PSA president reveals that ministries are in conflict over occupancy of the NTTC building
Workers at the Ministry of Agriculture headquarters are yet to move
into their promised new location, as there appears to be a dispute
over the building they expected to occupy.
The current headquarters is said to be in a state of disrepair, with
pieces of concrete flaking and falling, while the structure,
reportedly, is leaning.
After they protested these deplorable conditions at the
Independence Avenue location, senior officers indicated that the
workers would be moved to the former NTTC building on Nugent
Avenue.
Now, Joan Peters, president of the Antigua and Barbuda Public
Service Association (ABPSA), alleges that issues have developed
between the Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry of Health,
which controls the NTTC building and, seemingly, is reluctant to
have the Agriculture workers move in.
Workers from the General Post Office (GPO) were also expecting to
be placed in the Nugent Avenue building, since they, too, are plagued
by below-standard working conditions, including mold infestation
and a leaking roof.
As far as Peters knows, the Post Office staff were to be placed on the
ground floor, while the Agriculture workers were expected to
occupy the two upper floors.
However, she says she is not sure what is happening at present, as
nothing has been communicated formally to her.
The ABPSA president says that persons had been taken to the new
location for a site visit; and then word surfaced that Ministry of
Health departments are to be placed there, as well.
Meanwhile, there seems to be utter confusion with that building,
observers say.
That was Joan Peters, president of the Antigua and Barbuda
Public Service Association, on the Good Morning Sass Show.
Although the NTTC premises had been refurbished to become a
satellite hospital during the COVID-19 pandemic, it has never been
used for that purpose.
Reportedly, it was retrofitted to accommodate infectious-disease
patients – at a cost of $22 million.
