Yesterday, Sunday, November 3rd, Dominicans everywhere remembered the 18th
anniversary of our country's political independence from Great Britain.
Yesterday, we commemorated that Sunday, 503 years ago, when the Genoan
Admiral Christopher Columbus first set eyes on the beautiful Waitukubuli,
which he named Dominica. Yesterday, was declared a national day of prayer
and thanksgiving. The day was set aside for prayer and entreaty to the
Almighty, following the motto of our country "Apres Bondié C'est La Ter" -
"God First, then the land".
As a nation, we have much to thank God for. Last year at this time we were
recovering from the ravages of Tropical Storm Iris, Hurricane Luis and
Hurricane Marilyn. This year we prayed that we would be spared from the fury
of the hurricanes. Our prayers were heard, and we thank God for his
mercies.
Today, November 4th, we dedicate to the official observance of the
anniversary of our independence. This is a time of year when many
Dominicans return to the land of their birth, or visit the land of their
parents. Let me assure you that you are always welcome, that the door is
always open for you whenever you wish to return to stay permanently, and to
join us in our continuing development. We already want to extend a special
invitation to you here and to all those overseas to return for the grand
celebration of our 21st birthday in 1999.
A very hearty welcome to all our non-Dominican visitors. We are indeed
happy to have you share with us this our special day. We acknowledge in a
very special way the presence of:- the Prime Minister of St. Kitts and
Nevis, the Honourable Dr. Denzil Douglas, and the Honourable C. J. Chen,
Vice Foreign Minister of the Republic of China on Taiwan, who is here with
us today as the special envoy of President Lee Teng-hui.
We are greatly honoured by the presence of these friends of Dominica, and we
say to them "may the good relations which exist between our countries
continue to grow. We trust that you and your delegations enjoy our humble
hospitality, and we ask you to join us in mind and heart as we celebrate our
nationhood."
Through you, Vice Minister Chen, we send our very best wishes to President
Lee Teng-hui and to the people of the Republic of China on Taiwan. I
recall with great joy my visit to your country earlier this year. My
delegation and I departed with a lasting impression of the progress your
people have made over the years. I take the opportunity of your visit to
publicly recognise the way in which the people of the Republic of China on
Taiwan have worked assiduously on the task of transforming their country
from one of dependence to one of self-sufficiency and eventually to one of
plenty. Yours is an achievement worthy of our aspiration.
Today, we have gathered here to celebrate our independence. It was on
November 3rd, 1978 that we declared ourselves an Independent Nation. On that
day we assumed full responsibility for our own destiny. We became of age.
We took charge of our own affairs. For many, Independence meant that we
could now do our own thing.
There were yet others who remained convinced that we were not ready for
independence, and urged that we continue to cling on to the coat tails of
the Mother Country - that we needed to continue to have things done for us,
and have things given to us on a platter. The Dependency Syndrome had so
fashioned and moulded our very being, that to rid ourselves of its yoke was
too frightening to be contemplated, and too painful to be accommodated.
Today I need to say to us that hand-outs are fast becoming a thing of the
past. The clear and unequivocal message from our former colonial masters,
as well as from our new friends is that we are on our own. The begging bowl
and the cap in hand do not catch the eye so readily these days. The
would-be benefactors are so fleet of foot as they hustle to fix their own
affairs, that they hardly see us as they pass.
Fellow Dominicans, we must do much more for ourselves. We must do much more
for ourselves at the individual level. We must do much more for ourselves
at the National level. For example, no mother country, no new found friend
will meet the cost of hospital services for us. We must do that for
ourselves!
Fellow Dominicans! Everybody must work, and work hard. I know that the
vast majority of us are prepared to do just that. For years, our people
have worked hard to develop the agricultural sector, and have fought
vigorously to satisfy the conditions of a demanding banana market. Today,
that market is under serious threat, a threat not so much from natural
disasters, because we have demonstrated the resilience and tenacity to
bounce back from floods, volcanoes, drought and hurricanes. It is a
man-made threat, and it is a threat which is being led by our own
friends.
