MAY 22ND, 2015 – MAY 29TH, 2015
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VOLUME 11 - NO. 20
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FINANCE MINISTER ATTACKS FOREIGNERS
Former Chief Minister Washington Misick criticises foreigner residents in TCI celebrating
M
inister of Finance and former Chief Minister Hon. Washington Misick launched a blistering attack on foreign nationals who live in the Turks and Caicos Islands and who choose to celebrate their native countries’ festivities here. In fact, if Misick has his way expatriates who come to the Turks and Caicos Islands to live and work should leave their customs and practices behind. Making his contribution last week in the House of Assembly to a private members motion advanced by Opposition Member Hon. Edwin Astwood, who lobbied for more environmental laws to be enacted and enforced, Misick veered off course into chastising immigrants for celebrating culture publicly. “We have something coming up here called Haitian Flag Day. We have got Haitian Flag Day. We got Jamaica Day. We have got Bahamas Day. When is the hell we going to have Turks and Caicos Day?” the former chief minister charged. He said that the best places that expatriates can practice their respective cultures are their homes, not the Turks and Caicos. “If these people want to be part of us we cannot encourage, we can’t support them with all these days, if we are going to be Singapore. If you are going to be in this country, be in this country, part of this country. If you want to be in Jamaica, if you want to be in Haiti or the Bahamas, stay there,” he added. The minister lashed out at persons in the private sectors, who he said are colluding with expatriates to observe and celebrate their countries’ milestones. “And that’s part of the problem, it is being encouraged by a lot of these different groups, who are in senior
HAITIAN FLAG DAY ACTIVITES DOWNTOWN PROVO
This was the scene downtown Providenciales on Monday, May 18, 2015, as local people of Haitian extraction celebrate Flag Day celebration. The event was held at the Sammy Been Plaza. A large crowd, including many from other nationalities, including Turks and Caicos Islanders, marched from Butterfield Square Downtown Providenciales along the Airport Road to the venue. Led by a float, members of the crowd beat drums, blew instruments and danced along the journey. Haitian Flag Day events take place not just in Haiti, Turks and Caicos and the Bahamas but in U.S. cities as well. The Haitian flag has long been a symbol of pride for Haiti. Haitian Flag Day is all about celebrating the culture and heritage of the Haitian flag, which is emblazoned with the country’s coat of arms and the colors red and blue, adopted from the French flag. Haiti gained its independence from colonial rule in 1804, making it the first country in Latin America and the Caribbean to do so, and the second republic to defeat a European colonial power in the Americas. positions in the private sector, who encourage this kind of stuff. So, we have to send a strong message while we, as a people, have to make sure that we do the right thing by our country, and by the same token we have to make sure that people who come here do the right thing by our country,” he said. Minister Misick urged the populace not to support event staged by expatriate group to honour their
countries’ cultural and political achievements. “We should not be supporting these splinter groups with their different days. You would never see me appear at one of them. I would not. This is Turks and Caicos, if you are here, this is Rome, do as the Romans do. If you want to be here, you contribute here, if you don’t want to be here, if you want to be somewhere else, then American Airlines flies here many times a day,” he
asserted. According to official figures, Turks and Caicos islands has a population of 31, 458, of which 12, 030 were British Overseas Territories Citizens and/or Belongers, 10,981 were Haitians, 1, 768 are Jamaicans, 1,476 from the Dominican Republic, 818 from the United States of America, 524 from The Bahamas, 403 from Canada, 381 from the United Kingdom, 374 from Guyana and 2,62 from other countries. Minister Misick did, however, give expatriate groups some credit as it relates to volunteerism. “We like to bash foreigners too, and then people who do the most volunteer work in this country are not from this country. Relating directly to the debate, Minister Misick also gave the Environmental Health’s top brass a tonguelashing, saying that some locals are only interested in
top jobs but not doing those jobs. “We put our people in responsible position and all they are concerned about is collecting a cheque. That is a big part of the problem. “I am a politician for true, but part of my job as a politician is to speak the truth and not to regurgitate what people want to hear. Part of the problem we face in this country today is because the head of the Environmental (Health) Department, they are not doing their jobs. Let us be honest with ourselves,” he said. He added: “At the end of the day, part of the problem we have in this country is that we want other people to do the dirty work for us. There is a complete lack of volunteerism in this country. In providenciales, the TCHTA, on an annual basis, took the responsibility to clean up the islands.”