(Trinidad Express) The Kamla Persad-Bissessar-led Cabinet, out of an abundance of caution and acting on advice from Health Ministry officials, vetoed a trip by a Trinidad and Tobago delegation to attend the annual Commonwealth Parliamentary Association Conference which took place in Cameroon, Africa. The conference was held between October 6 and 12. The delegation was to include three members of Parliament (Minister Winston “Gypsy” Peters, Embau Moheni and the People’s National Movement’s Fitzgerald Jeffrey) and two members of the Tobago House of Assembly (Presiding Officer Kelvin Charles and one other member).
The THA team had already left the country and was at the first destination point, London, when they were recalled.
Sources said a number of Caribbean countries did not attend this year’s conference.
However, Trinidad and Tobago currently has a seven-member delegation at another conference—the Inter-Parliamentary Union Assembly in Geneva, Switzerland—where lawmakers from 141 countries are in attendance.
This conference runs until Sunday.
As they move to stop the introduction of Ebola into the region, Caribbean governments are imposing some kind of ban on travel to Ebola-stricken countries.
Jamaican Prime Minister Portia Simpson-Miller yesterday imposed a ban on all 63 Members of Parliament travelling to Ebola-affected areas. Simpson-Miller issued the travel protocol during a meeting at Jamaica House called to discuss the chikungunya response and Ebola preparation plans. All 63 members of Parliament were called to the meeting.
Also yesterday, St Lucia placed a ban on nationals from Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone entering the country because of the Ebola threat. Prime Minister Kenny Anthony advised Commissioner of Police Vernon Francois to implement with immediate effect, a prohibition on people from the West African countries entering St Lucia.
“All visitors from Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone will be denied entry into St Lucia until further notice,” a statement said. St Lucia included in its restriction Nigeria, noting that notwithstanding the fact the President of Nigeria declared the country Ebola-free, “visitors from that country will be required to present a recent medical certificate which clears them of the virus, in addition to having a visa to be allowed entry into St Lucia”.
St Vincent and the Grenadines had announced a ban on visitors from the West African countries and the Grenadian government said it was considering suspending travel visas to nationals from the West African countries of Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea—which are the main sources of infection.
There are cases of Ebola in the United States, Spain and Germany.
Anthony Banbury, the UN’s deputy Ebola coordinator, yesterday warned the virus was “running faster than us and it is winning the race”.
Nearly 4,500 people have died from Ebola, with nearly 9,000 cases reported.
Banbury said the epidemic needs to be stopped now “or we face an entirely unprecedented situation for which we do not have a plan”.
The UN said the world has just 60 days to act and turn the epidemic around.