BASSETERRE, ST. KITTS, September 16, 2021 (MMS-SKN) — Prime Minister of the Federation of St. Kitts and Nevis, Dr the Hon Timothy Harris, has called on each and every citizen to be a hero to the nation by adjoining individual and collective responsibilities in their fight to contain and defeat Covid-19.
“We must continue to rise to the occasion,” beseeched Prime Minister Harris. “We will not all be named a National Hero, but we all can, in our individual and collective endeavours, be a hero to our nation. My call today is for every citizen of St. Kitts and Nevis to be a hero to our nation.”
The Honourable Prime Minister made the call on Thursday September 16 at the National Heroes’ Park in Conaree on St. Kitts as he delivered commemorative address during the ceremony for observance of National Heroes’ Day 2021 that was held under the theme ‘Adapt, Diversify, Recreate: Independence 38’.
“It is appropriate to adjoin individual and collective responsibilities,” advised Dr Harris. “It is the individual actions that will determine the collective outcomes. This is the reality of the fight in which we are engaged – to contain and defeat Covid-19. Your Team Unity Government is doing everything we can in this fight in the interest of all our people.”
According to the Prime Minister, the Team Unity Government has assembled the best team of experts who have provided it with reliable information, data and statistics. He noted that as a result, the Government has embarked upon an effective and comprehensive sensitisation strategy.
“Your Government continues to beseech you to adhere to the non-pharmaceutical measures,” he said. “Your Government has made available free vaccines – first the AstraZeneca, and now the Pfizer. We have implemented all the best practices; however, our success as a country in this fight will largely be determined by individual responsibility.”
Gracing the occasion was Governor General His Excellency Sir S. W. Tapley Seaton, GCMG, CVO, QC, JP, LL.D; Deputy Governor General for Nevis Her Honour Mrs Hyleeta Liburd, and Mr Elmo Liburd; the only living National Hero Dr the Rt. Honourable and Rt. Excellent Hon Sir Kennedy Simmonds and Lady Simmonds; members of the Federal Cabinet; and family members of the other four National Heroes.
“Every citizen and resident must adhere to the measures established by qualified health professionals following the science,” advised Prime Minister Harris. “The adherence on one hand, or non-compliance on the other by us as individuals, will determine our collective fate in this fight. Government can impose a curfew or lockdown, as we did, to restrict individual movement for a time.”
He posed what gains would people have gained if they came out of such measures with the same behaviours. He pointed out that the country can beat Covid-19 if all choose to do what they must, individually and collectively. He reminded them to wash their hands, to sanitise, to social and physical distance, to stay at home if they are feeling unwell, and to vaccinate.
The Prime Minister advised everyone to vaccinate so as to keep the country’s children safe at school and in classroom settings.
“Our national heroes all recognised the importance of education and they did all that they could to provide free and accessible comprehensive education here in St. Kitts and Nevis,” noted Dr Harris. “I appeal to all of us, especially our young people that we must not destroy that legacy by the failure, our failure as a people, our failure as teachers, educators, frontline workers and our students by not getting vaccinated.”
Challenging persons who know better to really do much better, he pointed out that one cannot be for vaccination and yet not get vaccinated even when they see others around the world dying from the virus. The virus, he added, is alive and roaming, ready to find the unvaccinated to kill, and as result urged everyone to do the right thing to protect themselves.
“Like some others around the world, there is here too the seeming distraction of me-ism, where we are only concerned with self, and we seem that this notion of self, extends only to our individual rights and privileges, and to our personal responsibility and not to the greater good of country above self,” the Prime Minister lamented. “We must change that in this fight of a lifetime. We must do all that is required of us. We must all become the hero that our nation needs now, more than ever.”
