Carib Scope

分类： politics

  • Abinader arrives in Guyana to sign new cooperation agreements with President Ali

    Abinader arrives in Guyana to sign new cooperation agreements with President Ali

    GEORGETOWN, GUYANA – Dominican Republic President Luis Abinader touched down in Georgetown Wednesday evening to launch his fourth official working visit to the South American nation, a trip aimed at reinforcing long-standing bilateral ties and expanding collaborative frameworks between the two countries through new agreements with Guyanese President Mohamed Irfaan Ali.

    Upon his arrival at Cheddi Jagan International Airport, Abinader received an official welcome from a senior Guyanese delegation led by Prime Minister Mark Anthony Phillips, Foreign Minister Hugh Todd, alongside Ernesto Torres, the Dominican Republic’s resident ambassador to Guyana. After participating in formal military honors to mark the official nature of his visit, the Dominican leader joined Guyanese government officials for a welcoming reception hosted at Government House.

    A full day of diplomatic engagement is scheduled for Thursday, starting with a closed-door bilateral meeting between Abinader and Ali to discuss shared priorities and ongoing collaborative projects. Following their talks, the two heads of state will oversee the signing of a new bilateral cooperation agreement that expands on existing partnerships.

    This current visit builds directly on progress achieved in 2023, when the two governments signed six memorandums of understanding targeting key sectors of mutual interest: sustainable energy development, national food security, and cross-border trade expansion. Abinader is traveling with a senior cabinet and delegation, including Joel Santos, the Dominican Minister of Energy and Mines, Samuel Pereyra, chairman of the Dominican Petroleum Refinery (Refidomsa), and Tulio Rodríguez, the government’s special coordinator for Guyana affairs. The Dominican president is scheduled to complete his diplomatic engagements and depart for the Dominican Republic by the end of Thursday.

  • Minnis ‘disappointed’ by loss but pledges to remain active

    Minnis ‘disappointed’ by loss but pledges to remain active

    One day after final votes were tallied in The Bahamas’ general election, former prime minister Hubert Minnis opened up about his unexpected loss of the Killarney constituency seat — a post he held for nearly 20 years — revealing that while disappointment lingers, his engagement with the community he represented is far from over.

    Minnis’ defeat came after a historic and politically charged campaign that saw the former leader of the Free National Movement (FNM) split from the party he once headed, launching a rare independent bid for re-election following months of public friction with current FNM leader Michael Pintard and the party’s senior leadership. When the FNM leadership declined to renominate Minnis as its candidate for the 2026 general election, he opted to stay in the race, marking the first time any former Bahamian prime minister has run as an independent after leaving the party they once led. On election night, early results projected FNM nominee Michela Barnett-Ellis as the winner of the Killarney seat, ending Minnis’ decades-long hold on the constituency.

    The former prime minister arrived at a mandatory vote recount at the New Providence Community Centre on Thursday morning clad in his signature campaign gear — a branded “Killarney Strong” shirt and matching hat — and remained outwardly calm throughout the process. Speaking to reporters after the recount confirmed his loss, Minnis acknowledged the letdown of the outcome, but framed defeat in an unexpectedly reflective light.

    “Of course, I would have been somewhat disappointed that I lost in Killarney,” he told reporters outside the centre. “Sometimes defeat can be victory. In terms of feeling, I still feel good. I woke up this morning and did my usual thing and just came from coffee house with my lovely wife enjoying a nice morning of coffee.”

    As a long-time resident of the Killarney constituency, Minnis made clear that he has no plans to step back from community work. He announced a new initiative to launch an Educational Trust Fund, designed to provide much-needed financial aid to local high school students facing economic barriers. The former prime minister confirmed he will seed the fund with $100,000 of his own personal capital, and he plans to solicit additional donations from outside sponsors to expand the fund’s reach.

    For months leading up to election day, Minnis remained confident he would retain the Killarney seat, even as pundits questioned his odds as an independent candidate. When asked on election day what his future would hold if he lost, he dismissed the question and reaffirmed his belief in a victory.

    When asked Thursday whether his defeat signals the end of his formal political career, Minnis said he has not yet held in-depth conversations with his family about his long-term plans, stressing that his loved ones will be central to any future decision he makes. When pressed on whether he would consider reconciling and rejoining the FNM, he ruled out that possibility, noting that he currently plans to shift his focus to supporting his children as they grow their own business ventures. When asked what factors led to his defeat, he simply replied, “Only God knows.”

