Session Chairpersons; Mr. Convention Chairman; Reverend gentlemen and ladies here present; Esteemed Stalwart Councillors; Mr. Party Chairman-elect and other National Party Officers-elect; Madam Deputy Prime Minister and Mr. Pratt; my other colleagues in the Cabinet; Honourable Senators; fellow members of the House of Assembly; Lady Pindling; Representatives of the Progressive Young Liberals and of the Women’s Branches and other affiliated organizations; fellow delegates to this 47th National General Convention of the Progressive Liberal Party;  my brothers and sisters of the Commonwealth of The Bahamas :

FROM THE AGE OF UPLIFTMENT………

Forty-nine years ago, on a warm Summer’s night, three men met in a building opposite the Police Barracks on East Street.  They had come together to keep an appointment with destiny.

Their names were H.M. Taylor, Cyril Stevenson and Bill Cartwright and their purpose that night was to form the first political party in the history of The Bahamas.  The name they gave it is the name it carries still : The Progressive Liberal Party.

But it was more than just a party they were forming that night.  What they were really doing was creating what was to become the most important instrument of political and social change this country has ever known.

They were brave men and good ones too, these founding fathers of the PLP.  The persecution they suffered, the adversities they bore and the sacrifices they made are too seldom applauded even now.  But this I know: there is not one of us in this hall tonight who is not indebted to this pioneering band of brothers for laying a foundation that has endured now for half a century.

But Taylor, Stevenson and Cartwright did not themselves endure.  Destiny had called them to carry the baton only a part of the way.  By the early 60’s, a new generation of leaders had come to the fore.  Guided by a broader vision and energized by a more aggressive spirit, it would fall to this new generation to carry the baton of the PLP on the next and most critical leg of the relay.

And my, what a golden generation of PLP leaders it was!  Men like Lynden Pindling, A.D. Hanna, Cecil Wallace-Whitfield, Arthur Foulkes, Carlton Francis, Paul Adderley, Loftus Roker, Warren Levarity, Jeff Thompson, Orville Turnquest, Jimmy Shepherd, Carlton Francis, Anthony Roberts, Clement Maynard and Cadwell Armbrister; and women like Doris Johnson, Eugenia Lockhart, Georgianna Symonette, Marguerite Pindling and Beryl Hanna; and a great many others, men and women, young and old.

Joining forces with forerunners in the struggle whose names had already been written into history - giants like Milo Butler, Clifford Darling and Clarence Bain - this new generation of PLP leaders would carry the baton forward.  And nearly all of them would be there on that historic day in 1967 when Majority Rule was won.

The attainment of Majority Rule in 1967 was the end of a long journey but it was also the dawn of a bright new age.  Future historians will remember it, I think, as the Age of Upliftment.

The common man was lifted up!  Little black boys and little black girls were lifted up!  Poor white Bahamians were lifted up!  The dispossessed and downtrodden were lifted up!   Bahamians everywhere, from Inagua to Bimini, were lifted up!

But do we understand what this Age of Upliftment was really all about?

The first PLP Government under the leadership of Lynden Pindling built scores of new schools and clinics and bridges and roads.  But there was more to it than that.

Yes, they brought electric light and running water into homes where before there was only the kerosene lamp and the outhouse.  But there was more to it than that.

Yes, the first PLP Government replaced the squalor of slums with spanking new subdivisions in the suburbs of the capitol.  But there was more to it than that.

Yes, they created thousands of scholarships and many more thousands of new jobs in an economy that boomed.  But there was more to it than that.

Yes, the first PLP Government did so many wonderful things that were visible and tangible; things that we knew were real because we could see them with our own eyes and touch them with our own hands.  But what Lynden Pindling and the PLP did in those early years was a whole lot more than that.

What they really achieved, you see, took place at a much deeper level.  The true greatness of the PLP in those early years could not be counted in dollars and cents nor could it be measured in brick and mortar.  It was not to be found in the things you could touch or see.

