By: Spokesman Newsroom
BASSETERRE, St.Kitts (Thursday 7th December, 2017) – The government’s 2018 budget address themed ‘Putting People First in the Pursuit of Sustainable Development’ has received heavy criticism from the Opposition Leader Dr. Denzil L. Douglas of the St.Kitts-Nevis Labour Party.
“That is why when you go around this country, the government is saying things are so good and the people say well ‘What they talking about?’… What is he (Prime Minister Harris) talking about?’ ‘Where does he live?’ Dr. Douglas said during his budget response presentation in Parliament on Thursday 7th December whilst adding “He has the gall to say putting people first?! It’s really putting Harris and his family first! That is what it is!”
The opposition leader, who is the immediate former Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, put it to Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Dr. Timothy Harris that he (Dr. Harris) “has lost credibility in the eyes of the public and the eyes of the business community here in St. Kitts and Nevis.”
He also told: “The people out there in the streets no longer believes what the government says. The business community no longer believes what the prime minister and his government says. They just don’t believe. Even now if by chance they (the government) are talking the truth, they (people) are going to say ‘boy, no is a lie again’. That’s how it has become in this country!”
Dr. Douglas linked his views with the poor support the government received for its budget address presentation delivered by Prime Minister Harris the day before (Wednesday).
“Yesterday when I came in, I expected to see scores of chairs lined off in the corridors as was the case two years and three years before! I expected to see chairs lining off the corridors. Not one man was there yesterday listening the budget although the big screen used to be there. They don’t trust prime Minister; they no longer trust the Prime Minister and the Minister of Finance. People who you (Dr. Harris) invited have refused to turn up because they don’t trust the minister of Finance and the Prime Minister anymore here in this country,” Dr. Douglas stated.
He went on to say: “He has fooled enough people for too long. That’s why they don’t trust him. That’s why we didn’t see the corridors in this Parliament full with people as they thought it would have been yesterday. People are refusing to take him on but I will take him on here in this parliament!”
According to Dr. Douglas: “The very first impression that I formed when I opened the 2018 (budget) estimates… is that it lacks credibility Mr. Speaker and in my opinion it appears as though there was no serious attempts to present realistic and true figures to this honourable House yesterday .”
Additionally, he expressed that: “If the PM and Minister of Finance is deliberately refusing to face the realities of our nation and the suffering of our people, little wonder that his policies are now unrealistic and are falling on deaf ears.”
The former Finance Minister said the process must not be a mere manipulation of numbers.
“It cannot be only about arithmetic! It cannot! It is an important policy document that gives sensible and realistic view of the year ahead and it establishes policies aimed at carrying out country forward. These numbers mean nothing. If the numbers are wrong then the policies which are based on those numbers would also be wrong and would not work and that is exactly what we are seeing today because we warned last year that the process was wrong.”
Dr. Douglas emphasized that the Harris-led government has undertaken a budget process that lacks credibility.
“The budget process lacks credibility and it bears no relation to the realities that we are facing today as a nation.”
More coverage on budget presentations in follow-up reports.