Prime Minister of Grenada Honorable Tillman Thomas wants nationals to acknowledge and preserve the country’s heritage.
The Prime Minister was speaking at the commemorative ceremony marking the renaming of the Point Salines International Airport. The airport, now known as the Maurice Bishop International Airport (MBIA), is named after slain former Prime Minister Maurice Bishop. As leader of the People’s Revolutionary Government from 1979 to 1983, Mr. Bishop was instrumental in launching the airport project.
The Grenadian leader said his Government strongly believes that Grenadians, who have made significant contributions to the development of the nation, should be recognized.
The Prime Minister also stressed the need “to cultivate a culture of national recognition and an appreciation of our unique history.” He said this is important because as a people we need to learn from our history, if only to avoid previous mistakes.
The renaming of the Point Saline International Airport to MBIA, is the fulfillment of an election campaign promise made by the National Democratic Congress since 2003, Prime Minister Thomas said, who is also the NDC’ leader.
He pointed to the fact that not all Grenadians who are in agreement with the Maurice Bishop regime, noting that he too had differences in opinions and consequently suffered incarceration for his belief. However, he said, all of our history is important, we need to respect and preserve that as a people and also embrace the art of forgiveness.
“Ideally, I would have loved to have all Grenadians unanimously support this action however, to those who hold different views; I wish to remind you that whether we like it or not the revolutions forms a significant part of our history,” he said. “I have forgiven and embraced those who incarcerated me; if I can I believe you can too. This I think is necessary if reconciliation is to be genuine, meaningful and sincere.”