Address: Our People and Nation Will Overcome

Sons and daughters of Saint Lucia, wherever you may roam, Happy New Year! This is my first opportunity as prime minister to personally extend my best wishes to you and your family for 2022. We all want 2022 to be a brighter, happier, healthier year for ourselves, our family, and our country.

This year is pregnant with opportunities for our country. The people of Saint Lucia voted with a substantial mandate through the democratic process, a new slate of men and women to plot a different political, economic, social, and national agenda for our country. As a country, we must ensure that this opportunity given by the majority of the people creates an agenda of transformation of our country.

The year 2021 saw the COVID-19 virus mutate into several variants. These variants created an atmosphere of illness, fear, loneliness, and social and economic despair brought on by the restrictions and protocols that hindered our natural tendencies to be social human beings.

Now we enter 2022, a fifth wave is almost inevitable as other countries experience rapid spikes due to the Omicron Variant.

Indeed, 2021 was very difficult and challenging for our country- given the negative effects of the pandemic on the health sector, in particular, and the entire economy as a whole. Particularly tragic was the death and grief felt by families and friends on the death of their loved ones. We extend deepest condolences to their families.

We begin 2022 saddled with the negative effects of COVID-19 and a sovereign debt burden of over $3.9B and over $500M of other debt commitments. An unfinished St. Jude Hospital and the Hewannorra International Airport Re-Development project, all of which are experiencing rising costs above and beyond what we were originally told. Getting our public finances in order will take a herculean task of policy coherence, strategic communications, and consultations, efficient implementation, resource mobilization, elimination of corruption, transparency, and accountability in order to achieve better economic outcomes for our nation and economy.

July 26, 2021, heralded a break with the past. It is a past that we do not wish to return to, in which special interests and families dictated public policy. We must resolve to develop a country based on inclusiveness, meritocracy, equity, and justice.

The pandemic years coupled with misguided policies have made planning for the future difficult. However, your government has hit the ground running and has been able to deliver on a number of promises. We have delivered on our promise to meet the cost of facilities fees and CXC CSEC fees for Math and English, more laptops, housing assistance, a reprieve of rental arrears for the CDC tenants, reduced cost telecoms bundles, additional resources in our fight against COVID, extended vehicle concessions to our hard-working front-line personnel. 

The year 2022 must be a year of national reassessment, rebirth, and recalibration. Our nation will have to live with the pandemic while addressing the systemic shortfalls in education, healthcare, social justice, governance, and infrastructure.

HEALTHCARE The most pressing health crisis remains COVID-19. The scientific way to reduce the burden on health infrastructure and reduce death is by getting people vaccinated. Even with Omicron, which is rampaging throughout the world right now, hospitalizations are still largely by unvaccinated people. We cannot afford the luxury of lockdowns anymore. Our children have lost too much school. Our businesses are closing. We simply cannot afford another 2020 or 2021. Omicron is not just a normal wave. It is a huge one. It can easily overwhelm our health system. While some countries are reporting that the Omicron variant is milder than previous waves, that is coming from countries where the vaccination rates have been two and three times ours.

We can find little comfort in 1 in 4 Saint Lucians being vaccinated after nearly an entire year of vaccine availability on-island. COVID-19 vaccines have been proven to be safe and effective. We no longer have the luxury of time. Doubt, procrastination, and delay will only bring more disease and more death. I urge every Saint Lucian to go out and get vaccinated as a matter of urgency. Every citizen has a personal responsibility to protect their lives and the lives of others. To every Saint Lucian that is not yet vaccinated, I again urge you to get vaccinated. I repeat, to every Saint Lucian that is not yet vaccinated, I again urge you to get vaccinated. I am fully vaccinated. I have received my booster shot. This is not a time to play games with your life. Even if Omicron might be milder than Delta, it will still kill many. Please stop taking unnecessary risks with your life, and the lives of others.  

In the health sector, the Government will take concrete action to complete and commission St. Jude Hospital. This will involve the completion of the original structure, which has been identified as the quickest and most cost-effective option.

JUSTICE & SECURITY

Crime-fighting will be another area of focus in the coming year. In the first instance, we must tackle the effectiveness of crime detection and avoidance. This will require new technology, training, and infrastructure. We will be building new facilities for the police in Castries and GrosIslet, providing additional vehicles and equipment. Monitoring and surveillance will be boosted through the use of modern technology. We will seek to boost police accountability and professionalism and improve their conditions of work. We will take concrete action to reduce the backlog of cases by the appointment of new judges in the criminal justice system. We will strengthen the laws against domestic abuse crimes. We will also reinitiate plans for the creation of a new Halls of Justice Complex, separate and distinct from that of the Police Headquarters. However, we must also address the root causes of crime as well. Attention will be given to our system of social support, particularly our human and family support services. 

