St Kitts and Nevis Party accuses govt for lack of transparency

St Kitts and Nevis Labour Party have accused Prime Minister Dr Timothy led government of lack of transparency and communication.

SKNLP stated on Monday that a few months ago, the Attorney General dismissed accusations that SCASPA was mandating that to do business at the port, persons must be vaccinated.

The opposition stated that at a monthly press conference sometime after, the Prime Minister, again when questioned of the correspondence circulating about mandating the persons must be vaccinated to conduct business at the port, dismissed the accusation.

The party accused that the Minister responsible, Lindsay Grant, at the same press conference, stated the organization is a statutory body and does not require the cabinet's approval, confirming the correspondence was accurate.

"This was not the first, but a stark example of the lack of communication between the cabinet members." declared the opposition.

The opposition on Monday described another situation, where it claimed of lack of communication between the government. It stated that a similar scenario occurred when the Prime Minister stated in a message to the nation, following the community spread, that both islands will be placed on 24-hour lockdown. While, only hours later, the Premier of Nevis, Mark Brantley, overruled this directive and informed the residents of Nevis that there is no 24-hour lockdown in effect for Nevis only.

We again see this type of misinformation repeated in the Prime Minister's "address on Saturday 10 July, when he stated all daycare centres would reopen today, Monday 12 July. However, following this address, a notice was posted on ZIZ from the Ministry of Education's Media Unit on Sunday 11 July stating that "all early childhood development centres will remain closed until they are authorized to provide service consistent with COVID-19 Protocols",. declared the SKNLP.

SKNLP claimed that the correspondence further stated that the centres would not be expecting the return of children until later this week. This places parents in a rather uncompromising position. With already little time to prepare oneself for the return to work, parents were further left uncertain of what to do with regards to their children.

"This level of miscommunication is unprofessional, inconsistent, incompetent, and unstable at best. It will appear the Prime Minister has no control over his cabinet or is oblivious to what is happening within his quarters," stated SKNLP.