Caribbean Times 93rd issue - Wednesday 20th April 2016

4 c a r i b b e a n t i m e s . a g
Wednesday 20th April 2016
School Meals Programme lockdown
Members of the Dogs
and Cats Association of
Antigua and Barbuda met
with Minister of Tourism,
Economic Development,
Investment and Energy
the Hon. Asot A. Michael
yesterday with the hope of
charting the way forward
for increased vigilance with
regards to the better treatment
of animals in the twin
island tourist destination.
The association, which
is a humane society is concerned
with the welfare of
animals and has brought to
Everton Barnes
The government school meals
programme which serves nearly four
thousand meals a day to primary and
pre-school children has been forced to
close down following Monday’s heavy
downpours.
A terse statement from the Ministry
of Education said it is advising the general
public that no meals will be served
to students by the National School
Meals Programme (NSMP) for the remainder
of the week. It said heavy rainfall
on Monday affected operations at
the School Meals prep kitchen, leading
to a suspension of service there.
Manager of the Programme, Andrew
Solomon said the heavy rains
made a gaping hole in the roof causing
gallons of water to gush down into the
kitchen and other areas.
He said the decision to cease operations
at the facility is informed by
the need to provide a safe environment
for the staff as he feared that electrical
shock was a real possibility. Additionally,
he said the moisture in the area
was futile ground for mould and that
preparing meals under those conditions
was untenable.
“One has to bear in mind that we
serve meals to a high-risk population
and we don’t want to be the cause of
any outbreaks that may negatively affect
them. We take a number of precautions
such as sending food samples to
the laboratory to be tested on a daily
basis,” he explained.
He said the Ministry of Public
Works was quick to respond to their
call and that work to repair the roof
should begin almost immediately.
“We had just received the greenlight
to carry out much-needed repairs
to the building as we knew for a long
time that the building was in a state of
disrepair,” he continued.
He said the repairs could run between
two and three weeks. This means
that the production of food from that
facility will be suspended during that
time.
Minister Michael’s attention
several posts on their
official face book page concerning
reports from visitors
to the island regarding
incidents of animal cruelty.
Such reports via social
media have the potential
of negating the hard work
done so far by the Ministry
to improve the image of the
destination and as such we
have to do all in our power
to curb these incidents.
The Ministry of Tourism
is therefore spearheading an
initiative to host a meeting
of key stakeholders as early
as next week inclusive of
the Police, The Ministry of
However, Solomon indicated that
his team is looking at the menu to see
whether or not they can arrive at an
emergency food-plan that is easy to
prepare and one that can be implemented
temporarily from another location
while the repairs are taking place at the
main facility.
Solomon revealed that none of the
food has been spoilt but with water
getting into the electrical boxes, he has
been advised not to turn on the electricity
until this is rectified.
The ministry is advising parents of
students in government public schools
to take note and to make alternative arrangements
for their children’s meals
for the remainder of the week.
The Ministry of Education sincerely
apologizes for any inconvenience and
will keep the public updated on the resumption
of services at NSMP.
Monday’s heavy rains also disrupted
operations at the new terminal
building at the VC Bird International
Airport.
Call for an urgent plan of action to address
visitor reports of inhuman treatment of animals
Agriculture, Tourism, The
Dog Control Unit, The Hucont’d
on pg 5