Basseterre, St. Kitts, April 25, 2018 (SKNIS): While addressing the nation at his monthly press conference on April 25, Prime Minister, Dr. the Honourable Timothy Harris, announced some new policies surrounding the access to community centres throughout the island.
Prime Minister Harris said that the Government will be rolling out a new policy for community centres to facilitate wider access, better management, maintenance, and provisions to hold users liable for any misuse or abuse.
“Too many of our centres like so many other government properties were allowed to decay under the former administration and the Lodge Community Centre represents one such facility,” said the Prime Minister, as he highlighted that the Minister responsible for Community Development, the Honourable Wendy Phipps, has been given the task to review the policy to ensure a more “enlightened policy” for Cabinet to consider.
He said that the policy that was inherited from the previous administration “did not specifically provide for access to Community Centres by political parties.”
He mentioned that the Public Works Department will be assisting in designing a brand new Lodge Community Centre at a new location that will be outside of the congested housing development that it is in presently.
Dr. Harris also objected to an unsubstantiated allegation made by the Former Minister of Social Development, Marcella Liburd, stating that the Office of the Prime Minister is in possession of the keys to community centres.
“Such a blatant and callous lie from the former Minister for Social Development deserves to be condemned for the mischief it was intended to cause, and the intellectual dishonesty of the former minister who would posit such untruth even when one caller pierced a hole in her tissue of lies from his knowledge of how access is gained to the Conaree Community Centre,” he stated.
