Mr. Chairman, guest speaker Rudinath Indarasingh, Lady Simmonds Members of the diplomatic Corps, members of the clergy, specially invited guests, members of the executive of the Peoples Action Movement, members and friends of the Peoples Action Movement a pleasant good afternoon. 

I welcome you to the 42^nd Annual convention of the Peoples Action Movement. Let me first of all bring greetings to this convention from The Rt Hon. Dr. Sir Kennedy Alphonse Simmonds our Nations first Prime Minister as he had to remain in Anguilla on business. 

You will hear him in the presentation directly afterwards and he continues to remain steadfast in the fight with us. I would like to thank my candidates and the executive of the Peoples Action Movement for their support work and effort over the last year. In particular special thanks to our chairman and candidate for constituency number seven who will give way in that area for a new candidate of the Peoples Action Movement. 

You will see your party making some changes and reendorsing candidates. I would like to thank, on your behalf our guest speaker for enlightening the whole Federation on the robbery of the sugar workers by the labour government and Union. What they said PAM could not do, the government in Trinidad and Tobago did with pressure from the Union. 

It shows that there is no Trades and Labour Union in St.Kitts or they would have made a similar proposition to government. But you know that the government and the Union is six of one and half a dozen of the next.  It shows that this government did not have the political will or fortitude to empower the masses of the people in this country who they say they love so much along with a Union that pillaged your pockets for seventy two years without being their for you in your hour of need. 

The aim of the administration is to continue the dependency syndrome in order to manipulate. The union which has taken the peoples money for years needs to be made accountable to its members for not fighting for them against the government. I think some union member needs to bring a class  action against the government for dereliction of duty.

 

This years theme, empowering our people, securing our nations future represents what I believe to be the most fundamental issue that will face our country in the coming decade. We are all familiar with the language of empowerment and have become inured to the many clichés that are associated with it but it is the practice and reality of empowerment that will define our national development sooner rather than later. 

The dawn of the 21^st century presents us with a radically different economic, social and political climate from that which has prevailed during the last five centuries and it is our capacity to adjust rapidly that will determine whether we live in the so  called First or Third World.

We here in the Caribbean in general and St. Kitts & Nevis in particular are already dealing with the teething pains of inaugurating a modern economy based on services rather than agricultural production. With this change we are seeing first hand how the obsolescence of the skills of an agricultural economy can and will marginalize individuals in general and our country as a whole.

The outcome of the WTO and EU negotiations with regard to preferential quotas for sugar and bananas bring into sharp focus the fact that we must not plan our development around the fiction that small developing countries are equal players in a globalized world economy. Yet, the modern age presents opportunities as well as challenges and it is through the focused and visionary harnessing of modern technologies that emerging economies like St. Kitts & Nevis will be best placed to stand on our own two feet.

It is only through the use and development of imaginative and forward thinking approaches to human resource development and skills training that we will be able to empower our people and secure our nations future. This will require a dynamic Government like the Peoples Action Movement that is ever ready and willing not only to embrace innovation but also to anticipate in which direction change will carry us in order to remain ahead of the curve. 

The modern government has to be a professional entity that will manage the affairs of state in a businesslike manner, employing the best and brightest in ways that maximize their skills not like this country is someones private fiefdom for the personal profit of a few, but for the overall development of every sector so that the benefits spread throughout our society. 

The modern government will implement policies that ensure that the engine of the economy, the entrepreneurial sector, is running effectively providing not only the necessary jobs and tax revenues but also the invaluable incentive to our people to stand on their own two feet and make their contribution to nation building. Members and friends, it gives me great confidence to be able to tell you that the Peoples Action Movement is the Party, the only Party that will provide such a Government after the next poll.

Allow me a few minutes to tell you why. The Peoples Action Movement has a proven track record of nurturing and empowering our people making them an independent population rather than perpetuating the hand out syndrome that has paralyzed our people during the tenure of this current Administration. The Peoples Action Movement trusted the people to be able to spend their own money by abolishing the personal income tax and during our tenure persons were able to build their own homes rather than just rent a room, falsely called a starter home, from the government at an exorbitant cost. There was a Small Business Association in this country and local people were able to invest their money as entrepreneurs and participate in nation building and not just support the profit making of the f government, friends, family and foreigners feted by this administration.

