Following is Prime Minister David Thompson’s address to the nation on Thursday, September 30 – without reference to his reappointment of Cabinet ministers:
“Fellow Barbadians, residents, friends and well-wishers. I am honoured to be spared this opportunity as your leader to renew our special relationship, and update you on our partnership to build a better democracy and a better Barbados.
“I assure you that working together we can uphold each other and build a glorious legacy for our children.
“Last week [week of September 19] Dr Richard Ishmael, my personal physician, issued at my request a full statement on the condition of my health and the challenges which have confronted me since March.
“I am again grateful to those of you who have responded with overwhelming love and compassion towards me – and my family.
“On this occasion I have chosen not to speak to you by live telecast. The nature of my medical treatment has occasioned obvious weight loss. I would rather that you get the portent of my message rather than the picture; and be concerned about the message, not the medium.
“While we cannot control what happens to us, we can control how we respond to what happens to us.
“One of the blessings of my extended periods in North America is the opportunity to read and observe, on a daily basis, the performance and analyses associated with the United States, European and north-east Asian economies.
“We in Barbados and the wider Caribbean should not bamboozle ourselves with the notion that recovery is dependent on factors of our exclusive design and making.
“The approach of our partnership over the past two and a half years has been to cautiously but judiciously proceed, while ensuring at all times the maintenance of a desired social protective net for the most vulnerable.
“We will not be deviated from this path, for it is most difficult to build a lasting democracy when the needs of daily shelter and daily living remain a struggle for far too many among us on this island.
“That is why you may not have seen an abundance of buildings going up across the country; but there has been an improvement in the quality of health care, better management and operation of social welfare agencies such as the National Assistance Board, the Urban and Rural Development Commissions, the National Housing Corporation, Child Care Board and associated agencies, and the upkeep of our schools and conditions of work for public officers.
“Additionally, we have made the sacrifice of containing bus fares and have even offered free access thereto, to schoolchildren.
“Fellow Barbadians, ladies and gentlemen, general elections are held in Barbados every five years. Historically, in the intervening period we have always conducted ourselves in a focused, mature and patriotic manner. We have placed the best interest of Barbados foremost in our consideration.
“The Right Excellent Errol Barrow taught us that size does not have to be a deterrent to greatness. And former Prime Minister Tom Adams had a vision for Barbados that defied our limited landscape. Indeed, former United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan on his visit to Barbados in 2002, noted that Barbados was a country ‘punching above its weight’.
“If we can unite first and foremost as sons and daughters of these fields and hills we call our very own, nothing will hold us back. We did it in the 1960s and 1970s, and we make no wanton boast of what we can achieve.
“Michael Jackson, of late memory, reminded us in his song We Are The World that change will only come when we stand together as one. In his seminal work he wrote:
There comes a time, when we heed a certain call, when the world must come together as one. There are people dying, and it’s time to lend a hand to life; the greatest gift of all.
“We can’t go on pretending day by day, that someone, somewhere will soon make a change. We are all a part of God’s great big family, and the truth, you know, love is all we need.
“That’s my fondest wish for Barbadians. That we use adversity to refocus our energies on what’s best for Barbados and that we wrap our actions and our utterances in the national flag and the furtherance of this great nation we call home. That’s my challenge to you. Unite and love.
“May God bless Barbados, and may grace and peace be multiplied unto all Barbadians.”