By Dana Malcolm 

Staff Writer 

#TurksandCaicos, June 6, 2023 – Residents of the Turks and Caicos will no longer be able to gain Islander status just by virtue of living in the country for a period of time, instead they will be judged on a points system. The significant changes were announced in the House of Assembly on May 31st by Premier Washington Misick, deputizing for Otis Morris, the Minister of Home Affairs.

“It will assist the Status Commission with streamlining the application process for persons who come to call this beautiful country home— it is a tidying up exercise to make the system more transparent,” Misick maintained.

Amendments to the TCI Islander Status Bill will legalize the changes.

The points system is touted as a fair process which will allow all residents to see the criteria they need to receive status, weed out those who contribute nothing to the country and allow authorities to award status to those who have truly helped build the Turks and Caicos.

“The new points [system] aims to create a more objective framework through which extraordinary individuals can be acknowledged,” Misick said.

Individuals with special talents, skills and accomplishments will be able to accumulate points. Those points will come from specific criteria in the areas of:

• Arts and Culture
• Sports
• Academia
• Entrepreneurship
• Innovation
• Humanitarian assistance and more

A quota system is also to be established where a set number of applicants are approved each year and no more, any leftover applications will be deferred.

Status by Marriage will also undergo significant changes.

All residents seeking to gain Islander status via their spouse will have to prove that they have been married for at least 10 years to the date of application and living in the Turks and Caicos for at least two years to the date of application.

Because of the nature of the changes the application period for Turks and Caicos has been pushed back significantly to allow for public consultation and a proper understanding of the Bill by residents

The Bill was met with enthusiastic support from both sides of the house and both the Opposition and Government shared that these amendments would make the status seeking process more transparent.

“This [status] is not something that we can just give out so we need our process in place to critique applications as transparently as possible.”

The push comes months after a set of permanent residents sued TCIG over the obscurity in the process, demanding more explanation on why they had been denied status.

The actual setup of the points/metric system will go to the residents of the Turks and Caicos for public consultation in the coming weeks.

By Dana Malcolm

Staff Writer 

#TurksandCaicos, June 5, 2023 – The Turks and Caicos has recorded its first case of cholera.  The update came from the Ministry of Health and Human Services on Monday June 5th.

The positive result came from a stool sample sent from the Cheshire Hall Medical Centre.

The case appears to be an imported one as the individual had recently travelled to Haiti which is struggling to deal with a major outbreak of the disease.

Beset with vomiting, diarrhea and dehydration, the person was tested for the viral illness.

Cholera is spread through contact with the feces of an infected person.  This can occur when sewage isn’t treated properly and comes in contact with drinking water, or where sources of water are not properly treated.  Drinking or eating food prepared with contaminated water can cause the disease to spread.

The US National Library of Medicine says If left untreated, cholera has a 25-50% mortality rate.  Treatment reduces this dramatically to less than 1%.

Minister of Immigration Arlington Musgrove had told Magnetic Media that the Department of Immigration had implemented a new system to check for cholera infections which had also been in use for any irregular migrants from Haiti.

The National Security Council, NSC had also instructed the Ministry of Health to secure a cache of cholera vaccines for the country’s protection should they become necessary.

Shaun Malcolm, Minister of Health and Human Services today said, “The TCI’s National Cholera Preparedness and Response Plan was updated with stakeholder involvement in 2022 and a number of training sessions were undertaken for frontline workers on Infection Prevention.”

There was no mention, however, of whether the Turks and Caicos Islands was able to secure the vaccines recommended for stockpiling by the NSC.

What was asked of residents is that they “seek medical treatment immediately if they suspect they or their family members are infected.”

The patient is now in stable condition and responding to treatment, informed the Health notice.

The government has sent the sample off to the Caribbean Public Health Agency, CARPHA to determine which strain of the virus is present.

PROVIDENCIALES, Turks & Caicos Islands: When Wal Registre started his career at Beaches Turks and Caicos (BTC) on October 25, 1997 as a bartender, little did he know that 25 years after, he would have risen to the post of payroll administrator within the same organisation.

The Raymond Gardiner High School graduate was always good at accounting and mathematics and had the dream of excelling in the hospitality industry in an area that would best fit his passion and academic strength.

Having been promoted to bar supervisor in 1999, Wal’s vision for growth was still active as he recognised that being a team member at Beaches Turks and Caicos would allow him to excel beyond his comfort zone. Following the completion of a number of courses with the Sandals Corporate University (SCU), he transitioned to the Cost Control unit in the Accounting Department as the cost control clerk.

Wal pointed out that his ability to grow within the company was largely due to his commitment to excellence. The SCU courses that were offered gave him the added training needed to build on what he was able to learn on the job and from his mentors.

“At BTC, training is very important to each employee. There are many opportunities for professional development and with the guidance from the Learning and Development team, and the leaders within the company, team members can truly grow,” Registre added.

One of Wal’s colleagues, Janet King, noted, “Wal’s commitment serves as an example to every team member here. His ability to grow from an entry level position to where he is now shows that everyone can succeed once they put their minds to it.”

While expressing his commitment to his profession, Wal’s dedication and discipline are traits that he values and chooses to pass on to those he leads. In sharing his advice to younger professionals seeking to enter the industry, he noted, “this organisation believes in quality work life balance that will allow each team member valuable time with family. This period helps me to maintain a bond with my family and explore the world. Training within this company is available for everyone and the ability to grow professionally is dependent on each person having the right attitude to grow.”

Release: BTC

Photo Captions

Header:Wal Registre, Payroll Administrator at Beaches Turks and Caicos makes final checks as he goes through documents at his desk at the resort

Insert: Anna Francis, Accountant in the Finance department at Beaches Turks and Caicos and Wal Registre, Payroll Administrator at the resort pause from discussing work related items to smile for the camera