No, it was a whole lot deeper than that and what it was, was this : Lynden Pindling and that first PLP Government in the years following Majority Rule made us stand tall!  They made us feel proud!  They made us feel confident about ourselves! They put a stride in our step!  They made us feel good to be alive and full of hope for the future!  They made us dream big!  They made us reach for the stars!   They made us want to excel and to shun mediocrity!  They filled us with energy and patriotic purpose!   They challenged us to build a new country with our own hands!  And they made us believe that there was no limit to what we could accomplish together.

That is what the Age of Upliftment was all about.  And that was what the real genius of Lynden Pindling was all about.  He inspired us to move to a new frontier of our collective being as a people.  It was something we could not see but only sense; it was something we could not touch but only feel.  But it was real and my, how marvelously it worked.  We were uplifted and with Pindling we marched to that new frontier.

...TO A NEW AGE OF TRANSFORMATION

Thirty-five years later, a new PLP Government faces much the same challenge that Lynden Pindling faced when the first PLP Government took office in 1967.

In the same way that Pindling in 1967 had to exhort Bahamians to strive for excellence and to lift themselves up, the new PLP Government of Perry Christie in 2002 must now inspire Bahamians to transform themselves to meet the challenges and embrace the opportunities that lie before them.

Pindling promised us an Age of Upliftment.  Tonight I promise you an Age of Transformation – a transformation in the way we govern; a transformation in the institutional framework of governance; a transformation in values and attitudes; and a transformation in the way we relate to each other as members of our society.

Already we have begun!

A NEW CIRCLE OF POWER

Already we have begun to transform the way we govern.  In the past, the cabinet was treated as if it had a monopoly on wisdom.  In the past, the cabinet made as if it had all of the answers to all our problems. But no more! Instead, a transformation is already underway.  Already a new circle of power has been assembled to serve as a vital support-system for the executive government in the formation of national policies.

This new circle of power consists of all those Commissions you have heard so much about over the last six months.  And there are more to come; this new circle of power will continue to expand.

Collectively, these commissions serve two purposes:

Firstly, they represent a network of specialized think-tanks, a great reservoir of brainpower flowing into many different streams.  Together they comprise an intellectual treasury that will help to inform and shape the policies of the Government in the most critical areas of national life, whether it be in relation to:
· the reform of our constitution; or
· the re-structuring of our public service sector; or
·  the creation of a more co-ordinated approach to national security; or
· the problems of crime, recidivism and prison reform; or
· the need for a viable system of national health insurance; or
·  the creation of an aggressive new thrust in urban rehabilitation and community renewal; or
· the re-structuring of our taxation system in anticipation of fundamental changes in the global economy; or
· the economic expansion of Eastern and Western Grand Bahamas and the Family Islands;
· or the revitalization of our struggling financial services sector; or
· the development of more effective systems for identifying and treating kids who suffer from autism or who have special learning needs; or
· the creation of a proper framework for the development of our cultural resources.

Commissions for these and other vitally important areas of our national life are either already at work or will be announced very shortly.

Rather than relying on its collective wisdom, the executive government of The Bahamas will now be supported by this network of new Commissions.  Together, they constitute a new circle of power that will bring greater scholarship and scientific insight to the formation of national policy.  This is the very essence of what consultation is all about – structured consultation that will enable the executive government of The Bahamas to do its work in a more methodical and sensible way and on the footing of properly thought-out advice.

Yes, fellow delegates, the old way of doing things is on the way out.  The whole approach to the way The Bahamas is governed is being transformed.

The second major purpose of this new circle of power, this new network of commissions that I have appointed, is to involve considerably greater numbers of people in the process of national governance.  Before now, the only real participants in policy formation were the politicians and the civil servants.  In my election campaign, however, I committed myself to the deepening and broadening of our system of governance so that that there could be a fuller participation of our people in the running of our country.

Some of you may have thought I was only saying that to get elected.  Some of you may have thought that I belonged to the old school and that once I was elected it would be business as usual according to the old model of governance.

Well, not anymore.  This new PLP Government will be doing things a whole lot differently.  Some of you may think that it is taking too long for all the pieces to fall into place but remember this : it is always better to take your time and get it right than to rush in and get it wrong.  Remember that!  Consultation takes time.  Listening to different points of view takes time.  Studying the options takes time.  Remember the Referendum!  The last Government rushed into it in record time, not consulting anybody, not listening to anybody, and what was the result : they got it all wrong!  This new PLP Government headed by Perry Christie, I assure you, is not going to make the same mistake!

