MARIGOT–Movement for Justice and Prosperity (MJP) presented its complete list of candidates on Friday at the party’s headquarters on Rue de la Liberté.
Members include head of the list Louis Mussington, Frantz Gumbs, Pierre Aliotti, Ali Laggoune, Martin Wilson, Raymond Helligar, Daniel Gumbs, Agenor Moïse, Romuald Samer, Dany Dormoy, Daniel Arnel, Francisque Jabouley, Leonard Mussington, Mario Tayele, Marthe Ogoundélé-Tessi, Kelly Brooks, Jocelyn Curiel, Micheline Barrot, Maryse Lafleur, Genevieve Glascow, Bernadette Davis, Marie-Thérése Richardson, Francine Brodin, Mariline Haddoks, Bernadette Nestor Hubert, Clarisse Felix and Claudette Davis.
Louis Mussington, veteran politician and a long-standing teacher, described the men and women on his list as “experienced, dynamic, courageous, and very involved in the professional and economic life of the territory.”
“I’m very confident in this team and with our younger members who are determined to defend the interests of our youth,” he said.
He explained the party’s vision is based around the three main pillars; first to achieve sustainable economic expansion through an improved tourism product and small business development and investment opportunities.
“When we talk about economic expansion and investment the priority is the construction of a cruise ship pier for the small to medium higher class ships with the more discerning, high spending tourists. That would go hand in hand with restoring the buildings in Marigot to create more space and more up-market stores,” said Mussington. “More slips for mega yachts are also part of the plan.”
He added: “I think it’s a stupid idea to construct a town next to the existing town. To me it serves a greater purpose to develop and revitalise the existing town. When you see plans for apartments on the waterfront, American tourists are not interested in that. They want to be more in tune with the Caribbean experience. I think that would be a hard sell personally.
“Secondly, we need to have strong investment in our human resources by providing training programmes in cooperation with the private sector. I’m talking about a Marshall plan in the area of professional training and learning a trade. I’m calling it a Marshall plan because there won’t be a limit to the amount of funds that will go into it.
“Too many of our young men are unqualified, uneducated, and don’t have jobs. The emphasis will be on training and preparing them to be more competitive in the job market. We need a university in St. Martin and a rehab centre for those coming out of prison, and a school for second chances.”
“Thirdly we will reignite our national brand or identity in terms of cultural development, through arts, culture, and sports development. We have to create a cultural agency that will work on restoring our cultural and historical sites, and cataloguing our past history in the written word. It’s important to integrate our culture in a broader sense.
“On cooperation we will put greater emphasis on North South cooperation. As Siamese twins we need to take joint cooperation more seriously, sign conventions for economic, cultural or sports development as well as harmonise certain rules between both sides, while retaining our areas of competence. We don’t want to encourage division but strengthen ties.
“The Organic Law needs to be used to achieve greater autonomy and competency. We will modify the existing law, add other competences to it to give greater political autonomy to ease the decision making in our country’s best interests.
“In terms of youth development projects we are looking at encouraging young people studying abroad to finish their studies and come back home. We will organise selection exams to get them into the civil service to work in State services for example.
“We need to have St. Martiners with the same skills and abilities as the French working in State services. As part of the Organic Law modifications we want to have the State services reorganised but also to permit the integration of St. Martiners.
“The business community must also play a more crucial role in helping reduce the unemployment problem. When young people feel disillusioned, marginalised, and have no hope that’s when they turn to crime. The private sector has to come in to pick up the slack. There are hundreds of restaurants on the island. If every restaurant employed one St. Martiner that would be a start.”
Source: The Daily Herald https://www.thedailyherald.sx/islands/63626-mjp-presents-complete-list-ahead-of-elections
View comments
Hide comments