Prime Minister the Honourable Dr. Terrance Drew led the Members of Cabinet, as well as the Speaker and the Clerk of the Federal National Assembly to Nevis, for the Opening of the New Session of the Nevis Island Assembly. This occurrence is undoubtedly the first time in history, as it is in keeping with Prime Minister Dr. Drew’s mandate to bridge the divide between both islands.

Prime Minister Dr. Drew described the Federal Cabinet’s presence as significant.

“It is important that the Cabinet would have come and shown its support to the democracy here in the island of Nevis. It also demonstrates our thrust as we continue to work together as a Federal Cabinet with the Nevis Island Administration,” said Dr. Drew. “We think that strong collaboration is a good equation in terms of our overall development as a Federation. So in that sense, it is very significant.”

Dr. Drew said the day’s proceedings went very well. He congratulated all who played a role in ensuring the success of the Opening of the New Session of the Nevis Island Assembly (NIA).

Prime Minister Dr. Drew indicated that the people of Nevis can expect to see an increased presence by the Federal Cabinet going forward, especially as both islands work together to strengthen relations.

“The people of Nevis can definitely expect that the Federal Cabinet will show more if its presence here. After all, we are one Federation and the people must know that their Federal Cabinet is working on their behalf as well, so that will continue and it will continue to be strengthened,” said the Honourable Prime Minister.

The St. Kitts and Nevis Government is rolling out its good governance draft legislation next month.

Attorney General the Honourable Garth Wilkin said that the Anti-Corruption Bill, Freedom of Information Amendment Bill, Integrity in Public Life Amendment Bill, and the Official Gazette Bill will be read in the Federal Parliament for the first time on February 08, 2023.

At the Prime Minister’s Conference with Cabinet Ministers on January 18, 2023, the Attorney General explained that these four pieces of legislation are designed to create a good governance infrastructure that controls the operations of government. The inclusion of the Official Gazette Bill is a relatively new development.

“The reason that we’ve added the Official Gazette Bill is so that people can have full access to the laws of the country,” Honourable Wilkin stated, noting that the idea came about during discussions with a senior official from Seychelles during the Commonwealth Minister’s Meeting held in Mauritius in November 2022. “He said that since they created the Official Gazette Act, which allows all laws to be published online, not just showing up at the Government Printery, they have seen the impact that has had in educating the people about the laws of their country.”

The Attorney General indicated that his Chambers is currently awaiting feedback on the Anti-Corruption Bill circulated in November 2022.

“The Bar Association promised to get back to us very soon. The Chamber of Industry and Commerce promised to get back to us and the Christian Council, but whether they get back to us or not, we are still proceeding because that [good governance legislation] is a promise made and it will be a promise that is kept,” Attorney General Wilkin expressed.

The Federation of St. Kitts and Nevis continues to push forward with its plans and preparations for the 28th Session of the Conference of Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP28), which will convene from November 30 to December 12, 2023, in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

This was according to the Minister of Environment and Climate Action, the Honourable Dr. Joyelle Clarke during the Prime Minister’s Press Conference with Cabinet Ministers on January 18 at the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) Conference Room.

“We are going to COP 28, and we have made a decision to expand our delegation. The Department of [Environment] has been working very closely with the New York Mission in terms of selecting persons. We have selected another young person who would be part of our Oasis Delegation, so they have one full year of training and development to lend to the Loss and Damage Conversation,” said Dr. Clarke. “We joined the regional conversation to identify focal points and regional heads to sit on the transitional committee for Loss and Damage and we supported delegates from Barbados and Suriname.”

Dr. Clarke said that the Federation of St. Kitts and Nevis continues to work locally as a mandate from COP27 to “have what we call a mini-COP so that more young persons could join the needed conversation on Loss and Damage.” One of the successes coming out of COP27 in Egypt in 2022, was the establishment and operationalization of a Loss and Damage Fund which aims to provide financial assistance to nations most vulnerable and impacted by the effects of climate change.

Important to note, Dr. Clarke said that there is a need for people to be educated on environmental and climate matters.

“In the Prime Minister’s State Visit to Taiwan, one of the things that stood out is the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the fact that their mandate started with the preschoolers. We are now in conversation with the Ministry of Education, as well as the Department of Gender Affairs in terms of getting the students involved at the preschool level to understand the message of recycling, the 1.5 to stay alive, as well as bringing more young women onboard with our 1.5 to stay alive and Loss and Damage,” said the Environment Minister.

