BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – SECURITY forces in the Federation have followed Prime Minister Hon. Dr. Denzil Douglas’ lead in demanding that the national NGO coalition retract its “malevolent” January 25 election observer report.
A joint statement issued yesterday (Mar. 1) by the police and defence forces accused the coalition of belittling their efforts to preserve peace and integrity on Election Day. It contended that the “erroneous and subjective” pronouncements within the report had misrepresented the truth, as in reality, their presence had contributed to the maintenance of law and order.
“The security forces are alarmed at the irresponsible behaviour of the NGO coalition and condemn its report, and question the intent of the composite groups who claimed to have an interest in fairness, safety and security,” said the release.
“It is our belief that the report is nothing but a smokescreen to facilitate some hidden agenda. The security forces have no choice but to demand the total retraction of the numerous documentation of falsehood and malicious reporting of allegations.”
The national NGO coalition, consisting of the Chamber of Industry and Commerce, the Evangelical Association and the Christian Council, was officially constituted in summer 2009 to monitor the heated run-up to the January 25 election. They were asked by the electoral office to form a local observation team and published a report of their findings in early February.
The 22-page document extensively criticised PM Douglas, calling him a “disruptive presence” on Election Day, and alleged that heavily armed security personnel in Constituency Four had intimidated persons waiting to vote and facilitated the transport of non-resident voters.
The police-military statement firmly denied the aforementioned allegations and stressed that the forces had instead been a “welcome relief” for persons wishing to exercise their franchise. It also noted that, contrary to the report’s claims, Douglas was not responsible for traffic congestion in Constituency Four, nor did he pose a disruption to the polls at any time.
“The security forces wish to state categorically that on no occasion was there any deliberate altercation between themselves and the voting public, notwithstanding the attempts by certain political elements to disrupt the free and fair conduct of the voting process. The Defence Force Commander wishes to state categorically that soldiers did not wear riot gear on polling day, nor were they deployed with M16 rifles.
“He further denounces the NGO Coalition allegation that [PM Douglas] berated members of the force for failing to transport Labour Party supporters to vote in Constituencies Four and Five as a blatant lie, and condemns the accusation that military vehicles were used to transport voters on Election Day as malicious.”
The fresh censure of the report comes two weeks after Douglas himself called for sections of it to be retracted. Past coalition chairman Bishop Ron-Dublin Collins said then that the organisation would stand by its report, but offered no follow-up remark.
SKNVibes contacted newly-appointed chairman Michael Morton, who said he was unaware of the statement and consequently refused to comment. However, he did reveal that coalition members would meet tomorrow (Mar. 3) and determine if the matter warranted a response.
