On 12 February 2022, the community of St Pauls was the recipient of a kind donation of the sum of US 87,308.00.00 from the Republic of Indonesia.
Through the efforts of the Asian country, the St Paul’s Empowerment Center was gifted with numerous equipment relevant to the enhancement of Computer Literacy and Music production for persons living in the community and by extension persons in Antigua and Barbuda.
The funds which were used to outfit the learning resource center and recording studio in the Community Building included, desktop computers, laptops, network hardware, software, air conditioning units, recording equipment and furniture.
During the handover ceremony Honorary Consul Paul Ryan addressed the gathering and brought greetings on the behalf of Mr. Tatang Budie Utama Razak, Ambassador of the Republic of Indonesia to Antigua and Barbuda based in Bogota and expressed great delight that the body can be of service to the community and demonstrate friendly relations between nations.
Minister of Foreign Affairs Immigration and Trade Hon E. P. Chett Green during his remarks expressed sincerest thanks to the Government and People of Indonesia for recognizing the need and investing heartly into the social and educational development of the residence of the community over which he provides stewardship. The gesture, he further stated is the first of its kind within the region and speaks to the health of the relationship between the Republic and Antigua and Barbuda.
Read at the handover was remarks from Mr. Tatang Budie Utama Razak, Ambassador of the Republic of Indonesia to Antigua and Barbuda based in Bogota remarks – Community Connect – Computer Project
I am Mr. Tatang Budie Utama Razak, Ambassador of the Republic of Indonesia to Antigua and Barbuda based in Bogota, on behalf of the Indonesian Government, first of all I would like to express my warm greetings to the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Antigua and Barbuda, H.E. Mr. E.P. Chett Green, along with all the government officials and guests that have attended the handover ceremony for the Community Connect project this afternoon. Also on this auspicious occasion, allow me to express my apologies for not being able to attend in person the official handover of a very important project for the people of Antigua and Barbuda. In particular the younger generation, as they constitute the hope and the future of the nation. I just arrived in Bogota, Colombia, more or less three weeks ago. Meanwhile the Covid pandemic around the world has not been fully under control.
I am certain that my absence will not reduce Indonesian Government’s attention to Antigua and Barbuda in the slightest. As a representative of the Government of Indonesia who is present to witness the handover ceremony is the Honorary Consul of the Republic of Indonesia, Mr. Paul Ryan. Mr. Paul Ryan is also specifically assigned to fully assist the implementation of the Community Connect project whose IT infrastructure facilities are supported through grant funds from the Government of the Republic of Indonesia.
It is an honor for the Government of Indonesia to be directly involved in financing the Community Connect project aimed at rebuilding telecommunications and information technology infrastructure damaged by Hurricane Irma in September 2017. The Government of Indonesia fully feels the difficulties faced by the Government and the people of Antigua and Barbuda due to Hurricane Irma. The struggle and fortitude of the Government and the people of Antigua and Barbuda who collectively overcome the difficulties caused by Hurricane Irma, is amazing and deserves high appreciation. I hope that the assistance from the Government of Indonesia, which is specifically intended to facilitate technical support and training in the IT field, can provide great benefits to the people of Antigua and Barbuda who use this Community Connect Center.
This grant assistance also shows that Indonesia’s bilateral relationship with Antigua and Barbuda which have opened since 23 September 2011 has been closer ever since. The cooperation between the two countries in international forums has clearly shown that the two countries have the same view in overcoming various international issues today, especially those related to climate change. The involvement of Antigua and Barbuda at the Archipelagic and Island States Forum, which was initiated by Indonesia since 2017 in the aim to address the specific problems of archipelagic countries, can be further enhanced. In addition, it is hoped that Antigua and Barbuda provide its full support to the G20 leadership programs of Indonesia, both bilaterally and through the Caricom forum.
I, as the Ambassador of the Republic of Indonesia to Antigua and Barbuda based in Bogota, will strive to increase cooperation between the two countries. I see a great vast potential between both countries, that can be explored further for the interests of the people of the two countries, especially in the field of economy and people to people contact. I shall be visiting Antigua and Barbuda in the near future to present the credentials of the President of the Republic of Indonesia, His Excellency Joko Widodo, to the General Governor of Antigua and Barbuda, H.E. Sir Rodney Errey Lawrence William. During my visit I will specifically meet with the Minister of Foreign Affair Hon. E.P. Chett Greene to discuss further various efforts to increase concrete and beneficial cooperation between the two countries for the progress of the two countries.
