Twin Island Residents want more government services closer to them

By Dana Malcolm

Staff Writer

#TurksandCaicos, December 9, 2022 – Residents in North Caicos say it’s time for the government to implement a better local government system, ensuring essential government services available to these islanders at home.

The point was raised at a November 29th town hall meeting in North Caicos. The resident speaking maintained that the government allocated funds were not being seen, especially in the upkeep of the islands.

“North and Middle Caicos are the largest islands in the country.” the resident contended “no one person can manage it.  We need a local government where people from the community make the decisions about where or how we should put our money.”

Residents also complained about the lack of government services being readily available to them forcing them to travel elsewhere.

“Sometimes the delivery of service is poor when it’s coming to North and Middle Caicos. We have to go to Provo all the time to get [any]thing done. We need people from each department, at least one person stationed in North Caicos– that is one of the things that we want to see, local government,” one resident explained.

Included in the list of complaints is long wait times for police records and the most basic services including land surveying and immigration services.  There was also the report that there are no representatives from the Labour Department. The examples presented to the Premier and his Cabinet panel were met with sounds of agreement around the room filled with twin islanders.

Clarifying that immigration and customs were not under local government and would likely never be on the ground in the twin islands, Premier Washington Missick who is a North Caicos native maintained that a new local government structure would come at a cost that would put a heavy burden on taxpayers.

“In time with the growth of the community it may be possible to have a sub-treasury or some of those functions placed in North Caicos– I think we need community leaders who are going to be committed to delivering on community based required services and that’s what we plan on doing.”

In the meantime he recommended there should be an agency in place to deal with paperwork for essential services like access to banking and government services for the islanders instead of all the residents having to traverse back and forth to Provo.

In addition he revealed that come January representatives from The Bahamas would be in the country to help determine whether their local government system would work for the TCI.