BASSETERRE, St. Kitts — There are more than 50 medical doctors in the Federation and of that number, more than 90 percent have taken their first dose of the Oxford University-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine, according to Joseph N. France General Hospital Medical Chief of Staff Dr. Cameron Wilkinson.

Dr. Wilkinson was answering a question on how many practicing medical doctors there are in the Federation and how many of them have been vaccinated.

“Every specialist working at the hospital, be it in internal medicine, surgery, or orthopaedics, most of them have taken the vaccine,” said Dr. Wilkinson. “If they are taking the vaccine, and these are persons who are knowledgeable about medicine, then it means that they are doing something good and you should follow too.”

Persons between the ages of 18 and 80 are eligible to take the vaccine. These individuals can visit their nearest health centre to be vaccinated.

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BASSETERRE, St. Kitts — One additional case of COVID-19 has been recorded in St. Kitts and Nevis, bringing the number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 to 42, according to Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Hazel Laws, on March 10.

“St. Kitts and Nevis identified an additional imported case of COVID-19 today that brings our total to 42…29 in St. Kitts and 13 in Nevis,” said Dr. Laws.
Continue reading One new COVID-19 case reported; 42 cases confirmed with one active →

BASSETERRE, St. Kitts — Reviving young people’s interest and mobilising them to participate in various community groups gives them a chance to apply their skills and boost their self-confidence and self-esteem, according to Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of National Security Osmond Petty.

“Being involved in community activities through various groups gives young people a sense of belonging in their communities,” explained Petty. “The Ministry of National Security is focused on reviving community activities to actively engage young people.

“In the next two or three weeks, we are going to start some related engagements in terms of not just all of government but all of the community to do some of what we do in deviant behaviours,” he said. “We need to mobilize communities and get communities involved in what is happening.”

Petty said that the ministry engaged a psychologist who will be in St. Kitts and Nevis to assist with the initiative.

“We are going to try to put together a programme to have discussions… to mobilize communities because communities right now are dormant. Something happens and everybody looks to the Police,” he said. “Very few community counsellors are operational and those who are, seldom do anything relative to crime prevention.

“In terms of pulling youth together not much of that is happening in communities,” said Petty, “we need to get back to that kind of vigorous activity.”

The whole idea of reviving community activities forms part of St. Kitts and Nevis’ National Security Strategy, which provides a comprehensive plan for an “all of government approach” to further ensure a safe and secure environment for citizens, residents, and visitors.

“This is a strategy; this is not the solution,” concluded Petty. “Out of this policy will come a number of policy documents, revised legislation, and a crime reduction plan.”

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CHARLESTOWN, Nevis — More than 30 staff from the School Meals Programme on Nevis took part in the first of a series of training sessions hosted on March 10 by the in the Nevis Island Administration Department of Education to prepare for a new initiative in the school feeding programme held at the Charlestown Primary School’s cafeteria.

“The training is designed to prepare the cooking staff to offer a variety of international dishes in an initiative dubbed “Tour Around the World,” explained School Meals Coordinator in the Department of Education, Mrs. Renell Daniel. “The event follows “Tour Around the Caribbean,” which focussed on Caribbean dishes. It was introduced in the second school term.

“In Term III, we are going to “Tour Around the World,” she said. “We will offer different types of food combinations and stop at different countries in the world. Today we have Chef Henville training our cooks to do fish – Mahi-mahi as well as a salad with vegetables…

“He’s been working with our cooks throughout the term,” said Mrs. Daniel. “Today is no different, He will be working with our cooks, training them how to cook these meals and make them more child-friendly as well as tasty.”

Ms. Wendy Tsai, a volunteer Nutritionist from Taiwan, attached to the School Meals Programme, will be among the trainers. She will teach participants how to prepare stir-fried beef, noodles and spring rolls when the tour “stops” in Taiwan.

Mrs. Daniel also said the upcoming training sessions will be done and commended participants for readily accepting the training.

