My dear sisters and brothers, members and supporters of the United National Congress, and friends from our partners in the People’s Partnership, thank you for your warm welcome.
I’m truly humbled by your presence, your continued support and your vibrant dedication to our party and our country.
It’s good to be back here on the platform and to be with you to share this historic occasion of the installation of the new National Executive of our party.
Today, we mark yet another milestone in the sweeping transformation of the United National Congress into a truly national, diverse and modern political organisation.
Today we define the new United National Congress as a party that has struggled long and hard to earn its place in our nation, and to transform the political landscape of Trinidad and Tobago, one in which everyone is a meaningful part.
Today, we signal that the United National Congress has risen to take its rightful place as THE PEOPLE’S PARTY!
In March of this year, a very significant event occurred – a turning point in our party’s evolution.
It was something that demonstrated the quantum leap forward the United National Congress has taken, to develop into a truly national political organisation.
Twenty three years ago, the United National Congress was formed in response to the need for something representative, inclusive, united and strong.
It was born out of struggle, YOUR struggle, and nurtured by you all with grit, purpose and loyalty
I therefore believe that it is fitting and right for us to honour the work of our party’s Founder, the former Prime Minister Basdeo Panday.
His vision and commitment in those days of yearning in the late 1980s gave birth to this party.
He guided us through the formative years and under his leadership, led us into Government 17 years ago.
Today, new leadership has emerged, in a more enlightened age, one where the people demand more and leaders must rise to the many modern challenges in service to the people.
Reflecting on the years gone by, we can see clearly the errors we were able to learn from.
We have matured into a national party with a collective leadership that has created an enabling environment in which we listen to each other and most importantly to you.
I remember your hurt and disillusionment when our party floundered in opposition splintering and fragmenting at times.
I felt the sting of your disenchantment in those days.
But today we recognize that TT was part of the growing pains of becoming that truly national party which we have become today.
But you are the ones; you are the PATRIOTS who never turned your backs.
You are the ones who infused us with encouragement and instilled in your party the need to dream bigger dreams, to see the bigger picture and believe once more that the country could win again, you created the mantra for a nation, “we will rise” against all odds to foster the kind of dramatic political change we see today.
By the time you bestowed on me the privilege to lead our party in January 2010, the United National Congress had arrived at a turning point.
The parents of our party, the generation of founders, by then had introduced their children to our party - the generation of modernizers.
Our political family had grown and the children of the United National Congress raised their voices calling for change and transformation.
It was in taking up that challenge that I called for an end of the ‘siege’, an end to the ‘betrayal of trust’ that people placed in us, and an end to ‘political tribalism’.
I recognized that changing times demanded change first in our party, if we were ever to truly make a contribution to change in our country.
Today, after almost two and a half years of leading our great party, I find great reassurance in the strong signal from the most recent Internal Elections as one of the most mature, issued-based, people-centred and party focused internal campaigns in our party’s history.
This is the kind of change you called for and this is how we have delivered that change and transformation.
As members and supporters of the United National Congress, you should all be proud of how your party has matured, how your party has grown.
This is why I feel that this moment in our history must not be pass unacknowledged and uncelebrated.
YOU must be celebrated!
YOUR work must be recognized as the reason for our renewed hope and pride in our party and the reason we can wear our political association with dignity.
I pay tribute to those members who never gave up, those who stayed the course, unflinching in their belief, and to those who have today returned to herald the new 21st Century United National Congress – THE PEOPLE’S PARTY!
My friends, it is our history that has brought us here.
With the victories, the upheavals, the disagreements and the reconciliations, we navigated the rocky roads of political construction to rebuild a nation.
Today, we in the United National Congress stand as the true party of patriots, the true PEOPLE’S PARTY.
We stand here today in benefit of the fruit of the labour and struggle of our nation’s freedom fighters who came before us and I pay tribute to all of them for their loyal dedication to our party.
