BASSETERRE, ST. Kitts, Nov 11 2016 – The main opposition St. Kitts-Nevis Labour Party (SKNLP) has called on Prime Minister Dr. Timothy Harris to say how much money has been spent on overseas travel since he came to office nearly two years ago.
“With all the spending of the taxpayers’ money, we are still not seeing any new development on the ground. The country has not benefitted,” said SKNLP legislator and former government minister Marcella Liburd.
Liburd, who is also chairperson of the party that lost the last general election, said when the Denzil Douglas administration was voted out in February 2015, it left an estimated EC$700 million in the Treasury.
“Where have all this money gone in 21 months? How is this money being spent? Ministers are still spending hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars to outfit their offices including the offices for the Premier and Deputy Premier of Nevis in the new Social Security Complex built under the Labour Party administration with the largest flat screen TV sets in the entire federation,” said Liburd.
She said also that many projects started by the former administration were still not completed.
Meanwhile, another opposition legislator, Konris Maynard is calling on Prime Minister Harris to give up the National Security portfolio following an increase in murders here.
Maynard said that so far this year there have been 30 murders as compared with 28 for 2015.
“If the government seems clueless and the ministry that is responsible for addressing these issues, seems clueless and unwilling to engage stakeholders around this country, then whoever is the leader at the time of that failure, as they called for the resignations of then Ministers of National Security Dwyer Astaphan and Sam Condor, it is now time to call again for this government to replace the minister responsible for national security,” said Maynard.
He said that in the past two years, Prime Minister Harris “has shown no ability to navigate with any sense of purpose and vision, the issue of crime in our country.
“There needs to be a cabinet reshuffle and Dr. Timothy Harris, the Prime Minister should step down as minister responsible for national security and give that ministry to someone else to see if they can do a better job,” said Maynard.