The “1.5 to stay alive” arose from a goal stipulated in the Paris Agreement to hold the global average temperature increase to 1.5℃ (degrees Celsius) above pre-industrial levels. The aim is to implement measures to reduce massive greenhouse gas emissions worldwide.

Plastic waste recycling continues to be high on the agenda for the Government of St. Kitts and Nevis. As such, St. Kitts is set to establish a Recycling and Packaging Plant, said the Minister of Environment and Climate Action, the Honourable Dr. Joyelle Clarke, on January 18, at the Prime Minister’s Monthly Press Conference with Cabinet Ministers at the NEMA conference room.

The Government of St. Kitts and Nevis is working with the Republic of China (Taiwan) on this project. Taiwan assisted Nevis in establishing a similar plant in December 2022.

“Recently, [Resident] Ambassador [of the Republic of China (Taiwan) to St. Kitts and Nevis] Ambassador [Michael] Lin and I spoke about the technical challenges we are having at the Solid Waste Landfill in St. Kitts in terms of implementing our recycling plant and it is a matter of energy,” said Dr. Clarke.

“Every industry requires some amount of energy generation, and we had that problem. However, we have been managing the challenge and we have in less than three months’ timeline, in terms of solving the energy timeline at the plant, so that we can establish our plastic recycling and packaging plant at the Solid Waste Landfill,” the Environment Minister added.

Dr. Clarke highlighted the recycling initiative ‘Let’s Recycle SKN,’ a non-profit organization headed by the Taiwan International Cooperation and Development Fund (ICDF). She noted that the Cabinet recently discussed the non-profit organization’s collaboration with Government Ministries and Departments.

“We spoke in Cabinet on Monday [January 16, 2023) about the fact that every ministry will be joining the ICDF in terms of recycling our plastic bottles. We will have a focal point from the Ministry of Environment who would be contacting all of the relevant permanent secretaries in every ministry,” said Dr. Clarke. “We are joining an initiative led by the Prime Minister’s Office and the Cabinet Secretariat in terms of collecting plastic bottles.”

As a strong advocate for conserving and protecting the environment, Dr. Clarke said that it is extremely important to get the plant up and running because “we can’t be an island that promotes a sustainable island state agenda and then have plastic bottles everywhere.” She added that it is also important to join our “critical partners, the Republic of China (Taiwan) in terms of recycling”

The staff at the Department of Social Development is working assiduously to verify and process more than 12,000 applications that were submitted to the Poverty Alleviation Programme (PAP).

Persons had to reapply for the programme in November 2022 following the discovery of irregularities that saw ineligible persons receiving the monthly $500 stipend.

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Social Development, the Honourable Dr. Geoffrey Hanley, gave an update on the regularization process on Wednesday (January 18, 2023) during the Prime Minister’s Press Conference with Cabinet Ministers. It was held in the NEMA Conference Room.

“The entire team is doing the verification process right now, checking with all of the agencies including Social Security, making sure that the Social Security numbers are correct and the information that persons shared is accurate,” Dr. Hanley said.

The goal is to have the work done by the end of the month so that payments are made to eligible beneficiaries confirmed through the verification process. When payments resume, the Deputy Prime Minister said that vulnerable groups will be given priority based on their social and economic needs.

These include persons who are unemployed, seniors, and persons with disabilities. After these are verified, persons who are employed in a household earning less than $3,000 per month will then benefit from the stipend.

Attorney General and Minister of Justice and Legal Affairs, the Honourable Garth Wilkin said his office examined and made effective changes to the Citizenship by Investment (CBI) programme’s legislation on the 23rd of December, 2022 to remove loopholes exploited by property developers.
 
During the Prime Minister’s Press Conference on January 18, the Honourable Attorney General said, “What developers are required to do now, is that they have to place money received from the sale of real estate units into an escrow account and the administration of the citizenship by investment programme will now monitor the progress of the project such that a developer does not sell 20 units for example and not build anything.”
 
“What will happen now is that the money will now go into escrow and when the developer has now proved that for example, they have finished a foundation, then a certain amount of money will be released; if they prove that they have reached the roof stage then a certain amount of money will be released,” he said.
 
The Honourable Attorney General stated that there is also a new element of regulations set up to monitor the distribution of units processed.
 
