Zingha Horne has been officially sworn in as the new Deputy Governor General of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines.

The swearing-in ceremony took place on Friday, October 30, 2026, at the official residence of the Governor General, held under the auspices of His Lordship, Justice Burnett.

Delivering remarks following her swearing-in, Horne expressed deep appreciation to Prime Minister the Honourable Dr. Godwin Friday for the confidence placed in her through her selection for the high-ranking constitutional office.

She also extended special heartfelt gratitude to her parents, family members, close friends, and professional colleagues, recognizing their steadfast support and contributions throughout her personal and professional journey.

Calling the appointment a defining milestone in her life, Horne grounded her dedication to the nation in faith and public duty:

“This is a momentous occasion for me, and I want to first and foremost give thanks to my God because He is awesome. He has blessed me in so many ways, and I can only give thanks to Him for where He has brought me,” Horne stated. “I will do my best in this position. I feel honored to be able to serve my country in this way, and I trust that with God at my side and my family, friends, and staff supporting me, I will excel.”

Horne also extended special thanks to Justice Burnett for presiding over the ceremony and commended the Secretariat staff of Government House for arranging the proceedings, adding that she looks forward to their ongoing collaboration and support as she begins her tenure.

Hot 97.1 FM morning host and commentator Chris Jones delivered a fiery, impassioned message to Prime Minister Dr. Godwin Friday, warning him to immediately “put your foot down” and stop allowing opposition figure Dr. Ralph Gonsalves and regional leaders to run roughshod over his premiership.

Speaking live on the AM Mayhem morning show, an exasperated Jones pulled no punches, declaring that Friday’s mild-mannered “kumbaya” approach is leaving him vulnerable to being sidelined and undermined by his political rival on the regional stage.

Addressing the Prime Minister directly, Jones argued that Friday’s desire to govern differently from the previous administration has backfired into weakness.

“Listen man, Dr. Friday need to start to put the foot down. You need to start to put your foot down,” Jones urged.

“I understood the messaging in that you don’t want to be like [the past administration], and I get it in parts. But by you making that statement and coming into government and saying you don’t want to be like, or you’re not going to be like, or you’re not going to do—you’re allowing yourself to become the village bicycle and everybody is going to take a ride off of you. And right now you have somebody riding who just will not come off.”

Jones stressed that leadership demands authority: “You need to put your foot down and stamp your weight as the Prime Minister of the country.”

Jones pointed directly to recent regional events—referencing Antigua Prime Minister Gaston Browne and encounters involving Gonsalves (“boss hog”)—contrasting how Gonsalves was allowed to operate versus what would have happened had roles been reversed.

“Failing to do that, you will have more encounters like what you had. Because sit down and think for two minutes, Doc: if you were in opposition, there ain’t no way under the blood of Jesus you was going anyway close to that, and partner light you up and maybe light up the whole region as well,” Jones exclaimed.

“Come off of this kumbaya arena,” Jones continued. “Yes, I could see that certain things and certain roads ain’t going in and try and do certain things, and I get that. But it have certain things you have to put your foot down, partner. You ain’t come here to make friends. You ain’t come here to be popular. You come here to serve a people and a country. Deal with that! Don’t let somebody come from behind and undermine you all the time.”

Venturing into raw, unvarnished commentary, Jones stated that watching the Prime Minister being undermined from behind has become deeply frustrating for citizens.

“It has no personal bearing on me, but my brother, you are the man. You are the HNIC—the head nigga in charge. He is not,” Jones stated. “Let it be seen as such. You cannot have this fella coming and just digging up the dirt where you walk on and throw it one side. Dude, come on. You weren’t elected to go through that.”

Warning of lasting political consequences, Jones insisted that Friday cannot govern out of a desire to be universally liked.

“You ain’t sign up to be most pretty. You ain’t sign up to be most friendly. So, you need to put a handle on this, brother. Otherwise, this is going to haunt you all your days,” Jones cautioned. “All of them from Gaston to whoever, all of them was getting my pen and paper—all of my disapproval of this. We ain’t pulling no punches with this. We ain’t smiling with this. We not doing this.”

