BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – ‘Our Tribute, appreciation and farewell service’ to honour Rev. Hilton Joseph and his wife, Sister Sharon McCardy-Joseph was held on Friday evening January 29 at the Zion Moravian Church in Basseterre. The event featured an evening of songs, solos and spiritual expression.

Rev. Hilton Joseph is the Superintendent of the Moravian Church St. Kitts Conference and Pastor of the Zion and Bethel Pastorate. He is originally from Antigua and Barbuda and has accepted a call to serve as the Pastor of the Spring Gardens Moravian Church in Antigua effective March 1.

The service was attended by Prime Minister Dr. the Hon. Timothy Harris; Deputy Prime Minister the Hon. Shawn Richards; Minister of Ecclesiastical Affairs et al the Hon. Eugene Hamilton; Cabinet Secretary Mrs. Josephine Huggins; Accountant General Mr Levi Bradshaw; and other senior government officials.

The evening’s colourful proceedings were led by Rev. Onita Samuel-Warner and Rev. Adelyn Binta Mgonela under the broad sub-theme from Matthew 5:17 ‘Let the elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honour, especially they who labour in the word and doctrine’.

In the ‘Thanksgiving and Gifting’ section of ‘Our Tribute’, representatives from all the Moravian churches in St. Kitts, and the Moravian Church St. Kitts Conference came bearing gifts, which they presented to Rev. Hilton Joseph and Sister Sharon McCardy-Joseph.

Bethesda/New Dawn Moravian Church in Cayon was represented by Sister Verna Lewis; Ebenezer Moravian Church in Mansion was represented by Brother Levi Bradshaw; Bethel Moravian Church in Parsons Ground was represented by Sister Ileta Barnes; home church Zion Moravia was represented by Sister Emelita Warner-Paul; while Sister Sherlene Johnson and Sister Jamilla Connor represented the Moravian Church St. Kitts Conference.

Brother Levi Bradshaw represented Ebenezer Moravian, he expressed sincere appreciation and thanks to Rev Hilton Joseph and Sister Sharon McCardy. He spoke on behalf of the Accountant General Department, Ministry of Finance, Government of St. Kitts and Nevis. Bradshaw serves as the Federation’s Accountant General.

“Sharon was a member of the staff of the Accountant General Department, Ministry of Finance, for the entire time of her stay here in St. Kitts and she was a valuable asset to the Ministry of Finance, Debt Management Unit,” said Mr Bradshaw. “I want to express my thanks to both of them and wish them well in their future endeavours.”

In response, Rev. Joseph noted that as a newly married couple hopeful in God, they had embarked on a journey to a new territory called St. Kitts and Nevis in July 2008 without a clue what was before them, but they decided to trust God where they could not trace Him, which they made the default setting of their lives over the years.

“As a result our lives are better today, and we give God thanks in everything,” said Rev. Joseph. “Therefore, tonight is about the sovereignty of God, of a God who has led us and enabled us on this journey to be conduits of His grace, His mercy, and His love.”

Sister Sharon McCardy-Joseph told the congregation that they have been privileged to have entered the lives of a wide cross section of persons from every strata of society, pushing on to become better for God.

“We have been honoured to have been a part of this nation building,” said Sister McCardy-Joseph. “We realise now that God strategically placed us to be an influence for Him. For that we give Him all the glory. Our hands have been healed, our feet have been healed, our minds have been healed; in Him we move and breathe and we are grateful to be His vessel and to be used as He desires.”

Rev. Joseph thanked his family and friends who had become family. The Executive Board and the organisers of ‘Our Tribute’ event noting that they were indeed humbled by the details, sense of the preparation, and sense of the energy that would have been put in to make it a reality.

“My esteemed colleagues, the members of this powerhouse of a Moravian Church St. Kitts Conference, the gracious Government and people of this Federation, we say thank you,” said Rev Joseph, as Sister McCardy-Joseph added: “Thank you for welcoming us into your space and enabling us to work in this part of God’s bountiful vineyard.”

Jointly, Rev Joseph and Sister McCardy-Joseph declared: “Our bodies will leave but our memories remain and we say, God bless you all and God bless Liamuiga, this fertile land of St. Christopher and Nevis – oh Land of Beauty!”