But we must not be daunted, we must not relent in our battle to maintain
this vital economic activity. This is a cause in which we are not alone.
This is a cause to which the entire Caribbean Community is fully committed.
Indeed it was our own distinguished Guest, Brother Denzil Douglas, Prime
Minister of St. Kitts and Nevis, a non-banana producing sister CARICOM
country, who spoke out so eloquently and forcefully at the recent General
Assembly of the Organisation of American States, urging our colleagues in
the hemisphere to give bananas a chance, to give our people a chance.
For to do otherwise than to give our people a chance is to destroy our very
way of life, a way of life which respects democracy and the rule of law. It
would be to sacrifice that way of life on the altar of Free Trade. For us
Free Trade must also mean Fair Trade.
My call to the banana growers here in Dominica and in the region is to
strengthen the hands of your Governments, your organisations, and your
negotiators by increasing productivity and improving the quality of the
fruit you produce. We recognise that market prices are relatively low at
this time, and that the Dominica Banana Marketing Corporation (DBMC) is
experiencing severe financial strain. The good news is that within the next
two to three months approximately fourteen million dollars will be made
available to the DBMC to assist it in putting measures in place to improve
the lot of the farmers and the industry generally.
Fellow Dominicans, we are moving out of the diversification "Talk phase" and
into the diversification "Action phase". By the time I address you again on
a similar occasion next year, at least three of our well-known tourism sites
will be fully developed, and user fees collected at those sites. Work on
the northern tourism belt linking the Gillette/Capuchin area with Vieille
Case through to Blenheim will commence.
By this time next year we will have completed the Petite Savanne to Delices
Road and opened up new opportunities for the people in the entire
South/East.
The construction of an airport facility which will allow us to accommodate
international flights on a 24-hour basis has been placed on the high
priority list, and we are working diligently towards accomplishing that
goal. We consider this to be a crucial element in our tourism development
thrust.
Agro-processing involving such crops as plantains, bananas and cassava will
begin to take off, and work will start on the establishment of small scale
processing units for the more effective utilisation of our citrus crop. In
this and in other areas of activities we intend to work closely with the
private sector. This private sector-farmer-government co-operation in
agro-processing has been amply demonstrated in the successful implementation
of a pepper project which has resulted in the local substitution of that
imported produce.
I wish to announce, particularly for the attention of the private sector,
that government has taken a decision to initiate a Venture Capital Fund at
the Aid Bank very early in the New Year. This we expect will respond
positively to the debt equity imbalance which is apparently plaguing the
private sector, and which is militating against it playing its full role as
the engine of growth in our country. Apart from the Venture Capital Fund,
government over the past twelve months has passed enabling legislation to
facilitate the operation of offshore banking, international business
corporations, and business generally. We await the response of the local
private sector.
We are asking local authorities and community groups to stand ready to
participate in our Rural Development Programme. It is a comprehensive
programme designed to respond to your call, and in keeping with our
commitment, to empower the local authorities and communities. It is a
programme which will address not only your need for village roads, drains
and the like, but it will provide you with improved water systems, and
assist in the development of small enterprises in livestock and
non-traditional crops.
Roseau is our capital city, and it must be lifted out of the clutches of
neglect to which it has been subjected for almost all of 15 years. We will
begin with the implementation of a major water and sanitation project, and
at the same time start the preparatory work for the development of the Pound
Area.
