BASSETERRE, St. Kitts, May 19th 2011 (CUOPM) – St. Kitts and Nevis’ Prime Minister Hon. Dr. Denzil L. Douglas says the right of persons to associate must be respected and said his governing St. Kitts-Nevis Labour Party understands fundamental rights.
“Our Party has been the Party that fought in the vanguard to ensure that the fundamental rights of our people are not only won, but respected and preserved and the right of association is one of those rights,” said Prime Minister as he clarified a resolution presented at Sunday’s 79th Annual Conference of his governing St. Kitts-Nevis Labour Party.
Dr. Douglas explained that the Resolution from the Labour Party Branch in Constituency # 8 “was asking that certain statements which are out there and which are being made by certain persons and certain political parties in reference to certain persons in our Cabinet and in our Party; that these same persons disassociate themselves from the statements made by others and by political parties in reference to them, which according to the resolution could be putting such persons in a bad or negative light.”
“It spoke nothing about associating with persons. It spoke specifically about disassociating with statements that are being made by persons and political parties about one or two members within our organization and within the Cabinet of Ministers and asking for good sense that that such persons within the Party or within the Cabinet distance themselves from those statements which were reference to them,” Dr. Douglas further explained.
Dr. Douglas admitted that the Constituency Branch resolution could have been “more diplomatic and not specifically identifying the persons, but that’s the way Constituency 8 saw it.”
He disclosed that submissions were made to amendment the resolution during a healthy discussion on the issue and after several persons from the floor, some of whom had suggested modifications to the resolution and after time was going and there was still going to be heated discussion on the resolution, “I use my right, my prerogative, as the leader of the Labour Party to withdraw the resolution and thus bring the controversy, the discussions to an end especially as such discussions began to seriously impair our time that we had for the use of the Banquet Hall at the Marriott and so eventually that matter was settled.”
“I used my prerogative as a Leader of the party to withdraw the resolution after it had generated quite a bit of very high-spirited discussion and debate as to the contents of the resolution, but at no time I want to stress, that the resolution was asking anyone to distance themselves from any Astaphan or any other person as the case maybe,” reiterated Prime Minister Douglas, who again stressed “people’s right to associate is well established. They are fundamental rights and no one could be so crazy to come into the Conference and ask the people don’t associate with others.”
Dr. Douglas pointed out that he has been at the receiving end of several attacks from time to time from persons who have attacked.
“If I have the opportunity to associate with them I do so, because the right of association is different, I would think, from the right to make statements which may be negative and which can be ignored and so the comrades in Constituency # 8 were just asking the members who have become referenced to statements from political parties and others on the platform that they distance themselves from those statements because our comrades felt it was not putting them in a good light,” said the Prime Minister in response to questions on his weekly radio programme “Ask the Prime Minister.”
In light of the above the full resolution is produced below:
WHEREAS, The St Kitts-Nevis Labour Party has been in existence for over 75 years; and
WHEREAS, The Party was established to give voice to the voiceless and political empowerment to the masses, and
WHEREAS, The public image of the Labour Party and by extension the Labour Party Government has been under constant attack through:
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The malicious maligning of the Party Leader and Prime Minister by former parliamentarians;
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The perceived infighting among senior members of the Labour Party Cabinet
The lack of solidarity among the leadership of the Party and the Government.
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The release of confidential Ministerial documents to the media; and
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WHEREAS, The general membership of the Labour Party is looking to its leaders to:
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be exemplary in all aspects of their public conduct,
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live the motto of the Party which is For the Good that We Can Do, and
be loyal to their oath of office and earn and maintain the trust of their constituents and supporters;
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embody the principles of the Party;
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WHEREAS, The utterances at public meetings of both opposition parties and detractors of the Labour Party Government implicate Labour Party representatives, (particularly those of #3 and #7), as being part of their plans to bring about the downfall of the Labour Party Government;
NOW THEREFORE BE IT
RESOLVED, That the members of the Labour Party Government, in this time where unity is essential, take time for deep personal reflection and make every effort to temper personal ambitions with sound judgement and wisdom and move towards rebuilding the image of the Party and the Government;
RESOLVED, That Labour Party representatives, implicated (particularly those of #3 and #7), should disassociate themselves from the malicious claims coming from the platforms of the opposition parties and Government detractors regarding their willingness to break rank with the leadership of the Labour Party Government; and
RESOLVED, That the leadership of the party commit to resolve their issues internally and recognize that the principles of the Party override personal differences and perceptions.
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