At the end of the service, Rev Hilton Joseph prayed for Reverend Erwin Warner who will serve as the acting Superintendent of the Moravian Church St. Kitts Conference and continue as the Pastor of the Bethesda/New Dawn Pastorate, Reverend Onita Samuel-Warner who will serve as the Pastor of the Zion and Bethel Pastorate, and Reverend Adelyn Binta Mgonela who serves as the Pastor of the Ebenezer Pastorate.

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It has been almost two weeks since America placed itself under new management, and the world is already feeling better.  January 20th ushered light into a period of darkness, not only with the inauguration of the Presidential team, but also the staging of the poet laureate!

America has re-entered the world arena. It rejoined the World Health Organisation and the Paris Accord on climate change. It re-embarked on environmental conscious with the cancellation of the Keystone Pipeline project, it became more tolerant with the reversal of the ban on Muslims and it became more welcoming to immigrants, with no talk about the Wall.  It is also proposing to use softer language, replacing the word “alien” with “non-citizen” when referring to immigrants.

We are struck, though, that so many persons responded to Trump’s call to travel to Washington and to march, mostly mask-less to the Capitol. And now that they are being arrested and charged, they have been disavowed by the leader for whom they risked so much. Not even the pardon that they asked for has been granted.   

The Trump supporters should realise by now that the former president cannot and will not help them; they have all been thrown under the bus. But only after he bilked them out of $70M.

President Biden has offered to be the president of all Americans.  He has no choice.  The question is whether all Americans will allow him to be their president, up to accepting the covid relief money that some of them so desperately need.  

Buses, political ones, are all over the place. There one in St Kitts ran over the 2015 Supervisor of Elections. He is the only one facing Court charges arising out of the 2015 elections while his supposed manipulators walked away free. 

There is a way to avoid such vehicular incidents. Employees must know and understand their role and do their job without favour and according to law. 

At the end of the day, politicians – especially those who lost – are powerless, and often unwilling  to help. They often walk away unscathed.

For many of us, it is a hard lesson to learn.

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BASSETERRE, St. Kitts — The Federation of St. Kitts & Nevis continues to experience a gradual increase in the number of positive cases of COVID-19. As of Saturday, January 30 the Federation has confirmed one additional case of coronavirus disease.

The international traveller landed in the Federation on January 16, 2021 from the United States.

The patient has been in quarantine at one of the COVID-19 certified hotels since arrival. The patient was duly notified and is now in isolation.

This additional case brings the total number of COVID-19 confirmed cases to 38, with 26 cases for St. Kitts and 12 cases for Nevis. Please note that 35 cases have fully recovered with zero deaths.

There are now three active cases. These patients are stable and are being monitored. The risk of further cases occurring in the Federation remains very high.

We continue to adhere to the ‘St. Kitts and Nevis Health and Travel Protocols, which can be found at https://www.knatravelform.kn.

All front-line workers continue to adhere to the COVID-19 protocols along the corridor of containment between the ports of entry and hotel/accommodation sites.

The Ministry of Health wishes to assure the public that the following measures are being taken to restrict the spread of coronavirus:
• In-depth contact tracing to effectively assess the front-line workers with whom the recently diagnosed cases would have interacted.
• Quarantine, monitoring and testing of contacts as indicated.

The Ministry of Health and Federal Government assure all citizens and residents that every effort is being made to prevent the spread of this virus locally.

With reports of the SARS -CoV-2 variant in the region and with increase in cases locally more and more persons are adhering to the COVID-19 prevention and control measures.
• These include:
• Wearing a face mask when in public places:
• Maintaining good hand hygiene;
• Maintaining physical distance of at least 6-feet from others when in public places; and
• Avoiding crowd s and events.

These control measures work, and we are encouraging you to continue. Let us work together to maintain and protect the health and well-being of the people of the Federation.

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Myanmar’s military has taken power in a coup and declared a state of emergency, hours after detaining Aung San Suu Kyi and other senior figures from the ruling party.

