Last Updated on February 29, 2020, 12:53 PM AST by Anthony Morris
Renowned lawyer Dwyer Astaphan addressed the nationals of St Kitts and Nevis through WinnFm, where he referred Prime Minister Dr Timothy Harris as an individual who is eating the belly of People’s Action Movement (PAM). Astaphan, who supported ‘Team Unity’ in 2015 general elections, seems disconcerted with the current ideologies of PM Harris.
Astaphan recalled the era of the 80s, where the former PM used to blackout all the tv channels and kept only his address show visible in order to propagate his thoughts. Astaphan stated that Dr Harris is following the same dirty technique.
“They have plans to close down the operating groups; this is the totalitarian regime, afraid of people becoming enlightened and aware by keeping people in darkness,” added Dwyer Astaphan on Radio show.
While speaking statistically, Dwyer Astaphan stated only last year, Dr Harris government’s expenditure on advertising and townhall alone was more than 80 million dollars which were paid from the tax payer’s money.
“They spent more than 80 million on townhalls, advertising and broadcasting last year, imagine how much they are going to spend this year when elections are just near, but they are paying all this from people’s money which is wrong,” added Astaphan.
As per Astaphan, ZIZ FM has become the extremely politicised channel in St Kitts and Nevis, and the government is using it excessively to support their party. Not only that, Astaphan claims that ZIZ will be broadcasting weekly shows of Team Unity on each Tuesday for coming six to eight weeks.
“They have chosen Tuesday to broadcast on the radio because they cannot do it on Friday where people are usually tired from their works and like enjoying, they did not choose Thursday because someone from them already has a show, and they did not select Monday because they broadcast highly political broadcast, you see they only want people to listen to what if being given to them,” added Astaphan.
Additionally, he stated that the press secretary of Dr Harris called WINN FM to make the booking of their weekly political broadcastings. “PMs press secretary called WINN FM to make a booking for every Tuesday for next six to eight weeks. They are afraid to go out in the streets because of personal attacks. I don’t know if they have made arrangements to start their show after 9;30 pm but they called for it.”
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.
