Chief Minister of Montserrat, the Hon. David Brandt described his island’s CARICOM Village as a “monument to CARICOM and the ideal of integration.”
The Chief Minister was speaking on Wednesday at the official handing-over ceremony of the first phase of the Village comprising of 15 three-bedroom units at Lookout in the North of the island. The Chairman of CARICOM, the Hon Basdeo Panday, Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago, officially handed over the houses and unveiled a stone plaque commemorating the event.
The ceremony was attended by a host of dignitaries including His Excellency the Governor of Montserrat, Mr Anthony Abbott, Cabinet Ministers, the Speaker and Members of the Legislative Council of Montserrat, the Secretary-General of CARICOM, Mr Edwin Carrington and two representatives of the Barbados Government, Mr Allan Jones, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Housing and Lands and Colonel Deighton Maynard, Chief of Staff of the Barbados Defence Force, and Mr Jeremy Collymore, Executive Co-ordinator of the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Response Agency (CDERA).
Chief Minister Brandt said it was a ceremony of hope and joy coming as it did following his island’s “monumental loss and mental distress.” The Chief Minister was referring to the series of eruptions of the Langs Soufriere volcano, which began in June 1995 and has claimed 20 lives as well as destroying the capital town of Plymouth, other villages, livestock and crops. The volcano has rendered the southern and central areas of the island virtually uninhabitable and caused widespread evacuation to the North and to destinations outside of Montserrat.
For those residents who opted to stay on the island, the CARICOM Village, when completed will contribute no less than 25 housing units to assist in housing the displaced. The project was approved by CARICOM Heads of Government at the XVIII Meeting of Conference at Montego Bay, Jamaica, 1997. The houses were completed in October 1999 after modifications to the original designs of the pre-fabricated units manufactured in Cuba.
In accepting the houses, Chief Minister Brandt said the volcano had reduced the habitable space of the island to one-third and made refugees of the people in their own land. He said the social and economic catastrophe being suffered by Montserrat is unparalleled in the Region.
However, the Chief Minister said he was sure that Montserrat’s “CARICOM partners would not fail us … Montserrat owed an unrepayable debt to many CARICOM countries,” said the Chief Minister, adding “CARICOM came to the rescue, demonstrating that the Community takes the business of unity seriously.”
He thanked the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) and CDERA as well as the Governments and Defence Forces of Barbados, Guyana, Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago. The Chief Minister also thanked the British Government for its contribution.
Secretary-General Carrington said the presentation of the houses was “especially poignant” to him. “For me, these houses represent a manifestation of the Community’s goodwill towards its own members, its own people, the people of Montserrat,” he said.
Mr Carrington said there could be no more appropriate symbol of the Christmas season than the provision of shelter as was done at the first Christmas for one “for whom there was no room in the inn.” The provision of shelter, he said, was at once both an occasion for joy as well as, in the case of Montserrat, an indication of the need to look forward to the restoration of normal life for those who have been displaced for so long.
The Secretary-General praised the Heads of Government for their ready response to Montserrat’s time of crisis, and the leaders of Montserrat for their steadfastness in the face of the prolonged crisis. He also took the opportunity to present to Hon. Adelina Tuitt, Montserrat’s Minister of Education, Health and Community Services, a collection of toys and games for the children of Montserrat from “the children of the Caribbean Community” as represented by the staff of the CARICOM Secretariat. A similar exercise had taken place in 1998 on the same date when Mrs Patricia Carrington, wife of the Secretary-General, presented a package of toys and games to Mrs Verna Brandt, wife of the Chief Minister.
On Wednesday, Chief Minister Brandt also presented to the Chairman and the Secretary-General tokens of appreciation for their visit.
Earlier in the day the Chairman, the Secretary-General and other members of the delegation had paid a courtesy call on the Governor and had also met with the Chief Minister at his office. The Chief Minister was host at an official lunch held at a recently constructed hotel on the island.
The occasion ended with firm hopes for the completion of the Village by the early construction of the remaining houses, which comprise Phase II of the project.
