The Montserrat Reporter – August 22, 1997
If this was relevant then, how about now?
Okay, so we have gotten a reprieve. We have removed the cancer. King Bertrand is dead. May he rest in peace.
We have work to do. We have a country to build and a people to mold. How do we do it?
We have our Caribbean Community (CARICOM) brothers and sisters who have, since the inception of the volcanic activity, been offering their kind assistance. Let us go back to them. Let us apologize for the myopic view of our former Chief Minister and our Governor. Let us ask that they assist us in our new representations to Britain. Let us beseech the Secretary General of Caricom, Mr. Carrington, to go to bat for us. Let us request of the Caricom Heads of Government to come to our assistance and help us in our new representations to the British. Let us go to the World Court, to the United Nations, to Amnesty International, to the world at large.
Let us unite this land of weary and beaten down Montserratians. Let us re-build Montserrat – okay, a part of Montserrat. Let us retain our heritage.
It is time to put our shoulders to the wheel. Forget all the disgruntlement. Forget the Fashion Parade and the need to be called Madame Minister. Forget the Lady with the Covenants problem. We have no choice but to work together. We have no choice but to let the new Chief Minister understand that he/she will not be allowed to push us over the edge again.
We need to complete the plan for the development of our new city on Montserrat. We need to allocate land, cut roads and build homes and commercial units. We need to build a new airstrip. We need to develop our own insurance company and shore up our indigenous financial institutions. This can be done. There is a whole team of CARICOM officials waiting to help us. Let us go and embrace them. There is a whole CARICOM brigade of builders waiting to come in and help us re-build our homes. Let us call them in. There are funders other than the British willing to help us. There are non-profit organizations out there in the world, which are willing to help us. Israel offered to help. Those formerly in power thwarted this help. There is help out there. Let us call on them now that our cancer has been removed.
We have here in Montserrat project writers, skilled bankers, informed directors, and CAPABLE persons. Let us involve them in the rebuilding of Montserrat. Bring in the CARICOM project writers and experts. Bring in the assistance that our former Chief Minister rebuffed. Bring in the investors and the Hong Kong people who are interested in Montserrat. Bring in the world! Reclaim your heritage!
Let us get into the re-building mind-set. We have taken back our country. Let us now show the world what we always knew that we could do.
Get up! Stand up, Montserrat! The world is our oyster. We can do great things.