We will continue to transform the way we govern by maximizing the opportunities for public involvement in the affairs of state.  That is why the commissions that I have appointed are so important.  These commissions will not be operating behind closed doors.  They will be harnessing the brainpower, the thoughts and ideas of the wider community as they go about their work.  In that way, we will be engaging the entire nation in the kind of dialogue that will give true meaning to participatory democracy.  We will therefore all be a part of this new circle of power that will reinforce and strengthen the traditional institutions of government.

Before leaving the subject of the newly formed commissions, I want to say a little something about one of them in particular.

CULTURAL DEVELOPMENT

I have often said to my Cabinet colleagues that if there is a single initiative that is likely to distinguish this administration, it is likely to evolve out of the work I have assigned to the recently named National Cultural Development Commission under the co-chairmanship of Mr. Winston Saunders and Mr. Charles Carter.

I want you to understand how important this Commission is to our life and future well being as a people.

Culture touches every facet of our national life.  In economic terms, cultural activity acts as a powerful spur to tourism and commerce.  In social terms, cultural activity provides a viable alternative to a wide range of social ills, whether it be drug abuse, juvenile delinquency or criminal behaviour.  In political terms, cultural activity contributes more than anything else to the consolidation of a national identity and an awareness of our uniqueness as a sovereign people in the global community of nations.  In environmental terms, an appreciation of our culture is what drives us to protect our natural resources from desecration and wanton destruction.

But above all else, our commitment to cultural development is grounded in the belief that if we are to preserve our identity as Bahamians, we have to develop a more complete understanding of who we are and where we have come from.  Without this foundation of knowledge, we can have absolutely no idea of where we are headed.

Our cultural resources contain an enormous amount of creative energy that is waiting to be unleashed.  We have shown brilliant glimpses of it in the past but we have only scratched the surface.  The Cultural Commission, I am convinced, will spark a cultural renaissance in which the creative genius of the Bahamian people will be brought to a full flowering.

Out there tonight in some humble home over the hill, or in Cat Island perhaps, there is a new Sydney Poitier waiting to be discovered.  Somewhere out there tonight, in Eleuthera perhaps, there is a new Paul Meeres waiting to dazzle Paris once more with the artistry of his dance.  Out there, in Andros perhaps, there is a new Freddie Munnings or a new Joseph Spence waiting to entertain the world with the majesty of his music.  Out there tonight, in Acklins or Bimini perhaps, there is a new Amos Ferguson waiting to interpret The Bahamian soul anew through the medium of paint.  Out there tonight, in New Providence and Grand Bahama, in San Salvador and Inagua, in Exuma and Abaco, are the novelists and poets and playwrights, the artists and dancers and singers, the actors and junkanoo innovators, the historians and philosophers whose creative energy is just waiting to be released.

We can release that energy!  We know we have it in us! We must now bring it bursting forth for all the world to see.  We have already done it in sports, haven’t we?  We have produced the fastest female runners in the universe, so who says we can’t do it?  We have produced two players at two different times for the greatest team the basketball world has ever known, so who says we can’t do it?  We have produced the Number 1 ranked doubles-player in the world of international tennis, so who says we can’t do it?  We have produced the best in the world in Olympic yachting, so who says this tiny, little country can’t do it?

We have done it in sports and now it is time to do it with culture.

We must!  Others have.  Why can’t we?  Where are our Nobel Laureates?  Little St. Lucia with a population half our size has already produced two of them, one in literature, the other in economics.  Where are ours ?

   The talent, the brilliance, the genius is right out there and it will be the mission of the Cultural Commission to discover that talent; to tap into that brilliance; to unearth that genius and to bring it before this nation and the world in all its majesty and splendour.

Yes, there is going to be a cultural renaissance in this country and it will provide a firm foundation for us to stand on in the years ahead.

