The presence of Regional Security System (RSS) forces in St Kitts and Nevis is being heavily criticised by former St Kitts and Nevis Prime Minister and Minister of National Security, the Rt Hon. Dr. Denzil L. Douglas.
Reading from the Treaty establishing the RSS that it is to ensure the stability and well-being of member states, Dr. Douglas asked: “Where in this country is there any instability?”
He noted that the arrival of the RSS follows a massive anti-government march last week Friday that protested against the high levels of victimisation and criminal activity in St Kitts and Nevis.
“Where is the instability because we threatened that we will not lie down and allow Timothy Harris to remove the life-size statue of Robert Llewellyn Bradshaw from St Paul’s and place it in a hog pen in the Ponds/Needsmust area. We said we will not allow it and if Harris is going to bring in the RSS because he wants to threaten our freedom, then we will resist the RSS as well,” Dr. Douglas declared.
Dr. Douglas noted that Prime Minister Harris is the current chair of the RSS and the presence of the RSS is an abuse of that authority.
“Why is Harris bringing the RSS in this country to harass our people in Mc Knight, harass our people in St Paul’s and Newton Ground; harass our people in the ghettos. Are they going into Bird Rock and Frigate Bay? Are they going to all areas of St. Kitts and Nevis? Why is Harris harassing the people of St Kitts and Nevis for political gain? asked Dr. Douglas, who noted that on the eve of the 33rd Anniversary of Independence “we don’t want to be an occupied territory at this critical time.”
Dr. Douglas disclosed that none of the local security chiefs has given the approval to the arrival of the RSS.
“We understand that Mr Osmond Petty, the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of National Security has washed his hands in front of the entire Cabinet and said he had nothing to do with it and that it was Timothy Harris himself who made the request of his colleagues in the Eastern Caribbean.”