St Kitts-Nevis opposition excited PM finally summoned the courage to announce election date

Address to the Nation on the announcement of Election Day and Nomination Day by Dr. Denzil Douglas, Political Leader of the St. Kitts-Nevis Labour Party:

Fellow citizens, comrades and friends,

The St. Kitts- Nevis Labour Party is very excited that Timothy Harris has finally announced the date for the general election on June 5, 2020 with the Nomination Day set for May 27, 2020. The Kitts-Nevis Labour Party is prepared, enthusiastic and fully mobilized to contest the elections within the bounds of the rule of law and in a manner that is free, fair and free from fear to all participating parties.

I take this opportunity to assure you that the NextGen SKN St. Kitts-Nevis Labour Party machinery is organized, well-oiled and running on all cylinders. Unlike the outgoing regime, our Party is ready and anxious to face the people of St. Kitts and Nevis. We are confident that our citizens and residents have had an opportunity to compare and contrast and have determined that over the last five years our country has been moving in the wrong direction under a despotic, nepotistic, incompetent and uncaring government. The time has come for the people of St. Kitts and Nevis to exercise the power of their franchise and elect the leadership they deserve with joyful expectation for a brighter future.

When the Labour administration left office in 2015, St. Kitts and Nevis was one of the leading economies in the Eastern Caribbean and pioneer and success story in human development. Our treasury was flushed with some $900 million and almost one billion dollars in the Sugar Industry Diversification Fund.

For the first time in the history of the IMF, the Labour government paid back almost 50 million dollars of unused funds while reducing our outstanding debt to the IMF to a little over 60 per cent of GDP. In other words, we left more than enough money to pay off the IMF and continue to build the nation. Under the prudent and astute management the Labour administration, our Federation became the first country in the world to fully return an International Monetary Fund loan.

Where are we now?

In the middle of the economic fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic, it is pellucidly evident that the outgoing regime does not have the capacity, skill or competence to provide the necessary support and assistance to the thousands who have lost their jobs and the many businesses which are struggling to stay afloat. In their greatest moment of need, the citizens and residents of St. Kitts and Nevis have nowhere to turn for help. Harris’ constant boasting of surplus after surplus has been proven, like many of the unfulfilled promises in his 2015 manifesto, to be nothing more than big, fat lies and propaganda. The reckless looting of the Social Security Fund, yet again, is ample testimony to that fiction.

The so-called COVID-1`9 Emergency Economic Stimulus Plan has been woefully inadequate and has failed miserably to reach those who need it most, while the regime has turned a deaf and a blind eye to their pleas. Under the government’s politically-motivated State of Emergency, many of our citizens find themselves impoverished by this crisis and have been forced to rely on food aid in order to feed, clothe and house their families. At a time when food security is of the highest priority, our farmers are treated with scant regard as their animals die off because of political discrimination in the distribution of Bayticol. That is the outrageous behaviour of a regime that claims to have surplus after surplus after surplus and lies after lies.

Fellow citizens, we will be fighting this battle on an uneven playing field as the government makes every attempt to rig the elections in their favour. Only today, it was reported to us that the Supervisor of Elections, Mr. Elvin Bailey rejected presiding and returning officers whom the prime minister believed to be Labour supporters.

The upcoming election is a battle for the very soul of your nation and you, the real voters of St. Kitts and Nevis must make it known through the ballot that you do not, and will not, accept the unprecedented low to which our nation has been taken in all areas and in all sectors.

Citizens, comrades and friends the pathway to economic recovery will not be easy.

We must all take this upcoming election very, very seriously. It is going to be one of the most important decisions that you will ever make.

The time has come to get our country back on track. The choice you make at the polls is clear.

If you want to return to your jobs, you will make the right choice and vote Labour.

If you want decent, affordable housing, you will make the right choice and vote LABOUR.

If you want first-class healthcare, you will make the right choice and vote LABOUR

If you want good governance and integrity, you will make the right choice and vote LABOUR.

If you want to see an end to victimization and crimes against women, you will make the right choice and vote LABOUR.

If you want to stamp out nepotism and one family government, you will make the right choice and vote LABOUR.

The government’s removal of the one-to-one laptop program is now threatening our children’s education. If you want to see a new education system that is relevant for the development of our people in the 21st century, you will make the right choice and vote LABOUR.

If you want to stop being a second-class citizen in your own country, you will make the right choice and vote LABOUR.

This election is about trust and leadership, and as you go to the polls on June 5, you must ask yourselves, who do you trust to lead your nation out of the present economic doldrums? Who has the proven leadership credentials to take St. Kitts and Nevis forward and upward to the next level?

LABOUR is the only party with the experience and leadership skills to tackle the challenges of the post-COVID environment. We have the track record of successful crisis management and our well-balanced NextGEN team is fully-equipped to do it again!

Remember, IT’S ALL ABOUT YOU. Vote LABOUR, and together, we WILL make St. Kitts and Nevis NUMBER ONE AGAIN!

God bless you and may God bless St. Kitts and Nevis.

I want you to know that Dr. Douglas loves you, today, on Election Day and every day after that!