BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – SADDENED by the passing of shooting victim Earl Connor of Saddlers Village, former Prime Minister the Rt. Hon. Dr. Denzil L. Douglas is again calling for a national conversation to take place on the issue of crime.
Dr. Douglas, who is the Parliamentary Representative for Constituency Number Six and the Leader of Her Majesty’s Loyal Opposition, was at the time comment, speaking in an interview with SKNVibes where he expressed that this should be addressed as a matter of urgency.
Connor, who was seriously injured in the Saddler’s shooting, passed away late last week, an event which Dr. Douglas said has troubled him.
“I, like the rest of the citizens of St. Kitts and Nevis, and in particular the residents of Saddlers, and more specifically the family of Earl Connor, we are all pretty sad, very much shaken over the news that we had…from the hospital that Earl Connor too has passed.”
Dr. Douglas has made several calls for a national conversation on crime to take place, one of the most recent being at a rally, march and prayer session organized by the church community in St. Paul’s and held there.
The former Minister of National Security has charged that the Government has been too silent on the issue of crime, particularly violent crime and expressed that to date, he has received no response from the Team Unity Administration in answer to his call for a national conversation.
“We’ve had no response from the Government at all on matters of this kind. We recently understand that the President of the Evangelical Association is also expressing views that he would wish a meeting with the stakeholders to have this matter of gun violence, among other matters that are affecting our society… Apart from that, we’ve had no one else of the stakeholder group, not even the Chamber of Industry and Commerce, not even the Hotel and Tourism Association, not even the Bar Association… We have not heard from any of the trade unions, none of the groups that were so actively engaged a few months and a year ago or two ago…All have gone silent. And this is very troubling.
“Here is another victim of gun violence; Earl Connor is the third to die. The other two almost being killed on the spot. A few weeks ago in the McKnight area, two young men…were gunned down…Then we had another young man in the St. Johnston Village area, another young man from Nevis…and there was complete silence from the government on these matters.”
Describing the continued violence as “almost unspeakable”, the Opposition Leader told SKNVibes that while he does not hold the Government responsible for the crime situation, it is responsible for at least leading the charge in initiating or hosting a conversation or consultation on the matter.
“He (Prime Minister Dr. the Hon. Timothy S. Harris) says nothing; he says that this is matter for the police, entirely for the police…and has charged the Commissioner of Police Ian Queeley as being the person with whom the buck stops when it comes to violence, especially the murders and the gun violence in our country.
“I called a few weeks ago for there to be a forum among the stakeholders, civil society in particular, to discuss this matter of crime with the Government providing leadership so that we can find solutions to this problem. There has been no response at all from the Government.”
“Again we are saying, government is not responsible. They said, when they were in opposition, that the Labour Government was responsible. I am not so callous and irresponsible to say those things but the Government has a duty. The Prime Minister, as Minister of National Security, has a duty, a responsibility to lead us into finding solutions to this continuing gun violence that we are having in our country because I believe that together we can find the solutions.”
In conveying condolences to Connor’s family, Dr. Douglas reiterated his call for a national conversation to be had as a matter of urgency.
“I want to use this opportunity to express again my profound condolences in particular to Nelsa Connor, mother of Earl, and to express my profound condolences to the other members of the families, not only those in Saddlers but those who have suffered this fate over the ensuing months and time that we speak of. I really think that something needs to be done.”
