Black Immigrant Daily News

The Nevis Island Administration (NIA) continues to take proactive measures to ensure consumers on Nevis have an adequate supply of potable water, commissioning a new 250,000 gallon water tank in the Zetlands area on March 13.

Spencer Brand, Minister responsible for Water Services on Nevis, said the official commissioning of the new glass-fused-to-steel reservoir “signals again the commitment of the Nevis Island Administration to the people of Nevis in ensuring that we build out Nevis in a sustainable way, and I think this new tank is a clear indication that we are committed to that plan. This tank will now serve Market Shop area all the way down to Morning Star [Estate].

“One of the mandates of the Nevis Water Department is to ensure that we can produce water for the people of Nevis 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year, and I believe we are well on our way to accomplishing that.”

Deputy Premier Eric Evelyn, elected parliamentary representative for St. George, said he is proud to be part of an Administration intent on ensuring that every household and business on the island has access to a good quality of water.

“I am happy as the area representative for St. George, Gingerland, because as part of that mandate of the Administration, the people of St. George are not being left behind. I’m also very happy that this is the second tank of this quality that has been installed in my constituency, we have one in the Stoney Hill area and this one installed here at Pond Hill borders my constituency and the constituency of St. John’s,” he said.

Also present at the ceremony were Denzil Stanley, Acting Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Works and Water Services; Floyd Robinson, Water Resources Manager; Santonnya Mills, Water Department Manager; Clychawn Wilson, Head of Production at Water Services; and Ronell Webbe, Manager of Precision Construction, the company contracted to build the facility.

The new reservoir replaced on older fiber glass tank which lost water due to leakage. Minister Brand assured that the NIA would continue the build out of the island’s water storage capacity to be able to meet the increasing demand for the critical resource.

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Just over a month after he dismissed rumors that his administration could be moving towards holding an early general election, the British Virgin Islands’ Premier Dr. Natalio Wheatley is getting ready to announce the election date this week.

“We are not going to have early elections,” he had said in February.

The House of Assembly was dissolved last Friday paving the way for the general election that must be held within two months. General elections are constitutionally due by mid-May.

Natalio Wheatley became head of government after premier Andrew Fahie was detained in Miami in April last year by United States agents posing as cocaine traffickers from a Mexican drug cartel.

He said that his ruling Virgin Islands Party (VIP) is close to finalizing its slate of 13 candidates for the election.

“Some time ago we would have gone to our party Congress where we selected 10 individuals to move forward for this general election and we will have a Congress to ratify our remaining members. We should be having the Congress over the next few days,” he told the CARIB Update television program.

At least four political parties and several independents are expected to contest the elections, but Natalio Wheatley said he remains confident that the VIP would be returned to power.

“We have been able to steady the ship, we have improved our relationship with the United Kingdom and of course, we have been able to implement recommendations and the United Kingdom has expressed their pleasure of the progress even though there are areas we have to improve upon.

“But generally they are pleased with the progress and of course, people of the British Virgin Islands are pleased with the progressed made so far and correcting things in our governance,” he added.

Last year, the British government decided not to impose direct rule on the BVI, despite a report finding gross failures of governance in the territory.

The review had recommended the BVI’s constitution should be suspended and its government dissolved amid corruption concerns. But the foreign secretary will instead allow a new administration to implement reforms in the next two years.

The inquiry was commissioned in 2021 amid claims about corruption and misuse of taxpayers’ money. The sole Commissioner, British judge Sir Gary Hickinbottom, in his report had described the state of governance in the BVI as “appallingly bad”.

Sir Gary had called for a two-year suspension of the BVI constitution, cessation of the elected ministerial government, and the imposition of direct rule by the UK. He also recommended reviews of the government’s welfare payments, the sale of public land, and law enforcement on the islands.

Residents of the BVI took to the streets outside the official residence of Governor John Rankin protesting the recommendations and the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) government also condemned the move by London.

The sub-regional Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) in its condemnation noted “the general feeling is that we don’t understand why the British in the 21st century, making decisions similar to what they had done years ago in other countries”.

In the last general elections held on 25 February 2019, for the 13 of the 15 seats in the House of Assembly, there were a total of 41 candidates nominated including 11 women.

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The Trinidad and Tobago government says it has signed a non-disclosure agreement with the state-owned Venezuelan oil company, Petr?leos de Venezuela (PDVSA) as efforts continue for Port of Spain to benefit from the billion-dollar Dragon Gas project.

“We executed a confidentiality agreement (Non-Disclosure Agreement) which governs the negotiations between the parties and the exchange of information as we progress the technical and commercial aspects of the planned development,” Energy and Energy Industries Minister, Stuart Young wrote on his Facebook page on Tuesday.

Young is leading a delegation to Caracas for the talks, including Eugene Okpere, Senior Vice President of Shell Trinidad and Tobago.

He said the PDVSA is being led by its president, Pedro Rafael Tellechea, and included PDVSA vice presidents.

Young last month visited the South American country where he met with Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodrigues, to discuss hydrocarbons and joint projects.

The Dragon deal, if successful, will give Trinidad and Tobago access to the field said to be holding about 4.2 tscf (trillion standard cubic feet) of natural gas. The project will be able to feed an approximated 150 mscf/day (million standard cubic feet per day) to the country.

On January 24, this year, the United States Treasury Department agreed to grant a license to Port of Spain to develop a major gas field located in Venezuelan territorial waters, there was not much more to be said.

“They tell a country it has permission to negotiate with Venezuela, but it cannot pay in dollars or any form of cash. It must pay with food or products,” Maduro said, adding “that is colonialism”.

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A High Court judge in Belize has remanded into custody a former police officer, who was found guilty on Tuesday of raping a 14-year-old student in 2015.

Justice Antoinette Moore remanded Cyril Casimiro into custody until sentencing after he was found guilty of raping the student whom he had offered a ride home on April 20, 2015.

The High Court heard that Casimiro, a police constable with more than 10 years of experience at the time of the incident, had been charged with wounding and rape after he took the 14-year-old girl on his police motorbike and raped her.

The minor had reported that while walking home in Altamira Village, she was offered a ride by the then 35-year-old police officer who took her to the Consejo area where he had sex with her against her will. A doctor confirmed that she was sexually assaulted and classified her injury as wounding.

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The Antigua and Barbuda passport was strengthened internationally on Friday, March 10 when Ambassadors of Antigua and Barbuda and the Republic of Serbia signed an agreement in Washington, DC, on behalf of their governments, abolishing visa requirements for their citizens.

The Agreement was negotiated and signed between Ambassador Sir Ronald Sanders, representing Antigua and Barbuda, and Ambassador Marko Djuric on behalf of the Republic of Serbia.

Ambassador Sanders remarked that, “with the signing of the Agreement with Serbia, citizens of Antigua and Barbuda now have visa-free access to more than 162 nations, making the Antigua and Barbuda passport one of the strongest in the world”. He added, that “both tourism to, and investment in, Antigua and Barbuda are enhanced by making access for visits easier for up to 90 days a year without a visa”.

Ambassador Djuric described the Agreement as “another step in further strengthening the friendship and cooperation between Serbia and Antigua and Barbuda”. Students from Antigua and Barbuda already benefit from scholarships to study in Serbia, and the two countries have pledged to examine ways in which they could be helpful to each other, including through co-operation in tacking global issues such as economic consequences of the Russian war on Ukraine.

The two Ambassadors agreed to meet regularly to explore deeper economic cooperation between the two states in the interests of their peoples.

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