Martin and Liburd up for Deputy Leader and Chairman
BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – THE Executive body of the St. Kitts-Nevis Labour Party (SKNLP) will see some anticipated changes this afternoon (May 19) with delegates of the Party’s 81st Anniversary Convention assembled at the St. Kitts Marriott to elect the party’s governing body for 2013/2014.
Earlier today, over 700 individuals participated in the public session of the Convention which saw the honouring of eight outstanding Labour mothers (one from each constituency), presentations by the children of the Federation’s National Heroes and an outline of the accomplishments of the SKNLP-led government over the past years by Prime Minister the Rt. Hon. Dr. Denzil L. Douglas.
The latter portion of the Convention – Business Session – open only to registered delegates, is where they get down to business and put the party’s Executive structure in place.
Prime Minister Douglas is the only nominee for the position of National Leader of the Party; a position he has held since 1989.
Hoping to replace the Hon. Sam T. Condor as Deputy National Leader is Dr. Earl Asim Martin, who has also replaced him as the Deputy Prime Minister.
Condor resigned from Dr. Douglas’ Cabinet earlier this year expressing his dissatisfaction with the Prime Minister’s management of the country.
Minister Marcella Liburd’s name has been forwarded as the only nominee for the position of National Chairman. She stands to replace the Hon. Timothy S. Harris who was fired from Dr. Douglas’ Cabinet after becoming publicly vocal about what he felt were the wrong-doings of Dr. Douglas.
An office with which he is familiar, the Hon. Nigel Carty has been nominated for the position of National Vice Chairman of the SKNLP.
Diana Williams-Humphrey, who served in recent years as the Party’s National Secretary, is hoping to retain that title and continue her service to the people in that capacity.
Karen Crossman and Patrica Ward have been nominated to serve as the National Assistant Secretary and National Treasurer respectively.
Seeking to secure a spot as one of the Three Elected Members of the SKNLP are Thamesha Fyfleid, Miselle O’Brien-Norton, Vincia Herbert, Philmore Warner, Meshack Alford, Dr. Vance Gilbert and Hazel Ross-Robinson.
Each of the Constituency Branches along with the Young Labour and Labour Women Branches are expected to nominate an individual to represent them on the Executive level.
Speaking with SKNVibes, Minister Liburd indicated that she is the only women to have been nominated for the National Chairman position and she explained that in that capacity she would further advocate for equality for women.
“Normally, women come from a different perspective. We bring balance, we have special insight that the men don’t have. So in every issue we would be able to bring that sort of insight, plus we would see how we could work for greater equality for women. Even though I think we are doing a reasonable job in bringing women to the fore, we would still want to do that in a greater way.”
