BASSETERRE, St.Kitts (Friday 11th December 2020) – “I stand resolved that our democracy and country are worth fighting for and I will fight this to the very end and beyond. I will not rest until integrity in public life is operationalized, until there is true transparency, until victimization no longer exists, until our people are truly free and that elections are free and fair and free from fear.”
Such is the sentiments of the St.Kitts-Nevis Labour Party candidate for Constituency Eight Dr. Terrance Drew in regard to a private lawsuit recently filed against Eugene Hamilton of the People’s Action Movement on allegations of “bribery, treating and other corrupt practices” surrounding the 5th June 2020 general election.
“If these practices become the norm and are not challenged then we would lose our democracy and all the freedoms that we have fought hard for as a country. In the long run we will all suffer because what is bad for the hive cannot be good for the bees,” Dr. Drew stated via a statement issued on Monday 7th November 2020.
Dr. Drew is calling on others to stand with him on this matter.
“I ask you the people of our land to join me in fighting for the soul of our country and democracy. For in the end all will benefit!”
Both Dr. Drew and Hamilton ran for the St. Christopher Eight seat following which Hamilton emerged the declared winner after a public debated lengthy count period.
Dr. Drew informed that on Monday 30th November 2020, he filed a case in the court against Hamilton that will deal with such said to have taken place during the general election.
In two areas of claimed corrupt practices, Dr. Drew said “The General Election was held under a State of Emergency (SOE). While the Team Unity candidates were out canvassing and holding secret meetings with voters late into the night, the Labour candidates were harassed and forced to stay inside.”
Additionally, “ Our political meetings could only host 15 persons while Unity were having big jam sessions at a major hotel, with no social distancing and sometimes not even masks.”
Dr. Drew is also the SKNLP Chairman.
Notably, the SKNLP in a recent press release dated 3rd December 2020 stated in part that it “has consistently maintained that the General Elections held June 5, 2020 were conducted in a manner that was neither free, fair nor free from fear and represented a gross miscarriage of justice and democracy.”
That statement had as its headline: ‘Labour Supports Dr. Terrance Drew in Private Criminal Suit Against Eugene Hamilton’.