But make no mistake about it, we do not have that foundation now. Every day our culture is being diluted and disfigured by BET and the trash that passes for music on our airwaves.  Every day, our sense of national identity and our values as a people are being twisted by the relentless parade of movies on TV and in our theatres and in our video stores; movies that celebrate violence and vulgarity; movies that celebrate wickedness and evil.  No wonder our young people are so screwed up!  No wonder our people have lost touch with their culture and their values.  No wonder we have lost touch with our very souls.

We are a small and vulnerable nation that prizes its freedom so censorship is never going to be an effective antidote to the alien poisons that have been introduced into the cultural bloodstream of our country.

Our only hope is to set ourselves to the task of a cultural renaissance that will, in time, represent a viable alternative that will ultimately triumph.

So you see now how vitally important the mission of the Cultural Development Commission is to the future well-being of a people who know who they are, who know where they have come from, and who know where they are headed.

FELLOW DELEGATES :

There are several other important areas of our national life that I propose to address tonight to demonstrate exactly how my Government is proposing to usher in a new Age of Transformation.  Time, however, necessarily limits the scope of what can be covered in my address tonight.

But let me begin with the vexing problem of crime and recidivism and the attendant need for prison reform.

CRIME, RECIDIVISM, URBAN REHABILITATION & PRISON REFORM

Let me directly address the problem of crime and justice in our society and forgive me if I speak bluntly.

The level of violent crime in our society is simply unacceptable.  The level of viciousness in the commission of murders and rapes and robberies in our society is simply intolerable.  There is no other way to put it.

Tell me: what gives these thugs the right to smash somebody’s front door down and then march up the stairs and rape a man’s wife right in front of him with a gun pressed against his head?

What kind of animals, what kind of brute beasts have we created in this land?  What kind of animal can chop a woman up right in front of her infant children?  What kind of mindless savage can shoot someone in his head just because he looked at him the wrong way?  What have we come to when you can walk all your days in the footsteps of the Lord, leading a good, decent and upright life, only to come face to face in your bedroom one night with someone who doesn’t only want the little money you have, he wants your life too – and for no reason at all, except for the diabolical thrill of seeing you die!

Tell me : what gives them the right?

Well, I’ll tell you one thing tonight.  Perry Christie and this new PLP Government now solemnly declare an unrelenting war on crime.  Enough is enough!  The time has come to take our country back so people don’t have to stay cooped up in their homes, afraid to even go to sleep.  The time has come to take back our streets so that you don’t have to be afraid to walk the streets by day or drive your car by night.  The time has come to root the human rot out of our land so that the good are no longer hostage to the bad and the ugly.  It is time for goodness and Godliness to triumph once more over wickedness and evil. An end to this madness!

The Police are going to be given all the tools and all the resources they need to break the back of crime.  The Commissioner of Police is a man in whom I have the utmost confidence and he and his excellent team of officers have already put in train a new series of measures and strategies that I am obviously not going to speak about in public but which are already beginning to make an impressive difference in the level of crime. Even more innovative intelligence-led policing strategies are soon to be put in train.  The end result, I am confident, will a major reduction in crime in our country.

  But I might as well tell you something else.  The police cannot do it alone.  The courts have to play their part too.  It is absolutely alarming the number of crimes that are being committed by young men while they are out on bail awaiting trial for exactly the same offences!   This is madness!  Our courts, I regret to say, have become, in all too many instances, a revolving door :  you commit a crime; you get caught; you get charged; you get bail; you get out; and then the cycle of criminality starts all over again, never skipping a beat.

If the problem is with the Bail Act then we may have to give that Act a second look.  Yes, I know all about the presumption of innocence but I also know that the accused individual is not the only one who has rights in this country?  What about the rest of the society and their right to live in peace, unmolested by criminals who know how to milk the constitution down to the last drop so that they can be free to keep the rest of the society in fear.  We must therefore strike a more appropriate balance between the rights of the individual on the one hand and the rights of the rest of society on the other. Hopefully this will be an important area of inquiry by the Constitutional Reform Commission that I shall be announcing in full next week.

But let us not point the finger of blame only at the judicial system.  The responsibility for curbing criminality does not only rest with the police and the courts.  It also rests with us as citizens.

