Labour has always demonstrated the true spirit of Democracy
By The Thinking Citizen
In July 2004, the noted Caribbean pollster Dr. Peter Wickham said that “the St. Kitts-Nevis Labour Party is stronger in 2004 than it was in 2000.” He also said that “it would take a political earthquake to bring about a change of government in St. Kitts and Nevis in the next (2004) general elections. We all know Labour won a land-slide victory over Pam in the October 25th 2004 General Elections.
Dr Wickham went on to say further that his July 2004 poll showed that “the overwhelmingly popular leader in St. Kitts and Nevis is the leader of the St. Kitts and Nevis Labour Party (Dr. Denzil Douglas) and he is popular both among the committed and the uncommitted electorate.” We all know that so far Dr. Wickham’s polls and his predictions, Caribbean-wide; have been as accurate as can be.
One lesson that should be learnt from the findings of Dr. Wickham’s poll is that negative and hostile political attacks on a favourite and well-loved politician are ineffective and counter-productive. Between the elections of 2000 and the elections of 2004, PAM launched regular weekly attacks against Dr. Denzil Douglas in the Democrat Newspaper.
Regularly, week after week, 2000 onwards, the Democrat Newspaper threw at Dr. Douglas everything it could muster, from front-page articles to “The Man over the wall” columns, to off-course commentaries by the three “Desperate Ones”
In the year 2004, before General Elections in spite of everything, Dr. Douglas was acclaimed to be the overwhelmingly popular political leader in St. Kitts and Nevis. Dr. Douglas seems to be Teflon-coated. The mud thrown at him by PAM and the Democrat has never been able to stick.
Why is it that PAM and the Democrat continue to throw mud at our beloved Prime Minister, Dr Denzil Douglas, regardless? The answer is that that is the nature of PAM. Just as the leopard cannot change its spots just so PAM cannot change its philosophy, its policies and its practice. As the offspring of the St. Kitts Democratic Party, PAM is by nature, bound to carry on in the style, fashion, custom and tradition of its party.
PAM is an Elitist party. The Labour Party is a populist party. PAM is the off-spring of the St. Kitts Democratic Party which came into existence in 1949. The Labour Party is the off-spring of the St. Kitts-Nevis Workers League which had as its motto the following words, namely, “For the good that I can do.”
The Workers’ League/Labour Party was in power from 1952 to February 1980 and after a 15- year interlude regained power (the Labour Party) in 1995. The story of how Pam got into power in 1980 and how the PAM government maintained itself in power is now history.
Dr. Denzil Douglas is still by far the most popular political leader in St. Kitts and Nevis. The PAM leaders have all been “weighed in the balance and have been found wanting.”
Two (2) of PAM’s leaders gave false evidence before the Commission of Inquiry headed by Sir Louis Blom-Cooper. They were admonished by Sir Louis, and years later another one of PAM’s leaders was forced to withdraw a false document which he had submitted in support of the challenge to Dr. Asim Martin’s 2004 victory at the polls.
Another PAM leader spent a lot of time and money in the rum shops and bars in the New Town area as a part of his election strategy. In spite of the time the money spent on the voters in East Basseterre prior to the 2000 general elections the PAM leader still did not achieve the victory which he sought at the polls.
The present leaders of the PAM have been criticizing and abusing the current Labour Party government because the Government established a Commission of Inquiry to look into the wrong-doings of the PAM government.
PAM’s leaders have called the Commission of Inquiry a “witch-hunt” and “a waste of time and money since nobody went to jail.” But here is what the Commissioner Blom-Cooper said about PAM’s former leader, Dr. Kennedy Simmonds, on the matter:-
“that on the issue about the disclosure to the public of the default in the servicing of the loan by Nautical Trading ( St. Kitts) Ltd. on the Credit Agreement 30 May1986 and the contingent liability of the government of St. Kitts-Nevis in the early, you ought to have ordered a Commission of Inquiry under the Commission of Inquiry Act.”
Commissioner Blom-Cooper further commented thus:-
“that in promoting the financial arrangements for the project of the hydrofoils you improperly kept the whole matter under the secrecy of the government by not bringing the matter to cabinet (other than on the 4 April 1986), not taking the matter to the National Assembly, and not in any way making the government’s involvement in the Credit Agreement as the primary guarantor known to the public of St. Kitts and Nevis.