    The 2026 general election delivered a decisive victory for the incumbent Progressive Liberal Party (PLP), which secured a second consecutive term in office. Unofficial final results show the PLP winning 33 of the 41 available parliamentary seats, while the FNM only captured eight seats. When asked for comment on the FNM’s poor overall performance in the election, Minnis said he does not interfere in the internal affairs of his former party.

    “To be honest with you, I can’t tell you my real belief or what I believe happened,” he said. “I will write that in my journals, you know, but that’s my belief, and it would be backed up with some facts, but it’s not for public consumption at this time, the public is not prepared to take that. They can’t devour it at this time.”

  • Voter turnout voter turnout a ‘tragic’ 58%

    Voter turnout voter turnout a ‘tragic’ 58%

    In the wake of Tuesday’s general election in the Bahamas, an alarming projected voter turnout of just 58 percent has sent shockwaves through the nation’s political landscape, with senior electoral officials warning the figure would mark an unprecedented collapse in civic participation if officially confirmed. Geoffrey McPhee, an election consultant with the country’s Parliamentary Registration Department, told reporters Wednesday that the unofficial estimate — which remains subject to confirmation as recounts proceed across 25 contested constituencies — points to voter turnout falling even lower than the 2021 snap election held at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.

    McPhee emphasized that the 58 percent figure is still preliminary, drawn from preliminary on-the-night assessments by election staff, but called the projected drop a devastating blow to the country’s democratic culture. “Our folks, we have gone south with respect to excitement about elections. That is really, really, that’s horrible,” he said, adding that the 2021 COVID-era turnout, already a historic low, outperforms the current projection. “That’s tragic, because with elections, once they miss the election, they don’t feel the urgency to reengage.”

    The projected slump represents a staggering break from the Bahamas’ strong post-independence voting tradition. For decades after the nation gained independence, general election turnout routinely exceeded 88 percent, and regularly climbed above 90 percent through the first three decades of self-governance. The 1977 inaugural post-independence general election recorded an 88.6 percent turnout, with numbers rising to 90.4 percent in 1982 and holding above 90 percent through 1987. Turnout stayed consistently high even as power shifted between major parties: it hit 91 percent when the Free National Movement (FNM) ended the Progressive Liberal Party’s (PLP) decades-long hold on government in 1992, and reached 93.2 percent when the FNM secured a landslide second term in 1997. Through 2002, 2007 and 2012, turnout remained firmly above 90 percent, and even in 2017, the first election to show a clear downward trend, participation still hit 88.4 percent.

    The first historic rupture came in 2021, when turnout fell sharply to 64.9 percent. If the current 58 percent projection holds, Tuesday’s election will set a new post-independence low for voter engagement. The low turnout coincided with the PLP securing a commanding second consecutive term in office, with unofficial results showing the party winning 32 of 41 seats, nearly matching its 2021 landslide victory that ousted the FNM from power.

    Prime Minister Philip “Brave” Davis, leader of the PLP, acknowledged the unexpectedly low turnout, noting that weak participation is never healthy for a democratic society and that more work must be done to help all voters feel that their ballots carry meaningful weight. So far, the highest recorded local turnout is expected in the New Providence constituency of Fort Charlotte, where former Island Luck CEO Sebas Bastian defeated FNM candidate Travis Robinson by more than 2,300 votes on an estimated 72 percent turnout, according to local insiders.

    Civil society leaders have joined electoral officials in sounding the alarm, stressing that the projected low turnout should concern all Bahamians regardless of partisan alignment. Matt Aubry, head of the nonpartisan Organisation for Responsible Governance (ORG), said that weak participation does not necessarily equal voter apathy. Instead, he argued, many disengage because they do not feel their concerns are being addressed or that voting will lead to tangible change in their daily lives.

    During the organization’s voter education outreach across the election cycle, Aubry said, ORG teams heard repeated frustration, particularly from young and first-time voters, who criticized campaigns for focusing heavily on personality politics and sensationalized rhetoric instead of the bread-and-butter issues affecting most Bahamian households. These include persistent struggles with the cost of living, limited economic opportunity, rising crime, high energy costs, inadequate housing and eroding public trust in political leadership.

