A nation of independent people who boast a literacy rate of 98% will exercise their constitutional rights during federal elections to be held on Monday, February 16, 2015.
It has been a long, contentious journey for the people of St. Kitts and Nevis since they last voted in federal elections on January 25, 2010.
The battle for the hearts and minds of the people has seen a reconstructed St. Kitts and Nevis Labour Party, which includes a collaboration with the Nevis Reformation Party (NRP) and an opposition tripartite alliance between the Concerned Citizens Movement of Nevis (CCM), The People's Action Movement (PAM) and the People's Labour Party (PLP).
Not in recent times has the region or the world for that matter seen such heightened political tension unfold in the near thirty-two year old independent federation of St. Kitts and Nevis.
On Friday January 16, 2015, Denzil Llewelyn Douglas, the Prime Minister of the former British colony, broke a two-year long political stalemate by dissolving parliament, setting in motion a highly anticipated general election but not before hurriedly changing the electoral boundaries. After making a mockery of parliament for two years by defiantly evading a Motion of No Confidence, the maximum leader tightened his noose on the seat of power yet again.
For over two years, citizens have watched with grave concern as the moral fabric of leadership in the twin island nation has fast eroded. The so-called Christian principles on which we claim our nation was founded have been mired in a political cesspool.
Sadly, the interests of the nation have played second fiddle to the interests of self. One doesn't have to look far to unveil examples of how self-interest has become a prevalent ill of our society, so much so that even the nation’s motto, "country above self" seems but a farce. We exist in a time when too many justify wrong and declare it right.
Interestingly, there has been a groundswell of support from ordinary citizens to reset the political clock. Men and women of various political persuasions have recognized that the ills in our society that continue to fester and remain unchecked, affect ALL citizens, no matter their political allegiance.
Team Unity is the tripartite opposition collaboration that has mounted a fierce campaign against the incumbent Labour Party Government promising to be a feasible alternative to the 20-year old administration.
Only five years ago, the once all eight seat bragging Labour government captured six of the eleven seats in the National Assembly. Shortly after his 2010 election victory, the supposed savvy leader journeyed to his luxury abode somewhere in the Middle East to recharge and strategize his way into yet another five years in office. Well aware he was losing the support of two integral members of his Labour Party that helped form the government for a fourth time in 2010, the undying love for Nevis was born.
Nevis Reformation Party (NRP) representative Patrice Nesbitt was sworn in as Attorney General in an alliance deemed expedient by many. Within two years of Dr. Denzil Douglas's victory at the polls, the die had been cast. The rumblings about the rocky relationships within the Labour party had filtered into the public domain and citizens watched in 2012 as two renowned senior Ministers, Dr. Timothy Harris and Sam Condor, pleaded in parliament from the government benches that prime lands NOT be swapped for debt.
The rest is history!
In all the melee since the filing of the MONC in December of 2012, the federation has continued to face annual increases in crime, with fewer homicides solved, a prevalent gang culture, a burdensome 17% VAT, as well as astronomical electricity and Cable TV rates. Well-founded concerns abound regarding the illicit sale of passports, the integrity of the CBI program, the loss of visa free access to Canada, the BHS fiasco, education policy making, deliberate undermining of the NIA, the abuse of the SIDF, constitutional reform to address issues including term limits, set election dates and MONC's. These are only some of the current ills that gravely affect the electorate.
Although civil society lashed out with vehement disdain over what has been described as the "hijacking of parliament" on Friday, January 16, 2015, the political quagmire in the federation has been wreaking havoc long before. Team Unity contends that despite the strategic manipulation of electoral boundaries across the federation to secure a favorable outcome in the upcoming general elections, people with consciences will vote. They will decide the nation's fate!
The long road to February 16, 2015 has forced Kittitians and Nevisians to become a resilient lot having been lurched from one crisis to the next under a government that has engendered divisiveness. The climate of polarization that now defines us is the only culture our youths can relate to. Is this the St. Kitts and Nevis we will offer to the next generation?
Team Unity is a people driven movement, which pledges to champion the cause for ALL citizens in the federation of St. Kitts and Nevis, thereby fostering individual, community and national development through an attainable prosperity agenda for all.
We the people will hold them to this pledge.
The journey to 2015 has been long and often burdensome. February 16, 2015 is the one opportunity thousands of citizens will have to shape our nation for the better.
Make that CHANGE!
T. C. Phipps-Benjamin
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