HURST REPORTS ON CABINET of Wednesday 20 November 2024

 The Cabinet sitting began with a prayer by a Minister of Religion who prayed for God’s guidance.

A moment of silence and expressions of sympathies were shared by the Cabinet on the death of Dr. Albert Duncan, the Medical Director of the Sir Lester Bird Medical Center.

He suffered a stroke 10 days ago, was flown to the USA, and died on Tuesday evening. The Nation of Antigua and Barbuda has suffered a loss, and those who would have experienced his expertise will forever remember him, the Cabinet declared.

He was an administrator and also a very skillful surgeon. A service of worship and remembrance was held at the chapel of the SLBMC on Wednesday morning in his honour.

The Minister of Tourism informed the Cabinet that Frontier Airlines will return to V.C. Bird Airport early next year. The airline will use San Juan as a hub, bringing passengers from Florida and New York, and other markets, transferring those passengers to flights leaving San Juan for Antigua.

The revelation was welcomed by the Cabinet who applauded the Minister for his skillful management of the expansion of tourism arrivals, by air and sea. The 2024/2025 tourism season is likely to be the best ever in the decades of tourism in Antigua and Barbuda.

The Attorney General reported to Cabinet that Scotland Yard detectives are soon to arrive Antigua to help solve the murders of the two young females who were murdered earlier in this year.

The two young victims, Miss Achazia James and Miss Yennifer Bridge, were brutally killed by persons unknown. The Scotland Yard detectives will assist the Criminal Investigation Department of the Royal Police Force to solve these murders and to bring the perpetrators to justice.

A forensic pathologist from Canada, Dr. Alfredo Walker, will travel to Antigua to undertake the autopsy on the body of the Honourable Asot Michael.

The Cabinet also received a report on the number of government-occupied buildings that have recently been, are currently undergoing repairs, and are scheduled to be repaired by the Ministry of Works. They include four clinics at Cobbs Cross, Liberta, All Saints and Clare Hall.

Office buildings that are the property of the Government have also gained the attention of the Ministry of Works, where repairs have been carried out, to include the annex to the Training Center on Nugent Avenue.

The NTTC Center has been transformed to serve temporarily the Ministry of Agriculture and the General Post Office. The building on Friendly Alley and other locations are being renovated to accommodate the Department of Social Transformation while plans to address accommodation for the Ministry of Culture and Sports are underway.

The Design and Buildings Department at the Ministry of Works, along with the assistance of the National Housing and Urban Renewal Development Company, are addressing these and other issues across various Ministries to ensure better working environments. 

The Cabinet congratulated the Minister of Works for the continuous and extensive repairs to roads and intersections that accommodate many vehicles daily.

The repairs required that the teams work even at night in order to reduce the traffic congestion during the daytime work hours. The road surfaces deteriorated rapidly as a consequence of heavy rainfall and heavy trucks that cause pipes to break beneath.

APUA and Public Works collaborated exceedingly well in all instances, allowing the surfaces of the roads to be repaired immediately following the excavation of the broken pipes.

The Cabinet has lent its support to the “Moods of Pan” Festival 2024 which runs from Friday November 29th to Sunday December 1st 2024. It will be the 25th Anniversary of the Festival and therefore is intended to make quite a splash.

Although the Gemonites leads the festival, many other steel orchestras and groups will compete for supremacy. The Cabinet took a decision to provide significant resources to help to make this special edition of Moods of Plan a great success.

The Cabinet confirmed that the Parliament will end its current session shortly and will reconvene with the Throne Speech next Thursday 28th November 2024.

The Budget Speech will be delivered by the Prime Minister on Thursday 5th December 2024. The Budget debate will commence on Tuesday 10th December 2024. The Monday, 9th December 2024, will be a public holiday to mark the 115th birthday of Sir Vere Cornwall Bird.