BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – PRIME MINISTER the Rt. Hon. Dr. Denzil L. Douglas has flipped the script on his accusers who have castigated him for, as they explained, promoting violence within the Federation for the Eelection season.
The counteractive statements were made on Tuesday (Feb. 3) while Dr. Douglas was speaking on his weekly radio programme ‘Ask the Prime Minister’.
The Prime Minister declared that he is a non-violent man but admits that when he expresses himself about the strides that the Federation has made, he does so with a great deal of passion.
“I want to make it absolutely clear that everyone understands the passion with which we defend our democracy. People know me to be a non-violent man. I speak passionately, I believe in defending the rights of our people. I believe that it is important that we defend our achievement as a country with passion in such a way that people understand we believe in what we are doing.
“I believe that everyone is aware that there are times when we can get very angry, especially when policies have been so successful in placing St. Kitts and Nevis to a number one position by simply being minimised and scoffed at by those in the Opposition who, for petty party political reasons and for their own political agendas, seem not to appreciate what our people have gone through over the years to achieve what today we can boast of having achieved and placing us to the number one position.”
The Political Leader of the land suggested that his words were misconstrued.
“People have always tried to misconstrue what I say and this is no exception at all…as the caller said, they try to string words together from different speeches that I have made in trying to paint a picture of violence. I don’t believe I have to worry about that because our people here in St. Kitts and Nevis know exactly who I am, trained as a medical doctor to save lives. I have saved lives; it has been my whole calling in life! I’m a father, I’m an uncle, I’m a parent and so saving lives and protecting lives have been my calling through my professional care.
“Trying to paint a particular picture because they would want to get a particular political position and trying to jump ahead in the campaign that has already left them behind, it just will not work.”
The Prime Minister said he would continue to promote but indicated that he would also continue to use strong and graphic language in defence of the achievements of the Federation.
“I will continue to say very, very strongly the way I feel about what is happening in this country. I will continue (to) defend what we have achieved as a government and as a people. I will use language that is very strong and graphic to demonstrate exactly that. Non-violence however is not one of the things that I will not pursue in order to achieve a particular end.
“I do not believe in violence, I speak out passionately against violence. In fact, the very night when I rang the bell, I spoke specifically of having a campaign that is free of violence and I continue to pursue that position.”
