Community
Articles and/or Speeches

Plight of the Trouble TCI Youth
Graduation Address
The Impact of Crime in the TCI
Budget Presentation
Children's Care & Adoption Bill 2010
The Effects of Crime in the TCI
Summary of Offences Amendment Bill 2010
A Family Court
Introduction of Ms Delancy
Mother's Day Speech
The Role Of NGOs
Seventh Day Church
Turks and Caicos Employment Bill
Woman's Day

Budget Presentation
April 22, 2010

Madam Chairlady, colleagues, visitors in the gallery, listening audience and media.
Our social society which can be considered the fabric of the country seem to be one of the misses of this year’s budget proposal. The best investment in a country is one made in its people - an investment in education, health, developmental programmes, and recreational programmes for the youth, training, succession planning and upward mobility.

“A Nation’s culture resides within the hearts and the souls of its people.” – Mahatma Gandhi.

Education
Madam Chairlady, the key to a highly successful nation lies within the quality and amount of education offered to its people. It is important that within this country, access to quality assured educational opportunities be available from nursery through tertiary education. Indigenous educators must become the paramount forces in the development and implementation of a curriculum geared toward producing highly qualified citizens who are conscious about the history, culture and current structure of their society.

Madam Chairlady, 276 scholarship students are expected to return by the end of 2010. With these students returning home, what employment opportunities will be available for them? According to the current bonds established between these students and the government, after completion of their studies these students are required to, and are eager to return home to show off the skills obtained as a result of financial support from the TCI government. Currently we have bonded students who have already returned home but are not employed by the TCI government, and also have difficulty obtaining employment within the private sector who now claim to base employment on experience rather than education. If a student returns home and the government fails to provide a job, and the private sector declines employment because of an experience deficit, how is that student expected to gain experience, and ultimately benefit from the training received if absolutely no one wants to give that person the opportunity? In this country it is imperative that a person has a job as it is an element of perceived dignity within the local society.

Madam Chairlady, it is commendable that even in this difficult time of financial constraints, that in this year’s budget book (line item #35801) shows a $1,700,000 subvention allocated to the TCI Community College and $8,500,000 for scholarships (line item #35705) abroad. Perhaps it is time to consider assisting the Community College in generating its own revenue by having it charge tuition rates according to subject or credit hours. With that initiative the government could provide partial scholarships to more students attending the institution with the balance of that tuition being paid by the students themselves in actual cash or kind where students are employed by the college in return for educational provisions. This would assist the college in attaining some financial resources to independently improve services provided without being completely dependent on government subsidy.

Madam Chairlady, In the not too distant future, an investment within the community college should be focused on expansions in Grand Turk and the building of an appropriate skills training facility on Providenciales, along with an improved curriculum designed to fulfil the needs of a growing nation.

Madam Chairlady, we recognize that Grand Turk is the administrative capital of the TCI, and Providenciales is the Tourism capital. Thus it is very important that on the island of Providenciales we provide exceptional training in the area of tourism and hospitality. Given our reputation as a high end destination, there is an opportunity for the TCI to develop for itself and its regional partners a reputable institute for this kind of specialty training.

To assist the government, The Labour department should retain a detailed register of all employed persons along with their immigration status, their actual place of employment, the level of employment and the salary scale. Every business within the TCI should present to the labour department a copy of their company’s succession plan, particularly those from the hotel and tourism sector. The labour department must maintain a register of returning students and their areas of study. This register should be used when considering the issuance of labour clearances. This would help to maintain the presence of TCI culture within the resorts as this is what guests ultimately travel to these islands for – a genuine TCI experience.

Social Development
Madam Chairlady, it is time for the TCI government to make investments in Planned Parenthood policies and awareness as a way to combat adolescent pregnancies, single parent homes, and the victimization of children.

The current age for sexual consent is 16. This is also the target age for leaving secondary school within the TCI. The policy age should be changed to 17 for both. Youths completing school at the age of 16 develop the belief that they themselves are fully adults and begin to prematurely imitate adult behaviour. As a result we have reoccurrences of teenage pregnancies across the nation. Truth be told, secondary education is only a precursor to quality skills training. However, teenage parents resultantly lack the necessary skills to support their newfound family, and at this point are almost completely deprived of the opportunity to obtain these needed skills.

Madam Chairlady, the TCI has become an expensive destination forcing many persons to think about abandoning these beautiful islands just to adequately support and educate their families. The average person is estimated to earn $250 per week. NHIP is 5%, NIB is 3.4%, the average utilities cost for a single unit apartment is $280 per month, along with a 300% mark-up on groceries items, and with a child there is an additional minimal $50 per week for a babysitter, an estimated $40 weekly transportation cost. Considering these costs at this normal revenue rate, such a person would customarily have to acquire more than one job just to make ends meet, which ultimately negatively affects the family. Time that should be spent on the nurturing of homes is alternatively spent on trying to make ends meet.

Madam Chairlady, this resulting disparity within our homes increases the opportunity for mental frustration, domestic violence, child abuse and the breakdown of relationships which is then passed on through consequential generations.

It is progressive to see a new department within the Ministry of Health and Human Services, called Mental Health and Substance Dependence. The creation of this department is proof of the government’s recognition of the corresponding relationship between mental health and substance abuse. With the exception of alternative scientifically proven situations, mental health illnesses are often the result of and are complicated by substance abuse. This budget allows for efficiency and effectiveness in the efforts to educate, prevent, and treat associated problems. Efforts must be taken to monitor and eliminate the abuse of “easy access” substances such as over-the-counter drugs, under-the-counter prescriptions, and alcoholic beverages.

Madam chairlady, it would be remiss of me not to mention concerns for our elderly as we discuss today’s budget proposal. Persons who are assigned as care-takers for the elderly must be monitored by persons within the Social Development department to ensure that appropriate conduct and quality care is given. This department is no longer about giving out rations. It is hoped that one day this department will be referenced in its truest form where it implements social reformative programs rather than just a hand-out avenue for food and monetary assistance. With this hope, there is an urgent need for the continuous training of personnel within this department, along with a system of training the trainer.

Environment
Madam chairlady, with $4,000,000 allocated in the budget (line item #33748) for waste management, I look forward to the company awarded this contract to begin the process of transforming the way we approach waste disposal. I take this opportunity to emphasize the need for community leaders to educate their population about proper waste disposal. It is disheartening to view the amount of waste discarded on our beaches and along the highway on any given day. Information must be distributed in English, Spanish, and French-Creole to the larger population about the adverse effects of improper waste disposal on the health and environmental sustenance of the society. People must understand that tossing trash out of your vehicle is unacceptable behaviour. Apartment owners must furnish their tenants with proper waste disposal resources and begin to train them about the proper separation of their garbage and the need to isolate them from accessibility by children and wild dogs. I am most certain that residents look forward to no longer inhaling the chemically hazardous fumes of Provo’s waste coming from the landfill located in Blue Hills.

Madam Chairlady, with all that said, I would like to thank Mr. Jones and his budget team for this presentation of the 2010/2011 budget, and offer him any suggestions that I might have for generating revenue for the TCI.