Mark Brantley predicts Federal Elections soon!!
By Pauline Waruguru
SKNVibes.com
CHARLESTOWN, Nevis – LEADER of the Opposition the Hon. Mark Brantley is of the view that the Federal Elections of the twin-island Federation of St. Kitts and Nevis would be held in October.
Following an email from skn@yahoogroups.com on behalf of the Parliamentary Representative for Nevis Nine (St. Paul’s/St. John’s) which reads, “While many of our Nationals are watching America and its election, we may well have our own October surprise in SKN. All the signs are there that the bell will toll soon. CCM get ready. Crank up the blue machine cause de greeen gone eeen!!!” - SKNVibes visited Brantley yesterday (Sep. 18) to confirm the statement.
Brantley told this media house that signs on St. Kitts indicate that Federal Elections would soon be held and his party, the Concerned Citizens Movement, is confident and ready.
“Whenever the bell is rung, we are ready,” he declared.
Asked what signs indicated that Prime Minister Douglas would soon call Elections, Brantley said, “The billboards and the 7.5 percent salary increase are tangible signs.”
The Federal Government recently announced a 7.5 percent salary increase for civil servant retroactive to January 2008 and, on Wednesday last, employees of the Public Works Department, accompanied by officers of the Royal St. Christopher and Nevis Police Force, removed a number of billboards mounted by the People’s Action Movement on public property.
A press release from the Cabinet Secretariat, dated September 16, 2008 and headlined “Beautification of St Kitts and Nevis for The Silver Jubilee Independence Celebrations”, reads, “The National Independence Committee (NIC) is in the process of beautifying the Federation in celebration of the Silver Jubilee of our Independence. The Public Works Department, the Department of Physical Planning & Environment and the Parks and Beaches Unit are collaborating with the NIC in this regard.”~~Adz:Right~~
It further states that the NIC is concerned about the erecting of a number of political and commercial billboards on government property without even seeking authorisation from the authority.
“The island’s political parties, including the governing Labour Party, have always honoured the tradition of not erecting any political billboard until elections have been announced. In violation of this tradition, a number of political billboards began being erected several months ago and is continuing,” it added.
The release informed that in keeping with the Silver Jubilee commemoration and also with the tradition of non-mounting of billboards until an election is called, “unauthorised billboards without the appropriate trademark identification will be removed from government property”.
The release also stated that the government wishes this period [Silver Jubilee Celebrations] to be free of political rancour and division, and is asking all citizens to cooperate.