Mothers, stop protecting your criminal children!  If you know they are supporting themselves by robbing or dealing in drugs, persuade them to stop and if that doesn’t work, turn them in!   Neighbours, if you know the person next door is dealing in drugs or is robbing people for a living or is showing off an unlicensed firearm, call the police!  Man in the street, if you see someone fleeing from the scene of his crime and you know where he went, call the Police tip line!

We are all in this war on crime together and we have to present a united front against all the forces of criminality in our midst.  Together, we can beat this beast and restore sanity and peace.

Now having said that I want to report to you on some of the important initiatives that we are taking to address the problems of recidivism and prison reform which are so central to the whole issue of crime prevention.

We are approaching the challenge on several fronts.  No strategy for Crime prevention is going to be effective unless we go to the source, to the underlying social conditions that breed criminality.

That is why we instituted the Farm Road project as part of our Urban Rehabilitation and Inner City Renewal Programme.  This is a pilot project that will be extended to other inner-city communities in New Providence and Grand Bahama.  It represents an innovative form of community policing that has produced excellent results already.

In the case of the Farm Road Project, drug houses and dilapidated structures were either fixed up for law-abiding citizens to live in or demolished.  Bush was cleared away leaving criminals nowhere to hide.  Derelict vehicles and accumulated garbage were carried away for dumping.  Children who were too embarrassed to go to school because they lacked lunch and decent uniforms to wear were able to turn that embarrassment into dignity and self-esteem when the necessary material support was provided.  In addition, town meetings were held to promote dialogue between the Police and the community on matters related to urban renewal.

It was a wonderful example of the positive results that can come – and have come – from effective community policing and the proper deployment of the resources of our social service agencies.

Most significantly of all, however, the Police have reported that as a result of the Farm Road Project there has been a significant drop in the crime in the Farm Road area.  What better proof do we need of the great good that can come when we attack the underlying social conditions that produce crime in the first place?

The lessons we have learned from the Farm Road Project will now be applied throughout urban population centre in New Providence and Grand Bahama. And let me say that our churches, through their social outreach programmes, will be playing an important leadership role in the implementation of our Urban Rehabilitation Programme.

Turning now to the problem of recidivism or repeat offenders, it cannot be acceptable in 2002 that seven out of every ten persons who leave Her Majesty’s Prison  end up returning to prison.

Clearly, we have a serious problem.  Our prison has for too long been a warehouse for criminals, another revolving door which sees the same people coming in and going out, often worse than when they entered.  In short, our prison has become a manufacturing plant for criminals.

Fellow delegates, we are convinced that there is another way.  One month ago, I appointed a blue-ribbon Prison Reform Commission headed by Dr. Elliston Rahming, a Bahamian criminologist who serves as my Special Assistant.

By early February 2003, we will know what the Commission’s findings and recommendations are.  We confidently expect that these findings will lead to a process of major penal reform and, in so doing, result in the more effective rehabilitation of inmates, thereby reducing the recidivism rate in our country.  The ultimate result is bound to be a further reduction in the incidence of crime.

There is one other important law enforcement initiative that I wish to announce tonight. We know that a large number of prisoners are incarcerated for drug related offences.  While most of the drugs from South America are destined for the United States, too much of it ends up staying right here.  Inagua is a hot drop off point.  And so I serve notice tonight that very soon Matthew Town will become a permanent outpost for the Royal Bahamas Defence Force.  The docking facilities will be significantly improved and the the airport will be upgraded to allow for night-flying.  Inagua is therefore poised to emerge as the major southern frontline in what will be a  relentless campaign against poaching, illegal immigration and drug trafficking.

THE ENVIRONMENT

Fellow delegates, I now turn to the subject of the physical environment in which we live.

Nothing better demonstrates the loss of personal and community pride than the appalling condition into which we have allowed our physical surroundings to fall and our environment to deteriorate.

Why, I ask you, is it still necessary for the third government in an Independent Bahamas to have to still be struggling with the challenge of keeping our relatively small communities clean?

