Lawyers will deal with them in time!
BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – “I am not going to debate myself; I am busy dealing with serious issues and trying to get solutions for them. I am not going to be sidetracked by this nastiness and the cannibalism. So, my response to those things is that lawyers will deal with them in time. I am not going to get distracted by the nastiness and the cannibalism coming from the Douglas platform.”
This statement is one of many made by the Parliamentary Representative for St. Christopher Seven, Dr. Timothy Harris, during an exclusive interview with SKNVibes.
He was at the time responding to a question on his sexuality, which has been one of the major topics at the past four public meetings held by the St. Kitts-Nevis Labour Party (SKNLP) of which he is the Chairman.
Dr. Harris claimed that the statements made by speakers on the SKNLP’s platform are part of a sideshow because Prime Minister the Rt. Hon. Dr. Douglas does not want the topic to be about the issues with which the country is faced.
“This is a sideshow because Dr. Douglas doesn’t want the conversation about issues; so he wants to turn the topic at personal character assassination. I am not going to the level to which Dr. Douglas wants to get the debate. I am seeing these as sideshow issues because, at the end of the day, how do they change the fundamental problems that the country being faced? Has Dr. Douglas shown the competence to deal with the problems? The problem is not Timothy! The problem is whether the government is delivering, and that is the fundamental question they must answer. And people must make up their minds whether they want it to be about gossips, if they want it to be an issue of sexuality and all of those issues.
“I am not going to get in because, you see, that is what they want the conversation to be. But if I begin to bother myself with that, it will go to and fro because that will never stop them from saying what they have said and what they want to say. So I am not going to get into a debate about those issues.
“I think that those issues are not fundamental to the development of the country, and I am not getting myself into that low game…that nasty game. I will put all those matters, and I have asked, according to research, for taking appropriate action. And so I am not going to play no tit for tat in terms of those gutter nasty politics. Let lawyers deal with those issues. I am dealing with those issues of public moment, because the scandals and the innuendos will come because that is what Dr. Douglas has got to now. He can’t tell you why he has run up the national debt, he can’t tell you why is it that Nigel would have a duty free house, and that the Commissioner of Police gets a housing allowance which goes to pay for that very duty free house. So, he can’t deal with those issues of public policies. He wants it to be about the personal…and that is what they are saying. The politics is more than that; the politics have been people elect people to serve them.”
The former Senior Minister claimed that he was instrumental in moving the country forward whilst serving in various ministries, and that he would not be drawn into a drama of cross talk.
“They then saying that every ministry I had been I have done and made my country forward. It is the competence, it is the ability to take resources and use them wisely for the country. I am not backing this drama of cross talk with them and decide issues, or else we wound never done. I will have to take each of them and dissect them personally, but at the end of the day what will that do? And I can do that! Who lives in glass house must not throw stones! None of them make perfect life, but I don’t want to go there because that is not what the politics should be about. And from the time you enjoin them, you keep this thing going about who has used the most, whose life means the dirtiest and not what they have done with the time for which the public is paying them.”
Dr. Harris said he was advised by his constituents and many others not to be engaged in mud-slinging, and noted that the platform speakers claimed to know something about his personal life as a ruse to attract people at their meetings.
“My constituents and all the people of goodwill in the country have been saying to me, ‘Timothy, do not go down that level. Let them wallow in the mud of dirtiness.’ Because people want real issues, and if is that they are wasting people’s time to this drama that they have something about Timothy’s personal life to get crowd to their meeting and so on, at the end of the day when all of that, how will that change the circumstance of St. Kitts? We will still have the highest public debt per capita in the world; we will still, despite the reduction, have the highest per capita murder rate in the OECS, given our population size; we will still have over 12.5 percent unemployment in the country; and we will still have the graduates not being able to get enough money to pay their loans. This is what the political debate is about.”
He said that he would refrain from engaging anyone in discussions of such nature because he is focusing on issues that are affecting the Federation.
Referring to a statement he recently made on one of the island’s radio stations, Dr. Harris said, “I said at Sugar City Rock, ‘Let Dr. Douglas take the trophy for being the most nasty politician.’”
He also listed a number of questions that media practitioners should post to Prime Minister Douglas, while stressing that he has a highly commendable record in all the ministries that were under his purview.
“You all must ask him why after 18 years in government if this is what the politics being debased to, and why is it still about cannibalisation and destruction of political opponents?” adding, “Wasn’t it that he promised to change when he promised to end political tribalism so this constant bashing about people’s character or perceived deficiencies that don’t relate to their performance would stop?
“If it is that, I gave them the largest number of houses ever built when I was Minister of Housing. You go on my record at the Ministry of Education, you go on every ministry that I have gone, the commendation from the public is that Timothy has performed competently and satisfactory. Let the other Ministers say that…that is what is eating them out! My record is there. That is what the people put me there for. So I am not going to move from that to begin a debate.”
Dr. Harris is of the view that once he enjoins those who are assassinating his character, it would never stop.
“Let them take the trophy for character assassination and abuse and let us see if that is going to solve the problems of the country. Because when you left that meeting last night, you come back home you still have the arrears on the electricity bill, and if your child was not working, they still not working,” he added.
The Parliamentarian threw a cataract into the eye of PM Douglas’ Cabinet, of which he was a part, and noted it would be the next question asked for the upcoming elections.
“I think it is a national shame and a tragedy that a prime minister, after 18 years, could lead the platform of the most vile and dirty abuse and character assassination when there are so many fundamental problems that are there to be resolved, and which after 18 years he and his Cabinet have been unable to resolve. That will be the next question for the elections.”
Dr. Harris is of the view that speakers on the SKNLP’s platform are pedaling dirt and they should instead discus the fundamental values of society building.
“We have to find the fundamental values by which we want to build our society and hold our politicians accountable for pursuing those fundamentals, such as democracy, good governance, improved quality of life, respectability and tolerance in our society.
“When your child listens to Dr. Douglas you must ask if that is the conduct you would like your child to show to his neighbours and to his friends. When you hear the abusive remarks we must ask if it is that we want in our schools to become preoccupied with. This is the challenge and it will take real people with a real commitment to stay focus on what is important. Because at the end of the dance, you have to get back to the reality and we would have missed an opportunity for good governance and for good development if all of us become sidetracked if we go with this kind of foolishness.”
He claimed he has much information he could share with the public but he would not take that path.
“I could say what Nigel was saying when he was on his sick bed in the hospital, but I don’t want to go there. I could say things about Dr. Douglas when he had the office at Cayon Street, but how would that help us?”
Dr. Harris posited that PM Douglas gets nasty with anyone who he perceives as a threat.
“He gets nasty with Mark Brantley, he tells you how wealthy he is, he tells you how he approached his day and all these kind of foolishness. Then he takes a turn on Shawn Richards. Is that what we expect from our leader? Is that what we want? When he would have finished with all of these, will he come for you the media? It was the failure of the people to speak out that had allowed him to get such a long run. Well, I am now speaking out with a free conscience. He can’t control me anymore and so you have seen the desperation in the vile and the venom, and I am saying to those in the media, you all can’t go there with him.”