By the time I address you next year, the discussion and action plan for the
establishment of the CARICOM Single Market and Economy, the Free Trade Area
of the Americas, and the Post LOME IV arrangements would have advanced
significantly. These are all major regional and international developments
which will affect the way we do business and the way we live. We are
preparing ourselves for full participation in these developments to the
extent that our financial and human resources will allow. It is a costly
exercise, but we cannot allow ourselves to be left on the shelf in these
matters. While we seek to be fully involved in the multilateral agencies,
organisations and arrangements I must say to our traditional and emerging
friends, particularly those represented here, that we would wish to
strengthen our bilateral relations, whether it be in the area of roads and
aquaculture, sports and legal matters, schools and human resource
development, fisheries and tourism, or the war on drugs through the
strengthening of the capacity of the police, and improving their working and
living conditions.
Fellow Dominicans, we all agree that our country's development depends on
us.
Whether we sink or float will be heavily influenced by the extent to which
we are prepared to commit our own resources to the development process -
this includes our physical resource and our human resource. You the People,
on June 12, 1995, gave this Government the following mandate: "to exploit
the national resources in a manner which provides economic growth while at
the same time demonstrating responsible environmental conservation". We in
turn gave you this commitment: "the UWP commits itself in its development
programmes to give due consideration to protection and conservation of the
environment". Fellow Dominicans, we intend to discharge your mandate as you
gave it to us, and we intend to keep our commitment as we gave it to you.
Let us all bear that in mind!!
As we seek to serve with Pride and Dignity we understand very well the
emphasis which must be placed on the full development of our human resource.
That human resource includes our young people and our old people, our strong
people and our weak people, our town people and our country people. I must
take the opportunity at this juncture to warn that this town versus country
thing must not be allowed to creep back into our society. To take objection
to national events being held in the country area reflects negative and
backward thinking.
We will be building the secondary schools at Castle Bruce and at Grand Bay,
expanding the facilities at the Portsmouth Secondary School, at the Dominica
Grammar School and at some of the assisted secondary schools. We have now
completed all conditions precedent for the implementation of the Basic
Education Project, which provides for the enhancement of the primary school
infrastructure and the improvement of the capacity of our teachers to
deliver quality education.
That quality education, Fellow Dominicans, must not be one which only
teaches us how to prepare for and pass examinations, but it must be a
quality education which teaches us to appreciate the value and beauty in our
country, to appreciate the value and beauty in our culture, to appreciate
the value and beauty in each other, and to appreciate the value and beauty
in ourselves. It is an education which must teach us to protect our bodies
by staying away from drug and alcohol abuse. It is an education which must
teach us to protect our souls by going to church or a place of worship,
listening to the word of the Almighty and feeding on it, so that we can be
a better people, better able to serve with Pride and Dignity.
Last year I assured you that your Government was in charge. You seemed to
need that assurance, because there were those who continued to behave as if
the events of June 12th, 1995 had not happened, and that it was all a bad
dream which would soon go away. They took comfort in the one seat majority.
I do not need to so reassure you this year. The people of the Mahaut
Constituency gave you that reassurance as they spoke loud and clear in the
by-election on 12th August 1996. My thanks go out to them, and
congratulations are extended to the newest parliamentarian among us, the
Honourable Julian Prevost.
Notwithstanding this demonstration that the democratic process is alive and
well in Dominica, my Government is of the view that there is a need to
revisit and review as appropriate, some of the provisions of the
Commonwealth of Dominica Constitution which came into force eighteen years
ago on 3rd November, 1978.
We have therefore decided to set up a Constitution Commission to be headed
by an eminent jurist, and to include persons learned in law and the social
science disciplines. We pointed in our manifesto to areas of the
constitution which we consider should be reviewed and/or acted upon. We are
convinced of the need to remove from the Constitution those anachronistic
colonial provisions which impose upon Government the responsibility for
managing the business of the country, but denies the Government the
authority to choose the tools to do the job. It is our view also that the
work of the Parliamentary Commissioner must include the examination of
complaints of citizens against private entities which give service to the
public for a fee.
The Constitution Commission will be constituted next year. In conducting
its task, the Commission will be expected to explain the major provisions of
the present Constitution and to dialogue with persons throughout the country
at public meetings in the major populated areas and to receive submissions
from all interested Dominicans by way of memoranda.
