by Kevon Browne
St. Kitts and Nevis (WINN) – During the sitting of the Nevis Island Assembly, the Nevis Solid Waste Management Authority Bill, 2021 after a lengthy debate was passed.
The Bill was brought forth by Hon. Hazel Brandy-Williams, in her capacity as Minister of Health, for its second and third readings.
Prior to the bill passing, parliamentary representative for the Opposition, the Hon. Cleone Stapleton-Simmonds raised concern about the timing and focus of the bill.
“Mr. President, I must say that I am a bit disappointed [with] the meeting in the house today, because Mr. President, one perhaps would have hoped that coming out of a lockdown, a week lockdown, where we had at least three days of 24 hour curfew, as well as two days of restricted curfew, as well as at least three weeks or four weeks of community spread of the COVID-19 virus in the Federation of St. Kitts and Nevis that we perhaps would have come to the house today, to put a stimulus package in place for the citizens of Nevis, nevertheless, Mr. President, we are here, again, to talk about waste. From my limited experience in the house, it appears to me that every time we come to the house, we are speaking about waste. And not to say that waste management, particularly solid waste, is not important, Mr President, but at a time like this one would have hoped that the health and the economic wellbeing of the people of Nevis would have been priority on the agenda of this government. But that is not the case Mr. President.”
In rebuttal of Stapleton-Simmonds’ statements, the Hon. Eric Evelyn urged the representative for the opposition to apologize to her constituency, her party and the whole of Nevis for suggesting that the movement of the bill was a waste of time.
The Nevis International Insurance (Amendment) Bill, 2021 and the Nevis Building Contractors Registration and Regulation Bill, 2021 were also on the order papers but did not make it to the floor before adjournment.
