BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – LINDSAY GRANT, leader of main opposition party the People’s Action Movement (PAM), has declared that he and his group of political candidates are ready to win next year’s general election.
“My party is on high alert. We are ready for the election and we have been ready for some time now,” Grant boldly stated. “The country will not be disappointed in a PAM government. We believe that the St. Kitts-Nevis people will give us the opportunity to lead the country in a new and better direction.
“When I speak of a better direction, I speak of one in which there isn’t a massive budget deficit that could creep up to US$4 billion over the next five years, one that doesn’t have a rate of 27 murders per year, one where the cost of living isn’t hurting the masses and one where land distribution isn’t woefully inadequate and makes our people feel like second-class citizens.”
Grant’s confident announcement was in response to Tuesday’s (Dec. 15) national address by Prime Minister Hon. Dr. Denzil Douglas in which he revealed that Parliament was formally dissolved, setting the stage for an election within the next three months.
The Kittitian-Nevisian leader also levied serious allegations against Grant and his party, claiming that they were trying to stir “tumult and mayhem” in the country by using the court to distract their failures at the ballot box.
Calling Douglas’ assertions “absolute rubbish”, Grant said that use of the judiciary was a constitutional and democratic right.
“The courts are there to protect the citizens and that’s where we go for recourse. My party thought it was done an injustice and we thought it was necessary to engage the courts to see if we were correct or wrong. For the Prime Minister to tell citizens not to use the court when there is a dispute means that he thinks they should resolve that dispute by other means.”
The PAM leader said he had known beforehand that Douglas would dissolve the House that day, as if he had not done so he would have been the first sitting Prime Minister in the Caribbean to have Parliament automatically expire on him. He however did agree with Douglas that no election should be held during the holiday season.
“That would mean a disruption of the Christmas and Carnival season,” Grant explained. “Christmas is supposed to be a time of peace, and having general elections in the middle of that would go against the meaning of the holiday.”
He reiterated that his party would expect nothing less than an “overwhelming victory” at the polls.
“The mood of the country has changed; the views of the people have changed. We are of the firm view that the country is ripe for change, and that come the next election, people will give us the chance to steer the country away from the mismanagement of the Denzil Douglas administration.”