The Peoples Action Movement made the first strides to empower women and youth in this country. This great party of ours took the initiative to broaden the political tent by encouraging and supporting the aspirations of women in the country long before the UN made the participation of women in politics a millennium development goal. This party made it possible for young mothers to return to school and to work in the civil service, enabling them to develop themselves and contribute fully to our society. We are proud to have fostered the first woman candidate Mary Charles and the first Parliamentarian Constance Mitcham  in this country and are proud to tell you that the empowerment of women will remain a bedrock policy of the Peoples Action Movement.

This great Party lowered the voting age to 18 and encouraged young people to contribute their energy, their  idealism and their vision to nation building. It expanded educational opportunity for children and young persons by building the first school in St. Pauls and a high school in Verchilds.

 

This years theme is quite significant as it allows me the opportunity to look back at our achievements and give you an indication of what the future holds for us with a PAM government. The theme chosen for this convention empowering our people securing our nations future is both timely and relevant for this years convention. The theme is timely as it is quite obvious that although elections are constitutionally due in 2009, some two years away, the country is seeing signs of an early election. 

Relevant in the sense that today our Nations future is under threat of extinction as a result of serious mismanagement of our country and its limited resources, and it is a national imperative to remove the Labour administration as it has been instrumental in making the poverty of citizens a national policy. I can say almost with certainty that the poverty assessment now being undertaken there would be more persons living below the poverty line than when the last survey was done a couple of years ago.

 

 As election is around the bend the single most important item on the agenda has to be for us to ensure that when the reforms come, firstly, we achieve the necessary reforms and that when we get them they represent the views of the majority. Our once democratic Federation is under severe attack by this administration, which seeks to reduce the rights of the citizens which are vested in the Constitution.

 

Democracy is merely a catchword used by the government to sound nice but for the government it has no meaning or significance.

The road to electoral reform has not been easy. It has taken an enormous amount of our time and resources to ensure that the reforms are undertaken. It will take even more resources to ensure that the process is fair, just and transparent and that our new system is beyond reproach. 

The government has tried at every stage to manipulate the process to their advantage. In the first instance you heard the Deputy Prime Minister say that when they are finished with electoral reform we are not going to like it. What that simply means is that the Administration will manipulate the system to suit their interests. In the second instance the Commonwealth said that they were willing to provide the necessary expertise to see the process through to the end. 

They said they were committed to ensuring the highest levels of democracy to our Federation by providing expertise and finances. The Prime Minister and his party said St.Kitts and Nevis did not want them because we have a lot of smart people here. You can interpret that how you want but it appears to me that the smartness he is speaking about has to do with outsmarting us, the people of the Federation.

 

They have rejected the help of the Commonwealth and have on their own decided that they will go and reinvent the wheel with a barrage of committees. They would not even look at the Jamaica model or the Antigua model which completed their exercise within three months and are reputed to have one of the best electoral systems in the world.  

Additionally when the forum to begin the process began at the Marriott, it was said to the public that the report was to be made public so that there could be discussions on it before the final recommendations were arrived at. In fact, if one looks at the secret document (see it here) at page 61 it says under the rubric follow up action and I quote Publish the report of the ERCC so that the public can be assured that their views harvested in the consultations are accurately reflected and that they have in fact contributed to the electoral reform process (end of quote).  

True to form by the Labour party administration has been kept  this document a secret and the chairman Mr. Archibald saying he did not think that the public should have the document before his committee finally reviewed it. The rest is history. We felt as a party that disclosure of the document far outweighed keeping this document in silence and in secret and hence we have begun to publish that document in parts in the Democrat newspaper, our paper, until the whole of it is distributed to the public. 

That is true transparency and democracy. Empowerment of our people has to come through education, not necessarily pointing them to books and tertiary education but by informing our people what are required standards throughout the world. This is a global village we are all going to be tested by the very same standards and hence our people must be told what acceptable standards are and what are not acceptable standards. Is it acceptable that such a document which has come entirely from the public should be excluded from you the public? 

