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| Speaker of the Assembly, Mrs Marjorie Morton (center) being escorted to the Chambers by Premier, the Hon Joseph Parry (l) and Deputy Premier, the Hon Hensley Daniel (r) of the Nevis Island Assembly. |
Charlestown Nevis (October 2, 2006) A new session of the Nevis Island Assembly opened earlier today with the swearing in, for the first five-year term of the Nevis Reformation Party (NRP)'s government, which holds three of the five seats.
The ground of the Hamilton House, which houses the assembly chambers, were awash with colour as a contingent of the Royal St Christopher and Nevis Police force mounted a guard of honour that was later inspected by the Deputy Governor General, His Hon Mr Eustace John.
The first sitting following the July 10, 2006 General Elections saw the election of the President of the house, Mrs Marjorie Morton, holder of that seat since 1992, returning unopposed.
She was proposed by Premier of Nevis, the Hon Mr. Joseph Parry and seconded by his Deputy and Leader of government business in the House, the Hon Mr. Hensley Daniel.
New Clerk of the Nevis Island Assembly, Mr. Dwight Morton administered the oath of office to the members of parliament, with its newest members, the Hon Robelto Hector, who won the St. Pauls Seat, the Hon Carlisle Powell and the Hon Dwight Cozier, (nominated members) of the Nevis Reformation Party and the Hon Mark Brantley, nominated member of the Concerned Citizen Movement.
Others were the Premier, the Hon Joseph Parry (St. Thomas'), the Hon Hensley Daniel (St. Johns), who was a nominated member of the house in 2000-2001 and members of the Nevis Reformation Party. The members of the Concerned Citizen Movement were the Hon Vance Amory (St. Geroge) and the Hon Jean Nisbett-Harris (St. James).
Following the swearing in of the members, the Deputy Governor General delivered the Throne Speech in which he talked of the challenges facing Nevis and outlining what his government would do to sustain Nevisians through people development, expansion and growth of the economy and to restore good governance.
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| A cross section of the gathering inside the Island Assembly chambers. |
"My government will give top priority to the development of our human resource base. In the past we have witnessed great emphasis being placed on infrastructural development. While an infrastructure led growth policy is an important catalyst for economic development, we cannot ignore the most important asset in this island which is our people," said the Deputy Governor General.
"If we ignore this fact, our people will become hewers of wood and drawers of water while the high quality and high paying jobs will go to foreigners. The point must be made absolutely clear that we have no objections to legal immigration. In fact, my government is very supportive of the Caribbean Single Market and Economy even though in the initial stages, the small islands are likely to be at a disadvantage," he said.
While the government was confident to its support behind the development of sports on the island, it gave the assurance that it would develop and implement a comprehensive education and skills program for the young people.
"In fact, we have already increased the level of financial assistance to encourage more of our people to pursue tertiary education abroad and this assistance will continue as more resources become available in the future. We want our young people to become self reliant and responsible so that they can play a more pivotal role in our economic development.
This government is committed to transforming the education system into a comprehensive, coordinated and coherent agenda that will effectively prepare young people to be well rounded citizens, to lead productive lives, to become entrepreneurs and to access specialized learning particularly in new technologies so that they are well prepared for the job opportunities of the 21st Century."
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| Members of the Government (l-r) the Hon Carlisle Powell, the Hon Dwight Cozier, the Hon Robelto Hector, the Hon Joseph Parry and the Hon Hensley Daniel. |
The Deputy Governor General said that the government recognised that a home was constructed by the previous administration for the senior citizen but there are no programmes developed. Thus, "we will organise outings, picnics and visit to places of interest. We will organise recreational activities at the senior citizens home not only for residents but for other elderly persons in communities who would be given an opportunity to interact and socialise with their peers."
With tourism and the international financial service industries in Nevis contributing significantly to the GDP, the government recognised that those sectors are extremely important to the economic growth of the island. "The policy of government is to establish a reputable jurisdiction that provides high value added to the island of Nevis," the Deputy Governor General added.
"In the near future we intend to review existing legislation to ensure that they are consistent with international standards; promote, encourage and increase local participation in industry; train our young people in accounting, law, economics, information technology and relevant areas to meet the need of the industry.
In an effort to improve the integrity of the jurisdiction, we intend to remove any perception of government's interference in the regulation of the industry by establishing an independent regulatory authority to be fully responsible for all regulatory matters. We will establish a marketing board consisting of both public and private sector official to spearhead our marketing effort. These boards will be financed from a percentage of the revenue collected from the incorporation and registration of companies and other entities."
The Deputy Governor General in his 90 minutes address, said that the government believed that the private sector should become the engine of growth with the government performing a facilitative role and implementing laws and policies to protect the disadvantage and the interest of the public generally.
"While the public sector investment programme is necessary to create the enabling environment conducive to growth and development, it is the private sector with its ability to optimise the use of scarce resources that is best placed to create opportunities for employment in the economy and increase the disposable incomes of our people.
The development of the private sector is so important to this administration, that a committee chaired by a member of Cabinet and including representatives from planning, tourism and finance will be established to facilitate the expeditious implementation of large private sector projects."
With a new government in place, it is the intention to restore good governance to the people of Nevis and to reduce the opportunities for corrupt practices in government. "The Deputy Governor General said that the government would launch an anti-corrupt campaign through the enactment of appropriate legislation and the adoption of best practices in government.
~~Adz:Right~~Our governance mandate will be based on transparency, accountability, participation and integrity in public life. We are very serious about these issues and as a consequence, we will introduce new standards of governance in Nevis. Our plan is to enact new legislations to govern the conduct of Ministers in public office, including powers to investigate ministers and their actions in government; enact legislation to ensure competitive bidding of government projects to reduce opportunities for corruption, establish central tenders bard that will be responsible for awarding all government project and appoint a permanent Integrity and Fairness Commission to hear complaints from the public and investigate ministers and senior public servants."
With a debt of approximately EC$300 million, the government intend to proactively manage the debt to bring it under control. Some of its plan of action was to improve the efficiency of expenditure management by demanding value for money and reducing corruption and waste, improve the administration of revenue collection and active asset management by privatizing assets that could be run more efficiently in the private sector.
"Our goal is to generate larger surpluses on the current account and to bring the debt service ration to below 15% within seven years," said the Deputy Governor General.
The sitting was adjourned sine die.
