“Labour never lost in Constituency Three and will win again”…
says Sam Condor…Under PAM the country was known as Devil’s Island!!
By Stanford Conway
Editor-in-Chief-SKNVibes.com
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| Labour Party’s Candidate for Constituency Three, Sam Condor |
BASSETERRRE, St. Kitts – THE ruling Labour Party’s Candidate for Constituency Three, Sam Condor, said his party has never lost an election in that constituency and he is confident of retaining his seat in Parliament at the upcoming general elections.
“I want to remind you that some of you are old enough to know, some of you are too young to know, but I want to tell you that there was a time when some people got dissatisfied with the real achievements and they went and do ‘stupidness’ and change the government and we had 15 years in the wilderness.
“I want you all to know that in West Basseterre we have never been there and I want the rest of you not ever to go back there…the last time we did that we had 15 years in the wilderness and I want you to stay focused and we gon jam dem.”
Condor was at the time addressing a large gathering at a Labour Party’s political meeting held in Boyds on Thursday, April 1.
He said that Labour is for all of St. Kitts and the island is all for Labour, working together to change St. Kitts for the better. “Comrades I want you all to take this message very seriously. We don’t make jokes in West Basseterre. When there were eight West Basseterre was one, when there were seven West Basseterre was one and there was a time when there was four and West Basseterre was one.
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| A section of the audience |
There were times when there were two and West Basseterre one, but I want us never ever to go back there because it must be all of St. Kitts for Labour and Labour for all of St. Kitts.”
Condor thanked his supporters for rallying around him and he also thanked a number of individuals whom he claimed were supporters of the People’s Action Movement [PAM] that now support the Labour Party.
“I want to thank some PAM people in West Basseterre as well, or who used to be PAM. I want to thank Dr. Warner for agreeing to support me in the next election. Dr. Warner said he ain’t doing no ‘stupidness’’ with them again…and I want to thank all of the former PAM’s candidates including Roydon for his support to Labour and West Basseterre. I also want to thank Emile Greene for his support to Labour and to West Basseterre,” he added.
Condor addressed the issue of parenting and declared that since appointed Minister of Education he went around the island and spoke to every Parent/Teacher Association and advised the parents to get their children involved in youth groups, such as Boys Brigade, Girl Brigade and the Cadet Corps, in order to get them off the streets and away from bad influences.
The Parliamentary Representative spoke at length on the history of St. Kitts and Nevis, including the reason for marching on Labour Day, and noted the many changes that incurred since 1942 under Bradshaw’s leadership.
~~Adz:Left~~ He also made a statement that has many pondering its meaning: “This is the penultimate meeting before the Labour Day March. The next meeting is in Central Basseterre on Sunday night and I want to encourage all of you to come out and march because this is the last Labour Day March before October 2008.”
He told the gathering that if they don’t understand the history of the Federation and its people they are doomed to repeat it. “I want to remind you that you will not like to imagine the conditions under which your fore-parents lived before the Labour Party; they were less than human. I want us never to forget that, and we are what we are, who we are and where we are because of the St. Kitts-Nevis Labour Party.”
Condor reminded them of the thrash houses their fore-parents had called home; the slums in which many lived; going to school barefooted; and contracting many diseases. He said the country had fought for human rights and dignity in the 1930s and some changes for the better were achieved with the formation of the Labour Union in the 1940s.
“Before 1940 workers had no rights, they used to go early in the morning come home late at nights, no holiday and it is because of the St. Kitts-Nevis Trade and Labour Union why workers could now talk about minimum wage, an eight-hour day and when you go beyond eight hours you get time and a half and double time,” he said.
Condor said that before 1952 poor people in the Federation had no voting rights but this was corrected under the Labour Party and this, and others, is the reason for urging workers to go out and March on Labour Day and also to reconfirm their registration as well as to register in order to exercise their franchise in the next election.
He said social transformation and economic development began in the 1960s and rolled over to the 1970s under the Labour Party, and in 1975 Bradshaw ensured the land had returned to the people of the Federation.
The Education Minister declared that the Labour Party provided houses for many people under the age of 30 years in his Constituency and many more would be constructed in the near future. He also declared that in 1980 when the PAM won the election the country had witnessed “a decade of decline and decay…a decade of disappointment and dissatisfaction” and the country was called “Devil’s Island. People were victimised, ostracised and marginalised and we must pledge never to let that happen again”.
Condor said that in the 1980s housing was in a state of crisis, the education system declined and the health system deteriorated. “Everything went from a situation where we were ready to take off to a situation where we were the laughing stock of the world”.
He said in the mid-1990s when Labour regained power the country had witnessed and is still witnessing a decade of revival, regeneration, rebuilding, restructuring and repairing and “when you come out to march on Labour Day you will be marching for continued progress, for continued advancement and to continue the good image of this country”.