   What is it that defeats our attempts to tackle a problem that speaks so badly of us as a civilized and humane society; a problem that stares us in the face at every turn and appalls the visitors we strive so hard to impress?

We like to brag about our prosperity yet we tolerate a level of dirt and dilapidation associated with countries at the bottom rung of the ladder of development ladder.

We consume vast quantities of fast food and leave evidence of this consumption all over our roadsides all across our country.  We treat our environment with such contempt that visitors write to the Ministry of Tourism and ask whether we have any sense of decency or shame.

For too long we have also tolerated roadside garages that pollute our underground water supply with battery acid and motor oil.  How long can we tolerate the unsightliness and stench of uncollected garbage and debris in public places?

In Great Exuma, an intrinsically lovely island and winner of a Green Globe Award from the Caribbean Tourism Organization, there is on the main road going into the settlement of The Forrest, a sign that reads “Welcome to The Forrest, winner of the most beautiful settlement in Exuma,” and yet I hear complaints that the roadside from Farmers Hill to Georgetown is now littered with every beverage label for every kind of beer sold in The Bahamas.

In Bimini, where there is no lack of criticism from environmentalists over proposed new developments, on the streets of this once quaint island, once the favourite of authors Zane Grey and Ernest Hemmingway, garbage is everywhere.

It doesn’t make any sense at all.   It has to stop! Before the end of this year, therefore, my Government will cause a Commission to be formed that will evolve into a national Environmental Protection Agency to more aggressively deal with the problem of environmental cleanliness and to better monitor the management of waste collection.

There is one other major initiative concerning our environment, specifically our marine environment, that I should like to announce tonight.

  We must move more resolutely to better protect our marine environment while at the same time optimizing its use for the sustainable benefit of Bahamians and visitors.

With that in mind, it is my intention to work closely with the Ministers of Agriculture and Education, with the College of The Bahamas, and private sector environmental groups such as BREEF, to establish a Marine Research Centre at the earliest opportunity.

This Centre will conduct research into the marine environment with particular reference to the preservation of our coral reefs and the need for sustainable development of our fishery resources.

This Martine Research Centre will also focus on coastal zone management to ensure the protection of mangrove swamps and beaches throughout The Bahamas.  Of particular concern in this regard is the removal of beach sand for construction purposes. It is our intention to ensure that there is proper and sustainable sand mining and that the practice of stripping our beaches of sand will be forever banned and closely policed.

To facilitate the establishment of this Marine Research Centre, I intend to recruit a Bahamian marine Scientist, Dr. Livingston Marshall, in January, 2003 to work on this project and to promote the expansion of marine science education in the school system and to establish guidelines for sustainable eco-tourism.

PUBLIC SECTOR REFORM IN THE AREAS OF FINANCIAL PLANNING AND REVENUE COLLECTION

Fellow Delegates :

I turn now to matters directly related to the management of our fiscal resources and some of the initiatives that are being taken to transform the public sector in the areas of financial planning and revenue collection and management.
 
There are some serious obstacles we have to overcome.

The first major obstacle we have to contend with is to ensure that all revenues legally owing to the Government of The Bahamas are collected on time and brought into the Public Treasury.  There is a lot of work to ensure that this happens.  In my capacity as Minister of Finance I have directed that all revenue agencies must put in place proper procedures to ensure compliance and enforcement.  These procedures will place greater reliance on the use of information technology to track revenue collection.  This is the 21st century and it is an information technology age. There can be no excuse, therefore, for continuing to operate as if we were still in the 19th century.

If we can move the revenue system forward so that substantial arrears do not build up and so that revenue collection is enhanced, we can make significant progress in eliminating the fiscal deficit in 2002/03 and leave a margin for the timely implementation of the new policies laid out in “Our Plan.”

The second obstacle we have to overcome in this area to move the management of public expenditure to a new level where expenditure is carefully controlled and accounted for; where there is a focus on value for money; and where the process is transparent and everyone can be satisfied that the expenditure benefits our society in the way that it is intended to do.  The removal of this second obstacle requires those responsible for managing public funds to be closely focused on their responsibilities.  Again, in my capacity as Minister of Finance, along with Minister Smith, I am encouraging this new emphasis on the effective management of public funds.

