A former Ambassador in the Labour Party Administration has asked her attorney to pursue a defamation lawsuit against the St. Kitts and Nevis Prime Minster Dr Timothy Harris for accusing her of mismanaging the Small Enterprise Assistance Fund (SEAF).Ambassador Rozlayn Hazelle from her home in Toronto, Canada issued a statement to the media denying the accusation by Dr. Harris who appears to be on a personal vendetta against his former colleagues.
”It has been unavoidably brought to my attention that the Honourable Prime Minister, Dr. Timothy Harris at his press conference on Thursday October 13th 2015, made a number of totally false and scandalous accusations about me in my professional capacity as manager of SEAF,” she said. Ms. Hazelle speaking to local radio on Saturday said it was “a deliberate attempt on Dr. Harris’ part to sully my name and my reputation, and to give [the] impression that I have done something that is unsavory,” –
Dr. Harris told the local media and the federation at his monthly press conference, which was broadcast live on radio and Television that under the management of Her Excellency Rozalyn Hazelle “some EC$11M was squandered prior to the February 16, 2015 General Elections as a “pre-election gimmick”.
Established by the former government the scheme provided loans to applicants with a viable business plan. The Denzil Douglas administration initiative gave numerous persons/enterprises start up money to pursue their dreams in an effort to grow the economy and create jobs particularly for the young people of the twin island federation.
Since taking office nine months ago, Dr. Harris has been on a name and shame campaign against high ranking officials and supporters of the former regime. He also told the press that the Ambassador who also managed the St. Kitts Investment Promotion Agency (SKIPA) abused the Sugar Industry Diversification Fund and put locals at a disadvantage.
The Ambassador, who assisted and provided financial and other forms of support to Timothy Harris while a University student in Canada “vehemently deny such accusations and call upon the Prime Minister to do the honourable thing and retract his statement.” She added that “It is most unfortunate that Dr. Harris continues to make unsavory and baseless accusations against citizens of Saint Christopher and Nevis in his desperate attempt to distract from the real issues at hand.”
The Prime Minister claimed that three hundred persons benefited from the SEAF program and insinuated that the candidates, their relatives and friends were beneficiaries of the SEAF programme, presumably with a view to opening a business or businesses but “no viable business is there to show for the largesse to any of these beneficiaries”. Dr. Harris also questioned the logic of paying persons who presided over SEAF hefty payments, considering some were already employed in public service.
“While SEAF collections were disastrously non-existent, we are hard pressed to rationalize the need to pay persons already in the public sector hefty sums while they presided over our SEAF that was neither meeting the test of accountability nor transparency. We have difficulty with the payments to such public officials as Ambassador Steve Wrensford of $50,000 and Rosalyn Hazelle of $76, 000,” the prime minister said.
Dr. Harris suggested that some who received funding have already begun repaying and urged those who have not done so yet to begin repaying or face “strong arm of the law.” He said: “We thank those who since the new day dawned on February 16, 2015, have begun repayments, and we invite those who are delinquent to urgently take steps to repay before the strong arm of the law takes hold.”
As of Tuesday, October 06, 2015, the prime minister said only 75 out of 300 persons had repaid any of their indebtedness. These repayments are a mere $171,130 from $11m disbursements, Dr. Harris noted.
However Miss Hazelle emphasised her refusal “to be Dr. Harris and his administration’s scapegoat, nor will I allow my reputation to be sullied without vindication. As such I have given my lawyers firm instructions to take appropriate legal steps to protect my reputation and therefore will make no further comment on this matter until so advised.”