Fellow Dominicans, this is our country, this is our Government. The
Government will ensure that the scarce resources and opportunities are
equitably distributed. We are working towards putting our house in order
and passing the International Monetary Fund (IMF) test which will give us
access to additional resources and opportunities, not necessarily or only
from the IMF itself, but from other sources as well.
We know that eyebrows were raised in some of those quarters at the outcome
of recent salary negotiations, but taking all factors into consideration we
were happy to have settled all outstanding matters with the police through
their Representative body, the Police Welfare Association, and with the
public officers through their Representative body, the Civil Service
Association. We intend to begin discussions early next year for new
Collective Agreements with these organisations.
Today as we have done in the past we bestow honours on distinguished sons
and daughters of Dominica who have served with pride, dignity and honour in
a number of different fields. For every person who is honoured today there
are several others who are also deserving.
Today we recognise one who, though he lived most of his life outside of
Dominica, has brought pride and honour to Dominica by his distinguished
career in the field of law and jurisprudence, served in the highest
appellate courts in the Commonwealth, one who has by his teaching moulded
the minds and attitude of many of our lawyers.
Today also we recognise a farmer, who in an attempt at ekeing out an
existence from the land by producing bananas of the highest quality, brought
significant export earnings to this country; a man who kept his knowledge
not to himself, but who was always willing to impart the best farm
management practices to the people of his district.
Today, we recognise three teachers who have selflessly, over several
decades, in very difficult and trying circumstances, dedicated their lives
to the training and up-bringing of our children. Today we recognise a
person who for over 25 years has given sacrificial service in the field of
early childhood education for the advancement of the youth of this nation.
And we intend to do even more for the teaching profession. From next year
the Student of the Year at the Teachers Training College will receive a full
scholarship to pursue the Bachelor of Education Degree programme at the
University of the West Indies.
All those who we honour today have served Dominica proud; they have served
with pride, they have served with dignity.
Fellow Dominicans, this is our country to serve and to build. We will not
build it by pulling each other down. We will not build it by using our
financial resources to conduct obnoxious little campaigns against private
individuals and children, whom we vilify and berate, even mocking and making
fun of their illnesses and mishaps while hiding behind the dark screen of
anonymity.
A call was made recently in another quarter for the the Dominica
Broadcasting Service (DBS) to avoid using its medium to insult people. It is
a call which must be extended to other media houses, especially the once
upon-a-time conscience of the nation and those associated with it, and who
once held high office in our land.
And what is the call to us Dominicans at this time? It is a call to serve
with Pride and Dignity. Above all it is a call to give service. Not just
any type of service but quality service! Quality service at work, at home,
at school, at play. It is a call to go to work, and work, not just to go to
the work-place to await the pay cheque at the end of the month.
Your Government is prepared to lead by example. Help us to help you. We
have heard your cries, your pleas and your calls over the past fifteen
months. We have noted your condemnations and we are grateful for your
commendations. We will draw on them the better to equip ourselves to serve
you. In discharging our duties this Government will never be arrogant and
uncaring, but equally this Government will never be weak and submissive. We
will listen to the voice of the minority while always remembering that good
government dictates that we take full account of the views of the majority.
Some of you have expressed your anxiety over what you perceive as pressures
being exerted on your Government by an impatient Opposition. Let me assure
you that we regard this as an indispensable feature of a healthy democratic
process and we take it all in our stride. Our team is united, our team is
strong, our team is working. Do not lose any sleep over us, just continue
to work hard and pray. Pray for all of us that we may recommit ourselves to
serve each other and to serve our Nation with Pride and Dignity.
My wife and family join me in extending congratulations to all Dominicans on
this our eighteenth anniversary celebration. May we all enjoy ourselves in
peace and harmony.
I thank you and may God Bless you richly.
