BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – THE St. Kitts-Nevis electorate is already receiving an idea of what the St. Kitts-Nevis Labour Party will deliver for and to the people if it were successful in securing a victory at the polls during the upcoming General Elections.
Prime Minister the Right Honourable Dr. Denzil L. Douglas, Leader of the St. Kitts-Nevis Labour Party, while on the Tuesday (May 1) edition of his radio programme ‘Ask the PM’, made several election promises.
He was prompted by a caller who asked him to outline or highlight those plans which he has for the country should his party win the next elections.
Over the past couple of years, there has been a sharp increase in the price of electricity which resulted in consumers having to pay more out of pocket, which in turn decreased their spending power.
As explained by Dr. Douglas, through the country’s investment in alternative sources of energy, the people of St. Kitts-Nevis could expect cheaper energy.
“We are going to bring energy solutions to our country’s needs. And we will not only be providing cheaper energy for our own people here but energy will be exported from St. Kitts and Nevis to neighbouring islands, and that is going to bring in foreign exchange to us. So we will become maybe one of the first countries in the whole Caribbean region to be an exporter of renewable energy and I look forward to that when we would have achieved that, as you said, sometime into the future.”
The Value Added Tax (VAT) regime was instituted in the Federation on November 1, 2010 and, even prior to then, there was a chorus of disapproval which rang out across the Federation. The grouse was that the already appreciably decreased spending power of the ordinary man would be further reduced with the introduction of VAT.
Dr. Douglas, who also holds responsibility for the Ministry of Finance, said that VAT would most definitely still be in place when the Labour Party is voted back into power. But he could not say whether the percentage would be lowered or raised.
“VAT, it is going to be with us?…I have not done the analysis, I don’t know how the world global recession is going to eventually end but I believe that we should be able to examine at the appropriate time whether we can reduce the VAT. Already we have VAT at 17 percent on certain items, we have VAT at 10 percent on certain services and goods as well in the tourism sector.
“We are now looking at a new package as to how VAT can be tailor-made in order to meet some of the demands that are being placed upon us. So, VAT, it will be there. As to whether it will not be at the same rate, I don’t think so.”
Concerning the massive debt which the Federation shoulders, Dr. Douglas explained, “…The debt situation will not be with us anymore after the elections. We would have dealt comprehensively with the debt situation and I say to you, I give a commitment that we shall not return to that debt situation that we have resolved so far by the action of my government working hard with our creditors over the last nine to 10 months.”
Considerable development in the agriculture sector, increased availability of housing, the completion of present projects and the pursuance of new ones, the control of crime, laptops for sixth grade children and the employment of thousands of individuals are some of the goals that Dr. Douglas promised would be achieved “after Labour forms the government again”.
As for the Federation’s bread and butter industry, Dr. Douglas promised that tourism “would have increased to such a level that we would be the envy of several other countries in the Caribbean after the next election. We are now putting that foundation in place”.
The last general elections were held on January 25, 2010 which resulted in the St. Kitts-Nevis Labour Party winning six of the eight available seats on St. Kitts, the People’s Action Movement (PAM) winning two seats, and on Nevis the Nevis Reformation Party (NRP) won two seats and the Concerned Citizens Movement (CCM) captured the remaining one.
And according to a confident Douglas, the St. Kitts-Nevis Labour Party would secure a fifth term in office.
