BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – THE process for the EC$16M payout to former sugar workers is underway and those entitled will receive their “fair share” on or before September 19, following the establishment of a secretariat in Basseterre.
So said Dr. the Hon. Timothy Harris yesterday (Apr. 28) at the Parliamentary Lounge during his second Prime Minister Monthly Press Conference.
Last month at his inaugural Monthly Press Conference, the Prime Minister announced that he had decided to put in place a Special Implementation Committee, which would be given three weeks to submit its first report to the Cabinet and all issues pertinent to the successful implementation of the important initiative.
Yesterday he provided reporters and the nation an update on the progress made by the Committee.
“I am happy to report that the Committee charged with delivering restorative justice to former sugar workers in St. Kitts and Nevis has been working hard. And Mr. Osbert De Suza, Permanent Secretary in the Office of the Prime Minister, is heading what is a 17-member team drawn from Government, Private Sector and Labour.”
He disclosed that plans are afoot to establish a secretariat from which the Committee could better function.
“I can report that a secretariat will be opened shortly in Basseterre to receive reports, concerns and even recommendations from former sugar workers to ensure the views and concerns of all are considered.”
The Prime Minister however noted that the Committee had asked for more time to put forward their final report and that he had granted that “very reasonable request”, while noting that his Government would not do things in haste because hurry dog eats raw corn.
“It is tentatively proposed that this Committee will complete its report soonest, and that we will make a single payment, single instalment, not three as were done last time, single payment to the former sugar workers on or before independence of 2015. So that may well be their independence treat,” Prime Minister Harris promised.
Earlier in his opening address, Dr. Harris said the former sugar workers and their families await with eager expectancy the collection of the injustice done to them way back in 2005.
“In this regard, without a single penny taken from the National Treasury, we secured EC$16 million grant to right the wrong to the former sugar workers. Thanks to the benevolence and the humanitarian spirit of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela.
Taking a swipe at the former Administration, Dr. Harris said: “It is now perhaps a little comedy to hear those who refused to pay and properly compensate former sugar workers 10 years ago, now enjoin us to say that these former sugar workers have been wronged and they deserve their fair share.”
On Monday, March 30, 2015, the Team Unity Government had received an EC$16M grant from the Government of Venezuela under the Petro Caribe initiative, for which Prime Minister Harris said is to assist in paying former sugar industry workers.
