GoM Premier Donaldson Romeo
The report came out even before his return to Montserrat from his participation at the recent Joint Ministerial Council JMC meeting in London that the Hon. Premier Donaldson Romeo has made an impassioned intervention warning the UK government against on-due delays in supporting hurricane relief efforts in the Caribbean region.
But as most Montserrat stakeholders, residents and diaspora have expressed is what was revealed upon the Premier’s return in a press release. “The Honourable Premier, in his meetings with the UK Prime Minister, the Foreign Secretary and other Leaders at the Joint Ministerial Council (JMC), reiterated the need for Montserrat’s development efforts to be disaster resilient and urged that upcoming negotiations for capital projects for the year 2018/2019 include a commitment from the Department for International Development (DFID).”
One report states that he made an impassioned intervention warning the UK government against on-due delays in supporting hurricane relief efforts in the Caribbean region. He told them that delays in supporting the recovery efforts in the aftermath of Hurricanes Irma and Maria might result in a similar outcome to that experienced in Montserrat which were made them heavily dependent upon the U.K. over twenty years after the volcanic eruption that devastated the southern part of the island.
As pointed out in the release from the Premier’s Information and Communication department, “Premier Romeo acknowledged the devastating impact of hurricanes Irma and Maria on Anguilla, British Virgin Islands and Turks and Caicos Islands. As a result of these impacts, four out of five UK Overseas Territories in the Caribbean, including Montserrat, are now facing the challenge of climate change resilience and transformational redevelopment.
“As he did the week before at the UN general Assembly, Premier Romeo spoke openly of Montserrat’s experience of over twenty years of post-disaster challenges, to highlight the need for urgency in addressing our post-disaster recovery, resilience and redevelopment. For over twenty years after the first volcanic eruptions in 1995 and the deadly pyroclastic flows of June 25, 1997 (which killed nineteen people), Montserrat is still without a purpose-built hospital and requires key infrastructure.
“These include an adequate sea-port, the main road upgrade and underground utility lines project, fibre optic cable access and housing for some four hundred households, most of whom are evacuees still on a waiting list for hurricane worthy housing after twenty years.”
The release did emphasise that Premier Romeo urged that upcoming negotiations with DfID over capital projects for the year 2018/19 need to include a commitment for housing, main road and underground ducting, undersea fibre optic installation, among others.
Overall, the three day JMC centered mostly on the 2017 hurricane season that wreaked havoc throughout the Caribbean annihilating lives and livelihoods that lay in the paths of Hurricanes Irma and Maria. It’s been reported that the event not only shone a light on the inadequacy of the logistics of hurricane relief and recovery but the question of funding sustainable recovery, resilience building and preparedness. The three most affected territories being the Turks and Caicos Islands, the British Virgin Islands and Anguilla, were each represented by their respective political leaders. They benefited from their governors also being present during much of the event.
At the beginning of the annual event British Prime Minister Theresa May held a preliminary meeting with the OT Leaders at Number 10 Downing Street in which she set out her government’s desire to cement the enduring partnership that existed between the U.K. and the Overseas Territories and the U. K’s ambition to support their diverse economies and natural heritage.
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