St. George’s, November 22, 2010 – Government ministers Peter David and Glynis Roberts have reiterated their commitment to delivering tangible benefits to the Grenadian people.“We have urgent work to do to ensure that our people have more opportunities to improve their lives,’’ MP Roberts said in a statement to journalists outside her parliamentary office in Grand Anse.
The statement was read shortly after Mrs. Roberts was sworn in Monday afternoon at a ceremony at the Governor General’s Residence as Minister of Labour, Social Security and Ecclesiastical Affairs.
At Monday’s ceremony, MP David also took the oath of office as Minister of Tourism and Civil Aviation.
Ministers Roberts and David were part of a cabinet reshuffle announced last week by Prime Minister Hon. Tillman Thomas. Mrs. Roberts is the former Tourism and Civil Aviation Minister, and Mr. David has been transferred from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The new Foreign Affairs Minister is Hon. Karl Hood, former Labour Minister, who took up his new portfolio on Monday.
Environment Minister Michael Church, who was reassigned by Prime Minister Thomas to the post of Minister of State in the Ministry of Works, submitted his resignation to the Prime Minister Monday.
Mr. Church, Member of Parliament for St. John, will now sit in the House of Representatives as a backbencher.
The following is the text of the “parliamentary team statement’’ delivered to reporters Monday by Labour Minister Roberts, MP for St. George South.
Ladies and gentlemen,
We are pleased to announce that the two senior ministers, who were unavailable to be sworn in on Friday, were sworn in this afternoon at 2:45 PM at the Governor General’s residence.
The situation with another of our colleague Michael Church was slightly different, and he had personally asked for time to consider his own circumstances.
We must keep him in our prayers as it must be a difficult time for him and his family.
My colleague Peter David and I, with the encouragement and support of the vast majority of our parliamentary colleagues wanted to ensure our shared commitment to good governance before going forward.
During frank talks among all MPs on Sunday, we were satisfied that we had received that commitment.
We believe the point we have sought to make over the last few days has been made, and that nobody lost, but democracy won.
A lot has been said in the last week during this debate – but we will like to put all of it behind us, as we move forward.
When were given the choices between going back, standing still and moving forward – we chose to move forward.
Let’s clear what this was never about.
It was never a challenge to the Prime Minister.
It was a challenge to all of us and a challenge to our shared commitment to democracy and accountability.
This was never to serve our individual ego, because if that was so, we would have remained inflexible in the face of discussion and mediation.
The last week gave us an opportunity to either strengthen our collective bonds or fall apart – and we chose to strengthen those bonds.
We have urgent work to do to ensure that our people have more opportunities to improve their lives.
We know it was difficult to get through the noise – but now that a calm has come – people would observe and note that this was always about how to ensure that the process we are involved in is accountable to the people we pledge to serve.
I am proud of the maturity shown throughout the week, and that inspite of many invitations to do so, none of my parliamentary colleagues turned on each other; but stood together in solidarity.
This is still the very best team to work with.
We also want to thank the many people who helped us through this period, particularly local church and business leaders, and in particular our constituents.
We also want to thank the senior influences of Brother Denis Lett – our esteem colleague who led the wider parliamentary team, as well as colleagues Sylvester Quarless, Joseph Gilbert and Aley Gill.
We must also state publicly our esteem appreciation for the efforts of Brother Jerome Joseph, an elder of our National Democratic Congress
Forgive us, if you don’t mind, for not taking questions at this time because we believe that this statement can stand for the time being. No doubt the pundits will ultimately have their say – which in our democracy we excitedly look forward to.
If I could just add one note – I think I can safely say that I speak on behalf of my parliamentary colleagues, when I say that we were very heartened by the love, support and solidarity shown through the last week.
If we ever forgot, we are now even clearer why we serve.
Thank you very much.