Monday, May 13th, 2019: The New National Party concluded a very successful retreat last Saturday at the St Marks Secondary School. Executive members and other officials including invitees from each constituency attended to meet and discuss national issues.
The activity which lasted for about 7 hours, included presentations from Dr. Kester Nedd, a visiting Grenadian consultant, who spoke on health systems management as Grenada moves towards implementation of National Health Insurance. Hon. Gregory Bowen presented on Oil and Gas, while Hon. Nickolas Steele addressed the issue of the retirement age in Grenada and recommendations by the NIS for increase.
The Minister for Education Hon. Emmalin Pierre spoke on matters related to Education. The political leader wrapped up with an address to participants at the end.
Chairman of the party Hon. Gregory Bowen says it was a very successful exercise which will help to inform the way forward. He said the key recommendations coming from the discussions is that Government must urgently take decisions on the basket of services to be offered by the National Health Insurance and the source of funding, so that the implementation can proceed.
Political Leader announced that since the launch of the NHI project a lot of professional work has been done by the University of the West Indies and the time has come for making the tough decisions to move forward. The leader indicated that he will play a more critical role in moving the process forward. Dr. Nedd, the key presenter, elaborated on a number of options and innovative models for health financing and gave the commitment that he is ready to support Government in moving the process ahead.
In addition to health, oil and gas was also a feature in the discussions. Hon. Gregory Bowen gave a detailed presentation of the status of oil and gas exploration in Grenada waters and reiterated that Government has done, and will continue to do what is in Grenada’s interest and dispelled the negative propaganda. He said Grenada has too much at stake for Government to be distracted at this time. He indicated that Grenada intends to engage additional technical support as the process continues saying that Grenadians must be cautiously optimistic about the potential.
Speaking on the current industrial climate in the education sector Minister Pierre highlighted the focus of the Ministry of Education and indicated that the Ministry will continue to work with all stakeholders to address the many issues affecting the education system. She indicated that she is happy that the Grenada Union of Teachers has agreed to work with the Ministry of Education on addressing the code of ethics for teachers. She also hinted that Government has started to review the outstanding items in the collective agreement between the union and government with a view to establishing timelines to meet its commitments to the union.
Minister Steele highlighted the challenges faced by the NIS not having increased the age for retirement 15 years ago when the scientific data pointed to a need to do so. He said while no final decision has been taken it will be inevitable that Grenada will have to join other countries in the region and bring in a gradual increase of the age of retirement. Minister Steele said that at this time, the focus is on consultation with the general public, but from all indication members of the public seem to have been anticipating change.
The party intends to continue the discussion on these issues at the community level while at the same time supporting the Government to bring even more opportunities and benefits to the people of Grenada, Carriacou and Petite Martinique.
