Caribbean News
Managing Animal Health in the Caribbean: WAHIS Training Boosts Trade and Resilience
Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, 7th May 2025: In an essential step toward enhancing animal health management, food safety, and food security in the region, over 100 Caribbean stakeholders from 19 countries completed training on using the World Animal Health Information System (WAHIS). Held on March 27-28, 2025, at the Hyatt Regency Trinidad in Port of Spain, the training provided an unparalleled opportunity for participants to strengthen their expertise in disease reporting, risk management, and biosecurity measures.
This training marked another step in the collaborative effort among the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) in collaboration with the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH), the Caribbean Agricultural Health and Food Safety Agency (CAHFSA) and Caribbean Animal Health Network (CaribVET), to advance the region’s capacity to detect, report, and manage animal disease threats. High among these threats are transboundary animal diseases such as the African Swine Fever (ASF) and Avian Influenza, which affect the swine and poultry industries, respectively.
A Game-Changer for Regional Animal Health Management
Participants from across the Caribbean engage in a hands-on session during the WAHIS training workshop.
WAHIS is an internationally recognised platform to enhance disease monitoring and notification. This system enables WOAH member and non-member countries to respond swiftly and effectively to outbreaks. The updated WAHIS platform also allows the private sector to report animal health risks. According to Dr Tiffany Chisholm, Senior Veterinary Officer, Department of Agriculture, Cayman Islands Government, “A key challenge to surveillance and reporting on animal diseases is limited human resources. Our ability to navigate the WAHIS interface will assist in determining response needs during outbreaks, expediting report submissions and staying connected with neighbouring islands. Collaboration across Caribbean countries is vital due to the high risk of disease transmission and essential to mitigate that risk.”
Participants welcomed the training, highlighting its practical value and the significant improvements it would bring to national disease surveillance. Many noted that the insights gained would enhance reporting mechanisms, ensuring greater transparency and robustness. Dr Lisa Musai, National Focal Point for Animal Diseases Notification and Chief Veterinary Officer, Ministry of Agriculture, Land and Fisheries, Government of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, confirmed the significance of the training in “enhancing Trinidad and Tobago’s ability to report animal health data in a timely and efficient manner. By strengthening our national reporting systems, we’re enhancing both food safety and our credibility in international trade. This localised approach enables us to effectively manage risks and challenges specific to our region, reinforcing our position as a trusted partner in the global agricultural market while safeguarding the health of our population.”
Ensuring animal health is crucial to protecting livestock production and enhancing their capacity to contribute to the Region’s food and nutrition security and rural livelihood objectives. Left unattended, emerging agricultural health threats, pests, and diseases can decimate food production systems, worsening climate change, supply chain, and food price challenges. Strengthening disease surveillance and reporting systems through platforms like WAHIS, which enable accurate and timely disease reporting, is crucial to protecting the livestock industry, supporting regional producers, and maintaining consumer trust in local food systems. Diana Francis, IICA Representative in Trinidad and Tobago, emphasised that: “In today’s data-driven world, strong information systems are critical, and Artificial Intelligence (AI) is playing an increasing role in improving disease monitoring and response to threats that do not recognise borders or economic status. IICA remains fully committed to collaboration on animal health within the One Health framework”.
About IICA
IICA is the specialised agency for agriculture in the Inter-American system, with a mission to encourage, promote and support its 34 Member States in their efforts to achieve agricultural development and rural well-being through international technical cooperation of excellence.
By Deandrea Hamilton | Magnetic Media
October 14, 2025 – It’s being called political theatre — but for citizens, constitutional watchdogs, and democracy advocates across the Caribbean, it feels far more serious. Within a single week, two national parliaments — in Trinidad and Tobago and St. Kitts and Nevis — descended into turmoil as opposition members stormed out in protest, accusing their Speakers of bias, overreach, and abuse of parliamentary procedure.
For observers, the walkouts signal a deeper problem: erosion of trust in the very institutions meant to safeguard democracy. When Speakers are viewed as political enforcers instead of neutral referees, parliaments stop functioning as chambers of debate and start performing as stages for power and spectacle — with citizens left wondering who, if anyone, is still accountable.
October 6: St. Kitts Parliament Erupts
The first walkout erupted in Basseterre on October 6, 2025, when Dr. Timothy Harris, former Prime Minister and now Opposition Leader,
led his team out of the St. Kitts and Nevis National Assembly in a protest that stunned the chamber.
