BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – PRIME MINISTER (PM) Hon. Dr. Denzil Douglas will be addressing the nation this evening (Dec. 15) at 6:30 p.m. on ZIZ radio and television.
News of the impending statement first hit in an email disseminated by Junior Minister of Information Hon. Nigel Carty earlier this morning. However, after being contacted by this media house, the senator verified he had sent the message but said that the PM was still undecided about delivering the speech.
An hour later, a communiqué from the Press Secretary to the PM, Erasmus Williams, confirmed that the Kittitian-Nevisian leader would be going ahead with the address.
Williams was tight-lipped as to the nature of the broadcast, stating he would give “absolutely nothing” away beforehand. However, he and Sen. Carty did note that PM Douglas would be present at 8:00 p.m. in Upper Cayon for a public meeting of his ruling St. Kitts-Nevis Labour Party.
It is anticipated that the Prime Minister will officially dissolve the National Assembly during the broadcast, one day before the House is automatically dissolved due to expiration of its five-year mandate.
This address will be PM Douglas’ third in as many months. In October, he took to the airwaves to express his concern over the length of ongoing court battles about electoral boundary changes.
He also accused the opposition of using the court “in an attempt to create a crisis where no crisis theretofore existed”.
Just last week, the PM gave an early Christmas gift to residents of the Federation with his announcement of a December double salary payment for public servants and a relaxation of the electricity fuel surcharge.
This was followed by an announcement that all duties on food packages up to 440 pounds have been waived. It took effect from last Saturday (Dec. 12) and will conclude on Thursday, December 31, 2009. The duty-free allowance previously applied to gift parcels was up to 66 pounds of imported personal foodstuff.