But even as we celebrate, even as we take time to recognize the distance we have come and the great political party that we have built, we must not allow ourselves to be complacent.
As the members of our party, as the ones who have vested their time, their faith, their hopes and beliefs in our party, the time is now to stand and defend what is yours.
As the melting pot of founders and modernizers, we must stand to defend our party from the onslaught of propaganda and reckless misinformation.
We must arm ourselves with the true facts of your Government’s performance.
We must be resolute in our belief in peaceful and stable democracy.
We must ground ourselves in our desire to maintain and enhance our multicultural and diverse nation.
All arms of the party must now come together, as our history has shown us that we can, and provide robust and vigorous defence so that we can ensure that the work we have started can deliver the results we all want and need.
We must use our history, and remember those times when we felt as if we had no stake in our country’s future.
This memory alone should serve to fuel our determination never to return our nation and ourselves to the sense of hopelessness and despair.
As a party and as a people, we have proven our resilience, we have tested and proved our leadership, we have attested to our resilience even in the worst of times and we honour the duty and responsibility that God has placed in our hands.
My sisters and brothers in the United National Congress, I am asking you to defend not only our party, but also our country.
We must be vigilant! We must be determined!
We must never take for granted the people’s victory so courageously achieved on May 24th 2010.
For 23 years, the United National Congress gave a sense of belonging to hundreds of thousands in our nation who felt politics was deaf to their voices.
For 23 years, the United National Congress faced challenge after challenge and took our victories with humility and our defeats with dignity.
For 23 years, the United National Congress has reached further in and further out, creating a political home for citizens of every creed, race, religion, social background and persuasion.
While others have chanted that they win, lose and stand alone, we have affirmed that we all stand together as one nation and one people!
While others have spoken of joining them at their political table on their terms, we have invited all to sit at our political table with a shared purpose and vision!
While others have spoken of discipline through silence and patronage, we have demonstrated discipline through justice and equity.
While others talk about diversity as a distant dream, we have delivered and demonstrated diversity in our party and our Government.
While the others talk about the future of Tobago being side by side with Trinidad, we have demonstrated that Tobago and Trinidad will walk hand in hand!
This is the party you have built! This is the party that you have created! This is the party that you can all now proudly support and do so with your heads high held high.
In our National Executive, in our Parliamentary Caucus, in our Local Government representatives, in our Constituency Executives, in the Cabinet which I lead, we have demonstrated in the most powerful way how diversity can be such a powerful and constructive force!
And using this platform, we must reaffirm the commitment to our vision for a safer, stronger, more resilient and far more economically powerful Trinidad and Tobago.
As Prime Minister and as Political Leader of the United National Congress – I want to know that our people not only feel themselves to be part of the process of change, but also take an active part as important partners in shaping a sustainable future for our nation.
We are now in the midst of sweeping political changes in our country and we must recognize those changes.
There has been a tremendous shift politically and socially, a revolution in which there is wider distribution of wealth and resources across all demographics.
But the reactionary forces, those who profited from the divisions and injustices of the past, will not sit idly by and allow this revolution to quietly occur.
The forces of resistance are at work everyday, they say we have the government but they will exercise their influence to ensure they have the power.
They try to frustrate our every move using their political sycophants in critical positions to thwart our progressive policies at every turn.
But we will not be deterred.
This revolution goes far wider than the United National Congress to embrace an entire nation.
As a member, supporter and partner of the United National Congress…as a citizen of Trinidad and Tobago, we are the gatekeepers of democracy and defenders of our liberty.
It was just the other day our nation was crumbling under the weight of a galloping dictatorship bent on doing at it pleased.
Never again.
We have all learnt that lesson well and today our leadership is carefully measured.
As we enter our third year in Government, our performance must be defined by our service and delivery.
The pace of implementation must now be accelerated.
The level of representation must be enhanced.
The fight against crime must be intensified as a major priority.
The policies we have implemented to first stabilize our economy has been achieved and we’re now aggressively moving to expand and grow it in a way that benefits all sectors of our society and not just a privileged few.
