2007 Christmas message from Hon. Roosevelt Skerrit

Fellow Dominicans, beloved Countrymen, and Friends, it is with tremendous satisfaction from the advances we have made as a people this past year and gratification for God’s bountiful blessings that I address you on this very special season on our Christian calendar.

On this joyous occasion, when we celebrate the birth of Christ we thank the Almighty God for His son. He was sent to share the burden of sin, and to forgive all believers from eternal damnation. For each one of us, this past year was filled with its share of trials but we can all attest to the fact that God has been good to us. I therefore call on all of us to celebrate the birth of Christ as a symbol of hope for all of humanity.

Through your actions and continuous prayers, I have been honoured to lead a Government charged with the responsibility of bringing the greatest good to the greatest number of you in the shortest possible time, given the resources God has placed at our disposal.

Fellow Countrymen and friends, we say goodbye to a year in which we have witnessed God‘s blessings to our people and our economy; in spite of the setbacks of hurricane Dean and other natural disasters, we remain a God-fearing, hard working and resilient people. We carry into the New Year visions of increased activities in our programme for building and expanding our economic infrastructure and widening the reach of our social development initiatives.

The blessings of our Saviour have flowed to our nation in the generosity of friendly Governments and regional institutions who have readily rallied to support our development programme. Our sentiments of goodwill and prosperity go out to them at this time. I urge you to play your part in making the best use of the assistance that they continue to make available to us to place our economy on a sound footing. With God‘s continued blessings, our nation, one day, will be positioned to give in equal proportion to countries in need.

We as a Government will continue our task of nation building to ensure that you are provided with adequate housing, that our youth continue to be educated, trained and empowered, that you are provided with adequate healthcare, and that the minimum wage and the cost of living are at levels that will allow you to care for your family with no undue hassle.

My Christmas pledge to our hard working farmers and farm employees is that Government will do all in its power to ensure the resurgence of the agricultural sector. As we face the likely effects of an Economic Partnership Agreement with the European Union in the New Year, you have my word that Government will honour its pledge for increased investment in the sector in the months ahead.

To you all, my dear friends and fellow citizens, I send heartfelt best wishes for a peaceful, happy and enjoyable Christmas and health and strength for a Christ centered New Year. I urge you to refrain from over-indulging as you celebrate this Christmas. Remember that excesses in food and drink contribute to the high incidence of non-communicable diseases that is eating away at our workforce and adversely affecting our earning capacity.

May the birth of Christ remind us of His abundant love and saving grace.