going to represent St. Lucia as well, and we look forward to the results of that meeting, which is going to be held in October.

‘You know, we are saying to Europe that we want to diversify our economy. We are trying our best. We don’t want to be begging. We don’t always want to be begging. We don’t always want to be knocking on the door, and sometimes we want to …control our own destiny.’

Pierre said that the discussions would also take into consideration ‘what happens post two years from now, post 2028’.

Pierre told reporters that he is confident that St. Lucia would survive the EU position, noting ‘we’re not going to lie down and die. We’ve never laid down and died. We’ve never.

‘We’ve survived slavery. We’ve survived bananas. We’ve survived sugarcane. We’ve survived financial services. We’ve survived. We’ve survived it. So we’re going to survive.But we need to take our people together with us.

‘So we need to talk to them, you know, continue to converse with them. And we need people sometimes to look at the bigger picture .But it’s a very torturous idea for a Prime Minister whose revenue, 50 per cent of his revenue comes from a source. And that may not happen.

‘And I said, we’re going to try our best not to offend the Europeans, not to offend the Americans, but we have to survive as a country, and we are going to survive in legal ways. So it’s a very difficult proposition that we have, but we’re going to work with them to see if we can come to a solution,’ he added.

Police Monday said one person had been detained as they continue investigations into the seizure of 36 pounds of cocaine found in two bags containing frozen fish on Sunday.

A police statement said that an intelligence-led operation conducted at Richmondville, Providence, East Bank Demerara, led officers to intercept a motor vehicle driven by a 44-year-old miner, who was the sole occupant.

‘A search of the vehicle was conducted, during which ranks found two bags containing frozen fish in the trunk. Further examination revealed several parcels containing a white powdery substance suspected to be cocaine concealed inside the fish.’

The police said that the 44-year-old was arrested and that ‘a total of 15 parcels containing the suspected cocaine were recovered from the frozen fish. The suspected cocaine was weighed and amounted to 36 pounds before being lodged’.

The police gave no street value for the drugs but said that the suspect remains in custody as investigations continue.

Police say four people including foreign nationals are assisting their investigations after a substantial arsenal of weapons had been seize during a three day operation over the last weekend.

The Suriname Police Force (KPS) in a statement posted on its website said that among the weapons seized during the joint operation involving the police and the National Army in the Sarakreek area, a gold-mining region in the eastern part of the Brokopondo District, are two AR-15 shoulder guns, five single-shot firearms, a five-shot hunting rifle, a Glock pistol, and a Roni conversion system.

The police said that the suspects have been remanded into custody following consultation with the Public Prosecution Service. They said those detained include Brazilian and Chinese nationals.

Preliminary police investigations have revealed that these foreign workers in the area were facilitated by local Surinamese nationals, who received a share of the gold proceeds in return.

According to the KPS, the operation was aimed at illegal gold mining and that several illegal gold settlements had been cleared. The police said also that the illegal gold miners had ignored an earlier order to leave the area.