Clearly to hold this report away from the public cannot be accepted or tolerated by the public. In the run up to the 2004 election the Labour party came with a song and dance that they could not have electoral reform without constitutional reform. When they carried out the consultations for the reform of the constitution and paid hundreds of thousands of dollars of taxpayers money for a report that now gathers dust on someones desk that plan did not work. So they came up with another plan that there was not enough time to do the necessary reforms before the 2004 elections. 

Election is now in the air and a hearing them talk about elections before reform. Are you going to allow that? I know you fed up with the system of people voting twice and dead people voting. I know you will ensure that satisfactory reforms are put in place before we go into another election.

 

The questions of Integrity, accountability and transparency and good governance have become burning issues in the Federation. Integrity, transparency and accountability are the pillars of any true democracy.

In all of our fellow Caribbean states, integrity legislation is a fully accepted and normal feature of governance. All legislators and senior public officers make statutory declaration of their assets to a body established by law to receive and review these statements to determine compliance. One of our closest neighbours Antigua and Barbuda saw it fit as one of their first orders of business to enact and bring into operation a set of legislation designed to fulfill their national and international obligations of integrity, accountability and transparency. 

What is the difficulty in our Federation, for members of this administration to say to the electorate to whom they are responsible, these are my assets? I have acquired them by dint of hard work, through honest investment and I can openly declare them to the world so that I may be seen to comply with the law. Then this must be of serious concern to us which can only lead reasonable persons to view this as an indication that there is some fear of disclosure. I do not fear disclosure I have delivered. Why this refusal for over twelve years in government to enact the Integrity in Public Life legislation. 

The PMs flimsy excuse every time he is questioned about the legislation is the lamest excuse I have heard from any Prime Minister. He might as well say nothing. This legislation is the norm- the ordinary and accepted law in every other Caribbean country. The reason is obviously easy to understand. The wealth of ministers of government and those in close association with them has grown exponentially.

The Commonwealth some years ago has provided this Governments Legal Department with draft legislation. Trinidad and Tobago, our neighbour in the south has it on its law books and has revisited it several times to meet public concerns.

The process of tendering is also problematic and because of how the selection process is done it is the easiest way for political graft and in no small measure has been single handedly responsible for our enormous national debt.

The process of tendering is supposed to be an above board and open process. Persons who have the relevant skills and resources to undertake government contracts are invited to offer bids to provide certain services, for example, the construction of a school, a development area or some other project. Any person tendering should be confident that their offer will receive full and equal consideration as any other on the table. 

No political or other consideration must come into play. There is therefore a need for a tenders board to govern and regulate this activity. There is therefore a need for a Tenders Act to satisfy everyone that the process is by way of a level playing field offering all nationals who may qualify an equal opportunity to participate meaningfully in our national development.

Transparency therefore requires a government to act in an evenhanded way. 

To avoid accusations of favouristism, nepotism, corruption and the like. Transparency means that every citizen would be free to question a decision and to be entitled to a truthful answer. Transparency means that we would be able to know who bid on the West Basseterre By Pass Road and how the bid process was resolved. Transparency would mean that the country would know the real deal with the Angelus hotel and its acquisition. 

Transparency would mean that we could know how much the 450 acres at Kittitian Heights sold by government was bought for. We would be able to know the real deal behind the La Valee project. Over $250 million spent on it and nothing to show for it. See the documents here. Just recently in March of last year government borrowed another USD$50 million from Unit Trust in Trinidad look down there and tell me where you see over $130 million dollars Eastern Caribbean dollars spent since march of last year. How are we servicing this debt? Is it the intention to let this property go into foreclosure so someone can get their hands on over 400 acres of prime land?

Transparency would mean that we would not have to wait until the Prime Minister comes on a talk show on a radio station to know things about the Stanford deal when the country has been clamoring for years for some answers. Transparency would mean that we could know the exact cost to the taxpayers of the new Warner Park facility. 

Transparency would mean that we should engage the public to really see the feasibility of building another $10 million stadium when St.Pauls stadium built at a cost of $6 million has never been used. When we had the football stadium built at a cost of $9 million dollars and knocked down before we finish paying for it. If we would have true transparency the accounts of public corporations such as the St.Kitts Nevis Air and Sea Port Authority and the National Housing Corporation would be tabled for all to scrutinize. 

