ST KITTS and Nevis Prime Minister Dr Terrance Drew has announced plans for a public consultation on whether his country should become a republic.
Speaking to the BBC Dr Drew said that the consultation would begin during his leadership.and that the Caribbean nation was “not totally free” as long as King Charles III remains head of state. St Kitts and Nevis, the first Caribbean islands permanently settled by English colonisers, are often referred to by some local as the “mother colony”.
He also called for an apology from the monarchy for its role in the slave trade, following a recent announcement by Buckingham Palace that it is cooperating with an independent study into the relationship between the British monarchy and the Transatlantic slave trade.
Apology
In December last year, the Dutch government became the latest European nation to issue an apology or officially recognise the slave trade as a crime against humanity joining Denmark, France, the UK.
The announcement of Dr Drew’s plans comes amidst an ongoing debate surrounding the British monarchy’s historic links to the Transatlantic slave trade. A recent statement from Buckingham Palace said that King Charles takes slavery “profoundly seriously” and is continuing to deepen his understanding of its impact.
Last week a joint letter signed by Caribbean campaign groups intensified the debate around reparations in the run-up to King Charles III’s coronation. It called for the British monarch to begin “a process of reparations for stolen wealth” and to redistribute the wealth that underpins the Crown back to the people from whom it was stolen.
‘Horrific’
The letter, co-authored by representatives from 12 Commonwealth countries including Jamaica, Grenada, Antigua and Barbuda, Belize, and St Vincent and the Grenadines, also called on the King to acknowledge the “horrific impacts on and legacy of genocide and colonisation of the Indigenous and enslaved peoples”.
In a further statement, Professor Rosalea Hamilton, co-chair of the Advocates Network in Jamaica, one of the groups behind the letter, said: “Our shared experience with British colonial exploitation and crimes against inhumanity have brought us together in creating this joint statement to amplify our voices so that our just demand can no longer be ignored. We shall never forget our painful past, but we have an opportunity to repair the wrongs of the past and write a new narrative for an inclusive, just, and more humane future.”
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By becoming a Republic, the nations and people of the Caribbean will make it easier for the international financing authorities to bully; degrade, and gain economic control of the Government and the people of the Caribbean.
Whilst I, and other African-Caribbean heritage Subjects of His Majesty the King, recognise the shameful neglect from the Monarchy; the Houses of Parliaments, the City of London, and England’s Public Institutions, against the government and people of the Caribbean.
The Monarchs and Parliament’s abuse of the people of the English Caribbean is inexcusable; given the tremendous fealty the people of the Caribbean have historically offered to the Monarch and the people of England.
However, the current economic; social and youth delinquency in the nations of the Caribbean, will not be solved by becoming a Republic; and ditching St., Kitts, and Nevis’ ceremonial role as head of state of His Majesty, King Charles III.
The decay and delinquency in the Caribbean is entirely due to poor and short sighted political leadership.
The Caribbean nation’s poor political leadership will not be remedied; addressed, or corrected by ditching the English Monarchy, and becoming a Republic.