Douglas: “PM Harris is afraid to call elections after five full years”
Basseterre, St Kitts – Former Prime MInister of St Kitts and Nevis, The Rt Hon Dr Denzil L Douglas promised Sunday night that his St Kitts-Nevis Labour Party (SKNLP) will turn around the economy and put the young people of the twin-island nation back to work again.
Addressing a public meeting in West Basseterre, Dr Douglas accused Prime Minister Dr the Hon Timothy Harris of strangling the economic development of St Kitts and Nevis “and this wil be reversed and revitalised under the NextGen SKN administration.”
“Just hold strain for a few more weeks,” said Dr Douglas, who pointed out that with the fifth anniversary of the last general election on February 16, 2020, “the government’s time has expired.”
“Its time is up. Tonight, on the 16th day of February 2020 – the fifth anniversary of the last elections, we shall mobilise from tonight and make sure that our people understand, the Caribbean region understands, the world understands that the Harris Government has expired because their time is up on the 16th February 2020,” Douglas told the crowd, adding:
“We cannot take one day more of this government. The young people are saying they cannot wait for Labour to return to office so that they can find jobs. Imagine there are Cuban-trained doctors who have returned after training for seven years and cannot be gainfully employed as this wicked government have employed them as STEP workers (getting just over minimum wage), while his own sisters and brothers, some of whom are barely literate are holding some of the biggest jobs in St Kitts and Nevis.”
“That cannot be right, cannot be right,” said Dr Douglas, who pointed to the large numbers of young students have had to forego or drop out from attending the Clarence Fitzroy Bryant College (CFBC) and AVEC.
“Last week I saw two students because their mothers cannot afford the high fees,” said Dr Douglas, who slammed the Timothy Harris-led coalition for stopping the REACH Programme which provided financial support to the students and which was initiated by his Labour Government.
“This is atrocious,” said Dr Douglas, who pointed to the youths among his SKN NextGen Team who will reverse that policy “so that the people can be given what really belongs to them and which have been taken away from them over the past five years.”
“Five years after the date of the last election and he (Prime Minister Harris) has not called the date for the election and still not want to give up the government. After five full years, he refuses to call the elections. The Government time is up and we do not care what excuses he give, his time is up and he must lose the next elections,” Dr Douglas said.
“We do not care how many boundaries he try to change, the same outcome is going to be a loss for Timothy Harris and a victory for Labour,” said Douglas.
