Douglas thanks Astaphan for dedicated service to Central Basseterre

BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – PRIME MINISTER and Leader of the ruling Labour Party Dr. the Hon. Denzil Douglas thanked the Hon. Dwyer Astaphan for his dedicated service to the constituents of Central Basseterre.

Dr. Douglas was at the time addressing a sizeable crowd in the third of a series of Prime Ministerial town hall meetings held at the McKnight Community Centre on Monday evening (Mar. 9).

In addition to Astaphan, also present was his successor, Barrister-at-Law Marcella Liburd, who stressed the significance of her campaign theme – “Stronger Families, Safer Communities” - and promised that programmes and projects would be undertaken to make it a reality.

She called on parents to spend more time with their children and to become more invested in their lives.

“Ask them what they did in school each day. Make them show you their homework. Be aware of who their friends are and who they hang out with. We cannot afford to be lazy when it comes to the lives of our children. It starts in the homes, and once we have strong family units we will have safer and more secure communities,” Liburd said.

Douglas began his presentation by thanking Astaphan for his 15 years of dedicated service to the constituents of Central Basseterre and noted that some of the problems faced by the community were the same ones facing the nation on a whole, such as gang and gun-related violence.

The Prime Minister reinforced his commitment to “stamping out the scourge of gang violence” and pointed to recent endeavours initiated by the Ministry of National Security to curb and prevent the growing phenomenon.

“We have established an Anti-Gang Unit within the police force. We have established a new three-point plan that deals with the removal of firearms and weapons from the street. Additionally, we have commissioned the services of an FBI gang expert, Mark Mershon.

“The residents of Constituency Two should not have to live in fear of their lives. The people of this country should not have to walk around in fear. That is why the government is committed to doing everything in its power to ensure the safety and security of our people,” Douglas declared.

In keeping with his established town hall format, Douglas then listened and responded to concerns and issues raised by members of the audience.