Hot 97.1 FM managing director and radio commentator Luke Boyea has delivered a scathing condemnation of the National Lotteries Authority (NLA), describing the transition of Luann Hadaway from board chairperson to general manager as “farcical,” “outrageous,” and “the definition of corruption.”

Speaking on Hot 97.1’s morning broadcast, Boyea reacted to a One News report confirming that Hadaway transitioned from chairing the NLA board to assuming the role of general manager of the state-owned institution, effective November 2, 2026, pursuant to a board memorandum.

Boyea blasted the move as an egregious breach of corporate governance, transparency, and public trust, warning that allowing high-ranking board officials to appoint themselves to lucrative executive posts mimics small-scale corner-shop operations rather than modern democratic institutions.

Addressing listeners, Boyea expressed disbelief that such a maneuver could occur within one of the state’s most financially critical entities without widespread public outcry.

“This is outrageous in my view. This is one of these things which will go under the radar, but is outrageous,” Boyea stated. “Moving from being the chairperson of the board to appointing yourself as a general manager… This is farcical if it wasn’t so important. And how people are just brushing this off as normal is beyond me. This is the definition of corruption.”

Boyea stressed that the National Lottery is the country’s third-largest revenue generator behind Inland Revenue and Customs. Given that state-sanctioned gambling involves enormous sums of public money, he argued that managing such funds demands rigorous regulatory compliance, unmatched ethical integrity, and transparent recruitment.

“You got to have a proper search. You got to go out there and search, probably on a region-wide basis,” Boyea asserted. “The lottery is an extremely important institution. Generates a lot of money. There’s a lot of scope for corruption. You have to have impeccable moral standards to run a lottery. You got to be qualified. Just appointing yourself… no review process, no nothing, just bam.”

Questioning the motivations behind the move, Boyea wondered aloud whether executive compensation and institutional perks drove the appointment.

“Maybe you saw the salary and you say, ‘Boy, I like that salary, and I saw the perks and I like the perks.’ But it doesn’t work like that. We are not a jokey society, surely,” Boyea remarked, comparing the administrative conduct to “mauby shop” or “mommy shop” management.

Boyea noted comments from listeners and pointed out that Hadaway had previously served as treasurer of the New Democratic Party (NDP) and had a background in banking. However, he maintained that regardless of political ties or past roles, executive leadership of a multi-million-dollar state corporation cannot simply be handed out internally without competitive evaluation.

Luke Boyea has sent a stern warning to the NDP government following the appointment of Luann Hadaway as General Manager of the St Vincent National Lottery.

Boyea on Tuesday, framed the controversy as an urgent test of credibility for the governing New Democratic Party (NDP), drawing sharp parallels to the governance practices of the previous administration.

Responding to listeners who characterized the transition as another “friends and family” appointment reminiscent of the Unity Labour Party (ULP) era, Boyea warned that the electorate voted for structural change, not identical conduct under new faces.

“The NDP are mistaking that the people wanted to get rid of Ralph [Gonsalves] and that style of government,” Boyea said.

“They didn’t want the same style of government just with different faces. They wanted a different style of government. They wanted a merit-based society. They wanted accountability. They wanted transparency. They wanted to be able to say, ‘Yes, this person ticks all the boxes.’ People operate on ethics, morals, merit. This is real joke behavior.”

Boyea called directly on the government to intervene and revoke or review the appointment if it intends to maintain its public image of fiscal responsibility and clean governance.

“The government have to step in and say, ‘this is not acceptable,’” Boyea argued. “I don’t see how any government could put out there that they’re above board, that they are fiscally responsible, and allow this process to just go like that… How is this any different from what the last guys did, who we know looted the lottery?”

Boyea concluded that tacit approval from the highest political levels must have enabled the board’s decision, insisting that the government must address the matter head-on: “If they want to have any credibility, they have to revisit this. But clearly someone has given a tacit okay, and that will come from the top. This is a big deal.”