The third obstacle we have to overcome is to ensure that public expenditure is audited in a comprehensive and timely manner.  In addition to existing audits, audit functions in the major revenue and spending ministries and departments must now be strengthened and expanded.  Further, we must provide scope for independent external audits to support internal audits and to effect surprise audits.  It is only when there are timely and comprehensive audits that we can learn from mistakes, implement new safeguards, and determine if we are spending funds in the most effective manner.

At the same time it is essential to have a special planning unit that will enable the Cabinet to determine our policy priorities; to adjust those priorities in light of changing circumstances; and to objectively evaluate competing demands for public funds or concessions from revenue requirements.

I am therefore establishing this special planning unit in the Cabinet Office under an officer of Permanent Secretary rank. It will be staffed by a small number of well-trained public officers supported, where necessary, by specialist expertise drawn from the private sector.

Unless we have sufficient revenue, we cannot implement the commitments in “Our Plan” in a timely manner.  To obtain the revenues we need, we must reinvigorate the revenue collection and enforcement agencies of the Government and ensure that the funds are spent wisely and effectively.

You should be aware, however, that the measures I have just announced represent only the opening chapter in a major renovation – yes, transformation – of our public sector.  My Government is making a major investment in public sector reform to promote harmonization between governmental departments and agencies; to foster greater levels of productivity, efficiency and accountability; and to modernize the apparatus of government by introducing information technology more comprehensively.  Further details of this major reform initiative will be unveiled in due course.

THE ECONOMY : NEW INVESTMENTS AND EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES

Fellow Delegates :

I turn now to the final part of my address to you this evening.

As you would have heard from Minister Smith on Tuesday night, there continues to be great deal of uncertainty in the global economy. The threat of war on Iraq continues to loom large and the economies of our major foreign markets continue to reflect a great deal of volatility.

I am happy to report to you, however, that the economic prospects for our country are encouraging indeed when measured in the context of the numerous and impressive range of investment and development projects that are either already underway or now receiving the active consideration of my Government.

Let me say at once that my Government is committed to processing all bona fide applications for investment, whether local or foreign, in the quickest possible time-frtame and that structural reforms to facilitate this more expeditious processing will be announced very shortly.

Time obviously does not allow me to mention all of the important investment projects but permit me to mention some of the major ones.

1. My government is negotiating a new Heads of Agreement with the Kerzner Group for a $500 Million expansion to their existing investment.  This project includes the construction of 1200 new hotel rooms and the addition of further water-themed amenities.  The Kerzner Group’s proposal also includes a $50 Million development comprising 122 ned time share units.  The entire expansion will create 1000 new jobs.

2. $762 Million in new resort investment is now being pumped into Exuma, translating into 2000 jobs.  Included in this package will be Two Five Star Resorts – Four Seasons and Aman - with the possibility of a Ritz Carlton as well.  Exuma will also be the site of a Greg Norman PGA 18 hole golf course at Emerald Bay.

3. Club Med will reopen its 5 Star Resort in San Salvador on December, 7th this year with direct non-stop weekly jumbo jets flying in weekly from Paris and New York.   Discussions aimed at the re-opening of Club Med are also underway.

4. Hutchinson Whampoa has recently invested $75.4 Million dollars in the Container Port at Freeport, Grand Bahama.  It has also invested $30 Million in the construction of the Freeport International Airport.  The runaway has been completed and the new terminal building is under construction.  The container trans-shipment area for the first time is over- booked to 2005 and further expansion is under way.  Many Bahamians have gone away for training.  Employment is expected to be up to almost 1000 by 2003.  Volume of containers handled at the Freeport facility matches that of the Port of Miami at about one million containers per year and with the expansion plans in progress, Freeport will in time surpass the Port of Miami in terms of total containers handled per year.  These developments represent a major economic boost to the prospects not only for Grand Bahama but for the whole of the Northern Bahamas.

5. Special mention is also to made of the 500 acre Sea Air Business Centre presently being created between the harbour and the airport Freeport.  This will become the cornerstone of the e-commence industry in The Bahamas.

