By Robert A Emmanuel
Devon Warner has been elected as Chairman at the first Barbuda Council meeting for the year, taking over from the former Chairman MacKenzie Frank who stepped down for personal reasons.
Warner was elected to the Barbuda Council in 2019, following the death of former BPM Councillor Freeston Thomas, and has previously served as the head of the Barbuda Fishermen’s Association.
Warner served as Deputy Chairman prior to taking up his new position at the helm of the Council and will now be expected to lead the body on issues including lands, fiscal sustainability, disaster preparedness, and its relationship with the central government in Antigua.
“To the members of the Council, thank you, and I hope that with the help of God, I will be able to lead this organisation in a productive and meaningful way going forward for 2024,” Warner said, in his first remarks.
Warner also commended the work of the council members in 2023 including reducing arrears of wages and salaries.
He said he hoped to hold an informal session within the next seven days to plan the way forward for the sister isle’s governing body.
Warner continued that the Barbuda Council should, in the best interest of the Barbudan people, meet with the Cabinet, ministries and other statutory corporations to execute their roles.
“We cannot go into 2024 with business as usual; we cannot ask our workers and our community to enact change if we don’t change the way we operate among ourselves.
“All branches of the Barbuda Council will be held accountable; we as leaders must practice meaningful and productive leadership and we must understand we must be driven by change to extract the production from our staff that is required,” Warner added.
He also echoed the statements of the Barbuda MP that the Council will defend the right of the Barbudan people to their lands.
“We are expecting all Barbudans to stand firm in the defence of our rights, our cultures and our livelihoods as we go forward into 2024,” he remarked.
Frank will now serve as Deputy Chairman of the Council; he was notably absent from the meeting due to health reasons.
Meanwhile, the makeup of the Council’s various committees remains the same following yesterday’s meeting: Wayde Burton will chair the Health, Social Welfare and Disaster Committee; Sharima Myers is chair of the Sports and Youth Affairs Committee; John Mussington is chair of the Agriculture, Lands, Fisheries and Coastal Protection Committee; and Barbuda MP Trevor Walker will chair the Finance Committee.
Additionally, the Education Committee will be chaired by Melanie Beazer, Nico Antonio will chair the Works Committee, Fitzroy Warner will chair the Utilities Committee, and the Tourism and Culture Committee will be chaired by Nadia George.