Finally, allow me to express my gratitude and highest appreciation to all parties involved in realizing the Government of Indonesia’s grant funds so that it goes according to plan. May we all always be in the protection of God Almighty.
Thank You.
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wow! Nice buidling. But Miss Cleon Athill called it an eyesore.
Hope the PEOPLE of St. Pauls will take care of this Empowerment Centre
Why the Government of Indonesia did not deal with the Administration,directly? Why did it deal with the Foreign Minister? What were promised to the Indonesian Government in return? How could a sitting Member of the Cabinet accepted gifts from a Foreign Government in a personal capacity? Is that allowed in Antigua? A Member of the Massachusetts House accepted $50,000 from a Foreign Company and is now serving 5 years in a Federal Penitentiary. All politicians involve in accepting illicit gifts must go to PRISON,in my opinion.
Antigua is not a real place, it’s a cartoon country. In this place, Ministers of Government don’t know about “conflict of interest” There are more questions than answers with that building and it’s contents. Just wait, time will tell.
I have one question, who owns the buildings and the equipment? The government or Chet Greene. I know there is suppose to be an appeal bus case where donated buses were used in the constituencies.
So the buses were for the Community and the UPP trio was arrested.
These computers and the facility are for use by the people of Antigua and Barbuda yet it is housed in a building owned by a sitting MP.
Check the double-standard.
What a mix-up.
God is not asleep. ABLP continue along your slippery path. God pays his debts.
Seems Like It was CRIMINAL For 3 Ministers in the Previous Government Administration to accept Buses in their Government Capacity for Use in their Respective Constituences! They have been Fighting this case in the courts of ANU/BAR for the Past 7 Years!! Despite “2 No Case” Outcomes, the DPP has AGAIN Submitted THIS CASE To the CARIBBEAN HIGH COURT! Yet THIS is OK? This is the Foreign Ministers Private Property that THIS GRANT was Used to EMBELISH! The Community was NOT INVOLVED In This Venture as a Community as far as I know! EVERYONE in the Community was asking questions about the Building as they saw it going up AND They QUESTIONED About The “Source of Funds”! This is the RESPONSE To Their Questions! THIS Is A PERSONAL PROJECT Extending the Existing PRIVATE PROPERTY of the FOREIGN MINISTER! How does this COMPARE to the COURT CASE concerning The 3 Buses that has been going on for 7+ Years and is Still in the COURTS! Someone EXPLAIN The DIFFERENCE to me PLEASE! 🌻😇
Notes From A Native Son Of The Rock! “The Afrocentric paradigm is a revolutionary shift in thinking proposed as a constructural adjustment to black dislocation, disorientation, decenteredness, and lack of agency.” Dr. Molefi Asante, Afrocentricity, The theory of Social Change!
Friends, CountryWoMen, Rastas! Listen Up! This is The Thin Edge Of The Wedge!
“For the people the party is not the authority but the organization whereby they, the people, exert their authority and will. The less confusion there is, the less duality of powers, the more the party can fulfill its role as guide and the more it will become a decisive guarantee for the people.” ― Frantz Fanon, The Wretched of the Earth!
Is this the Antigua and Barbuda Way! Some lamented the decline of the Role of the Central Government under the Spencer Regime in the Administration of Foreign Grants and Gifts! Some applaud the diminished Role of the Central Government under the Browne Regime in the Administration of Foreign Grants and Gifts! Where are Antigua and Barbuda’s Vision, Mission and above all Values in how Foreign Affairs is administered! Why Are these Grants, Gifts and Handouts being administered as if they are coming from the “Sisters of Charity” or Missionaries! Have we not learned anything from the Emancipation Historical Referent Point! Just as with Emancipation, so as with our forty year Independence, the same Missionary phenom has been foisted on the People of African descent in this the International Decade of People of African Descent 2015 -2014! We have no one to blame for the coming disaster!
“To politicize the masses is to make the nation in its totality a reality for every citizen. To make the experience of the nation, the experience of every citizen … If nationalism is not explained, enriched, and deepened, if it does not very quickly turn into a social and political consciousness, into humanism, then it leads to a dead-end.” ― Frantz Fanon, The Wretched of the Earth!
