By Hastings R. Daniel
It is not very often I or anyone would respond to the diatribe written by Kitty Herbert. I was however enthused by his comments regarding the origination of the phrase performance matters, attributing same with Hensley Daniel. I am rather flattered with his commendation of the truth of the phrase and his association with Hensley and for that matter the entire NRP. Kudos to you Mr. Herbert! You have come on board.
The fact that Hensley has performed for the good people of St. Johns in particular and the people of Nevis in general needs no laying out. But we shall lay it out anyway. Perhaps Mr, Herbert should reflect that during the 14 long wintry years that CCM was in power with him in Cabinet for half of those years nobody but nobody remembered the senior citizens who had worked so hard without reward or pension to keep Nevis afloat. Not in the winter and dusk of their lives were languishing in despair and despise. It appeared that Nevis before 2006 had no senior citizens. Come 2006 with Hensley as the Minister he has transformed and enliven nigh rejuvenated this forgotten band of warriors. He was the first to give them a good Valentine lunch and party. The first to send people to bathe their skin and keep their surroundings clean. I have never seen the seniors so active in my life. I thought some of them were dead how long I have not seen them in civil company. In recent times we see 80+ years playing steel pan and winding up their waist in parties around Nevis. We see them boarding buses for island tours and trips to St. Kitts. Next week Valentine the senior citizens going Marriott for breakfast in addition to having a pre-valentine party in Nevis. It was Hensley and the NRP who formed and originated the Nevis Association of Retired People (NARP) to get them special rates at pharmacists and on buses throughout Nevis. That awareness can never be gainsaid. Wow! Mr. Hebert performance especially original performance really matters and it started with Hensley and the NRP.
I wonder if during the CCM reign anybody even thought that if the students were helped with their homework that they might improve their academic and other development skills. You mean during CCM occupation of Nevis it was thought that the students were alright. Who then originated the Homework Assistance Programme and put teachers to help students with their home work in their communities with a kind of structure that kept students off the road at nights and made their academic output improve. Community centres instead of laying like graves now teach students after school and citizens skills everyday. These are the brainchild of Hensley Daniel and the NRP. In four short years the primary schools have graduated students with higher pass marks than in any other country. So much so that the government of Australia, Australia we say has commended and copied the programme for use down under. Then our students lanquished and lingered at the bottom with their test of standards now thanks to Hensley and the NRP they soar to heights hitherto unreached and now being the envy of educators around the world. WOW! Herbert some man! Some performance! It should matter when we go to the polls later this year.
Take the film festival. All through my childhood I acted. Nevisians formed the NEDACS not for Culturama but to enact plays. Cabo Howell and the living Irma Johnson promoted film, drama and fun. In 14 wintry years it does not appear that any member of cabinet in the CCM ever heard about a film festival and the notion of exposing Nevisians to the wider world of drama and film. Enter Hensley Daniel a former Chairman of Culturama and he immediately set about bringing film to Nevis. If indeed Performance Matters and Hensley is given another crack of the whip I bet you Mr. Herbert he turns Nevis into a Hollywood. Today Nevis is the headquarters of the Caribbean Film Festival. Our young boys and girls have been exposed to non-traditional income generating suitable to their skills.
Consider with us the Drag Strip at Eden Brown. The young men and women were crying out for a place to race their cars. CCM told them quite blank to go and sit their backsides down. They even raced along our main roads frightening and threatening the citizenry. Enter Hensley and the NRP and there was a race track for them to ply their trade away from the maddening crowd. We recall the inaugural race when thousand flocked to the track to witness the races. Today every week-end the number of youths and enthusiasts who frequent the track and ply their hobby is amazing. Vendors go there with their trays to make a living. Hensley as Sports Minister has made a difference and has along with his NRP part originated many projects for the benefit of Nevisians. Time will fail me to mention the Cultural Development Foundation and the part that institution has played with drama, dance, film and steel pan music so very absent form the Nevisian culture during the 14 worthless and wintry years of occupation. Add to that the number of village celebrations and re-unions we then see a sense of newness, novelty and Nevis-ness returning to our land. Nowadays all our sportsmen and women have something named after them. Our public servants and citizens have not been left behind. All of these persons performed and served our islands before the CCM came to power and while they were in power. Yet nobody but nobody could be serenaded and honoured. Nobody except the leader of the CCM who placed his name on the lone airport. Now from Livingstone Sargeant to Carl Tucket in cricket; from Cicely Grell-Hull to Lydia Claxton in Netball, from Joycelyn Liburd to Inez France and from Uhral Swanston to Eustace Nisbett in public service . Everybody has gotten a piece of the national pie. Boy! Oh Boy! What a performance. What a Brain! What a Child. Hensley Daniel and the NRP and yet nothing is named in his honour or anybody close to him or anybody for that matter in his cabinet.
Time is failing me so let me hasten to the brainchild of Hensley Daniel as a representative. That road from Chicken Stone to Pancho going through Cox is his brainchild, his child and his constituency nigh his home. I make it bold to say that if it were not for him that road would have never been built. Regardless of which party was in power. That road has relieved everybody especially those in the mud at Clay Ghaut of a lot of personal stress and hardship. Kitty should know. He grew up there as a boy. When he returns to his Nazareth he should be pleased. I bet he is laughing. It matters you know Mr. Herbert. Matters to you too. While we are at it, Hensley was in cabinet when the road for Gingerland through St. James to Potworks was built after so many years of CCM. You Herbert has benefitted more than anybody from that road. You can now drive over to your project with consummate ease. While you were in power you used to use the road through Charlestown. Performance has meant more to you and the people of Nevis since you left power. The cherries in the garden at Prospect were put there to relieve a ghastly housing shortage that you and CCM left in Nevis. That is a void being filled with quality homes that you and the CCM now say too dear without saying how much you going to build one for. That project was birthed in Hensely’s constituency with his support and push. I find is GRUDGE you and CCM grudge for the excellent work and service given to the good people of St. Johns and Nevis by Hensley Daniel. Roads have been constructed and improved at Bath, Cox, Brown Hill and Brown Pasture. These were hard economic times around the world that Hensley served in yet he delivered. If indeed Nevis had the money in Hensley’s time that it had in CCM days, Hensley would have had the people of St. Johns and along with the NRP the people of Nevis Walking on Streets of Gold, Living in Palaces and Driving Rolls Royces. Give him his due this year by re-electing him to serve and this dream will come true. I look forward to it. So should you Mr. Herbert and all Nevisians. For PERFORMANCE MATTERS!
