“An open letter to Mr. Livingstone Herbert”
By Ron Daniel
I browsed through an article written by you and published in the February 4th edition of the St Kitts Nevis Observer newspaper. I didn’t turn the other page to actually finish the article as I caught the gist of the article, had a good laugh and went on my merry way. It was not until I got a few calls and bbms from angry HOPE members that I realised you were not merely attacking Hensley Daniel but also HOPE Nevis. I well expect you as a CCM to throw blows on my uncle or any member of the NRP. I believe anybody in politics should have broad backs to take blows and so that is not my problem. My problem is not when you attempt to sully Hensley’s performance as a Minister of Government but when you attack the organization that is HOPE Nevis.
In the article you firstly refer to HOPE Nevis as a “creature” and then you go on to state that it is “a creature of the Daniel coterie”. If that were not enough you said that were Scholarship funds to be channelled through HOPE, it would be “the personification of nepotism”. I take great offense to this as a HOPE Nevis member and as a member of the same coterie of which you speak. While I am an unabashed supporter of the NRP, I also know that it would be downright stupid and idiotic to enforce my political views into an organization such as HOPE Nevis. It is just like saying that because the Daniels attend the Wesleyan Holiness Church that the Wesleyan Holiness Church is NRP.
In HOPE Nevis we put country over party and we show the world how youthful supporters of both political parties can work together to host Kids Carnivals, give motivational speeches in all schools, organize anti-crime rallies, provide academic sponsorship for every primary and high school graduation ceremony in Nevis, provide daily hot meals to under-privileged children in the high schools, facilitate camps, inter-primary and inter high academic competitions and help the Sixth Form every year with their debates among other things. To call us a creature is a slap in the face to everything that is decent and to paint us as another wing of the NRP is as preposterous and brainless as it could get.
I learned in high school from my English Teacher Dawn Jeffers that for any persuasive piece to be credible that it must be based on facts and must have statistics to back them up. If Mr. Herbert who was a former Minister of Education was so careless then it must mean that he needs to return to school. A simple check of HOPE Nevis website (www.hopenevis.com) would find our constitution which clearly states that we are a non-political and non-religious organization that is formed with one aim; that is to do all in our power to Help Our People Excel hence the acronym HOPE.
Secondly, the same search of the website would show clearly that the founder of this august body was in fact Mr. Rohan Michael Isles of Barnes Ghaut Village who not only came up with the concept of the group but came up with the name and its simple yet sacrosanct mission. Rohan would have sent an email to people like myself, Joel Pogson, Frank Jeffers, Garrick Hunkins and Troy Jeffers urging us to form a youth group. In time it was formed with the aforementioned names along with Vincia Hebert and Shirna Browne as we believe it needed women in the group to have the right balance. Troy Jeffers was the one who designed the HOPE logo before he along with Frank Jeffers and Joel Pogson left the island to further their studies. If HOPE is any creature of any coterie then it may well be the Isles coterie of Barnes Ghaut.
Thirdly, if you still wish to insinuate that HOPE Nevis is NRP then he must know that Nailah Tyrell before she left was one of the most active members of HOPE Nevis. Many things for HOPE Nevis were done out of the chambers of Colin Tyrell and Associates. Colin Tyrell is the Chairman for the CCM 2011 Election Campaign. Nailah is the one who created our Facebook page where you can see pictures of all the programs of HOPE Nevis. Nailah and I would have worked jointly on many programs together in HOPE; sometimes almost by ourselves and I enjoyed every single second of it. That is the sort of co-operation we have in HOPE Nevis. Our political convictions don’t mean we can’t work hand in hand to build Nevis. However, apart from Nailah, it is Rodney Elliott who gave HOPE utensils and a table cloth for our last bake sale and it is she who is donating some Johnny cakes to our Bake Sale this weekend. Rodney’s daughter Nicole was also an active member of HOPE before she started working in St Kitts. If that is not enough evidence, the person who audited our books is my fellow Wesleyan Holiness member Brother Stedmond Tross who is the Chairman of the CCM itself. So he definitely can reveal to you everything that HOPE Nevis does with its money. If the money, from the Windsong Foundation were channelled through HOPE, it is Mr. Stedmond Tross that would have to audit HOPE’s books.
We have never ever had a discussion on politics as part of any HOPE Meeting or HOPE function. We simply come together, discuss and plan every other Monday for the past 4 and a half years at 5 o’clock at the Nevis Credit Union. Members such as Rohan Isles, Kyle Weeks, Joel Pogson, Anselm Caines, Ron Weeks, Nailah Tyrell, Shemica Maloney, Shannel Simmonds, Sheniqua Liburd, Lavorn Lawrence, Shane Browne, my wife and I, Nedd Lestrade, Shirna Browne, Khalin Nisbett, Daricia Wilkinson, Michelle Mcgrath, Nakia Jones, Shenelle Pemberton, Meredith Gumbs, Jacinda Webbe, Marissa Nisbett and Emily Prentice, among others have been members of HOPE Nevis. Are all of these people NRP or “creatures of the Daniel coterie” Mr. Herbert? Furthermore, I am no longer President or sit on the executive of HOPE Nevis since August 2010. A simple check of your facts would show that I am a mere floor member for the past six months.
Fourthly Mr. Herbert, when we began the anti-crime rallies, Hon. Mark Brantley himself sent me an email where he asserted that an independent youth organization like HOPE Nevis may very well be the best organization in Nevis to lead the fight against crime in Nevis. Additionally, at every anti-crime rally we have had members of the Opposition and Government speaking. Messer’s Colin Tyrell, Hon. Vance Amory and Alexis Jeffers echoed the same sentiments and complimented the members when they spoke at the anti-crime rallies in Bath, Craddock Road and Cotton Ground respectively. Mr. Amory even took individual and group photos with members of the group when the rally was over. Are you also disagreeing with the leaders of your party that HOPE Nevis is independent?
The worst thing about your foolhardy insinuation is that after our Rally in Bricklin had to be called off, no fewer than 15 of us as members of HOPE Nevis went to your very restaurant called Flavours in St James and bought food and drink, injecting some well needed hundred of dollars in your business no doubt. We went to your establishment to eat, not popular places like Rumours or the Pizza Place and we all enjoyed our meals and said we had to plan to return. I wonder if you thought that HOPE was a “creature of the Daniel coterie” then?
Mr. Hebert, I want to invite you to our next Anti-Crime Rally which will be held just a stone’s throw from your house at the playing field on Monday 21st February 2011. Mr. Alexis Jeffers and the Honourable Patrice Nisbett will both speak on our platform to address the issue of crime. Come and see the members for yourself and then ask yourself if you were right to align them with the NRP.
I can tell you based on the comments on Facebook and also texts to me that the members are more than disappointed in you. As such, I expect a public apology not to me, not to Hensley Daniel but to the members of HOPE Nevis for not only referring to this independent youth organization as creatures but by painting us all as NRP. Organizations like HOPE cannot survive and be as successful as we have been, if they are purely political. When we address causes of the poor and under-privileged, the under-educated, the abused, the motivation of our youths, the moral standing of our youth, the sporting development of our youth and the general pursuits of our youth we do NOT have time for petty politics. HOPE Nevis is a movement of young people who whether we are blue, green and in between are dedicated to the simple cause of Helping Our People Excel. We look forward to an apology by the February 25th issue of the very same St Kitts Nevis Observer Newspaper. Thanks for taking the time to read.
