Caines, who will be one of the featured speakers at the 3rd February, 2011, public meeting, spoke exclusively with MiyVue.com, and explained that the meeting is one that should be of great interest to the occupants of St. Christopher and Nevis. He noted that the meeting is one which is designed to promote unity.
“We realise we have two political parties, equally strong, and today, it is no longer who is wrong and who is right but rather which party you support so people stick behind their party. So for the purposes of unity of our country….we have a common problem, whether you are one side or the other side. The direction in which the leader of the country is going, is affecting us all and I think some will acknowledge and some won’t, but deep in their hearts, they think the same way.
“It is towards that goal that Mr. Dwyer Astaphan and I try to communicate the difficulties to our countrymen. I don’t want at this point to tell you the topics that I will speak on but believe me, I think that people would understand a little better because, bearing in mind, neither Dwyer Astaphan nor myself, has any political aspirations. We are not asking if you want to support us or vote for us or anything. We are sons of the soil and all is not well and we feel that if we can speak to the people, they would somehow do the right thing. We are not telling them to vote for Tom, Dick or Harry, nor Paul. We are saying that the leadership of this country, (the leader), has failed us all.”
Caines explained that because neither he nor Astaphan has political aspirations, their messages would be more readily heeded by the populace.
“I would think that if people hear the issues, and with the knowledge that we are not asking people to vote for us, it makes a difference…We don’t want any votes. We don’t want anybody to stand behind us because we cannot be in office and so on…So I believe if we can have this sort of rapport or dialogue with the people of the country of St. Kitts and Nevis, that they would understand our problem and see a way forward.”
The former PAM Minister explained that, not only would the leadership of St. Kitts and Nevis listen to the views coming from the public meeting but a change will also be effected.
“I would want to think that the meeting would convince the leadership of the country that something is really wrong and I have strong reasons to feel that way because I was a minister in the PAM administration, and everybody knew where I stood. And very often I was called all sorts of names. Now, Dwyer Astaphan, he quit. He did not quit because everything was ok; he quit because there were things wrong. So together, when we take this message, the leader of the country, not only will he hear, but I think he will have to do things differently.
“I am sure of that,” he said.
The meeting is scheduled to take place at Greenland’s Park sometime after 7:00 p.m. According to Astaphan, it will be carried live on radio and streamed over the internet, via www.miyvue.com