By: Staff Writer
August 16, 2022
Premier Mark Brantley, leader of the Nevis based Concerned Citizens Movement (CCM) said that former Prime Minister Dr Timothy Harris decided to sink the coalition than consult with its members.
Mr Brantley, told Caribbean Magazine Plus that despite being in opposition now, he is anticipating good working relationship with current Prime Minister Dr Terrance Drew, which may mean working with Dr Drew’s former party leader and Prime Minister of SKN, Dr Denzil Douglas, who Mr Brantley worked feverishly to get out of office in 2015.
He is not worried about Dr Douglas becoming Prime Minister again because he believes Dr Drew has things well under control and trusts his judgement to place Dr Douglas accordingly in the cabinet.
Whether Dr Drew’s tenure as Prime Minister will be a “safe” one is not up to Mr Brantley to decided, because “it is up to their internal party politics.”
The Oxford trained lawyer also said: “We believe he (Dr Drew) is new and has none of the baggage his predecessors might have had,” vouching firmly for Dr Drew to make organise his cabinet soberly in this season of tumult.
Despite the change in leadership in the country, the Nevis legislative agenda remains the same. “We have our own legislative agenda. We want more from the resources of the country. Federally the legislative agenda is dictated by the government and we are no longer a part of the government so we wait to see what they do there. I can tell you that issues of importance to Nevis, such as a fair share in the national resources, those issues are going to be foremost in what we do.”
Nevis not getting its “fair share” is the primary reason why Premier Brantley had a falling-out with now former Prime Minister Dr Timothy Harris, despite sharing a platform twice with Dr Harris, once in 2015 and again in 2020.
The island of Nevis has 30 percent of the population of SKN but only receives 7 percent of the proceeds from the CBI programme. It is estimated that during 2007 to 2021 the CBI programme netted approximately US$1.9bn.
Dr Harris up to his last few weeks in office had reportedly refused to share the financial data of the health of the CBI even with his own cabinet ministers, further drawing the ire of the electorate and country honchos.
Mr Brantley said about Dr Harris: “Timothy Harris is history. I have no need to reach out to Timothy Harris. He had his opportunity and when we tried to reach out to him he was not interested and he decided to sink the ship. He has done that. So he has become a casualty just like everybody else and it would be a matter of history to judge him.”