Category: News

St Helena’s water situation remains serious with no increase in surface flows and stored water at around 38% heading into the busiest part of the year on the Island.

Consumption rates remain an issue with each day over the past week exceeding 1000 cubic metres of water. This could be due in part to the increase in population on St Helena during the festive season, but residents are urged to continue decreasing water usage where possible to preserve our precious resource. The public is thanked for their efforts thus far.

With the increase in visitors and returning residents, it is important to ensure everyone is aware of St Helena’s serious water shortage. The public is encouraged to spread the word to visiting family and friends and ensure they keep water use to essential needs only.

In the interim, Connect Saint Helena (CSH) will continue pumping from Chubb’s Spring and Hutt’s Gate as well as from Fisher’s Valley and Warren’s Gut.

With warm weather patterns and no significant rainfall forecast, it is therefore very important that we all keep our water consumption to essential use only.

Water-Saving Competition

The St Helena Resilience Forum Warning & Informing Sub-Group would like to announce Aubrey George from Jamestown as the first winner of the monthly Water-Saving Competition for the month of December. Aubrey’s water-saving initiatives will appear as the next few CSH Tips of the Week and he will also receive his £20.00 reward. Well done Aubrey!

For more details on this monthly competition, please email: liam.yon@sainthelena.gov.sh.

Every drop counts, every action counts – save water now to be safe later

#StHelena #WaterShortage #EveryDropCounts

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St Helena Resilience Forum
18 December 2019

During the month of December, and over the festive period, St Helena Police are running a safety campaign – ‘Safe people, Safe roads, Safe vehicles and Safe speed’.

This campaign is aimed to raise awareness of how the public can work alongside the St Helena Police to make the Island a safer place for all.

Everyday within the community, as well as drivers, there are a mix of pedestrians including children, cyclists and runners, who use the Island’s roads. Their safety is everyone’s responsibility and without drivers adhering to the road signs there could be serious consequences. However, it is not just the driver’s responsibility to adhere to these signs, pedestrians using the road also have a responsibility.

Throughout this campaign, St Helena Police will be educating the public on adhering to speed limits and road signs including pedestrian/school crossings, road closed/slow down signs, steep gradient and SHG road works signs, and also Police signage. These signs are all there to serve a purpose, from the safety of pedestrians and children in schools, to the safety of the drivers using the highway.

Acting Chief of Police, David Price, said:

“At this time of year it’s important that everyone enjoys Christmas safely, especially when driving and using the Island’s roads.”

#StHelena #StHelenaPolice #SafetyCampaign #AltogetherSafer

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SHG
16 December 2019

Executive Council will meet on Wednesday, 18 December 2019, at 10.30am, in the Council Chamber, to discuss the following Open Agenda items:

• Public Solicitors Fees
• Employment Rights Ordinance – Minimum Wage
• Employment Rights Ordinance – Maternity, Paternity and Adoption Leave and the Labour Regulating Authority
• Labour Market Strategy

These papers (ExCo Memos) are available online at the following link: http://www.sainthelena.gov.sh/councils/executive-council/.

Members of the public who would like to view hard copies of the ExCo Memos should contact Clerk of Councils, Connie Johnson, at the Castle on tel: 22470 or via email: connie.johnson@sainthelena.gov.sh.    

Elected Members serving on Executive Council are Councillors Clint Beard, Anthony Green, Lawson Henry, Derek Thomas and Russell Yon.

Non-voting members of ExCo are Chief Secretary, Susan O’Bey, Financial Secretary, Dax Richards, and Attorney General, Allen Cansick. 

#StHelena #ExCoMeeting

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SHG
16 December 2019

A special meeting of the Economic Development Committee (EDC) took place on Monday, 9 December 2019, and the following is a summary of the main items discussed:

The SHG Economists, on behalf of the Tax and Revenue Working Group, brought forward a discussion paper to consider further changes to the Customs Duty for motorcycles, as well as a reduction in duty for incontinence pads. It was recommended that as well as the lower band for electric motorbikes, bands should be introduced so that a lower duty would apply to smaller, low cc motorcycles. Since there was time before the January Executive Council meeting, where any change would be endorsed, the Economists agreed to develop the policy further in this respect and bring back to EDC for endorsement. There was general agreement that the duty for incontinence pads should be reduced from 20% to 5%.

Members received a presentation from the Agriculture & Natural Resources Division regarding the review of policy that is being undertaken for use and management of the Crown agricultural estate. An overview was provided of the key issues and challenges being experienced with regards to use and stewardship of these agricultural assets, options for policy to direct their use and stewardship for the future, and recommendations for changes to policy. Investment to upgrade key assets within the estate is a key requirement to improve this policy and enable its implementation over the short to medium terms.

Through the Chamber of Commerce forum, a presentation on the Review’s recommendations has been delivered to a number of agricultural producers who currently let Crown agricultural and building assets for their feedback and input.  Further consultation will continue in January 2020 with a  cross-section of producers who are not involved with the Chamber but currently are tenants with the Crown’s agricultural estate.

