News In Brief

A special Ceremony was held Sunday morning at the Little Bay Playing Field to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the Montserrat Legislative Assembly.

Several dignitaries including Governor, His Excellency the Governor Andrew Pearce, Premier the Honourable Joseph Farrell, other parliamentary representatives to include leader of the Opposition Honourable Paul Lewis were among the gathering.

In Her introductory speech, Speaker of the House, Honourable Charleina White highlighted that the Platinum Jubilee was a unique opportunity to celebrate the journey with its great significance dating back from 1952 to present.

She outlined that when the first elected assembly was inaugurated, this institution was one of the tallest pillars of democracy in this part of the world.

In acknowledging the significant milestone, Premier, the Honourable Joseph Farrell gave reflections on 70 years of adult suffrage and parliamentary representation in Montserrat.

Meantime, Leader of the Parliamentary Opposition, Honourable Paul Lewis sets out a huge challenge for legislators where democratic reform should play a pivotal role in Montserrat’s future.

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The Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC®) has issued a correction to the dates for the Caribbean Primary Exit Assessment (CPEA) examinations for 2022.

Previously a press release published earlier this month stated that the CPEA® examinations would be on May 27 and 28, 2022.

The new dates for the administration of the CPEA examinations are May 12 and 13.

The other Examination dates are CAPE examinations: 2 May – 10 June 2022, CSEC®: 2 May – 3 June 2022; CCSLC examinations: 6 – 9 June 2022; and Caribbean Vocational Qualification* (CVQ) assessments will be conducted between May and June 2022.

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The Ministry of Health and Social Services will be conducting a one-day workshop on parenting under the theme, ‘Unlocking the code to parenting’.

The workshop, organized by the Social Services Department, will take place on Saturday February 26th at the Cultural Centre in Little Bay, starting at 12:45 p.m.

 The day-long session will focus on caring for children, pre-birth and beyond.

The Government of Montserrat has received six million and fifty thousand, five hundred and forty-eight dollars and seventy-three cents (XCD$6,050,548.73) or €2,000,000 from the European Union under the European Development Fund (EDF11) programme.

The funds received is the fourth (4th) Fixed Tranche Disbursement from EDF11 for Montserrat to support the islands continued development activities.

The Ministry of Agriculture’s plans to boost local food production has shifted to another gear.

Having distributed more than one thousand plantain slips to farmers across the island, the ministry is now turning its attention to yams and white potato.

Technician Joseph Esperit is spearheading the yam production.

He says the ministry is employing a different approach in the distribution of the plant this time around.

Meantime as local food production increases, Minister of Agriculture the Honourable Crenston Buffonge is encouraging the public to support the local farmers.

The Programme Management Office has hailed this week’s National Ministerial Retreat.

The retreat, was held on Wednesday and focused on the development of Montserrat's future transformational projects and programmes.

Martin Parlett, Head of PMO, said, the success of retreat was due to the highly collaborative spirit, and the creative vision and energy of attendees in envisioning Montserrat's future.

The output highlighted the need for new capital projects, and a range of supporting transformations and service improvements to take the island's development from post-recovery to true economic regeneration.

 Linda Dias, Deputy Head of PMO, adds that the event was incredibly interactive and allowed professionals from the different portfolios in government to contribute innovative suggestions to what can make Montserrat resilient and encourage economic growth.

She says the sessions were multi-dimensional and encouraged the different management levels to think outside of the box in their solutions, in their own portfolios and across government.