By Floyd French
Observer Reporter
(Basseterre, St. Kitts) – Eugene Hamilton, Deputy Political Leader of the People’s Action Movement, said the Supervisor of Elections Pastor Leroy Benjamin, over reacted about reports of his conduct at the Confirmation Centre in Cayon.
Their dispute came in letters exchanged between the two.
However, Mr. Hamilton said that the letters were not intended for the public domain but were made public after Mr. Benjamin’s manner in dealing with his letter requesting clarification on inconsistencies in the confirmation process.
“The Supervisor, as far as I’m concerned, got carried away with improper reports from the Office of Conformation in Cayon and in his misguided zeal to bring some kind of attention to what he perceived,” stated Mr. Hamilton.
The fallout between PAM’s candidate for constituency number eight, Mr. Hamilton and Mr. Benjamin began after Mr Hamilton wrote a letter to Mr. Benjamin. The letter dated May 21 seeks clarification on confirmation inconsistencies Mr. Hamilton would like addressed before the end of the confirmation process at the end of September this year.
Mr. Hamilton said there were other confirmation inconsistencies not included in the May 21 letter but for now he sought clarification on eighteen possible errors or irregularities listed in his letter.
Most of the items question changes in some registrants’ polling division within the constituencies. Mr. Hamilton believes that an uneven distribution of voters might result in the lost of some polling divisions if the boundaries were changed.
The Government has promised a review of constituency boundaries and that review and eventual redrawing of the constituencies are expected after the end of the confirmation process.
While the Mr. Benjamin has not publicly addressed the issues raised, Mr. Hamilton saw Mr. Benjamin’s decision to send copies of the reply to the Hon. Attorney General and the Commissioner of Police as an attempt to intimidate him.
The very same day Mr. Benjamin replied, Mr. Hamilton responded. In his second letter dated, May 27, Mr. Hamilton made clear his interpretation.
“Let me assure you that copying the your letter to the Attorney General and the Commissioner of Police does not scare me at all, but reinforces, that you are not interested in transparency, fairness or integrity, so you will use intimidation to cover up your conduct and uphold that of my opponent and the Labour Party. Such conduct I resent and reject,” Hamilton ‘s letter concluded.
Mr. Benjamin’s letter acknowledges the concerns of Mr. Hamilton and promises further correspondence to address those concerns. The letter then goes on to castigate Mr. Hamilton for alleged improper conduct at the Confirmation Centre in Cayon.
The Supervisor’s letter dated May 27 charged that Mr. Hamilton entered the Confirmation Centre without a legitimate reason, looked over the shoulders of Electoral Officers and took “photographs perhaps with the intent to mislead the public.” It is on the issue of conduct both men differ bitterly.
“He answered my letter by giving me a three-liner and the rest of the letter, two pages, is directed to me and my alleged conduct. But what is worse is that the letter is sent to the Attorney General and Commissioner of Police which means he is giving me a warning that I am now to be under the scrutiny of the police in conducting my civic duty as a registrant and as a candidate of the People’s Action Movement.
“For that reason I recognised that these things need to be put before the media because the media is supposed to be the conscience of the nation. The media is supposed to be the watch dog,” Mr. Hamilton emphasised.
Mr. Hamilton stressed that his May 21 letter was not initially intended for the media and the public, and it was only copied to his party’s Political Leader, Mr. Lindsay Grant and the Chairman of the Electoral Commission.
