News

As excitement reached fever pitch over the homecoming of Anguilla’s first West Indies Test Cricketer, Omari Banks has also been receiving attention overseas. This is a result of an article published in the June 2nd edition of the Express newspaper in Trinidad.

Minister of Finance Victor Banks, responded to requests made by listeners of Talk Your Mind that he should appear on the weekly talk show to answer questions about the liberalisation of the telecommunications market in Anguilla and the increased fees agreed to between Government and Cable & Wireless.

With plans now advanced for the establishment of an autonomous Health Authority to take over the running of the medical and health services from the Anguilla Government, the Nurses at the Princess Alexandra Hospital are busily preparing themselves for the eventual transition. On Wednesday, June 4, Chief Nursing Officer, Serene Carter-Davis and Matron Alma Hughes led ten Senior Nurses at a Managers’ Day Workshop at the Teachers’ Resource Centre at which several local facilitators delivered presentations to the health workers.

The younger generation in Anguilla will be given an opportunity to learn more about the traditional sea-faring life of the island when a new definitive issue of postage stamps is released on June 10.

Anguilla’s Chief Minister Osbourne Fleming has appealed to nationals to form community action groups to provide voluntary service to the island in an effort to contribute to nation-building. He made the appeal during the official parade at the Ronald Webster Park on May 30 in observance of the 36th Anniversary of the Anguilla Revolution.

Every May 30 is a time of reflection for the people of Anguilla as they celebrate the Anguilla Revolution. It is now the 36th Anniversary of that event which saw an unprecedented time of unity among the rank and file of the population, as the Anguillians broke ties with St.Kitts-Nevis to pursue a path of self-determination.

The Anguilla House of Assembly took offence with the casual attire of Leader of the Opposition Hubert Hughes on Tuesday May 27 and asked him to quit his seat and to take up a place in the public gallery instead. Mr. Hughes appeared in formal dress during the morning session of the House when he contributed to the debate on the Telecommunications Act 2003, but returned in the afternoon attired in a short-sleeved shirt outside his trousers.

The Governor’s Office says it has received reports of a public meeting held on Wednesday, May 21 which suggest that there is still some confusion about the holding of British and British Overseas Territory passports.

Anguilla’s Chief Minister Osbourne Fleming has told the Regional Caribbean Seminar of the United Nations Special Committee of 24 on Decolonisation that the issue of self-determination had never been a question of if, but rather of how and when this island should completely and constitutionally embrace that principle.

Retired Methodist Minister, Reverend John A. Gumbs, has called for a United Nations presence in Anguilla and other islands if it wants to succeed in bridging the gap between non-self-governing territories and the administering powers.

Wallblake Airport is to be lengthened to six thousand feet, 400 more feet beyond the length previously decided on but with no additional cost in construction. That’s the latest information which was revealed at a press conference on Tuesday. It was held by Kenn Banks, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Infrastructure, Fritz Smith, Airport Project Manager and Marcel Fahie, Permanent Secretary, Economic Development.

Second Nominated Member, with an independent voice in the Anguilla House of Assembly, Claudel Romney, has drawn comparisons between Brimegin and Wallblake, the two airport development sites on the island, and has concluded that in reality Wallblake is the obvious choice.

A call has been made for a fully-functional Youth Development Office in Anguilla. It has come from Tonya Carter, the island’s CARICOM Youth Ambassador. She highlighted the need for such a facility while responding to an address by Leader of the Opposition, Hubert Hughes, during the welcome ceremony for the Torch of Unity Run Celebration on May 10.

Plans for the expansion of Wallblake Airport in Anguilla to accommodate larger aircraft and improved overall services are well advanced with actual construction work to commence in September. But the arguments for and against the development of the site continued this week with Opposition Leader Hubert Hughes calling for the Brimigen site on the north of the island to be developed. The Government’s position is that such a venture is a costly and unrealistic affair and in fact is a dead proposal dating back to a number of years.

As plans continue for the International Yacht Regatta in Anguilla at the end of the month, All Island Cable Television has made a substantial donation of US $2,500 towards the event.

After paying rent over a period of eight years, the Anguilla Tourist Board has its own permanent building which was officially opened on Wednesday April 30 by Chief Minister and Minister of Tourism, Osbourne Fleming. Accommodation has also been provided for the Anguilla Hotel and Tourism Association, thus emphasing the close collaboration of both offices in promoting the island’s hospitality industry.

Anguilla’s Chief Minister Osbourne Fleming praised the Caribbean Centre for Development Administration (CARICAD) for choosing Leadership for Good Governance in the 21st Century as the theme of its Seventh Annual Public/Private Sector Policy Forum in Anguilla. He thought it was a topic of much interest in small island states like Anguilla and regretted that all the politicians on the island were not in attendance at the forum held at Cocoloba Beach Resort on April 28 and 29.

As plans continue for the commencement of the Wallblake Airport extension in September, construction work is now in progress to replace the first of a number of dwelling houses which have to be relocated to facilitate the lengthening of the runway. The replacement house of 2,200 square-feet is for Poland Arrindell and family who have been living immediately across the road at the eastern end of the airstrip for many years.

The Miriam Gumbs Senior Citizens’ Home was the scene of much jubilation on April 19 as over 150 persons from throughout the island joined inmate Rose Kamelia Hughes, formerly of West End, in celebrating her 100th birthday.

The outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) in South East Asia and now affecting Canada and the United States, is being carefully monitored in Anguilla.