By Spokesman Newsroom
BASSETERRE, St. Kitts (Wednesday 28th August 2024)- The People’s Labour Party (PLP) has reaffirmed its stance that it did not receive an invitation to the recent Crime Symposium held last Friday by the Drew-led administration.
In a statement issued on Tuesday 27th August 2024, the PLP clarified that the party stands “unequivocally” behind its claim of non-receipt of the invitation as first communicated in a 25th August statement. As understood, the PLP’s statement was prompted by comments from Prime Minister Dr. the Hon.
Terrance Drew and Labour advisor Mr. Austin Edinborough, both of whom asserted that an emailed invitation was sent to the PLP on August 19, 2024. However, upon investigation, the PLP discovered that the email may have been sent to an old, non-functional email address, without any follow-up from the administration.
The PLP expressed concern that the correspondence, which the party considers critical to national security, was not handled with the necessary diligence. “The correspondence, as important as it should have been to national security, may have been sent to an old, non-functional email address without any follow-up, whatsoever, by the Drew Administration – in particular, the office/department that organised this event,” the statement read.
The party further detailed the established communication channels that the Drew administration typically uses to communicate with the PLP and its leader, Dr. Hon. Timothy Harris. These include direct mail delivered by line ministry employees or police couriers to Dr.
Harris’s home or office, hard copy mail related to parliamentary matters sent via the Clerk of the National Assembly, and emails sent to the PLP’s official email address, plpsecretariatskn 08@gmail. com. The party noted that this email address was shared with the Regional Integration and Diaspora Unit within the Office of the Prime Minister as recently as June 19, 2024, to ensure proper communication.
The PLP also clarified that another official email address, plpcommunications@outlook.com, is used exclusively for PLP press conferences. “There is a proper way of doing things. The PLP insists on the right and proper way of doing things,” the statement emphasized.
The party called on the Drew-led administration to improve its communication efforts with all national stakeholders, stressing that failure to do so would signal a lack of seriousness about meaningful consultation. The PLP requested that the office responsible for organizing the Crime Symposium forward the email sent on August 19, 2024, to the correct address, plpsecretariatskn08@gmail.com, for the party’s records.
