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Following its recent weekly policy meeting, the Cabinet of Antigua and Barbuda has given formal approval to a slate of leadership appointments for statutory and advisory bodies falling under the Ministry of Health, Wellness, Environment and Civil Service Affairs. The changes mark a key step in the government’s ongoing institutional renewal agenda, launched in the wake of the general election held on April 30 this year.

The most high-profile of the confirmed appointments is the new leadership team for the board of the Sir Lester Bird Medical Centre, the country’s leading public healthcare facility. Dr. Philmore Benjamin will take on the role of executive chairman, with Dr. Edward Mansoor stepping into the position of deputy chairman. Completing the 10-member board are Martin Camacho, who will serve as board secretary, alongside regular members Dr. Karen Josiah, Randy Agrippa, Kasmin Green, Akeem Edwards, and Kiva Dean. Two senior public health officials will hold ex officio seats on the board: Kevin Silston from the national Medical Benefits Scheme, and Chief Medical Officer Dr. Kamara De Castro.

The Cabinet’s approvals extended beyond the hospital’s governing board to two other critical public institutions under the health ministry portfolio. Veteran nurse Margaret Smith was named as the new chair of the Antigua and Barbuda Nursing Council, the statutory body tasked with upholding professional training and practice standards for the country’s nursing workforce, and guaranteeing consistent high-quality care for patients across all healthcare settings. Dan Lee Phillip was also appointed as chairman of the board for the National Solid Waste Management Authority, the agency responsible for public waste collection, disposal and environmental sanitation across the nation.

Director General of Communications Maurice Merchant publicly confirmed the full list of appointments during a post-Cabinet media briefing held on Friday. He clarified that all nominations for the roles were first submitted to Cabinet for review by Health Minister Sir Molwyn Joseph, before receiving final formal approval. Merchant emphasized that the appointments are not isolated personnel changes, but an integrated part of the new administration’s broader plan to strengthen core public sector institutions after taking office following the general election.

A landmark policy shift aimed at tackling mounting delays in traffic case processing and worsening road safety risks is moving forward, after the national Cabinet gave formal approval to launch a dedicated after-hours court for traffic offenses.

Under the new plan, individuals accused of traffic violations will no longer need to wait for standard weekday court hours to have their cases adjudicated. The approval of this specialized court comes after a recommendation from Attorney General Sir Steadroy Benjamin, which the full Cabinet accepted as a targeted solution to two growing crises: a crippling backlog of unresolved traffic cases and persistent public anxiety over road safety, Communications Director General Maurice Merchant confirmed in a public announcement Friday.

Merchant noted that the decision came after weeks of extensive deliberations among Cabinet members, who reviewed recent data showing steady increases in both reported traffic offenses and road accidents across the country. Alongside these rising incident numbers, officials also examined the ballooning inventory of traffic cases that have been stuck in the traditional court system, waiting months or longer for resolution.

Cabinet members have repeatedly raised alarms about the growing frequency of traffic violations and crashes, highlighting their devastating toll on public safety, private and public property, and the efficiency of the national justice system. After reviewing all available data, members reached a consensus that the traditional court structure was no longer adequate to handle the volume of traffic matters, and that a more focused, expedited approach was critical to eliminate unnecessary delays in resolving these cases.

Beyond clearing existing backlogs, the new night court initiative is designed to strengthen overall compliance with traffic laws. By ensuring that offenders are held accountable quickly rather than facing months of delay before their cases are heard, officials expect the court system will act as a stronger deterrent to dangerous driving behavior, ultimately reducing the number of accidents and violations across the country. Work is now expected to begin on implementing the new court structure, with further details on operational timelines to be released in coming weeks.

In a decisive move to tackle long-standing environmental and public safety issues, the Cabinet of Antigua and Barbuda has formally approved an agreement with Atlantic Ship Breakers Antigua Limited that will see the firm remove, process, and export accumulated scrap metal across the nation, including the overcrowded, hazardous Cook’s Land site.

Maurice Merchant, the country’s Director General of Communications, confirmed the approval during a public briefing on Friday, outlining that the initiative sits at the core of the government’s broader agenda to upgrade environmental conditions, strengthen community safety, and reclaim unused, blighted lands currently choked by abandoned scrap metal and derelict debris.

A standout feature of the public-private arrangement is that the entire project will be carried out with no direct financial burden on the Antigua and Barbuda government. Per the terms of the deal, all operational responsibilities fall to Atlantic Ship Breakers Antigua Limited, which will deploy its own heavy equipment, skilled work crews, and logistical resources to complete every phase of the cleanup. This covers everything from identifying and extracting target scrap materials to on-site processing, compacting, and pre-loading for transport.

To ensure regulatory compliance and full transparency, the agreement mandates that the company maintain certified, auditable weighing systems and detailed record-keeping protocols for all materials removed. All transportation and export activities must also strictly align with local and international environmental and trade laws governing scrap metal movement.

Government officials advising the Cabinet emphasized that the cleanup project will deliver far-reaching benefits beyond just the clearing of the Cook’s Land site. By eliminating the accumulation of hazardous scrap metal that has posed risks to nearby communities for years, the initiative will boost ongoing national environmental cleanup work and materially improve living and safety conditions for residents in all affected areas.

The approved deal marks a resolution to years of public concern over the neglected Cook’s Land site, where unregulated stockpiling of scrap created fire risks, attracted pests, and degraded surrounding natural habitats. With the private firm set to begin operations in the near future, the government expects the site to be fully rehabilitated and prepared for future productive use once the project concludes.

