Basseterre, St. Kitts (October 30, 2013) — An official of the People Employment Programme (PEP) has said that the dedicated work exhibited by supervisors at the Parks and Beaches Unit of the Ministry of Health has contributed to St. Kitts being ranked in the fourth place among the 16 Best Islands in the world.
Project Manager Mr Geoffrey Hanley made the observation last week at a meeting held at the Warner Park Football Stadium with 22 supervisors who are employed through the People Employment Programme. Also in attendance were Coordinator Mr Daniel Henry and ten supervisors who are employed by the Parks and Beaches Unit.
“Take your jobs seriously and do the best you can and in doing so you are portraying the image of St. Kitts and Nevis,” said Mr Hanley. “St. Kitts was recently ranked in the fourth place among the 16 Best Islands in the world because you are not doing just the next job. Your job is important and you are doing something to help the country earn foreign exchange.”
While imploring them to take their jobs seriously he gave the example of Japan where people take whatever job they have proudly, and told them they should do likewise and in so doing the environment will be kept clean at all times and will help in the reduction or even eradication of diseases that are spread by mosquitoes.
According to Mr Daniel Henry, apart from the 22 supervisors, PEP has 525 persons working within the Parks and Beaches Unit throughout the communities. He said that the PEP supervisors have made a big difference because they have a major responsibility of ensuring that workers are out on time and are also responsible in indentifying areas that need cleaning and beautifying.
“The meeting was long overdue and it was timely at that time,” said the Parks and Beaches Unit Coordinator. “The purpose of that meeting can be considered for three purposes. One: So that the Project Manager, Mr Geoffrey Hanley, can meet all of them face to face and for him to know who is who and where they work.”
He said the other two reasons were to make an assessment of the work the PEP has being doing in the last ten months, and for the supervisors to relate to management the concerns and issues regarding work in their communities that pertain to PEP, and at the same time for management to relate to them some concerns and issues that have been affecting the whole management of PEP in the Parks and Beaches Unit.
A number of issues were raised from both the PEP management side and from the supervisors and the PEP Project Manager promised that they would look into them. They included the disposal of green waste and the shortage of working tools among others. The Management told the supervisors of some concerns that had been raised by the community including matters related to lateness.
“Yes there are a number of negatives that have been said about PEP,” observed Mr Henry. “But as I expressed in my remarks, there are more positives than negatives and the fact remains that people in the communities are very happy and demand for PEP workers in Parks and Beaches Unit to come to work is on the rise.”
He noted that the supervisors fully understood the challenges that they face and the challenges that PEP faces and noted that they are endeavouring their best to cooperate and assist to make the section of the Parks and Beaches Unit of the People Employment Programme very successful for the communities and for the people of St. Kitts and Nevis.
“We will be having a beatification contest that will be done sometimes later this year and all the supervisors were notified of this, and to encourage them to select a particular site in the community where they work that would be adjudged, and I think there will be a monetary prize for that award,” said Mr Henry.