BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – LEADER of the Federation of St. Christopher and Nevis, Dr. the Hon. Denzil Douglas has come under attack by popular social commentator Washington ‘Washie’ Archibald, who says he is not only a “deliberate liar” but also an “unfit leader”.
Archibald recently spoke at length in an exclusive interview with SKNVibes and expressed that he is still in general support of the St. Kitts-Nevis Labour Party but does not support its leader, Dr. Douglas.
The commentator claimed Prime Minister has deceived the public on a number of occasions and that he used the closure of the sugar industry [which took place in mid-2005] as his main point of reference.
“As leader of the party, he is on record as being a deliberate liar. In the name of the party, he has lied to the electorate on a most important matter of the closing of the Sugar Industry. That was an egregious lie. For him to ensure the public in 2004 that the Sugar Industry is not facing imminent collapse, he assured the public that the Sugar Industry will only be closed over his dead body, but the elections was no soon over than the Industry was closed.
“For a Prime Minister, who is leader of a party, to ensure the public that the island’s main industry will not close but yet in eight months after he won the elections he closed it, don’t you think that was a terrible act of deception? The leader of the opposition told us the truth about the Industry and that it was about to close. Don’t you think the PM had that information? So he lied to us.”
Archibald opined that by this “terrible act of deception”, Prime Minister Douglas employed a strategy of fraud in his attempt to win the 2004 General Elections.
“He lied to the public to get our vote. He wanted to reassure us that the rumour about the closure of the Sugar Industry was false. That was a terrible lie and if he could have lied to us as he did on that important matter, he has proved himself to be an unreliable leader whose words cannot be trusted.
“In other words, he won the last elections by fraud; by fooling the people about the future of their Sugar Industry. He lulled the public into a state of false security. He misled the public. The man is the leader of the country and he misled the electorate on an important matter. Doesn’t this make him a terrible liar? This makes him unfit to be a leader! The present term of office he is now enjoying; he got into it by practicing a massive and deliberate fraud on our people. He lied, and politicians lying to the people is a serious calamity.”
Archibald said the Prime Minister should have laid all cards on the table while informing the nation of his intention to close the Sugar Industry before doing so.
“If the PM was forthcoming, he would have had to tell us what he was going to do with the land which the Sugar Industry would leave behind after his demise. He would have had to explain to us in the elections what he was going to do, but because he did not want to do that, he told us the Sugar Industry is not going to die...In the name of the party he deceived the people of St. Kitts, and we want to know why he deceived the people.”
The social activist spoke briefly on recent comments made by the former Minister of National Security, G. A. Dwyer Astaphan, noting that he is in support of his views. He explained, however, that he did not agree with the course of action Astaphan took in abdicating.
“I am fully in agreement with Astaphan’s position, but I disagree with Mr. Astaphan for leaving the government. I felt then, and I still feel that, as an aggrieved minister that has been elected by the people, he should have remained within the Cabinet and rally support against the Prime Minister because the Prime Minister can only exercise leadership over his Cabinet by the consent of his colleagues.”
He further opined that if the Hon. Prime Minister continues to lead in the manner that he has led, it will lead “inevitably towards dictatorship”.
“The Prime Minister has become a liability to the party and if the party loses the next election, it will be his fault,” Archibald concluded.
