BASSETERRE, St Kitts (CMC) – Leader of the main opposition party in St Kitts and Nevis, Dr Denzil Douglas has expressed shock following the double murder of two young men here on Thursday.

According to the former Prime Minister, this brings into question the effectiveness of the plan by the authorities in fighting crime in the country. In a release on Saturday, Douglas, who leads the St Kitts Nevis Labour Party (SKNLP), said when his administration took several measures while in office to curb serious crimes, the then Opposition, now in Government did not support the measures.

“They blamed the (St Kitts-Nevis Labour Party) Government for the criminal activity in the country, they blamed the Prime Minister, they blamed the Minister of National Security, they targeted C G Walwyn, our Commissioner of Police, they targeted those who were leading at the Permanent Secretary level and promised the people of St Kitts and Nevis that they had the answer to criminal activity in our country and that what we were doing was wrong and they had the answer and got elected 18 months ago on that promise.”

“Have they really made any difference?” asked Dr Douglas, who added that fighting crime and criminal activity is not being taken seriously by the Timothy Harris-led coalition.

“It is a problem for all of our people. It was wrong for the then opposition to blame the Labour Party Government then. It is now for the Party and those in Government to seriously tackle the problem of crime and to find the real causes, the root causes and as we did try to find the solutions,” said Douglas, who was critical of the recent appointment of a new Commissioner of Police and members of the High Command in acting positions on two years probation.

Douglas was further critical of Prime Minister Harris of stating publicly that the ‘buck for fighting crime stops with the Commissioner of Police’ and not with him (the Prime Minister) as Minister of National Security.

According to Douglas, crime continues to be the number one issue and until all of “our people, Government, Opposition and the NGO’s, who were so vocal get together, the problem is going to continue, because the Team Unity Government wrongly misled and deceived the people of St. Kitts and Nevis into believing that crime was a political matter and a matter only for the Labour Government and for Commissioner Walwyn.

“It was not a matter for them. They can fix it. They are now in government and have failed to fix it.”

Late Thursday, Cleon Gilbert and Kyle Allen of McKnight, were gunned down during a party following the funeral of another young man who died of cancer.

Three other people received gunshot wounds and were treated at hospital.

Since the start of the year, 19 people have been murdered in the twin island federation.