Caribbean Times 30th Issue - Monday 7th November 2016

4 c a r i b b e a n t i m e s . a g
Monday 7th November 2016
Commissioner wants good relations
By Everton Barnes
Police Commissioner
Wendel Robinson wants to
establish a good relationship
with the Police Service
Commission (PSC), now
that it has a new chairman.
Robinson made this point
as one of the grounds for his
decision to withdrawn the
court action against the PSC
over the granting of promotions
without his input.
Grays Farm
man charged
with assault
By Renio Abbott
Jari Jackson of Grays Farm has been
charged with assault with intent to commit
a felony and possession of firearm and ammunition,
stemming from an incident about
the Coral Ark on Tuesday, November 1st.
Jackson allegedly assaulted a man with a
firearm according to Police sources.
He is expected to make his first Court
appearance on Monday. One 9mm pistol
By Everton Barnes
The Antigua Public Utilities Authority
is upgrading the island’s 69-KV
distribution system in an effort to reduce
the recurrent problem of electricity
outages.
Government spokesman Lionel
Max Hurst said the current system was
installed back in 1986 and thirty years
on, the cables have become seriously
eroded and this has led to chronic outages
in the supply of electricity to consumers.
He told CT that he wanted
the matter disposed of in
a speedy manner as he did
not want the court action to
hold up the promotions of
those affected or to negatively
affect the promotions
of those to follow.
“I told my attorney that
I was not opposed to withdrawing
the matter based
on these points and based
on my instructions the matter
was withdrawn,” He reported.
He noted there have
been similar cases around
the Caribbean and he made
specific reference to Barbados
where he said no promotions
can be confirmed
because of a High Court
ruling in a case brought by
that island’s Commissioner
of Police.
He noted that the current
Jari Jackson
was also recovered by the police during
their investigations.
“These cables have been exposed
to the elements and they are in urgent
need of replacement.
“The work is being done with the
assistance of a team of Cuban technicians
and we anticipate that the work
will be done by the second half of December,”
Hurst reported.
He noted that APUA has at its disposal
enough electricity generating
capacity to meet the island’s needs but
that the problem is in the distribution
network which is faulty.
head of the force there is
doing so in an acting capacity.
“In Grenada, an official
sought a judicial review of a
decision not to promote him
and he won. There is a similar
case in Antigua involving
female officer, Cecilia
Francis.
“In any event, there is a
new Chairman of the PSC
– Kelvin John – and I am
looking forward to working
with him and the PSC to ensure
that there is fairness,
equity and proper consultation.
I am very confident
that this will happen,” he
stated.
Under the former chairman,
Phillip Isaacs, the PSC
made a number of promotions
without consultation
with the Commissioner and
Robinson decided to take
the matter to the court to
decide. When Isaacs’ appointment
came up for review
recently, he was not
re-instated.
APUA upgrading electricity distribution system
As it relates to the supply of water,
APUA is giving a commitment to
having this resolved by the second half
of 2017. That’s because of the deliver
time for new reverse osmosis plants
that are already on order.
Two plants are due to be commissioned
in the first half of the New Year;
one of which is being financed by the
Japanese government and specifically
geared towards the farming community.
A third plant will be commissioned
later in the year.