Chapter 2:12
“I just cannot seem to keep up with the Sunshine!!”
By Ron Daniel
~~Adz:Left~~ On July 10th 2006 the Nevis Reformation Party took over governance in Nevis and almost immediately the people who once walked in darkness were engulfed with the radiant rays of splendid sunshine. In 17 months of governance the NRP has set out to transform Nevis with gusto that has never before been seen.
This transformation can be seen in the country in almost every sector. We see it in infrastructure, in health, in social services, in youth, in education, in entrepreneurship, in community development, in empowerment, in agriculture, in tourism, in housing and lands, in trade and in every single thing else. When the NRP Government was elected, I made a vow that I would keep track of all of its accomplishments, but the truth of the matter is that, no matter how hard I try, I just cannot seem to keep up with the Sunshine. It seems that if I go away for a weekend, when I come back I see a new road being done. If I go to sleep when I wake up I hear that twenty more young people get scholarships to go off and study and even if I wink, I see that the W Hotel will be starting construction in Nevis in 2008. This article will speak to some of NRP’s accomplishments while in 17 months of office and show why I just cannot seem to keep up with the Sunshine.
The most beautiful woman in terms of character and appearance that Nevis has ever produced is from Jessups and she also happens to be my wife. You would imagine then that I used to be in Jessups morning, noon and night on foot, on bike and later by vehicle just to be blessed by her very presence. The roads to Jessups were so bad then that sometimes when I was walking back home in the night, it almost felt like I was being attacked by potholes. The shocks in my car suffered a similar fate and one time I was forced off the road trying to avoid traffic on the narrow road. It took myself as well as two others from Jessups to get the vehicle back on the road. Similarly I had to help many others get back on the same narrow road after they fell off trying to accommodate traffic.
That is why I felt I was in a dream two weeks ago when for the first time I could drive on what I refer to now as The Jessups Broadway. I do not think that any praise is to high for the Sunshine Government for that. By putting in the roads in Jessups, they have transformed its very landscape and saved the vehicle owners thousands of dollars in car parts and many hours of time. Through the darkness and the rain of the previous Government, Jessups has made it.
Thank you NRP, Jessups is now in the Sunshine!!!! Now when I go to see my in laws I do not have to stop to allow oncoming traffic to pass. Now when I go to see my in laws I do not have to zig zag all over to avoid potholes and wince every time I fall into one. Now I can simply enjoy the Jessups’s Broadway. Of course I can go on and speak of the roads in Stoney Grove leading to my good friend Sylvia’s house who I used to be afraid to visit as well as the roads in Bricklin by my cousin Joya or the road to the Eden Brown Church of God or the road to the St James Primary School or the road to my big friend Rohan in Barnes Ghaut or the road under construction between Cotton ground and Barnes Ghut by my sweet friend Clair. However I feel I will leave out a road or two simply because I just can’t seem to keep up with the Sunshine.
I have to take time to speak of the progress that has been made in educational development and training; in the past year over 300 people have been trained in various fields. Of that number no fewer than 75 people have gotten assistance from government to pursue some training or educational certification overseas. I am continually approached by different persons who tell me that they are applying to Government next year for assistance because they too want to be a part of the Sunshine.
They tell me that under the darkness they had no chance to go off to study, but that they are glad that now the light provided by the Sunshine has enabled them to rise out of the dark abyss of despair that the previous government had them in and improve themselves. Fifth formers tell me that they cannot wait to leave Sixth Form because they know that the Sunshine will assist them with their college expenses and then they will be able to come back and make money that their parents have never made.
I have to tell them to focus on passing their O’levels first then remind them that they still have to pass their CAPE subjects before they go off to college. They tell me that they do not care because now more than ever they are motivated to study their work. My friends in St Kitts tell me that they want to come over here to live because they too have seen the Sunshine. Other friends of mine who have returned from studying with massive student loans say they only wish that the Sunshine government was in earlier so that their college loans could have been much less. The Sunshine Government in 17 MONTHS have provided assistance to more people for studies than the Government in the darkness and the rain did in 14 YEARS. I simply cannot keep up with the Sunshine.
~~Adz:Right~~ It is a well known truism that tourism is the lifeblood of the Nevis economy. One would think that with all the development in infrastructure, agriculture, social development et al that the Sunshine Government might have forgotten tourism but no one can ever be so wrong. The Sunshine Government was able to right the wrong of the darkness by getting back over 170 acres from Newfound that the Government in the darkness literally gave to them in exchange for a helicopter ride in Newfoundland. However they went further.
The new Government in the Sunshine was able to attract the internationally renowned ‘W’ brand of Starwood Hotels to establish a five star 150 room luxuriously exclusive hotel to come to our shores at Pinneys Beach. It is expected that they will be opened by 2009. This was done by the Sunshine Government and not the Government of darkness and rain as the hotel brand that the darkness had spoken to dropped out. In a press release issued by the Government and Newfound just this week, you heard the CEO saying how helpful Premier Parry had been in attracting the luxurious W brand.
If that were not enough, the Government in the Sunshine has also attracted and agreed in principle to another 120 room five star hotel which forms part of a Marina Development over at Lover’s beach in Newcastle. In 17 months the NRP Government in the Sunshine has entered into agreements that will see Nevis getting an additional 270 hotel rooms over the next five years. Yet under 14 years of darkness the folks did not have ONE bona fide agreement to bring even 100 hotel rooms. If the Sunshine Government is already outshining the former 14 year CCM Government in the Darkness in 1 year, imagine just how much Nevis will be shining if the Sunshine goes on for 14 years. I simply cannot keep up with the Sunshine.
Space will not permit me to go on to discuss the bevy of activity in Agriculture, the plethora of new activities in the Ministry of Social Development and the multiplicity of applications that have come into the Nevis Housing and Land Development Corporation since the prices of land fell under the Sunshine Government. These among others issues will have to be discussed in a subsequent article. My hope is that the Sunshine team uses this Christmas Season to rest, reflect and rejoice.
I hope they take time to go to church, eat ham and turkey and drink sorrel. If 2008 is going to be anything like 2007, they will need the rest this Christmas Season. As for me, I am going to buy a hundred packs of notepads so that I could keep track of the accomplishments of the Sunshine. I have to do better in 2008 because for these past 17 months, I simply cant keep up with the Sunshine. Shine on Sunshine! Shine On!
