BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – THE culture of neglecting particular constituencies because their Parliamentary Representatives sit on the Opposition Benches must become a thing of the past, according to former Parliamentarian and former member of the St. Kitts-Nevis Labour Party, G. A. Dwyer Astaphan.
Astaphan admitted to this publication that the practice dominated the Federation’s political culture in the past and is one of the reasons the electorate recently voted for “a government of inclusion”.
“You can’t punish people because they didn’t vote for you. We’ve had enough of that, haven’t we? This is why the country voted for a change. If you have a problem in a particular constituency and it is represented by somebody who sits in the Opposition, can it be right before God and man for that need to be neglected and ignored simply because the representative elected by them sits in the Opposition? That can’t be right!”
Astaphan said he welcomed news that Team Unity candidate for Constituency Number Two Jonel Powell expressed his willingness to work with the incumbent, the Hon. Marcella Liburd, for the betterment of the people of their constituency.
“Mr. Powell ran on a Team Unity ticket and I think he and all the other platform speakers repeatedly stated that they stood for the people of the country unifying. In fact, the whole concept of Team Unity is defined by people of different political views coming together in the larger cause under the country’s motto ‘County Above Self’.
“So it is a good thing if persons who won their seat collaborate with those who didn’t and vice versa. And it is a good thing if we have a government which looks out for the needs throughout the country, regardless of which person is the parliamentary representative for any specific constituency.”
Astaphan said he hopes that the approach being adopted by Powel would be adopted by others, which would redound to the benefit of the people of St. Kitts and Nevis.
“This is what it is all about, and in my view the only victors in this election were the people. So neither Mr. A or Ms. B won or loss. It was the people who won because the people demanded a different approach to governance and Mr. Powell is to be commended for signalling his willingness to work with Ms. Liburd. And we hope we get, as the public that is, that sort of cordiality and cooperative approach. This will certainly help to evaporate a lot of the hostility and the bitterness that has beleaguered our politics and our country for all too long. So it’s a good thing.”
