BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – NEVIS’ first Premier, the late Dr. Simeon Daniel was named the twin-island Federation of St. Kitts and Nevis’ fourth National Hero.
The announcement of his posthumously elevated status was made today (Sept. 16), a day regarded in the Federation as National Heroes Day, by St. Kitts and Nevis’ Governor General His Excellency Sir Edmund Lawrence.
According to a release from the Communications Unit of the Office of the Prime Minister (CUOPM), the Government House announced that Dr. Daniel’s graciously approved status elevation was based on the advice of the Rt. Hon. Dr. Denzil L. Douglas, Prime Minister of St. Kitts and Nevis.
Dr. Daniel, who was born on August 22, 1934 and died on May 22, 2012, is the second Nevisian to be named a National Hero. The first was the late Sir Joseph Nathaniel France, KCMG, CBE, JP, who together with the late Dominican-born Sir Caleb Azariah Paul Southwell were made National Heroes posthumously in September 2004.
The Federation's first National Hero was the Right Excellent Sir Robert L. Bradshaw.
As chronicled by Lorna Callender on Monday, May 28, 2012, many would list the chronological events in his life, but “the role he played on the political stage and the decisions he had to make then, will single him out as an astute politician, not fearing to pause, or change course as he surveyed the evolving political landscape”.
Callender wrote: “It is through Simeon Daniel that the long reign of the Labour Party in St. Kitts came to an end in 1980, when he made the courageous decision to form a coalition government with the People’s Action Movement. This effectively ended the Labour Party’s fifteen year old administration and it would be another fifteen years before they were able to leave the opposition benches.
“When he felt that Nevis was being neglected by the Bradshaw regime, he boldly started a drive for Independence for Nevis. However, he had the maturity to pause with his demands when the government changed as he assessed a new political administration.
“But he did not totally abandon this goal as he demanded and got a clause inserted in the Constitution (113) giving Nevis the right to secede if it could prove through a referendum that this was what the majority of Nevisians wanted.”
Following the coalition, in addition to him being Nevis’ first Premier, Daniel held the portfolio of Minister of Finance and positioned himself to ensure that he was able to have a say in the distribution of Government funds.
He had established the Bank of Nevis in 1985 and, according to one Nevis report, “He played an important role in the establishment of the Sixth Form College in Nevis and he must be credited with bringing our flagship Four Seasons Resort to Nevis – which has been the single most important and most successful venture in the entire history of Nevis, creating jobs, income and wealth for hundreds of Nevisians.”
It is believed by many political pundits that Dr. Daniel had attempted to be a bridge between the two political parties on Nevis; for even as being the Founding Father of the Nevis Reformation Party, his partner in the law firm of Daniel, Brantley and Associates was none other than the Hon. Mark Brantley, Federal Leader of the Opposition and now Deputy Premier in the Concerned Citizens Movement Administration.
Prior to entering the political arena, Dr. Daniel worked as:
• Teacher in Nevis from 1950 to1957;
• Clerk, Executive Officer, London County Council from 1960 to 1966;
• Assistant Secretary in the Ministry of External Affairs in Nevis from 1966;
• Crown Counsel in St Kitts and Nevis from 1968;
• Registrar in the Nevis Supreme Court from 1968 to 1969;
• Additional Magistrate in Nevis from 1968 to 1969; and
• He entered into private practice in 1969.
Dr. Daniel went on to become:
• A Founding Member of the Nevis Reformation Party in 1970;
• Chairman of the Local Council from 1972 to 1980;
• Elected Member of the National Assembly from May 1975 to February 1980;
• Minister of Finance and Minister of Nevis Affairs from 1980 to 1983;
• Premier and Minister of Finance, Development and Planning from 1983 to 1992;
• Formation of Daniel, Brantley & Associates with Mark Brantley in 1996
Over the years, both political parties in Nevis felt that Dr. Daniel should be made a National Hero and/or be knighted as was the First Prime Minister of St. Kitts.
Last year, the Centre for the Performing Arts in Nevis was named in his honour.
Dr. Daniel had received the following honours from outside of the Federation:
• Doctor of Laws (Honorary), Marquis Giuseppe Scicluna International University Foundation in 1987;
•Albert Einstein Bronze Medal for Peace, Albert Einstein Bronze International Academy Foundation in 1987;
• International Order of Merit Medal by the International Biographic Centre of Cambridge England in 2000;
• The International Biographic Centre of Cambridge England inducted him in their Hall of Fame for outstanding work in the field of Government in 2005.
Dr. Simeon Daniel will always be remembered with gratitude by nationals of the Federation for the pivotal role he played in helping them to achieve Independence and for bridging the gap between St. Kitts and Nevis, whose families have been united by blood and marriage for countless generations.