6. I also want to announce tonight the flagging of Port Lucaya Hotel by the Starwood Hotel Chain using the names “Westin” and “Sheraton”.   This property will serve as an anchor for the development of tourism in Freeport.  The reflagging, together with the soon to be announced casino operator, will encourage increased airlift and give a powerful impetus for the growth of tourism in Grand Bahama.

7. My government has just approved for Winding Bay, Abaco, the establishment of an internationally renowned private members’ golf club with affiliated Five Star facilities in Scotland and the United States.   This is a $140 Million development that will comprise a 20 Room Club House; 75 Condominium Units; and 50 Luxury Residential Lots. This development will create 310 jobs.

8. A $70  Million film television and music production centre translating into 1000 jobs in construction and operations at Gold Rock Creek, East Grand Bahama;

9. A $35 Million project is slated for Crooked Island at Pitts Town.  The Pint Landing Hotel, Marina and second home development will translate into employment of about 50 people. This developer will also restore the historic Bird Rock Lighthouse to its original glory;

10. A nine room boutique hotel situated at the historic sites of Rock House and the old Catholic School house in Harbour Island is now under construction  This represents a $3.75 Million capital investment and will employ about 60 people.  This development will also include the first public gymnasium in Harbour Island.

11. A $50 Million 250 room hotel and 150 slip marina along with a championship 18 hole golf course will also be built at Morgan’s Bluff in North Andros by a Bahamian investment group headed by Garet O. Finlayson OBE and Al Collie. We are especially proud of this particular development project by Bahamian investors who have responded to my government’s invitation to invest directly our number one industry.

12. At the other end of Andros, in South Andros, the Ritz Beach Resort boasts 22 spacious 5 Star Villas. This investment of $5 Million will represent a new economic anchor for South Andros and will compliment the Mortgan’s Bluff development in North Andros.

I have announced just some of the many development projects that will re-invigourate our economy, in New Providence, Grand Bahama and the Family Islands.

Nearly all of these developments will incorporate a significant “second home” market -  a market that attracts repeat visitors, yacht owners and those who own their own airplanes.

Clearly there will be many exciting new opportunities for Bahamians to march to a new frontier of economic prosperity, especially in the Family Islands.  All of the resorts that will be coming on stream have agreed to work closely with the hospitality division of COB and with BTVI to train and provide apprenticeship programs for novice Bahamian workers in the hospitality industry.

Entrepreneurial opportunities will also abound in the construction sector.  Hotels; houses for Bahamians and second homes for non- Bahamians; schools; marinas; clinics; police stations; stores and business houses; and other infrastructure will have to be built to sustain the communities that will be developed around the major new resorts that will be coming on stream in n the Family Islands.

The economic future for The Bahamas therefore looks promising indeed.  It therefore behooves our people, especially our young, to put themselves in a state of readiness to take maximum advantage o the opportunities that now lie before them.
 
CONCLUSION
Session Chairpersons, Fellow Delegates, Ladies & Gentlemen :

I have been in frontline politics for 30 years now.  And in all that time I have been second-guessed and underestimated.  In  1997 when I became the new Leader of the PLP there were many who said that I would never make it.  They said I was too soft, too indecisive.  They said I would fall down and be defeated and be heard from no more.  They said I would never be able to slay Goliath.  Well, look at me now!  I have won six consecutive elections and as Leader I won the General Elections on my first try. That must count for something, hey?

Our detractors continue to abound but pay them no mind.  That is the nature of politics.  We must take it all in stride and not be deflected from our path.

Hasn’t this been a wonderful convention all week long?  We have engaged the Bahamian people in a sober discussion of the issues. When last have the Bahamian people been treated to such a display of political maturity.

But now we must go forth to embrace the challenges that my ministers and I have laid before you during this Convention.  A new Age of Transformation now looms before us.  Destiny has sounded its trumpet to this Party once more.  We took this country to great heights once before and in this, the first century of a new millennium, a new PLP Government shall once again take our nation forward, this time to a new age of transformation.

Join with me, then; join with me in that march.  Together we will make it……ALL THE WAY! PLP !  ALL THE WAY