St Kitts and Nevis: Dr Douglas asks PM Harris to use millions of surplus to help people

St Kitts and Nevis: The Leader of the Opposition, Dr Denzil L. Douglas called on Prime Minister Timothy Harris to use the millions of dollars in surpluses to assist individuals who have been suffering from unemployment and underemployment as a result of coronavirus pandemic.

During a radio programme, the leader of the opposition blamed the Prime Minister for his inadequate handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to 500 COVID-19 cases and three virus-related deaths.

Douglas also said that the fallout from the first wave of the coronavirus pandemic has resulted in over 500 confirmed cases, 50 hospitalizations and three deaths in St Kitts and Nevis. He said the devastation has to be laid at the feet of Prime Minister Harris. "We are certain that had Dr Harris had the tenacity of a strong, caring and understanding Leader, he would have sought to stop the haemorrhaging and the human suffering of our people at the earliest point possible some month and a half ago instead of hesitating and twiddling his thumb," said LOP Dr Douglas.

He also shared the physical suffering of all those hospitalized, the destruction of the livelihoods of small business owners and the mental and emotional suffering of all those quarantined and isolated.

Former Prime Minister Dr Douglas, who is also a medical doctor, said that PM Harris is currently under internal leadership pressures that have caused him to make so many mistakes in the mismanagement of the pandemic.

He said Prime Minister must stop obsessing himself with balancing the books like a first-year university accounting student.

Dr Douglas also noted that for the past several months, hundreds of persons have been unemployed and underemployed, small businesses have had to close their doors, taxi drivers, craft persons and vendors in the tourism industry and other areas have lost their incomes.

Leader of Opposition said Prime Minister Harris should ensure that the millions and millions of dollars in surpluses should be used to assist individuals who are suffering when he has access to monies, including the EC$900 million that he left in The Treasury when SKNLP demitted office early March 2015.

Dr Douglas further called on Prime Minister Harris, who is also the minister of finance, to access an ECCB lending programme for small and medium-sized businesses that are also suffering and which will assist in the re-employment of job seekers.

"I want to urge Dr Harris to take seriously the new ECCB scheme that will be making lending easier whereas a member country, St Kitts and Nevis should be able to rely upon the ECCB Partial Credit Guarantee programme which makes lending easier for those businesses thus enabling them to stay afloat and ride themselves out of this crisis that they have found themselves," said Dr Douglas.

"We know it is in existence because it has been announced for the other countries in the Eastern Caribbean. If he has no intention of accessing it, we demand that he accesses it on behalf of small enterprises here in St. Kitts and Nevis," he said.