Rural development is as important as urban development. Tobago development is as important as Trinidad development.
My friends, we are THE PEOPLE’S PARTY! We do not simply talk of our transformation, we deliver it!
We are THE PEOPLE’S PARTY! We do not only talk about our People’s Partnership, we honour it!
We are THE PEOPLE’S PARTY! We do not just talk about our patriotism, we live it!
We are the United National Congress.
And we are all proud of what that means, of the huge strides we have made and our contribution to our nation’s salvation!
Today, let us therefore proclaim in one voice that no longer will we allow our politics to divide us.
The politics that divided us as a people is yesterday’s politics.
The politics of unity that defines us today as a nation, is the future.
As your Political Leader and Prime Minister, the honour, the responsibility and duty remain mine to have been elected to lead our great country.
I reaffirm to you that I will honour the trust you have placed in me and will not let you down.
Let us now move forward with renewed vigour and a clear picture of where we came from.
Some told us that in Government, as a partner in the People’s Partnership, we wouldn’t last a month. We’re still here.
Some told us that we wouldn’t last six months. We’re still here.
Some told us that we wouldn’t last a year. We’re still here, stronger than ever!
Our opponents are still saying that we won’t make it through our term!
But what they don’t recognize is that the nation’s interest is always put first and that perspective keeps us united and strong.
Let us show them that we are the true PEOPLE’S PARTY!
And hold our heads high as the party that has come of age.
Let us all say in one voice that we are THE PEOPLE’S PARTY!
We continue to rise! Trinidad and Tobago continues to rise!
The People’s Partnership is strengthened by our diversity and our nation’s future is more secure and bolder than ever before.
The chorus of hundreds of thousands of our citizens who placed their support with us still urge us on, the dreams of their children still inspire us, the prayers of our nation still protect us and see us through it all, the struggles of our forefathers still guide us, and You still stand beside us now as you have for so long, confident that once you do, we will all succeed, we will all indeed rise!
May God bless the people of our great country! I thank you!
I’m truly humbled by your presence, your continued support and your vibrant dedication to our party and our country.
It’s good to be back here on the platform and to be with you to share this historic occasion of the installation of the new National Executive of our party.
Today, we mark yet another milestone in the sweeping transformation of the United National Congress into a truly national, diverse and modern political organisation.
Today we define the new United National Congress as a party that has struggled long and hard to earn its place in our nation, and to transform the political landscape of Trinidad and Tobago, one in which everyone is a meaningful part.
Today, we signal that the United National Congress has risen to take its rightful place as THE PEOPLE’S PARTY!
In March of this year, a very significant event occurred – a turning point in our party’s evolution.
It was something that demonstrated the quantum leap forward the United National Congress has taken, to develop into a truly national political organisation.
Twenty three years ago, the United National Congress was formed in response to the need for something representative, inclusive, united and strong.
It was born out of struggle, YOUR struggle, and nurtured by you all with grit, purpose and loyalty
I therefore believe that it is fitting and right for us to honour the work of our party’s Founder, the former Prime Minister Basdeo Panday.
His vision and commitment in those days of yearning in the late 1980s gave birth to this party.
He guided us through the formative years and under his leadership, led us into Government 17 years ago.
Today, new leadership has emerged, in a more enlightened age, one where the people demand more and leaders must rise to the many modern challenges in service to the people.
Reflecting on the years gone by, we can see clearly the errors we were able to learn from.
We have matured into a national party with a collective leadership that has created an enabling environment in which we listen to each other and most importantly to you.
I remember your hurt and disillusionment when our party floundered in opposition splintering and fragmenting at times.
I felt the sting of your disenchantment in those days.
But today we recognize that TT was part of the growing pains of becoming that truly national party which we have become today.
But you are the ones; you are the PATRIOTS who never turned your backs.
