The air of festivity and excitement surrounding the independence celebrations in November 1978 somehow did not seem real, but no one cared. If for a brief moment, we could just forget about our troubles, close our eyes, and imagine waking up in a shiny new country where the streets are paved in gold, a land of milk and honey where money was no problem and every one would have the wherewithal to realize his life’s potential, it would indeed be a sweet dream.

    We were making this giant leap from Associated Statehood to full Independence and with that leap a new future would open up in ways that were not possible under our colonial status. No longer would we be under the thumb of colonial “exploiters” who ruled over us for over two centuries and kept us in a state poverty and with little hope for a better tomorrow. With the dawn of this new day we would finally be in control of our foreign affairs and this alone would open up enormous opportunities since we would be able to negotiate and treat with other nations and foreign investors. And in this brief moment of Independence bliss a vision of this new Dominica began to take shape. We would be masters of our own destiny, free to wheel and deal as we please, without the prying eyes of our colonial masters in Whitehall. And with that, our streets would be paved in gold as jobs would be plentiful and money would flow.

    This was the collective dream. And it mattered little when those who were sober and even those who less drunk, sought to introduce some sense of reality into what was going on. Yes, the future could be bright but this depended entirely on hard work, individual discipline, political vision and leadership. It was as if this discordant note fell on deaf ears. And twenty four years later we are waking up to find that it was only a dream with scant attention having been paid to nurturing our institutions and developing the kinds of values that make economic and social growth possible.

    In 1978 Dominica’s population was roughly 80,000. Agriculture was the predominant industry then as it is now. The latest census shows population in the low seventy thousands, and bananas are still the main export crop although its share of the national output has been diminished. The roads were in serious disrepair in 1978 and nothing significant has changed in this regard 24 years later. Unemployment was high at the dawn of the new era. Today it continues to be a serious problem and the prospects for serious job creation in the near future remain bleak. Three political parties have had their chance to make their mark and all three have failed to articulate a vision, let alone provide a road map to help us get there. Perhaps the only visible sign of progress is in the realm of education. The schools are better equipped, the teachers are better trained and as a result the number of secondary school and college graduates has risen to the point where one can begin to talk of an education revolution in Dominica. But to what avail? It is a mixed blessing when schools turn out graduates for jobs that do not exist. No wonder why the population has declined by almost ten thousand over the period of Independence. It is as if Dominica’s territorial boundaries have been extended to Guadeloupe, Antigua and other neighboring islands, not to mention the United States and Canada. By some estimates there may be more Dominicans and descendants of Dominicans living abroad than in their ancestral homeland.

    What really happened to that dream we had 24 years ago? Where are all the foreign investors, now that we are in control of our foreign policy? The truth is the history of the past 24 years is a history of a broken dream. In retrospect, for those who believed in the dream, the notion of “foreign investors” remains as foreign as the snow capped upper reaches of Mount Everest. One after another they proved elusive and too good to be true. We have been and have allowed ourselves to be the magnet for men of colorful and dubious character, grand ambition and little money to support their plans. And as if to add a punctuation mark to this era of wishful thinking, as opposed to planning, the nation is currently consumed with dissecting and debating what really happened in the Layou River hotel development. It is really mind-boggling to contemplate the reality of the country’s passports being sold by a private foreign entity with the understanding that the proceeds would be used as development capital for a hotel and then later find out that the monies have not been properly accounted for and the hotel itself remains a dream.

    If the dream seems broken, as indeed it is, the question is: what does it take to fix it? This appears to be the mandate and the mission of the Integrated Development Plan: to provide the blueprint and the road map for the way forward, to articulate sensible policy initiatives to facilitate economic growth and social development. I will not attempt to second guess what the very competent local and foreign consultants will prescribe. I think they are quite capable of doing that. But what needs to added to this debate is the often elusive element of worker attitude and national awareness of the realities facing an island nation with a population the size of a spectatorship in an arena in a major sporting event in North America. We are talking about our productive capacity in relation to consumption habits, and generally, our competitiveness in the global economy.

    As if to remind us of the idea that concerns about the economy are not overstated, the International Monetary Fund is on its way to examine what went wrong and to prescribe the necessary medicine. The exact interplay between the IMF and the experts putting together the IDP is not yet known and it will be interesting to see how this unfolds. But the contours of the new policy initiatives that are about to take root suggest belt-tightening measures including gasoline price increases, scaling back certain capital expenditures and providing fiscal incentives to stimulate capital formation and economic development. I trust that amidst all the deliberations sufficient attention will be focused on the quality of the labor market and the importance of the worker in the process of development. (Witness the actions of a certain labor union and its dealings with an indigenous financial institution that has served Dominica with distinction for half a century).

    It is not difficult to marvel at the success which some Dominicans abroad achieve in an environment which encourages hard work, individual initiative and the right attitude. “Attitude is everything”, is a familiar ethic that every athletic coach seeks to instill in his players. Yet it’s the quality most lacking in Dominican workers. Until they emigrate and begin to learn otherwise. And in this regard it seems to me that one important task of national leaders, whether in the realm of business, social or political leadership, is to invest some time in human development with particular emphasis in fostering the right type of attitude to work. Like the General Electric slogan that "there are two things that make a company great: ideas and the people who have them", we can envision a future, not built on dreams, although it is healthy and perhaps even desirable to have dreams, but on people, local people (as opposed to foreign investors), informed and motivated people who have ideas and the attitude to make a meaningful contribution to national development.