BASSETERRE S. Kitts, January 11th 2012 - For an organisation that recognises the significance of a people’s culture by supporting the culture both in deed and kind, the Development Bank of St. Kitts and Nevis which is celebrating its 30th anniversary has been rewarded in double portion.
“It is said that a people without a culture are no better than a tree without roots,” says Mr Lenworth Harris, General Manager of the Development Bank. “We have over the years associated with the culture of our people by sponsoring the Miss National Carnival Queen Pageant on St. Kitts and the Miss Culture Queen Pageant on Nevis.”
The Development Bank of St. Kitts and Nevis, which is wholly owned by the Government, was established by an Act of Parliament in May 1981. A series of activities were observed since May 2011 to mark the anniversary, among them the continued support of the two pageants by sponsoring a contestant in each.
“Our support for this country’s culture was in 2011 rewarded in a way that has put the Development Bank in a special position,” says Harris. “It has become the only sponsor of the two pageants to have had a queen crowned on the two islands in a single year. It all started at the end of July when Ms Santonnya Mills was crowned Miss Culture Queen on Nevis, crowning it when Ms Kalia Huggins was crowned the Miss National Carnival Queen in December.”
The two Queens met on Monday January 9 at the Development Bank’s headquarters at the corner of Church and Central Streets in Basseterre, when they came to meet with the staff of the Bank. Traffic on Church Street almost came to a standstill as motorists and pedestrians witnessed a photo-shoot of the two Queens with members of management outside the Bank building.
Celebrating the 30th anniversary under the theme ‘30 Years of Success: Development Bank of St. Kitts and Nevis Promoting Total Empowerment Through Economic, Social and National Development’, the year 2011 was rewarding in more ways than one. It became the first statutory organisation to pay dividend to Government, with the presentation of a cheque of EC$250,000 to the Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, the Rt Hon Dr Denzil Douglas, in December.
The ‘elder’ of the Queens, Ms Santonnya Mills, who is currently a student at the CFB College in St. Kitts, said that when she entered the pageant on Nevis, she pleaded with the Bank’s Branch Manager Mrs Alexa Pemberton to ensure that the Development Bank was her sponsor as she used to work as a summer intern at the branch office in Charlestown.
“I worked at the Bank for three years in the summer and the co-workers are great. I love each and every one of them, they are like family to me,” said Ms Mills who also added: “With the Bank’s contestant winning the Miss National Carnival Queen Pageant I am so happy, even thinking that this is the Bank’s 30th anniversary. It is good for the Bank to get two crowns in the same year -- it not just luck for this year, it is just good.”
Ms Kalia Huggins, whose reign as the National Carnival Queen has just started, commented that coming to the Development Bank on Monday January 9 where she joined with the Miss Culture Queen to meet the staff was indeed her first official activity as a Queen.
“I am looking forward for a packed year to carry on not just my queenly duties but also to follow up on my platform which is child abuse and every other thing in every other way that I can help my Federation of St. Kitts and Nevis in terms of being an ambassador for it,” said a beaming Miss National Carnival Queen.
Commenting on her ‘sister’ Queen (Santonnya Mills), Ms Huggins said: “She was a Queen before me, but I am ecstatic in terms of seeing that Development Bank has two Queens in one year and it seems as though everyone is happy, so I might as well just join in the party and be happy as well. I am enjoying it so far.”
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