Hanley tipped for Education Minister post – Dr. Drew

ROOKIE LEGISLATOR AND CONSTITUENCY ONE REPRESENTATIVE Dr Geoffrey Hanley is tipped to be the country’s next Education Minister after the Labour party is sworn in following Friday’s national elections, announced party leader and Prime Ministerial candidate, Dr. Terrance Drew.

Speaking at a massive campaign rally at Cayon, Constituency Eight recently, Dr. Drew said the learning sector needs Dr Hanley’s expertise for the short and long-term transformation envisaged by the St Kitts and Nevis Labour Party (SKNLP).

Hanley, a former educator, was inspirational and responsible for lifting standards at a number of schools throughout the Federation, Dr Drew reminisced in his campaign speech.

Drew said because of Hanley’s exploits in the education ministry even under the hostile ‘out-going’ Prime Minister (Dr Timothy Harris), he has agreed to use it as a module for advancing the education sector within the Federation, hence his public announcement on the matter.

“There are too many children without devices and my foundation, the ‘Care Foundation’ which was established on April 17^th went into action to deliver chrome books not only to Constituency Number 8, but throughout St. Kitts and Nevis because I journeyed to Nevis to meet children there too, because we are one Federation and we must spread the love,” explained Dr Drew.

Several regional and international pollsters have tipped Drew and the SKNLP to dethrone the Team Unity coalition whose public image has been sullied by corruption allegations. The Harris’ government spectacularly collapsed when six of the eight ministers comprising the coalition pulled out of the grouping forcing the unwilling PM to announce early date for fresh elections.

Harris and his government became increasingly unpopular after he scrapped a number of initiatives popular with Kittitians and Nevisians. The ‘One Laptop programme’, big with parents and students, was one of those cast aside by Harris, who is increasingly viewed in his country and in the wider Caribbean, as a “pariah prime minister”.

“They are in government and they have children at home without devises to do their homework. Having to use their parents cell phones and when the data go, the children can’t continue their work and studies, and the government came up with a programme to temporary lend the students a device, some got it and some didn’t get it. That is why I am saying under the St Kitts Nevis Labour Party Government and Dr. Geoffrey Hanley as the next Minister of Education, we have said that every child will get a laptop in St Kitts and Nevis,” Drew stated.

Meanwhile, at a previous meeting Hanley told supporters that when the Timothy Harris administration gave him lime, he gladly accepted it and made drink as he had destined in his mind that wherever they place him he will shine, since he believes in action and getting the work done.

Harris and his coalition partners victimised Dr Hanley by hounding then removing him as the Youth Director. They followed this up by giving him a job at a very troubled school, convinced he would fail. However, he turned the fortunes of the school around.

The Permanent Secretary (PS) Education, publicly commended Dr Hanley’s work.

“They (the Harris’ Government) tried punishing me for being a labour supporter. Look how I turned that school around. They were shocked as the school under this very government that sought to punish me has used it as a model with the PS dubbing the school as number one in the Federation. I am committed to bringing all of our schools up to that standard,” Hanley declared.

“We need labour in office so that Dr. Hanley can immediately go to work and rescue our education sector,” Dr Drew emphasised.