NATIONAL ADDRESS by Leader of the Opposition Dr. the Hon, Keith Mitchell My fellow citizens of Grenada, Carriacou and Petite Martinique It is once again my pleasure to address you as is required of me as Leader of the Official Opposition in the Parliament of our country. But I also address you as a concerned citizen, one who cannot help but notice the terrible political and economic situation in our country today. Like all of you, I am deeply saddened when I ponder the depths to which this our beloved country has fallen in recent times. At the very beginning of this address, I wish to make it abundantly clear to all and sundry that my guiding principle over the many years that I have been involved in the political life of this country has never been personal gain, has never been to destroy or to break down. It has never been to spread negativity or pull down any person or organization. On the contrary, it has always been and continues to be focussed on encouraging and fostering positive change, helping the people to lift themselves out of poverty and underdevelopment and to live productive and fulfilling lives. In the situation that we are in today, my major focus is to work with you, the people of Grenada, Carriacou and Petite Martinique towards putting an end to the miserable and worsening political and economic situation to which the country has been brought by self seeking, incompetent and misguided political leaders. These leaders and their cohorts promised heaven. Instead of that, they have made the lives of many people a living hell. My fellow Grenadians, even in the worst of times there can be a glimmer of hope. It is that hope that will keep us strong while we endure the pressures of today and work towards a brighter tomorrow. It is that hope that will enable us to weather the raging storms and endure the pressures in our daily lives as we hold on to that which is positive and uplifting, and as we shift our focus to the things that will help us to grow and develop as a people and secure a brighter future for ourselves and our children. To use a biblical analogy, it is like we are in a wilderness just as the Children of Israel were, when they left Egypt. But as we all know, they had to look beyond what they were enduring at the time and towards the promise that was before them. It is not easy. No it is not easy! And the rebuilding process will also not be easy. But we shudder to think of the consequences if as a people we lose hope, surrender and remain in the wilderness. It is in this regard that I wish to recognize the unprecedented achievement of our own bona fide Grenadian son of the soil and certainly one of our national heroes, Kirani James of Gouyave, Saint John. Kirani has made history by decisively winning our country’s first Olympic gold medal. By this success he has cemented Grenada’s position in Olympic and sporting history and has brought us the kind of positive international focus that can only work towards the long term benefit our country. Successful Grenadians like Kirani James, Lewis Hamilton, Alleyne Francique and our present and former test cricketers should be used to market and promote Grenada. Can you imagine the positive impact that they can have in promoting Grenada as a tourist destination or even in attracting international business? Other countries in the Caribbean and the world at large are doing just that. Why shouldn’t we? Unfortunately, my fellow Grenadians, while we rightfully rejoice, we cannot, we dare not, forget that this period in our history is marked by a continuously worsening economic situation, political confusion and uncertainty, and a demonstration of the various symptoms of hopelessness and resignation. The last four years have been years of moving backward rather than forward. We are witnessing a virtual collapse of the economy with all its manifestations and ramifications, including unavailability of employment opportunities, loss of jobs, low and starvation wages and salaries, business closures and downsizing, demoralization and lack of spirit in the public service and a worsening state of public infrastructure, including Government building and public roads. A deepening and rapidly spreading malaise has taken hold in our country. And it is getting worse. The most recent manifestation of this malaise is the inability of the Government to pay salaries and wages for the month of August on time. This is the second time that this is happening in 2012. Even during the difficult days of Ivan and Emily, the Government at that time was able to pay salaries and wages in good time. This is like an established business having to borrow to finance its operations, including paying workers’ salaries. Such a business will not last long. Our country is on the brink. True to form, the Government acted in a knee-jerk manner, demonstrating a complete lack of wisdom, foresight and vision. In the end, it had to borrow from the National Insurance Scheme to pay salaries. And it did this by bypassing the Parliament of the country, and issuing treasury bills. The question is how long can this continue before the NIS and other financial institutions have no more money to lend or refuse to lend to the Government to pay salaries? My dear people, this is the gravity of the situation that now faces this country. Total financial and economic collapse is what we are facing. When the NNP Government borrowed to build roads, bridges, schools, medical stations and other public facilities, these same people ran about complaining about debt. The roads, bridges and buildings are for the good of the country, and their construction provided people with work and helped the economy. Today, the Government is not even maintaining them. Now many millions are being borrowed to pay salaries, including the salaries of the many unproductive persons who are on contract. I want the Prime Minister to answer the question whether this is an example of good governance, whether good governance is exercised when public servants cannot get pay or salary increases, and you are still borrowing NIS money to pay unproductive people on fat contracts. It is clear that the Government must have been aware of this looming situation well before the end of the month. In fact the signs were there a long time ago. But true to form and consistent with its wanton disregard for the workers of this country, the situation was kept secret and unattended until the very last. This is a further demonstration of the lack of love and care for the people, which has characterized this government throughout its term in office. And while the Government is attempting to disguise the fact that that it cannot run a country, high ranking party members and close supporters are galavanting, enjoying the little fat that is still left in the land. They have reserved that for themselves. It is now very obvious to all that the vast majority of the people-except for the very few who are close to the political powers- are hurting and hurting badly. The people’s quality of life and their standard of living have declined drastically from what it used to be four to five years ago, Government and private sector employees alike are fearful for their jobs. In general, workers are forced to accept salaries and wages, which are declining in real value for as prices rise their dollar can buy less, much less. My Fellow Grenadians: given the current state of affairs in our country, we must direct our thoughts and prayers to our young people, the difficulties they are facing and the burdens they have to endure at a time in which they should be enjoying their young lives and preparing for the future. Yes we criticize them and sometimes blame and condemn them. But are we really preparing them for their future roles and responsibilities? Are we really guiding them towards a productive and rewarding future? I challenge us to think about what is happening now and answer that question truthfully. There