Published 23 January 2018
Buckie Got It, St. Kitts and Nevis News Source
Opposition Leader condemns Harris vendetta against him; vows not to be silent against injustices
Basseterre, St. Kitts, January 23, 2018 – Leader of the Opposition in St. Kitts and Nevis, the Right Hon. Dr. Denzil L. Douglas has accused the Timothy Harris Team Unity Government of intrinsically unable to do any better (and) to continue with its idiotic vendetta against him in the Parliament of St. Kitts and Nevis.
“Just this morning at the first sitting of the National Assembly for the year 2018, we saw a clear demonstration of the coalition government’s lack of care and commitment to the country. Instead of turning their focus to the crime which continues unabated into the new year; instead of focusing on the myriad of failures marring our healthcare system; instead of focusing on increasing jobs and job opportunities for the youth this year, the government continues to focus on me,” Dr. Douglas said in an official statement Tuesday afternoon.
“Instead of the Prime Minister calling on the Police to investigate a serious complaint against a high-ranking official of his government for alleged sexual assault of a citizen in his Chambers, the Prime Minister and his Attorney General have continued this insanely relentless push to have me debarred from the National Assembly of St. Kitts and Nevis to which I was democratically elected by the citizens and residents of constituency number six,” said the statement.
“It is apparent that despite knowing, the facts indicate otherwise, he fully intends to forge ahead with a lie in hopes that my personal and professional reputation would suffer just as his has further suffered since 2015,” said Dr. Douglas.
The seven-term parliamentarian said that as the next general elections fast approaches and the realisation that his support base is eroding with immeasurable speed, Harris has evidently grown quite desperate.
He said the fact that the youths in particular are completely disenchanted with the failures, scandals, and corruption that define the PLP/CCM/PAM coalition and have returned their support to the Labour Party, “has frightened him greatly.”
“Many of them have admitted publicly and privately of having been deceived by Dr. Harris and are now fully cognizant of his nature as in just three short years, the truth has surfaced,” said the former prime minister.
He said the events that mark Tuesday’s first sitting of the National Assembly for 2018 must not be forgotten.
“They serve to provide the Federation with irrefutable proof that our democracy is in great peril. By the events permitted and propagated in the House today, we now know without a doubt that justice, fairness, and balance are no longer found in our Parliament. The proper and fair execution of the public’s business is at the bottom of the government’s task list, if it is on the list at all,” said Dr. Douglas, who served as Prime Minister from July 1995 to February 16, 2015.
“We of the Parliamentary opposition again emphasize that we will not accept or tolerate our democratic traditions being forced into oblivion. This has to end,” said Dr. Douglas, who added:
“Let it be known that the Speaker of the House, Hon. Michael Perkins, moved to eject me from the National Assembly today and suspend me for five days in an attempt to silence the revelation and further conceal the fact that one of Harris’ government officials allegedly sexually assaulted a citizen of this country right in his Chambers. This decision to suspend me from the Parliament for an extended period of time cannot silence me from speaking out against injustices committed against our womenfolk in St. Kitts and Nevis,” said Dr. Douglas.
He added: “Let it also be known yet again that I do not, have never, and will never hold citizenship for any other country except my homeland of St. Kitts and Nevis. Dr. Harris’ attempts to remove me from the Parliament through the court are a senseless and wanton waste of the public’s time and meagre financial resources.”
Dr. Douglas proclaimed that he was democratically elected to represent the people of constituency number six in the Parliament of St. Kitts and Nevis in 2015.
“I intend to do until they deem it fit to be represented by another. We shall continue to prepare, organise, and mobilise our people and our Party in order to remove this corrupt regime from office,” said Dr. Douglas, who urged “the citizens of this great nation to ready themselves for 2018.”
“The coalition government has already set a disastrous precedent. I advise everyone to brace themselves for this year’s developments.”
Photo 1 – Rt. Hon. Dr. Denzil L. Douglas
Photo 2 – Dr. Timothy Harris
Photo 3 – Speaker Michael Perkins