The real truth of the matter is that we have a government operating in darkness behind closed doors and not being the servants of the people but rather the people being their servants. President Chavez of Venezuela is coming here next week. They are trying to hide that from you until the last minute too. Playing with fire and water in the same hand expecting Chavez to give the party a lot of money before the election to give them a boost.

Our future cannot be secured when our people do not own a piece of the rock or are given an opportunity which is way beyond their means. The question of land distribution in St.Kitts is a serious matter for concern.  There is a crisis of confidence in this government which shows no transparency, and the government continues to operate in secrecy.   It is well known, that this government has sold prime land to Stanford for as little as sixty nine (69) cents per square foot, while nationals are required to pay five dollars ($5) and more per square foot.

Many persons in the country have applied to government time and time again and are unable to secure a piece of the rock for themselves they continue to apply, but still cannot get a piece of land for housing, agriculture or investment purposes. The government gives them no satisfaction.   

 

Who is looking out for the people of this country?  Why is the government on this mad rush to sell off the land in St.Kitts to foreigners?  Lamberts estate sold to foreigners. The entire mountain side from Belmont Estate to Parson sold to foreigners.  La valley (427)  waiting to be grabbed up and locals forced to relocate. We are selling out St.Kitts. port Zante, nothing for us.

 

 Who is empowering the small man in Sandy Point, in Old road, in St. Pauls or in Cayon, Newton Ground.   

 

As we speak here today, nationals at home and nationals all over the world, are looking to the government  this administration - for real answers about the utilization and disposal of the sugar lands in st.kitts.

 

What is the land policy of this government after the closure of the sugar industry?  What is the true status of the ownership of the sugar lands?  How much of the peoples land is already mortgaged or sold?  Our history is one of a landless people, and therefore we have a right to know what the governments policy is. If we continue to be a landless people we will never be empowered. We will never be solidly placed for the future, the future of our children will be weighed in the balance and found wanting.

 

We are always hearing about the empowerment of the small man but one must ask the small man whether or not he feels empowered and that he can get land to purchase as needed from government. The sugar industry has been closed and acres of acres of acres land should be now available to locals to farm, for investment purposes, for housing,  but instead it appears that the land has been opened up for a few friends, family and foreigners. If you speak with a foreign accent it is easier to purchase lands from this government. Im going to try and practice mine.~~adz:Right~~

Clearly it is government that assigns greater priority to foreigners than to our own local people who have toiled and sweat in the very same lands, our own local people who were born and bred here and pay there taxes here. I am passionate about Lamberts estate as a youngster I ust to be on that estate everyday in the vacation roaming the hills picking mangoes and jelly. Never seen a fence across that property, look at Lamberts Estate now it has a chain fence across it preventing poor people who go to the mountains to look mangoes and jelly to sell from accessing the mountains from there. 

Tell us about Kittitian Heights and how many poor farmers had to give up their farming. What about La vallee green and the big green fence and what is going on behind the fence if anything at all and how many locals were relocated and how much lands they were given. Tell us about the chain over at cockleshell beach and the lack of access by locals.

The government could not find an acre, a half acre or even a quarter acre to give to the sugar workers.  The Trades and Labour Union would not stand up and fight for the sugar workers; you hear what they do for the Caroni workers that is a government/ Union that cared in some measure about the people, and the Labour Union is going to want some of you come labour day in a few days to come out in the hot sun and march talking about workers rights and supporting the Union. What rights did the sugar workers have and who rooting for whom? It was PAM in St.Peters revealed to the public the more favourable 1960 agreement which the Union was hiding from its members. 

The same members who had paid their dues for seventy five years without proper representation.  A piece of land was too much for the poor sugar workers to promote agricultural diversification. The minister said it could not be done - no land for the sugar workers to enhance their lives and empower the people, many of whom had worked in the sugar industry for decades. 

