Basseterre, St. Kitts, January 07, 2019 (SKNIS): The Right Honourable Sir Dennis Byron, Retired President of the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ), while giving the featured address at the Prime Minister’s New Year’s Gala on January 05 at the St. Kitts Marriott Hotel, commended Prime Minister Dr. the Honourable Timothy Harris for “his willingness to embrace the dream of national unity.”
He noted that Dr. Harris was a brilliant intellectual at the University of the West Indies (UWI) where he excelled in his field of Accounting, graduated at the top of his class, and served as part of the Dr. Douglas Administration from 1995 – 2013 before his decision to part ways.
“In 2013, he parted ways with the Douglas Administration and helped to form the People’s Labour Party. Perhaps one of Dr. Harris’s best qualities was his willingness to embrace the dream of national unity,” said Sir Dennis.
The creation of the Team Unity movement was formally established through a Memorandum of Understanding to form a political alliance with the PAM (People’s Action Movement) and CCM (Concerned Citizen’s Movement) and the People’s Labour Party (PLP) dubbed the National Unity Agreement signed by the leaders of the three parties in 2013. Prime Minister Harris leads the PLP. Deputy Prime Minister, the Honourable Shawn Richards, leads the PAM, and Premier of Nevis, the Honourable Mark Brantley, who succeeded the Honourable Vance Amory, leads the CCM.
“This agreement sets out the principles of the Unity concept with each party subordinating its own agendas to the commitment of adhering to programmes and policies that would benefit every citizen of St. Kitts and Nevis regardless of race, gender, religion, political affiliation, and place of origin or birth. It stated that it was determined to build a society free of violence and based on several laudable principles including the rule of law, good governance, social justice, fairness, openness, transparency, dignity and equality. It mapped out a framework with a clear national purpose, core values that would guide the policies of any government it formed which would be aimed at promoting the wellbeing to all citizens,” he said.
Sir Dennis said that it was interesting to note that Dr. Harris was accepted as the leader of the Team Unity movement because of his intellect, qualifications, experiences and public acceptability. He said this “naturally fit him for the role.”
“The success of Unity is that it only works with compromise and accountability so that in the end the concept is greater than the individuals who comprise it. That is the genius of the concept and why it could be a model that would help to improve the quality of life in the Caribbean Region,” said Sir Dennis.