In a significant push to strengthen the island nation’s early childhood education infrastructure, the Jamaican government has announced plans to take over operations of the Sir Luther Wynter Pre-School, a move that forms a core part of its broader national initiative to expand access to high-quality early learning opportunities across the country.

The takeover, confirmed by senior education officials in recent statements, marks a key milestone in the government’s multi-year strategy to formalize and upgrade early childhood education services, which have long been identified as a critical foundation for long-term educational success and national development. Currently, many small community-run pre-services across Jamaica operate with limited public funding, inadequate facilities, and uneven teaching standards, gaps the government aims to address through a gradual integration of independent and community pre-schools into the national public education network.

Sir Luther Wynter Pre-School, located in the Kingston and St. Andrew region, has served local working-class families for decades, providing early care and learning for children aged three to five. Under the new arrangement, the facility will be fully incorporated into the public early childhood education system, bringing increased government funding, facility upgrades, standardized teacher training, and regulated curriculum alignment with national education standards. Education ministry representatives note that the transition will be completed in a phased manner to minimize disruption to current students and their families, with existing teaching staff invited to undergo certification to retain their positions under the new public structure.

This expansion of the early childhood education network aligns with the government’s broader education reform agenda, which prioritizes closing achievement gaps by investing in the earliest stages of learning. Research from global education bodies consistently shows that access to quality early childhood education improves long-term academic outcomes, reduces high school dropout rates, and supports better social and economic mobility for marginalized communities. Jamaican education officials say the takeover of Sir Luther Wynter Pre-School is just the first of several planned integrations of community pre-schools into the public network over the next two years, with a target of bringing 90% of all early childhood learners into regulated, publicly supported facilities by 2027.

Local parents and education advocates have broadly welcomed the move, noting that the acquisition will bring more affordable, reliable early learning options for families in the area. While some have raised questions about transition timelines and staffing changes, officials have committed to ongoing community engagement to address concerns throughout the handover process.

After months of stalled negotiations and public pressure over the underused historic Fort James site, local government officials announced this week that they are stepping in to take full ownership of the long-delayed redevelopment plan for the property.

The 42-acre riverfront site, which housed a decommissioned 19th-century military fort and later a closed paper manufacturing plant, has sat largely unused for nearly 15 years. Previous private development partnerships fell apart over financing gaps, conflicting zoning demands, and disagreements over how to preserve the site’s historic artifacts while delivering public amenities.

Under the new government-led framework, the project will prioritize mixed-income housing, public green space, a heritage center celebrating the fort’s military and industrial history, and new small business commercial spaces. Officials project the redevelopment will unlock an estimated $250 million in local economic activity, create more than 1,200 construction jobs, and deliver more than 800 permanent positions once completed.

Local community leaders have largely welcomed the move, noting that public control will ensure the project serves broad public needs rather than just private profit. Government planners have announced a 60-day public comment period to gather input from local residents on final design and amenity plans before breaking ground, which is scheduled for the second quarter of next year.

The government of Antigua and Barbuda has given formal approval to a transformative digital initiative designed to overhaul the broken system of collecting and distributing court-ordered child maintenance payments, a move crafted to address a years-long crisis that has left thousands of vulnerable children and their caregivers in financial precarity.

The green light for the project, headlined by the custom-built Main Collect mobile and web application, was announced publicly by Director General of Communications Maurice Merchant during a press briefing held immediately after Friday’s Cabinet meeting. Merchant detailed that the digital platform was built to streamline electronic transactions for child support and bring greater transparency and oversight to legally mandated financial obligations for parents.

Cabinet members based their decision on a detailed presentation delivered by senior Family Court officials, including Registrar Francis Crown and Crown Counsel Alicia Asker, alongside the local software development team that spent months building the tailored system. The presentation laid bare the deep-rooted administrative and enforcement challenges that have long plagued the island nation’s existing child maintenance framework, leaving court staff struggling to track payments and pursue non-compliant parents.

Official data shared with the Cabinet put the number of men with active court-ordered child maintenance obligations at between 1,500 and 2,500. Widespread non-payment among this group has created cascading financial hardship for single mothers, legal guardians and the children who rely on these monthly payments to cover basic needs from housing to education and healthcare.

According to the project timeline, the Main Collect application is on track to launch full operations across Antigua and Barbuda within six months. The platform has already secured formal approval from the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court, and regional planners have set a long-term goal to roll the system out to all 11 member states of the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) to standardize child maintenance processes across the region.

Unlike the outdated manual processing system currently in place, the new digital tool will allow paying parents to submit child maintenance funds electronically from any smartphone, tablet or computer. Recipients will be able to securely log into the system to track incoming payments, confirm deposits and check for outstanding balances in real time, eliminating the long wait times and information gaps that have been common under the current system. For court and enforcement officials, the platform will provide instant access to up-to-date compliance data, making it far faster to identify and pursue persistent defaulters.

In a nod to the complexity of the non-payment crisis, Merchant emphasized that Cabinet officials do not see digital modernization as a silver bullet for chronic non-compliance. Alongside approving the new platform, the body held in-depth discussions on complementary enforcement measures that will be paired with the technological upgrade to increase compliance rates.

Under active consideration are a series of policy changes: targeted legislative amendments that would increase the severity of penalties for parents who consistently refuse to meet their obligations, the creation of a public central register that names persistent delinquent payers, and expanded formal partnerships with local employers to enable automatic salary deductions for non-compliant individuals, cutting through the delays that have long derailed enforcement efforts.