BASSETERRE, ST. KITTS, and February 22nd 2017 – Leader of the Opposition in St. Kitts and Nevis, the Right Hon. Dr. Denzil L. Douglas said Tuesday that the Team Unity Government of Prime Minister Dr. the Hon. Timothy Harris is unpopular because it is taking the country in the wrong direction and have not delivered on several of its promises.
During Tuesday’s edition of “Ask the Leader” on Kyss 102.5 FM, Dr. Douglas accused government ministers of corruption, nepotism and conflict of interest and refuted a claim by Prime Minister Harris that the St. Kitts and Nevis is ‘doing so well and is the leading economy in the ECCU, the Caribbean and Latin America.’
“While the Prime Minister has been grossly dishonest in misleading the nation about the true state of affairs of the St. Kitts and Nevis economy, and boastings at his press conferences, town hall meetings, and issuing press releases using fancy words like a ‘robust economy’ and a ‘rosy economy’ in 2016, the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank (ECCB) updated its website on January 20th 2017 and has reduced St. Kitts and Nevis’ GDP from 3.02 percent to an estimated 2.84 percent, the worst in the last four years,” said Dr. Douglas, a former prime minister and minister of finance.
He said the revised ECCB figures places the St. Kitts and Nevis economy under Dr. Harris and Team Unity in fourth place, behind Anguilla (4.5 percent GDP), Antigua and Barbuda (4.29 percent) and St. Vincent and the Grenadines (2.90 percent GDP) in the Eastern Caribbean Currency Union (ECCU).
Dr. Douglas said there is also a negative trend in the value of goods and services exported to the United States and that the latest statistics from the US Census Bureau indicate that December last year was the worst December in the past 7 years and 2016 was also the worst year since 2010.
On the issue of the Basseterre High School (BHS), Dr. Douglas noted that Team Unity’s promise of a brand new BHS is yet to begin construction.
“Where is this new school? The BHS students are scattered all over Basseterre and the recent information is that the Ministry of Education has imported a number of trailers previously used on construction sites, to house our BHS students instead of building the ultra modern Basseterre High School that has been promised,” said Dr. Douglas.
He also accused the Timothy Harris-led Team Unity administration of reneging on its promise to provide an EC$500 monthly stipend to households earning $3,000 and less, as well as increasing the minimum wage to EC$500 weekly.
“It (the Government) is focused on the wrong things. The Government ministers are fattening themselves, feathering their own nests, filling their pockets through practices of nepotism, cronyism, graft and corruption and serious conflicts of interest,” said Dr. Douglas.
He said while it is well known that the Minister of Public Infrastructure has established a private company in his own name in order to trade in cement and building materials and benefit from the government housing development programme launched last week, and the second pier that is to be built, “several government officials, several ministers of government have also established their own companies which are not in their own names and are trading competitively with private sector companies.”
“We know of the Harris Group of Companies which is trading in other people’s names but belong to the Harris family. This is because we believe that the people in the country are fed up with the deception, the misleading and confusion that is deliberately being meted out to our people by this government,” said Dr. Douglas.