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BASSETERRE, ST. KITTS, May 1, 2017 (PLP PR Media Inc.) — Prime Minister and Minister of National Security, Dr the Hon Timothy Harris, has called for an end to brutality in society and made an impassioned appeal for love to flow again in the veins of every citizen and resident of the country while calling for a transformation of values.

 

“The transformation which we want is not so much a transformation of the laws of the country – it is a transformation of the values in our society,” said Prime Minister Harris on Sunday April 30 at Sandy Point’s Immanuel Methodist Church where he attended the HM Prison Officers’ Awards Ceremony.

 

[ngg_images source=”galleries” container_ids=”43″ display_type=”photocrati-nextgen_basic_slideshow” gallery_width=”600″ gallery_height=”400″ cycle_effect=”fade” cycle_interval=”10″ show_thumbnail_link=”1″ thumbnail_link_text=”[Show thumbnails]” order_by=”sortorder” order_direction=”ASC” returns=”included” maximum_entity_count=”500″]According to the Prime Minister, who is also the Political Leader of the Peoples Labour Party (PLP) one of the three parties in the ruling Unity Government, these values must determine what anchors a progressive nation.

 

He cautioned that the anchors must be home grown, as not everything that is done in other parts of the world is good for the people of St. Kitts and Nevis who come from a different historical beginning and a different place in history.

 

“As we look to a development that fulfils the dreams and imaginations of our people, the challenge is for us to come together again in unity and love to determine how we will make a contribution to our family, to ourselves first but to our family, our community,” observed Dr Harris.

 

“In the good old days family was critical and the family had an anchor. The anchor held the values of wisdom that served us well. No laziness in the good old days – you have to take up yourself as my grandmother would have said ‘can look work’. And too many of us while we come to churches diligently, sing good inspirational songs and having faith, we have young people in our homes wasting time, nit-picking about the perfect job.”

 

Prime Minister noted that there is no perfect job and advised young people to make a start and move from that start to the next level, saying that it did not matter where they begin especially when they are young.

 

He said that he would have advised parents that a lot of the young people dream of becoming doctors, pastors, electricians and journalists but his take was that the young people should not be too fussy about where they are starting noting that it was just a transition when they leave school.

 

“We have again to be practical,” said Dr Harris. “Practical about what is out there, practical about what we ought to do, practical about what the government should and must do for the country. When we are practical about these things we perhaps will show a bit more understanding of what it is we want.”

 

Prime Minister Harris clearly appreciates that it is easier to get a job when one is already in a job because one has something to show by way of skills and experience on their CV. Without showing what one can do and what they know, it is very difficult to secure even the most unskilled of jobs.

 

Prime Minister Harris was accompanied at the Awards Service by  the Deputy Prime Minister and area Parliamentary Representative for Constituency #5 (Sandy Point) the Hon Shawn Richards. Others with him were Cabinet Secretary Mrs Josephine Huggins, Permanent Secretary for National Security, Mr Osmond Petty, and Permanent Secretary in the Office of the Prime Minister, Mr Osbert DeSuza.

 

“I am concerned that in our society where certain things are illegal people show no respect, people smoke in the alleyways and byways and they show no willingness to even acknowledge that they are breaking the law,” lamented the Prime Minister.

 

Speaking after the event, the Prime Minister added: “This disregard of the law on what might appear to some to be a minor offence is the slippery slope down which people end up committing crime that is far worse. None of us can afford to run a blind eye to these misdemeanours no matter how small.”

 

He asked those present what kind of society the country will be relating to, and then answered that the easy way out was not always the answer. Discipline, he said, was still important and industry was still a good value, and he requested for each to learn to show love.

 

“I want to say that I love St. Kitts and Nevis,” concluded Prime Minister Harris. “This is a beautiful country, physically and otherwise. We have to appreciate what we have: What we have as individuals, what we have as families, what we have as communities – build upon them.”