NIA CHARLESTOWN NEVIS (September 14, 2022) — Hon. Hazel Brandy-Williams, Junior Minister of Health in the Nevis Island Administration (NIA), says a donation of new equipment to the Nevis Solid Waste Management Authority will enable it to chart its own course.
The junior minister was at the time delivering remarks at the official handing over ceremony on September 08, 2022, at the landfill in Long Point.
“The Authority has, for many years, rented equipment to efficiently perform its daily operations at the landfill, and today my heart is full because we are now in a position to chart our own course.
“We can now make the adjustments to our operations. We can now manage our fiscal and financial position, and I want to reiterate that fact. When you have to rent, we pay prohibitive bills in rental but now we have our own, we can now chart our own course in managing our financial position and this is simply because we now own our own equipment,” she said.
Reflecting on when the Nevis Solid Waste Management Authority was made part of her portfolio in 2017, she said there were instances when the authority went through difficult times but still managed to deliver.
“There were instances when we struggled. We struggled with large rental bills. We struggled with the uncertainty of reliable assistance from the outside, and I know the general manager could attest to the many challenges we experienced, the many years, the long meetings we had, the collaborations, and how we had to juggle between our different areas but through it all, we were able to keep the operations afloat.
“And even with such challenges we were able to deliver top notch service to our clients. We were able to service our private business, and to have maintained a rigorous scheduled where some areas today, are being serviced once, twice, three times [a week] by our trucks, and I must commend the general manager, his team, the workers, the truck drivers, the entire complement of workers who would have made this possible and would have served Nevis well. This is indeed commendable,” she said.
However, with the addition of an excavator, a bulldozer, and two garbage trucks to the existing fleet, Mrs. Brandy-Williams encouraged the Authority to continue to utilise and service the older equipment in order to receive proper and continued utility from them also.
In congratulating the Nevis Solid Waste Management Authority’s Board of Directors led by Mr. St. Clair Wallace, and management and staff, the minister acknowledge their consistent hard work, determination and grit, and reminded them that their jobs are not thankless but important ones.
“Persons are indeed grateful and thankful for the service you render on a daily basis. Let us simply look at it. If our garbage isn’t collected, we would all become sick.
“It could be said that there is a direct link between the garbage collection and good health or ill health, and so at the Ministry of Health we would not want to see persons becoming sick because our garbage [and] our waste is not collected, and so we have to continue to reiterate the importance of the job of the persons at the Solid Waste Management Authority.
“For me their job is just as important as any other job. I hold it no less. I want to say to the workers at this time that I continue to be committed to your safety. I continue to be committed to your wellbeing at work and your surroundings because it is important that you continue to do what you do to save all of us, to save all of Nevis,” she said.
In conclusion Mrs. Brandy-Williams thanked the allied agencies who continue to support the efforts of the Authority in keeping Nevis clean. She used the opportunity to encourage the continued partnership with stakeholders, while thanking them for their continued support and good working relationship with the Authority.