Home  News Regional News St. Kitts opposition gearing up
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St. Kitts opposition gearing up |
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Sunday, 02 November 2008 |
BASSETERRE – Opposition leader Lindsay Grant says the People’s Action Movement (PAM) is gearing up for elections by the first quarter of next year and remains very confident that the people will elect for change.
Speaking with the Caribbean Media Corporation (CMC) as the ruling St. Kitts and Nevis Labor Party (SKLP) of Prime Minister Denzil Douglas marked the fourth year of its third term in office, Grant suggested there was currently no reason for the country to celebrate and that the current government was in a state of quandary.
“We expect elections in the first quarter of next year…in fact we were preparing for a November election so we are in gear; all our candidates have been chosen and we just await such time,” he said.
The PAM leader also pointed to the so-called ‘winds of political change’ that have been blowing strongly across the Caribbean over the past two years and have been responsible for sweeping several governments from office.
“The (SKLP) government is now trying a get a fourth term (and that) is always a difficulty with any political party,” noted Grant.
He said the Douglas administration was also faced with internal problems, adding that “the longer the government waits to call an election the more difficult their task becomes”.
The ruling party, which was last elected here on October 25, 2004, marked the anniversary with a church service on Sunday where Prime Minister Douglas re-affirmed his government’s commitment to continue serving the people.
However, Grant has charged that Douglas has run out of ideas and that the people were already looking elsewhere for signs of hope.
“Denzil Douglas is now operating in an environment where we have the highest debt to GDP (Gross Domestic Product) ratio in the world at 189 percent and the largest national debt in our country’s history, almost EC$1 billion (US$381 million),” Grant told CMC.
He further charged that the cost of living was spiraling out of control, with almost 40 per cent of the population living below the poverty line.
“…so one has to ask the question, what is there to celebrate.”
Grant said an administration led by him would take steps to grow the middle class, as this would result in growth in the economy.
He said a PAM administration would also immediately re-negotiate the country’s loans, giving some “breathing space to the government”.
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