ANTIGUA AND BARBUDA
PRIME MINISTER THE HONOURABLE BALDWIN SPENCER
100 DAYS OF SUNSHINE
ADDRESS TO THE NATION
JULY 1, 2004

My fellow citizens, and residents and friends of Antigua and Barbuda.

99 days ago, on Wednesday, the 24th of March, I was sworn in as Antigua and Barbuda’s third Prime Minister.

On that day, the 24th of March, 99 days ago, His Excellency, the Governor General, invited me to form a government.

Tomorrow, July 2nd, will thus be the precise date for the celebration of the first 100 Days of Government in the Sunshine.

I have chosen to talk with you this evening because I leave the country tomorrow for the CARICOM Summit in Grenada.

I have a number of assignments to complete as Chairman of the Conference of Heads of the Community before handing over to my successor.

100 days ago, on Tuesday, March 23rd, the nation’s prayers for liberation were answered.

On that historic day, in a massive turnout of over 90%, the Antiguan and Barbudan people voted, overwhelmingly, to change their government.

On that historic day, the Antiguan and Barbudan people entrusted the task of leadership to the United Progressive Party.

In a very fundamental sense, the sun rose on a new nation on the morning of Wednesday, the 24th of March, 2004.

The mission to manage the stabilisation, the recovery, the reconstruction and the renewal of our nation is by no means a 100-day assignment.

Still, after only 99 days of Government in the Sunshine, the Antiguan and Barbudan people have much to celebrate.

I therefore have no quarrel with the country’s spontaneous two-day observance of the United Progressive Party’s first 100 Days.

Perhaps the difference that the first 100 Sunshine Days have made to Antigua and Barbuda really deserves more than a one-day celebration.

After just 99 days, the UPP has profoundly changed, and for the foreseeable future, the conduct and the character of governance in this country.

Transparency, Accountability, Fiscal Restraint and Rectitude, Integrity and Decency, ideas alien in the past, are now impregnably embedded in governance in this country, and in the people’s expectations.

Today, Antiguans and Barbudans, here and all over the world, are prouder people, walking taller.

The Sunshine Government is moving Antigua and Barbuda away from generations of notoriety and winning the respect of the people and the governments of our sister nations in the region, and in the international community of nations.

A telling example of the character of your new government comes in a development that was reported to me a couple of days ago.

Last week, a member of the government promised to make sure that an investment proposal would be routed expeditiously to the competent government official.

The prospective investor, conditioned by prior experience with the previous administration, wanted to know what the Minister wanted for his intervention.

To his surprise, the Minister, my Minister, told that investor, “All we want is that you should be a successful entrepreneur, a good employer, and a civic-minded corporate citizen.”

In fewer than 100 days, the character of government in Antigua and Barbuda has changed dramatically.

As we come to the 100th day of United Progressive Party governance, the nation has cause not just for celebration, but for jubilation.

To reflect on these and other realities, Ministers of State and Parliamentary Secretaries joined Cabinet Ministers in a two-day retreat over the last weekend.

We could not have hoped for a more conducive environment for reflection and for visioning than the beauty and serenity of Curtain Bluff, where Bernadette and Rob Sherman generously hosted and housed us as their overnight guests.

I thank Bernadette and Rob for their gracious hospitality.

The warmth and the professionalism of every member of the staff at Curtain Bluff last Saturday and Sunday represented the essence of the Antiguan and Barbudan character.

Cal Roberts, the general manager of Curtain Bluff, was an attentive host who would be a prize catch for any hotel in the world.

He is a model for ambition, drive and accomplishment for every Antiguan and Barbudan.

Carl Roberts, who was born and bred and still lives at Johnson’s Point near to Curtain Bluff, is a distinct asset to one of the finest hotels in the region and the world, and a credit to Antigua and Barbuda.

In the context of role models in our country, Sir Viv Richards is perhaps the most extravagantly talented son Antigua and Barbuda has ever produced.

I am happy to confirm that Cabinet has designated this great Antiguan and this international icon, Sir Vivian Richards, as Antigua and Barbuda’s Commonwealth Ambassador Plenipotentiary.

We expect that Sir Viv’s legendary potency at the wicket will be reflected in his efforts at creating goodwill, promoting tourism and attracting investment for Antigua and Barbuda, as our Commonwealth Ambassador Plenipotentiary.

Sir Viv’s appointment as Commonwealth Ambassador Plenipotentiary can be viewed as a “Sunshine-100” recognition for Antigua and Barbuda’s foremost centurion.

To continue with the weekend Cabinet Retreat, our conference room was converted into an impromptu chapel as we made time for meditation and prayer on Sunday morning.

In a special service that brought a special grace to our gathering, we were reminded of our continuing commitment to inviting God to be our compass to our government, in the same way that he was our compass when we were seeking the opportunity to govern.

Fellow citizens, residents and friends of Antigua and Barbuda:

Statements coming from a number of persons suggest that the United Progressive Party Government was expected in our first 100 Days to put right 28 years of wrongs.

I find it immensely flattering that people are looking for miracles from the Government in the first 100 Days of the more than 1,900 days that the Constitution allows the UPP in our first term.

We expected we would find the state of the nation’s affairs in complete chaos.

We were right.

The reality is far beyond our worst fears.

The previous administration’s perennial boasts of economic strength and overall affluence were consistently spurious.

In the absence of any public accounting on the country’s financial affairs, there was no way to expose the serial official deception in these matters.