Health authorities in St. Vincent and the Grenadines have issued an urgent warning to older adults, individuals with chronic illnesses, and pregnant women following an alarming surge in Influenza A and COVID-19 cases that has already claimed one life.

In an official public health advisory released by the Ministry of Health, Wellness, Environmental Health and Energy on November 2, 2026, officials placed special emphasis on vulnerable populations, warning that respiratory infections pose severe and potentially fatal risks to older citizens and those with underlying health complications.

The Ministry specifically advised older adults, individuals with weakened immune systems, and people living with chronic medical conditions such as diabetes and hypertension (high blood pressure) to seek immediate medical advice as soon as symptoms begin.

Health officials underscored that early intervention is critical to preventing severe outcomes. The warning follows the confirmed death of an adult patient diagnosed with Influenza A who had a documented history of diabetes and hypertension. The patient was admitted to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) before succumbing to the illness.

Authorities also instructed the public to seek emergency medical evaluation immediately if severe symptoms develop, including:

• Difficulty breathing
• Persistent chest pain
• Confusion
• Severe dehydration

How Saint James School of Medicine Trains Doctors to Spot Tropical Diseases

 When Dr. David Michael’s brother-in-law returned to Canada from Nigeria severely ill and exhausted, emergency room doctors were mystified. Unable to diagnose his rapidly deteriorating condition, the hospital sent him home. It was only after Michael’s father, a community pharmacist, reviewed his travel history and suspected malaria that life-saving treatment was initiated—days before the emergency department finally called back to confirm the diagnosis.

That near-miss revealed a blind spot in Western medicine: physicians rarely recognize tropical pathogens until it is almost too late.

Today, as climate change accelerates the migration of disease vectors, that diagnostic gap is becoming an acute clinical risk. In response, medical trainees from Saint James School of Medicine (SJSM) are embedding directly in Suriname’s rainforests and frontline clinics, trading high-tech hospital wings for jungle outposts to master illnesses that are no longer confined to the equator.

For decades, medical education in the West treated vector-borne tropical pathogens as textbook curiosities. But the geographic reality of infectious diseases is shifting rapidly.

In 2023, locally acquired malaria resurfaced in Florida and Texas for the first time in two decades, followed by locally acquired dengue cases in both states. Warmer global temperatures and shifting weather patterns continue to expand mosquito habitats northward, while international travel and migration introduce patients from endemic regions to clinics where doctors have never managed an active case.

“Tropical diseases are no longer far away,” explains Dr. Soenita Nannan-Panday-Gopisingh, Course Director for the program and Medical Director at ‘s Lands Hospitaal—Suriname’s oldest hospital. Having trained in the Netherlands and led the institution since 2014, Dr. Nannan-Panday-Gopisingh stresses that every future clinician must be equipped to diagnose vector-borne threats.

Offered as a Diploma in Tropical Medicine and Public Health and an intensive four-week elective, the SJSM curriculum bridges rigorous online coursework with clinical immersion in Suriname.

Participants spend roughly 40 hours conducting lab work and clinical rounds across Paramaribo’s premier medical centers—Academic Hospital Paramaribo and ‘s Lands Hospitaal. Under the clinical leadership of Dr. Stephen Vreden, a leading malaria researcher affiliated with the foundation for postgraduate medical education (SPAOGS) and a WHO-affiliated infectious disease specialist, students undergo intensive diagnostic training.

“In medical school, I never prioritized tropical diseases for board exams because they are rarely encountered in Western medicine,” says Dr. Michael. “I often confused dengue, malaria, chikungunya, and yellow fever. Learning from Dr. Vreden helped me develop a much deeper understanding.”

That training was put to the test immediately: Dr. Michael witnessed an active chikungunya outbreak firsthand, observing patients suffering from incapacitating arthritic pain, and evaluated patients presenting with cutaneous leishmaniasis and leprosy.

Beyond Paramaribo’s wards, trainees ventured into active gold mining operations to screen symptomatic workers for malaria using on-site blood smears. They also spent a week in remote Amazonian clinics serving Amerindian and Maroon communities, where local nurses deliver primary care with limited resources and visiting doctors arrive just once a year.

