By Caribbean News Global contributor
BASSETERRE, St Kitts – Senior officials of the St Kitts-Nevis Labour Party (SKNLP) hailed Monday’s virtual presentation using technology and innovation to feature the traditional St Kitts-Nevis Labour Party (SKNLP) Easter Monday picnic at Black Rocks.
Organised jointly by Young Labour in collaboration with NextGen SKN candidates, the four-hour musical presentation featured top performers and entertainers including Kin Konris (Hon Konris Maynard), Infamus, Hellfire Sounds and DJ’s EK and Tero.
“It was full of good vibes and energy. I sang along at times, danced a bit and was truly entertained even though we are under lockdown,” posted SKNLP deputy political leader, Marcella Liburd.
“I know that thousands of people especially young people were doing the same thing, enjoying themselves right in their homes in their own creative ways,” said Liburd, who hailed the abundance of local music and talented musicians and artistes in St Kitts and Nevis.
“Some of our finest were on display last night. Just love Infamus and even had to shout out EK in the comment section to let him know the music was lovely,” said Liburd, who hailed the “innovative replacement for our Easter Monday Black Rocks picnic. NextGen SKN is leading in technological initiatives,” declared Liburd, who invited persons to “join the NextGen Movement and look out for more savvy initiatives to not only assist but also entertain the people of St Kitts and Nevis.”
“I was happy that the young people in our Party decided that we will celebrate despite lockdown conditions. Our party held a virtual Easter Party online which featured several of our finest local artistes and DJs. The event was an even bigger hit than expected, attracting over 8,000 live views on the various platforms,” said political leader Dr Denzil Douglas. The St Kitts – Nevis Labour Party (SKNLP) is committed to using the technology that is available to keep people entertained and informed during this crisis. Innovation is the name of the game with the NextGen SKN when it comes to meeting the needs of our people.”
Pointing that COVID-19 has introduced a new norm in St Kitts and Nevis, Dr Denzil Douglas said Tuesday that if people can line-up to shop at supermarkets and pharmacies and do business at banks, they can also line up to vote in the next general elections while observing social distancing – in answer to a question, seen as a response to a recent statement on Monday by attorney-general and minister responsible for elections, Vincent Byron Jr, that the COVID-19 crisis should place general elections which must be held in St Kitts and Nevis by August 14, 2020 “on the back burner.”
“Let us not fool ourselves. And so we have to examine carefully what we are being told by those who seem to have some kind of sinister agenda. Let us be very careful. The authorities have more than enough time to prepare,” said Dr Douglas. In light of the ‘new norm,’ the conduct of the next general elections “will have to be different.”
“Every crisis has its unique and distinctive features and this pandemic calls for social distancing, the requirements of which do not prove an insurmountable obstacle that cannot be easily and effectively managed in an election scenario,” Dr Douglas told listeners.
“If our people can line up to shop for groceries, go to the pharmacy and to the bank, they can line up to vote in exercise of their democratic freedoms. Our people love our democratic freedoms just as much as they love food to eat, medicine to make them well and money in the bank to buy the food and buy the medicine. They will line up to vote. They will line up and they will distance themselves six feet apart. They will be gloved up and masked up in order to vote,” said former prime minister Dr Douglas.
“Each of us will have to wear a mask as we approach the polling station and as we take the ballot paper from the presiding officer … This is the new normal. Each of us voting might also have to wear gloves to handle the pencils which we may discard after making our “x.” In other words, life has changed and even though the period of time is relatively short for our upcoming elections, we had better begin to understand that social distancing and a limit on the numbers of people allowed to vote at each polling station will have to be instituted if we are going to obey the new realities that have been brought upon us by COVID-19,” the former prime minister said.
“We may even have to look at how we are going to vote. It may take one, two or three days. This is a situation where the rule of law and good governance are of critical importance. This is a paradigm shift that would have taken place as a result of the pandemic,” said Dr Douglas.
And that although the life of the current National Assembly ends on May 14, 2020, and time is short, “we are going to have our elections conducted in the next few weeks under conditions of social and physical distancing.”