One of the challenges facing our country is their confidence in the rule of law. The rule of law – how a country governs – sets the tone and tenor for the entire society. A corrupt government will beget a corrupt society. We must ensure that justice prevails for all citizens and that that there are consequences to wrongdoing. Corruption must not be tolerated by anyone including politicians and public officials. Constitutional reform will also be placed back on the front burner. We are working to bring about Saint Lucia’s accession to the appellate jurisdiction of the Caribbean Court of Justice. We must not be afraid of our own potential to do great things and trust our institutions and systems.

YOUTH ECONOMY

The youth economy aims at turning hobbies into entrepreneurship and skills into business by providing finance, training, marketing, and mentoring to young people seeking self-sustainable employment. Youth economy will create a special space in the economic system for young people to develop and grow their ideas.

The youth economy will be flexible to allow young minds wanting to engage and succeed in ventures. It must not be burdened with excess bureaucracy, red tape, and official doctrines, however, it must demand accountability and responsibility. It must provide the necessary incentives and opportunities for young people to be encouraged to pursue their dreams.

The youth economy will present a new developmental focus to complement and create synergies with existing businesses in Saint Lucia. It must be able to attract and integrate rural youth and urban at-risk youth who must have confidence in the fact that their ideas matter and they can become independent and sustainable entrepreneurs.

The youth economy will create a new enterprise culture and reduce the constraints that young people face in accessing credit and finance and the availability of support services. This will call for financial innovation including the reform of institutions that presently provide financial facilities

The youth economy will cater to young risk-takers and provide venture capital facilities, grants, and loans for feasible workable projects.

The youth economy will provide an avenue for your people who have a special interest in certain lines of economic activity such as Sports, music entertainment, designing, the creative economy, cultural activities, digital economy, arts agriculture, and the blue economy. Government must provide special incentives to support the involvement of young people in these areas of specialization.

The programme for the youth economy has started with financial assistance from the Government of the Republic of China (Taiwan). This year we will be reaching out to young people to allow them to reap the benefits of that initiative.

In 2022, our education sector will also be called upon to begin making major shifts towards greater use of technology and greater infusion of technical, vocational, and skills development. The private sector will be a key partner in creating opportunities that will seek to change the mismatch between education and the skills needed for the modern global workforce.

The year 2021 clearly showed that our Tourism Industry is dynamic and resilient. We saw a record number of daily arrivals and increased airlift. We intend to continue on this path mindful of the effects of COVID-19 on travel.

The investment potential for tourism projects is encouraging and we expect to announce new hotels and other investments in the new year.

We have signaled our desire to create a business and commercial sector that will not only create jobs but will ensure a meaningful return on investment for all investors. We will seek to eliminate unnecessary bottlenecks in our doing business culture. Small and medium-sized enterprises will be supported to allow them to complement the goods and services produced by the larger enterprises.

The manufacturing sector must be encouraged to produce acceptable products for local use and export. As we continue to battle with the economic plight of the banana farmers hoodwinked by a government that promised new markets in France- we will make a real effort to find markets for our bananas in the region and possible supermarket chains in England. Meanwhile, we are encouraging our farmers to grow high-value products like sea moss, soursop, cocoa. There are also opportunities in honey production. These crops can add value to our export potential. The ability to feed ourselves is a necessity and food security must be a national agricultural goal. 

In 2022, we intend to leverage far more the presence of our Diaspora in our social and economic life. We will also consider measures to extend our Saint Lucian family to include the children of second-generation Saint Lucians in the Diaspora.

CONCLUSION

On July 26, 2021, the people of Saint Lucia voted for change They voted against lies, corruption, victimization, and vindictiveness. Your Government will follow the wishes of you the people and ensure that change happens.

We promise inclusiveness, consultation, and compassion always ensuring that our policies benefit the people. This is not a time for selfish behavior. This is a time to show consideration for each other, compassion for our neighbors. This is not a time for division. The people have spoken and it is a time to labour onward and forward. It is a time to cast aside the negativity. This is not a time to doubt ourselves. It is a time to have courage and unity.

I urge us all to resolve to work together with the public and private sector, unions. Churches, NGOs, so that we can achieve prosperity for the people. We all have our part to play in putting our country first: I thank you all on behalf of the Government of Saint Lucia and wish you well in 2022.

I end in the words of the late Archbishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa, “Do your little bit of good where you are; it’s those little bits of good put together that overwhelm the world.” Ladies and gentlemen, I thank you, and once again, Happy 2022! 

For the PDF download, visit: http://www.govt.lc/news/our-people-and-nation-will-overcome