Nassau, Bahamas - The following is a ratification speech by Rudy Dean
- Golden Gates, made on October 31st:
Honorable party leaders, officers, members, family and
friends: Good morning. It is indeed an esteem privilege and pleasure to stand
before you on this historic and auspicious occasion.
Today we are at the same point of
pre-Majority Rule. The people teeth are on edge for something new and something
different. This PLP government has become everything they fought against on
Black Tuesday. They have lost their philosophy, vision, mission and mandate. I
was a PLP supporter all of my life. I was involved with them at all levels and
was a fierce supporter. Some people use to tell me that I was more PLP than
Pindling. I served at all levels in the branch and was a two time Branch
Chairman and Council Representative. I was also a Campaign Co-ordinator not
only during the General Election but also in the Elizabeth and North Abaco
bye-elections. However, like Paul on the road to Damascus, I saw the light. In
my case the light was a tall, strong and sturdy lighthouse. After that I went through
a dramatic transformation that leads me to this point.
LEADERSHIP
All my life I welcomed the call to leadership. From primary
school until now, I have been involved in leadership in whatever environment I
found myself. All leaders are agents of change. Today, The Bahamas need massive
changes. Change not for the sake of change but change for the responsibility of
change. Change not just because change is good but because change is necessary.
It is said that when you know better then you should do better. Therefore, all
of us who know better are obligated to make positive changes.
HOPELESSNESS
When people feel hopeless they do stupid things to family,
friends and strangers. Today in The Bahamas, there is wide spread hopelessness.
To fight against that we must create opportunities based on hard work,
creativity and initiative. This must be backed by equality, transparency and
efficiency. We must stamp out cronyism, nepotism and corruption. We must create
a level playing field that allows all persons to succeed. We must ensure
opportunity for all!. We must guard against income inequality and strengthen
the middle class.
OPPORTUNITY
Over the past decade, the middle class has been under attack
by the bad policies of both the PLP and FNM. I have a question for you. What’s
up? I will tell you what’s up: Crime, Unemployment, Inflation, No Proper Health
Care, D Average, Poverty, Income Inequality, Socials Problems, Business
Failures, Homes forclosures, the National Debt, Debt to GDP Ratio, Taxes and
the list goes on and on. Both the FNM and PLP adopt the same policies over the
past 50 years from 1967 to now. For things to change you must make drastic
changes. The definition of insanity is doing the same things repeatedly but
expecting a different result. The DNA is the only party that is talking about a
wholesale revamping of the entire system of how the government operate. We are
talking about taking the power away from the Prime Minister, Parliamentarians
and even Parliament itself and giving it to the people. “Power to the People”.
We are ever mindful that the power of the people is greater than the people in
power. This will happen through a multi-layered local government system where
the people will be active in all aspect of how their local communities function
all the way up to central government.
CONCLUSION
This is a great time to be alive in the history of The
Bahamas because this election cycle will be the dawn of a new era. This is the
time when the foundation of the new Bahamas will be laid. We ought to be
excited and embrace this opportunity with courage and boldness because we are
on the right side of history. We are about to create new paradigms and develop
a new mindset in the people. We are going to move away from dependence and move
towards self-accomplishment. We are going to move away from foreign is better
to maximizing our fullest potential. We will cause Bahamians from all walks of
life to be proud of who we are, what we are all about and how we can dominate
the world. Yes, my brothers and sisters, with the help of the Almighty God. We
will get there and create a new Bahamas.
DNA, DNA, DNA.