In the United States of America, top officials stealing from their corporations, hiding debt, covering up losses and concocting good-news financial reports have been publicly handcuffed, and fingerprinted and charged with felonies.

They have been prosecuted and they have plea-bargained and have returned millions they stole from their organisations and their shareholders.

As is now coming to light, the conspiracy among members of the previous administration to conceal the truth about the state of the economy is just as despicable, and has inflicted infinitely more pain and suffering on more people.

They drove the economy to suffocation under billions of dollars debt which they never revealed to the people.

Antigua and Barbuda has been delinquent in its financial obligations to every regional and international organisation in which we have membership or to which we are affiliated.

In 2003, interest payments on the country’s Public Sector Debt was well over $100 Million, and well over 25% of recurrent revenue.

The Recurrent Account Deficit last year was close to $100 Million.

All of this is a direct consequence of the economic collapse that had long ago began.

A direct consequence of all of this is that large numbers of young people have had no hope of finding employment; even as the employment rolls of the state sector were bloated with political appointees past retirement, many of them double-dipping and receiving multiple pay packets from the government.

Every Cabinet Minister, every Minister of State, every Parliamentary Secretary, every member of the UPP Executive, is constantly besieged by constituents seeking jobs.

It is particularly heart-rending for all of us to find young people left in a jobless state in such large numbers while the state catered to so many retirees on second careers and so many double dippers.

None of this has developed in one hundred days.

It has been endemic in the system that the UPP met on coming into office.

The unemployment figures that the former administration reported were spurious.

They were nothing but concoctions.

The country’s economy has long been seriously ill.

It cannot be easily or readily reconstructed.

We have made a start.

Major proposals, policies and programmes are now subjected to rigorous assessment by Standing Committees of Cabinet.

There is no semblance of one-man rule in my Cabinet.

We are evaluating a number of project proposals from foreign investors.

We will not approve any investment proposal before completion of the due diligence that we consider essential to projects that promise to create jobs and grow the economy.

There will be no replays of the Royal Antiguan and the Asian Village fiascos during my watch.

We are told that the Government of Antigua and Barbuda owes a staggering $200 million debt on the Deep Bay.

This project has put a great deal of wealth in the pockets of elected politicians and other public officials.

The debt on this deal is a continuing burden on the people of Antigua and Barbuda.

All of this was taking place while the government could not fund supplies for Holberton Hospital.

All of this, not hurricanes, is the accumulated cause of to the government’s inability to pay public servants or to complete the Mount St. John Medical Centre.

We are devising means of stimulating the economy instead of increasing the public debt to fund budget deficits.

As we put proper fiscal controls in place, we are offering local investors an automatic ten-year tax holiday on new investments implemented between now and the end of October.

Despite the state of the economy, we have provided $7.5 Million for the School Uniform programme.

This will provide primary school students with $350 Uniform Grants and secondary school students with $500 Uniform Grants.

We have provided just over $13 Million for the School Meals Programme.

Approximately $3 Million is in place for pension increases for our senior citizens.

We are undertaking these programmes in delivery of our campaign pledges.

We will keep these promises through judicious fiscal management.

There will be no discrimination in the delivery of these benefits.

ALP households as well as UPP households will enjoy these benefits.

We will invite the world to celebrate with us in the next 120 days.

This will be when we welcome Antiguans and Barbudans from all over the world for our first Independence Homecoming Festival.

The centre piece of the Independence Homecoming Festival will be the inaugural “Antigua World Gospelfest.”

Antigua World Gospelfest will bring together Gospel artistes from all over the region and the world.

The inaugural “Music of the Americas Festival” will link with the inaugural Antigua World Gospelfest.

The inaugural series in the Community Pride competition will peak at and be part of the inaugural Independence Homecoming Festival.

The Community Pride Programme will involve all communities across the country and will generate economic opportunities for residents of our communities, cross country.

The Community Pride Programme will also encourage self identity and self expression, help to define a national identity, and will foster national cohesion.

The Steering Committee for Antigua and Barbuda’s inaugural Independence Homecoming Festival Committee will include Senator Chester Hughes; the Honourable Winston Williams; the Honourable Eleston Adams; Ambassador Mac Chesny Emmanuel, Ambassador Ian Sweeney, Mr. Gordon Derrick , and saving the best for last, Mrs. Mitzi Allen.

The Steering Committee will report to an inter-Ministerial team which will include the Minister of Tourism; the Minister of Culture; and the Minister of Social Development.

The Prime Minister will be the convener of this team.

We will build a strong nation by building stronger communities.

The Independence Homecoming Festival has the capacity to generate economic benefits for the people, and to strengthen the economy.

The Independence Homecoming Festival has the capacity to build strong communities and to build a stronger nation.

The Independence Homecoming Festival has the capacity to foster national cohesion, and a strong sense of national identity.

I invite everyone listening to me this evening, I invite everyone in Antigua and Barbuda, to embrace and be involved in this national project.

There really should be no political divide in this national mission.

Though the new Antigua and Barbuda has only just begun, all in our nation have something to celebrate.

As we celebrate the shaping of a new political culture and a new character of governance, let us give all glory to God.

Let us work together to build a Better Antigua and Barbuda over the next five hundred days; and over the next five thousand days.

Let us pray for a united nation.

Let us work to build one another, together.

Thank you.

Good night.

May God bless you and your loved ones.

May God bless Antigua and Barbuda, the land that we love.