The flashpoint came as the Speaker moved to approve more than three years’ worth of unratified parliamentary minutes in one sitting — covering 27 meetings and three national budgets — without individual review or debate.
Dr. Harris called the move “a flagrant breach of the Constitution and parliamentary tradition,” warning that the practice undermines transparency and accountability. “No serious parliament can go years without approving a single set of minutes,” he said after exiting the chamber.
The Speaker defended the decision as administrative housekeeping, but critics were unconvinced, branding the move a “world record disgrace.” The opposition’s walkout triggered renewed calls for the Speaker’s resignation and sparked a wider public discussion about record-keeping, accountability, and respect for parliamentary norms in St. Kitts and Nevis.
October 10: Trinidad Opposition Follows Suit
Four days later, on October 10, 2025, the Opposition United National Congress (UNC) in Trinidad and Tobago staged its own walkout from the House of Representatives in Port of Spain.
The UNC accused the Speaker of partisan bias, claiming she had repeatedly blocked urgent questions, ignored points of order, and allowed government members to breach standing orders without consequence.
“The Speaker has failed in her duty to act impartially,” the Opposition declared in a statement. “Parliament is not the property of any political party or Presiding Officer.”
The dramatic exit was seen as a culmination of months of rising tension and frustration, with opposition MPs arguing that parliamentary rules were being selectively applied to silence dissenting voices.
Political analyst Dr. Marcia Ferdinand described the twin walkouts as “a warning sign that parliamentary democracy in the Caribbean is teetering on the edge of performative politics.”
“When chairs become political shields rather than constitutional referees,” she said, “democracy becomes theatre, not governance.”
A Pattern Emerging
While St. Kitts and Trinidad are very different political environments, both incidents point to the same regional fault line: the perception that Speakers — the guardians of parliamentary order — are no longer impartial.
In Westminster-style systems like those across the Caribbean, the Speaker’s authority depends not on power but on public confidence in fairness. Once that credibility erodes, parliamentary control collapses into confrontation.
Governance experts say the implications are serious: eroded trust between government and opposition, declining public confidence in state institutions, and growing voter cynicism that “rules” are flexible tools of political advantage.
Why It Matters
Parliamentary walkouts are not new in the Caribbean, but what makes these recent events different is their frequency and intensity — and
the regional echo they’ve created. Social media has amplified images of lawmakers storming out, with citizens from Barbados to Belize questioning whether the same erosion of decorum could be happening in their own legislatures.
Analysts warn that if this perception takes hold, it risks diminishing the moral authority of parliamentary democracy itself.
“Once opposition MPs believe the rules are rigged, and once citizens believe Parliament is just performance,” said one Caribbean governance researcher, “you’ve lost the most valuable currency in democracy — trust.”
Restoring Balance
Political reformers across the region are calling for tighter Standing Order enforcement, independent parliamentary service commissions, and training to strengthen Speaker neutrality. Civil society leaders say the public must also play its part by demanding transparency and refusing to normalize partisan manipulation of parliamentary procedure.
Whether these twin walkouts become catalysts for reform — or simply another episode of Caribbean political theatre — will depend on what happens next inside those chambers.
For now, democracy watchers agree on one thing: when opposition leaders feel the only way to be heard is to walk out, the entire democratic house — not just its Speaker — is in danger of collapse.
Angle by Deandrea Hamilton. Built with ChatGPT (AI). Magnetic Media — CAPTURING LIFE.
Caribbean News
Sandals Resorts and Beaches Resorts celebrate a night of wins, and take home a total of 16 titles at the 32nd Annual World Travel Awards
-
world news1 week ago80% of the World’s Poor Face Climate Hazards — UNDP Sounds Alarm
-
TCI News1 week agoFrontier Airlines’ Arrival to Turks & Caicos Marks a Game-Changing Connection
-
TCI News1 week agoBeaches Turks and Caicos Celebrates TCI National Heritage Day with investment in youth and culture
-
TCI News1 week agoInvest Turks and Caicos Unveils Categories for The MSMES “A Celebration of Excellence”
-
Uncategorized1 week agoISU Supports Successful Multiagency Demolition Exercise in Blue Hills
-
USA1 week agoNarco-Terrorist Take Down by US Gutting Caribbean Gang-Crime
-
TCI News1 week agoTurks & Caicos Police Commissioner Urges Students to “Awaken Their Sleeping Giants”
-
TCI News4 days agoHURRICANE MELISSA: NATIONAL EXECUTIVE DIRECTIONS