Drew sworn in as St Kitts and Nevis 4th PM

1. TERRANCE MICHAEL DREW TOOK THE COMPULSORY THREE OATHS as the fourth Prime Minister of twin-island Caribbean Federation, of St. Kitts and Nevis, following his triumph at last Friday’s poll when Labour swept the three-party coalition Team Unity of Dr Timothy Harris from office after their seven-year rule.

He took the Oaths of Office, Allegiance and Secrecy.

High Court Judge, His Lordship Justice Trevor Ward administered the three oaths in the presence of party, state and business officials, members of the Diplomatic Corps, relatives and friends, and from the international, regional and local media corps.

Governor General, Sir Tapley Seaton GGMG, CVO, QC, JP presided over the ceremony held at Government House.

“It is indeed an esteemed pleasure to be given an opportunity by the people of St Kitts and Nevis to be their Prime Minister. I am thankful to my cabinet, which will be named shortly. It’s an office of service and I also recognise that it is an office that I do not own, and I am only here at the behest of the people. I also know that I am here for a limited time.  During the time that I am here, I vow to work with the members of my cabinet…to work with those in other positions of government, and most of all, to work with our citizenry,” were the first words uttered by the newly-elected Prime Minister.

“I look forward to the next five years to serving the people of St. Kitts and Nevis with distinction, with respect, on the principles of good governance, transparency and integrity so that our nation can be counted among those that are of the best,” he said.

“Thanks to all who are here today and most importantly thanks to all those who participated in the democratic process so that we can have a smooth passing of the baton, so that we can continue the progress of our young nation,” Drew declared.

In his maiden speech, he promised too to work closely with the sister-isle, Nevis, to alleviate their issues and concerns, reminding the country is one federation but two islands.

“To extend a hand much closely to our Federation sister and our sister island Nevis so that whatever issues there are, we can solve and resolve, to bring our federation ever closer,” the Prime Minister vowed.

In its 39-years as an independent country, Dr Drew follows Dr Kennedy Simmonds, the first PM of St Kitts and Nevis, then Dr Denzil Douglas, who, so far, is the longest serving prime Minister having served for 20 continuous years.

Dr Timothy Harris was the third elected leader of Basseterre. He won the 2015 and 2020 polls, but had his second term shortened following protracted public and internal party corruption complaints which pushed six of his eight ministers to demand his resignation or face a no confidence motion.

The latter prevailed and though he was originally disinclined, the unwilling Harris was forced to call early polls, three years ahead of schedule. He was behind in most polls, but still managed to hold on to his constituency, albeit, with a reduced majority.

Drew Friday’s triumph at the polls was achieved a mere eight months after the St Kitts Nevis Labour Party (SKNLP) elected him as party Leader.

The five-year vision he presented then was to bring development and growth to St Kitts and Nevis and help the embattled CARICOM country recover from the damage unleashed on it by the greed, grasp and grift of the Harris administration.