Nevis Island News and Notes

Leadership Is Requried For St. Kitts – Nevis Growth

Labour Meeting At Marriott Resort
Photo By Erasmus Williams

Basseterre, Saint Kitts – Nevis
May 27, 2008 (CUOPM)

Political Leader of the governing St. Kitts – Nevis Labour Party, Prime Minister Hon. Dr. Denzil L. Douglas says the major ingredient required to keep the wheels of change in the twin-island Federation moving in the right direction is experienced and tested leadership.

He recently told the 76th Annual Conference of his governing St. Kitts – Nevis Labour Party that the wheels of change have been turning since the Party assumed office in 1995.

“They have propelled St. Kitts and Nevis to the higher echelons of the United Nations Human Development Index. Today I stand tall and you can stand tall and beat your chest,” said Prime Minister Douglas.

He said the Labour Party Administration has been transforming the St. Kitts and Nevis economy from a sugar mono-culture to a well diversified and integrated service-oriented economy. “We are transporting our people to new vistas of opportunity and progress,” said Prime Minister Douglas, who warned of persons who would want to stop the wheels of progress.

“Do not be fooled I warn you, by those who would have you stop the wheels of change to attempt to start them again. They will only take you in the wrong direction. In these challenging times in which we find ourselves, the major ingredient required to keep the wheels of change moving in the right direction is experienced and tested leadership,” said Prime Minister Douglas.

St. Kitts – Nevis Police Officers
Photo By Erasmus Williams

Basseterre, Saint Kitts – Nevis
May 28, 2008 (CUOPM)

St. Kitts and Nevis says several initiatives taken to deal with crime have been met with success, but the fight is a long and arduous process which will involve the entire society.

Prime Minister Hon. Dr. Denzil L. Douglas said as the twin-island Federation continues to build its new economy, crime could undermine the very foundation of that economy if the society does not combine its resources to combat and eradicate it.

He said his Government full understands the multi-dimensional nature of crime and has re sought to combat it in a variety of ways.

“In respect to the social and educational dimensions of crime, we have been reducing the percentage of dropouts in our school to minimise the pool from which criminals are quite often recruited. We have enhanced the rehabilitation programmes in our prisons and have sought employment for ex-convicts with a view to ensuring that such ex-convicts abandon the life of crime as they are integrated into the society. We introduced PROJECT STRONG to provide nurturing and training for young people at risk of falling into crime. We are establishing a Training Facility at Harris’s to train and rehabilitate young people in trouble with the Law. We have strengthened skills training component of our education system to provide practical and marketable skills to schoolchildren who prefer such training to the traditional academic training,” said Prime Minister Douglas.

He said his Government continues to provide enhanced equipment and facilities to the Royal St. Christopher and Nevis Police Force.

Nevis Premier Parry On Water Shortage

Charlestown, Nevis
May 26, 2008

Premier of Nevis Hon. Joseph Parry reassured Nevisians on Monday May 26, 2008, that the water shortages they have been experiencing would be rectified in the next four weeks.

In a televised report on NTV Channel 8, of the Nevis Island Administration’s (NIA) activities for the week of May 19, 2008, Mr. Parry said that Bedrock Exploration and Development Technologies (BEAD) had last week given the NIA the assurance that additional water from a discovered well at Maddens which produced over 300 gallons of water per minute, would be available to consumers early next month.

“We were informed by BEAD the company that’s doing the drilling, that it will take four weeks to have that well connected to the system. That connection will not take place before June 10th. I would prefer to say before the 17th of June. We have been told that a pump is under construction and supplies have been bought and they should be here no later that June 10th. It will take a week to put other things in place.

“We were also told, there is a well in the Hickmans area which produces 170 gallons of water per day that is down [out of commission]. We sought to get the assistance from the Federal government but their drill is down and so we have spoken to BEAD and we have asked them to cease their operations and to help us with this well. As soon as this new well is done, it will relieve some of the pressure that we are under in terms of water,” he said.

Nevis Education Advisor – Christine Springette

Charlestown, Nevis
May 26, 2008

Education Advisor in the Nevis Island Administration (NIA) Mrs. Christine Springette appealed to students of the Charlestown Secondary School (CSS) to prepare themselves for the many opportunities that would become available in a developing Nevis.

She gave the advice when she stood in for Premier of Nevis and Minister of Education Hon. Joseph Parry at a celebratory church service on May 23, 2008, at the Charlestown Methodist Church, to mark the school’s 58th anniversary. The event was held under the theme “Augmenting the past to impact the future”.

“Do not sell yourself cheap. You may never have proof of how important you are even now. You are more important than you think and so I am hoping that each students delicate himself or herself to the opportunities which are open to you”¦some of you are passing many subjects but the future that some of you have chosen, is one of delinquency and disobedience and non performance.

“The country is developing and there is going to be great opportunities for jobs and for self employment for entrepreneurship. I am appealing to you to get ready for what is in store or else positions will be filled by persons from abroad because the country must develop and positions must be filled,” she said.

Mrs. Springette who was a former student and Head Mistress of the school congratulated the teachers for their hard work and acknowledged that teaching today was much more difficult today then in her time.

“I want to congratulate the teachers because I really do believe they try very hard and I don’t try to measure myself with them because when I was a teacher teaching was so much [easier]. There were no drugs, when I left 20 years ago drugs was just creeping into the school system. There was no drinking, there was no great fascination with sex because there is a great fascination with sex “¦and children stood up when teacher entered the classroom,” she said.

Notwithstanding, Mrs. Springette also asked the students to reflect on their contribution to the school and to reflect on the relationships with persons who may have made a difference in their lives but did not take hold of the opportunities they presented.

She said the CSS had served Nevis well and had produced students that had gone on to hold major positions in and out of Nevis. She pointed to Hon. Hugh Rawlins who was recently appointed to serve as Chief Justice of the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court.

St. Kitts – Nevis – Prime Minister Douglas
Photo By Erasmus Williams

Basseterre, Saint Kitts – Nevis
May 26, 2008 (CUOPM)

Young people in St. Kitts and Nevis have been urged to seek the help and assistance that they require from the newly-created St. Kitts Investment Promotion Agency and the new National Entrepreneurial Development Division to establish businesses.

Prime Minister and Minster of Finance, Hon. Dr. Denzil L. Douglas said substantial debt has been incurred with the closure of the sugar industry to create a new national economy based on tourism and hospitality services, information, telecommunications and technology services and financial services.

“They must get adequate access to the ever-expanding financial resources of our financial institutions to finance their mortgages, education, business ventures and other personal projects of interest to them. They must share in the vast amount of foreign exchange earnings that is generated from the unprecedented number of cruise ship and stay-over visitors that now come to our shores,” said Dr. Douglas.

He said that St. Kitts and Nevis must embrace the youths by not only showing them love, but by giving them the guidance they need to reach out and grasp their share of the abundance of opportunities that are being created in the twin-island Federation.

Dr. Douglas said that the Federation could not have made the massive strides in the creation of the new economy without incurring debt.

Leadership Is Requried For St. Kitts – Nevis Growth

Society Must Combine Resources To Fight Crime

Nevis Water Shortage To End Soon Says Premier Parry

Nevis Students Urged To Prepare For The Future

Saint Kitts – Nevis Youth Urged To Seek Help From SKIPA