This year’s 40^th Independence Anniversary will be celebrated under the theme “Growing Sustainably, Developing Maturely, Building Resiliency: Independence 40”. The theme was chosen from over four hundred entries that were submitted and won by Reverend Damien E. Hughes of Challengers Village, St. Kitts.

The announcement was made by Prime Minister, Dr the Honourable Terrance Drew, during a Press Conference with Cabinet Ministers on Thursday, May 18, at NEMA Conference Room. Prime Minister Dr. Drew congratulated Mr. Hughes on his win.

In an interview with St. Kitts and Nevis Information Service (SKNIS), Mr. Hughes expressed gratitude that his entry was selected as this year’s winning theme.

“I feel humbled and grateful to God that the message that I have tried to communicate via the theme will be given a national platform to serve as another impetus for us to truly pursue what our independence fathers and mothers envisaged for us as a nation when they began this journey more than 40 years ago,” he said.  “This being my very first entry in any competition of this nature, the driving force behind my entry was our national motto. Despite being in the diaspora, I continue to stay abreast of what is happening and have been following our growth and development as a nation-state. The theme, therefore, captured what I feel should be our national goals and objectives toward true independence.”

He explained the thought process that went into capturing the theme.

“There were three (3) factors contemplated in my mind as I considered drafting a theme. First, I reflected on the strides made as a nation. Second, I mentally debated the current issues that must be addressed if we are to become a sustainable island state. Finally, I envisioned the behavioural and attitudinal changes needed for our federation’s future to be one that leaves not a single citizen or resident behind.

As the nation approaches 40 years of Independence, Mr. Hughes encouraged citizens and residents to work collectively to advance St. Kitts and Nevis.

“I truly hope that the theme will not just be a catchphrase for a season, but rather, a clarion call for us to collectively pursue true and lasting independence. Let us demonstrate our maturity by abandoning partisan tribalism and committing ourselves to helping our Federation to grow sustainably and build resiliency.”

As is customary, Reverend Hughes will be duly recognized by Cabinet and will be issued with official invitations to all major Independence events over which the Government has control.  His winning theme will also be incorporated into all communications and events surrounding the Independence celebrations.

The Federation of St. Kitts and Nevis is one step closer to establishing an Access to Justice Bureau aimed at strengthening the Rule of Law in the country and positively impacting people’s quality of life.

Attorney-General and Minister of Justice and Legal Affairs, Senator Honourable Garth Wilkin, said that the Bureau will consist of three arms.

“The first arm will be the Legal Aid Clinic where persons who cannot afford commercial lawyer rates can attend and receive top class service for civil matters, including family court,” said Attorney-General Wilkin during the Prime Minister’s Press Conference with Cabinet Ministers on May 18. “The lawyers in the Clinic will then be going to the various community centers to provide free legal advice to persons in the communities when they have disputes.”

The other arm of the Access to Justice Bureau will be the Public Defender’s Office.

“This is the office where the government is going to pay for lawyers to be able to defend persons charged with criminal offenses, at very low fees … there will be lawyers that are actually engaged by the government … [to represent] persons who cannot afford to pay for senior lawyers to defend them,” said the Attorney-General.

He noted that this initiative has worked throughout the Commonwealth, and it is being implemented in St. Kitts and Nevis “so that everybody, no matter their income level, can feel that they got justice and proper representation.”

According to Minister Wilkin, the Alternative Dispute Resolution and Restorative Justice Arm will serve as the third pillar of the Bureau.

“If anybody has any dispute in our society, whether it be domestic with your neighbour or someone you gave a loan to, instead of going to court, you would be able to go to a trained mediator, sit down and try to resolve your dispute amicably,” he said. “The mediator will also be going to the community centers to introduce that mediation process into the community.”

Restorative Justice is a mediation process to repair harm by providing an opportunity for those harmed and those who take responsibility for the harm to communicate about and address their needs in the aftermath of a crime. The concept of an Access to Justice Bureau was first introduced by the Attorney-General during the 2023 Budget Address.

The Attorney-General’s Office and the Ministry of Justice and Legal Affairs were granted a budgetary increase totaling $2.5 million for the year 2023 to implement several initiatives that will modernize access to justice and speed up legal processes.

 After weeks of training, 44 officers of St. Kitts and Nevis Customs and Excise Department – 28 from St. Kitts and 16 from Nevis – completed the 13^th Caribbean Customs Law Enforcement Council (CCLEC) Junior Officers Basic Training Course and are now better equipped to protect the nation’s borders from the illicit movement of goods and people.

