By: Thinking Citizen

A certain government created and historic and most disturbing situation. That government created a situation in which there were both a Governor-General and an Acting Governor-General sitting in office at the same time. That Government was the Team Unity Government.

The most disgusting aspect of the whole sordid affair was the fact that Team Unity tried to pin the blame for its own incompetence on Her Majesty the Queen. But Team Unity was simply wasting its time for Her Majesty was neither for Attorney General nor Prime Minister in St.Kitts-Nevis.

The same Team Unity Government allowed an overseas investor to fund a project for Steam Cell Research at the JNF General Hospital in St.Kitts.

However, soon afterwards when news of the Research Project leaked out CMO Dr. Patrick Martin went to the hospital and shut down the Project.

There was lots of talk in St.Kitts concerning what had been happening at the Hospital. The Senior Minister in the Ministry of Health confirmed that Stem Cell Research had indeed been carried out at the Hospital but a few days later, the Junior Minister in the same Ministry of Health went on the radio and contradicted the Senior Minister of Health by saying that no Stem Cell Research had ever been carried out at the Hospital.

From Health we go to Education. The old Basseterre High School on Victoria Road has been shut down and abandoned by Team Unity. It was shut down for narrow political reasons and not for any valid health reasons.

In order to justify its action, Team Unity is claiming that a Team of Experts from NIOSH in Washington D.C had recommended that the Basseterre High School was contaminated beyond measure and was no longer safe to be used as a school.

Others have been saying that three teams of experts from overseas including NIOSH had studied the problem at the School and none of the teams had recommend that the School be abandoned.

Government has never been to publish the NIOSH Report in the local newspapers or make copies for distribution to local organisations or businesses. Clearly something is wrong. If government had been interpreting the NIOSH Report correctly then the Government should not have been afraid to make the Report public for all interested persons to see and read.

Certain persons in St.Kitts and Nevis who have been trained in health and related fields have remarked that the Government is willfully misinterpreting the NIOSH Report and that is why Government is afraid to make the Report available for public scrutiny.

The Government is hell-bent on putting down the new Basseterre High School on the Basseterre Valley Aquifer. The Government’s advisors have acknowledged that there are certain risks involved in putting down the building on that site but they say that certain safe-guards can be built into the system that can mitigate the risks or protect the water in the Aquifer from becoming contaminated completely.

Other experts disagree with that assessment of the situation and cite the case of other countries in the world where such safeguards have been used and were not able to provide the level of protection desired or required.

It is the opinion of close political observers that the Team Unity Government not only indulges in lies but supports public officials who tell lies as well.

Mr. Junie Hodge, the current superintendent of Prisons announced that he conducted a one-month prison lock-down shortly after his appointments as Superintendent.

As a result of that lock-down, the Superintendent said numerous contraband items were found in the cells of prisoners in jail. The contraband items were put on public display.

The immediate former Prison Superintendent responded to that announcement by stating that what the present Superintendent was saying was not true as he himself had collected the very same items when he was serving as Superintendent and had put the items into a safe and secure container in a secure office,.

In spite of the correction that was made by the former Superintendent of Prisons, the Prime Minister made no attempt to have Mr. Junie Hodge withdraw his false and erroneous report.

In every country in the world people expect their Government to be Honest, Decent, Truthful and Upright. Our people in the Federation of St.Kitts and Nevis expect our Government to be no different. However, our Government short-changes us not by being Honest, Decent, Truthful and Upright but by simply announcing that it is committed to all those virtues and values.