#StHelena #EconomicDevelopmentCommittee #MeetingSummary

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SHG

16 December 2019

The St Helena Health Directorate has been transferring patients requiring overseas specialist care to Pretoria, South Africa, since 2018. Prior to this, patients had been referred to Cape Town.

The move from Cape Town to Pretoria has allowed patients to reach their accommodation and/or hospital admission after one flight.

Acting Director of Health, Dr Kamar Tanyan, commented:

“Previously, medical referrals had to travel to Johannesburg via the SA Airlink flight, which would arrive late on a Saturday night, spend the night in a hotel, and then depart Johannesburg on Sunday for Cape Town. A meet and greet service and transport to and from the hotel had been organised in Johannesburg and Cape Town. After the completion of medical treatment, a flight would be booked from Cape Town to Johannesburg on the Friday evening, followed by an overnight stay in a hotel. The patients would then catch the flight back to St Helena on a Saturday morning.

“Feedback received from patients suggested the stopover in Cape Town Airport and transport within the Airport, especially by wheelchairs, were problematic for elderly or very ill patients being referred for care.”

Overseas referrals are now sent to the Netcare Unitas Hospital – one of the largest private hospitals in South Africa, located in Centurion, Pretoria. The Natanja Guest House and Lyttlewoods Guest House accommodations are approximately five minutes away from the Hospital and 15 minutes walk to shops and restaurants.

A year on, the Health Directorate has reported that 84 patients have been referred to Pretoria – slightly more than the 75 patients referred in 2017-18. More complex cases are being referred so that patients can access highly specialised centres and specialists. To date, the waiting list for overseas referrals is now cleared.

The Health Directorate is continuously improving communication with their partners in South Africa and are developing remote support from specialists via telemedicine. The Directorate is also continuing dialogue and monitoring with MSO to ensure the comfort of patients and their families in South Africa. Pastoral care, which is appreciated by referred patients, is now delivered by a dedicated team.

This move has proved cost effective as a sum of £300k was saved over the last year in comparison to the costs spent on referrals to Cape Town. This saving allows the Health Directorate to re-allocate resources based on needs in all areas of service delivery.

#StHelena #HealthDirectorate #Pretoria #MedicalReferrals #NetcareUnitas

SHG

13 December 2019 

Executive Council discussed next steps for fish processing and sales on St Helena at their meeting on Tuesday, 10 December 2019.

Over the last five years a total of £1,387,000 has been provided as operational subsidy by Government to the St Helena Fisheries Corporation (SHFC) and the operation continues to report financial losses year on year. The SHFC’s business model has been broken for some time but masked by SHG paying out ever growing levels of subsidy to the fishing sector on an annual basis.

A Fisheries Task Group was set up to undertake a review of the current fish processing and sales on St Helena. Following a period of consultation with key stakeholders including the SHFC, St Helena Commercial Fishermen’s Association (SHCFA) and local fishermen, the draft alternative business model put together by the Group in October was deemed to be an unprofitable and unworkable solution at this time.

SHG has this week received a request from the SHFC for a further sum of £182,000 to see the operation through to the end of the current financial year. This means that the total subsidy required for the current financial year to keep the operation afloat will be £532,000. This request is not affordable. With this in mind and noting that there is no significant level of subsidy available to keep the current fish factory afloat it was agreed that the SHFC in its current form will come to an end on 31 January 2020.

While we do not have the desired alternative business model in place it is encouraging that there are a few proposals in preparation that might be a solution to the ongoing issue.

A fundamental change in the system of fishing on the Island is needed with the adoption of a business model that, at the very least, has a fighting chance to break even. SHG is therefore now asking the SHCFA and other investors to submit their proposals by Friday, 10 January 2020. These will then be considered by the Investment Enabling Group by 20 January. If a workable solution results from the proposals submitted an alternative operation will need to be in place from 1 February or as near to that time as possible. If none of the solutions proposed are workable SHG will allow the sale of fish directly from licenced boats to consumers. All boat owners have been approached by Public Health to be licenced if the need arises to move to this option. SHG has on this occasion already waivered the licence fee for Public Health approval.

All boat owners should therefore seek to have the appropriate certification in place before this date. Any boat owner without this certification by 1 February will not be permitted to sell fish to the public.

Notes to Editors:

Following an urgent application from the St Helena Fisheries Corporation (SHFC) to Executive Council (ExCo) in September this year, requesting additional subsidy to fund repairs to equipment in the Fish Processing Factory, Elected Members instructed the formation of a Fisheries Task Group. The Task Group was set up to undertake a review of the current fish processing and sales on St Helena, and present an alternative business model to ExCo on 29 October 2019. The key focus for the Group was to produce a model that curtails the crippling losses incurred by the SHFC with a view to reducing the subsidy provided to it by taxpayers.

Further background can be found at: https://www.sainthelena.gov.sh/2019/11/draft-alternative-business-model-for-fish-processing-and-sales-on-st-helena-the-present-status-and-next-steps/.

#StHelena #Fisheries #NextSteps

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SHG

13 December 2019