News
Blocking Haitians because they are Haitians is Unconstitutional, think tank needed to find common ground
EDITORIAL – Wednesday March 28, 2018 – People everywhere feel passionately about who gets to live and work in their country. It is a hot topic and the Turks and Caicos Islands is no exception.
In a press conference held last week, the Leader of the Opposition, Hon Washington Misick raised some interesting points, concerning points about the huge population of Haitians residing within these islands.
While everything he explained demands that the nation give more deliberate attention to how we ought to build the already cosmopolitan society that the TCI is, it is an inescapable fact that it would simply be unfair, unethical and most significantly, unconstitutional for the Turks and Caicos Islands Government to establish a law or system that automatically denied a human being access to opportunities based strictly on their nationality.
Section 16 of the 2011 Turks and Caicos Islands Constitution makes it plain that it is wrong to create a law or policy that levels a specific treatment toward any sector; especially if law or policy is designed to block privileges other residents or potential residents, enjoy.
Section 16 says:
Protection from discrimination 16.—(1) Subject to subsections (4), (5) and (8), no law shall make any provision which is discriminatory either of itself or in its effect. (2) Subject to subsections (6), (8) and (9), no person shall be treated in a discriminatory manner by any person acting by virtue of any law or in the performance of the functions of any public office or any public authority.
The section of the Constitution goes on to define what is meant by discriminatory:
(3) In this section, “discriminatory” means affording different treatment to different persons attributable wholly or mainly to their respective descriptions such as by race, national or social origin, political or other opinion, colour, religion, language, creed, association with a national minority, property, sex, sexual orientation, birth or other status whereby persons of one such description are subjected to disabilities or restrictions to which persons of another such description are not made subject or are accorded privileges or advantages which are not accorded to persons of another such description.
The responses and reaction to the comments made by the Minister of Border Control, Hon. Sean Astwood – who since last year announced that first time work permits applications from anyone would not be accepted; and the Leader of the Opposition, Hon Washington Misick – who believes the country ought to develop a quota system to balance who can apply for a work permit for the first time, need a proper forum for sensible consideration.
It is clear that residents have burning ideas about this controversial issue. It is clear that both sides of our government agree that some controls need to be enforced. What is less clear is whether the Turks and Caicos is prepared to formalize the variety of ideas in a way that gives equal opportunity to anyone applying for permission to work and live in the Turks and Caicos Islands.
Our constitution is important and clear that we cannot pick and chose who we treat this way or that at any level, especially at the national one. Anyone should be able to apply for a job advertised, no matter their nationality. For any number of reasons, their application can be denied, but it should never be based on the colour of their skin, whether they are a woman or man, because they are Haitian or American, because they are homosexual or whether they are Anglican or atheist.
Students say we need lecturers at the Community College. So if we find one or two who come qualified and willing from Haiti, should they then be rejected because there are Haitian? If the RitzCarlton or one of the other five major developments coming on stream need unskilled workers for construction phase and if we can find 100 or 200 Haitians to make up the numbers, should we reject their applications just because they are from Haiti? If we were to find a qualified Haitian man or woman to support our agricultural development, are we saying that we should reject them purely based on the fact that they are Haitian?
No. It is not only in contravention to what I believe is the spirit of what both the Minister and the LOO are trying to say, but it is flat out unconstitutional to ignore a decent and ready candidate just because they come from Haiti.
Do that, and no telling who is next; Jamaicans, Dominicans, Africans, Canadians, Barbadians, Cubans, Europeans, Guyanese, Bahamians or Americans? It cannot and should not happen because to deny a human being because of where they are born is unconstitutional, so we must come up with an equitable way of determining the expatriate labour force.
Many countries have figured it out. Perhaps it is time to copy off of their paper.
Caribbean News
Agriculture Ministry Providing Two Water Trucks to Serve St. Elizabeth and St. Catherine
#Kingston, Jamaica, April 24, 2024 – The Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Mining is to unveil two more water trucks this week, which will be used to service communities in St. Elizabeth and St. Catherine.
