By LR LiburdThe St. Kitts-Nevis Observer
While Opposition Leader the Rt. Hon. Dr. Denzil Douglas has indicated his political party’s plan of launching protest actions against the Government for several reasons, former Government Minister Dwyer Astaphan has condemned him for the use of what he termed “incendiary language” and suggested that the people should protest against the former Prime Minister for damaging the patrimony of St. Kitts and Nevis.
“People have a right to protest and that right has to be respected. If Dr. Douglas is talking about turning up the country, that is incendiary language. What does that mean? What does he want to inherit? He had 20 years in leadership, what does he want again…more? If the Government is doing wrong things or doing things wrongly, then he has a responsibility to speak out against it, and he is doing so. But he has to watch his language and nobody is going to allow him to turn up any country. He must stop deluding himself.”
As a guest on Freedom FM last week Wednesday (Aug 31), Dr. Douglas indicated that the St. Kitts-Nevis Labour Party (SKNLP) would soon be launching protest action against the tri-party Team Unity Government.
“We will protest as well against crime, we will protest against the conflict of interest that we are seeing in this Administration, we will protest against the continued victimisation and political cleansing we are seeing in government offices and institutions, we will continue to protest against nepotism and cronyism, we will protest against the degeneration in our health services.
“These are the reasons why we have to protest. The time has come! We will no longer remain silent. We will turn things up and turn it upside down!”
Astaphan however disagreed with Dr. Douglas’ strategy in resolving accusations levelled at the Government and suggested that he should consider an alternative that would make the SKNLP a more viable political party.
“Even the best thing that Dr. Douglas should do is handover the leadership because the party is afraid of him. And they are afraid of him so they will never remove him. He will stay there until he dies…So be gracious and say, ‘I have been there since 1989, let me be the elder statesman, let me groom a new leader and not thought it fit to groom anybody because I want to be here behind my group.’
“Walk away graciously and prepare the new leadership for the Labour Party and the Labour Movement. Try to get some fillip to the Labour Union which he destroyed. These are the things he must be doing to caring a party for life after him. You got members of the Labour Movement who protested against him for the damage he’s done not just to the Labour Party and the Labour Union, but to the patrimony of the country.”
Another reason that Dr. Douglas gave for the intended protest is the claim that the Team Unity Government plans to remove the life-size monument of the country’s first National Hero, the Rt. Excellent Sir Robert Llewellyn Bradshaw, from the Bradshaw Memorial Park in St. Paul’s to the proposed National Heroes Park that would honour all of the Federation’s National Heroes.
“We have to take action against this Government. The action has to be a full scale, loud and large protest action that it can be seen and heard by this Government so that they can amend their ways. Unless this is done, it is not going to happen. I want to emphasise that I shall stand in their way with any attempt that they are making to remove the memorial of Bradshaw from St Paul’s. The Bradshaw Memorial Park was established as our National Heroes Park.”
Commenting on this statement, Astaphan accused Dr. Douglas of desecrating Bradshaw’s memory.
“He [Douglas], more than any person, has desecrated the memory of Robert Bradshaw by doing what he has done to the Party and the Union and to the country. He is the one people should be protesting against.”
In a press release on Friday (Sept. 2), the Team Unity Government rubbished the Opposition Leader’s claim, stating that it has no interest in removing the sculpture.
The release also read: “It is unfortunate that the Denzil Douglas party should rally against the Unity administration’s efforts to both honour all of our Heroes and create a home for all who have joined the pantheon of National Heroes. Throughout its 20 years, the Denzil Douglas administration failed in its duty to our National Heroes. The country is better for Unity’s vision.”
