PM HARRIS: I WILL NOT SPEND TAXPAYERS’ MONEY AT THE EXPENSE OF PEOPLE WHO ARE IN GENUINE NEED
BASSETERRE, ST. KITTS, FEBRUARY 22nd, 2017 (PRESS SEC) — Prime Minister Dr. the Honourable Timothy Harris said during another electrifying town hall meeting teeming with well-wishers, supporters and friends of the Government of National Unity that his administration’s Cabinet – upon being formally presented two years ago today, February 22nd, to the people of St. Kitts and Nevis – chose to give priority to uplifting the poor and needy.
This has been a touchstone of the Team Unity Government’s policy initiatives over the past two years and will continue to be moving forward.
Prime Minister Harris said yesterday, Tuesday, February 21st, 2017, during a Good Governance and Accountability for Prosperity town hall meeting at the OOJJ’s Conference Centre on the Camps Main Road that this people-centred priority has ruffled the feathers of certain fair-weather friends whose continued support was apparently tied to the potential for profit at the expense of taxpayers.
“There are some people who wanted an exchange [of large sums of money for their sustained support],” the Honourable Prime Minister told the lively crowd in West Basseterre last night.
“It was bad then [under the previous administration], but they wanted us to do the same thing that we condemned once it suited them, and we said we were not going to do that,” Dr. Harris said.
Prime Minister Harris also said that, “It is time for transformation. It is time for a new approach to governance in the country. This is a time for the resources to go to the poor and the needy, and to provide scholarships for our young people to take them to school and give them a chance to rise again. That is where I prefer that the monies go, and that is what is going to happen.”
The Honourable Prime Minister added that, “When it comes to the ordinary people…through the length and breadth of St. Kitts and Nevis, all these ordinary folks want is a little help, a little help to start.”
Prime Minister Harris then said that he and his Team Unity administration prefer to help make a fresh start for those who are in genuine need of assistance rather than “waste the money on some of these people” who are more self-interested than altruistic.
Dr. Harris, who is also the Minister of Finance, continued: “They want to play bingo with the taxpayers’ money…Ultimately, the cheque has to be signed, and it can only be signed at the Ministry of Finance.”
Right before the audience’s laughter swelled into resounding cheers, the Honourable Prime Minister added: “So I hold the O and I am not letting go of the O for that kind of foolishness.”