Local news, News

Prime Minister Harris Joins Government Leaders In Paying His Final Respects To The Late Sir Probyn Inniss

Prime Minister Harris Joins Government Leaders In Paying His Final Respects To The Late Sir Probyn Inniss

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(Press Unit in the Office of the Prime Minister) – St. Kitts and Nevis’ Prime Minister, Dr. the Honourable Timothy Harris says the passing of Former Governor of the Associated State of St. Christopher-Nevis-Anguilla, Sir Probyn Inniss MBE, has left a tremendous void in the national psyche of the people of St. Kitts and Nevis.

Sir Probyn Inniss, who served as Governor from 1975 to 1981, died on Sunday, March 12, at the age of 80. He was born in St. Kitts on November 18, 1936.

The honourable prime minister was joined by Governor General, His Excellency Sir Tapley Seaton and Cabinet colleagues the Honourable Lindsay Grant and Attorney General, the Honourable Vincent Byron in paying his respects to the former Governor while he lay in state at Government House earlier today, Wednesday, March 23, 2017.

While there, the dignitaries, led by the Governor General and Prime Minister Harris, signed the Book of Condolences.

Hundreds of well-wishers, including family members, friends and school children, also visited Government House throughout the morning to pay their respects.

Throughout his illustrious life, Sir Probyn rendered distinguished service as a Governor; civil servant; heritage proponent, most notably as the longstanding President of the Brimstone Hill Fortress National Park Society; historian; lawyer; preacher in the Methodist Church St. Kitts Circuit; teacher, and writer.

Prime Minister Harris said, “Sir Probyn was an eminent citizen of St. Kitts and Nevis who served well. He served with decency and he served with dignity. We will miss him for the wealth of knowledge of historical events, our place in the context of our own history and our efforts at development.”

“I want on behalf of the nation therefore to again extend sincerest condolences to Lady Inniss and his three children at this time as they mourn this colossal loss, a loss not only to the family but to the entire country,” Dr. Harris continued.

Prime Minister Harris later joined hundreds of well-wishers at the Wesley Methodist Church on Seaton Street, Basseterre for Sir Probyn’s state funeral which commenced at 2:30 pm.

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Business, Local news, News

CIBC FirstCaribbean Marks International Women’s Day

CIBC FirstCaribbean Marks International Women’s Day

(PRESS RELEASE) On March 8th 2017, CIBC FirstCaribbean International Bank joined the international community in paying homage to its female members of staff in recognition of International Women’s Day.

To mark the special occasion the bank presented a rose along with a token of appreciation to each female member of staff. Business Support Officer, Jewel Wattley, reiterated the bank’s commitment to promoting gender equality.

“We are indeed pleased to reward our female members of staff with this small token of appreciation particularly since women make up 66% of the CIBC FirstCaribbean workforce. As such the bank remains committed to ensuring that we continue to support gender equality in business and in all aspects of life,” she noted.

International Women’s Day is celebrated globally on March 8 each year and marked by CIBC FirstCaribbean throughout the region. This global movement celebrates the social, economic and political achievements of women throughout the world.

This year the theme for International Women’s Day was “Be Bold for Change” – which challenged women to take bold action to challenge social rules and break down gender barriers.

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Local news, Politics

From the Supervisor of Elections

 

March 24, 2017

Voting by persons who reside overseas is not unique to St Kitts-Nevis. An internet search shows that it happens in at least 14 countries.In some, the ballot is obtained before polling day while in others it is not. Here, no ballots are obtained before-hand.

When the Electoral Reform Consultative Committee canvassed public opinion in 2006, the views of the public ranged from leaving it alone, nothing is wrong with it to applying conditions such as a residency requirement of 3 – 6 months, evidence of a visit to the federation at least once during the past 5 years, to demanding evidence of ties to the federation such as property ownership, investments, bank accounts or remittances, a demonstration of ‘intent to return’ and evidence of self-payment of their passage home. Some respondents suggested a removal or suspension of voting rights to citizens who have migrated, while yet others asked for the introduction of absentee voting in the adopted country of residence, with the embassies or consuls as the focal point for collection of these ballots. Yet others called for the creation of a diaspora constituency.

