BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – LEADER of the Opposition in the Federal Parliament, the Hon. Mark Brantley is calling on everyone in the Federation to live within their means and to account for their actions and inactions in 2011.
“Two thousand and eleven must be about fiscal sobriety and sustainability and living within our means. The New Year must be about greater accountability by all of us for our actions and inactions. For far too long we have been fed empty platitudes that we could continue to spend and spend and spend and borrow and borrow and borrow without there being any consequences.”
Brantley made this pronouncement, among others, during his New Year’s Address to the nation.
He stressed that the realities of crime and anti-social behaviour have been long neglected and the nation must stop celebrating mediocrity and failure.
“Far too long we have ignored the growing problems of crime and anti-social behaviour in the vain hope that they would disappear miraculously. Far too long we have ridiculed and chastised those who dared to sound the alarm and castigated them as unpatriotic for telling the truth about where we are as a nation and where we were obviously headed.
Far too long we have celebrated mediocrity in our country, celebrating failure as if it were Manna from Heaven. In 2011 all this must stop.”
He noted that the crime rate continues to be unacceptably high and last year it had captured the attention of the international media “with its untold perils for our main tourism industry”.
Commenting on the state of the Federation’s economy, Brantley said it has found itself in a crisis, which is the deepest one since St. Kitts and Nevis became a sovereign state some 27 years ago.
“I am deeply concerned that all the indicators are there that this year, for the first time in her history, our nation may well find itself in the cruel grips of the International Monetary Fund and austerity measures imposed on us not from Church Street or Bath Hotel, but from the corridors of power in Washington D.C.
“As we reflect on the past year and seek to learn from our mistakes, perhaps the lesson to be learnt is that actions have consequences and that decisions taken today may have disastrous consequences for us as a nation in the future.”
He said the nation must now face up to the reality of the Value Added Tax implemented on November 1, 2010, the increased cost of electricity and numerous new tax measures, while stressing that salaries and wages are likely to remain stagnant as the cost of living skyrockets.
“The unconscionably high national, which we were all assured was irrelevant, has now become the expressed reason for the raft of new tax and related measures,” he added.
Brantley posited that 2011 promises to be exceedingly difficult on the economic front and there is no need for leaders of the Federation to sugar coat the realities or pretend that they do not exist.
“Our people must understand that we have arrived at a point in time in the history of our young nation, where more than ever before we will all be asked to make sacrifices. We will all be asked in the famous words of United States President John Fitzgerald Kennedy to ask not what our country can do for us but indeed what we can do for our country,” Brantley said.
The Opposition Leader is of the view that the economic challenges in 2011 would provide the people an opportunity to leverage technology to achieve cost savings and improved services; strategise the country’s offering of incentives to foreign investors to ensure the yielding of maximum returns, especially in terms of employment for locals; fully engage the business community to establish and implement a sound growth strategy; revisit unworkable ideas and impractical economic schemes, which have led to harsh economic consequences for all; develop a new paradigm for moving the country forward, which involves all of the people; and retool the economy with emphasis on education and training for the people to better equip them to confront and overcome the challenges in this hostile world environment.
He advised that this year must see the building of a strong and robust economy and the providence of opportunities for nationals, as well as making the country safe for the children.
“We must, this year, insist that this country offers our people hope rather than despair,” Brantley added.
