24t^h  Weekly Broadcast

by Hon Lester B Bird

Prime Minister

On Saturday 13^th March 2004

Fellow Citizens and Residents of Antigua and Barbuda

Over the many weeks that I have been speaking to you via these broadcasts, I have systematically set out the policies and programmes that form the Labour Party’s Manifesto.

Those of you who have listened to me every week, or heard reports of what I have said, can now compare what I have been saying to the contents of the Labour Party’s manifesto which we launched last Monday.

You will find that the policies and programmes are identical to what I have been saying in these broadcasts.

Therefore, the nation, as a whole, has known for some time now the key policies, programmes and projects that the Labour Party plans to implement.

You have a basis for judging whether or not you support the agenda of work that we have set out.

This is not the case with Mr Baldwin Spencer and the UPP.

Up to now, just a week before the election, the UPP has still not given the electorate of this country a reason to vote for them, except that they want to form the Government.

Indeed, it is insulting to the intelligent electorate that Mr Spencer and the UPP believe that you should vote for them without some studied plans of how they will tackle the challenges that face our nation.

The UPP is taking the voters of this country for granted. 

They believe that the electorate has swallowed the propaganda that we have done nothing, that we are all corrupt, and that we should therefore be slung out of office to be replaced by them.

They believe they do not have to justify themselves to you.

They believe they do not need to convince you that they are up to the job of looking after your welfare.

They believe they do not have to give you any plans on which to judge them.

In other words, they are absolutely contemptuous of the electorate. 

They feel you must vote for them blindly.  No plans, policies or programmes are necessary.

Of course, eventually you will see a Manifesto. 

It will come just days before the election giving you no time to study it, no time to discuss it, and no time to come to a considered conclusion about whether you should support it.

You might be puzzled about why they have not yet produced a manifesto. After all, they were first to put up posters, they were first to erect huge billboards, they were first to hold public meetings.   So why not be first with a manifesto?

The answer is that people don’t vote for posters, they don’t vote for billboards, what they vote for is the plans and programmes that a Party says it will implement.  That is what political parties are judged on.

The UPP could not be out front with a manifesto because it is not a Party that leads.  

They were waiting for the Labour Party Manifesto to see how they could adjust their own. 

In other words, they could not set policies and defend them. 

They waited to see our policies and are now trying to see how best they can come up with something to counter ours.

Is this a Party that can form a Government?

Would you trust your future with a Party that can’t tell you what they stand for?

Can you have any confidence in a Party that a week before an election cannot tell you what they plan to do for you and the country?

Remember what they were saying before the Labour Party took them to task.

They said the public service was too big. 

That means they planned to reduce it.

They were going to fire the 4,000 public servants and more, until we said that we would dismiss no one.

They said that they would introduce a Government Service Tax (GST) on all goods and services in this country pushing up the cost-of-living by 25%. 

Both Mr Spencer and Mr Lenworth Johnson openly said so, and when the Labour Party attacked them, they fell silent.

Mr Willmouth Daniel, the man who Mr Spencer imposed on the UPP over Harold Lovell as Deputy Leader, openly lied to this nation when he said that they have negotiated $120 million from a source he could not name to pay public servants for six months. 

I challenged him to tell the nation which very dubious person would have set aside $120 million to lend to the UPP, and up to now he has not been able to give the country an answer. 

He couldn’t give an answer because it was not true. 

Who would lend the UPP $120 million with no collateral, no repayment terms, no obligation? 

The reality is that we have heard nothing but lies or very insensitive policies from the UPP.

No well-thinking persons could support the positions they have spouted and they know it.

That is why their campaign so far has been nothing but attacks, accusations and vilification. 

They have run a destructive campaign, not a constructive one. 

It could not be constructive, because they are bankrupt of ideas and creativity, and they believe that all they have to do is tell you that it is time for a change. 

But, a change to what?

What are they offering that will improve your life or give you the things you need?

They have announced not one plan.

In the meantime, we have carefully set out our plans, programmes and policies in our manifesto.

We have shown how we will bring down the cost-of-living, how we will create new jobs, how we will cut waste in the public service, how we will tackle crime, how we will give land to the people, how we will attract new investment and promote new business.

We have shown how we intend to improve your life, and we have done so in a realistic and achievable manner.

We have made no grandiose promises or false pledges. 

What we have outlined is fully attainable.

Already, there are projects waiting in the pipeline.

We have had to delay the consummation of a US$600 million project with Allen Stanford because we are too close to the election to settle it.

But this project will bring considerable income to the country and hundreds of well-paid jobs for our people.  I do not need to prove this point. The proof of the pudding is in the eating, and it is well known that Mr Standford’s employees are well-paid and enjoy good conditions of work.

We have also delayed two new projects by Peter DeSavary. 