 Customs Officers with senior government officers including Comptroller Kennedy DeSilva, Head of the Civil Service Thelma Richards, and Financial Secretary Hilary Hazel

During their six-week training, the officers were educated in Customs Overview; Legislation; Prohibition and Restriction; Effective Communication; Situation Diffusion; Warehousing; Release and Accounting; Invoice; Customs Classification; Drug Identification; Customs Evaluation; Tariff Preferences and Rules of Origin; Risk Cargo Selection; Vessel and Aircraft Search; Passenger and Baggage Search; Selection and Assessment of Passengers; Arrest, Detention and Seizures, Note Taking and Statement Writing, and Firearm Familiarization.

The officers were presented with their certificates of completion during a graduation ceremony held today, Thursday, May 18, 2023, at the Customs and Excise Department Headquarters. The ceremony was attended by several dignitaries including Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, Honourable Dr. Terrance Drew; Head of the Civil Service, Ms. Thelma Richards; Financial Secretary, Mrs. Hilary Hazel; Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Finance on Nevis, Mr. Colin Dore and the Comptroller of Customs, Mr. Kennedy De Silva.

 Ms. Shauna Arthurton receives her Certificate of Participation

Delivering remarks at the ceremony, Mr. De Silva stated that capacity building is one of the four pillars under which modern-day Customs agencies operate.

“Capacity building helps the Customs Department adapt to the changing environment, the new technologies and the emerging trends,” said Mr. De Silva. “I’m imploring you to take every opportunity that is given, I’m imploring you to run with it, and as the training programme unfolds, take time to make sure that you are right there at the forefront so that when we look back in the next six or seven years we can say we did it.”

 Comptroller of Customs & Excise Department, Mr. Kennedy DeSilva

Prime Minister Dr. Drew offered words of congratulations to the junior officers on their successful completion of the course and impressed upon them the significance of their roles as Customs Officers.

Dr. Drew said, “I extend heartfelt congratulations to all of you. You have stayed the course and you have enhanced your skills as a result, and I am pleased at your commitment to serve your country as Customs and Excise officers. During the opening ceremony for this training, I mentioned that your role is to effectively serve as the gatekeepers of our nation. This is a critically important role. The entire country depends on you to secure our borders. This should not be taken lightly.”

Prime Minister Hon. Dr. Terrance Drew 

The Caribbean Customs Law Enforcement Council (CCLEC) is a multilateral regional organization dedicated to improving the overall professionalism of its members. It comprises 38 Customs Administrations of which 36 are signatories to the CCLEC Memorandum of Understanding.

 Mr. Deondre Maynard receives his Certificate of Participation

The membership comprises Customs administration from the Caribbean and Latin America as well as Canada, France, the Netherlands, Spain, the United Kingdom and the United States of America.

 Customs Officers and Attendees at Ceremony

The Honourable Samal Duggins said that the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries, Marine Resources and Cooperatives, which he leads, continues its thrust towards achieving CARICOM’s 25 percent by 2025 Agenda which is aimed at reducing the high regional food import bill.

“In 2020, CARICOM would have adopted the 25 by 2025 Agenda, and in 2022, three days after I would have taken office, I had the chance to visit Trinidad where we had discussions about that agenda and our input into that agenda. The sad thing is you recognize you wouldn’t have heard about the agenda before 2022 and I find that to be a travesty because it means then that we had really no buy-in from St. Kitts and Nevis into the CARICOM agenda,” Minister Duggins stated during the Prime Minister’s Press Conference on Thursday, May 18.

The implementation of the CARICOM Agri-Food Systems Strategy in the Member States is expected to help achieve the 25 by 25 target by giving special attention to priority crops and products such as poultry, corn, soya, meat (goat, sheep, beef), rice and niche vegetables which are highly imported products in the region.

Minister Duggins said his ministry is hard at work, holding consultations with the relevant stakeholders as it prepares to launch a comprehensive plan that will clearly outline St. Kitts and Nevis’ approach towards the CARICOM Agenda.

“I’m confident to say that we have since then spent some time analyzing the data because with anything you have to know where you are and where you’ve been to construct properly where you’re going, and in analyzing the data we see a clear path forward for us to be a success story in that 25 by 2025 agenda,” the minister said.

He added, “We have met with livestock farmers; we have met with the fisherfolk, and we are meeting with the crop farmers next week [May 24] and our plan coming out of those meetings would be to collate all that data and properly fashion our way forward, which we would launch in July.”

In addition, the Honourable Minister pointed to several projects that are expected to come on stream shortly that will further help to lower the Federation’s food import bill, including the construction of a fish processing facility.

