BASSETERRE, St Kitts – The national political leader of the St Kitts-Nevis Labour Party (SKNLP), Dr Terrance Drew buoyed by the massive turnout to the official opening of constituency offices in Cayon and St Peter’s said the short-lived second-term Team Unity splintered government has divided the nation.
“They told us that St Kitts and Nevis will be the best that it could have ever been. They promised a robust economy; they promised good health care, they promised innovative education, they promised land and housing to the people of St Kitts and Nevis. But less than two years after the last general elections that government has collapsed because of ‘greed and corruption.’ Those are not my words but those of the former cabinet colleagues as they spew against each other,” said Dr Drew.
Elected the SKNLP national political leader in November 2021, Dr Drew called on the electorate “to give the St Kitts-Nevis Labour Party a clear mandate to lead St Kitts and Nevis to where it should be. We are asking you for [all] eight seats on St Kitts so that we can deliver a people’s agenda. We can deliver to the people of St Kitts and Nevis their dreams and aspirations which were not achieved under (Team) Unity. The St Kitts-Nevis Labour Party has the A-Team to deliver to you your dreams and aspirations as a nation in the 21st century. I am asking for a clear mandate.”
Dr Drew, a medical internist, briefly explained his mandate to improve the condition of the residents in the several areas of St Christopher 8 which includes St Peter’s, Half Moon, Conaree, Keys, Canada, Cayon and Ottley’s.
He spoke to several areas including education, road improvement, job security, water availability, healthcare, the prison and the Citizenship by Investment (CIP) programme.
First elected in March 2015 and re-elected in June 2020, the Team Unity government – a coalition of Shawn Richards’ People’s Action Movement (PAM), Timothy Harris’ People’s Labour Party (PLP) and Mark Brantley’s Concerned Citizens Movement (CCM) collapsed two years into the second five-year term after prime minister Harris was verbally assaulted at the annual convention of the PAM, which had four seats in the coalition.
After weeks of public back and forth and failed attempts to save the coalition, six of the nine elected cabinet ministers informed Governor General Sir Tapley Seaton they had withdrawn their support for Dr Harris.
The six cabinet ministers – three from the People’s Action Movement and three from the Concerned Citizens Movement indicated to Governor General Sir Tapley Seaton, that a majority support of the 11 elected representatives support PAM leader Shawn Richards to replace Harris but Seaton refused.
The six filed a Motion of No Confidence in Dr Harris and the embattled prime minister fired the six ministers and dissolved the National Assembly paving the way for general elections to be held within 90 days.