The PAM government believed in keeping its citizens in the dark. In November 1983 the PAM government sneaked up on the electorate with a new and unusual Electoral System without any notice or consultation or discussion with the general public and without any noise or fanfare.
During the 1990s the PAM government, secretly and surreptitiously entered into negotiations with a firm of Jamaican sugar manufacturers for the sale of the St. Kitts Sugar Factory and hundreds of acres of prime sugar lands.
The present Labour leaders, Dr. Denzil Douglas, initiated an open and all-inclusive process of electoral reform that was undertaken by PAM in 1983. Furthermore, unlike the PAM government, Dr. Douglas did not fix unilaterally, an increase in salary and allowances for himself and his fellow Parliamentarians. Dr. Douglas set-up a special Committee consisting of members of the private sector to deal with the matter.
PAM’s current leaders claim that they are committed to the reign of Democracy in St. Kitts and Nevis. But their actions and their utterances give the lie to their claim. Pam used the Voters’ Lists for Central Basseterre from 1984 to 1995. The PAMites found nothing wrong with the lists. The PAMites began to complain about the Voters’ Lists only after Dr. Simmonds lost his seat in 1995.
So just before the Election of 2000 a certain Pam agent took the Registration Officer for Central Basseterre, Mr. Leonard (Nordie) O’Loughlin, to Court in order to secure the removal of some 250 names from the Voters List. Naturally the Pam agent lost the case.
After the 2004 General elections, the Pam party challenged in the High Court the election results of three (3) victorious Labour candidates. PAM expected to be successful in the Court and eventually to gain a total of four (4) seats in all. PAM was hoping for a repeat of the 1993 alliance. In 1993 PAM and the NRP formed the government with PAM holding four seats and the NRP holding one seat.
Labour leaders have never taken the Pam party to Court over Election results or sought Court Order to remove the names of voters from the Voters List. Even when the Election results came against Labour, the Labour leaders accepted the verdict of the electorate graciously and went along with the decision of the people. Labour has always demonstrated the true spirit of Democracy.
During the 15 years that PAM was in power, the leaders of the party refused to name anything in St. Kitts after Sir Robert Bradshaw, our First National Hero. The PAMites refused even to select Bradshaw’s birthday as the day on which St. Kitts and Nevis would enter into Independence. The PAMites chose September 19, rather than September 16, Bradshaw’s birthday.
Dr. Denzil Douglas, unlike the spiteful and vengeful PAMites, recommended, through the appropriate official channels, that Dr. Kennedy Simmonds should be honoured with the award of knighthood.
The PAMites, as lie and as dangerous as ever went around telling their followers and supporters that Dr. Douglas and his cabinet had nothing at all to do with the award to Sir Kennedy Simmonds. The followers and supporters were told that her Majesty the Queen took it upon herself, out of the goodness of her heart to award the knighthood.
In addition to the misrepresenting the process by which Dr. Simmonds was knighted, the PAMites have shown no appreciation for the act of magnanimity displayed by Dr. Douglas and his Cabinet. The Douglas Administration showed that it is capable of rising above pettiness and spite and political tribalism, something which the Pam party seems incapable of doing.
Many innocent and un-informed persons have been fooled and led astray by PAM’s false, baseless and frivolous accusations against the present Labour Government. PAM indulges in such reckless and irresponsible behaviour in order to distract public attention from the perilous days of 1980 to 1995 during which the PAM Administration feathered the nests of its Ministers, Trumps, Half-Trumphs, Quarter-Trumps and others of their kind.
During the 1980 to 1995 period, the PAM Administration abolished Personal Income Tax. That meant that from that period onwards, no PAM Minister of Government paid any Income Tax. As a result, there was a huge increase for such Ministers in Disposable Income or Take-Home Pay. Government Ministers could do as they liked with their full salary.
The PAM Government took the further step of increasing the Salaries and Allowances of all Parliamentarians. The PAM Ministers determined the level of increases they wanted and the PAM Government gave them all the increases that they wanted. For the very first time in the history of Representative Government in St. Kitts and Nevis, Government Ministers were granted a Housing Allowance and a Constituency Allowance.