Portfolio Minister, Hon. Floyd Green, made the disclosure during Wednesday’s (April 24) post-Cabinet press briefing at Jamaica House.
He also informed that of the $90 million earmarked to support farmers being impacted by the current drought, the Ministry will be
providing additional support for storage and drip-irrigation systems.
“So, we have targeted about 600 water tanks and about 400 12-millimetre drip irrigation hoses, and that distribution has already started. Additionally, we have earmarked about $8 million to really help with our livestock farmers,” Mr. Green said.
“We know the difficulty that you’re facing now in this time; [it’s] very hard to get the right nutritional support for your animals. As such, we will be providing some hay, and we will [also] provide some trucking of water to you. Again, our livestock farmers, if you are in need, please contact the Rural Agricultural Development Authority (RADA) and let us see how we can help in these times,” he further stated.
Mr. Green also encouraged farmers to download the RADA App, so that the Agency can “help guide you, not only in relation to what is happening on the rainfall side, but also in relation to your integrated pest management”.
“We do see some increases of certain types of pests during this time, and it’s important that our farmers are paying attention to that. It’s also important that you’re taking drought management seriously [by undertaking] soil mulching, looking at planting drought-tolerant crops, timely harvesting, implementing land husbandry treatments and contour ditches,” he stated.
Contact: Latonya Linton
Release: JIS
Photo Caption: Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Mining, Hon. Floyd Green, speaking during Wednesday’s (April 24) post-Cabinet press briefing at Jamaica House.
Donald De La Haye Photo
Dana Malcolm
Staff Writer
#TurksandCaicos, April 19, 2024 – In an attempt to move to 24-hour-a-day operations Turks and Caicos Islands Airports Authority (TCIAA) is steadily recruiting Air Traffic Controllers to work at the Providenciales/Howard Hamilton International Airport, according to Godfrey Smith, TCIAA CEO, reporting to the Appropriations Committee.
Speaking on April 8th Smith said a cabinet paper would be sent soon requesting six more Air Traffic Controllers to make round the clock operation at the Provo International possible and to open the airport in Grand Turk till 12 a.m.
Currently, 17 posts are filled and seven are vacant.
Smith was candid with his responses to recent industrial action from ATCs which led to resignations and firings.
“What we have to do is find systems to mitigate such actions and that has to start with filling these jobs, putting people in that want to
work and doing right by people – and we always try to do right by our staff. Persons may not think that we are but we always do – we ain’t pick no fight,” he said in the meetings held at the NJS Francis building ahead of the National Budget Communication.
Smith indicated that recruitment was an issue across the board, ‘we need to find ways to recruit a little bit better’ he told the committee. Also in need of a push was capital spending or projects according to the CEO, who said the agency had ‘not been very good’ at meeting that mark but insisted they had recognized the issue and could do better.
A very important key performance indicator drawn up by the TCIAA is increasing passenger satisfaction at the Howard Hamilton International Airport. For the TCIAA part of this means a 30 percent increase in seating by Q2 of this year.
When queried on if they could even handle this increase the CEO said,
“The fact of the matter is we already have the capacity there. What we need is to make the service a bit better.”
Staff shortages have become such a frustrating issue that the TCIAA is instituting a scholarship program created by Authority Chairman, Selvyn Hawkins
“What the board wants to do is basically allocate $25,000 annually for a scholarship and they’ve approved it already.”
This process would cover tuition and all other costs for one student.
The student would return as a summer intern and other breaks to work at the TCIAA and upon graduation, assume a role at the company.
“We identify a particular skill we need, we go after it and we build capacity that is in a nutshell the nexus of the program,” Smith said.
The Turks and Caicos Islands Airports Authority (TCIAA) is allocated $49 million this financial year; over $20 million goes to salaries.
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