The Honourable Mark Brantley

Leader of His Majesty’s Loyal Opposition

National Assembly of St. Kitts and Nevis 

Address to the Nation on the issue of Crime and Violence

August 21, 2024

My fellow Kittitians, Nevisians and residents.

I speak to you now with a heavy heart. Last evening our country lost yet another young man in what now seems to be a never-ending cycle of youth on youth violence.

I believe I speak for all honest, hard-working, right-thinking members of our country when I say that this vortex of crime and violence gripping our country is unprecedented and unacceptable.

Whilst crime spirals with almost daily news of brazen attacks, the Government and the Police seem incapable of responding and our communities are gripped by fear.

I have not joined the chorus of blame on the issue of crime. I have not sought to use crime as a political tool. I have said and continue to say that if we as leaders argue over crime, if we continue to be divided over crime, if we continue to see crime as a political opportunity, then we succeed only in weakening our resolve and emboldening these criminals.

To this end I am pleased to say that prior to this address I spoke at length to Prime Minister and Minister of National Security the Honourable Dr. Terrence Drew and also to Mrs. Natasha Grey-Brookes, the leader of the Peoples Action Movement. I thank them both for reaching out and expressing their willingness to come together to lend our collective voices and hearts to this fight.

Crime is and has always been a societal problem. Who are the criminals? They are our sons and daughters. They are our brothers and sisters. They are our cousins and classmates. They are our boyfriends and girlfriends. In short, the criminals have come from our midst. We have created them and we must now find ways to purge them from our midst.

My address to you this evening comes not from a place of blame or political grandstanding. It comes from a place of deep pain and a burning desire to raise my voice in the rescue effort for my country.

At this time and in this situation our country demands that each and every patriot rise up to defend it from this scourge that has now gripped us. All must be invited to the table with their ideas and solutions. None must be left out. Government and Opposition, Church and Chamber, Schools and Civil Society … ALL must be invited to the table to come up with a comprehensive plan to address violence in our society once and for all. Crime is now a clear and present danger to the gains we have made as a young Nation. The enemies are at the gate and men and women of goodwill from Cayon to Cotton Ground must put aside petty political and personal differences and stand together to repel this attack on our country.

Our Prime Minister and his Cabinet cannot and will not solve this problem alone. St. Kitts and Nevis now needs every able-bodied man and woman to man the ramparts and defeat this enemy that threatens to engulf us all.

The current situation is unprecedented. Hitherto our most murderous year was 2011 when we had some 34 persons killed. We are now at 26 and it’s only August. At this pace and unless arrested, our country is on track to have its bloodiest year in history. We are now seeing women and even young children being targeted by violent criminals. My brothers and sisters we have crossed the Rubicon of old and entered a new and dangerous period in our history.

It is clear to me that blaming each other isn’t working and that nice speeches without action are not working. It is also clear that the current levels of violence in our society are well outside the capacity of our security forces to handle.

Unprecedented threats demand unprecedented responses. It cannot and should not be business as usual.

I offer therefore these points for consideration:

-We should immediately invite regional and international assistance. The RSS must be deployed in our communities and we should seek intelligence support from the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and Israel.

-Our friends in the United States must be called upon to do more to restrict the flow of illegal guns and ammunition from their country to ours.

-We must introduce a top-to-bottom review of our security forces to weed out bad elements. There should be mandatory and ongoing polygraph testing for all police, army, Customs and prison officials

-We must target known criminals and their associates and ensure that they have no respite and no places to hide.

-All leave and holiday for our security forces should be immediately cancelled. Our policemen and women must not be in the comfort of their homes or barracks but deployed into the communities.

-We must deploy greater physical and electronic surveillance tools so that our crime-fighting response is led by more technology and intelligence gathering.

-We must immediately reintroduce moral and ethical instruction in our schools starting at pre-school and continuing throughout our children’s school life. This must be coupled with the reintroduction of youth groups in our schools such as Boy Scouts, Girl Guides, Pathfinders, Cadets Corps. Our children’s participation in youth groups should become a mandatory part of our curriculum.

-We must reintroduce an aggressive Alternative Pathway programme. The new programme whether called Peace, Elevate or by whatever name, must emphasize that those marginalized youth who genuinely wish to be productive citizens will be supported with jobs and economic opportunity. We must not pay people to stay home and not work We must not reward bad behaviour. Any new version of the Alternative Pathway  programme must insist that those who benefit personally are also bringing benefits to the community at large.

-I am here talking about jobs, providing seed capital to start businesses, expunging criminal records to assist former offenders with job opportunities in the private sector, inviting and incentivizing the private sector to play its part in giving these young men and women a second chance, providing free training especially in vocational skills such as plumbing, air conditioning, electrical, auto mechanic, shade house agriculture and agro-processing for our youth.

-We should amend the anti-gang legislation to allow Police to detain suspected gang members and their affiliates for up to seven days without charge while investigations are ongoing. The current 72-hour maximum detention without charge is inadequate to allow proper investigations to occur.

-We should look to the Jamaican example of Zones of Special Operations to include limited and targeted States of Emergency where necessary.

Lastly, I reiterate my cry that the Honourable Prime Minister and Minister of National Security must extend his hand across the political aisle and seek consensus and active assistance from the Opposition. As Leader of the Opposition and as Premier of Nevis, I and my team stand ready, willing, able, and eager to assist; but we cannot invite ourselves to the table. Only the government can ensure that all stakeholders are given a chance to lend their voices and ideas to a solution to this perennial problem of crime and criminality.

The matters set out in this address are in no way to be seen as a complete solution, but these are ideas which coupled with ideas from other stakeholders can allow us to build a comprehensive response to an urgent and dangerous problem. Some ideas will require urgent and immediate implementation while others are intended to have more medium and long term effects. What I am sure of however, is that doing nothing is no longer an option.

I extend tonight my hand and the hand of my beloved Nevis to the Honourable Prime Minister and his team. There can be no progress and no lasting and sustainable development unless and until we are at peace.

We have shed enough tears. We have spoken enough words. We have held enough meetings. What our country needs now is decisive leadership and action.

Prime Minister Dr. The Honourable Terrance Drew the ball is now in your court. May God grant you wisdom patience and understanding as you lead us through the valley of the shadow of death and take us to the promised land of peace and prosperity for all.

Thank you and may God have mercy on us all.