The honourable prime minister was at the time wrapping up the debate on the Appropriation (2020) Bill, 2019, at which point he effectively defended the record of his Team Unity administration and the EC$848,913,625 million budgeted for the upcoming financial year.
Prime Minister Harris commended his Parliamentary colleagues on the Government benches for ably representing the interests of the people of St. Kitts and Nevis and for undertaking the necessary projects and programmes that are and will continue to uplift and enhance the quality and standard of living in the Federation.
In the field of education, Prime Minister Harris congratulated Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Education, the Honourable Shawn Richards for his leadership as it relates to the handling of the Basseterre High School matter.
“I am so pleased that one of the first order of business of this administration was to get a permanent structure, a permanent facility in which the majority of the students and teachers could go back again in one campus…and we are going to do even more in our next term when we unveil the most advanced secondary school, applying the digital technology…to make our children not just technology-savvy but really postmodern students of the entire globe,” Dr. Harris said.
Similarly, the prime minister pointed to the work done within the Ministry of Public Infrastructure, led by the Honourable Ian Patches Liburd, which brought about the commencement of the comprehensive Island Main Road Rehabilitation Project—a project which encompasses the resurfacing of the roads and the construction of wheelchair accessible pedestrian walkways and proper drainage systems around the country.
To this, Prime Minister Harris said, “People everywhere are feeling the difference when they walk on it, when they drive on it and when they have to use their wheelchair on the sidewalks. When their children are moving from Ottley’s up to Violet Petty Primary School, parents know that no vehicle should easily interfere with them because they have their sidewalks for their safety, and we are going to ensure that from over the river to the Cayon Primary School we also have our sidewalk. It is a novel feature that in doing things you have to put people first and that is what we have done there.”
The same could be said for the positive and progressive work that has taken place in the areas of health, tourism, ICT development and many other sectors in the nigh five years of the Team Unity administration.
The Appropriation (2020) Bill, 2019 was read a third time and passed last evening (Thursday, December 19) in the National Assembly after six days of thought-provoking, and at times, heated presentations. The bill provides for the services of St. Christopher (St. Kitts) and Nevis for the 2020 financial year, which runs from 1st January through 31st December, 2020.