This was after the Prime Minster told the nation during the election campaign, that the sugar industry will close over his dead body. Still today, the government will not give a clear outline of its land policy. The government will not give an assurance to the people that it will protect the little we own and preserve the wealth of this nation for future generations.

 

The government must stop selling out the birth right of the citizens of this nation.  They are destroying the hopes and aspirations of the youth of this country. Do you see any young people lately going into their own business?  The government is destroying the future of our nationals with their failed policies and myopic thinking.

 

I am aware that some may dismiss the National Debt and say national debt me &.. but national debt is an important yardstick and monetary indicator.Our National Debt is like a MILLSTONE around our collective necks. 

When our Ministers of Government speak about our National Debt they speak in ECONOMIC GIBBERISH  to fool the simple man in the street into believing that our National Debt is insignificant in relation to our lives and to the hardships which we are now feeling as we try to make ends meet. Our Government never tells us what the total National Debt is we know that it exceeds two billion dollars. They never tell us what each and every citizen of this Nation has to pay to reduce this national debt.  

What I can tell you though is that in every bread that you buy, you pay national debt. Every tin of milk or baby food that you get for your child, you pay national debt. Every Medical Prescription that you go to Valumart or City Drug Store with, you have to give this Government something for the National Debt. Clothes, shoes, lip-stick, brazier, beer, soft drink, gasoline, cook-up, Anything that you spend your money on, you have to pay the government something for our national debt.  

And as I said before we are not hearing a figure from the Prime Minister as to what we have to pay for the billions that we owe, simply because this Government has been spending our money like drunken sailors on shore leave. What our government tells us that the national debt has increased again and it is now one hundred and eighty seven percent of our Gross Domestic Product. But what is our Gross Domestic Product? The Nations leader wont tell us that so that we can calculate it ourselves.  

But the Director of Audit, an employee of Government does an AUDIT each year and tells us that in 2005 our Government and in other words meaning me and you had to pay $123 MILLION to cover our debt. And that was up from the year before because the Government borrowed more money in 2005 and again in 2006 so it is even worse now in 2007. 

But it is not the Minister of this government who has to pay for the loan. It is not they who must pay the one hundred and twenty five million dollars plus each and every year. It is you and I and in time our children and in time their children, which will have to pay back this money .As the Prime Minister said previously, IT IS NOT HIS DEBT IT IS THE PEOPLES DEBT. 

With a recognized poverty level of 34%,, fewer and fewer families are being asked to pay for these massive government loans&.If fewer and fewer people are asked to pay for debt service charges, then greater and greater will be the cost of living and poorer and poorer will our people become. It is time for this government to come straight with the people of this nation. The time for lies and deceptions has long since passed. It is time for the unchecked borrowing to cease and the burdens of the high cost of living removed from around our necks.

 

There are other statistics which the Director of Audit has provided to show how St Kitts is being mismanaged to the detriment of the citizens of this country. We are suffering from the DRUNKEN SAILOR SYNDROME, which is why our living standards are falling despite the pronouncements that our economy is booming. Listen to this:-The Overall Deficit exceeded $125.6 million in fiscal year 2005.Ministry of public Works, Utilities etc spent 77% more than they budgeted for in 2005.The country has experienced twelve successive years of deficits.

 

Members and friends, I must address you on the pressing issue of crime in our society. The last decade has seen a shocking rise in both the frequency and brutality of criminal activities in our Federation. There can be no other verdict on this Administration other than to declare that it is an abysmal failure. We can all remember that the Labour Party boasted in its election manifesto of 1995 that law and order would be its first priority yet after a dozen years on the job it has nothing to show for all its grandiose claims. As the crime wave has all but overwhelmed our once peaceful Federation we have literally had to beg for this Government to even issue statements of concern.

This unprecedented state of affairs should attract the horror and earnest consideration of all civic minded individuals and social organizations. Yet, in the face of having the second highest murder rate in the world, better only than Columbia which has been in a state of civil war for the last forty years, there has maintained a deafening silence. While murders have been the most visible and brutal they represent only the tip of the ice burg. 

The record breaking year for murders we were cursed with in 2006 overshadowed the hundreds of robberies and burglaries and woundings and gang related crimes and rapes that so many of our citizens suffered without the solace of public sympathy because their victimization was not sensational enough to attract the media.

