By Caribbean News Global contributor
BASSETERRE, St Kitts – Former chief medical officer of St Kitts and Nevis, Dr Patrick Martin, has accused prime minister Dr Timothy Harris of “weaponizing” the COVID-19 pandemic and unnecessarily continuing the State of Emergency for political advantage.
Dr Martin insisted that the six-month State of Emergency is a cover to suspend fundamental freedoms and protections during an election period. He said, “This weaponization of the coronavirus also includes fear-mongering at briefings and in addresses.”
Prime minister Dr Harris on Friday, April 17, 2020, at an emergency sitting of parliament introduced the resolution “on the grounds that” the “COVID-19 virus continues to pose a significant threat of a natural calamity, on the scale of a public health urgency to the Federation of St Christopher and Nevis.
Several civic groups and the St Kitts Nevis Labour Party (SKNLP) have called for the removal of the State of Emergency, but it continues despite their protests.
St Kitts – Nevis citizens call for an end to ‘State of Emergency’: The playing field is not level
The former chief medical officer noted that the declaration of a State of Emergency was essential to facilitate prevention and control measures but the need for extreme measures has ended.
He predicted that time (meaning the general election on June 5) will soon reveal how voters regard and respond to unfair and obsolete boundaries, handpicked electoral officers, rule by Cabinet decree, and general fearmongering, among other things.
