By: Spokesman Newsroom
BASSETERRE, St. Kitts (Thursday 30th June 2022) — SKNLP Leader Dr. Terrance Drew is calling on members of the public, despite political affiliations, to partake in a march slated for Friday 1st July 2022 to bring attention to a national issue in standing up against the blocking of overseas voters. During his appearance on FreedomFM’s ‘We Talk’ programme, Dr. Drew claimed that a tactic used by PM Harris for the 2020 General Elections, during the COVID-19 pandemic, is being planned once again for the upcoming 2022 polls.
“We are marching primarily in solidarity with our overseas nationals because what is happening, we know that in 2020 the then Unity government used the COVID situation to deny our nationals and citizens the opportunity to come home and vote. Today St. Kitts and Nevis is probably the only country in the OECS where people are asking for permission to come home. Imagine you have to do a COVID test, upload it on a website and you have to wait for somebody to give you permission to come to your country of birth. The restrictions in St. Kitts and Nevis are not scientifically based. They are based on political expediency — Harris is looking for political advantage and he’s doing so by denying the people the ability to come and vote. When people want to come home to vote, their information would be ignored and no permission will be sent,” Dr. Drew stated.
“That should not be. That is going to hit us in the gut democratically and we would not and we should not accept it. This is not a Labour Party issue; this is a national issue and all of our people should be involved. We are inviting everybody to the march — we are inviting PAM, we are inviting CCM, we’re inviting independents, we’re inviting all patriots, we’re inviting even those who are within the PLP ranks; all are invited to the march,” he added. The march, dubbed the ‘Freedom March,’ was scheduled to start at Greenlands Park in Basseterre at 2:00 PM.