Prime Minister Douglas pre-occupied overseas while Country’s tourism industry faces possible extinction

“It is totally unacceptable that more than two days after this brazen attack against not just those seventeen tourists but against the entire economy of the federation the absent Leader of Government can have nothing to say about this critical situation” Mr. Richards
 
Basseterre St. Kitts - As the dust begins to settle from the horrible incident that occurred at Brimstone Hill on Sunday morning the questions have begun. Where is Prime Minister Douglas in all this?  Now almost 3 days after the gunpoint robbery of 17 tourists, Prime Minister Dr. Denzil Douglas has yet to make a statement concerning this hugely critical matter. With the absence of an official statement from the Government regarding the whereabouts of Prime Minister Douglas, the Federation was left to speculate about his whereabouts. It was first believed that he may have been in St.Vincent to support colleague Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves in his re-election campaign.
 
The Prime Minister’s very  frequent travels and periods of  absence from the country have garnered many criticisms in the past. Opposition Party People’s Action Movement Deputy Political Leader, the Hon. Shawn K. Richards expressed concern about the Prime Minister’s absence in this very critical period .

Richards, “The Federation has become accustomed to Prime Minister Douglas being AWOL from office. This year alone he has travelled dozens of times and almost always without any information for the country about these trips either before he leave or after he returns. “

“Yet the Prime Minister, in response to the legitimate concerns  raised by the People's Action Movement  and the citizens of this country about this irresponsible behavior, declared that he could run the country from his BlackBerry. However, since his most recent seemingly clandestine departure, nothing has been heard from Prime Minister Douglas despite the very serious situation that has developed,” Richards continued .
 
The whereabouts of the Prime Minister became apparent through a press release from the Emirates News Agency which revealed that Prime Minister Douglas and an entourage are visiting the oil-rich Middle Eastern nation. 

Hon. Richards further opined “Imagine the country has to find out about the Prime Minister’s whereabouts from a news release on the internet from a country half way around the world. Since this revelation I have been wondering whether Prime Minister Douglas cannot get any BlackBerry service in the United Arab Emirates”.
 
“It is totally unacceptable that more than two days after this brazen attack against, not just those seventeen tourists, but against the entire economy of the Federation, the leader of Government can have nothing to say about this critical situation. ” Mr. Richards added,  “The very fact that a foreign news agency has had to inform the federation of the whereabouts of Prime Minister Douglas while the country faces a potentially massive crisis indicates strongly that affairs of state have a very low priority with Dr. Douglas”.
 
What happened in Antigua should have served as a warning as to what may happen to the tourism industry in St. Kitts. Antigua was omitted from the cruise ships' of port calls due to the brutal murder of a British couple on honeymoon while visiting. There have been constant calls for action on the part the government on the issue of crime bearing in mind the murder rate in St. Kitts and Nevis is much worse than in Antigua.
 
The dire economic situation that has been brought on by the mismanagement of the Government has resulted in a decrease in the budget allocation in national security. This has resulted in the discontinuation of the policy whereby the Sandy Point police station would receive a copy of the schedule of cruise ship arrivals and deploy officers to be posted on the road to Brimstone Hill.
 
“This incident exposes the government’s lie that there is a policy to address crime or more specifically the impact of crime on the tourist industry” Mr. Richards declared. “Unfortunately the costs will be borne by the small stakeholders like vendors and taxi operators who have already lost income that they simply cannot afford to lose anymore” he added