In the face of this crisis there appears to have been an almost complete abdication of duty on the part of our social organizations beginning with this Government. Instead of implementing measures to curb the explosion in crime and punish or even rehabilitate criminals this Government treated some of the worst offenders to meals at the Marriott resort. However the most disturbing example of the pathological incompetence of this Administration is its shameful treatment of our Police Force.

The public is well aware that the relationship between this Labour Administration and the rank and file of the Police Force has been stained at the best of times and acrimonious at the worst of times. Only last year the Police Welfare Association was embroiled with the Government in what the Prime Minister himself called a political confrontation. 

After years of trying without success to seek redress for the unsanitary working conditions they have been forced to endure, which includes competing with rats for space in the police stations, the dogs of the canine unit sleeping with the police and to ameliorate their conditions of service especially with regards to pay which has remained stagnant for the past decade. The frustrated officers undertook what can only be described as industrial action.

One would think that a Labour Government would appreciate and understand the rights of workers to organize and even protest to better their lot but one would be wrong. The Police have been met with nothing but cynicism and obstruction throughout these last few months. How ironic it is that during this bicentennial of the abolition of the slave trade a Labour Administration is trampling on the basic rights of workers and is completely deaf to their cries for better working conditions! The persecutory nature of the witch hunt instigated after the so called sick out, in the form of a Commission of Inquiry is plainly obvious to all. In any event the fact that we are still waiting for the result of this Inquiry to be published months after it has been completed shows just how completely unconcerned this Government is about the security of ordinary people in this country.

To add insult to the injury it has perpetrated against our Police Officers this Government has chosen to not only ignore their grievances but to attempt to dilute their ability to protest by importing personnel from other Caribbean countries. We have not been informed about just how many will come nor about how they will be housed, especially in light of the conditions of most police stations but the message is clear. If the police officers dare to threaten the status quo they will simply be replaced. Additionally, this Government has made a concerted effort to undermine the Police Force by blurring the line between it and the army. It is cause for incredible concern that we are becoming accustomed to the high visibility of military personnel participating in civilian functions like Carnival and performing police function like investigating crimes. This represents a grave threat to our democracy itself.

 

Members and friends, our country needs urgent solutions to the growing social crisis that is threatening our safety and security.  This administration has failed to provide leadership in the fight against crime and so we continue to live in fear.  Each day we wake up to another murder or shooting and each time we ask ourselves where  have we gone wrong.  It is not so much as where we went wrong but where are we are headed as a nation. 

 

We must return to strong, decisive leadership!

As I end on my note about the crime problems facing our country I am saddened to report to you that another young man was gunned down this morning in the prime of his youth. His life has ended in brutal murder. I would like on your behalf to send out condolences to the family of the fallen. Somewhere out there a mother grieves, a father grieves, a sister, a brother an aunt an uncle. How many more must die before the government acts drastically and decisively. Talk is cheap it cannot bring back the over 100 victims that have lost their lives under the watch of this government. My heart is bleeding, the nations heart is bleeding, we need this matter resolved with urgency.

 

 

This administration has broken faith with the people and has recklessly and contemptuously squandered your trust. Their approach to government demonstrates a lack of foresight and can best be described as unstructured, ad hoc, sporadic and piecemeal.

Our resolve has always been to build upon policies that transform the quality of life in St.Kitts and Nevis. The need to offer real and meaningful reforms that are essential to give hope to those of us left behind. Our aim is to improve the quality of life all through efforts aimed at stimulating economic growth while at the same time reducing poverty.

·        Creating entrepreneurial and job opportunities for our secondary and tertiary school leavers in electronic commerce (e-commerce) and information technology industries

·        Stimulating employment generation and investment by providing tax credit incentives to companies that generate employment above previously established levels

·        Implementing a small Business Policy that secures 30% of all Government Contracts to the small Business Sector

·        Developing a National Land Reform Policy articulated and understood by our citizens

·        Introducing an Urban Renewal Programme for Irish Town, McKnight, New Town and Basseterre

·        Liberal duty free concessions and tax concessions for start up businesses 

·        Duty free concessions for first time home owners specifically targeted towards the youths.

