DEVELOPING BALLICEAUX AND CONTINUING THE PROCESS OF DECOLONISATION
Prime Minister Dr. Ralph Gonsalves said Government will continue to strengthen and deepen ties with countries where there is a strong Garifuna presence especially with regards to the development of Balliceaux.
Speaking on radio on Sunday, the Prime Minister noted that in keeping with that development, he will seek the collaboration and support of allies in the Middle East, technical support from Cuba and Venezuela and agencies such as UNESCO.
He said Government will need a master plan for Balliceaux, which will be done in consultation with Vincentians and Garifuna at home and in the diaspora. Dr. Gonsalves said because there is no infrastructure on the island, it would no doubt be an expensive venture to develop Balliceaux into a cultural and memorial site.
” You have to have a wharf/jetty, then you have to put in roads, you have to have the facility for electricity, you have to have systems in place there for water, and of course, the buildings which you’re going to put up, the memorials you will put up, and there would be persons who would be living on the island because you can’t have a memorial with nobody there to take care of the place….people would be going and coming on a daily basis,” Dr. Gonsalves said.
Dr. Gonsalves noted that he will be traveling to Honduras in April for the meeting of the Community of Latin America and the Caribbean (CELAC) and will engage officials on the issue of Balliceaux.
Meanwhile, the Prime Minister noted that in keeping with the righting of historic wrongs, Government will begin the renaming of places.
” Victoria Park should be an easy one and Murray’s Road…”, Dr. Gonsalves suggested. He noted that Charles Gideon Murray of whom Murray’s Village and Road was named after was ” contemptuous of black people, contemptuous of the Kalinago and Garifuna” and held contempt for the spiritual Baptist.
Murray was responsible for the banning of the Spiritual Baptists faith, he passed the Shakerism Prohibition Ordinance under the Colonial Government in 1912.
