HURST REPORTS ON CABINET of Thursday 12 December 2024
The Cabinet sitting began with a prayer, invoking God’s presence and seeking God’s continued guidance.
1. The Cabinet invited a consultancy firm to address it; the firm’s responsibility is to assess APUA’s performance and make recommendations for improvements. The Cabinet is especially interested in ensuring that APUA provides sufficient potable water to households, hotels, businesses and institutions on a regular basis; it was accepted that APUA creates seventy-five percent (75%) of the potable water required to fulfill nationwide demand. Although several reverse osmosis plants are to be added to bring capacity in line with consumption, the Cabinet desires an outcome that would ensure each household can receive water no fewer than five days per week, and at times that allow for water use. The consultant team left satisfied that it knew precisely what the Cabinet desired of it.
2. The Cabinet spent a few moments to examine the fracas created by the Opposition in Parliament, in the afternoon prior, when the (opposition) members decided against speaking even after the Prime Minister four times showed a readiness to discontinue his wrap-up and to allow an opposition member to proceed. The Cabinet heaped praises upon the speaker of the house for his restraint and maturity in not seeking the removal of the most vociferous of the objectors. The cabinet concluded that never in the history of parliament in Antigua and Barbuda has disrespect been shown to the Speaker and the Leader of Government Business in the Lower House.
3. Cabinet discussed the impending challenge that results from the absence of adequate space within public burial grounds for disposal of cadavers. The Public Cemetery on Sir Sydney Walling Highway will likely be ready in a few weeks; an additional acre of land is being acquired in Bolans for burials to take place immediately. More than 600 people die each year in Antigua and Barbuda; therefore, at least fifty burials take place every month—although more than average burials take place in some months. It therefore does not take a very long time for an acre of land to fill-up in a public cemetery. Alternatives to burials of human cadavers will surely have to be encouraged in the near future.
4. The reopening of the Cancer Centre continues to be delayed; its reopening to serve cancer patients in Antigua and Barbuda is hindered since the previous owner has caused intervention by the Court. At the moment, patients seeking radiation treatment must travel to Colombia in order to receive the necessary treatment; however, a person usually has to accompany the patient, hotel accommodation and ground transport are usually also required, making the expense even greater than if treatment were administered in Antigua. The Cabinet is aware of the urgency and is seeking quickly to bring a solution to this outstanding health challenge.
5. The Minister of Health reported that strokes and heart failures are a significant challenge to healthcare in Antigua and Barbuda. The Minster succeeded in persuading the Cabinet that the establishment of a cardiology unit at the SLBMC will succeed in saving many lives that would otherwise be unnecessarily cut short. Heart failure, the Minister noted, exceeds diabetes and hypertension as causes of health distress and contributes significantly to emotional loads among families—death tends to be sudden and unexplainable.
6. The Cabinet congratulated Mr. Anthony Athill upon his swearing-in at Government House on Wednesday 12th December, 2024, as the Information Commissioner. The appointment lasts for three years and is renewable once, under the existing legislation passed by the UPP Administration in 2004. The Information Commissioner is relied upon to extract documents from Government files and sharing the same with a person who has made a request. The responsibility ensures transparency in governance, and is intended to reduce the length of time which such a request, coming from an ordinary citizen.
7. The Cabinet is aware that many government employees are eagerly awaiting the payment of a sum which reflects an amount owed for salaries and wages negotiated but not received. (Commonly called “back pay.”) The revenues to make salary payments before the third weekend in December, and the additional payment sometime before the 31st December, are being accumulated.
8. Members of Cabinet have pledged to hold Christmas parties in their constituencies for the benefit of children primarily. It is also anticipated that every household in Antigua and Barbuda will likely receive at least one ham or one turkey from each constituency representative. The Cabinet extends its warmest wishes to everyone for a Merry Christmas and a bright and prosperous New Year. Cabinet will resume sitting during the second full week of January 2025
