TCI News
Crime Stoppers has an advocate in new TCI Governor
#Providenciales, August 6, 2019 – Turks and Caicos – New Governor Nigel Dakin, after attending the Friday Crime Stoppers Annual General Meeting, is now a vocal advocate for the service.
“You can be courageous; you can demonstrate personal integrity – but you can also be safe – if you report what you know to Crime-Stoppers on that number 1-800-8477. They won’t ask your name. Everything is deliberately anonymous; much investment has gone into it and it all fails if it fails one caller, once. The call is taken in Miami. There is no call identification. It cannot be traced. The information can’t be too small, it might just provide a start point to allow a thorough investigation that will lead to an arrest or a gun being taken off the street. You can provide a perfect example of your own integrity, your own quiet commitment to this community, by making that call. Third time: the number is 1-800-8477.”
During his announcement of his choice for the new Deputy Commissioner of Police for the Turks and Caicos Islands, His Excellency Dakin offered a provocative position on crime and where it comes from.
“Crime occurs when members of a society choose to reject the norms that a society has decided it needs, for the good of all. Those norms are called ‘the law’. Laws provide peace and stability. Laws provide prosperity and security. Laws allow us to live the good life rather than a life lived in physical fear, a life lived in permanent mutual suspicion fearing that the strongest will take all. The answer to crime therefore does not come from the Police, or if it comes from the Police, it comes as a last resort. The first responsibility of a society is not to build a police force to detect and arrest wrong-doing. The first role of society is to generate a climate where all who live within that society believe they have a sufficient stake in it that short-term possible profit, gained from wrong-doing, is overwhelmingly displaced by a belief that their stake is in the collective security, and humanity, that the law provides for and demands.”
The governor’s statement was admittedly intended to take the focus off of Police as exclusively responsible for abating crime.
“If you find yourself saying the Police needs to do more you have moved to the very end of the conversation you need to have, without tackling your own personal agency or the agency of your community in the issue. If the police needs to do more, the society that it serves needs to be healthier.”
Crime Stoppers, in its 23-years in the Turks and Caicos Islands still struggles to thoroughly convince residents that it is a confidential source for divulging crime-solving or crime-stopping information. However, the Governor was insistent about the value of the agency which serves 20 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean.
“There are good people out there, there may even be great people who some think of as ‘bad’ – through prejudice – but who do have a strong internal moral compass. Who do have integrity. And who do know something. You can be courageous; you can demonstrate personal integrity – but you can also be safe – if you report what you know to Crime-Stoppers on that number 1-800-8477.”
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TCIG knew from April that fuel factor could surge almost 80%; Minister says $500 cost-of-living payment was part of Government’s response
PROVIDENCIALES — The Turks and Caicos Government knew months before July’s shocking electricity bills that consumers faced a potentially massive increase in the fuel factor.
Minister of Information Technology and Energy E. Jay Saunders revealed Friday that Pelican Energy warned his Ministry in April that generation fuel costs were projected to rise from $3.09 per gallon in May to $4.79 in June and July.
That translated into a projected fuel factor jump from about 17.5 cents to 31 cents per kilowatt-hour — an increase of almost 80%.
Saunders said he personally advised Cabinet of the projected increase and presented options for cushioning the impact.
He characterised Government’s $500 cost-of-living payment as its “initial response” to rising fuel costs, before a separate fuel-factor subsidy was approved.
Cabinet records show Government agreed on June 24 to provide funding to mitigate the fuel-factor impact, with the relief programme approved July 8.
Eligible residential customers — those averaging less than $1,500 monthly over the previous three bills — are capped at 22 cents per kWh from July through October.
Pelican confirmed Friday that Government’s contribution was already applied to July bills, meaning the bills now triggering widespread public outrage would have been even higher without the subsidy.
Saunders did not disclose the programme’s total cost.
His admission that Government knew since April, however, raises another question amid the backlash: why were consumers not directly warned by Government about the scale of the approaching increase?
PROVIDENCIALES — New commercial Crown Land applications are facing a six-month pause as the Turks and Caicos Islands Government takes inventory of its holdings.
During Cabinet meetings held July 15 and 16, an immediate six-month moratorium was approved on the acceptance, processing
and approval of new applications for commercial Crown Land grants, leases and allocations.
The pause will remain in place pending completion of the Crown Land Inventory Review. Cabinet’s summary did not state what prompted the review or indicate whether availability of commercial Crown Land is a concern.
The two-day meeting also advanced major consumer legislation. Cabinet approved the National Fair Competition Policy 2026 and drafting instructions for a Fair Competition Ordinance, moving TCI toward stronger consumer protection and fair competition rules.
In Grand Turk, Cabinet approved rezoning land in the North West Suburbs from low-density to medium-density residential use to facilitate a new apartment development.
Cabinet also advanced fisheries reforms, water legislation allowing private and public-private investment, minerals legislation and appointments across tourism, health and finance.
Progress toward establishing a TCI Credit Union was also noted.
PROVIDENCIALES — Major development projects outside Providenciales received Cabinet attention on July 8, with Government approving agreements connected to the redevelopment of Dellis Cay and a resort development in North Caicos.
Cabinet approved a Development Agreement between the Turks and Caicos Islands Government, Desarrollos Hotelco DC Ltd. and
Desarrollos Hotelco Astoria Ltd. for the redevelopment of Dellis Cay.
The long-discussed private island development sits between Providenciales and North Caicos and its return to Cabinet signals another step toward redevelopment.
Cabinet also approved amendments to an agreement involving SPR LND Ltd. (Royal Reef) and TCIG Development Agreement for a resort/hotel development in North Caicos.
Other decisions included approval of the First Supplementary Appropriation Bill 2026 for onward transmission and the appointment of Cindy Ewing as Chair of the Invest TCI Board, effective August 1 for three years.
Cabinet also noted consultation outcomes concerning changes to business licensing, approved professional membership expenses for qualifying Telecommunications Commission staff and approved advice relating to the Interim Clinical and Estates Services PPP.
The July 8 meeting was chaired by Acting Governor Anya Williams.
Photo Credit: Royal Reef (Keith)
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