by Devonne Cornelius
St. Kitts and Nevis (WINN): Opposition Parliamentarian, the Hon. Cleone Stapleton-Simmonds opposed the allocation of the annual budget presented to Parliament on Tuesday, December 07, 2021.
Hon. Stapleton-Simmonds, the Nevis Reformation Party’s (NRP) representative, proposed alternative approaches to those presented by the ruling party at Wednesday’s sitting of the Nevis Island Assembly
“Yesterday’s budget didn’t speak of this country’s future. It only told the sorry tale of nine years of neglect and budgetary deficits. Nine years of wasted opportunities and running from responsibility. I measure the strength of the economy by how it works for people so for me there is a simple test by which we can use it to judge the last nine years,” Stapleton-Simmonds said.
“We have the opportunity to reinvent our economy, to lift wages and ensure that they keep rising, to invest in manufacturing and skills and training, and to provide affordable child-care…That is the better future that we want to see secured for Nevis,” she added.
“An economy that delivers for working families, investing in Nevis’ future and no one held back or left behind policy. These three principles will drive our plans and policies to secure a better future, improve the standard of living and promote fairness and equity,” said Hon. Stapleton-Simmonds, the NRP’s Deputy Leader.
