Mahogany CoConut Blog

The Caribbean Is One Nation.                                Shame on you AGAIN, Holness Andrew Holness “We are not serious about investment, things not going so well in CARICOM, our citizen are being treated with disrespect and yet we want to intensify our ties with CARICOM. I say no to that.” (Jamaica opposition leader Andrew Holness addressing the recent annual general conference of his Jamaica Labour Party) The mahogany Coconut Group is not surprised that Holness is at it again, trying to bury CARICOM and engender nothing but negativity toward regional unity by attempting to whip the Jamaican populace in to anti- CARICOM frenzy. He sees this dastardly act as his path to Prime Minister.  Once again we are forced to cry shame on you Holness. It was back in January(1/25/14), when we highlighted Mr. Holness’ opposition, to the Caribbean Court of Justice CCJ replacing the Privy Council as the court of last resort for our region. At that time, we had hoped that he would have

The Caribbean Is One Nation.                                                                                                                                     Trinidad, Barbados and Gay Rights Barbados and Trinidad seem to be the two Caribbean countries that are engaged in rising discussion about LGBT rights. It is interesting that regional governments are not taking the lead from some states in America , that have accepted it is  impossible to halt the movement for gays to be given the same legal and constitutional rights as the heterosexual community. Normally, we always seem to append ourselves to various trends in the USA. Even the United States Supreme Court apparently recognized that denying gays their rights is not a matter for its urgent consideration, and has left the individual states to deal with the issue. The problem with Caribbean politicians and policy makers is that they are facing stern opposition of a vocal, established church and   existing archaic laws, r

The Caribbean Is One Nation.                                                            Ebola Testing Region's Limited Resources There is no doubt that Caribbean leaders are worried about the Ebola  virus  although the virus has not turned up in the Caribbean , the mere thought of any case reaching the region must be both politically and economically worrying for the regions’ leaders.  Already stretched health services are now being tested to the limit because of the need to design a response should Ebola ever reach the region. The fact that many of these economies depend on the tourist industry, guarantees an increase in the worry index and concerns. Added to these concerns is the lingering chikungunya outbreak that is now being battled throughout the region. While the chikungunya causes severe discomfort it has not caused the problems that any single case of Ebola may create.  Our region simply does not have the resources to combat an Ebola outbreak; even the great A

The Caribbean Is One Nation.                                                                                                                 Indo- Barbadians More Visible  Indo Barbadians at function with Minister of Education Ronald Jones. The recent furor on the island of Barbados regarding the establishment of a Muslim residential community and mosque in a suburban area , has not caught us by surprise , taking into consideration  the knee-jerk reactions to issues and the ability to ignore trends until there are firmly entrenched. And then pretending they were nonexistent. It should have been glaringly evident to astute social commentators and others with more than a passing interest in sociological affairs, that sooner rather than later, the Indo -Barbadian Muslim community, would want to  display a more prominent presence on the island. Apparently, there are many Barbadians who believed that the Indo population would have wanted to forever remain in the environs of the

The Caribbean Is One Nation.                                                            Bajan Footballers Win Soccer Competition By Michael Headley On a rainy Saturday, September 13,  Red Hook Brooklyn exploded with loud shouts of ‘We won’ and ‘We are the champions’. This was followed by hugs, high fives, and congratulations for the victorious players of Summerfete who had just won the La Liga Champina soccer championship game. It's a Spanish league in which over 35 year-old players compete.  This was a very proud moment for the team and fans alike,including the ardent fan from New Jersey.   As the final whistle blew, Summerfete,  had overcome a one goal deficit to beat former champions Izabal  by three goals to two. Carl Joseph, a guest player from Barbados, scored a hat-trick.  After sixteen years of having to settle for many second place positions Summerfete, which is a majority Bajan team, and honorary Bajans, from Tobago, St. Vincent and previously others from Jamaic

The Caribbean Is One Nation.                   Dreadful Summer Ends in Cricket Shame The long dreadful summer for the Caribbean, culminated with the embarrassing and almost total collapse of West Indies cricket, with the withdrawal of the team from the tour to India. We say withdrawal but it was more an abandonment because of conflict between the West Indies Cricket Board and the West Indies Players Association. Cricket, our last bastion of Caribbean unity, has now been thrown into the same cesspool, of inept leadership, that has successfully hijacked and wrecked the political management class. It is now crystal clear, that unless new leadership springs up throughout the region, we will be, in cricketing terms, caught down the wicket, with no chance of getting back in the crease! We have previously warned that the region’s power players are parasitical and would do untold damage to the image of our islands.  The WICBC is a government unto itself and it has historically treated