Sir Dwight: Region has much to be Proud Of
(ZIZ News) — The Governor of the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank, Sir K. Dwight Venner said the Caribbean is a unique destination that everyone should be proud of.
Sir Dwight cited a number of global concerns, including racism in America and war in the Middle East, which do not exist within the region.
“There’re lots of things that we have done which are really first world character. Take the rule of law, human rights, things you can say, things you can do, things you can achieve which are not possible for people in other parts of the world,” he noted.
“In this place we have elections, people win and people lose. The losers are not shot or exiled; they live among us to fight another day. In St. Kitts, we are famous for this. Look how many churches we have in St. Kitts right. Christians are being killed all over the world and the Pope had to speak out about this. Assembly; we can assemble as we want without threat or injuries. We can criticise the government, we can criticise our neighbours. Once we stay inside the boundaries of reason that is ok,” he added.
The ECCB Governor said we should also be proud of the cultural diversity that exists in the region.
“And this spirit of democratic liberalism, we have perfected it. Look how many people of different races live in this part of the world; Europeans, people from the Middle East, Chinese, Indians and Africans; and you never hear about race riots in this part of the world. So there’s a lot that we have to celebrate, quite a lot,” he explained.
Despite the progress the region has made, Sir Dwight said there is still the issue of underachievement that must be addressed.
He said, “There is one thing that bothers me and that is underachievement. Underachievement! Sometimes we tend to do the mediocre when we can do much better. And we have to discover how to excel in this place which we are in control of.”
The ECCB Governor was at the time delivering the feature address at the graduation ceremony for the Clarence Fitzroy Bryant College (CFBC) Jenkins Limited Leadership Course, last week.