“In settings where CT scans and advanced tools aren’t available, you learn to rely on your clinical judgment,” says Dr. Michael. “Good medicine isn’t defined by access to advanced technology—it’s defined by critical thinking.”

Launched in October 2025 with an initial pilot of two students, the program expanded to four trainees in May 2026, graduating six students across its first two cohorts.

In August 2026, SJSM’s Diploma in Tropical Medicine and Public Health earned official accreditation from the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene (ASTMH)—joining an elite roster of approved programs that includes Johns Hopkins University, Baylor College of Medicine, Tulane University, and the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine. SJSM is the first Caribbean medical institution to offer an approved diploma taught directly inside the tropics.

Graduates of the program qualify to sit for the ASTMH Certificate of Knowledge in Clinical Tropical Medicine and Travelers’ Health (CTropMed®) examination, an internationally recognized credential.

Dr. Jose Ramirez, Provost of Saint James School of Medicine, notes that while the program originated for SJSM students, the diploma is open to medical students and practicing clinicians worldwide, with the next cohort scheduled for April/May 2027.

For Dr. Michael, who is pursuing emergency medicine, the fieldwork redefined his view of clinical responsibility.

“This rotation taught me that infectious diseases do not respect borders,” Dr. Michael says. “As our climate changes, physicians must adapt their knowledge to recognize emerging threats and provide timely, appropriate care.”

Vincentian Nurse Elected to the Caribbean Nurses Organization Board of Directors

Vincentian nurse and nursing leader, Shelly-Ann Alexander-Ross, has been elected as the Region 4 Director on the Board of Directors of the Caribbean Nurses Organization (CNO).

Alexander-Ross secured the position unopposed during elections held on 31 October 2026, at the organization’s 34th Biennial Meeting and Conference in St. Kitts and Nevis.

In her capacity as Region 4 Director, Alexander-Ross will have responsibility for representing and overseeing the interests of six countries within the region: Barbados, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, Grenada, Guyana, and St. Vincent and the Grenadines.

The Caribbean Nurses Organization is a regional umbrella body that brings together national nursing associations and nursing professionals across the Caribbean. Its primary objective is to promote and advance the nursing profession throughout the region through collaboration, professional development, leadership, advocacy, and the strengthening of nursing education and practice.

The organization also provides a platform for nurses to address common challenges, share knowledge and experiences, influence health policy, and contribute to improving healthcare delivery and the health outcomes of Caribbean people.

The 34th Biennial Meeting and Conference brought together nursing leaders, educators, practitioners, students, and policymakers from 19 Caribbean countries and territories. The gathering provided an important opportunity for regional dialogue, networking, knowledge-sharing, and the advancement of the nursing profession.

The Nurses Association of St. Vincent and the Grenadines (NASVG) must be recognized for providing the opportunity for Nurse Alexander-Ross to serve, she brings a wealth of knowledge, leadership experience, and commitment to the nursing profession. Her extensive service to the Association includes having served as Secretary, Vice President, and President. She has also been actively involved in the trade union movement at both the local and regional levels, further strengthening her experience in representation, advocacy, negotiation, and workers’ rights.

Commenting on her election, Alexander-Ross expressed her gratitude for the opportunity to serve the nursing profession at the regional level. She indicated that she was encouraged by the overwhelming support, congratulations, and well wishes received from individual nurses and well-wishers locally and throughout the Caribbean.

She views the appointment as an opportunity to contribute meaningfully to the continued development of nursing across the region, while ensuring that the interests, concerns, and aspirations of nurses within Region 4 are represented.

Her election is a significant achievement for St. Vincent and the Grenadines and a testament to the leadership, dedication, and contributions of Vincentian nurses to the wider Caribbean nursing community.

I extend my heartfelt congratulations to Shelly-Ann Alexander-Ross on this well-deserved achievement. I am confident that she will bring her wealth of knowledge, experience, and dedication to this important regional role and make a meaningful contribution to the continued advancement of nursing throughout the Caribbean. I wish her every success as she embraces this new chapter of leadership and service.