    Voters also repeatedly raised concerns about longstanding gaps in governance transparency, accountability, public procurement, campaign finance reform and access to information, even as more residents recognize how directly policy choices impact their daily lives and opportunities. Beyond policy grievances, Aubry noted that issues during the advanced voting process — including reported gaps in preparedness and efficiency — combined with ongoing public anger over the violation of campaign laws around candidate treat-giving by multiple parties, may have further eroded motivation to participate. The delayed and partial rollout of new biometric voter identification cards, paired with widespread misinformation and speculation on social media, also created confusion that may have undermined public confidence in the integrity of the electoral process for some voters, he added.

  • Election of nine women shows real progress, says former MP

    Election of nine women shows real progress, says former MP

    A historic milestone for gender parity in Bahamian politics has emerged after this week’s general election, with nine women securing seats in the 41-member House of Assembly — a result former opposition leader Loretta Butler-Turner calls an unprecedented leap forward for women’s participation in frontline governance.

    Butler-Turner, a former Long Island Member of Parliament representing the Free National Movement (FNM), told local media the outcome signals the long-standing political glass ceiling blocking women from national office is far more permeable than it was in previous election cycles. While she emphasized that systemic barriers still place disproportionate pressure on female candidates compared to their male counterparts, she framed the 202? election results as a clear sign of shifting attitudes among Bahamian voters.

    “The Bahamian people have spoken, and with more women at the legislative table than ever before, I’m optimistic we’re building a Parliament that better reflects the country it serves,” Butler-Turner said.

    Of the nine women elected this cycle, seven represent the Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) and two are members of the FNM. The full list of newly elected female MPs includes Glenys Hanna-Martin for Englerston, Michela Barnett-Ellis for Killarney, Frazette Gibson for Central Grand Bahama, Leslia Miller-Brice for Sea Breeze, Lisa Rahming for Marathon, JoBeth Coleby-Davis for Elizabeth, Ginger Moxey for Pineridge, Patricia Deveaux for Bamboo Town, and Pia Glover-Rolle for Golden Gates. Combined, women will now hold roughly 22 percent of all seats in the House of Assembly, a marked improvement from the 2021 general election, when only seven PLP women won seats and no female FNM candidates claimed victory.

    Butler-Turner noted that the progress achieved this election cycle is just the first step toward meaningful gender equity in Bahamian politics. The next critical challenge, she argued, is to retain newly elected women in public service and build on the current momentum to recruit and support more female candidates in future races. She added that while Bahamian voters are increasingly open to electing women, female candidates still face structural disadvantages that their male peers do not encounter.

    “There’s more openness now, but women still have to work harder to be seen as viable political candidates,” Butler-Turner said. “That’s changing as more of us run and win.”

    She identified three persistent core barriers for women in Bahamian politics: limited access to the substantial campaign funding required to compete competitively, competing personal responsibilities that leave many women with less time to dedicate to full-time campaigning, and the disproportionate public scrutiny female candidates face over their personal and professional lives. Even so, she stressed that growing numbers of women are overcoming these hurdles, and voter attitudes continue to evolve in favor of female leadership.

    Butler-Turner also highlighted the strong campaign run by outgoing PLP Senator Robyn Lynes, who ran for the Killarney seat and ultimately lost to Barnett-Ellis. She praised Lynes’ ability to connect quickly with voters and build cross-partisan support for her policy platform, noting her performance demonstrated how strategic messaging and energetic campaigning can shift electoral dynamics even in the final stages of a race.

    “She connected with voters quickly, and her message gained traction across the political spectrum,” Butler-Turner said. “It’s a good example of how a clear message and strong delivery can shift momentum, even late in a race. Her high-energy campaign and messaging was commendable.”

  • Bannister says Pintard must resign after crushing defeat

    Bannister says Pintard must resign after crushing defeat

    Following the Free National Movement’s (FNM) humbling defeat in last Tuesday’s general election in the Bahamas, internal divisions have erupted over the future of party leader Michael Pintard, with a senior former party official calling for his immediate resignation in line with longstanding political tradition.

    The election delivered a second consecutive consecutive term to the incumbent Progressive Liberal Party (PLP), while the FNM secured only eight out of 40 contested parliamentary seats – a result that nearly mirrored the party’s historic poor performance in the 2021 poll. While Pintard managed to hold onto his own Marco City constituency, he has so far declined to confirm whether he will step down, noting only that he will consult with his inner circle in the coming days to determine his next move.

