Last Updated on May 19, 2020, 9:16 AM AST by Anthony Morris
Expressing excitement at the June 5, election date, former St Kitts and Nevis Prime Minister, The Right Hon Dr Denzil L Douglas said his NextGen SKN Team is prepared and fully mobilized to contest the upcoming elections within the boundaries of the rule of law and in a manner which is free, fair and free from fear to all the participating parties.
Dr Douglas in a video statement aired live on the party’s Facebook Page that assures that the NextGen SKN St. Kitts-Nevis Labour Party’s machinery is well-oiled, organized and running on all cylinders.
Unlike the outgoing Government, his Party is anxious and ready to face the people of St. Kitts and Nevis.
He said that his party is confident that the country’s citizens and residents have compared and determined that over the last five years, the country has been moving towards the wrong direction under a nepotistic, despotic, incompetent and uncaring Government.
Dr Douglas added that the time has come for the people of St. Kitts and Nevis to exercise their power of franchise and to elect the leadership which they deserve with joyful expectation for a brighter future.
He noted that when the Labour administration had left office in 2015, St. Kitts and Nevis was among the leading economies in the Eastern Caribbean and pioneered a success story in human development.
The Former Prime Minister said that the treasury of St Kitts and Nevis was flushed with around EC$900 million and almost one billion dollars in the Sugar Industry Diversification Fund.
For the very first time in IMF’s history, the Labour Government returned almost 50 million dollars of unused funds while reducing the country’s outstanding debt to the IMF to a little over 60 per cent of GDP.
He added that in other words, the Labour Government had left more than enough money to pay off the rest of the debts owed to the IMF and continue to build the nation. Under the pruden management of the Labour administration, the Federation had become the first country in the world to fully return an International Monetary Fund loan.
He said that the so-called COVID-19 Emergency Economic Stimulus Plan is inadequate and has failed miserably to reach those who need the help the most, while the regime has turned a deaf and a blind eye to their pleas.
According to Dr Douglas, under the Government’s politically-motivated State of Emergency, many of the citizens are finding themselves impoverished by the crisis and have been forced to rely on food aid to feed, clothe and house their families. At such a time when the food security is of the highest priority, the farmers in the country are being treated with scant regard as their animals die off because of political discrimination in the distribution of Bayticol.
That is the outrageous behaviour of a regime that claims to have surplus after surplus after surplus and lies after lies.
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.