You are the ones who infused us with encouragement and instilled in your party the need to dream bigger dreams, to see the bigger picture and believe once more that the country could win again, you created the mantra for a nation, “we will rise” against all odds to foster the kind of dramatic political change we see today.
By the time you bestowed on me the privilege to lead our party in January 2010, the United National Congress had arrived at a turning point.
The parents of our party, the generation of founders, by then had introduced their children to our party - the generation of modernizers.
Our political family had grown and the children of the United National Congress raised their voices calling for change and transformation.
It was in taking up that challenge that I called for an end of the ‘siege’, an end to the ‘betrayal of trust’ that people placed in us, and an end to ‘political tribalism’.
I recognized that changing times demanded change first in our party, if we were ever to truly make a contribution to change in our country.
Today, after almost two and a half years of leading our great party, I find great reassurance in the strong signal from the most recent Internal Elections as one of the most mature, issued-based, people-centred and party focused internal campaigns in our party’s history.
This is the kind of change you called for and this is how we have delivered that change and transformation.
As members and supporters of the United National Congress, you should all be proud of how your party has matured, how your party has grown.
This is why I feel that this moment in our history must not be pass unacknowledged and uncelebrated.
YOU must be celebrated!
YOUR work must be recognized as the reason for our renewed hope and pride in our party and the reason we can wear our political association with dignity.
I pay tribute to those members who never gave up, those who stayed the course, unflinching in their belief, and to those who have today returned to herald the new 21st Century United National Congress – THE PEOPLE’S PARTY!
My friends, it is our history that has brought us here.
With the victories, the upheavals, the disagreements and the reconciliations, we navigated the rocky roads of political construction to rebuild a nation.
Today, we in the United National Congress stand as the true party of patriots, the true PEOPLE’S PARTY.
We stand here today in benefit of the fruit of the labour and struggle of our nation’s freedom fighters who came before us and I pay tribute to all of them for their loyal dedication to our party.
But even as we celebrate, even as we take time to recognize the distance we have come and the great political party that we have built, we must not allow ourselves to be complacent.
As the members of our party, as the ones who have vested their time, their faith, their hopes and beliefs in our party, the time is now to stand and defend what is yours.
As the melting pot of founders and modernizers, we must stand to defend our party from the onslaught of propaganda and reckless misinformation.
We must arm ourselves with the true facts of your Government’s performance.
We must be resolute in our belief in peaceful and stable democracy.
We must ground ourselves in our desire to maintain and enhance our multicultural and diverse nation.
All arms of the party must now come together, as our history has shown us that we can, and provide robust and vigorous defence so that we can ensure that the work we have started can deliver the results we all want and need.
We must use our history, and remember those times when we felt as if we had no stake in our country’s future.
This memory alone should serve to fuel our determination never to return our nation and ourselves to the sense of hopelessness and despair.
As a party and as a people, we have proven our resilience, we have tested and proved our leadership, we have attested to our resilience even in the worst of times and we honour the duty and responsibility that God has placed in our hands.
My sisters and brothers in the United National Congress, I am asking you to defend not only our party, but also our country.
We must be vigilant! We must be determined!
We must never take for granted the people’s victory so courageously achieved on May 24th 2010.
For 23 years, the United National Congress gave a sense of belonging to hundreds of thousands in our nation who felt politics was deaf to their voices.
For 23 years, the United National Congress faced challenge after challenge and took our victories with humility and our defeats with dignity.
For 23 years, the United National Congress has reached further in and further out, creating a political home for citizens of every creed, race, religion, social background and persuasion.
While others have chanted that they win, lose and stand alone, we have affirmed that we all stand together as one nation and one people!
While others have spoken of joining them at their political table on their terms, we have invited all to sit at our political table with a shared purpose and vision!
While others have spoken of discipline through silence and patronage, we have demonstrated discipline through justice and equity.
While others talk about diversity as a distant dream, we have delivered and demonstrated diversity in our party and our Government.
While the others talk about the future of Tobago being side by side with Trinidad, we have demonstrated that Tobago and Trinidad will walk hand in hand!
