BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – FOLLOWING the announcement of Lindsay Grant’s resignation as Political Leader of the People’s Action Movement (PAM), Co-Deputy Leaders Shawn Richards and Eugene Hamilton have signalled their intention to vie for the position.
In an exclusive interview, Hamilton, who was elected to Parliament in 2010 as the Representative for Constituency Eight, confirmed his intention of vying for the leadership position.
“I am interested in taking up the leadership of the party. Mr. Grant has resigned the position as Leader of the party, but the party has capable persons in myself and Shawn Richards who can take up the mantle and lead the party to success at the polls whenever they are next called.”
Hamilton noted that for many years he has been playing a very active role in the development of the party’s policy and that his wealth of managerial experience would auger well not only for his constituents, but also the party and the country as a whole, if given the opportunity to lead the PAM.
He noted that enough damage was done by Prime Minister the Hon. Dr. Denzil Douglas and the St. Kitts-Nevis Labour Party and that the PAM, under his leadership, could return the Federation to being an economically viable country.
“We believe that enough damage had been done to our nation by the present Prime Minister and the Labour Party; and even at this juncture, with our understanding of how the economy works, we can provide the kind of leadership to bring St. Kitts and Nevis back to an economic development which will be the envy of the rest of the Eastern Caribbean.
“We believe that understanding how the economy works is very, very important. We believe that the approach ought to be for more money to remain in the pockets of individuals so that they themselves can drive economic activity. We believe that there are things that government has to do. For example, government must create the environment, especially for young people who are returning from abroad, to invest and grow and become financially independent. That is why we have spoken so much.”
Addressing his party’s Venture Capital initiative, which he noted the public was made aware of during the 2004 Election, Hamilton posited that they had intentions of implementing it so that young people would not be at home sitting around with their degrees without employment.
“We have been speaking about venture capital since the 2004 election and, since then, the Barbados government has copied our plan and has been the first government in the region to begin to use venture capital the citizens of its nation.
“While we will not adopt the Barbados approach totally, we believe that we can provide a mechanism so that those who have returned from studying abroad or those who may have great ideas and also those who may have difficulties in getting financing from the ordinary financial institutions such as banks and insurance companies, can access these funds to help them to begin their ventures and hopefully, become financially independent as a result.”
The Member of Parliament also spoke about his party’s plans for the redundant sugar workers and accused the government of not providing an opportunity for them to be self-sufficient, but instead created a financial institution to operate as a “flush fund” for certain projects.
“We also spoke about what sugar workers should have benefitted from. I don’t think that the gain has passed for the sugar workers and, for that reason, I believe that the Labour government failed to provide an opportunity for them to have a company in their own name, which we have described as the Sugar Workers Holding Company, to provide land to that company, which could have been Kittitian Hill lands.
“And now that they have gone on this concocted story of Sugar Industry Diversification Foundation (SIDF) which is being operated, in my mind, as some sort of flush fund. The same funding from that organisation could have gone towards the development of that project, Kittitian Hill, if it were in the name of sugar workers for the benefit of the sugar workers. But, instead, we see it being funded heavily, primarily to benefit those who invested in that project and who could not conclude that project.”
He however stated that there is still time for the government to make the redundant sugar workers and their families financially independent by providing them with funds through the SIDF to invest in their respective venture.
Hamilton indicated that over the years the PAM has been advocating the implementation of a comprehensive health care for the nation, but the Labour Party government has ignored it and has instead enslaved the poorer class of society with the high cost of homeownership.
“That is why we talk about providing comprehensive health care. While our nation focused during the Labour Party’s period on housing, which are unaffordable and which are condemning the owners to perpetual slavery, housing is good.But if you are paying for housing at a cost which you can’t afford, it is perpetual slavery. We believe that for the next 10 to 15 years the focus must shift to people in St. Kitts and Nevis being afforded health insurance coverage."
"We have, by our example in 1993, provided that coverage to the public servants…with the drain sweeper, whoever the drain sweeper is, wherever they are in whichever part of the country and whatever political party they support, had the same health insurance coverage as the Prime Minister of the nation; whether he is a Labour Prime Minister, a PAM Prime Minister, a CCM Prime Minister or NRP Prime Minister. The same level of coverage…that is the hallmark of the People’s Action Movement where there is no discrimination in benefits no matter what rank you hold in the society. And we believe that that should be extended to the rest of the nation in conjunction with the private sector health insurance. That, we believe, is still something that the People’s Action Movement will certainly implement under whoever is the leader of the party…that being myself or Shawn Richards.”
Hamilton strongly believes that given the current economic crises being experienced and also with the announcement of Grant’s resignation, the opportunity now exists for the people of his party to begin to be energise once more, “because they believe that they had lost the energy”.
“Now is the time to be energetic again to win one more convert to the People’s Action Movement; one more convert to change the government,” he emphasised.
Numerous efforts were made by this media house to reach Richards for a comment but he was unavailable.
Apart from Hamilton and also Richards, who is in his second term as the elected Parliamentary Representative for Constituency Five, it is rumoured that PAM’s Deputy Chair Jonel Powell was being groomed to lead the party.
However, in an interview with this publication, he denied the rumour but skirted the issue and noted that he is focused on assisting the party in a different way.
The University of the West Indies-graduate lawyer has been actively involved in politics since age 18 and had acted as the party’s Chairperson for Constituency Two back in those days.
After gaining his Legal Education Certificate from the Norman Manley Law School in Jamaica, Powell had practiced law in Anguilla for some two years and has since partnered with Grant in the law firm ‘Grant, Powell & Company.
No other name has so far surfaced to contest for the leadership of the party, especially when it is known that Grant, Richards and Hamilton are the only members of the party representing three of the eight constituencies in St. Kitts; five of them have retired.
Grant had announced on Tuesday (July 17) that he has tendered his resignation as Political Leader of the PAM with effect from Sunday, September 30, 2012 but would continue to represent the party as a candidate in Constituency Four.