“You will see that we have different chefs, and different restaurants come in,” she said. “We are planning an Indian summer when we stop in India, and we have other places where we will stop on our journey around the world.

“We applaud our cooks for being willing and open to the menu changes… we applaud our cooks for taking this journey with us, and joining the School Meals Programme in helping our children develop healthy lifestyles,” she said.

The School Meals Coordinator noted that the department continues to move forward with the feeding programme and is constantly reviewing meals prepared in an effort to make them better and tastier for students.

Executive Chef and Food and Nutrition Specialist with the School Meals Programme Chef Michael Henville, used the opportunity to commend participants for their interest.

“Today we are going to do a quick simple and easy pan-seared Mahi Mahi with a little bit of a citrus and butter sauce with a pumpkin salad,” said chef Henville. “I applaud all our cooks here today that are giving their time to learn these new dishes, and to try something new and to also educate the kids on these new healthy dishes that we are trying with them.

“I applaud them for moving the School Meals Programme forward in a better and newer direction,” he said.

At the end of the training sessions participants will have the opportunity to recreate the new dishes for students at the schools on every Thursday. The program will expose students to different tastes and flavours from around the world. Students will also have the opportunity to learn briefly about the country where the dish originates.

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CHARLESTOWN, Nevis — The Ministry of Health in the Nevis Island Administration has received a grant from the Government of Japan to acquire a PCR machine so that testing for COVID-19 and other infectious diseases can be done at the Alexandra Hospital laboratory.

During a virtual signing ceremony for the project for the improvement of medical equipment in Nevis on March 11, Premier Hon. Mark Brantley, NIA Senior Minister of Health and Minister of Foreign Affairs for St. Kitts and Nevis, thanked His Excellency Tatsuo Hirayama, Ambassador of Japan to St. Kitts and Nevis, and Japan’s Government and people of Japan for the timely grant.

“Testing as you know is part of the critical response to COVID-19 and it has proven very expensive and very time-consuming,” said Hon. Brantley. “For Nevis to continue to have send tests to St. Kitts, or sometimes farther overseas in order to get results which sometimes takes from 24 hours to a few day, there is an inherent danger of having to wait too long to be able to access testing results.

“This donation is timely, it will move us forward in a significant way on the island of Nevis,” he said. “This gives us the ability to offer rapid testing, and allow our people to know their status at a much earlier stage. Therefore it will help the health community to treat, to isolate where necessary, and to prevent the dreaded community spread.”

Hon. Hazel Brandy-Williams, Junior Minister of Health in the NIA, also thanked the Japanese government for providing US $65,774 to procure a Cepheid GeneXpert machine for PCR testing to be done on Nevis.

“As we continue to fight the COVID-19 pandemic, I must assure you that this bit of equipment will greatly improve our testing capacity here on Nevis,” said Hon Brandy-Williams. “Our monthly testing bill ranges from $17,000 to $22,000. The addition of this very timely gift will not only enhance our testing capacity, and also lessens our financial burden.

“I want to say how grateful we are as a government, how grateful we are as a people for your continued support,” she said.

Ms. Shelisa Martin Clarke, NIA Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Health and Gender Affairs, explained that the procurement of a PCR machine translates into an increase in the services offered to the Nevisian public at the Alexandra Hospital laboratory.

“It will be a great investment for the lab staff and the people of Nevis that can be used for other tests such as HIV viral loads and Tuberculosis, both of which are sent overseas for analysis,” she said.

Also present at the ceremony held at the Alexandra Hospital were Dr. Judy Nisbett, Chief Medical Officer; Mr. Gary Pemberton, Public Health Administrator at the Alexandra Hospital and several other senior hospital employees.

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BASSETERRE, St. Kitts — Since the launch of the National COVID-19 Vaccination Roll-Out and Awareness Campaign on February 22, 5,176 persons have been vaccinated, according to Chief Medical Officer Dr. Hazel Laws. She said 15.67 percent of the target population have received their first dose.

