BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – PRIME MINISTER the Hon. Dr. Denzil Douglas has blasted main opposition party, the People’s Action Movement (PAM), and certain segments of the media, accusing them of “[thriving] on sensationalism” and “[trying] to bring down the government”.
At the time, PM Douglas was responding to an e-mail from a follower of his weekly “Ask the PM” show on ZIZ Radio. The admirer stated that he/she was “baffled that some media houses on St. Kitts are allowing themselves to be used as surrogates to tarnish your image and they seem to twist and interpret any statement made by you to tell the world what you did not say”.
The admirer deemed the practice “not only unkind, malicious and unprofessional but also irresponsible”.
Douglas concurred with the statement and accused both PAM and the media of taking the situation out of context.
“Whatever I say I am very, very careful and I know what I say. I understand there is a lot of hot air being put on a statement I made Thursday night at a public meeting in Old Road; that I used violent language. Since when in speaking about an election contest, you say you will beat somebody, that becomes violent? It is a very common language we use in campaigning that someone is going to beat somebody.
“All this has been taken out of context because PAM really has nothing of substance to give to the people as they prepare for general elections. They are clutching at straws. I am not surprised that certain sections of the media – not the entire media of course – who apparently thrive on sensationalism think this is the way they will try to bring down the government,” said the Prime Minister.
The statement in question was taken from a Labour Party’s public meeting in Old Road Village on Thursday night (Apr. 2). In his address to the crowd, Dr. Douglas levelled a number of accusations against PAM’s Political Leader, Lindsay Grant, which included the victimisation of Labour Party’s supporters in the civil service and the firing of a Prison Officer should PAM win the upcoming elections.
Also in his address, the PM said, “Boy he gon get so much licks in he backside, you hear! So much blows, I gon can’t find where on the body to blows him! I gon can’t even find place on he body to blows him! Left, right, uppercut, punch! Uppercut, punch! Uppercut, punch!”
The remarks raised much public ire, especially as the meeting occurred on the same day as the national march and rally against crime, during which Douglas had publicly shook hands with Grant and urged persons to work together to fight crime despite their differences.
However, Douglas displayed little remorse for his actions and instead stressed that persons would not be fooled by PAM’s attempts to “defeat Labour”.
“PAM is hoping Labour will defeat itself, because they really cannot defeat Labour, so Labour will have to defeat itself for it to be out of government. But people in this country are very sensible. They are mature, they understand what political rhetoric is and the language used on the platform, which is completely different and is not to be taken in the context that it is being put by a number of our detractors,” he asserted.
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