GENERAL SALUTATIONS:
 

                   Permit me on behalf of the great people of the Constituency of Cat Island, San Salvador and Rum Cay, but in particular the wonderful people of Rum Cay, to welcome all of you here this morning for what is an eventful day in the life of this island. Rum Cay is now no longer the forgotten island.  The opening of this airstrip will bring new life to this community, which for years waited for relief and hope. No longer will residents and visitors alike have to risk their lives by landing on a less than adequate airstrip and the people of Rum Cay will now be able to enjoy the safety and comfort of travel that is now available to Bahamians throughout The Bahamas.

                   Prime Minister, your presence here today represents the fulfillment of a commitment and a pledge which you made when you visited Rum Cay during the General Election Campaign of 2002.  This pledge was further confirmed in subsequent speeches and it is a mark of your seriousness at the time that one of the first policy decisions of our new Government was the decision to proceed with the construction of this facility.

                    Ladies and Gentlemen:
                   I think it very important, this morning, for the record to reflect that what you see around you has happened within the first eighteen months of this Government, even though official documents will show that this same project had been pending since 1997 – a period of six years – and we all know who the Government was in 1997.

                    There is no clear reason why the project did not proceed under the previous Government but what we do know is that this Government which has been unfairly criticized in some quarters for been ineffectual has done in eighteen months what the Government of the FNM could not have accomplished in five years. I therefore ask you to judge who is fooling whom?  And let me say that this is not the only project that has been successfully implemented and concluded by this administration. And while our philosophy is not to concentrate on “bricks and mortars”, important though they may be, but rather to make improvements in the lives of people, we can still boast that we have done more in eighteen months than what the previous Government had done in the same period and over the next few weeks we will show that we as a Government have the will and the commitment to do what is right, fair and just for all of the people of The Bahamas.

                   And permit me at this juncture to say a few words about our beloved Prime Minister and the Government that he leads. I believe that there has been too much silence about. People of our Party and ordinary decent and fair-minded men and women have not been robust enough in defending and ridiculing much of what has been spewed forth by a sometimes unkind media being fed nonsense about our Leader and Prime Minister and about our Government.
                   Let me say that I count Perry Gladstone Christie as my friend of many years and because of our close professional association I feel that I am on firm ground when I state without fear of contradiction that I know him well. He is a tough and resilient leader and to paraphrase the words of another tough leader, Margaret Thatcher when faced with much the same criticism, “this gentlemen is not for turning.”  We who know Prime Minister Perry Christie would know that nothing in his character or personal history might even suggest this. He is a thoughtful, compassionate and humane. But he is a tough and visionary leader, as well. Look from where he has brought us. When the fortunes of our Party low and conventional wisdom was to jump ship, it took a man, a leader of the stature of Perry Christie to return us to the corridors of power.

                    Perry Christie has been indefatigable in his leadership. He is committed to a long-range view of The Bahamas and of the developmental process of our beloved country. Our Prime Minister is not about the business of rushing into decisions that will prove to be merely temporary in their application and which cannot be sustained. He is instead thoughtful, and analytical in what needs to be done but I can assure you, however, that when a decision is made it is one which can stand up to scrutiny and one which will not be easily rolled back.

                    The decisions of this Government, therefore, will have far reaching implications and in some instances will fundamentally change the way in which things have been done in this country. We will not launch out into the deep unless we are sure that our vessel is ready for the journey. We will not build buildings only to have them sit empty and idle for years. We will not pave roads only to have them dugged up after only a few months. We will not spend money just for the sake of spending money in order to placate one faction or another. And above all, we will not make promises that we know are unattainable.
                    And this has been our Prime Minister’s approach to politics and to Government. Government is an art which when practiced properly will ensure that the benefits of the state are rationally and carefully applied to all of the people of a country. Perhaps it is a little too early for some of us to see or to buy into the Prime Minister’s vision, but let me assure you that in the fullness of time, all will be revealed. I therefore salute you Prime Minister and more particularly, encourage you to stay the course, “for westward look, the land is bright!”

                   And so to my beloved people of Rum Cay, I rejoice with you on what has been accomplished here. We are grateful for the efforts expended by the respective Ministers, the Hon. Glenys Hanna-Martin, the Minister of Transport and the Hon Bradley Roberts, the Minister of Works to make this long held dream a reality.  I wish to congratulate them for sticking with this project and for ensuring that it has come to a successful conclusion. To my people of Rum Cay, there are yet many more improvements which must be made for the improvement of your daily lives. Let me assure you that in time, these too will come. You will hear today, not from me but from others, of the many exciting things that are in store for this island and as they unfold, out of necessity, certain other commitments, in particular in the areas of health care and education and housing will have to be provided. My dream is use this small community as a model of how to blend a perfect mix of public/private partnership for the benefit of all and I give my undertaking that this will happen.

                   In closing, let me again welcome all of you, especially our Prime Minister, our Deputy Prime Minister and other Ministers, Government officials, friends and all who have come to make this day the special day that it is in the lives of the people of Rum Cay.  Rum Cay is on the move and we know there is no stopping us now.