This is the party you have built! This is the party that you have created! This is the party that you can all now proudly support and do so with your heads high held high.
In our National Executive, in our Parliamentary Caucus, in our Local Government representatives, in our Constituency Executives, in the Cabinet which I lead, we have demonstrated in the most powerful way how diversity can be such a powerful and constructive force!
And using this platform, we must reaffirm the commitment to our vision for a safer, stronger, more resilient and far more economically powerful Trinidad and Tobago.
As Prime Minister and as Political Leader of the United National Congress – I want to know that our people not only feel themselves to be part of the process of change, but also take an active part as important partners in shaping a sustainable future for our nation.
We are now in the midst of sweeping political changes in our country and we must recognize those changes.
There has been a tremendous shift politically and socially, a revolution in which there is wider distribution of wealth and resources across all demographics.
But the reactionary forces, those who profited from the divisions and injustices of the past, will not sit idly by and allow this revolution to quietly occur.
The forces of resistance are at work everyday, they say we have the government but they will exercise their influence to ensure they have the power.
They try to frustrate our every move using their political sycophants in critical positions to thwart our progressive policies at every turn.
But we will not be deterred.
This revolution goes far wider than the United National Congress to embrace an entire nation.
As a member, supporter and partner of the United National Congress…as a citizen of Trinidad and Tobago, we are the gatekeepers of democracy and defenders of our liberty.
It was just the other day our nation was crumbling under the weight of a galloping dictatorship bent on doing at it pleased.
Never again.
We have all learnt that lesson well and today our leadership is carefully measured.
As we enter our third year in Government, our performance must be defined by our service and delivery.
The pace of implementation must now be accelerated.
The level of representation must be enhanced.
The fight against crime must be intensified as a major priority.
The policies we have implemented to first stabilize our economy has been achieved and we’re now aggressively moving to expand and grow it in a way that benefits all sectors of our society and not just a privileged few.
Rural development is as important as urban development. Tobago development is as important as Trinidad development.
My friends, we are THE PEOPLE’S PARTY! We do not simply talk of our transformation, we deliver it!
We are THE PEOPLE’S PARTY! We do not only talk about our People’s Partnership, we honour it!
We are THE PEOPLE’S PARTY! We do not just talk about our patriotism, we live it!
We are the United National Congress.
And we are all proud of what that means, of the huge strides we have made and our contribution to our nation’s salvation!
Today, let us therefore proclaim in one voice that no longer will we allow our politics to divide us.
The politics that divided us as a people is yesterday’s politics.
The politics of unity that defines us today as a nation, is the future.
As your Political Leader and Prime Minister, the honour, the responsibility and duty remain mine to have been elected to lead our great country.
I reaffirm to you that I will honour the trust you have placed in me and will not let you down.
Let us now move forward with renewed vigour and a clear picture of where we came from.
Some told us that in Government, as a partner in the People’s Partnership, we wouldn’t last a month. We’re still here.
Some told us that we wouldn’t last six months. We’re still here.
Some told us that we wouldn’t last a year. We’re still here, stronger than ever!
Our opponents are still saying that we won’t make it through our term!
But what they don’t recognize is that the nation’s interest is always put first and that perspective keeps us united and strong.
Let us show them that we are the true PEOPLE’S PARTY!
And hold our heads high as the party that has come of age.
Let us all say in one voice that we are THE PEOPLE’S PARTY!
We continue to rise! Trinidad and Tobago continues to rise!
The People’s Partnership is strengthened by our diversity and our nation’s future is more secure and bolder than ever before.
The chorus of hundreds of thousands of our citizens who placed their support with us still urge us on, the dreams of their children still inspire us, the prayers of our nation still protect us and see us through it all, the struggles of our forefathers still guide us, and You still stand beside us now as you have for so long, confident that once you do, we will all succeed, we will all indeed rise!
May God bless the people of our great country! I thank you!
No comments:
Post a Comment