BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – PRIME MINISTER of St. Kitts and Nevis and leader of the ruling St. Kitts-Nevis Labour Party (SKNLP), Dr. the Hon. Denzil L. Douglas said his government is the harvest of great seeds that were planted in good soil by their forefathers 70 years ago.
Dr. Douglas made this statement yesterday (May 15) while addressing delegates at the 79th Annual St. Kitts-Nevis Labour Party Conference held at the St. Kitts Marriott and the Royal Beach Casino.
“We stand here today, 79 years strong and the largest, strongest, most respected party in this country because our party – the St. Kitts-Nevis Labour Party - was planted not in the soil of might but in the soil of right. Not in the soil of exclusion but in the soil of inclusion. Not in the soil of wickedness but in the soil of mercy. Not in the soil of privilege but in the soil of ability. Not in the soil of sabotage and subterfuge, but in the soil of hard work, determination and unity. And, we...you and I, and these two islands that we now have the honour and the duty, by the grace of God, to protect and defend are the fruit, the yield, the joyous and bountiful harvest of our forefathers’ labours,” he said.
PM Douglas said some political parties did not start right and that is why they could not measure up to the Labour Party’s standards.
“We are the children of a good story; a great story, a historic story, because we are the children of right triumphing over wrong, justice over injustice, ability over privilege. What starts wrong in the morning cannot end right at night and Labour started right. Not every political party can say that! Some political parties started very, very wrong, and we all know that you cannot plant sour orange and reap sugar cane. You cannot sow in dusty, barren soil and reap a bountiful harvest,” he stressed.
He went on to say that his government has always strived for equality and would not be intimidated, noting that “the St. Kitts-Nevis Labour Party has refused to be sidetracked, refused to be distracted, refused to be defeated in our determination to get for every man, woman and child in this country what some thought should belong to just a few”.
Dr. Douglas stressed that Labour Party supporters are the children and grandchildren of sugar cane workers and have grown to become government clerks, bank employees, teachers, lawyers, artists, engineers, doctors and small business entrepreneurs, among others.
He reminded the delegates and informed the invitees that Sir Robert Bradshaw did many things for the Federation of St. Kitts and Nevis and his Labour government is continuing in Bradshaw’s footsteps.
“The Right Excellent Sir Robert Bradshaw, affectionately called Papa Bradshaw, put shoes on the people’s feet. Thankful for that...but today, this Labour government gave the people their own land on which to walk in those shoes and their own houses in which to keep them. Bradshaw opened the high schools to all the young people of this country. Thankful for that...
“This Labour government, with student loans and scholarships, opened the doors of the world’s universities to our young people; the corridors of which they are walking with pride, dignity and a sense of accomplishment. Bradshaw and his fellow-visionaries protected the rights of the cane-field workers and lifted them up. Thankful for that...this Labour government has placed and continue to place Kittitian and Nevisian farmer-entrepreneurs in the former cane-fields; this time as masters of their own destinies,” he said.
The Labour Party’s leader stressed, “Seventy-five years of planting, and tending, and watering with each Labour government building on the efforts of the one that served before, and what a bountiful harvest we have reaped. What a bountiful harvest we are continuing to reap. What a bountiful harvest we shall indeed reap through hard work, vision, and unity.”
