THE National Television Network (NTN) is rebroadcasting the documentary series the OECS: The Founders. The six part series on the early history of the OECS premiered on NTN on Monday, 24th October 2016 and has received very positive reviews.
It features interviews with five of the Prime Ministers and Secretariat Officials who were either on the Authority of OECS or at the helm of its Secretariat during the founding years. They are, former Prime Ministers Sir Lester Bird of Antigua and Barbuda, Sir Kennedy Simmonds of St Kitts and Nevis, Sir James Mitchell of St Vincent and the Grenadines; Sir Vaughan Lewis, the first Director General and Swinburne Lestrade ,the first Director of Economic Affairs of the Secretariat. Sir Lester and Sir Kennedy were signatories to the Treaty of Basseterre in 1981.
In the programmes, the Founders discuss a wide range of subjects, including the Grenada Revolution, the attempt at OECS political union in the late 1980’s and the relationship between the Prime Ministers who sat on the Authority of the OECS among many other issues of historical importance. The series was commissioned in observance of the 25th anniversary of the OECS on 18th June this year.
The sixth and final programme was broadcast on Sunday 3rd December but due to the public acclaim of the programmes, NTN has decided to rebroadcast the series. The first programme with Sir Lester Bird was aired last Monday will be repeated this Sunday at 8:00pm.
The series producer and presenter is Earl Stephen Huntley, a former St. Lucian diplomat and a writer/ broadcaster who now heads a media production company, the West Indies Media Corporation.