News
PDM galvanizing, Calls PNP Gov’t out on No Work
By Dana Malcolm
Staff Writer
#TurksandCaicos, April 22, 2022 – ‘An abysmal failure’ is how the Opposition is describing the government’s communication skills. The PDM was united in its displeasure about how certain aspects of governance including policing have been handled; in a recent press conference they bared it all.
The PDMs leader, Edwin Astwood and deputy leader Robert Been were joined in the press conference by MP Alvin Garland, Karen Malcolm, former Minister of Education and Ezra Taylor, National Party Chairman.
Chairman Ezra Taylor denounced the mounting violence in the TCI in recent weeks and what he described as the governments ‘absenteeism.’
“In the past weeks this absentee approach to crime can only be equated to an abysmal failure by the government; the silence of the Premier, his Cabinet and District Representatives is unacceptable.”
Elected member Alvin Garland on the other hand called directly on the police commissioner to step down.
“While our people have watched our Police Force deteriorate over the past 16 years at the hands of foreign Police Commissioners we in the Opposition believe it’s time to hand over the ranks of our police force to a Turks and Caicos Island Police Commissioner. The morale of our police force is as an all-time low. Serious violent crimes continue to take place with impunity without being resolved. Our people are living in fear because they have no confidence that the police can come to the rescue in their time of need.”
Garland noted that local police know the lay of the land and know the people of the Turks and Caicos. He insisted that there were qualified and experienced senior officers who could fill the post.
The Chairman, Ezra Taylor, laid out several short and medium term initiatives which he charged the PNP led government to give ‘serious consideration.’
“Reopening the Blue Hills and Five Cays substations to improve police presence and improve response time as well as increased police presence within these communities.
Money (shortage) should be no excuse for these communities and the people that live there; their lives are at stake.”
He continued “allocate funding for a reward system that will increase the likelihood for a collection of information that will lead to apprehension and intelligence gathering.
Improve street lights in communities throughout the Turks and Caicos primarily in tourist hotspots, introduce a multi-agency task force focusing on firearms, ammunition and narcotics detection at our ports of entry.”
Other recommendations by Taylor included the reintroduction of the Tourism policing unit and expediting the purchasing of new vehicles for the police.
- Education
The PDM also accused the Government of not doing enough to secure work for Islanders even as the country enjoys an economic boom.
Garland claimed the government was interfering with processes put in place to help Islanders secure work.
“Licensed TC Islander electricians are sitting at home and able to get electrical contracts while foreigners with work permits continue to work within this field making huge profits and this is a direct result of the unnecessary interference by the government.” Garland said.
“I am reliably informed that instead of working with the Association, the current administration is working against the Association. I therefore call on the Government to stop interfering and allow the Association to manage the affairs of the industry.”
He also mentioned construction workers, lawyers and real estate brokers especially were being marginalized in their own country by foreigners with the same skill and were not benefiting from the economic uptick in these industries.
Opposition leader, Edwin Astwood questioned why millions of dollars slated for use in the COVID works program was transferred to purchasing property instead of being used for the original purpose or crime fighting.
The Opposition Leader noted that $7,850,000 was re-allocated to the purchase of five properties.
“Instead why didn’t some of this if not all of it go to their allocations for dealing with crime fighting and strengthening law enforcement?”
Astwood asked, “What makes it worse? Is that $496,564.32 was taken from the Police Department for these land purchases another $1,090,614.68 was removed from the Judiciary Department and $951,741 was taken from the Ministry of Education.”
He noted that over $5 million was reallocated from the COVID works program which he said was supposed to be used for the people.
The Covid works program is announced as to be continued in the new financial year under a different banner as we move away from pandemic state.
Still The PDM members lambasted the PNP on their silence in regards to urgent issues, saying it was tantamount to a violation of the Citizens’ contract; which is the Progressive National Party’s election manifesto.
