PM Dr. the Hon Timothy Harris" Independence Message 2016 To St. Kitts/Nevis Association of Leeds, UK

PM Dr. the Hon Timothy Harris’ Independence Message 2016  To St. Kitts/Nevis Association of Leeds, UK
Author

PM Dr. the Hon Timothy Harris

Release Date

Sunday, October 9, 2016

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My Fellow Citizens and Well-Wishers, Good Evening. I extend warm greetings and best wishes to the St. Kitts and Nevis Association of Leeds on behalf of my Team Unity Government and all the Citizens and Residents of St. Kitts and Nevis.

Tonight, as you hold your Seventh Annual Independence Ball and celebrate our Thirty-Third Anniversary of Independence under the theme Promoting Prosperity through Sustainability and National Unity, I invite you to reflect on our Nation’s journey towards Independence from Great Britain on September 19th, 1983.

Thirty-one years prior to 1983, our forebears attained Universal Adult Suffrage in 1952, and now – 33 years after our Independence – our beautiful people and great Nation are free to exercise our own franchise and self-determination.

The people resoundingly elected my Government 18 months ago on a Prosperity Agenda that resonated with the hard-working families who wanted to reach further than from whence they came, just like our forebears had before them.

Since February 16th, 2015:

• We have removed the exorbitant 17% Value Added Tax from food, medicines and funeral expenses, all with a view to make life better for all of our people, but for the poor in particular;

• We have paid over 1,800 cheques valuing more than EC$12 million in past-due gratuities to former sugar workers and their legal representatives;|

• We have raised the small estates threshold from EC$5,000.00 to EC$25,000.00 and fast tracked the disbursement of inheritances that meet the new threshold;

• We have achieved the best economic performance in the Caribbean and in the Americas;

• We have extensively refurbished the Mary Charles Hospital, transforming it from a glorified health centre to a properly outfitted hospital that now has an emergency medical technician (EMT) ambulance base, an asthma bay, and lab services, just to name a few of the offerings, and this was done in part through private partnership.

• Speaking of public-private partnership, we have made possible the introduction of free hyperbaric oxygen therapy to St. Kitts and Nevis, for treatment of the bends, through our approval of an acclaimed international diving school to operate in our Federation.

• Also, through the St. Kitts Biomedical Research Foundation, more than 180 persons from as far as Canada have so far received MRI scans right here in St. Kitts and Nevis for the very first time. The MRI machine is not only state-of-the-art, but the cost of treatment is also the cheapest in the Caribbean. And if news of this excites you, wait until you hear about our Oncology Centre that will be opening soon at the Joseph N. France General Hospital to treat our cancer patients.

• The Nevis Island Administration is now assured of regular budgetary support from the Federal Government for the very first time in its history, and the relationship between the two Governments is at an all time best.

There is a lot more to speak about, but so little time. So I invite you to keep in touch with all of the happenings back home by logging on to our website www.sknis.kn. You can also sign up to our email lists by emailing pmpress@govt.kn and asking to subscribe.

Thank you for extending this special invitation for me to address you via video tonight. I wish you a wonderful Independence Dinner and Ball. Bon Appétit. May God Bless the good people of St. Kitts and Nevis.

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