Going down this pathway, where the role of the Community, Villager and Stakeholder engagement and the Central Government is not driving National Development and Growth and Building a Caribbean Civilization as noted previously is The Thin Edge of The Wedge that Neo-colonial, Imperialist, and other Foreign Dogma be they political, economic, educational, socio-cultural, religious Values will surreptitiously take hold and make “Each Endeavouring, All Achieving” meaningless and not even known to future generations! “Afrocentricity cannot be reconciled to any hegemonic or idealistic philosophy. It is opposed to radical individualism as expressed in the postmodern school. But it is also opposed to spookism, confusion, and superstition. As example of the differences between the methods of Afrocentricity and postmodernism, consider the following question, “Why have People of African Descent and Antigua and Barbuda in Particular (where Financial, Gaming and other development initiatives were killed by Capitalist Democracies notwithstanding the Righteousness of the WTO Judgement) been shut out of global development?”
With the Demise of the Federation and the trickling attainment of Independence, The Brits, and North Atlantics quietly withdrew their “Grants in Aid” and Gifts to these English Speaking SIDS! They then foisted North Atlantic, Breton Woods and Paris Club Loans on the unsuspecting Governments and People! Many, including A&B. will paying off those loans in perpetuity! The Brits have returned with a Vengeance! They have brought some One Billion Pounds! They have removed the Central Governments from the equation by dealing through CDB, other NGO’s and on A&B have been bold enough to go directly to the Barbuda Council! That is The Thin Edge of The Wedge again! That the Central Government has permitted a Foreign Government to deal directly with Barbuda has allowed the Brits as old folks would say “to lose their damn place!” The central Government will rue the day!
Beware of The Ides Of March! Beware of Greeks Bearing Gifts! “Wha nah cum in a shoes cum inna shoes bax!
“course if we choose to use a language comprehensible only to law and economics graduates it will be easy to prove that the masses need to have their life run for them. But if we speak in plain language, if we are not obsessed with a perverse determination to confuse the issues and exclude the people, then it will be clear that the masses comprehend all the finer points and every artifice. Resorting to technical language means you are determined to treat the masses as uninitiated. Such language is a poor front to deceive the people and leave them on the sidelines. Language’s endeavor to confuse is a mask behind which looms an even greater undertaking to dispossess. The intention is to strip the people of their possessions as well as their sovereignty. You can explain anything to the people provided you really want them to understand. And if you think they can be dispensed with, that on the contrary they would be more of a nuisance to the smooth running of the many private and limited companies whose aim is to push them further into misery, then there is no more to be said.” ― Frantz Fanon, The Wretched of the Earth!
@John French II…”This is The Thin Edge Of The Wedge!” You think!?
I, think this is, the The Fat Edge Of The Wedge, and what your seeing is “The Thin Edge Of The Wedge,” protruding from the opposite side of the log, after the #Wedge have served its purpose.
“Wah dun guarne bad a marning, cyant kum gud a nite, even if U use flamboo fuelled wid Farmer Browne HEMP OIL, fu find U, deep innah de fattest, and de fallen tree, fu mek #Wedge fram.
I have no problem with our communities receiving well deserved gifts, grants from foreign governments, philanthropists, etc. The problem which myself, and any right thinking person have is the mixing of these gifts, grants meant for the Communities with Parliamentarians personal assets.
In this case with Chet and the Community Center, unless Chet knows he’s gonna be in Parliament for the rest, of his earthly life..
A…what happens in the case when he’s removed from Parliament?
or
B…he mysteriously dies next week?
Can he or his heirs lock the Community and by extension, the Nation out?
Is he collecting rent monies from the Government for the space which he’s providing, since allegedly, it’s a mix use complex?
Why not donate the land with and adjacent building next to his complex, and TITLE them in the Community’s name?
From the Bus Conversion to a Whorehouse by on Wheels, by Wilmouth to this complex in Chet Greene Community which he represents, this type of arrangement smells like, several dead Dr. Fish in your fish pot when you pull it up, from the bottom of the Ocean.
E tink to rass! U tink?!
Please hold the Fanon and Asante, I’ll take some Independent Forensic Auditing, and some Jack on da Rocks!
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