    Despite minor gains for the FNM, which flipped the Freetown and MICAL seats from the PLP, the party lost its hold on St Barnabas, leaving it badly outnumbered in the new parliament. The election also brought an unexpected shakeup: the upstart Coalition of Independents performed far stronger than predicted against FNM candidates, particularly across multiple constituencies in New Providence, signaling growing voter discontent with the established opposition party.

    Opinions within the FNM’s senior ranks are deeply split on how to move forward. Some top officials have privately argued that Pintard should stay on in the interim to keep the party stable until a formal leadership convention can be called. Others, however, are pushing for an immediate exit, arguing that new leadership is required to rebuild the party’s base and reignite supporter enthusiasm.

    Desmond Bannister, the country’s former deputy prime minister and a long-time FNM figure, is the most prominent voice calling for Pintard’s departure. “The tradition in politics is that if you lose an election, you resign,” Bannister explained in comments this week. “That doesn’t mean that you don’t have a chance to come back at some stage.” He pointed to former FNM leader Dr Hubert Minnis, who stepped down after defeat and later launched a bid to retake the party leadership, as a well-known example of this precedent. Bannister added that stepping aside would not close the door on a potential future comeback for Pintard.

    But FNM Secretary General Serfent Rolle pushed back against calls for an immediate resignation, arguing that it is far too early to pressure the leader out. He emphasized that the FNM has longstanding internal processes for addressing leadership questions, and party councils are already holding a series of meetings to assess the election result, review the party’s financial position and map out a path forward.

    “We have to have a stable party, and that’s what I’m going to be fighting for,” Rolle said. “People want blood all the time because they like drama, and it’s all that. But nobody can die for that. It will happen. There will ultimately be a convention.”

    As the party conducts its post-election internal review, key questions continue to swirl around why the FNM’s policy and campaign message failed to resonate with Bahamian voters. Carlyle Bethel, a former official with the FNM’s Torchbearers Youth Association, released a public statement calling for sweeping restructuring and generational renewal within the party, paired with an end to the infighting that has plagued internal operations. Bethel argued that the party’s long-time loyalists have been sidelined and treated as disposable for far too long, noting that a fundamental shift in party culture is non-negotiable.

    Bannister echoed those criticisms, confirming that many long-time FNM supporters felt alienated by the current leadership team. “These are loyal FNM supporters who decided that they’d been alienated by the party,” he said. “Whether reasonable or not, they didn’t support the party in the election. These are people who campaigned for the FNM all their adult life. Many of them actually led the campaigns of PLP candidates who were successful.” Bannister stressed that the FNM must urgently develop a targeted strategy to rebuild trust and reconnect with supporters who have walked away from the party.

    The former deputy prime minister also raised serious alarm over alleged widespread violations of electoral law during the campaign, including systemic vote buying and undue influence over voters. “I’m alarmed that almost every candidate I saw was breaking the law in terms of what benefits they give to voters,” he said, calling for the country to strengthen existing legislation banning voter inducements and improve enforcement of existing rules. Bannister specifically called on the FNM’s team of prominent lawyers to review whether legal challenges should be filed over irregularities in the Grand Cay and Moore’s Island constituencies, where the incumbent PLP government rolled out new benefits to voters just days before polling opened.

    Bannister also gave credit to the PLP for running what he described as a masterful, well-resourced campaign, and urged the FNM to undertake a full review of how political parties structure their operations and prepare for national elections. He argued that leadership focused on policy development should not be tasked with managing election organization, adding that the FNM must become far more professional and efficient in its campaign operations to compete going forward.

    He also noted that the relatively low voter turnout in the election suggests the PLP still holds only minority support among the overall electorate, with many voters choosing to stay home rather than back either the incumbent government or the FNM as a viable alternative.

    With Pintard’s future uncertain, the FNM is widely expected to face a competitive leadership contest in the coming months. The eight FNM candidates who won their seats, in addition to Pintard, are J Leo Ferguson in MICAL, Lincoln Deal in Freetown, Kwasi Thompson in East Grand Bahama, Dr Andre Rollins in Long Island, Adrian White in St Anne’s, Frazette Gibson in Central Grand Bahama, and Michela Barnett-Ellis in Killarney. Bannister described the incoming group of FNM MPs as highly competent, noting that any of the newly elected lawmakers would be capable of serving as the party’s parliamentary leader.

