Basseterre, St. Kitts - LEADER of the main opposition party in St. Kitts, Hon. Shawn K. Richards said that more protests are to be expected and declared that the next one would not be in the form of a march but rather a shutdown of the country.
Richards made these statements while giving his address at a rally last Thursday (Dec. 6) on George Street, which was the second in a series of marches and rallies against the Land Bill that was passed into law in September of this year.
The PAM Leader told protesters that according to what transpires at Parliament today (Dec. 11), his party would be protesting again and not on the rear-end of Government Headquarters, but the front.
"I want you all to listen out, because depending on what he does tonight or Tuesday in Parliament, tell him this time we are going to be in front of Government Headquarters. So tell him we just warming up for him."
He also told the protesters to be prepared, not to march but to shut down the country. He stressed that that is something they ought to be prepared to do in order to stand up for their country.
"And whenever we decide to go Government Headquarters, you all must make up you all minds that you all are not going to walk. You all are not going to walk, because we must reach to that stage in this country where we are willing to shutdown this country to stand up for our rights in this country."
Richards told the protesters that they must continue to march and rally against the Land Bill so as to not allow more lands to be sold to reduce the National Debt.
"My heart is heavy because our lands are being sold, and the longer we allow this to happen the more of our lands will be sold. That is why we have to continue to march and we have to continue to agitate in this country to save our lands. First and foremost, I am a Kittitian and, as a Kittitian, I am standing up for our patrimony, for our rights in this country and so you too must also stand up.
"Robert Bradshaw was a Labour man who moved to acquire the lands on behalf of us. Dr. Simmonds was a PAM man who paid for those lands. When you look at that you would recognise that both PAM and Labour recognised the importance of land, but you have one man who is now intent on giving away our lands and we must stop him. We must say to him that enough is enough and we have had enough.
"He has come to us and he has said to us that this land swap deal is good for us. I ask you, what has Denzil Douglas ever said to this country that will be good for this country and it has actually been good for the country?" he said.
Richards gave details of occasions where the Prime Minister the Rt. Hon. Dr. Denzil L. Douglas said projects, investments and taxes would be good for the country but instead turned out to be failures, no-shows and financially unbearable for the country and its people.
He spoke of La Valley Project which he claimed PM Douglas said would be good for Sandy Point but only furthered the National Debt. He also spoke of Value Added Tax (VAT), which he claimed "takes money out of your pocket faster than money used to leave your pocket".
Richard further gave examples of electrical generator purchases and the Stevia Project, which he said did not bear fruit. He also spoke of the Care Plant Project in which St. Kitts would be making vehicles, but this too did not produce any result.
He went on to state that the two marches and rallies were just the thaw-out phase as more protests are underway.
"When you are preparing to become an athlete you just don't go on the track and run the race...you start to do little jumping jacks, stretch and exercises.
"Well, those two demonstrations that would have gone so far were only the warm-up; they were only the jumping jacks. Tell them that we were just warming up and we will be back," Richards told the protesters.
Richards was unable to state when PAM's next protest would take place, but did inform that they were just awaiting the outcome of today’s scheduled sitting in Parliament.