·        A reduction in the interest rates for land and house financing provided by the Development Bank.

·        Duty free concessions on motor vehicles for civil servants based on their rank.

·        Private sector involvement in the Air and sea Ports Authority

·        Duty concessions on energy saving devices solar water heaters, hybrid vehicles

·        Reducing the excessively high tax burdens on our citizens

·        Reviewing the level of corporation tax in an effort to stimulate growth and expansion in the economy by having public consultation with all the stakeholders

·        Reducing the cost of living by reducing the consumption tax on building materials, certain basic food items and fuels

·        Reducing the monthly payments for householders occupying houses

·        Reducing excessively high utility rates with special emphasis on water rates and electricity rates. Energy has to be a critical focus now of any government. Not putting in energy savers and thinking that this is a measure that wii redound to the benefit of consumers. Energy is a necessity for human existenece and economic activity. Therefore energy security is critical for our long term survival and development. We cannot remain forever subjected to the changes in market forces for oil prices. We need now to seriously explore opportunities to diversify our energy portfolio. Producing energy from renewable sources using environmentally friendly technologies. These are the kinds of thinking a new PAM government will bring to the table.

·        Salary increase for civil servants every four years in line with the cost of living.

Ladies and Gentlemen, we stand at a crossroads as we contemplate the greatest chance for change that we have seen in a decade. During the last year the people have made their desire for change as clear as can be. They have protested the electricity surcharge, expressed their outrage at every opportunity on the radio talk shows and have shown overwhelming support for our calypsonians as they turned the frustration of the people with the corruption and ineptitude of this Administration into art through satire and song. The duty now falls to us as a Party to make the case to the people of this country that the Peoples Action movement is not merely an alternative to this failed Labour Administration but a complete and positive change of the status quo. We have to show that the Peoples Action Movement stands prepared to usher this, our dear Federation, into a new dawn of progress and development and that we have the vision and policies to assume the responsibility of Government, tomorrow. We need to prove ourselves to be deserving of a strong mandate.

 

At this time, Ladies and Gentlemen, we have a great hope. This country has reached the saturation point with what it is willing to take from this Government and it is ready now for something radically different. St. Kitts & Nevis is ready for a Government run by the Peoples Action Movement. All the signs indicate that the next poll will be held soon. This Governments attempt to mama guy  the people off with the Cricket World Cup proved to be a dismal failure and they are under increasing pressure to seek a renewal of their mandate. We, the Peoples

 

Action Movement have forced this Government to implement a process for Electoral Reform and exposed the hypocrisy of the Denzil Douglas Administration as it has tried everything to undermine the doctrine of one man, one vote. The Peoples Action Movement has forced this Government to come to the people and claim to have implemented a policy of leasing rather than 

Selling land and our lone Parliamentarian, the Hon. Shawn Richards has taught this Government how modern accounting works.

 

I would like to close by placing a call to the civil society and institutions in the Federation. A central challenge to the deepening and indeed a fairer system of election requires an electoral system that guarantees free and fair elections. A system of checks and balances based on the separation of powers and a vibrant civil society, able to monitor government and a free and independent media. To promote democracy it requires a measure of political development to deepen democratic values and culture in our society. This is where our civil institutions must come in. With respect I urge, that it is now your role to ensure the process of electoral reform moves along in a non partisan manner to a successful conclusion in a timely fashion. If you fail to respond to the clarion call of the people you would have failed generations to come.

It is now opportune to let your voices be heard collectively in unison so that you trigger the virtuous cycle which these reforms are expected to achieve. When institutions do not act in a timely manner in any area that requires change, the whole fabric of the society breaks down. Now it is electoral reform, crime, and the national debt that begs out for your urgent attention, tomorrow it may very well be something else. Please do not sit idly by while the entire fabric of our society burst at the seems. You are now being called upon to be publicly accountable for your actions.

 

The need to act is clear. The time to act is now, to ensure that our people are truly empowered and that future generations to come can benefit from our collective wisdom and foresight. Still needed is the will to act in ways that cultivate democracy, advance development and expand a culture of peace among our people.