  • ‘Most unfortunate’

    ‘Most unfortunate’

    Questions surrounding the Jamaica Ethics Committee’s handling of the exemption controversy involving St Andrew East Central Member of Parliament Dennis Gordon persisted through Wednesday’s sitting, as committee chair Marlene Malahoo Forte confirmed neither she nor the committee clerk had received the widely referenced legal opinion that argues the body lacks jurisdiction to recall Gordon.

    The ongoing dispute centers on a growing partisan and constitutional debate over whether the committee overstepped its institutional authority when it moved to summon Gordon for additional questioning, after Jamaica’s House of Representatives already approved the committee’s initial recommendation on Gordon’s exemption application. Throughout this process, opposition lawmakers have repeatedly cited an external legal opinion to back their claim that the committee no longer has standing to investigate the matter, but Malahoo Forte confirmed Wednesday that neither she nor the committee’s top administrative official have ever received a formal copy of the document.

    “I thought it was not proper to get the opinion on the record in the way that the attempt was made. Because there is a proper way to do it, and my view was that it was not done properly, and to date, I still do not have the opinion, I don’t know its content, and I’m advised by the committee clerk that he doesn’t have it either,” Malahoo Forte told the committee during the session. She also firmly pushed back against claims that she had privately reviewed the undisclosed opinion or allowed it to influence the committee’s deliberative process.

    Clarity on the origin of the opinions emerged later in the sitting, when Senior Legislative Counsel Tiffany Stewart addressed the committee to detail how the documents were requested and distributed. “For the purposes of clarity solely and for the avoidance of any form of doubt or misinterpretation, the legal opinion was sought by the leader of opposition business through the Office of the Clerk and not directly from the Legislative Council Department. Additionally, a request was made for a supplemental legal opinion on April 30th through the Office of the Clerk on the same matter and that was provided, I think, on May 1st to the leader of opposition business,” Stewart explained.

    The core legal argument advanced by Opposition members holds that once the full House of Representatives approved the Ethics Committee’s original recommendation on Gordon’s exemption application, the matter is officially closed — a legal doctrine known as functus officio, meaning the body has exhausted its authority over the case. This position was forcefully laid out by Opposition member Anthony Hylton during Wednesday’s debate, who emphasized that the dispute is not a partisan political fight, but a technical matter rooted in constitutional governance.

    As the discussion grew more tense, Hylton warned the committee that it risks acting outside its lawful bounds unless clear constraints are placed on its authority and investigative scope. “We need to have the scope properly defined so that we don’t go wandering and thrashing about into matters that properly does not concern this committee… if we don’t have limits, we can find ourselves in deep waters,” he cautioned.

    Malahoo Forte pushed back against this framing, arguing that the committee has a clear mandate to investigate new questions that have emerged about the accuracy of information Gordon submitted during the initial exemption application process. “The committee’s recommendation was based on the information provided by the member. The accuracy of that information on which the committee’s recommendation was grounded was subsequently brought into question, and the committee sought to obtain clarification on the information which led to the member being summoned to reappear before the committee,” she explained.

    Beyond the narrow dispute over Gordon’s case, Wednesday’s sitting expanded into a broader debate over the appropriate scope of parliamentary scrutiny for elected officials. Malahoo Forte suggested that the Ethics Committee may need to undertake a full overhaul of its procedures for processing exemption motions moving forward, noting that public expectations for elected official accountability have shifted dramatically in recent years.

    “Today, the people of Jamaica are demanding more of their parliamentarians with all due respect… And when a member of parliament has a contract with the Government of Jamaica on account of the public service, and issues arise, the people want to know. If you think that because in the past, a member may just be called upon to say this is it, and it is acted on, that may not be the case going forward… I believe we are under a duty to find out what is the extent of the contract and how will any conflict of interest be resolved in the public interest,” Malahoo Forte added. Hylton reaffirmed his position at the close of the sitting, restating that the matter is legally closed following the House’s vote on the original recommendation.

  • Caricom observers say Bahamas election reflected the will of the people

    Caricom observers say Bahamas election reflected the will of the people

    GEORGETOWN, Guyana – The nine-member Caribbean Community (Caricom) Election Observation Mission (CEOM) has released its preliminary findings from The Bahamas’ recent general election, confirming that the Caribbean nation’s electorate was able to exercise their democratic right to vote in a calm, organized process earlier this week.

