CHARLESTOWN NEVIS (April 07, 2024)- The following is a statement by the Honourable Mark Brantley, Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly of St. Kitts and Nevis on recent homicides in the Federation:

Statement from the Honourable Mark Brantley

Leader of His Majesty’s Loyal Opposition

in the National Assembly of St. Kitts and Nevis

April 07, 2024

This morning our Nation woke to the tragic news that two (2) persons had lost their lives to violence overnight. That brings the total number of lives lost to violence for the year thus far to eight (8).

My prayers are extended to the bereaved families and to our St. Kitts-Nevis community at home and in the Diaspora.

I believe that the time has come for the Government to accept that it cannot fight crime alone. The police and security forces, no matter how well equipped or well intentioned, must have the full support of the community if we are to prevail against this scourge of crime and violence.

St. Kitts and Nevis needs all hands on deck. The government must extend the hand of cooperation on this issue to the political opposition, the church and community groups, the business community and Nation at large. I call for an urgent and sustained engagement with all stakeholders so that solutions and approaches may be fashioned to confront this problem.

I wish each and every one of us to consider that while the responsibility for our safety and security lies with the government, the experience under successive governments has shown that no government has been able to solve the problem.

Crime is not a governmental problem. Crime is a societal problem. To tackle it, we need less politics and more policy; less rancour and more cooperation; less talk and more action.

Criminals must be made to realize that there is no safe haven for them anywhere in St. Kitts and Nevis, and they and those who aid and abet them must understand that they will have no respite, no comfort, no retreat and no surrender.

Our incredible gains as a young Nation must not be allowed to be squandered by the selfish few who care nothing about themselves,
their families, their communities and their country.

On this issue of crime, we are faced not with the fierce urgency of now but the fierce urgency of yesterday. Let us roll up our sleeves, put our minds and hearts together, bring our immense intellectual capacity to bear and finally solve this problem.

My prayers are with our Nation and I urge all who have information to contact our security forces. We are in this together and we must confront it together and resolve it together.