Interestingly, in 2006, of those persons who commented on the overseas citizen vote, 86% re-affirmed the rights of these overseas citizens to retain their voting rights.  Of that 86%, more than half (55%) were in favour of simply leaving it alone.

The ERCC report further stated:The difficulty arises when an individual who resides overseas and claims qualification based on domicile is allowed the option of choosing which qualifying address he/she wants. …a citizen whose ordinary residential address is in New York can chose to register in his/her nascent domicile, ie. where he/she was born, the ancestral home, or where the parent(s) have property.  That person can be guided to register in a constituency whether or not he/she has any ties to that community or even lives there. Hence voters who live overseas are not required to meet the strict residency qualification that locals are subject to.

…Political parties have become involved in arranging the transportation of voters from abroad for elections, If this is done in large enough numbers,[it] can cause undue influence on the outcome of an election.

…overseas voters return to cast their ballot on election day. …they come they vote they depart with apparent disregard to local concerns. This gives rise to the feelings of resentment by many local voters.  Furthermore, the way that they are courted by political parties gives rise to the notion that locally based votes are of lesser value when compared to the local vote.

This concept of diminished value of a local vote versus an overseas vote is explored in depth by professor of political science at Florida A & M University, Kittitian Dr Keith Simmonds, in his book entitled Electoral Reform in the English Speaking Caribbean: Blueprint for the 21stCentury.

This is yet another twist to be sorted out as we strive to ensure one man, one vote in the right place, and fairness for all.

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Local news, News

Sir Probyn Inniss State Funeral Parade

Sir Probyn Inniss State Funeral Parade

State Funeral Held For Late Governor, Sir Probyn Inniss

(ZIZ News) — The atmosphere was filled with love, camaraderie and patriotism as hundreds gathered to pay their respects at the State Funeral service of the late Sir Sir Probyn Inniss on Thursday at the Wesley Methodist Church.

Tributes in the form of song and poetry were presented by friends and members of the Innis family.

Prime Minister of St. Kitts Nevis, Dr. the Hon. Timothy Harris led the scripture reading while Probyn Innis Jr. read the eulogy in respect to his late father.

Among those attending the ceremony were His Excellency The Governor General Sir S.W Tapley Seaton, Members of The Federal Cabinet, Former Governor General Sir Edmund Lawrence and Lady Lawrence, Members of The St. Kitts Nevis Defence Force and other Security Forces, The Rt. Hon. Dr. Denzil Douglas and other Members of The Opposition, Members of the Nevis Island Assembly, Former Government Ministers, family members, friends, students and members of the general public.

The State Funeral service of the late Sir Probyn Innis was followed by a procession to the Springfield cemetery.

Sir Probyn Innis MBE, was a former Governor who served as the Governor of Saint Christopher-Nevis-Anguilla from 1975 to 1980 and was knighted by Britain’s Queen Elizabeth in 1976.

Following the separation of Anguilla, Sir Inniss served as the Governor of Saint Christopher and Nevis from 1980 to 1981.

Sir Probyn leaves his wife Lady Rosamund Innis and his three children.

Sir Probyn Ellsworth Inniss MBE was born on November 18 1936.

He died on Sunday March 12. He was 80.

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Local news, News

SKELEC.

Our Supervisory Staff at the recently concluded Psychology in the Workplace.
The training was held over a two day period (March 21 & 22) and facilitated by Mrs. Michelle Blake in coordination with the University of The West indies. Topics covered, included workplace related stressors, conflict resolution and demand control model among others.

The participants represented several departments (customer service, maintenance, operations, billing, metering, meter readers and accounts) across the three divisions of SKELEC.

This is the second edition of this training, as the first was held in 2015. We at SKELEC continue to work at engaging our staff in training to better improve all facets of the service we offer our customers.

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