The fact that the Team Unity Administration is celebrating two years in office is enough to debunk rumors of rifts in the coalition. So says Deputy Prime Minister, the Hon. Shawn Richards, when he was asked about his relationship with his Cabinet colleagues on the radio and television programme “Working For You” on Wednesday, February 15.
The Opposition St. Kitts and Nevis Labour Party and other detractors have questioned the strength of the Team Unity coalition ever since the government took office in February 2015. Some have claimed that the government would not last more than six months, but for Deputy Prime Minister Richards, that assessment is obviously faulty.
“We heard from the very start that this government was only going to last, in the first instance, one month, then six months, then a year. The government is now celebrating two years; two years of service to the people of St. Kitts and Nevis,” declared the deputy prime minister.
The Honourable Richards suggested that former Team Unity supporters who have now fallen out with the administration may have lost their sense of entitlement with the government, which may explain their grievance.
“If you go outside and ask the people in St. Kitts and Nevis, the objective citizens of St. Kitts and Nevis, whether or not this is a concoction government, they will indicate to you something otherwise,” the deputy prime minister said. He explained that before the formation of the coalition, the people of the country called for a government of national unity and he and his Cabinet colleagues have been functioning accordingly.
“It was out of the calling of the people of St. Kitts and Nevis based on several different polls that we have had. We have been working on behalf of all of the people in every single constituency. Even in those constituencies where you have someone of the opposition being elected, we have been working on behalf of the people,” Deputy Prime Minister Richards said.