    Deployed at the formal invitation of Dame Cynthia A Pratt, Governor-General of the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, the observer mission brings together electoral specialists from nine Caricom member states: Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Dominica, Grenada, Haiti, Jamaica, Saint Lucia, St Vincent and the Grenadines, and Suriname. Backed by technical and administrative support from the Caricom Secretariat, the mission launched its on-the-ground operations in The Bahamas on May 5, with activities set to wrap up officially this Friday.

    In the lead-up to election day, the CEOM conducted extensive outreach across Bahamian society, holding consultations with a wide range of political, civil society, and community stakeholders to evaluate the state of pre-election preparations. On voting day itself, mission observers were distributed across the country’s two most populated islands – New Providence and Grand Bahama – where they tracked every stage of the electoral process, from the opening of polling stations and in-person voting protocols to the closure of polls and the final counting and tabulation of ballots.

    Across their deployment, observers visited all five constituencies on Grand Bahama and 22 constituencies on New Providence, monitoring procedures at a total of 317 individual polling divisions. The mission’s preliminary report notes that the vast majority of polling locations received their election staff and required materials on schedule, allowing voting to begin promptly at 8:00 a.m. local time. Only a small number of stations faced minor start-up delays, the report adds.

    CEOM observers also confirmed that a sufficient number of police personnel were deployed across all polling sites to maintain order, and that accredited party agents from every competing political party were present throughout the voting period to oversee proceedings. At nearly all stations, voters had ready access to full voter lists and dedicated information clerks trained to help electors locate their assigned polling divisions. Election workers were praised as courteous and well-trained, especially in their support for elderly and disabled voters seeking to cast ballots.

    While the mission did document a small number of minor inconsistencies in the application of standardized electoral procedures across some sites, officials emphasized that these issues were isolated in scope and did not interfere with the overall flow or integrity of the voting process.

    Voter turnout followed a predictable pattern throughout the day, the mission found, with steady streams of voters arriving during morning hours and in the period just before polls closed, while midday saw a lull in activity. The vast majority of polling stations closed on schedule at 6:00 p.m. local time, with a small number extending operating hours by a short margin to make up for earlier delayed openings.

    Beyond voting, CEOM observers also monitored post-closing processes including the counting of ballots, sealing of used ballot boxes, and secure transfer of all electoral materials to designated holding facilities. The mission confirmed that ballot boxes were opened publicly and transparently in the presence of party agents, election officials, and observers, with preliminary results shared publicly in full compliance with established electoral rules.

    In its formal interim statement, the CEOM said it was satisfied that the 2024 general election accurately reflected the will of the Bahamian people. “The polling day workers performed their duties professionally and must be commended,” the mission said, extending similar praise to police for their professional conduct and to Bahamian voters for turning out in an orderly fashion.

    The mission also commended the Parliamentary Registration Department for its successful administration of the entire electoral process, and thanked the Bahamian public for upholding a peaceful environment across election day. A full final report, including detailed findings and targeted recommendations for future electoral improvements, will be submitted to the Caricom Secretary-General in the coming weeks.

  • Accompong Maroons dispute heads to court

    Accompong Maroons dispute heads to court

    A high-stakes legal battle has erupted over the upcoming leadership election for the Accompong Maroon community in Jamaica’s St Elizabeth parish, as a former leader and potential candidate has petitioned the country’s Supreme Court to halt the vote and remove sitting colonel Richard Currie from office. Lawyers representing Meredith Rowe, one of multiple contenders challenging the planned May 22 election, filed an injunction request last week with the Supreme Court in Kingston, seeking to immediately block Currie from continuing to exercise the powers of the community’s top leadership post.

    The legal challenge comes after Currie formally announced the election timeline earlier this month, setting nomination day for this Friday—one week ahead of the scheduled vote. Rowe’s tenure as colonel officially ended on February 18, when Currie’s elected term was also set to expire, triggering the requirement for a new leadership contest. But Rowe and other opposing candidates argue that Currie has overstepped his authority by unilaterally setting the terms of the election without following longstanding community customs and including key stakeholders in the process.

    In the court documents, Rowe outlines a series of demands beyond halting the current election and removing Currie from office. The former colonel is calling for the immediate appointment of an interim Maroon council, the creation of an independent election oversight body, the finalization of a verified list of eligible voters, and a court order voiding all official actions Currie has taken since his term expired. Additionally, Rowe is asking the court to compel Currie to follow longstanding tradition by requiring all potential candidates to jointly select two representatives to sit on the independent election council, and to surrender all community assets, funds, and official documents in his possession to a local justice of the peace or the nearest police station pending a resolution to the dispute.

