Seven years of blind leadership

PRIME MINISTER DR TIMOTHY HARRIS COALITION GOVERNMENT HAD NO DEVELOPMENT BLUEPRINT to transform St Kitts and Nevis said Dr Terrance Drew, prime ministerial candidate for the St Kitts and Nevis Labour Party (SKNLP) contesting Friday’s general elections.

The successful no confidence motion (NCM) might have saved the Caribbean nation from tumbling into the proverbial ditch with PM Harris and his cabinet of visually-impaired ministers.

Speaking Sunday night at a public rally in Constituency Six, the stronghold of former Prime Minister, Dr Denzil Douglas, Dr Drew noted for seven years the Timothy Harris three-party coalition Team Unity had “no comprehensive plan to develop the economy.”

As a consequence, cost of living skyrocketed. “The price of most basic food items escalated under the present government,” Dr Drew emphasised.

The price of fuel in the Caribbean Federation has also escalated. Although energy prices have soared globally due to the two-year and still ongoing deadly CORONA VIRUS pandemic, the war between Russia and Ukraine and supply-chain hardships, Drew blamed the problems in his country to the seven-year incompetence of the Harris administration.

When the SKNLP retake the seat of government, Drew promised the price of food and fuel will dip so the cost of living will plummet.

“We will control the cost of food and fuel in St Kitts,” the prime ministerial candidate assured.

He castigated the incumbent administration for ruining the Citizenship By Investment (CBI) through years of corruption.

“We have to save the CBI programme which has done well for St Kitts and Nevis. We will end the corruption,” he told the crowd.

The band of blind leaders also precipitated health hardship for Kittitians and Nevisians by ignoring a well-thought-out plan for health insurance left behind when the Denzil Douglas 20-year administration demitted office in 2015.

Drew promised to open up the sluggish economy which has sputtered under the visionless Harris government for business once again.

“We want to get you back to work,” Drew emphasised.

Touching on health, Drew foresees training a cadre of specialist nurses; drastically reduce waiting time in the Emergency Room (ER) among other advancements.

He reserved his most sharp criticisms for the ruling coalition “trying to steal the elections.”

As proof, he cited valiant attempts by Harris’ People’s Labour Party (PLP); the People’s Action Movement (PAM), headed by Shawn Richards; and the Concerned Citizens Movement (CCM) headed by Mark Brantley, to pad the voters list. This corrupt plan was only prevented through the vigilance of party supporters and threats of mass resignation by staff of the Electoral Office.

According to Drew, the Harris regime wanted to switch the traditional ballot boxes with substandard replacements. He said the SKNLP will not embrace any “cake box (for) ballot box. “That is unacceptable,” Drew maintained.

Other strategies to stay in office by deceit by Harris include trying to delay the polls by using his legal team to pressure Governor General Sir Tapley Seaton to aid and abet their plan.

Drew said the incumbent also tried preventing elections observers to monitor Friday’s polls.

The Organisation of American States (OAS) already has a team in the twin-island Caricom nation to observe the elections.

“Defend your democracy. You will be proud of (the victorious) SKNLP,” when official elections results are announced, the prime ministerial candidate said.

During his campaign speech, Drew paid tribute to former prime minister Dr Denzil Douglas under whose stewardship he said poverty dipped in the island.

Douglas work on HIV/AIDS has saved millions of lives globally, through his transformational leadership, Dr Drew noted.