In St. Kitts, 3,699 people have received their first dose; while in Nevis 1,477 have been vaccinated.

Dr. Laws said that anyone between the ages of 18 and 80 can access the vaccines at any health centre across the Federation. Vaccinations are now being offered at the Newtown Health Centre on Saturday mornings.

“Once you are more than 18 years to 80 years of age you can walk freely into any health centre and request this vaccine,” said Dr. Laws. “If you are 80 or over, we recommend that you go to your regular physician, be evaluated, and get the nod of approval that you can proceed to have the vaccine.”

Dr. Laws added that persons working in the private sector, in particular persons who are serving the public and who are at risk of contracting COVID-19 need to be vaccinated. She said civil servants interacting with the public need to be vaccinated.

“If you are a customer service representative, if you are a cashier, if you are working in one of the utility companies and you have to serve the general public, you are at risk of being exposed to the virus and you are a candidate for vaccination,” said Dr. Laws. “Persons with chronic medical conditions are also candidates to be vaccinated. Persons with diabetes, hypertension, asthma, heart disease, kidney disease, arthritis, and persons taking medication can take the vaccine.

“If you have any of these chronic medical conditions, you can take the vaccine, and this list is not exhaustive,” she said. “If you have any questions, you can call your regular physician, get that nod of approval, and you can go to the nearest health centre to access this vaccine.”

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BASSETERRE, St. Kitts — One of the most important aspects of the National Security Strategy (NSS) is threat assessment, according to National Security Advisor, Retired Major General Stewart Saunders.

He said, the National Security Strategy provides a comprehensive plan for an “all of government approach” to ensure a safe and secure environment for citizens, residents, and visitors.

“The objective of the NSS is to clearly determine the threats that impact, or could impact, the Federation of St. Kitts and Nevis, inform the citizenry, as well as provide for and take those actions that are necessary to ensure the safety, security, and stability of the nation and its interests,” said Major General Saunders.

“The document represents the results of a detailed and in-depth study that was embarked upon by the Government of St. Kitts and Nevis, together with consultations with all the relevant stakeholders to include a very wide cross-section of the public,” said Major General Saunders.

“The Government now presents the strategy for dealing with the Federation’s threat realities and outlines the Threat Assessment, Approach, Tier Rating System, Responsibilities and their Allocations, Tangential or Cross-cutting Issues and Closing Statements,” explained Major General Saunders. “Through the strategy, all government agencies, ministries, and departments are expected to review their structure and operations to ensure that the security of the nation receives priority attention as required.”

Major General Saunders said that the treat assessment is derived from a cross-section of entities.

“I would like to point out that the threat assessment is not something that has been pulled out of a book,” he said. “It is as a result of the interaction between people, organizations, agencies, ministries and other departments and these have been compiled.”

“The current threats to the Federation and to an extent the wider Caribbean include, illegal arms and ammunition trafficking; the illegal drug trade; organized crime; transnational organized crime; corruption; financial crimes—money laundering, cybercrime — identity theft, fraud, lottery scamming, human trafficking to include human smuggling; illegal migration; terrorism to include chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear and explosives, (CBRNE) acts of extreme violence; health security—the impact of endemics and pandemics, in particular; human security—human capacity deficiency concerns; food and water security; natural and manmade disasters and climate change,” said Major General Saunders.

Major General Saunders said the NSS document outlines steps that the government intends to take to make sure that a proper National Security Architecture is in place to deal with these threats.

“It intends to take the profit out of crime,” he said. “That is the first and one of the most essential areas that we are dealing with. Eradicating corruption in the public and private sectors is of course extremely important.”

The entire scope of the National Security Strategy can be found at http://www.sknis.gov.kn.

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The British Virgin Islands has topped the list of countries known for enabling the abuse of corporate tax.

The Corporate Tax Index is a ranking of jurisdictions most complicit in helping multinational corporations underpay corporate income tax.

