BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – FORMER Minister of National Security, Hon. G.A. Dwyer Astaphan emphasised that the Freedom March that took place yesterday afternoon (Apr. 15) was a march for what is right, proper and good for the nation and not against the Prime Minister or to destabilise the Federation.
At the Prime Minister’s Monthly Press Conference held on Wednesday (Apr. 13), Dr. Denzil Douglas, while responding to a question from a member of the press, stated he evaluated the march to be against him and to undermine the nation.
“The organiser of the march has been over some time attempting to destabilise the country, and I make it clear in my own assessment of the march that it has been part of a continuing pattern of destabilization. It started with ridiculous statements...” Prime Minister Douglas said.
In an attempt to justify his take on the march, Dr. Douglas cited some of the statements Astaphan had made with regards to the steadiness of the Federation.
“All these in my opinion are deliberate statements on the part of the organiser of the march to destabilise the country. The march has been stated to be a march against Denzil Douglas. That’s ridiculous! To have a march staged against a person is ridiculous, and that is why I say it is part of the activities of a confused person, to create confusion in our stable country,” Douglas said.
On the other hand, while giving notice of the Labour Party’s activities for the month of May, PM Douglas urged everyone to “just wear red” as part of the pre-activities.
“Friday of this week, my people are asking that we just wear red. We shall start the mobilisation of the pre-activities wearing red...these are traditional critical labour activities for the month of May.”
In response to Douglas’ statement, Astaphan said the PM seemed very concerned about the march and that those persons who are asked to wear red have to deal with the same issues that the marchers are going to be marching against.
“Well, that tells me that the Prime Minister is very concerned about the march and he wants supporters of his to come out in a show of strength for him to show that he is still strong and that he can still command the support of people. Persons are free to wear what they want, but these people who he wants to come out and wear red, he needs to understand that they have the electricity bills, they have VAT, they have the cost of living...they have all of these issues to deal with. So, if he wants people to go around and praise him and support him and say that they are standing for him, although he is doing all of this harm to them, then they are free to do that.” Astaphan said.
Astaphan went on to say that he was not affected by this coincidence, just as long as the march is a peaceful one.
“Once it is democratic, peaceful and respectful of the law, then the people have a right if that is what they want to do. Whether it is two persons or two hundred, two thousand or two million, nothing is wrong with that.
“It is my view that the Prime Minister is not good for the country and that he is not good for the Labour Party and, that in the interest of both, he needs to move on. But that is my view...it’s nothing personal,” Astaphan said.
