This is an impressive history lesson furnished by Anthony Arrindell. After reading this it makes me realize struggle is the price for freedom! THIS IS JUST AN EXAMPLE OF THE BEHAVIOR OF THE LEADERS OF OUR COUNTRY AND IF THEY CAN BEHAVE LIKE THAT TO EACH OTHER WHAT MORE CAN ONE EXPECT OF THE COMMON MAN THEIR DEMONIC WAYS .............. In 1965, at the age of 28, the vibrant grassroots activist became a Founding Member of the People’s Action Movement, (P.A.M.), which was formed as a Political Party in Opposition to the ruling St. Kitts-Nevis-Anguilla Labour Party led by the authoritarian Robert Bradshaw. His Party contested the 1966 General Election and, despite gaining 36% of the popular vote just one year after its formation, did not secure any of the seats. He then took a leave of absence in 1966 to pursue Post-graduate studies, first in the Bahamas, where he was Staff Doctor, Chief Resident in Anaesthesiology, and Registrar in Internal Medicine at the Princess Margaret Hospital. In 1968, he left the Bahamas and went to Pittsburgh, U.S.A., where he did further post-graduate work in Anaesthesiology until 1969 when he returned to St. Kitts once more to his Medical Practice and Political Career. In 1970, he was honoured with the award of the Fellowship of the American College of Anaesthesiologists, having successfully completed the necessary examination requirements. In October 1974 he was engaged in Food Crop cultivation at West Farm Estate in St. Kitts, on a small plot of land purchased by him, and of which he was registered owner. He hired up to seven farmers on a share-crop basis and he was growing a variety of vegetables when, along with his colleagues in the P.A.M., he was given a directive by the Labour Government with impossibly short notice, to plant sugar on his land purportedly in line with the Government’s ongoing Sugar Industry Rescue Operation. When he demurred, he was arrested on his own land and put into a jail cell by Police Officers who told him that they were acting under orders from the Government. His wrongful imprisonment did not last more than a few hours, after which he got bail. He was vindicated after a successful legal challenge was launched against the government entering private land in a forcible manner and converting the land to its own use. This successful legal action was brushed aside, however, when the Labour Administration immediately declared a one-square-mile State of Emergency in the area of Simmonds’ farmlands. This abuse of power suspended the Constitution and nullified the court’s decision. Despite the victimisation and brute personal attacks by Bradshaw’s government, Dr. Simmonds and his Party continued to take a selfless, principled stand against the Labour Administration’s oppressive leadership. In the face of strong-arm government tactics and threats against their life and liberty, the PAM candidates continued their grassroots movement and contested the General Elections in St. Kitts. However, during Bradshaw’s lifetime, he saw to it that Simmonds would never win his seat. Interestingly, it was Simmonds who tended to Bradshaw as his anaesthesiologist while Bradshaw was undergoing treatment for cancer. This is evidence of Simmonds’ ability to put partisanship aside, even to help the very man who did everything in his power to make his life a living nightmare. Simmonds was elected President of the P.A.M. in 1976. In the previous eleven (11) years he had been First Vice President. In January 1979, following the death of Robert Bradshaw the previous May, Dr. Simmonds presented himself as the candidate in the by-election to fill the Central Basseterre seat made vacant by Bradshaw’s death. At the end of the vote count, the Returning Officer declared Ribeiro to be the winner by a margin over Simmonds of 13 votes. The ballots declared rejected/spoilt numbered 99 (ninety-nine). Dr. Simmonds immediately challenged this result via the filing in Court of an Election Petition, asserting that valid votes had been wrongfully rejected as spoilt ballots by the Returning Officer. It is a fact of history that, despite all the tantrums in Court by the lawyers for Ribeiro, Justice Hewlett decided to re-count the ballots in open Court and determine which were validly cast and which were actually spoilt. Justice Hewlett’s re-count determined that Kennedy Simmonds had in fact been the victor in the by-election and should have been returned as the Elected Representative for Central Basseterre, Constituency #2. Though Ribeiro lost one again when he appealed against the decision, the Labour Administration vehemently refused to acknowledge the Victor of the by-election and to have Simmonds sworn in to the House of Assembly as the first Kittitian Member of the Opposition. Then-Premier Lee Moore was so fiercely against the very concept of having any Anti-Labour voice in the House of Assembly that, for twelve months, he simply refused to convene any sitting of the House whatsoever since, by so doing, Dr. Simmonds could not be sworn in. For one year, there was no meeting of the Assembly to debate or pass legislation, to review the 1979 Budget or to pass a new Budget for 1980, to do anything at all concerning the affairs of the twin-island State. A snap General Election was announced by Premier Moore in the hopes that the Central Basseterre seat would be snatched back by the Labour Party, getting the rid of Simmonds and PAM. However, this scheme was not to be. The General Election of 18th February, 1980, saw the unprecedented fall from power of the SKNALP, and the election of a progressive, vibrant People’s Action Movement/Nevis Reformation Party Coalition Government. Dr. Kennedy Simmonds – the same man whom that General Election was supposed to exterminate – captured more votes this time than in the by-election of 25th January, 1979, and became the Leader of St. Kitts and Nevis. Now, nothing could stop the change. A new day had indeed dawned.
Posted on: Sun, 13 Jul 2014 11:00:45 +0000
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