Phone and mobile internet services in the city of Yangon were down on Monday morning and military trucks, one carrying barbed-wire barriers, were parked outside City Hall. The state-run MRTV network said it had been unable to broadcast. Banks were closed across the nation.

Ten years of freedom ends: Myanmar’s tarnished heroine sees dark days return

Military television said the army had taken control of the country for one year, with power handed to the commander-in-chief, Gen Min Aung Hlaing. It said the army had detained senior government leaders in response to “fraud” during last year’s general election.

The military’s actions brought swift condemnation from leaders and human rights experts around the world.

President Joe Biden’s press secretary, Jen Psaki, said the US opposed “any attempt to alter the outcome of recent elections or impede Myanmar’s democratic transition, and will take action against those responsible if these steps are not reversed”.

The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, also called for the release of Aung San Suu Kyi and other detainees. The UN secretary-general, António Guterres, said the developments represented “a serious blow to democratic reforms in Myanmar”.

Over the past week, there has been mounting concern that the army, which ran Myanmar alone for half a century until 2011, was preparing for a return to full military rule. It has alleged widespread irregularities in November’s election, which Aung San Suu Kyi’s party won in a landslide victory and said last week that a coup could not be ruled out, prompting the UN and several foreign missions in the country to express alarm.

The military later backtracked, claiming comments by its commander-in-chief had been misunderstood. Over the weekend, however, armed police patrolled the housing where lawmakers were quarantining ahead of the opening of parliament this week.

On Monday morning, the spokesperson Myo Nyunt told Reuters that Aung San Suu Kyi, President Win Myint and other leaders had been “taken” by the military. “I want to tell our people not to respond rashly and I want them to act according to the law,” he said, adding he also expected to be detained.

A National League for Democracy (NLD) lawmaker, who asked not to be named for fear of retaliation, said also detained was Han Thar Myint, a member of the party’s central executive committee. A student union leader was also reportedly held.

The author and historian Thant Myint-U wrote on on Twitter: “The doors just opened to a very different future. I have a sinking feeling that no one will really be able to control what comes next. And remember Myanmar’s a country awash in weapons, with deep divisions across ethnic & religious lines, where millions can barely feed themselves.”

Aung San Suu Kyi’s party returns to power in Myanmar

On the streets of Yangon, long queues formed outside supermarkets as people rushed to stock up on supplies. Crowds huddled at an ATM to try to withdraw cash, only to find the machines were down. Two Muslim men said it was safer to stay home and take shelter.

A 25-year-old woman, who works in public relations, said she feared her country was once again “back in the dark age”. She said: “My mum shook me awake with the news that Aung San Suu Kyi had been detained. I was shocked and didn’t know how to respond. I rushed to my brother’s house to pick him up and buy groceries. On the way back I was in tears. I feel so angry and so anxious.”

Tom Andrews, the UN special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar, said the situation was “very disturbing”. “What many have feared is indeed unfolding in Myanmar,” he said.

Aung San Suu Kyi’s NLD won a landslide victory in November’s elections, securing 396 out of 476 seats, which granted it a further five years in government. The military-backed Union Solidarity and Development party won just 33 seats.

The military-aligned opposition has challenged the results, while the army has claimed to have found 8.6m cases of fraud. The election commission has denied fraud, though it has conceded there were “flaws” in voter lists.

Last week, a military spokesman refused to rule out the possibility of a coup, while, a day later, Gen Min Aung Hlaing said revoking the constitution could be “necessary” under certain circumstances.

Aung San Suu Kyi spent nearly 15 years in detention as part of a decades-long struggle against military rule, before leading the NLD to a sweeping victory in Myanmar’s first openly contested election in 2015. Through her international reputation has been severely undermined by her treatment of the Rohingya people, and her decision to defend Myanmar against allegations of genocide, she is revered by many in the Bamar majority as the mother of the nation.

The army, however, remains hugely powerful due to a junta-backed constitution that gives it control over key ministries and guarantees it a quarter of parliamentary seats.

“The military junta that ruled Myanmar for decades never really stepped away from power in the first place,” said John Sifton, the Asia advocacy director at Human Rights Watch. “They never really submitted to civilian authority in the first place, so today’s events in some sense are merely revealing a political reality that already existed.”

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