BASSETERRE, St.Kitts (Friday 30th October 2020)- Premier Mark Brantley has addressed what came off as a debatable public topic in relation to recent radio-talk advice given on the topic of responsible family life planning.
“…this time around it created some controversy but that was not the intention. The intention was to engage in an ongoing conversation about our people trying to be responsible,” he said while responding to a reporter at his monthly press conference held on Thursday 29th October 2020.”
“Part of our role is not to tell people what they want to hear but also to tell people some hard truths which they may not want to hear, and one of those hard truths is that our people continue to behave in some areas irresponsibly,” he noted.
Brantley went on to say: “You talk about people who have children here, there and everywhere. Men, in particular, who feel that it is their right to get as many children as they can without regard as to how those children are going to be supported when we have contraceptives that are available again for free.”
He shared an experience that a gentleman came to him once asking for some assistance because the bailiff was looking for him because he did not pay his child support.
“I was sympathetic but used the opportunity to have a conversation with him to ascertain from him how did you find yourself in this situation?’ thinking that perhaps he’s out of work and fallen on hard times only to learn that the man has six children from six different women, and his theory on life was …because women like to tell lies and like to say he was not their man so that is why he did it so that he has proof that he was with this particular female. Now we can debate all day, all night as to why someone would need proof that he was with a particular female but in his mind that was evidence that he was in a relationship with that female; that was his motivating force but I now must put my hand in my pocket to rescue him from the Bailiff,” Brantley stated.
“I spoke to him and I said that I have two children and I try to limit myself to two because that is what I could afford. Here he was having six and bailiff looking for him but the reason why he had six from six different women was as he explained it to me,” he added.
Brantley disclosed that having told the individual that the clinics and Health Promotion Unit to get free condoms to which the man stormed out and accused him of not respecting poor people.
“Now, we must talk about these things, and I’m not gonna shy away because some had hurt feelings. We must talk about these things and perhaps when the Premier speaks, more people might listen; I don’t know, and if it generated some controversy I’m not sure why but perhaps it’s a good thing because see you’ve come this morning to ask me about it again, and people were talking about it.”
He continued: “We cannot get to the type of society we need if we continue to cuddle everybody and when people do things that we know they shouldn’t do, and that they know they shouldn’t do, we tell them they’re right. So I hear people saying a child is a gift from God and children are a blessing. That is true but with that blessing comes a responsibility and that is all I’m saying to people. If you are going to decide to go down a particular road and engage in particular activities.”
Additionally, he alluded that in speaking to some individuals their response is that they are adults.
“Well, that’s ok but if you’re a big man or big woman, be a big man or big woman when your responsibility comes. You can’t be a big man or big woman when are having the fun but when the baby comes now, the baby is somebody else’s responsibility, and people don’t like to hear these things because our people have gotten to a point somehow that you must tell them what they want to hear; make them feel good…tell them that their irresponsible is ok…‘it’s not your fault’.”
Brantley pointed out that some commentaries that he seen some people would want to take him back to the days of slavery and say that such is a legacy of slavery.
“At what point, with all the education we’ve invested in, all the advances in healthcare and technology, at what point does that kick in or we still go back to 200 years ago?” he questioned.
“I don’t accept that. Yes there are problems in society , yes there are things that happen outside the control of persons, yes there are poor people who are taken advantage of including women but we also have to drill into our people’s heads that where you have a choice seek to make the right choice.
Where you’re going to take a decision, understand that that decision might have consequences and as a result of that we hope you will make better decisions because poor choices and poor decisions and irresponsible behavior has an impact for the entire community,” Brantley highlighted.
In further speaking about the feedback he received from his radio presentation, he expressed: “It is not as some say to you that I am preaching to people or I am condescending. I am speaking truth and facts, and I am asking people to listen. If you don’t like it because I’m the messenger that’s ok too perhaps others will hear me and give you the message in a different way that you will like. Even the way I expressed the message because I resorted to Nevisian vernacular and I seem to have offended some people feel that the Premier mustn’t talk ‘bad’ like that. Well, that’s my culture. I said colloquially I’m sure people understood what I was talking about but the point that I was making-and I’m happy you raised it-is that all of us have an obligation to talk about these issues. There are too many social issues that are swept under the rug in our country…There are unpleasant facts of life in our community and you can never deal with a problem by ignoring it. You must always deal with a problem by being open with it and being able to discuss it, and that is all that I sort to do, and this time around it created some controversy but that was not the intention. The intention was to engage in an ongoing conversation about our people trying to be responsible…”
Appearing on a recent edition of the weekly ‘On the Mark’ radio programme, Brantley touched the topic of responsible family planning, and the clipping with his comments has been circulating on social media.