Members of St. Kitts-Nevis’ ruling Team Unity party have used the political campaign stage to mock Antigua and Barbuda over what they describe as the apparent inability of the Gaston Browne administration to offer a stimulus package in repose to COVID-19.
At a recent political meeting, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Education Shawn Richards compared the economic stimulus given by his government to the COVID-19 response in Antigua & Barbuda.
“When other countries are saying to workers, I can only give you $75 a week, Team Unity has said $2,000 dollars a month. When other countries have not been able to respond, because if you go nearby to Antigua today, not one single stimulus package has been put in place in Antigua, we have been able to do that because we have managed this country well,” Richards said.
Antigua and Barbuda Prime Minister Gaston Browne responded to statements of provocation, which he said he also heard from Prime Minister Timothy Harris.
“I mean I hear for example in St. Kitts, they are ridiculing us and at the highest level, at the level of the Prime Minister and the Deputy Prime Minister. And I don’t know why they want to draw us into their politics,” Browne said on his weekly radio show on Pointe FM.
“I have had a long-standing policy of not engaging in the domestic affairs of any country especially when it comes to elections, and that is one of the reasons why you don’t see me on any platform in any country.
“So, I don’t know why my dear friend, he and his deputy Shawn Richards, why do they continue to draw Antigua and Barbuda into their politics,” Browne added.
He said the example given by the leadership of the ruling party in St. Kitts is “unhelpful” and called on the Team Unity government to campaign on their performance.
“I am not going to respond directly to it. All I’m saying is that type of provocation is unnecessary. What they need to do if they have done so well in St. Kitts and Nevis is to stand on their record and to defend their record.”
Voters in St. Kitts-Nevis go to the poll on June 5 to elect a new government in the federation with the Team Unity administration seeking a second term in office.
Browne said he spoke on telephone on Saturday with former prime minister Dr Denzil Douglas, who is seeking another term as prime minister.
Ye foolish boys!