Some of you will remember that he came here in the late 1970’s and transformed the Holiday Inn into the St James’s Club, at one point the premier resort in Antigua.

Sandals has already broken ground on the extension of that Hotel which will go into construction in earnest within the next few weeks.

And, Ron Randall of Bluewaters is starting an extension of that Hotel in three months time to add magnificent Villas on the land adjoining the present property.

These are only some of the projects waiting to start, waiting to offer new jobs to our people, waiting to bring new monies to our economy, and waiting to bring new revenues to the Government and the private sector alike.

The Labour Party has a road map for the continued progress of our nation.  It is clearly laid out for all to see,

The only plan the UPP has is a plan of victimisation.  They want to dismiss people from the public service; many of them are people they believe are Labour Party supporters.

They want to introduce either VAT or a GST, because they believe they will need the money if they form the Government.  If they have to raise the cost-of-living to the less well-off, so be it. 

They want to witch-hunt people, and they are anxious to do it regardless of what it costs.

Those are the only real plans they have, and they are plans that will leave this nation in ruins.

We should all ensure they do not get the chance.Thank you for listening again this week. And may God continue to guide us all in the serious and wise judgements that we each will have to make for our individual and collective future.

23^rd Weekly Broadcast

by

Hon Lester B Bird, MP,

Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda

On

Saturday, 6^th March 2004

            Fellow Citizens and Residents of Antigua and Barbuda.

            I have been in politics a long time.

            But, I have seldom heard a more brazen display of deceit and hypocrisy by a politician than I heard from Baldwin Spencer last Saturday on the UPP owned and controlled Crusader Radio.

            Mr Spencer accused me of treating what he called “our foreign-born citizens and residents as though they are all transients living in fear of expulsion”.

            Even my hardened political ears could not believe what they were hearing.

            For, it is this same Baldwin Spencer and senior members of the UPP who, time and time again, threatened our adopted Antiguans with expulsion.

            It is he and his senior members who time and time again on public platforms, in parliament itself, and in written communications blatantly declared that foreign born persons would be thrown out of Antigua and Barbuda.

            One such written communication is a letter that Baldwin Spencer sent to me on 24^th July 1998. 

            In that letter he clearly stated that he would reverse the amnesty we granted to persons who had overstayed their time.  He said and I quote:

            “These persons have by law become prohibited immigrants”.  

            That is how he described our Caribbean brothers and sisters.  He called them ‘prohibited immigrants’.   In other words, they were foreigners who were to be thrown out of the country because they were prohibited.

            In the same letter he told me that if I did not reverse the amnesty, his party “will not shirk its responsibility… and will bring appropriate legal proceedings against any persons perceived to be involved in this illegal activity”. 

In other words, he would throw them out of the country.

            Not content with that, Mr Spencer went on in his letter to me of 24^th July 1998 to say that he considered my action “to be inimical to the State”. 

            That was a serious charge.

            What he was saying is that because my Government gave an amnesty to our Caribbean brothers and sisters who had overstayed their time, the State of Antigua and Barbuda was endangered.

            Can you imagine that?  The State of Antigua and Barbuda, in Baldwin Spencer’s mind, was endangered by a handful of our Caribbean sisters and brothers who were doing nothing more than working hard for a living in our country.

            Now this same Baldwin Spencer - who cannot deny his own signature on a letter written to me on the letter head of the Leader of the Opposition -  this same Baldwin Spencer is now telling these same persons that he called “foreigners”, that he will pass an Act giving citizenship to anyone who has been residing here since January 1^st, 2000.

            The sheer hypocrisy of the man is enough to make any decent person sick.

            But, his deceit is even worse.

            For the Act that he is offering to our adopted Antiguan brothers and sisters is nothing but a lie.

            As I have pointed out more than once, the Constitution of Antigua and Barbuda specifically requires persons to be resident in Antigua and Barbuda for seven years prior to their application for citizenship.

            This is an entrenched clause in our Constitution.   Therefore, it can only be changed by securing a two-thirds majority of both house of parliament, and then a referendum would have to be held at which two-thirds of the electorate of Antigua and Barbuda would have to agree.

            Baldwin Spencer and the UPP alone could not change the Constitution.

            Therefore, what he is offering our adopted Antiguans is a lie. And, in offering that lie, he shows absolute contempt for the Constitution of our country which governs us all, and which protects our rights and freedoms.

            We have to ask ourselves: if Baldwin Spencer could be so careless with one entrenched clause of the Constitution because he is desperate for the support of our adopted Antiguan brothers and sisters, what other clauses of the Constitution would he discard to suit his own political needs?

             Incidentally, in his broadcast last week, he said that his mythical Millennium Naturalisation Act will “entitle such citizens to start and operate any legal business venture, and to practice any legal calling and profession without any official interference”.