Minister Duggins said, “We also had the support of the Government of the Republic of China (Taiwan) for a hatchery which will increase our ability and improve our capacity in the area of poultry which would again help us to reduce imports. We are also launching our greenhouse villages and we plan to break ground on that in July. Along with that, we are now instituting a Drought Resilience Project considering where we are currently. We are suffering one of the worse droughts in the last 20-30 years and that is impacting our agricultural sector. I met with the prime minister last week and we met with finance and the Water Department to bring all stakeholders together to ensure we bring a proper and sustainable approach to drought management.”

The Honourable Samal Duggins said once his ministry completes its series of meetings to hear directly from the persons on the ground, they would put together “a very comprehensive plan which we would highlight and launch this coming July.”

Nationals of St. Kitts and Nevis with existing student loans with the Development Bank of St. Kitts and Nevis (DBSKN) are being added to the Government’s Graduate Finance Project and will now see the interest rate on their loans reduced to five (5) percent per annum.
 
“I want to announce today that come June 1^st, existing student loans in the Development Bank will now be reduced to five percent. I think that when we made the first announcement I said that we are going to come back and announce something else, and so students who are now paying nine (9) percent, from the 1^st of June you are encouraged to go to the Development Bank and have your interest reduced from nine percent to five percent,” said Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, the Honourable Dr. Terrance Drew during his Press Conference with Cabinet Ministers today, Thursday, May 18.
 
The Graduate Finance Project, which was launched on April 6, 2023, initially saw the interest rate on new student loans only attained through the Development Bank reduced to five percent per annum.
 
Prime Minister Dr. Drew said the reduction in the interest rate will greatly benefit the graduates and afford them the opportunity to live and plan for better lives.
 
“This will give students space to buy a home or invest in a business so that they can get out of their parents’ home. Many of them come back from study and because of the high interest on loans and the interest they accumulated during their studies, they have to stay home until they’re 40 plus. We want that when students go to study, they can quickly transition into independent living,” Dr. Drew added.  
 
The Graduate Finance Project also provides a grace period of four and a quarter years with a 15-year repayment term. It includes EC$15,000 credit to service the student loan during that period, which eliminates the payment of interest for four years, and three months.
 
“This means that if you go to Development Bank and take a loan, your parents don’t have to pay any interest for you while you are studying and as a result of that it gives your family space, and when you come back that interest will not accumulate. Before that, interest used to accumulate up to $15,000; even before you start paying back your student loan you had to clear that interest that you accumulated while you were studying if your parents were not in a position to pay it for you or you were not in a position to cover it and so that is a big relief. And also having five percent interest loans means that you will pay less monthly, and we have estimated that students will save up to $100,000 during the course of the loan repayment,” said Prime Minister Dr. Drew.

Commissioner of the Royal St. Christopher and Nevis Police Force (RSCNPF), Mr. James Sutton has assured citizens and residents of the twin island Federation that the law enforcement body remains committed to the task of preserving law and order and maintaining peace and security for all.

Commissioner Sutton gave this assurance in a national address on Tuesday, May 16, 2023, in which he provided an update on the various operations and activities of the Police Force in carrying out its mandate.

“In an effort to reduce the incidences of criminal activity in the Federation, we saw it prudent to formulate ‘Operation Reassurance’ and launched it on April 4th. The following statistics are testimony to the operation’s successes we have since then recorded: search warrants executed – 42; mobile patrols – 143; foot patrols – 143; number of arrests – 14; number of firearms recovered – 6; number of tickets issued – 93; number of vehicles searched – 362; gang engagements – 7,” Commissioner Sutton revealed.

The Police Commissioner commended his officers for their continued hard work to ensure that the safety and security of the citizenry are maintained.

Mr. James said, “Their work in this regard has borne fruit to the tune of four of the five robberies committed in the month of April having already been solved. Such was achieved through the diligent work and dogged determination of our officers in the pursuit of justice. Their perseverance and stellar work are worthy of high praise. Indeed, even after ‘Operation Reassurance’ would have ended, the momentum and our thrust to curb crime and violence in St. Kitts and Nevis will be maintained.”

He added, “I wish to reassure the general public that the Royal St. Christopher and Nevis Police Force will neither falter nor waver in its commitment to the people. We, officers, have sworn to protect one and all; to uphold the law without fear or favour; and to relentlessly pursue justice for those who have been victims of any crime.”

Commissioner Sutton ended his address with a plea to the citizens and residents of the Federation to work in collaboration with the security forces, noting that, “Our success as officers of the law depends heavily on those whom the laws protect. Our duties are clearly defined, but our job’s success is not guaranteed without the public’s cooperation.”

Activities to enhance functional and happier families will be hosted in the coming weeks as the Government of St. Kitts and Nevis celebrates International Day of Families observed on May 15 each year, as well as National Family Month from May 14 to June 15.

Minister of State with responsibility for Social Development and Gender Affairs, the Honourable Isalean Phillip, made a national address on Monday (May 15) to mark International Day of Families being celebrated under the theme: “Demographics Trends and Families.”