According to the Tax Justice Network: “The Corporate Tax Haven Index thoroughly evaluates each jurisdiction’s tax and financial systems to create a clear picture of the world’s greatest enablers of global corporate tax abuse and highlight the laws and policies that policymakers can amend to reduce their jurisdictions enabling corporate tax abuse.”

Also making it on this years list were the Cayman Islands and Bermuda who ranked second and third respectively.

In the last two years, the BVI recorded a 15 per cent increase in the volume of financial activity from multinational corporations, TJN said this greatly contributed to them topping the tax abuse enablers list as it drastically increased the role the country played in facilitating profit sharing.

In it’s latest report, the Tax Justice Network openly criticised the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development saying though global tax laws were set by its members, the OECD and their dependencies are counted among the biggest enablers of global tax abuse.

The United Kingdom is a founding member of the OECD.

Ten British Overseas and two Commonwealth territories were included in the list of 70 tax abuse enablers.

According to the Tax Justice Network’s Corporate Tax Index, the world’s top ten biggest enablers of corporate tax abuse are:

1. British Virgin Islands (British Overseas Territory)
2. Cayman Islands (British Overseas Territory)
3. Bermuda (British Overseas Territory)
4. Netherlands
5. Switzerland
6. Luxembourg
7. Hong Kong
8. Jersey (British Crown Dependency)
9. Singapore
10. United Arab Emirates

Other Caribbean countries included on the list are The Bahamas, which ranked number 12; Curacao-29, Turks and Caicos Islands-36, Anguilla-39, Aruba-56 and Montserrat rounded off the list ranked at number 70.

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BASSETERRE, St. Kitts — Her Excellency Lilian Chatterjee, High Commissioner of Canada to St. Kitts and Nevis presented her Letter of Introduction to Prime Minister, Dr. the Honourable Timothy Harris, during a virtually ceremony on March 10.

High Commissioner Chatterjee noted that she is proud to be the representative to St. Kitts and Nevis and reflected briefly on the relationship of both countries. She pointed out that “St. Kitts and Nevis and Canada share a history of friendship that is strong and abiding.

“Our two countries enjoy warm relations based on people-to-people ties and we share the distinction of both being colonized by the British and the French,” said HE Chatterjee. “Canada will stand with St. Kitts and Nevis and CARICOM in fighting the pandemic to overcome the negative impact of COVID-19 globally.

“As a community of nations, we must look to build back better, building in more resilience into the international financial system and more justice and equity for small island states,” she said. “The crisis has exposed the fragility of global value chains and inequity of market access including access to central goods like personal protective equipment and lately, vaccines. We must tackle these challenges as friends, partners and neighbours.”

H.E. Chatterjee added that Canada and St. Kitts and Nevis will continue to work together in other areas to strengthen relations.

“We will continue to work together sharing experiences and technical expertise in public financial management, gender equality, justice sector reform, customs and security cooperation,” said the high commissioner. “We are making substantial investments in the capital of the Caribbean Development Bank. I am confident that Canada and St. Kitts and Nevis will continue to work together as friends towards a more prosperous, safe and secure hemisphere.”

Prime Minister Harris welcomed H.E. Chatterjee adding that the government looks forward to working closely with her.

Also commenting on COVID-19 impacts on the Caribbean, Dr. Harris noted that the pandemic “significantly undermined economies.” He noted that St. Kitts and Nevis continues to find ways to stimulate the economy and welcomes assistance from Canada.

“We are seeking Canada’s support as a good friend, as a country with which we have had very healthy relations, a country that we believe share the same values and a country to which our people have… been making significant contributions there,” said Dr. Harris.

Dr. Harris reiterated that St. Kitts and Nevis and Canada share a “strong belief in democracy, rule of law, of course, in the free enterprise system” while stating that the Federation looks forward to continued bilateral relations with Canada as both countries work together for the greater good.

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