The Cabinet began its sitting with a prayer as is standard practice.
The Cabinet received a report from the Junior Minister in the Ministry of Education, Sports and the Creative Industries who shared details of the planning, execution and funding for a number of events that are on the calendar for 2024. First and foremost is Cricket World Cup which requires significant upgrade in the facilities that are being used for the games and for practice. The Sir Vivian Richards Stadium is undergoing significant upgrades with resources coming almost exclusively from the Treasury of the Government of Antigua and Barbuda. The Antigua Recreation Grounds (ARG) is to become a practice venue for the teams that will play matches at the two official venues—the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium and the Coolidge International Cricket Grounds. Significant resources will be required for readying the ARG. The Cabinet made a pledge to provide the resources necessary so that Cricket World Cup will be a success.
The Cabinet learned of the significance of fully funding Carnival 2024, since a new standard has been established where prize monies are distributed immediately following the events. Outstanding amounts from previous years will be settled a little at a time given resource limitations. Carnival Media Launch and Sponsorship Cocktail will take place on April 25th at the Hodges Bay Club. The event will be aired live on ABS Television. The overall plans for Carnival 2024 will be presented to Cabinet in two weeks for funding approval.
The Ministry of Sports has succeeded in arranging short-term scholarships for two talented and intellectually gifted male students who will have an opportunity to be trained at the Harrow School in the United Kingdom; that school specializes in training future professional cricketers. Matthew Miller of the Antigua Grammar School and Tanez Francis of the Jennings Secondary School will leave at separate times and will be under the complete supervision of the school during their month in the UK. One student will leave Antigua next week, the other in September. A six-month exchange program is also in the cards.
The Cabinet invited a team of seven officials from the Ministry of Finance to provide a monthly update on revenue collections and expenditure, and other items, which answered many questions posed by Cabinet Ministers. Tax exchanges, for example, have been limited by Cabinet to $2.5 million monthly; they are a set-off against what might be owed by the taxpayer to the Government against what is owed by the Government to the business entity. The Treasury paid-out over $250 million last month, despite a gap of little more than $100 million. The Finance team repeated that the amended law limits the authority to grant waivers/exemptions to the discretion of the Minister of Finance only.
To close the gap, the Cabinet decided that fewer concessions, larger non-tax-revenue intake, and lowered expenditure will have to be pursued. Revenue performance from January to March 2024 was twice as much as compared to January to March 2023. The Cabinet nonetheless decided that payments to new pensioners ought not to take as many as twenty-four months before the first payment is made. Consequently, a directive was given to the Accountant General to speed up those payments to new pensioners who are sometimes without an alternate income. The payments of gratuities are to be treated in the same way.
The Cabinet was reminded by the team that three additional obligations will have to be met in the year 2024 that were not on the calendar in 2023: a) The SIDS4 Conference May 27- May 30; b) Cricket World Cup; c) LIAT 2020.
The Ministry of Finance Officials presented the Medium-Term Development Strategy—second iteration—5 Year 2024-2028. The Cabinet reiterated the importance of including A.I.(artificial intelligence), digital government, and entrepreneurship as components within the Strategy; the transformation of Barbuda and the phenomenal growth in tourism arrivals that has triggered a construction boom which has not relented.
The Attorney General read aloud portions of a recent letter received from the Chief Justice of the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court. The head of the court system recommended that the law which permits for a Judge-alone trial be made permanent, eliminating the sunset clause which appeared in the law at first. The Chief Justice applauded Antigua and Barbuda for being the first in the O.E.C.S. jurisdiction to have adopted the law, causing the jurisdiction to join Jamaica, the Cayman Islands, the Turks and Caicos, Belize and Trinidad and Tobago in the region. Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Nigeria, Northern Ireland, the United Kingdom, and the United States also have Judge-alone trials by legislation. The Cabinet decided that it will cause the amendment to the law to make that kind of trial a permanent feature of the Antigua and Barbuda law.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs provided the Cabinet with an update on the preparations for the SIDS4 Conference, scheduled for May 27 to 30 in Antigua. “Accommodation is secured for all Presidents and Prime Ministers attending the SIDS4,” he assured the Cabinet. CDRA India will fund 15 leaders and its own delegation; IRENA will fund 8 leaders; the USA will fund 14 leaders and its own delegation. The host country usually provides accommodations for leaders; however, given the small size of the country, a number of large States have been volunteering to help bear the burden. Security will remain the host country’s responsibility; assistance from the RSS countries is being sought and has been pledged, and a satellite team is being organized to ensure safety of all attendees. Registration of drivers and inspection of vehicles will occur during this month. A plethora of other details have been shared with the Cabinet by the Foreign Minister who has primary responsibility for the conduct of the SIDS4 Conference.
The Minister of Health received the applause of the Cabinet for the work undertaken: i) to improve Emergency care at the Sir Lester Bird Medical Center (SLBMC); and, ii) the complete refurbishing of the operating rooms at Antigua’s lone public hospital. At the opening ceremony held on Sunday past, those who attended were able to see for themselves the magnificent work that had been completed by a local contractor. The improvements in the Village Clinics continue, and the rosters for doctors to provide coverage for a fixed number of hours each day, will also be pursued. The Cabinet has insisted that funding secured through various U.N. agencies is to be directed to the HAPI Program, where the indigent elderly and low-income families who have suffered catastrophes will qualify.