To make matters worse, the PAM Prime Minister was given $14,362.00 per annum to pay Domestic Staff and $8,820.00 per annum for Upkeep of Grounds. All this was in addition to the Housing Allowance of $30,000.00 per annum which the Prime Minister received.
We should notice carefully that the Prime Minister did not have an Official, Government, and Prime Minister’s Residence. The Prime Minister lived in his own private house. So in effect the Tax-payers of this country were made to pay for the Domestic Staff and the outdoor staff at the Prime Minister’s private place of residence. The outdoor staff maintained the grounds and the lawns and the tennis-court.
People should be sure to notice two (2) significant things so far. Number one the government was advised not to abolish Personal Income Tax. PAM rejected the advice. Secondly, the members of the PAM administration gave themselves huge increases in salaries and allowances without the help or advice or recommendations of any independent Committee, Commission or Tribunal. The PAM administration just took what it wanted by was of increases and allowances.
PAM next pushed-up the rate payable as Pensions to the Prime Minister and to the Governor-General as well. It is reported that the pension for the Prime-Minister was fixed to be the same level as his salary. He therefore would have suffered no loss of basic monthly earnings even though he had been voted out of office. That is how PAM fixed up the system.
To crown it all off, the members of the PAM Administration rewarded themselves for being in government by grabbing for themselves, families and PAM trump friends some of the choicest parcels of government lands. It is said that the Housing Allowance granted to the PAM Ministers was enough to pay the mortgage in their houses.
Talk about greed? During the period 1980-1995, the members of the PAM Administration demonstrated the very epitome of greediness and rapacity.
Neither Bradshaw, Southwell nor Lee Moore obtained government land on which to build their homes. And neither Bradshaw, Southwell nor Lee Moore ever enjoyed the privilege of a housing allowance or a constituency allowance. The PAMites feathered their nests and stuffed themselves much to the neglect of the poor and the powerless in our society.
Metaphorically and figuratively speaking, the PAM fanatics, apologists and propagandists have been wont to throw sticks and stones and mud at Dr. Denzil Douglas. But Dr. Douglas is miles above the best of the best in PAM. He is a true patriot and a firm believer in the country’s motto, “Country above self”.
The PAMites should recall the history of the party especially the period between 1980 and 1995. They ought to remember as well that those who live in glass houses ought not to throw sticks and stones and dangerous objects.
It is well-known that general Elections were held in this country on July 4, 1995. We also know that a certain PAM lawyer received a cheque, dated June 28, 1995 Ref. No, 380097, from the PAM government for the sum of $213,360.00.
A number of questions were asked at the time concerning the matter. A few of the questions were “why was this particular lawyer paid the sum of $ 213,360.00?”, “who else is being paid off before July 3rd?” “Is the PAM government planning to empty the Treasury?”
The PAM lawyer tried to explain away the situation at a public meeting held in Old Road one Thursday. Naturally, what he said and nothing were alike.
We all know that in 1993 Mr Eugene Hamilton, acting in his private capacity, sued Cedric Liburd and Dr. Denzil Douglas. To represent him in the case Mr. Hamilton hired Mr. Karl Hudson- Phillips of Trinidad and Tobago a local Pam lawyer. They charged Mr. Hamilton U.S. ($83,333.00, E.C. $226,407.43) to be retained on the case, with Mr. Hudson-Phillips charging U.S. $ 1,875.00 (E.C. $5094.19)
Per day as a refresher fee.
Mr. Hamilton paid his two lawyers a total of E.C. $ 226,407.43, but not out of his own money. The money was paid by National Caribbean Insurance Co. Ltd. People who knew about it at the time called it a rip-off. The Board of Directors, who were there at the time, ought not to have authorised the payment at all.
General Elections were held on July 4th , 1995. The Labour Party won the Elections in a 7 to 1 victory over PAM. Shortly thereafter Mr. Hamilton abandoned his suit in the High Court against Cedric Liburd and Dr. Denzil Douglas.
Why was the suit abandoned by Mr. Hamilton? Was it because the source of funds was no longer available? Or because Mr. Hamilton had no sound and solid case to begin with? Or maybe Mr. Hamilton was engaging in the tactics of intimidation?
You, dear reader, be the judge.
