Nevis, West Indies. ?A Non-Tourist-Trap? Blog About Nevis.

Charlestown, Nevis
June 14, 2010

The Island of Nevis summer festival – Culturama is quickly approaching and the six young ladies vying for the prestigious title of Miss Culture Queen Pageant 2010 and the eight contestants who will vie for the Miss Culture Swimwear Pageant, met with the Premier of Nevis, Hon. Joseph Parry at his office at the Bath Hotel recently.

Premier Parry greeted each contestant personally and enquired about their future goals.

“I hope all of you ladies use this contest as a stepping stone  for bigger and better things  to come also I wish you much success in all your future endeavors,” Mr. Parry said.

The six Miss Culturama Queen Pageant contestants are: Ms. Coastal Air Transport – Verna Grant, Ms. Carib Brewery – Trezecia Adams, Ms. Development Bank of St. Kitts- Nevis – Teshell Sutton, Ms. Lime – Ulinda Warner and Ms Island Tyres and Hardware – Mary Wangui Ngunjiri.

The six Culturama contestants wore casual wear as they met the Premier, posed for pictures and they took part in a video exercise and news clips with Nevis Television (NTV).

Meanwhile, Queen Pageant chairperson Mrs. Nicole Lawrence said the show this year will be a showcase of class, talent and pizzazz as this year there is a new twist with the introduction of the Miss Culture Swimwear Pageant contestants.

The Miss Culture swimwear pageant will take place on July 25th, and the Queen Pageant is slated for August 1st.

The Pre-Culturama activities commence from June 04 and will conclude on July 17th, while the Culturama Festival’s official calendar of activities will commence on July 22nd and end on August 17th.

For more information on the 2010 Culturama Festival, visit http://www.nevisculturamafestival.com/

Related posts:

1. Nevis Unveils Miss Culturama Queen Contestants
2. Participants’ Reception Heats up Nevis’ Pre-Culturama Activities
3. Nevis Miss Culture Contestants Launched
4. NIA holds cocktail reception for Culturama participants
5. Nevis Premier Congratulates Culturama 2009 Queen Contestants

Basseterre, St. Kitts – Nevis
People’s Action Movement
June 13, 2010

Judge Francis Belle today, Friday 11th June, 2010, dismissed with costs an application filed by the defendants Prime Minister Denzil Douglas and Cedric Liburd to obtain several orders in the longstanding defamation case brought against them by People’s Action Movement Deputy Political Leader the Honourable Eugene Hamilton.

MP Hamilton, the elected Representative for Constituency No 8, had sued Douglas and Liburd in 2 suits for slanderous statements made during a political campaign in 1993. The defendants have sought repeatedly to delay the hearing of these matters which are now consolidated and which had been set down in December 2009 and April 2010 for trial by jury.

The Hearing which began on 10th June, had been scheduled for Prime Minister Douglas to come to Court with his diary to set a date when he would be available for trial following his application to vacate the last trial dates set for April 26 to 28, 2010.

The Defendants through their lawyer, Anthony Astaphan S.C., had asked the Court to be allowed to produce witness statements to support their defence of fair comment, and for a witness summons to be issued to the Chairman of National Caribbean Insurance Company Limited, Mr. Jonathan Bass, for him to produce all documents, contracts, correspondence and a number of other things during the period when Mr Hamilton had been General Manager of National Insurance for them to be able to properly present their case. The Defendants also asked the Judge to give directions in the selection of the jury for the trial.

Mr. Hamilton, who is represented by Mr Terence Byron C.M.G., argued that the application was bad on a number of grounds and should be dismissed. In particular, it was argued that the Defendants were only fishing for material to try to bolster their case after all these years, when they had refused to identify what the comment was that they said was fair. Mr. Byron also argued that it was unfair for the Defendants to target Mr. Bass with the threat of contempt of court if he did not produce documents which the Defendants are not even sure exist.

The Judge upheld the arguments of Counsel for Mr Hamilton and dismissed the Defendants’ application, and then granted an award of costs to Mr. Hamilton. A new date has been set for the trial which will now begin on November 15, 2010 and is expected to last 4 or 5 days.

Related posts:

1. PM Douglas Missing From Court In Slander Trial
2. Statement By Eugene Hamilton On Court Case
3. High Court Judge Thanks PM for Appearing In Court
4. Hamilton Slams Liburd Over Inaction and Failures
5. Judge Made No Ruling On Using Current Boundaries

Basseterre, St. Kitts – Nevis
People’s Action Movement
June 12, 2010

The most recent Post Cabinet Briefing dated June 9 2010 outlined several austerity measures that are intended, we are told, “to respond aggressively to the serious fiscal challenges facing the government at this time.” In the first case it is interesting to finally see some acknowledgment of the fact that this government is facing “serious fiscal challenges” but as usual it is disappointing to note that the true scope and causes of the problem remain willfully unrecognized. The catastrophic National Debt and reckless and irresponsible government expenditure are the white elephants in the Cabinet that no one there can see but that are the real reasons for our sorry state.

Three of the measures identified jumped out at me namely: “freezing of travel except in cases ….it can be very strongly justified”, “relooking the structure of the social services levy to increase its scope” and “reexamining the cap on the number of taxi and bus owners that will be able to receive duty free concessions on vehicles and spare parts”. These particular measures tell a worrisome story about the state of this country.

Firstly it is simply scandalous that travel expenses for this government are such that freezing them could have a material impact on the government’s balance sheets. It raises serious questions about any possible benefit that the country could have gained from the hundreds of thousands or even millions or dollars that have been wasted on global joyrides. Additionally, it remains to be seen whether the prime minister would curtail his own travelling or just relegate this cost cutting to his underlings.

However the next two measures are really alarming. What do they mean by expanding the scope of the social services levy? The only two ways that could happen would be to either increase the levy or increase the number of people who pay it. Either way, this would be an additional tax when we are already dreading an impending VAT.

The loss of the duty free concession would be a real blow to taxi and bus operators who are already really struggling. How much more can these ordinary people take? This myopic Labour government thinks that it can simply take from the people with no end in sight but Kittitians and Nevisians are only human. This much privation will lead to hunger and we know what happens to a hungry mob.

Related posts:

1. Government Contributing To Rapidly Growing National Debt
2. Fixing Labour’s Crushing National Debt
3. St. Kitts – Nevis Has Been Servicing Its National Debt
4. More Taxes For St. Kitts – Nevis Through VAT
5. Canada Approves CAD$7 Million For Debt Management