By Joel B. Liburd, CNS

With only a few days to go, Kittitians and Nevisians would be trudging back to the polling stations for a third election in seven years. The fledgeling nation – the seventh smallest democracy in the world – is feeling the blows as for the first time, three political heavyweights are battling it out.

It comes on the heels of the spectacular collapse of the Team Unity coalition government, where two of the parties – Shawn Richards’ People’s Action Movement and Mark Brantley’s Concerned Citizens’ Movement – publicly expressed no confidence in the man they supported as Prime Minister for two terms, Timothy Harris, who leads the People’s Labour Party (PLP).

Harris, who was installed as Prime Minister after winning only one seat in 2015, was back for the leadership position, despite holding the least amount of seats again in the partnership. However, on the campaign trail, his former allies have thrown everything but the kitchen sink at Harris, blaming him for mismanagement of the country’s finances, financial malfeasance,  and unprecedented levels of nepotism in his appointments in the civil service. They have also questioned his dealings with a number of big-budget legacy projects, including the proposed new prison, the Basseterre High School and the controversial Leclanche energy project.

However, a recent development has had the normally quiet electorate up in arms, demanding that a CARICOM observer mission be on the ground. They are fearing that the Harris administration is considering illegal – and possibly treasonous – tactics to secure victory. CNS spoke with several Kittitians, who are speaking out about some ominous happenings in the home stretch to the polls.

One Fort Street vendor Tamara* (not her real name) said that the suspicious activity began about two weeks ago.

“It started with the Post Office. A couple of the people working there were complaining about a cough that wasn’t gping,” she said. “They tested for COVID, but they were negative.”

It was then that the Health Ministry sent in a team and discovered colonies of dangerous bacteria and Mould present throughout the building.

“We was (sic) not surprised,” Tamara says, “because a lot of the government buildings in town are very old, and the maintenance is not up to standards. Ah feel sorry fu de workers, but the government never really upkeep the place.”

However, that was not the end. Just a few days later, operations at the Robert L. Bradshaw Airport grounded to a halt, and employees walked out, complaining of coughs and itchy eyes.

Tamara told CNS that she realized something was wrong. One employee at a popular concession stand said she was confused: “It was really strange. The airport is one of the cleanest places on the island, and all of a sudden, there were people walking out and saying there was mould.”

The employee, speaking on condition of anonymity went on to say that she remained at her station, and saw senior government and airport officials doing a “walk-though” of the facility before employees went back to work. There was no Mould.

We managed to contact a senior official of the St. Christopher Air & Sea Ports Authority (SCASPA) who confirmed that there was an incident where the facility was “moderately humid and stuffy”, and that the ventilation equipment was examined. However, he said he was not authorised to speak on the matter, and did not answer our queries about the presence of mould at the airport.

CNS also tried contacting Mr Alexis Nisbett, who is both the Election Campaign Manager for the PLP and husband of Health Minister Akilah Byron-Nisbett, but we were unsuccessful. 

However, a senior official from the People’s Action Movement admitted that when they were part of the Team Unity coalition the question of the overseas/diaspora votes was a pressing one, since those voters were largely supporters of the St Kitts and Nevis Labour Party (SKNLP).

He said that it is very important to the PLP that those voters be kept at bay, and added that he was hoping that Harris does not bring shame to the island by shutting down the airport under false pretences in order to win the election. “Maybe they got the idea from the post office scenario, and tried a test run at the airport,” the official said. “But I truly pray that no one is mad enough to bring the Federation into disrepute by closing the airport under false pretences. That would be treason.”

IMAGES (supplied): Screen grabs from cell phone video from last week’s airport evacuation “test run”, showing Immigration Officers outside, and the empty terminal.

END

Joel B. Liburd (CNS)
Joel B. Libur is a Communications Consultant, Basseterre/Quebec. The opinions expressed here are entirely his own and are not necessarily the opinions of the publisher or editor of iNews Cayman/ieyenews.com

Note: CNS mentioned in the above is NOT the CNS attributed to Cayman News Service, Cayman Islands.