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Antigua
and Barbuda’s Prime Minister, the Honourable Baldwin Spencer
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Antigua
& Barbuda - He is
deep intellectually, articulate, forward
thinking, charismatic, pragmatic and
nationalistic. He is a man of many skills and
talents. He is equally at home in the
panyard as he is in a room filled with the world’s
Heads of state. He is a lover of the
steelpan instrument, and ‘panman’ himself. He is the current
Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda. In
an exclusive interview with When Steel Talks, on
the morning immediately following the close of
the Moods of Pan 2008 festival, the Honourable
Prime Minister Baldwin Spencer shares his
thoughts about the three-day Pan fest, and US President-elect Barack Obama.
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| The higher of these
two peaks - above - is Boggy Peak,
Antigua’s highest mountain, as viewed
from the Heritage Hotel in St. John’s.
Boggy Peak is on track to be renamed
Mount Obama |
Prime
Minister Spencer said he was ‘extremely excited and
intrigued by Obama’s campaign for the
presidency’ of the United States of America.
As he watched the Obama campaign grow literally
from ‘insignificance’ to ‘significance,’
he came to the conclusion that Obama was “going
to create history in this world.” He says
be began to feel that Barrack was coming with
something new, something exciting, something the
world was looking forward to in a president of
the United States ‘as one of the most powerful
countries on earth.’
Spencer
goes on further to say that he was really taken
in by the success of the campaign because he
felt it represented a giant leap in “world
affairs, relations, diplomacy... ”
Moreover he was frankly “inspired by the fact
that a man of color could rise to the presidency
of the United States of America...”
The Prime Minister admits that he shed a few
tears as he watched the results come in.
He then asked himself the question “What could I
do to identify fully with this epic historic
development?....this is sending something to the
young people - that they, too, can rise to the
highest heights....if they are prepared to work
hard....” Spencer decided to honor this
historic moment by renaming ‘Boggy Peak’ the
highest peak in Antigua, to ‘Mount Obama.’
On the
Moods of Pan Festival 2008 the
Prime Minister
felt the performances were very good, and he
totally enjoyed them. He complimented the
organizers, Gemonites Steel Orchestra, for once
again putting on a successful show - now in its
tenth year. “It’s a wonderful experience,
and a good idea - what they are doing with Moods
of Pan” according to Spencer. He says he
looks forward to working closely with the
promoters to make the festival a real calendar
event. In addition he wants to expand
Moods of Pan to make it a ‘must see, must attend
affair.’ Prime Minister
Spencer believes that the festival is something Antigua
and Barbuda can build on as part of their
push in making Antigua and Barbuda the events
capital of the Eastern Caribbean. And in
this regard, his government is already moving on packaging and
marketing the festival regionally and globally
for 2009.
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Patrick “Stone” Johnson
at
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stonenrico@yahoo.com
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1 (268) 727-6633
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