Hon. Lester B. Bird Tuesday Broadcast, June 19th, 1012
Rozanne Emanuel
Broadcast by Hon Lester Bird MP,
Leader of the Opposition and
Leader of the Labour Party
on Tuesday 19 June 2012
“A Confident Labour Party, a Unified Leadership”
Fellow Citizens and Residents of Antigua and Barbuda
I want to put to rest the idea that the Antigua and Barbuda Labour Party is splitting apart over a leadership struggle.
Let me repeat what I have said before on this issue.
I do not consider the leadership of the Labour Party to be a one-man show.
The party’s leadership resides in a combination of its senior members of whom I am one.
In arriving at its policies and positions, the party holds consultations and discussions within its relevant organisations.
Further, I have confidence in the both the older and younger members of the Party.
Together, the older members represent years of experience of successful governance of our country.
Along with me, they superintended the unparalleled growth and development of our economy, and created a modern country.
They are experienced in finance, tourism, economic development and business
The younger members bring new ideas and fresh approaches that have been honed in their professions and in their businesses.
Their expertise covers telecommunication, information technology, the law and modern education.
As in every organization – whether it is a political party, a business or a club – there will be differences of opinion.
And, there are differences of opinion about approaches and strategies that the Labour Party should adopt.
But none of those differences are about the fundamental objectives and purposes of the Party. In those things, we are united. And, in that unity our Party is strong.
I cannot lead the Labour Party forever.
Others will succeed me.
I encourage their ambitions.
It should be the ambition of every person, who feels that he or she has the capacity to lead, to show their resolve to work; to take the time to understand the concerns of the people; to show the capacity to deliver benefits to the people as a whole.
At my stage in life, I am the Captain of the ship.
As all Captains do, I look to other officers – old and young - to play their part in the Ship’s successful journeys.
In leading the Party now, my primary task is to help guide all those who will follow me; to impart my experience to them; and to give them the benefit of my knowledge.
And, to that I am committed.
The Labour Party is bigger than any one person; it is the servant of its members and the people of Antigua and Barbuda.
Let me also say, in passing, that while it suits the UPP and its hardline supporters to claim that the Labour Party is imploding, the UPP is disunited and dysfunctional.
The only glue that holds it together is the unwillingness of its government members to give up the power they wield and the benefits they get.
Other than that, they would have long since cast out those who stand in their way.
But, UPP internal business is not my business.
I have said enough about that, and I will say no more.
The only UPP business that really troubles me is the business of their mismanagement of our country which everyday sinks deeper and deeper into disaster.
Every week brings confirmation of how much they have sunk our country and our people.
Last week, the World Bank produced a report called, Global Economic Prospects. It is the June 2012 issue, Volume 5.
In the report, the World Bank records that the average rate of growth in Antigua and Barbuda’s gross domestic product (GDP) between 1998 and 2007 was 5.4%
Six of those 10 years were years under the ALP, and at least 2 more of them lived on policies, plans and projects implemented by the Labour Party.
Further, the years between 1999 and 2004 were high growth years pushing up the average between 2004 and 2007.
Significantly, the World Bank reports records no growth in any year since 2007.
In fact, the Bank records a shrinking economy.
Minus 10.3% in 2009; minus 8.9% in 2010.
A shrinking economy means high unemployment, less business, more poverty.
And, we all live that experience every day.
We know that unemployment is as high as 20% and it is only at that level because many of our people have emigrated to find work outside.
Otherwise, it would have been higher.
When the Labour Party left office, unemployment was a mere 5%.
We know that our young people are now a lost generation.
For four years now, 1500 of them per year have been leaving school, and this government has no jobs to offer them.
They are either doing part time jobs that are lower than their level of qualifications, or they are reliant on their parents.
These young people represent the highest number of unemployed people in Antigua and Barbuda.
They deserve better.
They have a right to a life in which they can work, save, buy land, build a house, raise a family.
They also have a right to enjoy their youth.
But they cannot do so without money in their pockets.
And, the UPP government has done nothing better than take money from people’s pockets with personal income tax, Government sales taxes, and taxes on allowances.
They have forced people to live off their savings.
When the Labour Party left office, Antiguans and Barbudans had the highest level of savings in the Banks in the OECS countries.
Today, people have had to dip into those savings time and time again to live.
Dipping into those savings, represent 10% or more of a reduction in their annual income. The interest they earn diminishes as the savings become smaller.
In the meantime, the cost of living continues to rise.
People have to make choices between paying enormously high electricity bills or buying food.
Sadly, people have lost their homes to banks because they cannot pay the mortgages.
And this government does nothing about it.
What the government actually does is put our country more and more in debt, and raise more and more taxes.
We do not even know how large the debt is because they flout the law and do not bring the loans to Parliament for approval as they are required to do.
But, as Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee, I am writing to the Minister of Finance requiring that all loan documents should be submitted to the Committee.
If the Minister refuses to do so as he has done in the past, then his contempt will be clear and the Labour Party will have to consider other options to ensure that the people learn the enormity of the debt with which this government has burdened the people.
What we do know beyond any shadow of doubt is that the people of this country have been taxed to the tune of billions of dollars over the last 8 years, and they continue to be over-taxed.
We also know that the Government has borrowed billions of dollars in undisclosed loans.
But, what is there to show for all these billions of dollars they have collected by way of loans and taxes?
There are no new jobs. In fact, unemployment is at a soaring high.
There is no new investment. In fact, businesses have closed down.
The roads are a mess.
The sidewalks they built have had to be dismantled.
Their fences are falling down.
Pensioners cannot make ends meet, and single mothers are suffering.
And, violent crime is just getting from bad to worse. Murders are becoming an everyday thing.
When the Labour Party left office, murder was a very rare occurrence indeed.
My friends, these are the real issues that confront our people today. High unemployment, growing poverty, a lost young generation, high cost of living, no relief from suffering, high debt and no development, heavy taxes, big debt and nothing to benefit the people.
The UPP has failed. And no amount of blaming the ALP or attacking the ALP will help them.
It is their record of failure, not ours.
Everyone knows that he or she is worse off today than when the Labour Party left office.
We must strive together to recover our country, rescue it from the UPP, and restore it to the glory it had – and can have again.
That is what I know the Labour Party wants to do, and we plan to come into your village, your street, your meeting places to talk with you about what you want to see done, and how quickly.
We will listen attentively and we will take action appropriately.
Thank you for listening and may Almighty God bless us all.