Basseterre, St. Kitts - I take this opportunity to congratulate my former Harvard University colleague Barak Obama, on becoming the first black American to be sworn in as President of the United States of America.
I am touched by the moment. It is indeed an historic occasion…not just for the United States of America but for the world at large. I did not believe for a moment that in my generation, a black person would hold the highest position, the highest office in the United States of America.
When both President Obama and I walked the hallowed halls of Harvard University some nineteen (19) years ago, I did not believe that either of us would have ended up in politics at all much less at almost the same time.
A moment in time is really significant because one never knows when it will establish one’s destiny.
I hope that after all the celebrations and euphoria have died down, that the Caribbean would see some benefits coming to it from the presence of a black man in the White House.
As I prepare for the General Election this year, I am encouraged because I am fighting for the same things that Obama has fought for particularly integrity in public life and fiscal responsibility in these troubled economic times.
I am firmly committed to justice and fairness for all, and the fact that we are all equal in this nation state. That's what I'm fighting for. I'm fighting for the fact that I'm trying to reach out across partisan lines for the better and the good of St. Kitts & Nevis.
I am really heartened by the fact that President Obama has so effectively shown that it does not take fourteen years to implement integrity in public life unlike what Prime Minister Denzil Douglas has so absurdly said so many times.
When there is a real, personal commitment to any goal, there is always a determined and diligent pursuit of it as has been evident in the accumulation of wealth and property by Prime Minister Denzil Douglas.
I feel confident that the electorate here in St. Kitts and Nevis will refuse to be left behind as the vanguard of positive, effective change sweeps the world. I know that all of us here have watched enviously as our CARICOM neighbours have fired incompetent and corrupt governments and have shared the intense jubilation as our black brothers and sisters in America took a giant leap to Dr. Martin Luther King’s mountaintop.
I join you in eagerly awaiting that fateful toll of the bell that will usher in our own change here at home – at last!
TIME FOR CHANGE!!
