Last Updated on October 23, 2019, 10:16 PM AST by Anthony Morris
Thirty months ago, St Kitts and Nevis’ Prime Minister Dr the Hon Timothy Harris deceived the people of St Kitts and Nevis when he publicly promised to call a press conference of his Peoples Labour Party (PLP) to clear the air on allegations of unaccounted campaign funds.
The allegations surfaced after the February 16, 2015 General Elections. Today, October 23, 2019, two years and six months after, the people of St Kitts and Nevis are still waiting for Dr Harris to provide answers and clear the air as PLP leader and prime minister.
The allegations have been made by former PLP deputy leader and current St Kitts and Nevis Permanent Representative to the United Nations in New York, His Excellency, Sam Condor; former PLP chairman Douglas Wattley and former PLP Secretary, Clecton Phillip, who were all ousted from the PLP executive for publicly calling for an inquiry into the alleged unaccounted campaign funds.
During a press conference in April 2017, Prime Minister Harris refused to touch the issue stating the press conference was a government event and not a PLP function.
WINNFM’s journalist, Ken Richards, had pointed out to Dr Harris that campaign financing is part of his Team Unity Government’s good governance, transparency and accountability agenda that he promised during the election campaign and he should clear the air on the allegations.
In response Dr Harris accused the BBC-trained journalist of being “bought into the mischief being propagated by persons who are no longer with the PLP.”
“I would therefore caution those who want to propagate those mischiefs that they will answer to the court. I myself, is not going to get into any to or fro, but it is discouraging when media houses attempt to take hearsay without a scintilla of evidence from disaffected persons and attempt to propagate it as if there is some truth in it. Not one scintilla of evidence and that has been reported not just by myself, but by senior members of the party.
“In fact all you have from those stories are some hearsay. Not one credible bit of evidence has been put in the public domain, so why are we talking about this hearsay and propaganda that people are attempting to put on social media for others to follow. I have taken legal action because ultimately that is where the matter will resolve itself,” Harris told the press conference in April 2017.
On October 22, 2019, court sources confirmed here is no record of any court action by Prime Minister Harris with regard to the allegation of EC$10 million in unaccounted PLP campaign funds.
WINNFM’s Richards pointed out to Dr Harris at that April 2017 press conference, that his former PLP deputy leader Sam Condor, former PLP chairman Douglas Wattley and former secretary Clecton Phillip, have been publicly calling for an inquiry into the alleged unaccounted for campaign funds and there is need for an inquiry into the matter.
Ken Richard’s attempt to follow-up with the question of full accountability and full transparancy, did not find favour with Dr Harris.
Harris responded: “Yes, but if it is a question to do with the PLP, please, that is a matter already before lawyers and I will not entertain any questions to do with that matter. For the record, I am not entertaining that discussion. At an appropriate forum of the PLP, you could perhaps put that to the PLP. I am dealing here as the prime minister with matters relevant to the government and the accusation of members, whoever they are, of the PLP, have no bearing on the functioning of this government and they are not matters that I raised or matters that I figure a press conference of the government should be diverted to.”
The former PLP chairman Wattlet, among scores of persons who have broken ranks with the PLP and its leader, has accused the Timothy Harris Government of installing a culture of corruption in St Kitts and Nevis and has apologised for allowing himself to be used as an instrument that lied to the electorate.
Clecton Phillip has also questioned how a listing of the top contributors to the St. Christopher
and Nevis Social Security Board found its way into the hands of the PLP leadership.
Phillip, who resigned as Press Secretary to Prime Minister Harris after less than one year on the job said the unaccounted for EC$10 million, does not include the hundreds, thousands, perhaps millions, that “I am told the senior PLP founding member would have received through the facility of the Social Security contributors list, a private and confidential financial document containing information on all workers in St. Kitts and Nevis, which he/she reportedly secured through surreptitious, most likely illegitimate, means.”
Word that Harris’ People’s Labour Party (PLP) used information from the St. Christopher and Nevis Social Security Board to target high income earners for campaign donations in the lead up to the February 16th 2015 General Elections, was first made last May by former PLP Chairman, Mr. Douglas Wattley.
“Here is a guy who collected millions of dollars in campaign dollars but produced no accounts. Here is a guy who, during the 2015 Campaign had a complete listing of the Labour force, a document that could have only come from inside Social Security,” said Mr. Wattley.
Local community activist Ira McMahon is of the view that there has never seen in the political history of St Kitts and Nevis, a government involved in numerous allegations of corruption in their first term in office.
McMahon responding to remarks by Jonel Powell, the chairman of the People’s Action Movement that cosmetic steps were taken in the good governance agenda and beyond what was done by previous administrations, “is unacceptable.”
“You may convince yourself that Team Unity is doing wonders, but I have been around for many elections and I have never seen a new administration with so much corruption allegations so far as this one. It has been beset by scandal after scandal which would not have happened if Team Unity had prioritized its good governance agenda. It promised to do so,” said McMahon.
Pointing out that “corruption is like an aggressive cancer,” the former head of the technical and vocational division of the Clarence Fitzroy Bryant College (CFBC) called on the Team Unity Government to commit itself to its good governance agenda.
“The breach of security at the airport (by government minister Hon Ian Patches Liburd), the stem cell and the unethical herpes scandals, the non publication of the 2018 IMF Article IV consultation report on the economy of St Kitts and Nevis and the EC$200 million (the Federal Government sent to Nevis and which Prime Minister Harris said) was squandered by the NIA. If Mr Powell accepts these things, it suggests that he is satisfied with the unfortunate status quo,” said McMahon.
In a British High Court ruling in London in May 2016, Dr Harris is named as begging the British property tycoon Peter Virdee Singh for a pair of shoes, a watch and campaign financing, while talks are going on for an energy project in St Kitts.
Other scandals include the Hurricane Roof Repair and Poverty Alleviation programme scandals in the Office of the Prime Minister, the scandal involving Chinese fugitive Ren Biao who China said “was seeking an additional US$190,000 to help to continue to pay for his protection by Kittitian authorities” and the Lanny Davis scandal.
Anthony Morris covers stories related to politics and regional developments. His in-depth reporting about governance and reforms makes him stand out in regional journalism, with a deep analysis of political trends and their impact on Caribbean communities.
