Call for direct flights from Barbados to Africa

A Pan-Africanist is calling for direct flights to Africa so that Caribbean people could have easy access to connect with their roots.

This call was made by John ‘Tisafe’ Howell, Public Relations Officer of the Pan-African Coalition of Organisations, during a press conference with media that took place at Pelican Village yesterday morning.

Howell admitted that they had limited resources, but they believed that having a direct flight to the continent of Africa was important enough for them to work towards.

“We definitely need those linkages,” he said, adding that “Africa is the richest continent in the world and we cannot have a major economic system unless you deal with the continent of Africa. The resources are there but we in the Caribbean are not taking advantage of those resources in the Caribbean. Only Americans and Europe and now China; but we in the Caribbean are neglecting our legacy with the continent of Africa. Therefore, we need to have that direct flight so that we could do trading, etc. So we are pushing for that.”

David Denny, General Secretary for the Caribbean Movement for Peace and Integration, noted that he believed that this will become a reality. He revealed that many years ago, they would have had a discussion with other progressionists, Pan-Africanists and the like, where they fought for the Islamic Foundation to have a hall.

He revealed that on that day they dug the holes to start the process, and now the Foundation has a hall.

“So whenever we meet and look at the way forward, positive things come out of it,” he said.

He went on to note that they will be planning a few outreach sessions and added that in terms of the labour movement, they planned to play a major role.

“Right now labourers are going through a difficult time and we feel it is our duty to defend those workers and create the conditions that allow for those workers to create businesses and live a healthy standard of living in Barbados,” he said.