            That statement is nothing but a ruse.  It is a ruse because our adopted Antiguan brothers and sisters have that right now.  This government has never stopped any of our adopted Antiguan brothers and sisters from starting and operating any legal business venture.  Indeed, we have welcomed such initiatives since they have helped our economy to grow and provided employment for people.

            He also said that persons who qualify under his mythical Millennium Naturalisation Act will have access to “health care, affordable housing, education, religious freedom and opportunities for jobs”.

            But, our adopted Antiguan brothers and sisters have all that now.  Spencer is simply being deceitful by telling them that he will give them rights they already enjoy.

Words are cheap and promises even cheaper.

My Government will be judged by its actions. 

We gave our adopted Antiguan brothers and sisters the opportunity to join us in this land to help develop it, and to develop themselves.   Many thousands of them are already citizens enjoying the same rights as Antiguans born here. 

The UPP opposed this for years and wanted to throw them out.

It is my Government that granted an amnesty in 1998.  The UPP opposed it threatening to expel them.

It is my Government that last year gave temporary residence to our adopted Antiguans who had been here for a certain number of years, and it is my Government that waived the requirement for work permits once they qualified for temporary residence.

We have acted for our adopted Antiguan sisters and brothers in a fair and equitable manner. 

The UPP having acted against them all these years, are have been utterly contemptuous of them all.

No where was this more clearly demonstrated than when Mr Spencer, speaking at Nutgrove at a public meeting a few days ago, called the distinguished Chief Minister of Montserrat, Mr John Osborne, a jackass.

Mr Osborne is a brave man who has always stood up for the interests of the people of Montserrat and the Caribbean.  He has taken his country through some terrible times and helped to rebuild it.  He is also a very successful businessman.

He is anything but a jackass.

But Baldwin Spencer believes he can call people whatever he likes.

It is the Montserrat Chief Minister he insults today; it could be any Caribbean citizen or leader tomorrow.

Fortunately, the vast majority of us in Antigua and Barbuda have a greater sense of decency than Mr Spencer who is yet to apologise to the Chief Minister for his awful slur.

Now, last week when I spoke to you I mentioned that the UPP will begin to manufacture lies over the next few days.

            I told you there will be fabricated documents, outrageous allegations and downright wicked lies. 

            Such is the desperation of the UPP.

            I urged you that when these fabrications and allegations are made, you must ask yourselves why did they not make them all along?  Why did they wait until now? 

            And, I told you that the answer is very simple.

            Their tactic will be to make allegations close to the election date so that it will be too late to sue them in Court or to prove that they are lying. 

            One such fabrication has already come to my attention.

            They have been passing around what appears to be a bank statement with deposits for Caribbean Sun, Caribbean Star and other assets of Mr R Allen Stanford.  And, among the names of the deposits is Bird, Lester.

            This is a manufactured document.  Anyone who is computer literate can produce it.  It looks real enough, but it is completely false.

            They have not published this document now because they know I could sue them.  There is still time between now and the election.  Their purpose is to pass it around surreptitiously hoping that some who see it will believe it.

            Over the next few days and particularly closer to Election Day, they will issue many more of these fabricated documents and they will name members of the government. 

            Again, I ask you all to be vigilant.

            The UPP will lie and try to confound you.

            The UPP’s strategy therefore is to tar us with the brush of corruption by inventing and fabricating everything they can.            . 

            They do not intend to run a clean campaign and to let people judge us on the policies and programmes of the parties.  This is because they have no workable policies and no sensible plans.  Running a country takes more than wishful thinking.

            Typical of this is the claim by Wilmouth Daniel, who Baldwin Spencer appointed as Deputy Leader of the UPP over Harold Lovell.

Daniel said that the UPP “has a commitment” for six months of public servants salaries until they do “housekeeping” whatever that means.

In other words, Wilmouth Daniel wants the people of Antigua and Barbuda to believe that some mysterious source is willing to lend them $120 million. 

Who would do such a thing?  And at what price?  How much of this country and its assets would the UPP have to give away to get $120 million? Overnight, they will burden this generation and the next with more debt.  

Fortunately, we do not have to worry about this, because it is nothing but a blatant lie. 

I challenge Wimouth Daniel now to tell this nation who has promised to give the UPP $120 million, on what terms, and against what collateral.  If he does not respond fully, he must forever hold his piece and be condemned as a liar, seeking to play with the lives of public servants.

Unlike Daniel and the UPP, my Government has been paying the public servants, and we will continue to do so in the same way that we have in the past.

             On Monday we will launch our Manifesto.  It clearly lays out our well thought our plans, programmes and policies for moving Antigua and Barbuda forward.

            The Labour Party intends to maintain the stable conditions in which we live and to reduce the cost of living.  We have proven that we can build this country, and we will continue to grow it for the benefit of all.

            Thank you listening, and may God continue to give us the wisdom to make the judgments that lie at the heart of our children’s future and our own welfare.

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