In St. Kitts and Nevis, households headed by single females are the predominant household type with absentee fathers as the trend. As such, the ministry is continuing efforts to promote positive family development and to support parents and children as they grow and develop.

“A Family Matters Programme is coordinated through the Ministry to offer tips and resources to parents,” said Minister Phillip. “Family Counselling is offered through the Counselling Centre on a referral basis as well as Family Mediation through the Department of Child Probation and Child Protection.”

Activities for National Family Month begin on Tuesday (May 16). Community Development Officers will conduct a walk-through in Conaree, interacting with families in the community, being sensitized to their challenges and developing impactful interventions to address the identified issues. A similar activity takes place on June 06 in Dieppe Bay.

On May 30, a family movie night is slated to take place at the Dr. William Connor Primary School. Parents from the communities of Boyds to East Basseterre are encouraged to sign up to attend this event that promotes family bonding.

A Games Night will be held on June 09 at the Bronte Welsh Primary School. Also, an informative session on the importance of backyard gardening is scheduled for June 13 and 14. Twelve heads of household will be sensitized on small-space gardening and composting techniques.

The final activity is the NYAM Local initiative that engages seniors from communities spanning Saddler’s to Canada Estate teaching children from primary school teachers how to prepare several traditional food dishes, confectioneries, and beverages using fresh local produce. The event will be held at the Lodge-Ottley’s Community Centre on June 23.

Minister Phillip called on families to “think about how to build stronger bonds within our own homes and further extend the sense of belonging and togetherness across our communities and wider federation.”

Thirty adolescent treatment professionals in St. Kitts and Nevis are this week engaged in a training programme geared towards equipping them with the tools to identify, assess and treat adolescents with substance use disorders.
 
The Adolescent Drug Treatment Training, which runs from May 15 to 19, is being facilitated by the St. Kitts and Nevis National Council on Drug Abuse Prevention, in collaboration with the Demand Reduction Unit of the InterAmerican Drug Abuse Control Commission within the Organization of American States (OAS).
 
The week-long training programme forms part of the National Drug Council’s continued efforts in the prevention and abatement of drug misuse and abuse among the nation’s youth.
 
Addressing the opening ceremony on Monday, May 15, 2023, at the NEMA Conference Room, Ms. Esther Best, speaking on behalf of the Demand Reduction Unit of the InterAmerican Drug Abuse Control Commission, expressed that her organization is pleased to be partnering with St. Kitts and Nevis in the execution of this important programme.
 
“The Executive Secretariat of CICAD is very committed to helping our member states strengthen the capacity of the prevention, treatment and rehabilitation workforce through ongoing training in the universal prevention, treatment and rehabilitation curriculum. The adolescent treatment curriculum is now a specialized track of the universal treatment curriculum, and we hope that it can make a significant contribution toward preparing the treatment workforce with the ultimate goal of reducing the burden that substance use disorders bring to your population,” said Ms. Best.
 
Member of the National Council on Drug Abuse Control Commission and Director of the National Counseling Center, Mrs. Michele de la Coudray-Blake in her remarks stressed that the effects of substance use disorders in adolescents are far-reaching, hence the need for this type of training.
 
She said, “We know that adolescent substance use has a potentially detrimental impact on the developing brain. We know that there is a correlation between adolescent substance use and the potential for delinquency and school dropouts and we know what that could lead to. We understand that adolescence is already a period of risk-taking behavior and for some adolescents substance use is a part of that risk-taking behavior, and we know that there is a link between early substance use and increased mental health problems.”
 
Mrs. de la Coudray-Blake added, “We know substance use trends in our Federation indicate that first use or initiation could start as early as nine years old and that the substances of choice in adolescents in our Federation are marijuana and alcohol. So, we are today determined to continue to act to reduce the potential adverse effects on this very vulnerable population.”
 
 
Director of the National Council on Drug Abuse Prevention Secretariat, Mrs. Karimu Byron Caines outlined how the participants are expected to benefit from this important and timely training.
 
She said, “Following your sessions this week, you should be able to (i) describe the characteristics of adolescent development across domains and explain why prevention and treatment of substance use is particularly critical during this stage; (ii) explain risks and protective factors in the family and community that should inform treatment planning for adolescents with substance use disorders; (iii) identify changes they can make in their professional practice to integrate trauma-informed care approaches; (iv) demonstrate an understanding of the skills needed for effective screening, assessment and case management, (v) identify areas where they can pursue further training and development.”
 
Mrs. Byron Caines further urged the participants to take full advantage of the opportunity and urged them to put all that they will learn during this week’s sessions into practice for the betterment of the nation’s youth.