Nevisians urged to shoulder responsibility to make for a better Nevis

NIA CHARLESTOWN NEVIS (SEPTEMBER 23, 2013) — Premier of Nevis Hon. Vance Amory urged Nevisians to shoulder their responsibility to make Nevis a better place since they owed it to themselves and their country.

He was at the time delivering remarks at the 30th Independence Anniversary of St. Kitts and Nevis Cocktail and Awards ceremony at the Four Seasons Resort on September 19, 2013.

“I call on all of us to dispense with any rancour and aggravation which could mar the future development of our country… I want to enlist all of us in this country in the fight against crime, in the fight against anti social behaviour.

“I want all of us to recognise the damage and the hurt which this kind of behaviour does to our country and where we are now looking at celebrating under the theme ‘Stability, creativity and Productivity’, we have to add to that Security because if we are not secure in our homes and if we fear to leave our homes, then we have a problem. That problem is not just the problem of police officers or the ministers of government or leaders in industry and commerce, it is the problem and the responsibility of every single citizen of this country,” he said.

The Premier also spoke to disunity which he noted had infiltrated the community and threatened its very fabric. He reminded Nevisians that each one of them had the power to reverse the trend and chart a different course.

“I also want us to take a look back over the years when we would have elections and government would change and we would all still be one happy family but to recognise as well, that sometime in 2006 we had a change in that approach. [It is] not something that I or anyone of us can feel good about and to see that this divisive type of behaviour and some of the ill conceive policies which we have witnessed that these have caused our country and our island home to struggle and to suffer.

“Each one of us has a unique opportunity to change this course and to restore the balance, restore the stability to restore the peace; to restore the security; to restore the dignity and the pride of our people and to ensure that we maintain a social and political harmony which will redound to the benefit of all of us in this country,” he said.

However, Mr. Amory stated that he remained hopeful that as a people Nevisians could break what he described as a cycle of evil which seemed to have been inherited and ensure that all would receive recognition for their contributions and that employment, promotion and rewards were done in accordance with best practises, proper procedures and in accordance with the laws of the country.

Mr. Amory further urged all to condemn all attempts to perpetrate and perpetuate the kind of deception and dishonesty which we had come to be associated with the last dispensation and should be prepared to call a spade a spade.

“Sometimes being afraid to deal with issues we sweep things under the rug and then they come back to haunt us and they are aggravations under our feet for years and years to come. Let us be honest as citizens of this country and if there is wrong let us call wrong, wrong and if things are right, let us try to emulate and seek after righteousness.

“My fellow Nevisians, friends, residents, I enlist you to a future in which there is hope… I believe we can have hope once we are alive. I believe our country is on the cusp of a new era having gone through a slump induced not so much by the International Financial Services the stress of which we have suffered but because we did not heed the signs and we felt that we could act and behave in a vacuum, ignoring that we are part of an international body. I believe that there is hope and our country will rise again and we will all rise but we will only rise if we ensure that we remain on the good ship of state and as the ship rises, so too will it raise everyone else together each in its own station,” he said.