The Giant vs. the Dwarf!!
Glen Phillips sets to challenge Lindsay Grant…
By Stanford Conway
Editor-in-Chief-SKNVibes.com
OLD ROAD, St. Kitts – DESPITE not officially announced as the replacement for the Labour Party’s outgoing Candidate for Constituency Four, all indicators suggest that Marketing and Customer Services Manager of The Cable, Glen Phillip will be contesting against Lindsay Grant at the upcoming general elections.
Proof of this belief was evident in the numerous statements and suggestions made last night by Prime Minister Douglas and other members of his Cabinet at a meeting held by the Labour Party in Old Road, as part of its campaign strategy for re-election to office.
Dr. Douglas did not launch Minister Herbert’s successor as expected by the large crowd of supporters who turned up for the event, but he did say “Ghost” is a young man and would be replacing him.
The political meeting was centered on the contributions Minister Herbert made to the Old Road community; the Labour Party’s success over the past 13 years and its future development plans for the country; the Labour Party’s continued victory in Old Road; the reclamation of Constituency Five; and the reasons why the People’s Action Movement [PAM] must not be the ruling party.
Dr. Timothy Harris was the first speaker of the night and he noted that the country has to be built on vision, but “PAM has none and Shawn has a valentine…they do not have solutions to problems”.
He said that PAM wants to turn back the hands of time and the people of St. Kitts had 15 long years of that party and “they are no good. Old time something will not come back again! A vote for Lindsay Grant will be a vote for daddy Grant”.
“Labour will win again!” he said, adding “We will call it in time. Lindsay is down like ants in his pants…they will not be ready.”
Outgoing Candidate for Constituency Two, Dwyer Astaphan addressed the crime situation in the twin-island Federation and claimed that the PAM said they could stop it, “therefore they started it”.
Astaphan claimed that serious crime cannot be stopped without assistance from the community. He used St. Lucia as an example in his explanation of opposition parties claiming crime would stop when they are in government, but yet it went up instead of going down.
Astaphan said he was blamed for almost every crime committed in the country and declared that serious crime started in 1980 when a Minister of the PAM government sold guns to the public, and since then drugs grew to large proportions in the Federation.
“Planes landed at the airport and delivered guns and cocaine…crime and drugs started under PAM. Children of a big man in PAM bring in the guns,” he said.
He also claimed that many crimes are committed by wealthy residents of the country but poor youths take the rap for them.
The Security Minister said the Labour Party government is trying its best to rid the streets of guns and other dangerous weapons but needs the public’s assistance. He also said that plans are on the front burner to install security cameras in downtown Basseterre with the aim of identifying those who would have committed felony or other forms of crime within proximity of the installed technology.
He also indicated that Glen Phillip would be replacing Rupert Herbert as the party’s Constituency Candidate for Number Four, which is similar to him being replaced by former Speaker of the National Assembly Marcella Liburd in Constituency Two.~~Adz:Right~~
Dr. Douglas, as usual, was the last speaker to take the podium. He also said Phillip would be the man to whip PAM’s leader, Lindsay Grant, in that Constituency.
He endorsed all the compliments made by the previous speakers to Herbert, which include Ministers Cedric Liburd and Dr. Asim Martin. Dr. Douglas also revisited the past and reflected on his humble beginnings when compared to Lindsay Grant.
He said while it was practically improbable for him as a child to wear a pair of shoes to attend classes at school, Grant, who was born with “10 silver spoons in his mouth, was driven to school”.
Targeting the Grants family, which was much to the approval of his party’s supporters, Dr. Douglas said PAM’s leader wanted to gain political power so that his father could get more land that belongs to the people of St. Kitts.
He said Grant Sr., in the past, was the owner of a 200-foot land “on which he could not build a house; but under the Simmonds government he was given 46 acres of land and now he’s asking for 15 more acres of land”. Dr. Douglas asked his supporters if Grant’s requested should be granted, and in one voice the crowd said, “No way.”
At his last Monthly Press Conference, Prime Minister Douglas was informed that it was rumoured “a giant and a dwarf would be contesting for Constituency Four” in the forms of Glen Phillip and Lindsay Grant.
Asked if it were true, Dr. Douglas repeated the “giant versus the dwarf” rumour and declared he could not have substantiated its authenticity, but noted a meeting would have been held and the media would know if there was any truth to it.
Judging from the Ministers assertions and their Old Road supporters’ cries of “Ghost is the man”, it is logical to conclude that Glen Phillip is the Labour Party’s Candidate for Constituency Four in the upcoming general elections.
