Mix of maturity and new blood in St Kitts Cabinet

BASSETERRE, St Kitts, February 5, 2010 – St Kitts and Nevis’ Prime Minister Dr Denzil Douglas says his historic fourth-term St Kitts-Nevis Labour Party (SKNLP) Cabinet will reflect the maturity of the new administration, but there will be some fresh faces.

Ahead of the swearing in of ministers of Sunday, he said all those who held on to their seats in the January 25th poll will be given portfolios, along with the two new successful candidates who he said will add “new blood and new energy into the Cabinet of Ministers.”

“We would want it to be a Cabinet and a Government of all of the people of St Kitts and Nevis, making sure that we would select the best of whom are available and put them to the task of collectively managing their fields of the entire country so that the people of St Kitts and Nevis can benefit in terms of having the quality of lives of our people improved,” he said from Tripoli, Libya where he has been holding discussions with government officials.

The Prime Minister said the social development agenda of his SKNLP government will continue.

“We believe that we have already identified the appropriate persons in the Cabinet to pursue vigorously that agenda,” Dr Douglas said.

“The economic challenges faced, especially as a result of the global economic and financial crisis, are expected to continue to some extent and that is why it would need maturity, it would need to have some measure of continuity to ensure that the financial agenda, the economic development agenda as well as the government continue apace.”

Prime Minister Douglas said the twin-island federation would need strong financial support for the development agenda.

He said that was the reason he had accepted the invitation to be in Tripoli to have bilateral discussions with the Libyan government.

In the January election, the SKNLP won six of the eight seats in St Kitts, with the People’s Action Movement taking the other two. On Nevis, where three seats were up for the taking, the Concerned Citizen's Movement (CCM) won two and the Nevis Reformation Party (NRP) secured the other one.