Dana Malcolm
Staff Writer
#TurksandCaicos, April 19, 2024 – In an attempt to move to 24-hour-a-day operations Turks and Caicos Islands Airports Authority (TCIAA) is steadily recruiting Air Traffic Controllers to work at the Providenciales/Howard Hamilton International Airport, according to Godfrey Smith, TCIAA CEO, reporting to the Appropriations Committee.
Speaking on April 8th Smith said a cabinet paper would be sent soon requesting six more Air Traffic Controllers to make round the clock operation at the Provo International possible and to open the airport in Grand Turk till 12 a.m.
Currently, 17 posts are filled and seven are vacant.
Smith was candid with his responses to recent industrial action from ATCs which led to resignations and firings.
“What we have to do is find systems to mitigate such actions and that has to start with filling these jobs, putting people in that want to
work and doing right by people – and we always try to do right by our staff. Persons may not think that we are but we always do – we ain’t pick no fight,” he said in the meetings held at the NJS Francis building ahead of the National Budget Communication.
Smith indicated that recruitment was an issue across the board, ‘we need to find ways to recruit a little bit better’ he told the committee. Also in need of a push was capital spending or projects according to the CEO, who said the agency had ‘not been very good’ at meeting that mark but insisted they had recognized the issue and could do better.
A very important key performance indicator drawn up by the TCIAA is increasing passenger satisfaction at the Howard Hamilton International Airport. For the TCIAA part of this means a 30 percent increase in seating by Q2 of this year.
When queried on if they could even handle this increase the CEO said,
“The fact of the matter is we already have the capacity there. What we need is to make the service a bit better.”
Staff shortages have become such a frustrating issue that the TCIAA is instituting a scholarship program created by Authority Chairman, Selvyn Hawkins
“What the board wants to do is basically allocate $25,000 annually for a scholarship and they’ve approved it already.”
This process would cover tuition and all other costs for one student.
The student would return as a summer intern and other breaks to work at the TCIAA and upon graduation, assume a role at the company.
“We identify a particular skill we need, we go after it and we build capacity that is in a nutshell the nexus of the program,” Smith said.
The Turks and Caicos Islands Airports Authority (TCIAA) is allocated $49 million this financial year; over $20 million goes to salaries.
Company delivers fastest speeds nationwide and boosts service reliability
PROVIDENCIALES, TURKS AND CAICOS, APRIL 19th, 2024 – More connections, faster speeds and greater support for customers. This is the promise from communications and entertainment provider, Flow TCI, as it embarks on an initiative to provide households with enhanced connections, greater overall reliability and now, for the first time, speeds up to one gigabit person second.
FLOW TCI Country Manager, Joanne Missick shared: “Our customers are at the heart of everything we do. We listen to our customers and want to exceed their demands, so we are focused on delivering unmatched value with customer centric products and services that are future proof. Flow subscribers on our Fibre Extreme package can now access up to one gigabyte speeds and subscribers on our Fibre Plus and Fibre Max package, as of April 1st, are also now benefitting from up to 5x more speeds.”
This is third speed boost for Flow customers in the last two years. This comes under the umbrella of the the Company’s recently launched “Working for You” campaign, where technicians are going into the neighborhoods across the island to conduct repairs, decommission copper cables, and increase the brand’s visibility in local communities.
“To date several neighborhoods have been served by technicians and the company will continue to go across the islands to ensure each neighborhood receives personal attention. We recognize that over the past few months some customers have experienced issues with the quality and delivery of our services. This is not what we stand for. Flow remains committed to providing technology and innovation
that enables growth and positively impacts lives”, says, newly appointed Head of Technical Operations, Simeon Thomas.
Thomas adds, “We have been closely monitoring and reviewing every aspect of our network and there is room for improvement across each of the islands. Where we find shortcomings, we are taking concrete actions and assigning our technicians to rapidly make all necessary adjustments and improvements for our customers”.
Flow has made significant investments in expanding and modernizing its infrastructure and delivering a more robust and reliable network paving the way for the country’s digital transformation.
For more information on speed increases visit https://www2.discoverflow.co/turks-and-caicos/price-adjustment-speed-increase on our website.
Thank you for your usual assistance in sharing our stories.
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