BASSETERRE St. Kitts – We are here by the Grace of God. We are here by the will of the electorate. We are here through the power of the ballot and we shall not be moved.
So said Dr. the Hon. Denzil Douglas, Prime Minister and leader of the ruling St. Kitts-Nevis Labour Party (SKNLP) while addressing delegates of and special invitees to the 79th Annual St. Kitts-Nevis Labour Party Conference held Sunday (May 15) at the St. Kitts Marriott Hotel and Royal Beach Casino.
Dr. Douglas said the Labour Party tells a story of vision and unity and that they have bravely and skilfully withstood every onslaught from the dawn of their existence.
He also said that they have prevailed, triumphed and are stronger than before after every act of trickery and every show of treachery.
Douglas said that there are some who wish to see the Labour Party weakened, silenced and defeated, but his party is the voice and will of the people and it represents the dreams, aspirations, strivings, and the full and unbowed humanity of the people.
“There are those who have always felt, and who feel even today, that the will of the people, the voice of the people, the dreams and hopes and aspirations of the people must be contained, must be diverted, must be skilfully channelled in other directions until they are no more...by hook or by crook. We understood that 79 years ago and understand that now. And Labour marches on!
“There have been so many attempts to weaken and break our party throughout our history. When one approach doesn’t work, they simply try another. They began by forbidding us, by law, from forming a party, being a party, calling ourselves a party, functioning like a party,” he said.
He stressed that the older generations that worked in the cane fields may not have been formerly educated, but the Anansi and Brer Tookuhmuh stories they were told had taught them how to spot all forms of tricks and treachery, no matter how skilfully disguised, which also taught them that “all skin teeth is not grin”.
These stories and their wisdom, he added, passed on from one generation to the next and that helped the Labour Party to stand firm and united, as others set one trap after another for almost 80 years.
PM Douglas went on to say, “But that saying ‘unity is strength’ is as old as the hills, and has rung out across the millennia because it is true. It is indeed our unity and our spirit as Labour people that have indeed been the source of our tremendous strength all these years. How vast and varied the tactics that have been used to break this party and how abysmally they have all failed.”
Listing some of the strategies used in an attempt to break the Labour Party, Dr. Douglas said, “We, inside this Labour Party, understand fully that whether it is, the attempted sale of Masses House, the attempted coup against an earlier Labour government, the attempt to deny us our own political party, or anything else, we must and will remain resilient and united as Labour. We shall lock arms and focus on the road ahead as Labour. We are qualified, energized and day in, day out handling the complex tasks of governance as Labour.”
He stressed: “We, the St. Kitts-Nevis Labour Party, have been elected by the people in free and fair elections, not once, not twice, not three times, but four times to manage the affairs of this blessed land. And we shall go on for a fifth, and sixth and seventh, because we shall not be moved!”