is no doubt that the removal of the many programmes and opportunities which were in place under the NNP has left the youth of the country in a vacuum and that this is at least partly responsible for the expressions of frustration we see among youth today. My fellow Grenadians, an NNP Government will immediately take the measures necessary to give our young people hope and restore confidence, and to involve them in the lives of their community and country. The existing state of youth alienation will be ended, as it must. In this regard, we will seek to re-introduce incubator and employment and job training programmes programs like the IMANI and the Training and Employment Programme, which served to involve thousands of unemployed young people in productive activity, while preparing them for more permanent employment. This will not be done in a vacuum, but is consultation and partnership with industry, the business community, the Trade Union Movement and other stakeholders. The rescue and revitalization of our society requires, in fact it demands, the very best from all of us. And a Government led by the NNP will do its level best to ensure that this principle is fully embraced by all and sundry and that everyone, regardless of their political leaning or affiliation is given a fair chance to be part of the process and to contribute. An NNP government will not allow political labels such as NNP or NDC, or any stigma attached to yellow or green to affect the way it governs in the interest of the country. We will focus on the people-all the people. And we shall be giving the necessary support and incentives to encourage the people to engage in productive economic activity, and to facilitate them in ways and means that are required. In this regard, we shall be giving very strong support, including fiscal incentives and small business loans to the local business community, while we also encourage foreign investors to invest. Partnerships between overseas and local investors will be strongly supported. We will be taking very firm and decisive measures to stem the decline in agriculture and to put the sector back on a sound footing. Relevant support initiatives will include the increased provision of young plants, in particular cocoa and nutmeg plants, the review of the fertilizer programme with a view to helping farmers obtain fertilizer at affordable prices, the strengthening of the extension programme in the Ministry of Agriculture and the taking of measures to help farmers market and sell their produce including the restructuring of the Marketing Board. Mindful of the importance of tourism to the economy and noting the investments made and successes achieved before, a new NNP Government will very quickly begin working with all stakeholders with a view to getting the industry back on a sound footing. Specific measures will include: 1) The streamlining of the structure and operations of the Ministry of Tourism and the Board of Tourism; and 2) The provision of adequate budgetary and financial support for the operations of the Board. In recent years budgetary allocations were woefully inadequate. Even so, budgeted allocations were not paid. In the social areas like education and health we shall be taking measures to: 1) increase relevance and responsiveness; 2) improve the quality of both services and facilities; and 3) make the services more affordable and accessible to the people, We shall seek to give these sectors the characteristics that stakeholders and the general population will like them to have. It is our view that the population should be proud of their education and health services, and we will be working towards that. In both these areas our track record is good, especially when compared to what is happening-or not happening- now. And we will be building on that. The initiatives we took before in education reform, providing scholarships for young people, facilitating and conducting training in employable skills, restructuring of the Ministry of Education, establishing and strengthening institutions, curriculum reform, effectively linking education and training with industry and promoting student involvement in leadership and positive activities, will be continued and strengthened as required. Being alert to the economic situation faced by parents and their children, and knowing full well that many students go to school hungry, an NNP Government will reverse the present neglect and ensure that the required level of support is given to the School Feeding program and other student support initiatives One of the measures we shall be taking to make health services more affordable will be by ensuring that the country makes the required financial contributions to the OECS pharmaceutical programme. We will also review some of the fees for hospital services, particularly as it relates to the poor and needy. As we are all aware, during the last election campaign many promises were made to the poor and needy. These promises have not been fulfilled up to today. It is now patently obvious that these promises were made only to get votes, knowing full well that what was promised could not be delivered. They knew that fully well, but it was simply a tactic of telling the poor people what they wanted to hear to get their vote. Unfortunately, thousands were fooled. Let us wait for what they will promise next. What we can promise is that we will bring back some of the very helpful programs they have thrown out which have ensured that poor people are able to provide for themselves and their children and that poor people are not taken off the list for political reasons or some flimsy excuse like they have children overseas. We will also carry out a comprehensive review of the Old Age Pension program with a view to improving its effectiveness. An NNP Government will do all within its power to protect the poor and indigent in our society. This will include measures to help reduce the prices of basic goods and services. We have successfully done that already, with some degree of regional cooperation. And we will do it again. What has been done to the people involved in the debushing program is without conscience. It is like the Government has a vendetta against these people. First they reduced their already meagre pay and then they reduced their work or the number of days they work. In some cases they get no work at all. But of course they still have their children to feed and send to school and their bills to pay. Recently, when they do get work, it is a long time before they get paid. And yet, my fellow Grenadians, this Government claims that it is concerned about the poor. What is even more condemning of this Government is that the good things they found in place-the projects, the initiatives, the agreements, the useful contacts have all been squandered, and recklessly so. To day we are all aware that many projects such as the Port Expansion Project, the Sauteurs Port Project and the Lewis Hamilton Grand Beach proposal, have been stopped altogether. Others like the Second phase of the National Stadium and Grenville Market Project are either still to start or have been delayed way beyond the expected completion date. These cancellations and delays, together with the loss of CCC, have cost the country thousands of jobs and brought untold hardships to many people. This may be the first Government in the history of the country under which more jobs were lost than created. This is but just a part of the said report card of this Government. It has done nothing positive, it has victimized people; it has chased away investors and stifled local investment. It has been fighting an internal battle that does not seem to end, partly because some believe that they cannot be wrong, whatever they do is right. It has effectively frozen public sector salaries. It has brought the country down to the extent that we are now a joke among people in the Caribbean and the wider world.