    Opposition candidates have raised multiple red flags about the fairness of the election as currently structured. Their primary complaint is that the Electoral Office of Jamaica, which has overseen Accompong’s leadership elections since the 1950s, will not be participating in the upcoming vote—an absence that Rowe says makes it impossible to guarantee a free and fair process. Critics also point to the incomplete voter roll, which remains undrafted just days before nomination day, as evidence that the process has been rushed to benefit Currie.

    The most divisive point of contention is Currie’s claim that the election is being held under the terms of a ratified, gazetted Maroon constitution that introduces new candidacy requirements, including a three-year continuous residency rule for colonel candidates. Rowe, one of two surviving former colonels of the community, says he and the other living former leader were never consulted on the proposed constitution, and that Accompong has never operated under a formal written constitution in its history. He further argues that several potential candidates who do not currently meet the three-year residency requirement—while maintaining deep family and property ties to the community—are being unfairly locked out of the race by the new rule.

    In comments to Nationwide News Network, Currie defended his actions, insisting that the constitution is legally recognized and the election process adheres to its stipulations. But Rowe has dismissed these claims, launching a scathing personal attack on Currie’s legitimacy as a leader of the Accompong Maroons. Rowe claims Currie was not born, raised, or educated in Accompong, and that his connection to Maroon heritage is questionable, noting that his grandmother came from Jamaica’s Manchester parish.

    “No one man should be allowed to come and violate every aspect of our culture, customs and traditions,” Rowe said in a statement to reporters. “We are seriously upset and we are going to fight it tooth and nail through the legal channel to block him and when that is done he has to leave Accompong because he is not belonging to there.” Rowe is not alone in his opposition: another anonymous potential candidate confirmed to the Jamaica Observer that at least five contenders are united in the legal fight to stop Currie’s planned election, vowing to use all legal avenues to block a process they call rigged in Currie’s favor.

  • Xi warns Trump on Taiwan at Beijing summit

    Xi warns Trump on Taiwan at Beijing summit

    BEIJING, China – In a dramatic opening to a high-stakes 2017 superpower summit held in Beijing on Thursday, Chinese President Xi Jinping delivered a blunt warning to visiting U.S. President Donald Trump that mismanagement of the long-simmering Taiwan issue could spark open conflict between the world’s two largest powers. The meeting marked the first visit by a sitting U.S. president to China in nearly a decade, an occasion wrapped in elaborate ceremonial pageantry that masked deep, unresolved frictions spanning trade, geopolitics and regional security.

    Trump arrived in Beijing with warm public praise for his Chinese counterpart, hailing Xi as both a “great leader” and a personal friend, and extended a formal invitation for Xi to visit the White House the following September. Despite the lavish red-carpet welcome complete with a military fanfare, 21-gun salute, and cheering schoolchildren waving welcome signs at the Great Hall of the People, Xi struck a measured, firm tone in his opening remarks, cutting directly to the core of Beijing’s most sensitive territorial priority.

    “ The Taiwan question is the most important issue in China-US relations,” Xi stated, according to official readouts published by Chinese state media shortly after the 135-minute talks wrapped. “If mishandled, the two nations could collide or even come into conflict, pushing the entire China-US relationship into a highly perilous situation.”

    In a nod to longstanding debates over great power competition, Xi referenced the “Thucydides Trap” – the theory popularized by ancient Greek historian Thucydides that warns rising powers inevitably clash with existing ruling powers – asking whether the two nations could escape this pattern and build a new framework for peaceful major-power relations. By the evening state banquet, Xi struck a more cooperative note, framing the countries’ core national goals as mutually compatible: “Achieving the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation and making America great again can totally go hand in hand… and advance the wellbeing of the whole world,” he said, nodding explicitly to Trump’s “Make America Great Again” political platform.

    Despite the public displays of cordiality, the Taiwan issue has remained the single most volatile flashpoint in bilateral ties for decades. Beijing claims the self-governing democratic island of Taiwan as an integral part of its sovereign territory, has repeatedly vowed to unite it with the mainland, and has ramped up military pressure on the island in recent years. While the U.S. officially recognizes Beijing’s government, decades-old U.S. law mandates that Washington provide defensive arms to Taiwan, a policy that has consistently drawn fierce condemnation from China.

