Basseterre, St.Kitts (November 2nd 2009):- Last week, October 26th, his Lordship Justice Francis Belle ordered the removal of 11 persons from the voters list for constituency #8 . Among them were Travisia Williams, Teresa Williams and Travis Williams, the children of Prime Minister and Labour Party Leader Dr. Denzil Douglas' Press Secretary and Chief Spokesman, Erasmus Williams. The trio were thrown off the voters list in Constituency #8 for illegally registering to vote in that constituency. Mr. Williams is a close confidante of the Prime Minister and a senior civil servant who is paid by the people of the Federation.
Given the blood relationship between the children and Erasmus Williams and the close relationship between Erasmus Williams and the Prime Minister, it begs a series of questions. Did Erasmus Williams and the Prime Minister know about these illegal registrations? And, are Erasmus Williams, the Prime Minister, and Labour hierachy and activists orchestrating the illegal padding of voter rolls with their supporters to improve their chances at the upcoming polls?
The removal of the names came as a result of a challenge brought by Eugene Hamilton who took the matter to the court after the returning officer refused to remove the names despite the presence of overwhelming evidence that the persons were illegally registered.
“We already know that Labour is so desperate to hold on to power that they cynically snubbed their nose at our Constitution and our democracy by attempting to rig the constituency boundaries in their favour,” said PAM Deputy Political Leader and PAM Constuency #8 representative Eugene Hamilton.
“ Now, we are seeing that three children of one of the Prime Minister's closest confidants are thrown off the voters list for illegally registering to vote in a my constituency. This not only smacks of desperation, but, if the Prime Minister or his close confidants knew about or are at all involved in voter padding, they should be investigated and prosecuted,” Hamilton continued.
This judgement is the latest in a series of court cases that have gone against the ruling Labour Party government. In August the Attorney General was found guilty of Contempt of court and more recently the labour party gov’t lost the historic boundary case where the courts declared that the S,R&O out of which the electoral reform process was conducted was illegally instituted and unconstitutional.
This also joins the decision to remove the names of Nyoka Morris and Carol Freeman known supporters and staunch activists of the ruling Labour Party from labour stronghold St. Pauls from the Voters’ List for Constituency #8 which is widely regarded as a opposition PAM party stronghold. Like the two successful challenges by the PAM brought against the gov’t costs were awarded to the PAM legeal team as The judgement ordered that the Registration Officer must pay 100% of the costs to the People’s Action Movement Candidate Eugene Hamilton.
Hamilton is expected back in court to bring another case against the Prime Minister Douglas and Minister Cedric Liburd, Constituency #8 representative stemming from since 1993.
