By Alric Lindsay
MP Andre Ebanks and MP Katherine Ebanks-Wilks held a public meeting at the John Gray Memorial Church hall on Thursday, December 5, 2024. They provided updates on community projects and new legislation to be considered at the upcoming Parliament session.
Morgan’s Harbour Dock update
Kicking things off, MP Andre informed the meeting that he is hoping to get further information from the minister for planning on the timeline for the replacing the Morgan’s Harbour dock with concrete. He noted that, at the last Finance Committee meeting, MPs voted for the money to get the work done; however, it is unclear when it will be finished. This will be one of the questions that MP Andre may raise in Parliament.
Apple Blossoms
MP Katherine also said she would raise a question in Parliament for the minister of planning. The question concerns the progress of new homes for the Apple Blossom development, which, according to a previous press release, was to be renamed “Birch Tree Heights.”
MP Katherine highlighted that housing issues were urgent because it appears that “a lot of the residents are becoming ill from living in these homes.”
She added:
And we broke ground in May of this year and they were promised that the homes would have been ready in December and that they would be able to move in for Christmas. And nothing has happened since the groundbreaking.
So, my question relates to what has caused this delay and what are the plans for the Apple Blossom project? Why is it that nothing has taken place to this point?
National issues: The “dump” project (Regen)
In addition to the foregoing, MP Katherine said that she intends to ask the new Minister for Sustainability why the notice of termination of the dump project was extended from October 31 to December 31.
Regarding the dump project, readers will recall that the government previously stated in Parliament that it intended to terminate the agreement with the consortium run by DECCO to manage the waste-to-management facility. Since that announcement, it is unclear what has been done other than the termination notice extension to be queried by MP Katherine.
Attendees at the John Gray Memorial Hall on Thursday
John A Cumber’s necessities
Touching on John A Cumber, MP Andre noted that he and MP Katherine went to the school to greet the kids and donate a few supplies for their back-to-school drive.
He added:
But we also spent significant time with the principal to ask what the needs are of the primary school. What our understanding is that the primary school has one of the largest student populations for a primary school on the island, is in need of expansion.
[It] is in need of more amenities and a playground, and seems to us to be underserved with the amount of population that it has.
He continued:
But we are really going to be pushing for and advocating for that school to receive more amenities and for an expansion to be there, because as we mentioned at the Seafarers hall, we’re very happy for other districts to have upgraded facilities, but it needs to be equitable and it does seem to be out of proportion that the Johan A Cumber Primary School, with the size of population, I think the principal might have mentioned 650 pupils. That’s a lot of youngsters.
He concluded:
And the thing is when you go there to see their faces that they are still so eager to learn… and you could see that they’re not aware how much they’re underserved.
We really need to do better for them.
National issues
Chiming in on national issues, MP Andre noted that 21 bills will be debated at the next session of Parliament, some of which originate from his previous ministries. These include the following:
- Information and Communications Technology (Validation) Bill, 2024 (gazetted 28th August, 2024)
- Traffic (Amendment) Bill, 2024 (gazetted 20th September, 2024)
- Public Transport Bill, 2024 (gazetted 20th September, 2024)
- Children (Amendment) Bill, 2024 (gazetted 25th October, 2024)
- Maintenance (Amendment) Bill, 2024 (gazetted 25th October, 2024)
- Adoption Bill, 2024 (gazetted 25th October, 2024)
- Older Persons (Amendment) Bill, 2024 (gazetted 25th October, 2024)
- Misuse of Drugs (Amendment) Bill, 2024 (gazetted 6th November, 2024)
- Banks and Trust Companies (Amendment) Bill, 2024 (gazetted 15th November, 2024)
- Companies (Amendment and Validation) Bill, 2024 (gazetted 15th November, 2024)
- Companies Management (Amendment) Bill, 2024 (gazetted 15th November, 2024)
- Exempted Limited Partnership (Amendment and Validation) Bill, 2024 (gazetted 15th November, 2024)
- Insurance (Amendment and Validation) Bill, 2024 (gazetted 15th November, 2024)
- Limited Liability Companies (Amendment and Validation) Bill, 2024 (gazetted 15th November, 2024)
- Limited Liability Partnership (Amendment and Validation) Bill, 2024 (gazetted 15th November, 2024)
- Monetary Authority (Amendment and Validation) Bill, 2024 (gazetted 15th November, 2024)
- Mutual Funds (Amendment and Validation) Bill, 2024 (gazetted 15th November, 2024)
- Partnership (Amendment and Validation) Bill, 2024 (gazetted 15th November, 2024)
- Private Funds (Amendment and Validation) Bill, 2024 (gazetted 15th November, 2024)
- Securities Investment Business (Amendment and Validation) Bill, 2024 (gazetted 15th November, 2024)
- Virtual Asset (Service Providers) (Amendment) Bill, 2024 (gazetted 15th November, 2024)
Christmas activities
MP Andre and MP Katherine closed the presentation by reminding the audience that they were hosting Christmas functions for the community.
MP Andre will host his function on December 17, off Willie Farrington Drive in West Bay. The event starts at 5:30 pm.
MP Katherine will have her event on December 19, from 6 pm onwards the West Bay Heritage Park next to Ed Bush Stadium.
Members of the community can expect to enjoy cotton candy, face painting, food, and, most importantly, fellowship to acknowledge the reason for the season.
