Mr. Joseph W. Parry, Premier of Nevis has thrust himself in the Federal Elections in Nevis in an alarming fashion. It is now ten (10) years since Mr Parry took the decision not to participate in Federal Elections. He as head of the Nevis Reformation Party (N.R.P) selected Mr Patrice Nisbett to contest the elections in the constituency of St. James and St. Thomas which he hitherto contested and represented. Mr Nisbett has been the representative for that constituency for the pass 10 years and during that period he has failed to make any impact not to mention that he has not been able to produce any benefits for his constituency or for Nevis. Now in these elections he is up against a young and enterprising businessman By the name of Alexis Jeffers. In the constituency of St. John and St. Paul Mr Parry’s Deputy Hensley Daniel is challenging the incumbent Mark Brantley of the Concerned Citizens Movement (CCM). Over in St. George Mrs. Patricia Hanley is once again challenging the incumbent Vance Amory. Now Mr Parry is facing a situation which he considers to be threatening his position as Premier. Instead of providing calm leadership in the face of this uncertainty, he has unleashed a spate of threats and bullying against the opposition and indeed Caribbean Nationals residing here particularly the Guyanese who are making their contributions to our development. His call for “guns to blaze in this country, to fire at will, to take them out referring to the opposition members” is as frightening as a declaration of war especially at this time of fear in the country as a result of activities of young criminals and especially when a number of these young men are now seen sporting N.R.P. t-shirts as they did in the 2006 local elections and who consider themselves followers of the party. Last Friday the 15th January, 2010 the C.C.M. had requested permission from the Police to have a meeting at Pancho’s shop. Subsequently however the N.R.P. also made a request for a meeting and show at the near By “Flats”. Clearly a provocation as it was just about ½ mile from the C.C.M. meeting. Nonetheless the Police gave them permission to have their meeting and show. If that provocation was not enough Mr Parry was heard on Radio telling his supporters in a boisterous and aggressive manner “There are three ways to get to the Flats you can go through Brown Hill via Montpelier, you can also go through Chicken Stone via Clay Ghaut and you can go through Cole Hill. If you go through Cole Hill you will see the C.C.M. saying they have meeting, I say to you do not go through Brown Hill, do not go through Chicken Stone. Go straight through Cole Hill and show them the power of the Nevis Reformation Party”. Those instructions could well have caused a serious breach of the peace. However thanks to the calm leadership of the C.C.M. at the meeting a serious breach of the peace was avoided. Now the Premier is heard threatening the Guyanese community ‘to fall in line or else”. In fact many of the N.R.P. activists are going around telling the Guyanese and other foreign nationals that the Administration could find out how they voted which of course is untrue; all this is to intimidate them. The apologist for the Premier including the Press Secretary Deli Caines-Bussue are out trying hard to explain away the statements of the Premier although the statements clearly speak for themselves. According to them when the Premier speaks about let the guns blaze and take them out he was mainly referring to a cricketing phrase and when he spoke about the Guyanese falling in line he was really reprimanding them from practicing obeah. Now I have played cricket for a good deal of my life and I have never heard the phrase “let the guns blaze” apply to cricket. Further I have never heard that the Guyanese community is involved in obeah. The Premier’s irrational behaviour is not restricted to his political enemies or even to the Guyanese residents who he is clearly trying to intimidate but also to matters of public policy. Consider the situations regarding the Caribbean Cable Communication Limited (C.C.C) the sole Cable provider in Nevis. The Company had an arrangement with the Island Administration going back to the former C.C.M. Administration. The arrangement was that the Cable would give the N.I.A. through its Nevis News Cast (N.N.C.) four hours of air time on Channel 8. N.N.C. provided programming on mainly Government and general news and cultural activities. It was clearly a popular service particularly for the older people. The Cable like all of us is going through difficult financial times and it informed the Administration that it intended to seek a small fee for its services and at the same time offered more air time to the Administration. It invited the Administration to a meeting to discuss the matter. The Administration did not respond and the Cable disconnected the services. Mr Parry responded angrily and gave the Cable Company 24 hours to restore the service. The cable stood firm. The Administration responded By going to the Nevis House of Assembly armed with a Bill which the Opposition members were unaware of until they entered the chamber and sought to pass it in one sitting. The same day the Bill was passed and signed into law By the Deputy Governor General and was gazetted in St. Kitts that same evening. The next morning Minister Elhansville Robelto Hector with all of the High raking officers of the Nevis Division of the Police Force together with several other policemen entered the offices of the Cable and gave instructions to the employees and customers to vacate the building and had the locks of the premises removed and changed. This was an act of political gangsterism and an act which will have a lasting effect on our chances of attracting foreign investment. The whole reaction of the Nevis Island Administration was unprecedented in the history of the entire Commonwealth. It was also unconstitutional as the Nevis Island Administration has no power to confiscate people’s assets. The act of acquisition is a sovereign act that could only come from a sovereign parliament. The Nevis Island Assembly has only limited powers and can only pass law which are specifically allowed By the constitution. It is therefore not a sovereign legislature. Even if I am wrong which I do not believe no court, would uphold the process used in effecting the take over of the assets and interests of the Caribbean Cable Communications. Both the act itself and the legislature which seeks to support it would fail. The Island is now at the brink and the people of this country must speak out about the irrational behaviour of the Premier in this fair land of ours before it is too late.