    Following Xi’s comments, Taiwan’s government responded quickly, calling Beijing the “sole risk” to cross-strait and regional peace, and reaffirmed that Washington has repeatedly made clear its firm support for Taipei. In a notable shift from previous U.S. policy, Trump had indicated days before the summit that he planned to discuss U.S. arms sales to Taiwan with Xi, breaking with longstanding Washington practice of refusing to consult Beijing on the matter. While the White House called the initial talks “good,” it made no mention of Taiwan in its official public readout, and Trump did not address questions about the issue from reporters on Thursday.

    Analysts note that Xi’s direct, unvarnished framing of the Taiwan risk marked an unusual step for a Chinese leader. Adam Ni, editor of the China-focused newsletter China Neican, told Agence France-Presse that while blunt language on Taiwan is common in Chinese state party media, it is rare for the country’s top leader to deliver such stark warnings directly to a U.S. president during a summit. Chong Ja Ian, a China affairs analyst at the National University of Singapore, told AFP that the comments signal Beijing’s hope to win concessions from Trump on the Taiwan issue. “Xi’s demand could suggest they see some opportunity to convince Trump,” he explained. U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told CNBC that Trump would share more details on his discussions of the issue in the following days.

    Beyond Taiwan, the ongoing Iran conflict overshadowed portions of the summit, an issue that had already forced Trump to postpone his trip to China and that analysts say weakened the U.S. president’s negotiating position. In its readout, the White House confirmed that the two leaders agreed the Strait of Hormuz, a critical global energy chokepoint, must remain open for unimpeded energy trade. According to U.S. officials, Xi also stated China opposes any efforts to militarize the waterway or impose tolls on transit through the strait. The Chinese foreign ministry confirmed the Middle East was discussed but offered no additional details.

    Economic cooperation and trade were also key items on the agenda, with Trump seeking to lock in new business deals for U.S. companies in key sectors including agriculture, commercial aviation and manufacturing. A delegation of top U.S. business leaders, including Nvidia co-founder and CEO Jensen Huang and Tesla CEO Elon Musk, attended the welcome ceremony and joined part of the one-on-one talks between the two leaders, the White House confirmed. After the day of formal discussions, as the two leaders prepared for a state banquet featuring a menu of lobster and iconic Beijing roast duck, Trump called the talks “extremely positive” and described the evening as “another cherished opportunity to discuss among friends.”

  • Duartian Institute raises sovereignty concerns over U.S. deportation agreement

    Duartian Institute raises sovereignty concerns over U.S. deportation agreement

    A prominent Dominican civic organization has launched formal pushback against a newly signed bilateral agreement between the Dominican Republic and the United States that allows the Caribbean nation to temporarily host third-country nationals deported from U.S. soil, raising sharp questions about national autonomy and compliance with domestic immigration law. The Duartian Institute, a respected civic body focused on national governance and constitutional issues, argues that the memorandum of understanding (MOU) poses tangible risks to the Dominican Republic’s sovereign authority and runs counter to the country’s longstanding immigration statutes.

    Wilson Gómez Ramírez, president of the Duartian Institute, described the bilateral deal as an “excessively accommodating” move by Dominican government officials. Under current Dominican law, he explained, only two groups are legally permitted to enter the country: Dominican citizens returning home, and foreign nationals who have completed the full consular visa process to gain entry. Accepting third-country deportees sent from the United States, Gómez Ramírez stressed, creates unaddressed constitutional and legal ambiguities that could undermine the country’s legal framework.

    Beyond legal concerns, the institute’s leader also called out the poor timing of the agreement, pointing to the ongoing mass migration pressures the Dominican Republic already grapples with, driven by the deepening political and humanitarian crisis in neighboring Haiti. Gómez Ramírez argued that taking on new, unplanned migration responsibilities directly contradicts the Dominican government’s ongoing efforts to crack down on irregular migration across its border. The civic leader also called for a transparent national public debate over the planned use of Dominican military airports and the entry of foreign aircraft to carry out the deportation transfers laid out in the MOU.

    In its formal appeal to national leadership, the Duartian Institute has called on Dominican President Luis Abinader to launch a full review of the actions taken by administration officials who negotiated and approved the agreement. The organization is pushing for Abinader to ensure that all future decisions shaping the country’s migration policy align closely with the Dominican Republic’s constitution, domestic laws, and core national interests.