BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – PRIME MINISTER Dr. Denzil Douglas told the 68th Session of the United Nations General Assembly, which opened on September 17, that the Federation of St. Kitts and Nevis has eradicated extreme poverty and hunger, which is the first of eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) that were established following the Millennium Summit of the UN in 2000 after the adoption of the UN Millennium Declaration.
Speaking at the United Nations Headquarters in New York on September 27, Dr. Douglas said his government had worked hard to achieve the first of the eight MDGs.
“Our government has invested heavily in creating a very solid and expansive social safety structure which has assisted the less fortunate to lead dignified lives; we provide subsidised healthcare for children and for the elderly; we assist vulnerable families with the resources to pursue education and provide them with a nourishing hot meal each day; we also provide living facilities for the aged and for the indigent,” said Douglas.
“Mr. President, it is the hope of my delegation that globally every single effort will be made to ensure that all targets are met by 2015 indicative deadline,” he added.
Douglas said it was important that the international community should be directing its focus on the attainment of the MDGs and that “the world as a whole has to pay great attention to the most off track MDGs”.
“Mr. President, we must never lose sight of the intrinsic linkages that exist between the MDGs and sustainable development goals, particularly in the post 2015 development agenda. Both processes, though running in parallel, are mutually reinforcing in the sense that the latter will accelerate the programmes to meet the targets in the former, while the former will provide valuable lessons for achieving a higher degree of overall success,” Douglas said.
The Eight Millennium Development Goals are: Eradicating poverty and hunger; achieving universal primary education; promoting gender equality and empowering women; reducing child mortality rates; improving maternal health; combatting HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases; ensuring environmental sustainability; and developing a global partnership for development.
All 189 United Nations member states and at least 23 international organisations have committed to help achieve these goals by the year 2015.
While Prime Minister Douglas was in New York for the 68th Session of the UN General Assembly, a political firestorm was taking place in St. Kitts and Nevis.
On September 26, politicians from three political parties - the Concerned Citizens Movement (CCM), People’s Action Movement (PAM) and the People’s Labour Party (PLP) came together on one platform at Greenland’s Park to decry what they call the failed economic policies of the Douglas Administration that has brought the country to its knees by an austerity programme under the watch of the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
One after the other they took to the rostrum to speak, saying that citizens could not afford the high cost of living with a 17 percent Value Added Tax, an 85 percent increase in electricity, unemployment among the youth and underemployment, a contracting economy, closing businesses, 2.6 billion in debt and 228 million owed to the IMF.
Shawn Richards, Lindsay Grant, Eugene Hamilton, Jonel Powell and Cyndie Demming speaking for the candidate for Constituency Number Six (whom she referred to as Mr. V) of the PAM; Mark Brantley, Alexis Jeffers and Vance Amory (via communique) of the CCM; and Dr. Timothy Harris and Sam Condor of the PLP, all said that they were united in ridding the country of the Douglas Administration, whom they blamed for the economic plight of Kittitians and Nevisians. They have promised to put the economy back on track, if elected to office.
The Opposition has also criticised the Douglas Administration for its failure to table a Motion of No Confidence that has been pending for over nine months.
