Attendees of the weekend Youth Action Meeting were congratulated by Deputy Prime Minister Hon. Sam Condor for engaging in what he termed as a “very important step in addressing the social problems among young people.”

The statement was made on Saturday during a visit to the two-day workshop, which was held at the Fort Thomas Hotel. The session was organized by the Department of Youth to train individuals on various techniques to effectively carryout a basic needs assessment survey. The results of the survey will be used to fine-tune the department’s programmes for young people.

“This is very impressive,” Minister Condor stated. “We have … 50 of the brightest of the young people from all over the country here to pool their resources (ideas) and develop their skills.” The Deputy Prime Minister, who also serves as the Minster of Youth, explained that this group will return to their communities and clubs and impart the knowledge to their colleagues thereby producing a multiplier effect.

“The department views this as very critical to our developmental thrust and that is why I am here,” he disclosed. “I am here to … pledge the government’s commitment to the young people and let them know that we are interested in what they are doing.”

Minister Condor stressed that increased partnerships are necessary to maximize on the possibilities. “We are training people,” he said. “… I would like to see the private sector doing a lot more in terms of assisting government in investing in the development and training of skills of our young people.”

Director of Youth Geoffrey Hanley told SKNIS that the meeting was very successful and achieved the objectives set prior to the start of the meeting.

St. Kitts and Nevis Prime Minister Dr. the Hon. Denzil L. Douglas is leading the Federation’s delegation to the Sixteenth Inter-Sessional Meeting of CARICOM Heads of Government in Paramaribo, Suriname.

The Meeting on February 16th and 17th will be presided over by the Chairman of the Community, Suriname's President His Excellency Drs. Ronaldo Venetiaan.

Prime Minister Douglas, is expected to present an update on the Human Resource, Health and HIV/AIDS status in CARICOM.

The establishment of the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ), the issuance of the CARICOM Passport, Issues related to the Tariff-Only Approach to the Marketing of bananas in the European Market, Issues related to Sugar and Crime and Security are among matters down for discussion in Paramaribo.

Caribbean leaders will also discuss the Report of the Chairman of the Prime Ministerial Expert Group on options for Governance, an Energy Plan for CARICOM, Development of a Common Community Fisheries Regime and Developing a Regional Strategic Plan for Youth.

The other members of the St. Kitts and Nevis delegation are Nevis Premier, the Hon. Vance Amory; Permanent Secretary in the Office of the Prime Minister, Mr. Oaklyn Peets; Nevis Financial Secretary, Mr. Laurie Lawrence and Director of Trade, Ms. Teresa Nisbett.

Prime Minister Hon. Dr Denzil Douglas and Minister of State in the Ministry of Information Hon. Nigel Carty hosted a retreat for the Federation’s top government media practitioners on Sunday, February 13.

The retreat aimed at restating and refocusing government’s commitment to citizens and the international community with regard to information sharing and transparency.

Prime Minister Hon. Dr. Denzil Douglas, in addressing senior practitioners and managers present at the retreat, called on them to come up with strategic means of placing Government’s information systems at the leading edge of information thereby fulfilling the population’s right and need to know.

Frank and open discussions followed presentations by managers of the various entities. Focus group sessions highlighted short comings and possible solutions in improving the capacity of the information system to carry out its people-oriented mandate.

Coming out of the evening’s proceedings were documents from three focus groups stating suggestions for the way forward with specific emphasis on collaboration between the entities.

Prime Minister Douglas re-emphasized the importance of educating the masses on a wide number of topics among which issues of regional and international import were named.

Minister of Information, Carty said he used the opportunity to get a clearer understanding of the interaction between the various wings of the government information system as well as to give valuable input with regard to the government’s policy of transparency.

The new minister, himself a technology pundit, was able to provide valuable suggestions and brought to the table a fresh perspective on the operations of the Government Information Systems.

Deputy Commissioner of Police, Mr Meredith Charles, has advised officers of the Royal St. Christopher and Nevis Police to take pride in their work, in light of recent dismissals of criminal cases by courts when defendants, on advice by their counsel, would have disowned statements they gave to the police.

“I want to assure all investigators and police officers that you have absolutely nothing to be ashamed of when a case is dismissed at court, provided you have done your job of thorough investigation, proffering the appropriate charges, giving professional evidence and withstanding the most rigorous cross examination from the defence,” stated Mr Charles.

Speaking on Friday night during the Second Annual Police Award Ceremony for the Best Constable of the Year in the Nevis Division of the Police Force, at Old Manor Hotel in Gingerland, the Deputy Commissioner said that their job was not getting easier.

According to him, it was becoming more complex, challenging and technical, where occasionally the police have an arduous task of convincing a court that the confession statement procured from an accused was voluntarily given, without any prompting, promises, or use of force.

“It is expected, however, that a person charged with a grave crime will later change his mind with the assistance of his counsel and advance arguments before a court that he never made such statement, even though he signed and dated the document as being true and correct,” he observed.

He further stated: “But never for one moment we would have thought that the day would come when witnesses of crime would say to the judge and jury, ‘we do not recall saying this’ or saying that to the police, or that when asked to read the statement for themselves they would say they cannot read. Consequently such cases are dismissed and the police becomes the whipping boy, when the whole affair is simply a whitewash.”

The Deputy Commissioner told the gathering, where Constable James Stephens of the Traffic Department was named Constable of the Year, that he was heartened to learn that since the Minister of National Security, the Hon Mr Dwyer Astaphan, embarked on a programme to eradicate armed and gang violence, relatively low incidences of crime were reported to the police.

Premier of Nevis, the Hon Mr Vance Amory, who also addressed the meeting, supported Deputy Commissioner Meredith Charles, saying that it is not a good sign, when persons who are apprehended and charged with criminal activity respond over time at the behest their counsel.

“It may appear that it is a good strategy to exercise the right of defence and having someone who has committed a crime exonerated,” commented the Premier. “But then what we do, we release a criminal again on the society and the cycle continues.”

Minister of State in Prime Minister Ministry, the Hon Mr Nigel Carty, who conveyed best wishes and congratulations from the Prime Minister, the Hon Dr. Denzil Douglas, said that the awards presented at the ceremony are important aspects of promoting excellence within the police force.

“They should serve as a source of encouragement to other members of the force to perform their duties to the best of their abilities at all the times, driven by a high sense of commitment for law and order and to the well being of communities in which they live and serve,” said Mr Carty.

In delivering the feature address, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of National Security, Justice, Immigration and Labour, Mrs Astona Browne, commended members of the Police Force for having contributed significantly to Government’s efforts of sustaining the requisite environment for development, despite limited resources.

She said that the Government has ensured that members of the force get the best training, saying, “Gone are the days when the opportunities for training were opened to a selected few. Gone are the days when opportunities to pursue tertiary level training was not extended to the officers of the Police Force.”

Mrs Browne pointed out that there were some among them who had excelled in regional and local examinations and training exercises. She promised that plans were afoot to recognise their accomplishment and hard work, noting: “We have adjusted our policy to enable access to training in areas relevant to your scope of operation.”