BASSETERRE, ST. KITTS, May 31, 2022 [Press Secretary, PMO] – Prime Minister and Political Leader of the 91-year-old St. Kitts-Nevis Labour Party (SKNLP) Hon. Dr. Terrance Drew reaffirmed that the party’s motto, “‘For the good that we can do” must remain the forefront of every deliberation and every action, in the pursuit of “Social justice for all” by his nine-month-old SKNLP Administration.
During the SKNLP 91st Anniversary Annual National Conference, Hon. Dr. Terrance Drew highlighted several initiatives that will benefit the people of the twin-island federation and improve the quality of their lives.
Dr. Drew told party supporters, conference delegates, members of the Diplomatic and Consular Corps and representatives of local organizations that the first decision he made hours after he was sworn in as Prime Minister on August 6, 2022, was the lifting of several COVID-19 restrictions and the reopening of the full opening of the Federation’s borders for normal business.
“On the 7th of August 2022, we opened up St. Kitts and Nevis. We understood that we could not allow the economy of St. Kitts and Nevis to fail, because not only will the economy suffer, but the people as well,’ said Dr. Drew.
He pointed out also that his government paid an honorarium to the COVID-19 frontline workers because the former Administration had only paid a selected few.
“[In discharging] our principle of social justice, universality and fairness, we made sure that those who were duly qualified could have also benefitted from the honorarium,” Dr Drew told the conference.
The Prime Minister and SKNLP Leader also noted that in keeping with one of the promises made on the campaign trail leading up to the August 2022 general elections, was the payment of a dividend starting in December 2022 from the proceeds from the Citizenship by Investment Programme. Dr. Drew said it was the first time a government in the Western Hemisphere had introduced such an initiative.
Prime Minister Drew also referred to the payment of a double salary to civil servants and employees of government-owned corporations and institutions in November of 2022.
A medical doctor by profession, Dr. Drew reminded the conference and the country that his newly elected SKNLP Administration created a fund to finance all children who needed special medical care overseas if it was not available in Saint Kitts and Nevis and whose parents could not afford the expenses.
“Children who would have died a few months, are alive today because we were able to send them overseas for life-saving surgical treatment. We created the Children Medical Welfare Fund so that all children are given the opportunity to live,” Dr. Drew said.
Referring to education as a human right within his St. Kitts-Nevis Labour Party administration, Dr. Drew said his government took the decision within the first few weeks of assuming office and announced that tuition at the Clarence Fitzroy Bryant would be free with immediate effect.
