We knew we had to ‘pull up’  our socks and exercise fiscal restraint and pursue a policy of moderation to ensure fiscal discipline in the country was restored.

 One year later that discipline has paid handsome dividends.

 Our fiscal system and our national economy now rest on a sure and certain foundation.

 We are no longer on the slippery slope that we were on when we took power one year ago.

 Our first and most notable achievement therefore, is that we have stabilized our economic foundations and in doing so we have laid a launching pad for the new economic thrust that will bring renewed prosperity for Bahamians everywhere.
 

 While nearly all of the tourism economies around the world have been tottering on the brink of disaster Bahamian tourism under the new PLP Government has once again taken off like a rocket.

 Grand Bahama with the re-flagging of the major resort properties is now finally positioned to experienced unprecedented growth and with that growth, many hundreds of new employment opportunities for Bahamians are being created.

 Major resort development projects in Abaco, Exuma, Cat Island, Eleuthera, Crooked Island, Rum Cay, Bimini, San Salvador and right here in New Providence and at Paradise Island are either already in progress or will come on stream within the very near future.
Not under the FNM but under this new PLP Government.  These projects, these new development initiatives will collectively bring to all Bahamians who are willing and able to work the help and hope that we promised.

What I want our critics and detractors to pay particular attention to is this:

That we have been able to lay this launching pad for the vigorous expansion of our tourism and resort industry at a time when most of the world was mired in recession, at time when the world is just now emerging from the war in the Middle East;

 At a time when the post September 11 - 01 blues are still depressing tourism world wide.

 Despite all of those obstacles, despite all that gloomy and cloudy outlook, despite all the fears about terrorism and global recession we have soldiered on.  In the space of just one short year, we have managed to put new resort investments back on the right track; and Bahamian tourism back on the road that will bring prosperity to all Bahamians.

 But the one thing that has given me the most pride and sense of accomplishment during my first year in office is that we have begun to bring about the full flowering of democracy in our country.
Before we took power a year ago, we were accustomed to treating the Prime Minister and Cabinet as if they had all the answers to all the problems in our country.  We had little time for the views of others; we had little time for the thoughts of others.
We had - in many respects - dictatorship Cabinet and this led to a culture of arrogance in high places and even worse than that, it led to intellectual bankruptcy, simply because our leaders were too arrogant and too self assured to tap into the giant reservoir of ideas and talents to be found at all levels of Bahamian society.

I have endeavoured to change all that.  I have endeavoured to introduce a new culture in the way we govern ourselves.  We my colleagues I have sought to broaden the base of popular participation in the affairs of the state.  I have created a new circle of power and involved within that circle of power many scores of Bahamians from all walks of life in a network of commissions appointed to study the many problems facing our nation and to develop policies, and programmes by which these problems can be systematically eradicated.  And so, whether it is in relation to National Health Insurance, Prison Reform, the review of our labour laws, trade liberalisation, cultural development, the reform of our Financial Services Sector, the preservation of Clifton.  In each of these vital areas affecting our well being and future of the nation, we have put together a whole new bank of ideas and intellectual capital that we can draw upon so that our progress as a people would proceed in a rational, systematic and coherent manner - and moreover - on the basis of a broad national consensus.  I realise that for many, this new approach to governance may seem to be moving too slowly at times, but we need to remind ourselves of the heavy price we have already had to pay for decisions of the past that were taken to rashly, to quickly, without sufficient forethought or planning and in most cases, without the kind of consultation that should inform government policy formation in a free and democratic society.

Our approach may at times require us to move more slowly, but you can rest assured that we shall be moving more steadily and mores securely.  I am acutely aware tonight that there is still much suffering and much want in our land.  I know that many of you are still in search of jobs and that many of you are still in need of the peace, security and tranquility that have been denied you because of crime in your communities.  I know that many others of you are still in desperate need of adequate housing for your families and for a helping hand in your efforts to improve your lot in life and that of your loved ones.  And so tonight, I come before you not to boast of the progress we have made in just one short year, but to assure you that we are on the right course and to renew our pledge to you that we will exert every effort and that we will leave no stone unturned in our quest to meet the high expectations you have reposed in us as your government.  This is not the end.  This is only the beginning.  And looking back as we do tonight over our first 365 days in office, we know that whilst we have made a solid beginning, there is so much more that challenges as we enter our second year in office.  Now is the time for steady hands.  Now is the time for committed hearts.  Now is the time to focus our sights, not on past disappointments, but on the wonderful horizon of opportunity that rises before us now.  I am not deterred.  I am much encouraged.  I shall soldier on.  We stand on a sure and certain foundation that we have patiently and carefully laid over the course of our first year in office.  And now that the foundation has been laid, we shall redouble our efforts and we shall not be distracted by those whose only mission is keep us back and hope that we will fail.  Let them carry on with their mischief while we carry on with the governance of this nation, for the upliftment of all.  We shall not rest until we have fulfilled our pledge and our promises to build a stronger Bahamas and a brighter future for all its people.  One year ago that was our mission and it remains our mission still.  We have made a solid beginning and we are holding to a steady course.

Thank you and goodnight.