BASSETERRE, St. Kitts - COMING to the defence of his beleaguered Cabinet colleagues, Prime Minister Dr. the Hon. Denzil Douglas has insisted that no statement made by any government minister is a contributor to crime and violence in the Federation.
Both Deputy Prime Minister the Hon. Sam Condor and Minister of Public Works the Hon. Earl Asim Martin came under public fire over the past month for their comments on the political platform. During separate public meetings, Condor called a section of the population “illiterate”, while Martin referred to an opposing candidate’s wife as an “invalid”.
A caller to the weekly “Ask the PM” radio show asked Douglas if he would chastise the ministers for their comments, to which the Kittitian Leader responded: “I do not at all support the caller in attempting to lay the blame of criminal activity and violence in St. Kitts and Nevis from utterings and statements made by my ministers in my Cabinet. People have misinterpreted what those two ministers have said, but I do not think by any stretch of my imagination it could be in any way related to the encouragement of violence and crime.”
Douglas further stated that the statement attributed to Condor was not of a violent nature and that, in his estimation, Martin’s remarks had been taken out of context. He stressed that the Public Works Minister had been misconstrued and was merely responding to what he considered as an attack on his character.
“Dr. Martin did not abuse any woman...it was in response to what he considered to be an abusive attack on him and so I believe it has been taken out of context. I know that [he] is in some remorse for some of the statements he made, because it was not intended at all to be construed in that way,” Douglas noted.
According to the Prime Minister, the caller’s question highlighted a problem within society that he found disturbing.
“People are so political and wait for the least opportunity to lay blame. I do not want it to be seen at all that one sanctions any outburst allegedly made by any government minister. But you cannot stretch it out of context to say it is contributing to violence and crime.”
He added, “It is part of the political propaganda that is being peddled in an attempt to taint certain ministers of government and this administration on a whole.”
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