 |
| St. Kitts and Nevis' Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, Hon. Dr. Denzil L. Douglas (right) is greeted by Political Leader of the opposition Concerned Citizens Movemnet (CCM) Hon. Vance Amory (left) as he arrived at Government Headquarters Tuesday morning to deliver the 2007 Budget Address. Centre is the Resident Ambassador of the Republic of China on Taiwan, His Excellency Mr. John Liu. |
BASSETERRE, ST. KITTS, DECEMBER 12TH 2006 (CUOPM) - St. Kitts and Nevis' Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, Hon. Dr. Denzil L. Douglas said Tuesday that in pursuit of the central goal of people empowerment, his governing St. Kitts-Nevis Labour Party has implemented an expansive and far-reaching social development programme that has touched the lives of people from all walks of life in the twin-island Federation.
"In particular, it has brought great relief to the poor and underprivileged, and has released many of them from the excruciating grip of poverty and deprivation," said Prime Minister Douglas.
He said since his Labour Party assumed office in 995, over 1,000 young people were empowered through the Short-term Work Experience Programme by taking them out of their state of joblessness, desperation and disillusionment and transforming them into productive members of the workforce.
"I shudder when I imagine what would have become of our society if such disillusionment was permitted to evolve into resentment, anger and social deviance," said Dr. Douglas, who said that his Government has also empowered nearly two thousand low-income families by giving them homes of their own and freeing them from the unreasonable demands of uncaring landlords.~~Adz:Right~~
"We have empowered our school children by placing computer laboratories in their schools and giving them the opportunity to scale the technology divide that, in a modern world, tends to separate the rich from the poor and the winners from the losers," said Dr. Douglas.
The Prime Minister disclosed that his Government has empowered workers by increasing the minimum wage to more than double the $120 per week that was the prescribed minimum wage when we assumed office in 1995.
"We have empowered the indigents by increasing their non-contributory Social Security Assistance Pension by more than 130% over the period that we have been in office. We have empowered our entire population by giving them easy access to comprehensive Primary Health Care and to state-of-the-art medical facilities," said Dr. Douglas.
~~Adz:Left~~He said these important empowerment initiatives are just a small part of his Government's comprehensive Social Development Programme that has transformed the lives of so many of people, and has secured for the Federation, the very outstanding international rankings it has consistently achieved in respect of the United Nations Human Development Index.
Dr. Douglas said there was still much more work to be done and was determined to continue to provide a helping hand to the former sugar workers until they have secured productive and rewarding lives for themselves in the important sectors of the economy.
He promised that his St. Kitts-Nevis Labour Government will continue the process of transforming the local economy into a well diversified, service-oriented economy capable of producing goods and services that are competitive in regional and global markets.
