BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – THE St. Kitts-Nevis Labour Party (SKNLP) held its 78th annual conference on Sunday (May 16), four months after securing its fourth consecutive election victory on January 25.
Some 150 delegates turned up to the Marriott Resort and Royal Beach Casino for the day-long conference, which was split into a public session and a business session. It was held under the theme “Commitment and efficiency today means greater advancement for all”.
The first part of the event featured speeches from SKNLP Chairman Hon. Dr. Timothy Harris, its Political Leader, Prime Minister Hon. Dr. Denzil Douglas, and professor at the University of the West Indies, Dr. Neville Duncan.
The session also included a tribute to the party’s eight “Mothers of the Year” (one per constituency), who each received a gift-wrapped package.
In the afternoon, delegates got down to the serious business of debating resolutions, considering the annual treasurer and auditor’s report, and electing officers and members of the national executive.
PM Douglas, Deputy PM Hon. Sam Condor and Harris were all re-elected as National Leader, Deputy National Leader and National Chairman, respectively. Senator Nigel Carty retained his position as National Vice-Chairman.
Wanda Connor was returned as Party Secretary with Joseph O’Flaherty as her Assistant and Kurt Lewis as Treasurer. The remaining members of the executive are Jason Hamilton, Eugenie Condor and Gislyn Williams.
January’s General Election saw the SKNLP garner 60 percent of the popular vote, winning six of the eight St. Kitts parliamentary seats. After becoming its leader in 1989, Douglas has led the party to victory in four consecutive general elections (1995, 2000, 2004 and 2010).
“The overwhelming victory is a clear sign of the public’s faith that we will continue our mandate; a mandate for social and economic change and the satisfaction of our people that has given us outstanding results in an ocean of global and economic problems.
“I doubt anyone was truly surprised that [opposition party the People’s Action Movement] were duly and definitively defeated. It was an utter defeat; Labour won the election with a massive amount of the votes,” he noted
Douglas pledged that his government would continue social and economic reforms meant to transform the lives of every Kittitian and Nevisian.
He also highlighted his unwavering determination to complete the electoral reform process through the realignment of electoral boundaries, a process stalled last year by numerous court challenges.
