Your Excellency, The Governor General, Dr. Sir Cuthbert Montraville Sebastian;
Leader of the Peoples Action Movement, Lawyer Lindsay Grant and Mrs. Wendy Grant;
Chairman , Mr. Chesley Hamilton and Mrs. Shermel Hamilton;
Former Honourable Ministers of Government and Senators;
Your excellencies, Ambassadors;
President of the Chamber of Industry and Commerce, Mr. Franklin Brandt and Mrs. Jacqueline Brandt;
Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen, Brothers and Sisters
A very good evening to you all.
This evening, we gather once again, to celebrate the anniversary of our independence. Twenty-four years ago, our country of St. Kitts and Nevis ushered in our independence under the leadership of our beloved Dr. The Rt. Hon Sir Kennedy Alphonse Simmonds, our First Prime Minister, and his Dream Team of PAM and NRP. It was a time of togetherness and joy, for the over 20,000 persons who waited anxiously in Warner Park that night, to witness the unfurling of our new flag, at the midnight flag raising ceremony. It was the fulfilling of a dream on the long hard road to independence. Those of you who were there, would have noted, that it was a complete cross section of our community. No one could stop the people from coming together to celebrate that proud moment in our history.
This year, the theme for us is, Working Together – Achieving Together. Under this head, I would like to illustrate what we as a people were able to achieve, at a time when we were earnestly working together, with honest and dedicated leadership. We may ask ourselves, what have we achieved, and could we achieve more if we all work together?
One thing we are always certain of is change. Change will come no matter what else happens. It can be for better, or for worse. I have seen the country move from dirt roads to paved roads, from thatch houses to concrete houses, from oil lamps to electricity (although in recent times it feels like we are going back to the oil lamp days).
Fortunately, many of the changes have been for the betterment of our society, and they stand today as a clear demonstration of what can be achieved, when a society is willing to work together for the common good. It is obvious, that when there is cooperation between us, there is much that can be achieved.
The emphasis in the early years of Independence, was that the economic and social progress that were being made by us as a people, should reach all sections of the community, in a fair and equitable manner.
Under the leadership of the new and independent nation, the people were determined to join hands and set about the task of building the country. The sugar lands, which were nationalized by the previous Administration, and which were enwrapped in legal turmoil, now had to be paid for by the new PAM/NRP Administration. The economy was improved to such an extent, that the new government paid for the sugar lands. They built the Dr. Kennedy Simmonds Highway, opening up one third of the country for the first time, providing access to pristine lands, and some of our best beeches. They built the East Basseterre By-pass Road, so that traffic could flow from the airport straight to the tourist resort area at Frigate Bay. They completely paved the worst half of the island main road, and repaired the other half.
There was an air of excitement in the country, with the vast majority of the people participating in building the new nation, and enjoying the benefits of their contribution. After the lands were finally paid for, the new government gave free deeds to several rent-paying tenants on the village lands.
They constructed over 500 low and middle-income homes, distributed over 2000 house lots, and assisted many of these new land-owners in building their own homes. At the rate of home building, after title was obtained for the lands, you can imagine how many more would have been built, if the lands had already been paid for when PAM/NRP took office in 1980.
The program continued with the building of the new Parliament and Government Headquarters, and the new Court House Complex. Then there was the completion of the old unfinished deepwater port at Bird Rock, and the construction of the new downtown Basseterre Deep water port, to deal with the extensive expansion of the tourism industry. I remember the day Dr. Simmonds made up his mind to build that new larger port in down town Basseterre. He came into Government Headquarters, agonizing at having seen 6 cruise ships in the harbour, and only one could dock.
They went on to secure the funding for the new hospital, and the new airport terminal building. I recall that on one occasion when I said publicly that you will know who commissioned the new airport terminal building, if you go to the airport departure lounge, where the plan, dated June 1994, was hanging on the wall. The following day, as you can imagine, the plan was taken down from the wall. Funding was also secured for the development of water facilities, including the new water department building near the airport, and the digging of wells and construction of reservoirs all over St. Kitts and Nevis.
There was also progress on the social front. There was equal opportunity funding for those who qualified for university education. The school meals feeding program was introduced, and the SELF program was established to provide free text books to schools.
The Conservation Act was passed making all of the beeches in St. Kitts and Nevis the property of the people, for their complete enjoyment. No more private beeches. The general civil service at Government headquarters were no longer required to work on Saturdays. Hurricane Hugo came along in 1989, and everyone joined hands and cleaned up the country, repairing each others homes, while the government provided free materials for the low income houses, and those in need.
This was a time when everyone in the country, men and women, worked together, and women’s views were respected. The first Ministry of Women’s Affairs was established. The Status of Children’s Act was passed, removing the word “bastard” from our child maintenance laws, and making all children equal for inheritance from their fathers without a will. The draconian rule, which required single women to be dismissed from the civil service, when they became pregnant, was abolished, so that their jobs were now secured for them to return to work. The nurses’ long working shift of 12 hours was reduced to 8 hours, so that there were now 3 shifts at the hospitals in stead of 2. The Severance Payment Fund was established to compensate the laid-off workers, mainly women on the industrial site. The new constitution of 1983, for the very first time, included a provision that there must be no discrimination on grounds of sex. There was no such protection in the 1967 Constitution.
Time does not permit me to speak of the litany of development, both economic and social, which took place in those early independent years. You can safely say, that almost all of the major projects in St. Kitts and Nevis took place at that time, and there were no excuses like “constitution flawed” or “national debt” to deny benefits to the people.
It was a time when we were committed to working with what we had. A time of vision, when it was recognized that one half of the population, namely men, could only bring about half of the progress, and that the equal participation of women was needed to complete the other half.
At the end of those first 15 years of the PAM/NRP Government, it was a mark of fiscal prudence and good leadership, that the national debt was a mere $200 million dollars. $200 million for 15 years of real progress that you could see and feel. Today, our national debt is climbing at about $200 million, not for 15 years, but for every single year since 1995, to about $3 billion dollars today. We need to look around and ask our selves, where are the projects to account for this massive debt? All we can see are opening ceremonies with plaques and names on projects of the previous administration.
Today we dream of a country where we can once again maximize our potential, by making use of all of our resources. Our country is full of talent. We must empower our women, they have great ideas. Women are also excellent organizers. Just look at this distinguished function put on here tonight by the National Women’s Group.
Land is also one of our richest resources. We need to help our farmers, and also our fishermen, to provide us with fresh local foods. Now that sugar is gone, and we have very little foreign exchange, there is a greater need to sustain ourselves locally. We must make use of what we have. We need to understand that not everything foreign is good.
Finally, we need to revive our community spirit. What ever happened to our Community Day, and the Best Community Competition? As the Founder of our Party, His Excellency, Dr. William V. Herbert used to say, and I’m paraphrasing here, “we did it already, and we can do it again”
Happy Independence, and may God Bless you all.