He said, “For example, if you were a developer and you believe that you can sell 1000 units or 1000 buildings in your real estate project, you will not be given access to sell those 1000 units at the beginning of your project like was done in the past, what you will do is you will be given a certain amount of units, for example, 50, you would be able to put those on the market and until you complete a certain phase of your construction, you will not get the next 50, so there will be a staggered approach to the actual issuance of the units that you can sell on the market.”
 
He said that all of this was done to prevent what has occurred in the past where real estate developers were selling off plans and building one part of the project and not completing it in its entirety resulting in what he termed “white elephants”.

 The Government of St. Kitts and Nevis is moving forward with three initiatives that will assist in strengthening quality healthcare and service delivery to citizens, residents and visitors.

At the Prime Minister’s Press Conference with Cabinet Ministers on Wednesday (January 18, 2023), Prime Minister the Honourable Dr. Terrance Drew told the nation that Universal Health Care remains a priority for the Government.

“We are getting ready to start our Universal Health Care. We will start to communicate with our people [to discuss] Universal Health Care for all of our people,” Dr. Drew stated at his first press conference of 2023.

Another measure highlighted was the corporatization of the Joseph N. France General Hospital, the premier health institution in the Federation. Prime Minister Dr. Drew said that this was being done “so that we can properly continue to manage it, and to improve its management as well.”

Additionally, relationships with third-party organizations will be revitalized.

“We are looking to strengthen the partnerships that we have with CARPHA (the Caribbean Public Health Agency), PAHO (Pan American Health Organization), and a number of NGOs (Non-Governmental Organizations) such as PALS (Pediatric Assistance League of St. Kitts) so that all can be a part of our new trajectory going forward,” the Prime Minister stated.

He expressed satisfaction with the system changes being made to address and improve long-standing issues within the health sector.

At his first press conference for 2023 held at the NEMA conference room on January 18, Prime Minister Honourable Dr. Terrance Drew rejected allegations circulating on social media that the SIDF (Sugar Industry Diversification Foundation) had written off debt to Christophe Harbour and Kittitian Hill, two real estate development projects in St. Kitts.  

“The SIDF has not forgiven any loan. I want to make that clear,” Prime Minister Dr. Drew said. The SIDF has its interests in Christopher Harbour. We know that and it owns about thirty (30) percent of that development presently and that is where it resides with the ownership…so there is no forgiveness neither from the SIDF standpoint nor from Kittitian Hill standpoint, so I just wanted to make that clear.”

“Christophe Harbour is still a viable project,” he said. “It is a project that is seeking of course new investment…the project continues, and they are seeking to move the project along. The SIDF still has its interests right in there. Nothing has changed.”

Christophe Harbour is located on the South-east Peninsula of St. Kitts. It is a 2,500-acre of unspoiled St. Kitts landscape with six secluded beaches. The real estate development includes a superyacht marina, the Pavilion Beach Club, SALT Plage beach bar, a five-star Park Hyatt Resort, Caribbean cottages, custom-designed villas and sprawling hillside estates.

And located at Belle Mont Farm is Kittitian Hill, a premier, luxury resort situated on a lush 400-acre hillside of organic farmland nestled amidst lush forests at the foothills of Mount Liamuiga in St. Paul’s, St. Kitts. The resort features beautifully designed villas and cottages, each of which offers a stunning view of the Caribbean Sea.

The Cabinet Ministers met under the Chairmanship of the Prime Minister, Hon. Dr. Terrance Drew, on Monday, 16^th January 2023 and made several significant decisions to improve the well-being of our people.

The Cabinet approved financial assistance to the St. Kitts Electricity Company Ltd. (SKELEC) to procure rental power generation capacity of an additional 6 megawatts (6 MW). This intervention is critically important to avert possible load shedding given that SKELEC has planned overhauls and other repairs to its current power generation fleet commencing by the end of January 2023. Notwithstanding, the Cabinet continues to receive and review renewable energy proposals in its thrust to reduce fossil fuel consumption and electricity costs to the people of St. Kitts and Nevis.

An adequate, reliable, and safe supply of potable water is essential to the health and development of our nation. In this regard, Cabinet approved a proposal for the construction of a 3 million gallon per day, seawater reverse osmosis desalination plant. The approved project will also include a 2-megawatt (2 MW) wind farm which will power the desalination plant. The Government of St. Kitts and Nevis continues to encourage persons to use water wisely and continue to exercise water conservation practices while additional water supply options continue to be explored.