Montserrat once again has a functioning Youth Parliament thanks to the support of the Nevis Island Assembly.
“It’s been a long time,” says the Hon. Shirley Osborne, Speaker of the Montserrat Legislative Assembly. “Madam Clerk Baker and I are very happy that we have finally got enough of Montserrat’s young people to stay in one place long enough to form a Montserrat Youth Parliament.”
The speaker said over the past three years, a small gathering of young people met several times but they had been unable to build a parliament due to frequent relocations.
“Ashneil Jeffers represented Montserrat at the last Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA) Youth Parliament and has remained in Montserrat, for which we are grateful. He has been very active over the last couple of years, and we are inspired by his commitment. We have also had the support most recently of Lyston Skerritt the Youth and Sports Coordinator whose deep reach with the young people was also instrumental in helping us pull this current group together,” the speaker added.
The President of the Nevis Island Assembly, the Hon Farrell Smithen and Madam Clerk Williams were on Montserrat over the last weekend training and giving their support to the young people.
Nevis Youth Parliament, led by President Smithen for several years, has acquired a well-deserved reputation for being the strongest, best organised and most successful Youth Parliament in the Caribbean, Atlantic and Americas Region (CAAR) of the CPA.
The speaker said “We are ready now to re-enter the CAAR Youth Parliament, and I expect our young people to participate in the annual regional Youth Parliament later this year in Trinidad and Tobago.”
