Thank you very much, Madame Chair and thank you Ladies and Gentlemen for your very warm welcome and embrace.
This is a very special moment in the evolution of Dominica. The aims and intended impact of this "Yes We Care" initiative are most noble and worthy of praise, but the timing speaks volumes to our maturity as a society and to the focus of your elected government.
Previous speakers have outlined the programmatic formula of this initiative and the extent to which it is likely to impact the lives of the most deserving in our midst. There is also the employment component which cannot be underestimated. I am truly happy for all beneficiaries.
Ladies and Gentlemen, I think it says quite a lot about us as a people and about the focus of your government, when, in the midst of a global economic crisis, where nations large and small have had to rethink and refocus their developmental programmes, Dominica has forged ahead with a social initiative of this nature.
This is the type of programme that would normally be among the first casualties of any economic belt tightening. There is no country in the Eastern Caribbean and I daresay the region that has launched a programme of this nature in the midst of an economic downturn, like that currently being experienced.
Social budgets across the world are being slashed to the point where the poor and most vulnerable are falling through the cracks. It would have been understandable for your government to have postponed the start up of this initiative in light of the economic challenges confronting the state.
Even the targeted beneficiaries would have acceded to our request to postpone commencement until such time as we have turned the proverbial economic bend. This is an option that we confronted and it is one that we considered.
But Minister Loreen Bannis-Roberts and her team of professionals and volunteers in the Ministry of Community Development forged ahead with this initiative, insisting that it is in hard times, that we need to embrace those who are least able to fend for and attend to themselves.
The "Yes We Care Programme" is about society giving back to those who created and maintained that which we experience and enjoy today. It is said that you know the true mettle of a society by the manner in which it treats or cares for its senior citizens.
I agreed with Minister Bannis-Roberts and her team of care givers that notwithstanding the challenges we confront and the financial impact on our slender economic resources, now is the best time to reach out and touch those who were severely impacted by the downturn in revenues and economic activity.
I wonder sometimes, judging from the manner in which some people in Dominica speak, whether we realize that Dominica is faring better than many in this current crisis.
It is the principle vocation of those who oppose the government, to knit-pick and undermine, but we need at some point to wisen up and be real about just what Dominica can do and can achieve in an environment of near global paralysis.
In Great Britain, for example, there was a blaring newspaper headline mid-last week declaring that someone in Britain loses a job every thirty seconds. Do you understand that statistic?
This is Great Britain, one of the economic heavyweights of the world, and thousands of jobs are being lost every single week. The same goes for the United States and parts of Eastern Europe.
Here in Dominica we do not have to look that far to appreciate the miracle of our survival. Tourism leaders across the region are reporting drastic, indeed, perilous downturns in business, with more hotels and tourism oriented establishments closing for prolonged periods this summer than at any time in recent history.
Several employees in manufacturing and agriculture in places like Trinidad and Barbados are working week on and week off, because of a fall off in demand for grown and manufactured products.
Those types of statistics are not prevalent here in Dominica and yet your government is being ridiculed for steadying the economic ship of state and keeping our country when many around us are floundering. I do not make this point boastfully.
I allude to this to bring home to Dominicans the fact that while we may not have reached the promise land; we are certainly not still in the valley. Our forward movement has not stopped.
Across this country today there are many capital programmes underway and they are being financed and maintained without our having to ask more of the taxpaying public of Dominica.
Just a few days ago I heard the Prime Minister of Barbados warn his countrymen and women to brace themselves for a steep rise in water rates.
In Dominica we are today launching a major social initiative that will bring help and relief to our most vulnerable. I wish to say this morning that I am happy for our senior folks. They deserve all the attention they are likely to get as a result of this initiative.
They built this country and this country owes it to them to take care of them in their senior years when they are no longer physically able to do so for themselves.
The team of caregivers that will dispense this service has a major weight of responsibility on their shoulders. Not only must you execute your job to the best of your ability, but you must do so with love, warmth and humility.
I want you to enjoy what you are doing. I want you to treat our seniors with dignity and pride. This is a pilot project and I expect that there will be teething problems, but I want you to remain focused on the overarching goal of extending love and affection to those in your charge.
By the same token, seniors must make provision for slip- ups and genuine errors. These Care Givers are well trained and eager to do well. But they are human and are subject to error and human failings. They too will slip-up from time to time but I am sure it will be in error.
Ladies and Gentlemen, this programme can and will only work effectively and efficiently if and when all stakeholders buy into its focus and permit and enable it to work. In so doing we are helping to expand and strengthen the social safety net.
We are building a protective barrier around our most vulnerable and we are demonstrating once again to the world how and why Dominica is small but mighty, in terms of its capacity to grapple with and overcome adversity.
Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen, I am proud to be leader of a government that would launch a programme of this nature in these economic times.
I am committed and determined to find the money to sustain this programme throughout the years, because I am convinced that the beneficiaries have paid their dues and are truly deserving of this attention and service.
This programme I hope will draw on the conscience of those who fail to care for their parents and grandparents.
I wish all concerned a rewarding and exciting experience as we work together to make Dominica even better.
Thanks again to all who contributed to the coming into fruition of this most laudable initiative at this crucial juncture in our history.
May God bless our elderly! May God bless us all! I thank you. |
