BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER the Hon. Sam T Condor has maintained that a press release disseminated to media houses by the Prime Minister’s Press Secretary, Erasmus Williams, is a misrepresentation of the facts that transpired at the recently concluded Labour Party’s Annual Conference and it was not issued by the Party Secretariat.
In an article published by The St. Kitts-Nevis Observer on Friday, May 25, 2012 and headlined “Condor Condemns PM Press Secretary’s Convention Press Release”, Minister Condor reportedly denounced the contents and stated that he issued no such statement and only spoke briefly at the Convention.
“I made no speech, as such, nothing like what was in the press release…I think that press release that came out was an injustice to what happened in the conference. That is a total violation of what we came out of the conference with. Everybody came out of the conference with what they were gonna do and then they just brought out the press release. That was not in the interest of what happened in the conference or the interest of going forward and that was a problem,” The Observer quoted Minister Condor as saying.
The Observer also stated Condor confirmed that the statement had not been issued by the Labour Secretariat.
“It did not come from the Secretariat because I checked with the Secretary and she did not send out anything. It came from Erasmus. He doesn’t have the authority, how can he have the authority to do that?” The Observer quoted.
The Observer further stated that Minister Condor said the Prime Minister’s Press Secretary sending out the release was “wrong” and “not in good taste”.
Last Tuesday (May 29), when contacted by SKNVibes for a comment, Erasmus Williams said, “I have no comment to make on that.”
However, Minister Condor was contacted on Friday (June 1) and asked, “The article published by The St. Kitts-Nevis Observer said that you condemned the press release issued by Erasmus Williams concerning the recently held Labour Party Convention. Could you say if what was published is factual concerning your condemnation?”
In response, Minister Condor emphatically said, “Yes, I did condemn it.”
Condor was also asked if he would stand by what the article said with regards to the information disseminated by Erasmus Williams in the press release was inaccurate.
“Absolutely,” the Minister replied, “it did not capture the spirit of what was said!”
He was further asked if it were a fact that the Labour Party Secretariat did not send out the press release, to which he said, “It was not sent out by the Party Secretariat, it was sent out by Erasmus and the Secretary had confirmed that with me.”
On Monday, May 21, 2012, just hours after the Conference concluded at the St. Kitts Marriott Ballroom, Erasmus Williams disseminated a press release purportedly being a statement issued by the Labour party Secretariat.
The release, headlined “Deputy Labour Party Leader and Chairman Affirm Full Support for Leadership of Labour Party Leader and Prime Minister the Right Honourable Dr Denzil L. Douglas”, stated that the incumbent Deputy Party Leader Sam Condor and the incumbent Chairman Dr. Timothy Harris had affirmed to the gathering their total commitment to the leadership of the Rt. Hon. Dr, Denzil L. Douglas and the leadership of the St. Kitts-Nevis Labour Party.
“The hundreds of enthusiastic, impassioned Labourites had made clear their impatience with the public displays of disunity that had plagued the Party, from very narrow quarters, in recent months,” the release read.
It claimed that Condor “made a special address to the membership, in which he affirmed the wisdom of their demands for unity, and went further to affirm his full and unswerving support for both the leadership of Party Leader and Prime Minister, the Right Honourable Dr. Denzil L. Douglas, as well as the overall leadership of the Party. This statement, which was responded to with loud and enthusiastic cheers, made clear that the wishes of the membership were, at last, being honoured”.
